BIO: William Walter DALE, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson OCRed by Judy Banja Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/cumberland/ _____________________________________________________________ >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 68-70 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ WILLIAM WALTERS DALE, M. D. Among the soldiers which King William, in 1690, sent into Ireland was one Charles Dale, who, after the disturbances which called for the presence of the troops ended, married and remained in that country. Not much is known concerning him except that he had a son named Samuel, who resided in County Monaghan, and raised a family. According to tradition he had three sons named, respectively, Nathaniel, Matthew and Samuel. He also had daughters, one of whom married a man named McCord, came to America and afterward lived in Pittsburg. Samuel Dale's son Samuel was born in 1735. About the year 1766 he came to America and settled in Chester county, Pa., where on Jan. 17, 1769, he married Ann, daughter of Samuel and Ruth (Steel) Futhey. After marrying he lived in West Fallowfield township, Chester county, until 1774, when he removed to White Deer township, Northumberland, now Union county. In 1777 the Indians drove him and his family from their frontier home, and they went back to Chester county where they remained for four years. In 1781 they advanced a second time toward the frontier, moving as far westward as Dauphin county, where they tarried for three years, and then again journeyed to White Deer, where seven years before they had settled with the intention of permanently making their home. Samuel Dale was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and on Jan. 24, 1776, was commissioned captain of the Fourth company of the Second Battalion of the Northumberland County Associators com- CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 69 manded by Colonel James Potter, and was in the battle of Princeton. The same year he was elected a member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, and re-elected in 1777, 1778 and 1779. He helped twice to elect Joseph Reed President of the Supreme Executive Council; also helped elect John Dickinson, and later Benjamin Franklin, President of the same body. After the war (in 1795), he was elected State Senator, and afterward regularly re-elected until 1801. He was an undeviating Democrat, and an ardent supporter of equal rights. He died in 1804. In person, Samuel Dale was very tall, about six feet seven inches, and his walking stick, which was long preserved by the family, was a curiosity because of its great length. His children were also noted for their height, each of the sons measuring over six feet. They were slender and straight of form, were all well educated, and noted for their suavity of manner. Samuel and Ann (Futhey) Dale had the following children: Ruth, Samuel Futhey, William, Jane, James, Ann, Mary and Margaret. Samuel Futhey Dale, the second child of Samuel and Ann (Futhey) Dale, was born in West Fallowfield township, Chester county, his parents soon afterward settling upon the Pennsylvania frontier. The boy grew to manhood with very meager educational opportunities. Being possessed of a very vigorous mind he made good use of what advantages were within his reach, and managed to prepare himself fairly well for the useful career upon which he entered early in life. In 1800 he was appointed deputy surveyor of Venango county, and in the following year located in Franklin, the county seat of that county. In 1807 he was elected to represent Venango and Mercer counties in the State Legislature, and re-elected every year thereafter until 1813. In 1812, while attending the session of the Legislature sitting in Lancaster, he married Eliza Gundaker, oldest daughter of Michael Gundaker, of Lancaster. In the war of 1812 he was elected a colonel, his commission dating August, 1811, and among other services that he rendered, had command of troops who afforded protection to the workmen who prepared Commodore Perry's fleet at Erie. After the war was over he removed to Lancaster and permanently made his home there. In 1819 he was appointed an Associate Judge for Lancaster county, which position he held during the rest of his lifetime. He died Sept. 1, 1842. Eliza Gundaker, his wife, died July 5, 1830, and the remains of both rest in Woodland Cemetery in Lancaster City. On July 29, 1834, Judge Dale married for his second wife Leah Lightner, who was born in March, 1789, and died in February, 1886. Samuel F. and Eliza (Gundaker) Dale had issue as follows: Ann Mary, Michael Gundaker, William Walters, Barbara Ann Margaret, James John, Eliza Gundaker, Catharine Clementina, and Charles Henry. William Walters Dale, the fourth child and third son of the family, was born in Lancaster, Pa., Nov. 15, 1817. He was educated in the public schools, in the Lancaster County Academy, and Franklin College. With this preliminary training he began the study of medicine with Dr. Kerfoot, of Lancaster, and then entered Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, from which institution he graduated in 1838. After his graduation he located at Millersville, Lancaster county, but soon left there to come to Mechanicsburg, Cumberland county, where he and his brother James purchased a drug store. There he practiced medicine for several years, and assisted his 70 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. brother in the management of the drug store. He next moved to Turbutville, Northumberland county, and for a short time practiced there. From Turbutville he returned to Cumberland county, and for several years was located at New Kingstown, from which place he in 1847 removed to Carlisle, where he continued to practice until his death, Feb. 24, 1891. As a practitioner Dr. Dale was highly successful and popular, and was the only physician through the successive generations of some families at Carlisle, down to the close of his long professional career. He had the confidence and respect of his entire community, and his brethren of the profession entertained for him the same high regard. He was one of the organizers of the Cumberland County Medical Society, and twice its president. He was also a member of the Inter-State Medical Society, embracing Southern Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland, and twice its vice-president. During the Civil war he was assistant examining surgeon, and after the war long a member of the pension board for Cumberland county, and was one of the most widely known physicians of central Pennsylvania. As a business man Dr. Dale likewise ranked high. For thirty years he was a director of the Carlisle Deposit Bank, and at the time of his death its vice-president. He was president of the Carlisle Gas and Water Company; a member of the Board of Directors of the Carlisle Manufacturing Company; a trustee of the Metzger Female College, and active in the promotion of all enterprises that promised to advance the general good of the town. He was a Knight Templar and an Odd Fellow, and far advanced through the chairs of both orders. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian, having united with that Church at Silver Spring while yet a young man. Upon removing to Carlisle he united with the Second Presbyterian Church, and was a faithful member and earnest supporter of that congregation until his death. He was a man of strong convictions, and had a keen sense of the right, with the courage to allign himself with it, but was possessed of a gentle and gracious nature that won the confidence and respect of all with whom he came in contact. Dr. Dale was married June 1, 1841, to Miss Sarah Martin. daughter of James and Elizabeth (Basehore) Martin, of East Pennsboro township, the Rev. N. D. Stook performing the ceremony. To their union four children were born, namely: Elizabeth Gundaker, who married E. P. Imhoff, of Carlisle; Annie J., who married H. P. Cannon, of Bridgeville, Del., and to them three children have been born: Sara Dale, Harry Laws, and Katherine Dale; Kate C., unmarried; W. James, who married Annie Rhey and is now deceased.