indeed, during his town rule, do many things in politics, as also in prosecuting his practice in the courts, from which a man less resolute and unscrupulous would have shrunk. His motives, however, must be judged by the rule of success pursued in conformity with law, for in business it is not supposed he acknowledged the obligation of any higher rule than the law of the land.

But now, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, it must be recorded to his credit that much we value about Norristown is the result of his judgment, perseverance, and pluck. Mr. Sterigere deserves in this, therefore, to be set down by the historian as a genuine reformer and public benefactor.

It only remains now to record Mr. Sterigere's private life and describe more accurately his moral and mental characteristics. As before stated, he was a man of marked peculiarities; not of rough exterior, but a very beau in air, countenance and personal appear ance. He was courtly to ladies, and on rare occasions gallanted them to public assemblies, but was never drawn into matrimonial entanglements. He lived and died an honest bachelor.

We never heard his personal purity called in question, and though he had been much in public employment, thrown in the way of temptations of all kinds, yet his chastity and sobriety were never impeached by any one. Whether he had been disappointed in an early love, like his life-long friend, Mr. Buchanan, must ever remain a secret; but that he had a soft spot in his heart toward the sex was manifested in the pleasure he used to take in romping with little girls. Nothing gave him more enjoyment than purchasing and bestowing upon them tickets to shows, fairs, and the like, or taking a crowd of them there himself; and when the ladies of the town succeeded in getting Mr. Sterigere to a fair his pocket-book had to make atonement for lack of service to the sex on other occasions. Though constantly alive to the increase of his fortune, he always gave to objects of public charity and religion, being generally the most liberal subscriber to all such contributions. He owned considerable real estate and some stocks. It is related of him that at one time, many years ago, when a defaulting officer swamped the Norristown railroad, he owned one hundred and fifty shares of that stock, which, as he was liable for debts and repairs of the road, he offered to sell to Isaac Thomas, of Upper Dublin, for twelve and a half cents a share, without finding a buyer.

For a long series of years Mr. Sterigere was counsel for Dr. Samuel Hiester, of Chester county, in contesting a will settlement in the

Common Pleas of our county, and finally became plaintiff himself against his former client, involving matters that remained unsettled at the time of his death. He had also been executor or administrator of Conrad Emrich, of Upper Dublin, as early as 1839, and held as trustee the sum of $664 for the rebuilding of Puff's Reformed Church, which was paid over with interest by his administrators. It was long a cherished purpose of Mr. Sterigere to rebuild that church himself, in the cemetery of which his father and other relatives were interred.

While his health was very feeble for many months before his demise, yet he braced himself against the idea of dying. He still grew worse, however, and passed away in the early morn after election night, October 13th, 1852, in the 59th year of his age. The cause of his death was cancer of the stomach. He died intestate, and is buried in Puff's church-yard beside his father and mother, and above his remains is a plain shaft or obelisk, erected, it is presumed, by the surviving sisters, on which is chiseled a circular wreath, having within the word "Brother," and beneath "Sterigere."

He was visited once during his final sickness by his personal and political friend, James Buchanan, and the latter was also in attendance at the funeral. Notwithstanding the saying, “Politicians have no hearts," persons standing before Sterigere's bier testify that Mr. B. dropped genuine tears over the corpse of his life-long adherent.

Mr. Sterigere was a man of enlarged public spirit and of genuine Democratic instincts. An instance may be cited. Some years before his death, and previous to relinquishing borough affairs, he observed our Potter's Field, which had been bought many years before by the county, lying waste. At once he resolved that it should be nicely graded and enclosed, though it only contained the graves of a few outcasts. This he did. It is now falling into ruin again for want of another John B. Sterigere.

He was also a man born to command; of unbounded ambition, and withal of such patriotism and elevated motive, that, making allowance for his violent partisanship, he was competent to fill any public office in the land. He loved to rule, but mainly for the good of others. He sought the honor of commanding men, but as much for their good as his own.

His estate, which amounted to nearly $60,000, was divided among his heirs at law, Benjamin F. Hancock and Adam Slemmer, Esqs., being the administrators.

Undoubtedly Mr. Sterigere belonged to that robust Reformed German stock which emigrated to America about the middle of the last century in quest of religious freedom. Without being a professor of religion himself, he was doubtless a believer in some sense, for he occasionally attended divine service either at the Reformed or Presbyterian churches, and rented and paid for a pew in each for many years, up to the time of his death. Without being a religious man, therefore, Mr. Sterigere was puritanical in most of his instincts and habits. It is doubtful, indeed, if he ever danced or played. With him life was too real and time too precious for any such amusements. He had no aptitude for jokes or hilarity, and rarely laughed, being very like Shakspeare's "lean and hungry Cassius," of whom he says,

"Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort

As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit
That could be moved to smile at anything."

In person John B. Sterigere was medium height and build, graceful in form and motion, dark hair, dark-florid complexion, and but for his sternness of countenance would have been regarded as good looking. He appeared much younger than he really was.

