Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 13, 2011

Last Sunday, the first part of the story of the Union League of Philadelphia was presented.  Today, the final part is given.  Future posts will present other patriotic organizations that were organized or grew in the days before, during and after the Civil War.

In 1865, the new Union League House in Philadelphia was opened for inspection by the public and press.  The current web site description of the interior modestly states the “the traditional decor is accented in rich leather, patinated wood and polished marble.”  The Philadelphia Inquirer lavishly reported on what it saw at the open house.  After climbing the marble stairs of the grand entrance and proceeding into the hall, the visitor is first greeted by the bulletin board:

To guard against the intrusion of any disloyal person, the following notice was posted yesterday on this board: –

EXTRACT FROM THE BY-LAYS.

“No disloyal person shall be admitted into the League House and if any such person be knowingly introduced by a member of the League, such member shall be reported for the offense to the Board of Directors.”  (signed) GEORGE H. BOKER, Secretary.

A board containing the time of the committee meetings of the League is also to be found in the hall.  Descending from this hall to the basement we enter

THE BILLIARD ROOM.

This room contains four large billiard tables, manufactured from walnut, twelve large size lounges and pictures of a United States ironclad, United States Steam frigate Roanoke, United States gunboat Eutaw, United States steamers Weehawken and Iroquois, United States steam ram Decatur, United States harbor and Union monitor Manhattan, United States ironclad Onandaga.

The oyster box is the room adjoining the billiard room.  It is suitably furnished having a fine marble slab on the top of the stand, and engravings on the walls.  In the rear of this will be found the kitchen, which is furnished with all the modern improvements.  on the same floor is the private room of the Steward, which is carpeted and furnished in a becoming manner.  During yesterday the cooking apparatus was kept in full working order, and was found to answer the ends for which it was designed, in an admirable manner.

SMOKING SALOON

On ascending to the first floor we enter the smoking room, the walls of which are frescoed, the carpet is Brussels and of a beautiful pattern, the curtains are of white linen and of white lace.  Three fine tables are also placed in this room, and chairs of beautiful and substantial workmanship.  In the north corner of the room are two pedestals, surmounted with eagles.  The wall is hung with pictures of the late President Abraham Lincoln, General Grant, Vice Admiral D. G. Farragut, Captain Winslow, John Burns, the hero of Gettysburg, General Couch,  Hon. John Bright and the View of the Ruins of Chambersburg.   The marble mantle contains two fine figures, a huntsman and a female holding in her hand a spring of fish, and a net over her right shoulder.

THE PARLOR.

This room is furnished in fine style.  The window frames are surmounted with beautiful executed cornices, from which are suspended white lace curtains.  A fine piano and chairs covered with velvet are paced around the room.  There are four lounges and a large circular table, upon which is placed an album, containing likenesses of the Generals and other officers of note who have taken a conspicuous part in the late war.  On the east side of the room will be seen two pedestals containing the busts of Daniel Webster and Henry Clay.  Immediately over these is suspended an original painting, representing the reading of the Declaration of Independence in front of the old State House.  The figures in the painting are well executed.  The frame surrounding the picture has been finished in a workmanlike manner.

THE RECEPTION ROOM.

This room adjoins the parlor, and is covered with Brussels carpet.  The windows are hung with white linen and lace curtains with heavy wine-colored covering.  A book for the registry of the names of visitors is kept in this room.

THE DIRECTORS’ ROOM.

This room is furnished in a beautiful manner the windows being hung with lace and velvet curtains.  The centre table is of a circular form.  Two sideboards, with marble slabs, are placed on one side of the room.  The mantle contains the figure of a female, which is in keeping with the other decorations.  On one of the sideboards is to be seen a massive silver pitcher, with the inscription – “Presented to the Grand Union League of Philadelphia, by the Ladies’ Loyal Circle of Pennsylvania, April 9th, 1864.”

THE PUBLIC DINING ROOM.

This room is also furnished in splendid style.  A fine Brussels carpet is placed on the floor.  A beautiful oblong mirror is on the south wall, resting on a well-finished centre table.  There are fourteen dining tables in this room upon which are placed silver knives and forks, with all the other articled necessary to adorn the dining table.  The side-board contains a fine silver urn.

THE WASH ROOM.

In this room will be found all the requisite accommodations.  It is commodious and well adapted for the purposes for which it is intended.

THE READING ROOM.

This room contains two large circular tables, upon which are placed all the loyal daily papers of the city, prominent of which is THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER.

The likenesses of the late President of the United States, General Grant, Meade, Farragut, Seward, Hooker, Doubleday, Burnside, Banks, Webb, Hancock, Warren, and others, adorn the walls; also a well-executed portrait of general Scott.

