S

Schnebly, Dr. Henry Shafer, Houseman
Schnebly, Henry Fackler
Schnebly, John Rench, Wetzel
Schnebly, Dr. Jacob Claggett
Schnebly, Col. David Wolgamot
Schnebly, Elizabeth Barnett
Schweitzer, AbrahamFordney, Louisa
SCOTT, Thomas ALexander
Shoap, John Gerrick, Heberlig
Shunk, Francis Rawn
Stake, Daniel

Sourse: BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF FRANKLIN CO., PA 1905, page 289-290

SCHNEBLY. The first of this family in America,

Dr. Henry Schnebly, was born Dec. 7, 1728, at Zurich, Switzerland,
and emigrated to this country in 1750, landing at New York. There
he was taken sick and was obliged to remain for some time. After his
recovery he went to Washington county, Md., and having only means enough
left to pay the expenses incident to his illness, made the journey on
foot. There, by his skill and industry in the practice of medicine, he
soon acquired the means of purchasing the tact of land called the
"Garden of Eden," five miles north of Hagerstown. At the time of his
death he was one of the largest landholders in Washington county,
and besides the property situated where he first settled, owned land
in Kentucky (where Elizabethtown is now situated) and in Berkley county,
W. Va., near the Springs. He left a farm to each grandchild who was called
for him. He married Miss ELIZABETH SHAFER, and they had four
sons and one daughter:
1. HENRY(II)
2. JOHN (III)
3. JACOB (IV)
4. DAVID (V)
5. ELIZABETH(VI)
After the death of his first wife, Ekizabeth, Dr. Schnebly married Mrs. Margaret
Houseman. He died July 24, 1805, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.

(II) HENRY SCHNEBLY, eldest son of Dr. Schnebly, was born, Feb. 2, 1756,
and died in Hagerstown, July 15, 1787, aged thirty-one years, five months and thirteen
days; he was buried at the German Reformed Church. He married CATHERINE
FACKLER, and had one. son:
1. DANIEL (VII).

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(III) JOHN SCHNEBLY, second son of DR. Schneby, was born SEpt. 3, 1758, and
when twenty-four years old, on Nov. 5, 1782, was married to CATHARINE RENCH
(daughter of John and Margaret Rench) who was then eighteen years old, having been born
in 1764. They had eight sons and three daughters, all except Joseph being born on the
"Garden of Eden" farm:
1. HENRY (VIII)
2. JOHN (IX)
3. JACOB (X)
4. HENRY.
5. DAVID (died in infancy)
6. DANIEL HENRY (XI)
7. PETER (XII)
8. JOSEPH RENCH (XIII).
9. MARGARET (XIV)
10. ELIZABETH (XV)
11. MARY (died Oct. 21, 1817, aged seventeen years).
Mrs. Catharine Rench passed away on 1804, in her fortieth year, and on Jan. 7,
1808, John Schnebly married Miss Catharine Wetzel, of Staunton, Va. There
was no issue by this marriage. John Schneby was the owner of eight or nine hundred acres of
land, was engaged in farming, and lived at the place called "Ashton Hall."
He was universally beloved and respected. He died March 20, 1833, aged seventy-four years, six
months and seventeen days.

(IV) DR. JACOB SCHNEBLY, third son of Dr. Schnebly, lived in Hagerstown where he
practiced medicine. He was in very good circumstances. He married Miss CASSANDRA CLAGGETT,
of the same place, and they had nine children:
1. ELIZA.
2. HENRY CLAGGETT (XVI)
3. SOPHIA
4. William (XVII)
5. Elizabeth
6. Louisa
7. THOMAS (XVIII)
8. MARY (XIX)
9. SALLIE
Of the above family Eliza, Louisa, Sophia and Sallie all died unmarried,
the first two names surviving their parents many years, and attaining a
good old age. They died in Hagerstown in the house where they were born,
and where their lives were passed.

