History of Lancaster County Pennsylvania United States of America

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David Caldwell, educator, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., March 22, 1725. He was graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1761, and in 1763 was licensed to preach by the New Brunswick presbytery. He was ordained at Trenton, N. J., in 1765, and went as a missionary to North Carolina, holding pastorates in Alamance county, besides practising medicine and conducting a private classical school for fifty years. He was a member of the state constitutional convention that met at Halifax in 1776. He opposed the adoption of the Federal constitution in the convention called to ratify it. During the revolutionary war, Cornwallis offered a large reward for his capture, and allowed the troops to loot his plantation, burn his books, and destroy his property. He was offered the presidency of the University of North Carolina on its foundation in 1791, but declined the office. The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by the University of North Carolina in 1810. In 1812 in a sermon at the Alamance court house, when he was eighty-seven years old, he urged the duty of self-defence and the enlistment of volunteers to carry on the war with England. See biography by E. W. Caruthers, D.D. (1842). He died Aug. 25, 1824.

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

Simon Cameron, statesman, was born in Donegal, Lancaster county, Pa., March 8, 1799; son of Charles Cameron, a country tailor, whose ancestors of the third generation had immigrated to Pennsylvania from Scotland. Charles Cameron's life was a continual struggle with poverty, and at last his failure in business caused a dispersion of his family. Simon, then but nine years of age, was adopted by a physician, whose idea of fitting the boy for a medical career determined him, at the age of ten years, to apprentice himself to a printer, and after learning the trade he worked as a journeyman at Lancaster, Harrisburg and in the government printing office, Washington. While employed in the office of the Harrisburg Republican he met Samuel D. Ingham, then secretary of state for Pennsylvania, and owner of the Doylestown Democrat, which had fallen on evil days. He was invited by Ingham to undertake the editorship of the paper, and so cleverly did he fulfill the requirements of the position that the journal was shortly restored to popular favor, and he became a prominent figure in local political circles. In 1821 he purchased the Harrisburg Republican. which he renamed the Intelligencer. This paper he conducted with great ability, and his bold and vigorous advocacy of high tariff, and of John C. Calhoun as a candidate for the presidency, commanded the attention of statesmen and politicians everywhere. With increasing fame came increasing profits, and after five years he had command of sufficient funds to enable him to undertake large business operations, which soon netted him a handsome fortune. He was cashier of a bank, president of two railroad companies, and adjutant-general of the state. In 1845, upon the resignation of James Buchanan as United States senator, he was elected to fill the unexpired term, and as senator acted with the Democratic party. He retired from the senate, March 3, 1849. In 1854, upon the repeal of the Missouri compromise bill, Mr. Cameron left his party and helped to form the People's party. In 1857 the new party controlled the state legislature and elected Mr. Cameron to the senate, to succeed Richard Brodhead. During his second term he took a conspicuous part in the discussion of the vital question of the hour, and he was so pronounced in his advocacy of peace and conciliation that his loyalty to the Union was at the time questioned. He was one of the presidential candidates who had a strong support in the convention of 1860, and he failed of securing the nomination of vice-president on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln, through a lack of harmony in the Pennsylvania delegation. Immediately upon Mr. Lincoln's election, Mr. Cameron was called to a place in his cabinet, and, resigning his seat in the senate, March 4, 1861, became secretary of war. After the attack upon Fort Sumter, realizing that war was inevitable, Secretary Cameron advocated strenuous war measures, and went so far as to favor a proclamation of emancipation to all slaves who would desert their masters and enlist in the Union army. In this he stood alone among his associates, and feeling that his usefulness would be impaired by their opposition, he resigned his portfolio in January, 1862, and was at once appointed by President Lincoln minister to Russia. In November, 1862, he resigned this office as well, but during the short term of his occupancy he had succeeded in enlisting the friendship of Russia in the Federal cause. He was a delegate to the Baltimore convention of 1864, and to the Loyalists' Philadelphia convention of 1866, and he was again returned to the senate in 1867, succeeding Edgar Cowan. In 1873 he was elected to the senate for the fourth time. Not being in sympathy with the civil service policy inaugurated by President Hayes, and feeling inadequate to the undertaking of a conflict of such magnitude at his advanced age, he resigned his seat in 1877, and his son, James Donald Cameron, was at once elected his successor. Simon Cameron's control of his party in his own state was wellnigh absolute, and his consummate ability as a political leader was universally acknowledged. He became known as the "czar of Pennsylvania politics." He died at his home in Lancaster county, Pa., June 26, 1889.

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

Thomas Pym Cope, merchant, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., Aug. 26, 1768; son of Caleb Cope, a Quaker, who in 1775 protected Major Andr? from the mob. The son was trained to the importing and commission business in Philadelphia and became an extensive merchant and ship owner. He served in the state legislature, was a member of the city council, a delegate to the state constitutional convention, president of the board of trade and of the mercantile library company, an executor of Girard's will, a trustee of the bank and a director of the college. He helped to complete the Chesapeake and Delaware canal and the Pennsylvania railroad, and secured to the city Lemon Hill as a public park. His sons, Henry and Alfred, succeeded him in business as they in turn were succeeded by Francis and Thomas, sons of Henry, under the name Cope Brothers. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 22, 1854.

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

James Ewing, soldier, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., Aug. 3, 1736. His father came to Pennsylvania from the north of Ireland in 1734. James was a soldier in the provincial army and was commissioned lieutenant May 10, 1758. He served as a member of the general assembly of the state, 1771-75, and as a patriot was a member of the committee of safety for York county. He was a brigadier-general of the Pennsylvania troops, being, chosen July 4, 1776. In the attack on Trenton, N.J., he was prevented from taking part, being detained on the opposite bank of the river by the ice and a high wind. He was vice-president of Pennsylvania, 1782-84, a member of the assembly, 1784-89, and under the new constitution, 1789-95, and was a state senator, 1795-99. He helped to found Dickinson college and was a trustee of that institution, 1784-1806. He died in Hellam, Pa., March 1, 1806.

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

History of Lancaster County Pennsylvania

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