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Biographical History of Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania
This biographical volume covers prominent individuals in the communities of
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania; particularly those who served in public
office. Though not an exhaustive work, it does include a great deal of useful
information for historical and genealogical research. There is no index, but
names are listed alphabetically. Some of the accounts are lengthy and
detailed, others are brief.
Surnames:
Agnew, Albright, Amweg, Anderson, Andrews, Armstrong, Atlee, Bachman, Baer,
Bailey, Baker, Baldwin, Balmer, Barber, Bare, Barton, Bauman, Bausman, Baxter,
Beates, Bec k, Bentz, Beissel, Bethel, Billingfelt, Black, Blunston, Boehm,
Bomberger, Bowman, Boude, Boyd, Boyer, Brady, Brandt, Breckbill, Breneman,
Brinton, Brisbin, Brooks, Brown, Brubaker, Brush, Buchanan, Buckley, Burrowes,
Buyers, Caldwell, Cameron, Carpenter, Carter, Cassel, Cassidy, Chambers,
Champneys, Clark, Clarkson, Clemson, Clinton, Cochran, Coleman, Coates,
Collins, Cope, Conyngham, Cooke, Cowden, Cooper, Craig, Crumbaugh, Cunningham,
Darlington, Davies, Deering, Denues, Dickey, Dickinson, Dieffenderffer,
Diller, Dixon, Doner, Douglass, Duchman, Duffield, Dunlap, Dysart, Eberman,
Eberle, Eberly, Eby, Eckman, Edie, Edwards, Ehler, Ehrenfried, Eichholtz,
Ellmaker, Erb, Eshleman, Evans, Ewing, Fahnestock, Ferree, Fisher, Fogle,
Fondersmith, Foreman, Ford, Fordney, Forney, Forrey, Foster, Franklin, Frazer,
Frey, Fry, Fulton, Gara, Garber, Gatchell, Galbraith, Geist, Gest, Getz,
Gibbons, Gibson, Gilchrist, Gish, Gleim, Good, Gotschalk, Greist, Grey,
Grimler, Groff, Groh, Grosh, Grubb, Haines, Haldeman, Hambright, Hamilton,
Hamaker, Hand, Harbaugh, Hartman, Haverstick, Hawthorne, Hayes, Heinitzsch,
Heitler, Henderson, Hendrickson, Henry, Herr, Hershey, Hess, Hertz, Hibshman,
Hiestand, Hiester, Hipple, Hoff, Hoffman, Hoffmeier, Holl, Hood, Hollinger,
Hopkins, Hostetter, Housekeeper, Houston, Howell, Hower, Huber, Hubley, Humes,
Hunsecker, Hurford, Huss, High, Jacks, Jackson, Jacobs, Jenkins, Johns, Jones,
Kauffman, Keenan, Keene, Keller, Kemper, Kendig, Keneagy, Kennedy, Kerfoot,
Keys, Kieffer, Kimmel, King, Kinzer, Kirk, Kittera, Kline, Konigmacher, Kramph,
Kready, Kreider, Kreiter, Krug, Kucher, Kuhn, Kurtz, Kyle, Landis, Lane, Latta,
Lauman, Lebkicher, Leech, LeFevre, Lehman, Libhart, Light, Lightner, Lindley,
Linville, Livingston, Long, Lovett, Lowery, Mackey, Marsteller, Martin,
Mathiot, Maxwell, May, Mayer, McAlister, McCamant, McCleery, McClure,
McCulloch, McEvoy, McGowan, McGrann, McLenegan, McMillan, McSparren, Mehaffey,
Mercer, Michael, Miller, Miles, Mitchell, Mohler, Montgomery, Moore, Morrison,
Mosher, Muhlenberg, Musgrove, Musser, Musselman, Myers, Nauman, Neale, Nevin,
Nissley, Noble, North, Ober, Old, Orth, Overholtzer, Owen, Parke, Parr,
Passmore, Patterson, Paxson, Pearsol, Peelor, Pennel, Peters, Porter, Powell,
Pownall, Price, Pyfer, Ramsey, Rathvon, Rauch, Rawlins, Reed, Reddig,
Reichenbach, Reigart, Reinhold, Reinoehl, Reist, Reiszel, Reynolds, Rhine,
Richards, Righter, Ringwald, Roath, Roberts, Robinson, Rogers, Rohrer, Roland,
Ross, Rowe, Royer, Rutter, Sample, Sanderson, Saunders, Schaeffer, Schaum,
Schwartz, Scott, Seldomridge, Seybert, Shaw, Shaeffer, Shelley, Shenck, Shenk,
Sherer, Shippen, Shirk, Shoch, Shreiner, Shultz, Shulze, Shuman, Slaymaker,
Slokom, Slough, Smilie, Smith, Spencer, Sprenger, Stauffer, Steacy, Steele,
Stehman, Steigel, Steinman, Stevens, Stoner, Stoek, Stoey, Strickler, Strohm,
Stubbs, Stuart, Styer, Summy, Swarr, Swift, Taylor, Thompson, Urban, Varmann,
Varnes, Vondersmith, Wade, Walker, Wallace, Walton, Warfel, Watson, Weaver,
Webb, Weidman, Welsh, White, Whitehill, Whitelock, Whiteside, Whitson,
Wickersham, Wiley, Wilson, Williams, Witmer, Withers, Wood, Work, Worley,
Worrall, Worth, Wright, Wylie, Yeates, Zahm, Zecher, Zeller, Zimmerman.