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(V) COL. DAVID SCHNEBLY, fourth son of Dr. Schnebly,
lived and died on the old homestead, the "Garden of Eden."
He married Mary Wolgamot, of Williamsport, Washington Co.,
Md., who survived him thiety-six years, dying in the
104th year of her age. She celebrated her one hundredth
anniversary, presiding at the table and entertaining her
guest with ease and elegance all day. There is a memorial
window in the German Reformed Church of Hagerstown in the
memory of herself and husband, they having been members
of that church and generous contributors to its support.
At the Colonel's death Mrs. Schnebly inherited the estate.
The property had been entailed by his father's will, but the Colonel
had that part of the will set aside by the Legislature (of which he was a member),
and at the death of Mrs. Schnebly
the property all went to her relatives, as she and the Colonel had no children.

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(VI) ELIZABETH SCHNEBLY, daughter of Dr. Schnebly,
married Jacob Barnett, a German, who after their
marriage became a farmer and distiller. They lived
and died on the banks of the Conococheague, in
Washington Co., Md.
They had nine children:
1. Henry
2. Jacob
3. John
4. David
5. Betsy
6. Susan
7. Cassandra
8. Mary
9. Nancy

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SOURCE: Notes taken from: GUNSMITHS OF PEN-MAR-VA, 1790-1840, by William S. Bowers

ABRAHAM SCHWEITZER, Franklin County Gunsmith. The earliest note of
Abraham Schweitzer appears in the 1794 General Hand Report of gunsmiths of
Lancaster Couinty that produced rifles for the Continel Army. He was 25 years
of age at this report.
It is difficult to say whom he was apprenticed with, but this man is definetly
associated with Lancaster County.
In April 1795, he borrowed $66.00 from his father-in-law Jacob Fordney,
the Elder of Lancaster, and removed to Chambersburg, Franklin County, with his
wife Elizabeth. He set up shop on South Front Street in a house rented
of Joseph Clark. One year later, Matthais Haverstick, Goldsmith and Jeweler, of
Lancaster advertised in the Franklin Resposity that he is commencing business
on the Main Street, next door to Mr. Abraham Scheitzer.
Schweitzer remained at this location until 1801. moving that year to the
North East Corner of Front and King Streets. On August 27, 1805, Benjamin
Colhoun sells this tract to Schweitzer for L300. Colhoun was a former town
resident, a son of Dr. John Colhoun. Schweitzer remained on this corner until
his death in December 1831.
Through alll of his taxable years as a gunsmith, he never owned anything but
a log house and lot, a horse and a gow, and often they were listed as second
rate. He reared eight children besides the apprentices taken from time to time.
The Chambersburg Franklin Respository carried the following obituary December
27, 1831: Died On Wednesday last, after a protracted ans painful illness, Mr
Abraham Schweitzer of this boro. The deceased was one amoung our oldest
residents and no one can say but that his character and his principal aim
through a long life, ever were any other that good will to his fellow men.
We may with truth say of him, he was the noblest work of God-an honest
man-as a neighbor, he was kind and obliging-as a friend, warm and sincere.
He has left a kind and affectionate wife and several children to lament
their berevement-but let them take consolation in the pleasing reflectiom
that their last is his gain.
Abraham Schweitzer had three sons, John and JAcob who were gunsmiths, and
David, a piano maker, who was a single freeman in 1832. John Schweitzer
first appears in the Franklin County tax assessment for 1826, listed as
a gunsmith, Single Freeman. He is taxed on this rating until 1829, when
he married of Chambersburg, in September
of this year. He disappears from our records, but the 1850 Census lists a
John Schweitzer, gunsmith, working in Greenville, Ohio. His age was 45 and
born in Pennsylvania. Perhaps this is abraham's son?
Jacob continued in Chambersburg until his death in 1864, and David is no
longer kisted after 1832 in the County. Nothing is noted of his (Abraham's)
five daughters except Mary who was married to Alexander Allison. She
issued divorce procedings against him in 1824 using her father as a witness.
Jacob Schweitzer, a son of Abraham, was born in 1810. His first
taxable year in Franklin County as a gunsmith was 1833. In 1834 he and
his wife Catherine Louisa(born in Maryland 1813) granted their 1/9 interest for $65.00
to Mary Schweitzer, being the interest of said Jacob as one ofnthe heirs
of Abraham.
Jacob gave up gunsmithing in 1836 to work for the newly formed Franklin
Railroad Company until his death in 1864. Jacob lived on North Second Street,
almost at the point where Front Street intersects with Second. It was at
this place tragedy struck, as the account carried by the Valley Spirit paper
of Chambersburg, November 2, 1864
A Citizen Murdered

