BIO: George Mifflin Dallas ECKELS, A.M., Sc.D., 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 48-52 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ GEORGE MIFFLIN DALLAS ECKELS, A.M., Sc.D. The name Eckels is spelled in various ways. It most frequently occurs on the earlier records spelled Eccles, which is probably the original spelling, but at the present day it is generally spelled Eckels, which form is preferred by the branches of the family touched upon in this sketch. In the Eckels family there has long been cherished a tradition that a child in the kinship was born upon the sea, while its parents were on the way to America. The story has it that the elder Eckels, with his family. set sail from Ireland in a ship that became disabled, and had to return to the port from which it started for repairs. While out the Eckels child was born, and on the vessel's return the family disembarked. concluding to defer migrating to America till some more suitable time. Soon afterward the wife died, which event, for the time being, ended the project of finding a home in the new country beyond the sea. In course of time Mr. Eckels married again. and finally reached America, settling in what was then western Pennsylvania. This progenitor, it is said, had six children by his first marriage, and six by his second. Among his children by his first marriage were a Nathaniel and a Francis, and among his children by his second, a James. Accounts differ as to whether CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 49 it was Nathaniel or Francis that was born upon the sea, but viewed from the standpoint of the present, the weight of circumstances favors the theory that it was Francis. Nathaniel, Francis and James are favorite names in the Eckels family, and the first to appear upon the records of Cumberland county. They were sons of the first Eckels, who came to this part of America. Finding the section they first settled in too wild and dangerous a locality, they came into the lower Cumberland Valley, and cast their lot with their Scotch-Irish kindred and acquaintances. Nathaniel Eckels took up his abode in East Pennsboro in 1779, and remained there until in 1787. He then moved west of Carlisle, and for about twenty years lived in the townships of West Pennsboro and Dickinson. John Huston, a brother-in-law, also from East Pennsboro, moved to that locality about the same time, and it is probable that their going there simultaneously was by mutual arrangement. While living in that part of the county, it appears, he was a member of the Big Spring Presbyterian Church, for in December, 1787, the southern part of that congregation asked the consent of the session to the appointment of one of their number as a ruling elder, and among the signers to the petition was Nathaniel Eckels. In 1810 he returned to East Pennsboro, and for a year or two lived upon the farm of another brother-in-law, also named John Huston. This farm is now (1904) owned by Abraham Gutshall. Here his second wife died, and he soon afterward bought a small property situated near the North Mountain, just east from the Stony Ridge, now owned by the estate of the late William Jacobs. After living here a few years he retired from active life, and for the rest of his days made his home in the family of his youngest son. Nathaniel Eckels was twice married. It is not now ascertainable who his first wife was, but it is said that by her he had children as follows: Samuel, Charles, John,, James, Nathaniel and a daughter whose name is unknown. His second wife was. Mrs. Isabella (Huston), Clendenin, a daughter of Samuel and Isabella (Sharon) Huston, whose first husband was James Clendenin, a son of John and Janet (Huston) Clendenin. On the farm where Nathaniel; Eckels lived for a short time after his return: to East Pennsboro, there is a famous burying ground, which is now almost obliterated. It was first located deep in a pine wood, from which circumstance it was named Pine Hill Graveyard, and it is still so designated, though the wood with its tall pines long ago. entirely disappeared. Nathaniel Eckels, his two wives, and four of his children by his first wife, are buried in that graveyard. By his second marriage Nathaniel Eckels had children: William, born March 3, 1787, died Nov. 15, 1861; and Francis, born April 1, 1791, died Feb. 6, 1860. Francis Eckels, the second son, was born in West Pennsboro township, and grew to manhood in that part of the country. He was reared on the farm, but like most farmers in those days did much wagoning on the road, and while yet quite young drove his father's team to Baltimore and back. His long and useful career marks him as a man of more than average intellect, and of great strength of character, but it nowhere appears that he received any education other than what the country schools of the period. afforded. He early in life engaged at coopering, which seems to have been the family trade, as his brother William started as a cooper, as did also some of his