History of Cumberland County Pennsylvania United States of America

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Biographies:

Robert Cooper Grier, jurist, was born in Cumberland county, Pa., March 5, 1794; son of the Rev. Isaac Grier, D.D., a graduate of Dickinson, 1788, a Presbyterian clergyman, and principal of an academy at Northumberland, Pa. His maternal grandfather, Robert Cooper, was also a Presbyterian clergyman and received the honorary degree of D.D. from Dickinson in 1792. Robert Cooper Grier was prepared for college by his father and was graduated from Dickinson in 1812. He was an instructor at the college, 1812-13, returning to Northumberland in the latter year to become assistant to his father in the academy. He succeeded to the principalship on the death of his father in 1815 and continued in that position until 1817 when he was admitted to the bar. He practised in Bloomsburg, Pa., for one year and at Danville, Pa., 1818-33. In the latter year he removed to Pittsburg, Pa., where he was judge of the district court of Allegheny county. In 1846 he was appointed a justice of the U.S. Supreme court and in 1848 removed to Philadelphia, holding his seat upon the bench until his death. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Jefferson college in 1841. He was married in 1829 to Isabella, daughter of John Rose. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 26, 1870.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Bigler, governor of California, was born in Cumberland county, Pa., Jan. 8, 1804. He was of German descent. He entered the printing business at an early age, and edited for some time the Centre Democrat at Bellefonte, Pa. He devoted his spare time to reading law, and was admitted to the bar. From 1846 to 1849 he practised as a lawyer in Illinois, removing in the latter year to California. In 1852 he was elected governor of that state, was re-elected in 1853 for a term of two years, and was nominated in 1856 for a third term, but was defeated. He died Nov. 13, 1871.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Jeremiah McLene, representative, was born in Cumberland county, Pa., in 1767. He served in the American army during the Revolutionary war and in 1790 removed to Ohio, settling in Chillicothe. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1807-08, and secretary of the state, 1808-31. He removed to Columbus, Ohio, in 1816, when that city became the state capital. He was a Democratic elector from Ohio, in the electoral college of 1833 and a Democratic representative from Franklin county in the 23d and 24th congresses; 1833-37. He died in Washington, D.C., March 19, 1837.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Alfred Peffer, senator, was born in Cumberland county, Pa., Sept. 10, 1831; son of John and Elizabeth (Souder) Peffer, and a descendant of Philip Peffer, who emigrated from Holland about the middle of the 18th century and settled in central Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools of Cumberland county; taught in a country school, 1846-49; went to the California gold mines, 1850-52, and was married, Dec. 28, 1852, to Sarah Jane, daughter of William Barber of Papertown, Pa. He settled in St. Joseph county, Ind., in 1853, as a farmer, removed to Morgan county, Missouri, in 1859, and engaged in farming and teaching. He delivered a speech there on the defence of the Union, July 4, 1860, and, obliged to move North on account of his Union sentiments, settled in Warren county, Ill., in March, 1862. He enlisted as a private in the 83d Illinois volunteer infantry in August, 1862; was promoted 2d lieutenant the following March, serving in various responsible positions by detail regimental quartermaster, adjutant, post-adjutant, judge advocate of a military commission, and concluding his service as depot quartermaster in the engineering department at Nashville, Tenn. He was honorably discharged, June 26, 1865. He began his law practice in Clarksville, Tenn., in August, 1865, and attempted the organization of a conversative Union party, embodying the right of free schools, free speech and free press. He removed to Kansas in 1870; settled on a claim in Wilson county; established a law practice, and began the publication of the Fredonia Journal. He was elected state senator in 1874, and was chairman of the joint legislative committee on the Centennial exposition in 1876. He engaged in the practice of law in the adjoining county of Montgomery, 1875-78, and established the Coffeyville Journal in 1875. He was a presidential elector on the Garfield and Arthur ticket in 1880, and in 1881 became editor of the Kansas Farmer at Topeka. He was elected U.S. senator by the People's party and served, 1891-97; was ehman of the committee to examine the several branches of the civil service, and a member of the committees on claims, pensions, agriculture, census, railroads, and improvement of the Mississippi River. He was defeated as Prohibition candidate for governor of Kansas in 1898, and took an active part in the campaign of 1900, favoring the re-election of McKinley. He wrote many articles on political science for the Forum and the North American Review, and is the author of: Myriorama (1869); The Carpet Bag-ger in Tennessee (1869); Geraldine, or What May Happen (1882); Peffer's Tariff Manual (1888); The Way Out (1890); The Farmers' Side (1891); Americanism in the Philippines (1900); Rise and Fall of Populism in the United States (1900), and in 1901 began the preparation of a subject index to the debates of congress from 1789 to date.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Cumberland County Pennsylvania

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