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Biography of General John Gibson
Gibson, General John, was born in Lancaster city, Pennsylvania,
on the 23rd of May, 1740. Having received an excellent education, at the
age of eighteen he made choice of a military career as the most congenial
to his tastes. His first service was under Gen. Forbes, in the campaign
that resulted in the capture of Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburg), from the
French. When the peace of 1763 was concluded between the French and
English, he settled as a trader at Fort Pitt. Shortly afterwards, war
broke out anew with the Indians, and he was taken prisoner by them at the
mouth of Beaver creek, while descending the Ohio river in a canoe,
together with two men in his employ, one of whom was immediately burned,
and the other suffered the same fate on reaching the mouth of the Kanawha
river. Gibson, on this occasion, owed his life to the partiality of an
aged squaw, who chose him as her adopted son, in lieu of her own whom she
had lost in battle. He was necessitated to remain many years with the
Indians, where he became immediately conversant with their language,
habits, manners, customs and traditions. It has been a subject of extreme
regret by many, that he should have held these matters in such slight
esteem as to deem his collections unworthy of being transmitted to
posterity; for it is evident that in the present state of antiquarian
research, they would throw light upon many questions that are now agitated
among scientific men. No man of his attainments and ability to set forth
his observations, has had equal opportunities for coming to a correct
knowledge of the Indian character, unless his friend, the Rev.
Heckewelder, is to be excepted. Upon the termination of hostilities, he
again settled at Fort Pitt.
In 1774 he acted a conspicuous part in the expedition against the Shawnee
towns, under the command of Lord Dunmore, and was particularly active in
the negotiation of the peace that followed, and which restored many
prisoners to their friends after long years of anxious captivity. It was
on this occasion that the celebrated speech of Logan, the Mingo chief, was
delivered, and the circumstances connected with its delivery are of
sufficient interest to account for their recital in this sketch, such as
they were detailed by Gen. Gibson himself a short time before his death.
When the troops had reached the principal town of the Shawnees, and while
active preparations were being made to put everything in readiness for the
attack, Gen. Gibson, with an escort and flag of truce, was despatched to
the Indians with authority to treat for peace. .As he approached he
perceived Logan, (whom he had previously seen), standing in the path, and
he addressed him with the familiar greeting: " My friend Logan, how do you
do ? I am glad to see you." To this, Logan, with a coldness of manner and
brevity of expression which clearly betokened his feelings, replied: " I
suppose you are," and immediately turned away. After explaining the object
of his embassy to the assembled chiefs, (all of whom were present except
Logan), he found them all sincerely anxious for peace. Whilst the terms of
reconciliation were being discussed he felt himself plucked by the skirt
of his capote, and turning around he saw Logan at his back, standing with
his face convulsed with rage, and by signs beckoning to follow him. What
to do he was at first in doubt, but reflecting that he was at least equal
to his antagonist, being armed with dirk and side pistols, and in muscular
strength his superior, and considering, above all, that any betrayal of
fear in this emergency, might prove detrimental to the negotiation, he
followed in silence, while Logan with quick steps led the way to a copse
of woods at some little distance. Here they seated themselves, and the
stern and fearless chief was instantly suffused in a torrent of gushing
tears, but as yet no word was uttered, and his grief appeared
inconsolable. As soon, however, as he had regained the power of utterance,
he delivered the speech in question, and desired it to be transmitted to
Lord Dunmore, in order to remove all suspicion that might be entertained
in reference to a treaty, in the ratification of which a chief of his
importance had not participated. Accordingly, the speech was translated
and sent to Lord Dunmore without delay. Gen. Gibson could not positively
say that the speech, as given by Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia, was
verbatim as he had penned it; but he was inclined to think from certain
expressions which he remembered, it was so; that it gave the substance, he
was confident. Gen. Gibson, however, believed that it was not in the power
of a translation to do justice to the speech as delivered by Logan ; a
speech to which the language of passion, uttered in tones of the deepest
feeling, and with gestures at once naturally graceful and commanding,
together with a consciousness on the part of the hearer that the
sentiments proceeded immediately from a desolate and broken heart,
imparted a grandeur and force inconceivably great. Indeed, as compared
with the original, he even regarded the translation as but lame and
insipid.
On the breaking out of the revolutionary war, Gen. Gibson obtained the
command of one of the Continental regiments, and was with the army at New
York and during its retreat through New Jersey; but during the remainder
of the war -he was detailed on the western frontier, a service for which
his long sojourn among the Indians had peculiarly qualified him. In 1776
he was a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of
Pennsylvania, and was afterward appointed a judge of the court of common
pleas of the county of Allegheny, and a major general of the militia. In
the year 1800 he received from President Jefferson the appointment of
Secretary of the Territory of Indiana, and this position he retained until
the territory was admitted as a State into the Union. Laboring under an
incurable -cataract, which had for a long time afflicted him, he now
retired to Braddock's Field, the residence of his son-in-law, Geo.
Wallace, esq., and there died April 10th, 1822, having sustained through
life the character of a brave soldier and an honest man.
More Information on Lord Dunmore and his War
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