other near Eckels relatives. He also did merchandizing and scrivening, and gave so much 50 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. attention to public affairs that while yet comparatively young he was singled out for places of trust and responsibility. From 1818 till his death in 1860 he was justice of the peace, first by appointment by the Governor of the State, and afterward by election by the people. From 1829 to 1831 inclusive he was county commissioner; in 1843 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, serving one term. Besides filling these offices of honor and responsibility he for a long time was school director, and almost continuously engaged in the settlement of estates. In church work he was equally energetic and prominent, and from November, 1840, to the day of his death held the position of ruling elder in the old Silver Spring Presbyterian Church. On April 3, 1817, Francis Eckels was married by the Rev. Henry R. Wilson, then pastor of the Silver Spring Church, to Isabella Clendenin, of East Pennsboro, who was born Feb. 2, 1790, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Caldwell) Clendenin. Soon after their marriage Mr. Eckels purchased a small home in the north-western part of East Pennsboro, and lived there until in 1829. In the spring of that year he moved to a large farm on the south side of the Conedoguinet Creek, and for almost all the remainder of his lifetime engaged at farming. In October, 1834, he purchased a farm a short distance to the north of New Kingstown, in Silver Spring township, took possession of it in the following spring, and, improving it, made it his home for the rest of his working days. To Francis and Isabella (Clendenin) Eckels were born the following children: Nathaniel Huston; Elizabeth; Agnes; Isabella; John Clendenin; William Penn; and Catherine A. Nathaniel Huston Eckels, eldest child of Francis, was born Dec. 29, 1817, in the northwestern part of what is now Silver Spring township, where his parents began their married life. He continued at home on the farm until almost a man grown, when he for a short time held a clerkship in the store of William and Thomas Loudon, in New Kingstown. Later on he taught school, and was the first teacher of the Mt. Pleasant school in Silver Spring township, then known as the McHoe school. That was in the winter of 1838-39, soon after the law establishing free schools went into operation. Twenty-five years afterward his son, George M. D. Eckels, taught his first term of school at the same place. In 1846 he moved from New Kingstown to the north side of the Conedoguinet Creek in Hampden township, to a farm which his father had bought, and of which he afterward acquired the ownership. While living here, in the winters of 1847-48 and 1848-49, he taught the school on the State Road long known as Shaull's. In 1870 he sold his farm in Hampden township, and bought one a short distance north of New Kingstown, where he spent the remainder of his days. He died Jan. 21, 1871, and is buried in the Longsdorf graveyard near New Kingstown station. Nathaniel H. Eckels had no educational training except what he gained in the country schools of his day, but being naturally of a bright mind he acquired much information through persistent reading, and by intercourse with intelligent people, and was regarded as a leader in the community in which he lived. He took great interest in public affairs, was an active worker in the Democratic party, and in 1858 was elected county commissioner, which responsible position he filled satisfactorily at a very trying period of the country's existence. He was a member of the Lutheran Church at New CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 51 Kingstown, as were nearly all of his immediate family. On Sept. 15, 1840, Nathaniel H. Eckels married Margaret Williams, daughter of George and Elizabeth (Slonaker) Williams, by whom he had children as follows: Francis Luther, George Mifflin Dallas, Elizabeth Jane, Isabel Catharine, John Clendenin, Sarah Agnes, Margaret Alice, James Milton and Mary Gertrude. George Mifflin Dallas Eckels, the second son of Nathaniel H., was born in a log house on the old Saxton farm near New Kingstown, Dec. 23, 1844, and spent the first eighteen years of his life upon the farm, and in attending the country district school. He then spent three terms at the Millersville State Normal School, preparing himself for teaching, and in the winter of 1863-64 taught his first term at the Mt. Pleasant school in Silver Spring township, as above stated. He next taught in Hampden township; then again in Silver Spring; then for a year was assistant principal of the Wickersham Academy at Marietta, Pa. After this he taught in New Kingstown, and then for six years in the schools of Mechanicsburg. In addition to the course of instruction received at the Millersville normal school he took, while teaching, private instruction from competent teachers in Latin, Greek and French. He had already made arrangements