THE LIBRARY ROOM.

Adjoining the reading room, has a number of book-cases containing some of the best works of the day.  This apartment is not furnished as it will be in a few days; when completed the library will contain a large collection of books not usually found on the tables or shelves of our libraries.

THE BANQUET ROOM.

This room is furnished in splendid style.  The carpet is of blue velvet.  It contains a long table, reaching nearly the entire length of the room.  The table is furnished with beautiful finished china ware, wine glasses, silver ware, and other articles necessary to a place of this description.  The furniture if manufactured of walnut.  This room will be used for the entertainment of the distinguished guests.

There was no demonstration further than the raising of the American flag, which took place at noon.  This was done out of respect to the memory of the late President of the United States.

The above article was from the Philadelphia Inquirer of 12 May 1865 and is available through the on-line resources of the Free Library of Philadelphia.  It is a continuation of the article “”Opening of the Union League House,” which was presented in this blog last Sunday along with a description of the the exterior of the Union League House.

Last Sunday, the first part of the story of the Union League of Philadelphia was presented.  Today, the final part is given.  Future posts will present other patriotic organizations that were organized or grew in the days before, during and after the Civil War, particularly those that took root and had an impact in the Lykens Valley area.

Category: Culture, Stories | Comments Off on Union League House, Philadelphia – Interior
Tags: Abraham Lincoln

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 12, 2011

The house on this on this lot, known as Lot #23, was originally built as a residence for Simon Gratz some time before 1822 and therefore it one of the oldest houses in the borough.  Whether Simon Gratz actually lived or syayed here is not known, but on the 75th anniversary of the founding of Simeon’s Church in 1897, a history of the church revealed that Simon Gratz allowed this house to be used for early religious services and therefore it can be said that this was the the site of the first organized religious services in Gratz.

Tax records indicate that that by 1858, the property was owned by Jonas Faust (1830-1884), a coach maker.  He lived in the house and on an adjacent lot he conducted his coach making business.  An apprentice coach maker, Daniel Sherer, was living here with the Faust family in 1860.

The earliest picture of the house available at the Gratz Historical Society, was probably taken in the second half of the twentieth century and is shown above.

Jonas Faust (1830-1884)  married Catherine S. Hoffman (1834-1874) whose paternal grandfather’s line went back to Johann Peter Hoffman (1709-1797).  Prior to the Civil War, four girls were born to this couple:  Clara Faust (1854-1861), Agnes Faust (1856-?), Delilah Faust(1857-1857), and Elizabeth Faust (1859-?).  Two of the girls died before the war or as the war began.

Jonas Faust enlisted in the 50th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company A, on 9 September 1861 and served throughout most of the war until May 1865 when he was discharged.  During his service he re-enlisted on 1 January 1864 at Blaine’s Crossroads, Tennessee, at which time he was serving as Commissary Sergeant.  It is possible that he either returned to Gratz on furlough at some point during the war, or his wife may have visited him some place during his service, because two sons were born during the war:  Henry C. Faust (1863-?) and William Faust (1864-1874).  These sons are recorded in the 1870 census, at which time the family had moved from Gratz to Wiconisco Township and Jonas had changed occupations from coach maker to carpenter.  After the Civil War, four more children were born to the couple:  Mary Faust (1866-?), Sallie Faust (1868-?), Harry Faust (1870-?), and Charles Faust (1872-?).  It’s possible that all of these later children were born in Wisonisco Township rather than Gratz as it is not known for certain when the Faust’s left Gratz.  It is believed that Catherine [Hoffman] Faust lived in this Gratz house with her young children during the Civil War while her husband was away in the military service – and during the war, two children were born here.

Catherine Hoffman Faust (1834-1874)

Catherine [Hoffman] Faust died in 1874, perhaps of causes related to late childbirth, and she left her husband with a family of young children, whereupon he re-married to Sarah DelCamp.  Jonas and Sarah proceeded to have children as follows:  Zukeik Faust (1876-?), Shelton Faust (1878-?), Nellie Faust (1879-?), Jonas L. Faust (1881-?), and Florence Faust (1883-?).  Then Jonas Faust died in 1884 leaving his second wife with minor children.

Catherine [Hoffman] Faust is buried in Calvary United Methodist Cemetery, Wiconisco.  Her grave marker is pictured above.

Fortunately for Sarah [DelCamp] Faust, she was left with some support as Jonas had applied for a invalid pension in 1881 and the record above shows that after Jonas’ death in 1884, Sarah received a widow’s pension which she collected until her death in 1919.