COLONEL EDWIN SCHALL.*

His ambition was of that noble kind which aims to excel in whatever it undertakes, and to acquire a power over the hearts of men by promoting their happiness and winning their affections.-Sparks' Washington.

Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Schall was the twin brother of Colonel Edward Schall, almost equally distinguished as a soldier, and now a practicing attorney at our bar. They are the sons of General William and Caroline Trexler Schall, whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume. It is a military family, General Schall being for many years Brigade Inspector of the district. Consequently, on the breaking out of the rebellion, no less than five brothers, Reuben, Edwin, Edward, David, and Calvin, volunteered to fight for the Union. Most of them, however, had previously been members of the several volunteer companies of the town.

*The name, being German, is pronounced as though spelled "Shawl," the “ having the broad German sound of that language—“aw."

Edwin, the subject of this biography, was born at Schall's Iron Works (now called Green Lane), Marlborough township, Montgomery county, February 15th, 1835.

General Schall removing to Norristown in 1848, Edwin, then a small boy, was placed in Elmwood Institute, at West Norristown, then under the charge of Rev. J. R. Kooken, where he gained the elementary branches of a good education. He remained here till near his majority, when he entered the military academy at Norwich, Vermont, and afterwards Pembroke, Brandywine Springs, and finally Bristol, where he graduated. He then entered the law office of B. Markley Boyer, Esq., but, without continuing there, went to the law school at Poughkeepsie, New York, where, after staying a season, he was transferred to the Ohio Law School, at which he graduated and was admitted to practice. From there he went to Iowa and opened an office, but not finding things to his taste returned home, and after a while was entered as an attorney at our

He had hardly got into practice when the disorganization of parties, consequent upon the pressure of the slavery question upon old platforms, and the rise of the American party, to which he was attached, drew him into politics.

A short time previously the National Defender had been established to promote the Native-American sentiment, and advocate the claims of Bell and Everett to the Presidency. This paper, started to arrest the drift of the Whigs towards the Republican party, was placed in the hands of the twin brothers Edwin and Edward Schall, who conducted it with fair ability till the conclusion of the political campaign and the breaking out of the rebellion. At this time, or shortly before, he was nominated and elected Burgess of Norristown two years in succession, a post which he filled acceptably to the people.

As known, the Bell and Everett campaign, to which the Defender was committed, resulted in nothing, and Lincoln was triumphantly elected through the division of the opposition. The winter of 1860-1 will long be remembered on account of the fearful mutterings of the coming storm. The Hotspurs of the South proceeded to prepare the public mind of their section for open revolt, or secession, as they called it. It was an interim of dubious discussion. The Democratic and American masses held that the South had well defined grievances demanding redress, but they stood aghast at the remedy being organized at Montgomery, Alabama, under the name of the "Confederate States of America."

To show how "peace at any price," or opposition to "fratricidal war," prevailed at this time among the then ruling party in this county, we append a resolution adopted by a meeting at Trappe in February, as follows:

3. Resolved, That we are unanimously opposed to the so-called doctrine of coercion, and pledge ourselves to oppose any measure that is calculated to bring the people of one section into deadly conflict with those of any other section, believing that by compromise and conciliation only the present national troubles can be settled.

And yet when the news reached Norristown on the 12th of April that Fort Sumter had been bombarded, and on the 15th, when the President issued his proclamation calling for seventy-five thousand men to defend the Union, a meeting was hastily called at Odd Fellows' Hall, and thousands thronged there bearing effigies of Jeff Davis and other representative traitors with ropes about their necks. At this meeting Burgess Edwin Schall was called to preside, and a long array of Vice Presidents occupied the platform. The meeting was addressed by Judges Smyser and Krause, Hon. Owen Jones, B. M. Boyer, Charles Hunsicker, E. A. Banks, and George N. Corson, Esqs. James Boyd and Harvey Shaw, Esqs., respectively, offered their checks for $200 and $100 to assist the organization of the military for defence. At once Colonel Hartranft, as commander of the previously existing Fourth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, with the following companies, offered themselves for the national defence. Our home organizations were numbered, and had previously been designated, as follows:

Company A, Wayne Artillerists-Captain, William J. Bolton; First Lieutenant, Joseph K. Bolton; Second Lieutenant, William Ensley.

Company B, Norris City Rifles-Captain, Robert E. Taylor; First Lieutenant, Thomas Magee; Second Lieutenant, Matthew R. McClennan.

Company C, of Pottstown-Captain, J. R. Brooke; First Lieutenant, W. M. Hobart; Second Lieutenant, Joseph Umsted.

Company D, National Artillerists-Captain, Reuben T. Schall; First Lieutenant, Charles Hansell; Second Lieutenant, David Schall.

Company E, Keystone Rifles-Captain, George Amey; First Lieutenant, Richard T. Stewart; Second Lieutenant, J. P. Butler.

*Previously commanded by Captain William R. Lesher, who had just resigned.