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William Daniel Himes
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WILLIAM DANIEL HIMES. Born at New Oxford, Pa., May 29th, 1812, where he passed the greater part of his life, and died Jan. 11th, 1896. He was an excellent representative of the oldest Pennsylvania-German stock. His great-grandfather, William Heim, came from the Palatinate, by way of Rotterdam, in the ship "Thistle of Glasgow" from that port, in 1730. His grandmother [grandfather], Francis Himes, (Heim) born in Hanover, Pa., in 1737, resided there, where he kept an inn and carried on a small farm and oil-mill, and died 1811, possessed of a considerable estate, including a "boy Billy, of color," left at disposal of his wife. His son George, the sixth of eight children, born Dec. 16, 1775, in Hanover, married, 1809, Helen Catherine, daughter of Daniel and Susan (Eichelberger) Barnitz. The former was a brother of General Jacob Barnitz, of York, and served through the Revolutionary War as fifemajor. He purchased in 1810 the first established and well known "Dutch" Frederick's Tavern Stand at Oxford, on the route between Pittsburg and the Susquehanna, which he conducted until 1828, and was afterward occupied with his large business interests in this and the adjoining counties. He was commissioned by the Governor a colonel in the militia, a title by which he was generally known. He died in New Oxford in 1850. The son, the subject of this sketch, was the second of eight children. The oldest, Charles F., graduated with great credit at Dickinson College in 1829, read law with Thaddeus Stevens, but died before entering upon the practice of the profession. William manifested a decided disposition for active business. He learned the trade of tanning, working first in Hanover, then in York, and subsequently in Philadelphia and becoming an expert in leathers of highest grade. He was not apprenticed as was usual in those days, and never carried on the business of tanning. In 1835 he made an extended trip on horseback through the far west as far as Chicago, then little more than a trading post, at which a treaty with the Pottawatamies was then made. On his return to the east he engaged in merchandizing in Intercourse, Lancaster county, for a few years, when he returned to New Oxford to assist his father, Col. George Himes, in the management of his growing business interest. Here, as opportunity offered, he soon exhibited remarkable business aptitude, sound judgment, and promptness of decision in enterprises of the most honest character. Especially expert in estimating the value of real-estate he was a frequent purchaser on a large scale, in this and the adjoining counties, and at one time a large owner. For a number of years he was the principal partner in operating Margaretta Furnace and Foundry in York County, and purchased that property with its ore-banks, flouring mill, furnace, foundry and woodstock forge of his father's estate, and the Hahns of York, and retained possession of a large part of it at his decease, although the iron works were dismantled many years ago as out of competition with those in favorable localities. For more than 50 years he was director of the Gettysburg Bank, since 1866 a National Bank, and was its vice president from 1884 to the time of his decease, for a considerable time with the responsibilities of president. He was active, with his father, in establishing the Carlisle Deposit Bank, at Carlisle, Pa. For forty years he was director in the York and Gettysburg Turnpike Co., and for many years President of the Gettysburg & Petersburg Turnpike Co., and there was hardly a business enterprise in his section with which he was not in some degree identified He was characterized not more by business ability of a high order, than by his absolute integrity and high sense of business honor and all his intercourse. As a public spirited citizen he supported all enterprises looking to the development of the community. He was the unswerving supporter of Thaddeus Stevens as a representative from Adams county in his advocacy of the common school system, and his father gave the lot for the erection of the first common school in the township, and the son was for many years the leading member of the Board of Directors. His intimate personal contact with Thaddeus Stevens, as an active and influential political friend, as well as his intercourse with him as the trusted attorney and partner of his father in many business matters, contributed much to his development as a business man. After his retirement from more active business he was still an invaluable citizen not only as a counsellor in all public enterprises, but as the friend of the humblest citizen, to whom he was always freely accessible. He died Jan. 11th, 1869, in his 84th year, after confinement to the house for several months, by weight of years rather than by specific disease, without suffering, in the full enjoyment of all his mental faculties. He married, in 1836, Magdalene, daughter of Christian Lanius, of York, whose ancestors also came from the Palatinate in 1731. He is survived by the following children: Professor Charles F. Himes, Carlisle, Pa.; Helen A., widow of Rev. W. H. Keith, Gettysburg; Mary E., wife of Professor J. W. Kilpatrick, Fayette, Missouri; William A. Himes and Harriet O. Himes, New Oxford, Pa. A son, James Lanius, a successful lawyer in Minneapolis, Minn., died in 1881.
