Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/537

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COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES

Sterner ha$ been carrying on business on his own account since. H e is a member of the Friendship F ire Company. Mr. Sterner married Slargarct E. O 'Neal, daughter o f Thom as J. and Mar>’ (R einhart) O ’ Neal, o f .Mechariicsburg, Cumberland coun* ty, and they have three children: M aria, who is now studying music at the Bloomshurg State Normal School: and Eugene and .Mar* iretta, who are attending public school, he fam ily are Presbyterians in religious asso­ ciation. Politically .Mr. Sterner is a Democrat.

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H ariranft. In 1879 he was honored with an appoinUneni by Governor Hoyt, making him quartermaster general, which office he held at the time o f his deatli. H e was chosen as a delegate to State and national conventions and took an active part in the management of his party. H e w as vice president of the Jackson Woodin M anufacturing Company, president of the rolling mill, a director of the First Na­ tional Bank, and a member of the firms of Jackson, Woodin & Jackson, bankers, and Jackson Bros. & Crispin. H e w as a trustee of Dickinson College and of the State Nomtal School at Bloomsbury. H e was a director of the schooU o f Berwick and a trustee o f tbe Methodist Church, alt o f which positions he filled with great credit and unusual ability. On Feb. 1, 1866, M r. Jackson w as married to Elizabeth Seybert, who bore him two chil­ dren. Henrietta M. and Jan e B. Air. Jackson was one of the substantial busi­ ness men o f Pennsylvania and one of the prominent members of the Republican party, lis wide acquaintance, his liberal view s and his w lit ija l acumen made him one of the chief advisers of the party, and he w as promincntly mentioned for the highest office in the g ift of the State.

C O L. C L A R E N C E G E .A R H A R T JA C K SO N w as bom in Berw ick, Pa., Afarch 25, 1842. He was a son o f M. W. and M argaret (G earh art) Jackson. A t (he age o f fourteen he entered Dickinson Seminary, at Williamsport. Pa., where two years later he graduated with the highest honors o f his class. I Ic then entered Dickinson C oU ^c, at Carlisle, Pa., where at the age o f eighteen he graduated at the head o f his class. .After his c o l l i e career he returned home, where he remained during the eventful period covering the bi^iiining of the Civil war. A l Ihe age o f twenty years he felt that it w as his duty to aid his country, and entered its service Aug. 2 ,18 6 2, as second lieu­ tenant o f Company H. 84th Regiment, Penn­ sylvania Volunteers. On Jan . 2d of the fol­ W IL L IA M S . F I S H E R, farm er, P. O. lowing year he w as promoted to first lieutenant and passed safely through many sanguinary Afainville, Columbia Co., P a., was bom 00 battles. At Chancellorsville he was captured the Fisher homestead in Afain township, Co­ by the enemy and taken to Libby prison, where lumbia county, on March 7, 1836, a son of he remained many months, but not without John and Ju d a ( K ie fe r ) Fisher. making a daring attempt at c.scaping. H e with T he Fisher fam ily is o f German origin, his companions succeeded in getting away being descendants o f Johann Nfichael Ktsdier. from the prison to the country, but was cap­ who came to this country in 1746 and located tured and brought back. Later Ite w as ex­ in Berks county, Pa., whence has sprung a changed and appointed to a captaincy, serving powerful fam ily wilh widespread connections. in that capacity until the close of the war. At Henry Fisher, son o f Ilcnr)* and Susanna (he battle of the W ilderness he was wounded (K uth) Fisher, of Heidelberg township, and again taken prisoner, and returned to the Berks Co., Pa., the grandfather o f W illiam S. pri.son from which he had been released but a Fisher, moved to Columbia county in 1821. short time before. His stay, howc’cr. was He settled in what is now Main township, buy­ short, for he w as included among six hundred ing a tract o f land comprising 400 acres. He officers who were taken to Charleston and married Elizabeth Bastuss, also born in Berks placed under the fire of the Federal cannon county, and both are buried in the F ish er cem­ that thundered on them from Fort Aloultrie. etery in Main township. M r. Fisher gave the From Charleston they were taken to Columbia land fo r the church behind which the cemetery and pUced in a giuirdcd field, with no roof lies, and in compliment to him it w*as given his lo shelter them, and where they dug under­ name. Henry Fisher w is among the pioneers ground cells for themselves. H e %vas finally o f this district and w as rc c t^ iz e d as one of exchanged and returned home to engage in a its leading men. He and his w ife had children more peaceful occupation. as follow s: John. Henry, .Solomon. Jonathan. In 1870 M r. Jackson was appointed m ajor Elizabeth (w ho married Benjamin K crcher). on the staff o f General Osborne and later pro- M aria (w ho married John D ecm er), Cathmotcd to colonel on the staff o f Governor erine (w ho married Christ F e g le y), Alice