Mr Jacob Schweitzer a highly respected citizen, and a man of the
most devout piety, was murdered in the most brutal manner, on
Wednesday night last, in this place. The circumstances attending
the murder, so far as we could ascertain them are about as follows:
On the night of the murder, a squad of cavalrymen made an attack on
Mr. Schweitzer's home demanding admittance and alleging that he was
a bounty jumper etc., being a mere pretext to get into the house.
Mr. Schweitzer ordered them away when they drew up in front of the
house and presented their carbines to fire into the windows. Mr.
Schweitzer then left the house and went a few doors off to a neighbor
to get him to come to his protection. Whilst standing at the door
of his neighbor's house, he was struck a tremendous blow on the
back part of his head by some heavy weapon, and fell to the earth
dying almost instantly. The cavalrymen who were around the body
weere arrested, and before the coroner's jury made such contradictory
statements, togather with some other evidence that appeared to
implicate them, that the jury seemed warrantef in authorizing their
commitment to stand their trail for the murder.
Chambersburg was burned July 30, 1864, The writer has no record of the trail.

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The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume IX

SCOTT, Thomas Alexander, railroad president, was born in London,
Franklin County, Pa., Dec. 28, 1824; son of Thomas Scott, the keeper of
"Tom Scott's Tavern" on the old limestone turnpike from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.
He attended the country schools in winter, worked on the farm in summer, and
served as clerk in stores in Waynesboro, Bridgeport, and Mercersburg. He was
clerk to the toll collector at Columbia on the state road, 1841=E2=80=9347;
chief clerk to the collector of tolls in Philadelphia, and in 1851 entered the
employ of the Pennsylvania railroad. He was general-superintendent of the
mountain district, with headquarters at Duncasville, 1852=E2=80=9357; general
agent of the Pittsburg office, 1853=E2=80=9355; general superintendent of the
entire line as successor to General Lombaert, 1855=E2=80=9359; and vice president,
1859==E2=80=9361. He was appointed on the staff of Gov. Andrew G. Curtin, and in
1861, with the aid of the U.S. troops, opened the new line of railway from
Washington to Philadelphia. He was commissioned colonel of volunteers May 3, 1861,
and was put in control of all government railways and telegraphs. He was assistant
secretary of war under Secretary Cameron, 1861, and under Secretary Stanton,
until May, 1862. He utilized the transportation of the northwest and of the
western rivers for the benefit of the U.S. army. On Sept. 24, 1863, he
accepted a government commission to repair the railroads and superintend the
transportation of the 11th and 12th army corps sent through Nashville to
General Rosecrans at Chattanooga, and he served as assistant quartermaster
general on the staff of General Hooker. He was chosen president of the
western division of the Pennsylvania railroad in 1861, president of the
Pennsylvania Company, the agency through which the Pennsylvania; railroad
obtained leases of connecting roads to the west and of the "Pan Handle Route"
1871. He was also the president of the Union Pacific railroad, 1871=E2=80=
=9372, and of the Pennsylvania railroad, 1874=E2=80=9380, resigning in 1880,
on account of failing health. He was the founder and first president of the
Texas Pacific railroad. He died in Darby, Pa., May 21, 1881.

Submitted by: Sharon Lantzy Wygant SSchu22739@aol.com

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Sourse: BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF FRANKLIN CO., PA 1905, page 924

