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/739

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COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES

was made orderly sergeant when the company w as organized. l i e w as but nineteen years o f age when he was promoted to the rank o f first lieutenant, Dec. 9. 1862. .Among the en­ gagements in which he took part were those of Antietaiii and Fredericksburg, and at the latter he was struck in the knee by a piece of shell, from the effects o f which he luis never fully recovered. H e w as sent tu the hospital at (jcoi^ctown fo r treatment. From there he w as transferred to Jud iciary Square hospital, Washington, D. C . T he latter part of Jan uary, 1862, he rejoined his regiment at camp near Falmouth, V a., and w as with his conunand at the battle o f Chanceliursville, Va., M ay 1 to 5, 1863, after which he was discharged with his rc^m ciu at Harrisburg, Pa., M ay 2 4 ,18 6 3, on account of expiration o f term o f ser>*icc. A fte r spending a couple o f weeks at home he recruited another company. Company K, of the 30th P . V . I., became its captain Ju n e 20, 1863, and as such reentered the service. It w as assigned to the Department of the S u s­ quehanna under Gen. D. N . Couch. During its term o f six months this command was en­ gaged principally in guarding the Cumberland Valley railroad and on other duty in Pennsyl­ vania. On leaving the ann y the young officer b ^ n the study o f medicine with Dr. John K. Robins, o f Catawissa, and in l8 (^ entered Jefferson Medical College, attending until j 866. T hat year he began practice in Cen­ tralia, where he remained until his removal to Catawissa in 1867. In 1874 he rctum cd to Jefferson Medical College and completed the course in 1875. Settling again at Catawissa, he continued lo practice there until he went lo Rcanokc, V a., in August, 1883. On March 17, 1885, ‘‘ P residence at Bloomsburg, where his success w as immediate. H e has remained there since, in command o f a large jiatronage, and m.my of the most intelligent residents are numbered among his patients. H e has specialized in the treatment o f hernia for upwards o f twenty years. D r. Willits has also dealt extensively in real estate, ow'ning a number o f famts in Pennsylvania and in W est V'irginia, where he has also bought .and built a few houses. H e is a public-spirited man .and takes an active in­ terest in the town o f Bloomsburg. On March 29. 1866. Dr. W illits nurried M arcilia R. Reifsnydcr, o f Catawissa. She l>asscd aw ay Nov. 2. 1877. and on .April 9, 1879, he married M rs. Kate P. (Scott) R cifsnyder. daughter o f Geoige and M ary Scott. Politically the Doctor is a Republican, and he has served one term as councilman.

Socially he is a Knight Templar Mason and a mcmlicr of the G. A. K. M O R R IS O N E L IJ.A H JA C K S O N was bom in Berw ick, P a., Feb. 10, 18 17. H is father, Joe) Jackson, w as a native o f Goshen, N . Y ., and his mother of Cliesicr county, i ’a.. and of the Quaker faith. Mis father came to Benvick in the early part of the last century and resided there until his deaili, in 1830. M r. Jackson obtained such education as w as possible, mainly by his own efforts, and com­ menced the study of the law in his twentieth year with Judge Cooper, at Danville. H e was admitted to practice at the Columbia county bar on motion o f George A . F rick, E sq ., now deceased, on the 16th 0 1 November, 1840, and at Uie Luzem e county bar on the 5U1 o f Jan u ­ ary, 18 4 1. H e opened an office in Berw ick, where he remained in continuous practice, ap­ pearing, as occasion required, before the sev­ eral courts in Columbia, Luzem e, Montour, Sullivan, W yoming, Carbon and Schuylkill counties; also before the District and Supreme courts of the United States fo r the W u tc ra district, and the Supreme court of the State. H e was at Uic time of his death the senior member of the bar o f Columbia county, and president of the bar association. H e w as a successful practitioner, and held deservedly high place among his associates. In politics Mr. J[ackson belonged to Uie Dem­ ocratic party, which sent him to the Legisla­ ture in 1852, and w as an acUve member of the organization in the county, assisting in the yearly canvass with the force and effect that a posiuve man alw ays exerts. H is influence vezs also strong in its bearing on the borough gov­ ernment, and a s a memMr of the council he served a number o f terms to the advantage alike of the corporaUon and the taxpayers. In a business w ay he was a man possessed o f more than ordinary good judgment, and amassed a large property. From its incep­ tion he w as a director of the F irst National Bank, being a considerable stockholder therein and the attorney thereof. H e w as a trustee on behalf of the .State of the Normal School at Bloomsbuig. H e stood well up in the M a­ sonic fraternity, as a member of the Benvick lodge. H e belonged to the Methodist Episcol>al Clturch for twenty-seven years, and was a class leader tliercin a number o f years. M r. Jackson, in 1843. married .Anne S. G il­ more. and their children were a.s follow s: Charles Buckalew, who married Em m a Camp­ b ell; Anne Giltnore, w ife o f .Andrew K. Os-