Jonas Faust is buried in Calvary United Methodist Cemetery, Wiconisco, next to his first wife.  His grave marker was previously pictured as part of a post on that cemetery.

This Gratz property was sold in 1870 to Charles Gerhard (1837-1909), also a coach maker and owner of Lot #21 next door, who in turn re-sold it the same year to William Boyer and Christiana Boyer.  Then again, a sale took place in 1875 to Daniel Boyer.  Charles Gerhard’s association with the Civil War has already been discussed in a prior post.  No Civil War service has been located for William Boyer.

This is part 24 of an ongoing series on Gratz during the Civil War.  Some of the information for this post was taken from the book A Comprehensive History of the Town of Gratz Pennsylvania.

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Tags: Boyer family, Faust family, Gerhard family, Gratz Borough, Hoffman family, Riegle family, Scheetz family, Walking Tour, Wiconisco Township, Women

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 11, 2011

Civil War Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, by Herman Atkins MacNeil, 1927.

Designed as a formal gateway to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, these 40-foot pylons commemorate military men of the Civil War.  The figures at the base of the north column portray soldiers and the group at the south column honor sailors.  Carved in relief a stately allegorical female figure rises high on each pylon, with an American eagle at the top.  Sculptor Herman Atkins MacNeil also created sculptures for the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

“In giving freedom to the slave, we ensure freedom to the free.”

“Each for himself gathered up the cherished purposes of life its aims and ambitions its dearest affections and flung all with life itself into the scale of battle.”

“All who have labored today in behalf of the Union have wrought for the best interests of the country and the world not only for the present but for all future ages.”

On the rear of each pylon are the names of some of the battles in which American fought:

“Gates” of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway leading to the Philadelphia Museum of Art:

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Tags: Monument

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 10, 2011

WESTON MERRITT KEIPER

Weston Merritt Keiper, born in 1879, was the oldest son of William Henry Keiper and Susanna [Row] Keiper of Lykens.  Weston’s father, William Henry Keiper, was a coal miner, who was described as a “large man” who had a “fondnesss for drink.”  He would frequent the saloons on Friday evenings when he received his pay for work in the mines.  His wife, Susanna, who was a petite woman, was not afraid to march into the saloons to drag him home so he didn’t spend all his earnings and had something left to support his family – which consisted mostly of daughters (sisters of Weston).  Weston had two older sisters, both of whom had already married and started their own families, so at the time of the robbery-murder, he was the oldest child in the household and was expected to help his father support the family.

Through his father, Weston Keiper was a direct descendant of the Buffington family who were pioneer settlers of the Lykens Valley area.  No doubt Weston knew of many cousins who had fought in the Civil War.  His father’s older half brother was a Civil War veteran and his mother’s older brother was a member of the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, was later with the Regular Army in the west, and worked in the very same mines where Weston and his father worked.

At the time of the robbery-murder, the press reported that Weston Keiper was an out-of-work coal miner. Also reported was that neighbors said that Weston didn’t have a reputation for being bad.  Weston Keiper’s education was limited and he dropped out of school, preferring to work rather than study.  He apparently knew how to read through, because he attributed his own “bad ways” to the dime-novel-western-Jesse James books which were readily available at the time.  In the jail, he was interviewed for an “educational study” conducted by a college professor who concluded that parents should be alert to what their children were reading and how it would influence their actions.

Weston’s distraught parents visited him in the jail and the press reported that they were “elderly.”  Family records show that William Henry Keiper was about 50 years old at the time and Susannah [Row] Keiper was about 49 – certainly not considered elderly by today’s standards. No known pictures were taken of the family at the jail.

For his part in the robbery-murder, Weston was sentenced to death by hanging, which took place at the Dauphin County Jail on 28 January 1902, less than a year after the robbery-murder.  His body was returned to Lykens by train where a private funeral was held and he was laid to rest in an unmarked grave, probably in one of the cemeteries on South 2nd Street in Lykens.

JOHN HENRY ROWE

Henry Rowe was born in Perry County, Pennsylvania.  His father, John Rowe, a coal miner, arrived in United States from Cornwall, England, in 1865, at the end of the Civil War.  In 1873, John Rowe  married Henrietta Lawley of Pottsville, and Henry was born in 1879, their second child.  The family then moved to the Lykens-Wiconisco area where the father, John Rowe, got work in the coal mines.  Henry Rowe was also known as John Henry Rowe and his name is sometimes spelled “Row” in the records.  There were reports that he sometimes used the alias “James Leonard.”  The young Henry Rowe also got work in the coal mines, when work was available.  Newspapers reported that at the time of the Halifax bank robbery, both he and Weston Keiper were out-of-work coal miners.  A history of delinquency on the part of Henry Rowe was suggested by the way his background was reported in the press.  Henry Rowe was much shorter than Weston Keiper who was said to be about six feet tall.