with Dr. Brown, head of the faculty of the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, to enter in the fall of 1871 upon a theological course, when the death of his father interrupted his plans, and he continued in the work of teaching. In this field he has found rich opportunity for rendering his best services to his fellowmen, and he has never regretted the fact that circumstances uniformly held him fast to the profession of teaching. In May, 1878, he was a candidate for county superintendent of public schools, and made a creditable showing, but was not elected. In the summer of 1878 he entered into a partnership in the general merchandizing business at New Kingstown with his brother-in-law, W. H. Humer. This partnership was dissolved in the early part of 1882. In the fall of that year he was elected a member of the lower branch of the Pennsylvania Legislature as a Democrat, and reelected in 1884. In the Legislature he served on the most important committees, such as Ways and Means, Judiciary General, Constitutional Reform, Agriculture and Elections, and on all of them was efficient and influential. In the special session called by Governor Pattison to apportion the State, a duty which was neglected in the regular session, he was honored with an appointment on the Apportionment committee, which was the sole committee of the House for this special session. He delivered what was considered to be, from the Democratic standpoint, the ablest argument for a fair apportionment presented to the House at that session. During his second term in the Legislature the marriage license law of the State was placed upon the statute books largely through his influence and efforts. He led the Democratic forces in support of the Bullit bill, and made its passage in the House possible, and was an ardent friend of all legislation calculated to promote the cause of education. He was urged by leaders of his party at the end of his second term to become a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, but refused to consider the matter on the ground that he wished to retire from politics. There were strong influences at work to have him appointed superintendent of public instruction at the close of Dr. Waller's term of office, but he refused to co-operate with his friends in the matter because he believed that Dr. 52 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. Schaeffer's claims for the position were superior to his own, and in a personal interview with the Governor recommended Dr. Schaeffer's appointment. Before his second term in the Legislature was ended, he was elected an instructor in the Cumberland Valley State Normal School, and two years later was promoted to the important chair of Pedagogics and General History. In 1888 Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburg, after a searching inquiry into his ability and worth, honored him with the degree of Master of Arts, and in 1892 the same institution conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Science. In 1889 he was made principal of the Cumberland Valley State Normal School, which position he has held continuously ever since, a period of over fifteen years. He has worked hard in season and out of season, and the school under his careful and prudent management has prospered beyond the expectations of its most sanguine friends. Part of his duties as principal consists in lecturing at teachers' institutes and other educational gatherings, which work he has done so well that he has long been regarded as one of the leading educators of Pennsylvania, and the institution of which he is the efficient head, as one of Pennsylvania's most successful and promising normal schools. On June 6, 1872, Dr. Eckels was married to Anna, daughter of Daniel and Jane (Brownawell) Humer, and to their union have been born the following children: Minnie Gertrude, born March 7, 1873; George Humer, born Dec. 8, 1875; Nathaniel Ort, born Jan. 12, 1880. Minnie Gertrude is a graduate of the Cumberland Valley State Normal School, and of Bucknell University. She belonged to the first honor group in her class at Bucknell, and is now taking post graduate work at Pennsylvania University. George Humer Eckels is a graduate of the Scientific Course of the Cumberland Valley State Normal School, and of the classical course of Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa., belonging to the honor list of his class in the latter institution; he has also taken post graduate work in Latin and Greek at Cornell University, and he is at present principal of the Atlantic City High School. He was married Dec. 20, 1900, to Nettie Bae Roop, daughter of Dr. J. W. and Sarah Elizabeth (Harp) Roop, of Harrisburg, Pa., and they have one child, Elizabeth Anna, born Dec. 21, 1901. Nathaniel Ort Eckels is a graduate of the Cumberland Valley State Normal, and of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and at present is proprietor of a drug store in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.