JOHN SHOAP,farmer, P. O. Shippensburg, was born November 30, 1819,
in Cumberland County, Penn. His grandfather, Nicholas Shope (as the name was
then spelled) a blacksmith, came from Germany and settled in this county.
He was married, reared several children and died near Roxbury. His son,
William Shope, who was a farmer, died in Cumberland County, when over ninety
years of age. He married Nancy Gerrick, who also died there, the mother of
the following named children: Maria, Betsey, Agnes, John, Martha, William,
and Ann. Of these John Shoap, our subject, was reared, on the farm and has
the followed agriculture all his life. In 1849 he married, and resided
three years in Mifflin Township, Cumberland County; later came to Franklin
County and farmed one year on the John Smith place. In the spring of 1854
he came to the farm of Dr. Rankin and carried it on for nineteen years.
It was then sold to Mr. McClean, and Mr. Shoap still remains as a tenant.
He proposes to relinquish farming the coming spring (of 1887) and remove
to the borough of Shippensburg. His wife is Baebara A., daughter of
Samuel Heberlig, of Cumberland County, Penn., and their children are
Samuel H., Mary C., S. Ann, Hannah J., William John, David R. Emma E.,
and Edward. Mary C. married William Kitzmiller, and is now deceased. Mr.
Shoap is identified with the Democratic party. The family attend the
worship of the German Reformed Church.

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The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume IX

SHUNK, Francis Rawn, governor of Pennsylvania, was born at the Trappe,
Montgomery county, Pa., Aug. 7, 1788; son of John and Elizabeth (Rawn) Shunk;
grandson of Francis and great-grandson of Casper Shunck, who immigrated from
the palatinate of the Rhine, Germany, about 1715, and of Caspar Rawn, a
native of the same palatinate. He was employed on his father's farm from
early boyhood: was largely self-educated, attended a local school in the
Trappe and taught school, 1803=E2=80=9312, at the same pursuing a course of
study and working at home in the summer. He was clerk to Andrew Porter,
surveyor-general of Pennsylvania, at Harrisburg, 1812=E2=80=9314; studied law
under Thomas Elder of that city, and served in the defences of Baltimore, Md.,
in 1814. He was admitted to the bar in 1816; was an assistant and subsequently
chief clerk of the state house of representatives, 1822=E2=80=9329; secretary
of the board of canal commissioners of Pennsylvania; and secretary of state
under Governor Porter, 1838=E2=80=9342. He practised law in Pittsburg, Pa.,
and was elected Democratic governor of Pennsylvania for two terms,
serving from 1845 to July 9, 1848, when he resigned on account of ill health.
He was married, Dec. 14, 1820, to Jane, daughter of William Findlay, governor of
Pennsylvania, and Agnes Irwin, both of Franklin county, Pa. Their son,
William Findlay Shunk, was chief engineer of the elevated roads, New York and
Brooklyn, and author of: "A Practical Treatise on Railway Curves" (1854);
"The Field Engineer" (1881), and their grandson, Capt. Francis Rawn Shunk,
was graduated from the U.S. Military academy in 1887, and on July 5, 1898,
was assigned to the battalion of engineers. Governor Shunk died in
Harrisburg, Pa., July 30, 1848. [p.363]

Submitted by: Sharon Lantzy Wygant SSchu22739@aol.com

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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY, 1887 page 758

DANIEL STAKE, farmer P. O. Amberson's Valley, was born in Amberson's
Valley, December 16, 1818, in a log cabin one mile south of the Upper
Post Office, the fifth son of Peter and Anna (Myers) Stake. He left
home on attaining his majority an d learned the carpenter's trade which
he followed several years. In 1852 he took charge of the old Franklin
tannery, which he conducted for eighteen years for Mr. McLean, after
which he located on the farm he now owns, and which he purchased prior
to becoming connected with the tannery. He has an excellent farm of 150
acres, well improved ans situated in the heart of the valley. His wife
Mary, was born in the valley, in 1814, a daughter of Robert
and Nancy (Bleckenridge) Culbertson. Mr. and Mrs. Stake have five
children: Henrietta, wife of James Heffefinger of Cumberland
County; Frances, wife of John A. Shoemaker; Denton, located
in this township; Robert, residing in Cumberland County; and Grier J.
Mr.Stake is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. Gre]ier Johnston
Stake was born in March 1857, and is the youngest of the family. He
married Jennie Hammond, who was born in this valley, a daughter
of Daniel and Ellen (Skinner) Hammond, and they have three children:
Mollie E, Wisley P. and Tona O. He has had charge of the home farm since
1879; is a member of the Methodist Protestant Church: of the L.O.O.F.,
No 319, and A.F. & A.M., No 262.

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