For his part in the murder-robbery of the bank, Henry Rowe was sentenced to death by hanging, which took place on 28 January 1902 outside the Dauphin County Jail in Harrisburg.  Prior to his hanging, Rowe wrote several letters to the Lykens Standard which were reflective and remorseful.  Rowe also came to the conclusion that he was the one who fired the shots that killed Cashier Charles W. Ryan.

Rowe’s family requested that a picture be taken with him and his siblings, which supposedly was done.  That picture, if taken, has not been located.  There is a picture that was taken just before the hanging and several pictures of the hanging itself.  Two large poster-size pictures of the hanging are part of the exhibit at the Halifax Area Historical Society.

The body of Henry Rowe was returned to Lykens by train where burial took place in an unmarked grave, probably in one of the cemeteries on South 2nd Street in Lykens.

JOHN P. “FRANK” SHOLEY

It is difficult to determine who this person actually was and what was his real name.  Has been variously reported as F. B. Sholey, Frank Sholey, John Sholey, John P. Sholey, F. B. Straley, Frank R. Scholey, F. Shover, J. Shover, and “Sikes” Shover.  Did he live in Elizabethville where Keiper and Rowe reportedly contracted the wagon they used to drive to Halifax?  Of was he a liveryman in Lykens as one story suggests? .  Did he accompany Keiper and Rowe to Halifax, or did they go alone?  It is possible he got a much lighter sentence because he provided evidence for the state, evidence which helped convict Keiper and Rowe of murder in the first degree.

The newspapers reported that for his part in the robbery – supposedly an accomplice before the fact – he was sentenced to ten years in the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.  This sentence may have been shortened through parole because John Sholey appears at a boarding house in Lykens in the 1910 census. He was then working as a coal miner.  By 1920 he had moved to Tower City, Schuylkill County, had married, and had a young son, but he was still working as a coal miner.  Then he disappears completely.  His death and burial information has not yet been located.

The earliest information on John Sholey is that he was the son of Polish immigrants and that his father came to America to work in the mines.

—————————–

There are many interconnections that are yet to be explored about this bank robbery – and many connections to the Civil War, although the robbery-murder took place more than 35 years after the end of the war.  Other posts on this topic will follow as discoveries are made.  The first of these will be an epilogue, which will be posted on Monday, November 28, 2011.  In the epilogue, some interesting coincidences and strange facts will be noted.

Pictures of the three robbers are from the Philadelphia Inquirer story of the robbery and are available through the on-line resources of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Category: Research, Stories | 1 Comment »
Tags: Buffington family, Elizabethvile, Halifax, Keiper family, Lykens Boirough, Regiments, Rowe family, Sholley family, Tower City, Wiconisco

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 9, 2011

Charles W. Ryan (1841-1901)

The murder victim of the Halifax bank robbery of 14 March 1901 was Charles W. Ryan.  Ryan was one of the three bank officials who were present in the bank at the time that Wesley Keiper and Henry Rowe entered the bank attempting to rob it.  In the gunfire that ensued, Charles W. Ryan was fatally wounded.  Accounts differ as to how Ryan was shot.  Some say that he had his own gun at the bank and when he reached for it a struggle ensued and shots were fired.  Just before he was executed, Henry Rowe stated he believed that he was the one who had fired the shots that killed Ryan – not his accomplice Weston Keiper, although both received the death penalty for their crime.

Charles W. Ryan was born on 7 February 1841 to Andrew Ryan, a farmer in the Halifax area and his wife Elizabeth [Gayman] Ryan.  In 1850, he was the youngest of the children living in the household, with older brother Andrew Ryan Jr. living there and working as a farmer.  See below.  Family records indicate that the father, Andrew Ryan, passed away later in the year.

Click on document to enlarge.

In 1860, just before the Civil War, Charles was living with an older brother, Isaac Ryan and his family, and working as a farm hand, probably on the family farm.  It is not known at this time who the two elderly women were who were also in the same household, both of whom were “living on income.”  See below.

Click on document to enlarge.

Early in the Civil War, on 13 September 1862, Charles W. Ryan was mustered into the 6th Pennsylvania Infantry, Company E, a militia formed to meet the emergency of 1862.  His service was short, lasting only two weeks until his discharge on 27 September 1862.  Nevertheless, in responding to the emergency, he received credit for Civil War service. But,, because he was in the military for less than three months, he was not eligible for a pension. Therefore, no pension application record will be found for him or for his widow following his untimely death at the bank robbery.

About a year after his discharge, and with the recent memory of the Gettysburg battle and Pennsylvania incursion of Gen. Robert E. Lee and his army, Charles W. Ryan married Louisa Mary Collier, who is sometimes found in the records as Mary Louisa Collier.  She was the daughter of Joseph Collier (1810-1878) and Mary [Hepler] Collier (1817-1872).  Mary Hepler was from Mahantongo Township, Schuylkill County and undoubtedly was related to the Hepler families that settled in and around Gratz, but the exact connection has not yet been made.  The family they began in 1866 with the birth of Harris Joseph Ryan had increased by one more child by the Census of 1870, with the birth of Laura M. Ryan about 1868.  The household consisted of the Ryan family and two additional persons who were listed as laborers, either boarders or farm hands who worked on the Ryan farm.  See below.

The 1880 Census saw Charles still working at farming and again, in addition to the Ryan family, the household consisted of two additional persons who were listed as servants.  Son Harris J. Ryan was “at school” a fact that will be again noted in a later blog post.  A third child, Luther W. Ryan, appears in this census as an 8-year old.  See below.

Click on document to enlarge.

In 1890, Charles W. Ryan could not be located in any Pennsylvania veterans’ census enumeration.  However, a census return for Cookstown, New Hanover Township, Burlington County, New Jersey names a Civil War veteran, Charles W. Ryan, without giving a regiment name.  Could this be the same Charles W. Ryan who returned to Halifax by 1900 to purchase ten shares of the new Halifax National Bank?  If it is the same person, why was he in New Jersey?  Because most of the 1890 Census was destroyed by fire, there is no way to know if there was a household in Cookstown, New Jersey in 1890 which included any other members of the Ryan family.  One speculation centers on son Harris, who may have been attending school in New Jersey – or may have been working there, with the parents going to live with him.  See below for veterans’ census return for 1890.

Click on document to enlarge.

In 1900, Charles W. Ryan is in Halifax.  Strangely, the name of his wife is missing from the Census of 1900, although her age is given and there is a line where her name should be.  There is a servant with the surname “Collier” in the household, possibly a member of his wife’s family.  Where is Louisa [Collier] Ryan, if not in the Ryan household in Halifax?  The fact that Charles W. Ryan is listed as a “bank cashier” in the 1900 Census probably indicates that he held this position with the original Halifax Bank, and then when the Halifax National Bank was formed in late 1900, he assumed the same position with the new bank.  As in the case of the bank president, Abraham Fortenbaugh, much of the record is missing for a period of twenty or more years prior to the bank robbery.  See below.

Click on document to enlarge.

Another interesting connection found in the records is that Luther W. Ryan, the youngest son of Charles and Louisa, who was born about 1871, is named in the 1900 Census as the Postmaster of Halifax.  The bank history states that “L. W. Ryan” was appointed as assistant cashier on 23 Mar 1901, when the then assistant cashier, Isaac Lyter was elevated to cashier following the murder of Charles W. Ryan.  This “L. W. Ryan” also served as a director of the bank from 1911 to 1916, perhaps inheriting his father’s shares?

Charles W. Ryan was buried in Halifax Methodist Cemetery.  None of the stories of his murder report that he was a Civil War veteran, yet his grave is clearly marked with the “G.A.R.” star and decorated with the American flag.

Louisa [Collier] Ryan is buried next to her husband, but she did not die until 1930, although there is some dispute of this in reading her grave marker – which appears to have been altered from the date 1928.  According to records, she died in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California in 1930 and she is listed in the 1930 census at the home of her son, Harris J. Ryan, who was then going by the name Joseph Ryan and working as a university teacher at Palo Alto.  There were no grandchildren.  Harris J. Ryan died in 1934 at the age of 68.

Tomorrow, the blog post will present the bank robbers and a bit of their history – Weston Keiper, Henry Rowe, and their accomplice, Frank Sholley  – and give some connections to the Civil War.

The portrait of Charles W. Ryan is from the Halifax Area Historical Society display of items related to the Halifax Bank Robbery.  Grave marker photos are from the Collier family.  Census returns are from Ancestry.com.  The Halifax Area Historical Society can be contacted at P.O. Box 72, Halifax, PA 17032.  Hours are by appointment.

Category: Research, Resources, Stories | Comments Off on Halifax Bank Robbery – Charles W. Ryan
Tags: Collier family, G.A.R., Gratz Borough, Halifax, Hepler family, Keiper family, Mahantongo Township, Rowe family, Ryan family