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Eli Slifer rose from impoverished obscurity to
become one of Pennsylvania's greatest statesmen.
Although unschooled and desperately poor, at an
early age, he was determined to improve his
situation. Through hard manual labor and
self-education, Slifer became an astute
businessman and political leader well-known as
"the friend of the poor man as well as the
rich . . . ."(1) He loved his family, his community,
his country, and his God. He endured with
courage both the anguish of war, and personal
loss.
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Orphaned at age sixteen, Eli Slifer was sent to
live with relatives in Chester County. When he
returned to the Buffalo Valley as a young man,
he worked long hours by day, and studied at
night, to shape a better future. He developed
his business acumen as junior partner in a
lucrative boat-building company. After
spearheading several other progressive ventures
that bolstered the economy of the region, Slifer
spent over a decade in state government. His
political career included meritorious service as
Secretary of the Commonwealth during the Civil
War. Those four terrible years separated him
from his family, and permanently damaged his
health. When Eli Slifer died in 1888, the
Philadelphia Times printed this tribute:
. . . Those who can recall the great service
he gave to his State and country in their
sorest trial, will lament him as one of the
few unobtrusively great men of Pennsylvania.(2)
___ Philadelphia Times
28 May 1888
Eli Slifer was born in Coventry Township, Chester
County, Pennsylvania, the third of five children
born to Abraham Slifer, Jr., of the German
Dunkard sect, and Mary Coulter Slifer, whose
family was originally from Scotland. Abraham's
ancestor, Johannes, had emigrated from
Switzerland in 1739, and settled in Bucks County.(3)
Born in 1785, Abraham, Jr. was the only son of
Mary Gotwalt and Abraham Slifer, Sr. They also
had two daughters, Elizabeth and Catherine.
Trained as a carpenter, Abraham Slifer, Jr. came
to the Buffalo Valley sometime in the 1812-1813
period at the request of his sister Elizabeth,
who had married and was living in the area.(4) She
had asked Abraham to come to White Deer Township
to help build a barn for Nathaniel Coulter.
After his arrival, Abraham Slifer, Jr. met
Coulter's daughter, Mary (Polly) Coulter. They
were married on May 23, 1813. David, the first
of their five children, was born on March 30,
1814. He was followed by Samuel, born on July 7,
1816; Eli, born on May 23, 1818; Jacob, born on
June 22, 1820; and Mary, born on January 5, 1824.
The family lived a rather meager existence in
Union County where Abraham continued to practice
his trade.
Although the exact date is unknown, family records
indicate that Mary Coulter Slifer died in 1825.(5)
With so many children in need of care, Abraham
found a second wife. He married Mary Peters on
November 19, 1826. They established their home
in Buffalo Township where three children were
born, twin sons, who lived only a brief time,
Isaac and Abraham Slifer III, and a daughter,
Catherine.
Quite ill, and realizing he had little time left,
Abraham Slifer, Jr. made provisions for his family.
Eli was sent back to Coventry Township to live
with Abraham's sister, Catherine Slifer Harley,
and her husband Samuel. The two older sons, David
and Samuel, were apprenticed to a shoemaker in
Lewisburg, and Jacob was fostered by a Buffalo
Valley farmer. Their young half-sister Catherine
was placed into the care of a childless couple in
Lewisburg. The five children were orphaned in
November 1831, when both Abraham, Jr. and Mary
Peters Slifer died.
Three years later, in 1834, Eli Slifer walked over
a hundred miles from Chester County back to
Lewisburg where he and his brother Jacob began
hat-making apprenticeships in the shop of Jonathan
Spyker. Raised by the Dunkard Slifer and Harley
families who spoke only German, and with almost
no formal schooling, Eli found adjustment to his
new surroundings extremely difficult. In a town
where The University at Lewisburg (renamed
Bucknell University in 1886) dominated most social
and cultural opportunities, he was often excluded
from the activities of community life. Resolved
to break this isolation, Eli soon learned the
English language, and began an ambitious program
of reading and self-study that he continued
throughout his life. Slifer became an articulate
speaker, a writer of literary works, and a theorist
who placed the critical issues of his day into
logical, practical perspectives.
When the first canal boat docked at Lewisburg on
December 8, 1834, Eli and his brother Samuel
marched in a torchlight procession with the crowd
of other townspeople to mark the historic
occasion.(6) Captivated by the trading vessels
plying the Susquehanna River, and hoping to improve
his financial situation, Eli Slifer began earning
higher wages by loading and off-loading cargo at
various ports along the river. He worked on the
canal route as far south as Baltimore. Seeking
an even better employment opportunity, he later
moved to Northumberland where he began building
canal boats and barges. He met Catharine Motter
Frick there. They were married on February 4,
1840.
A year after his marriage, Eli Slifer became
junior partner in his brother-in-law's boat-
building business. William Frick named Slifer the
manager of one of the canal barges operated by the
firm. Frick, Slifer, and Company was moved to the
east side of the Susquehanna River across from
Lewisburg in 1845, and expanded to include
extensive lumbering operations. The business grew
rapidly, employing over one hundred men. Eli
delivered cargoes of lumber, and specialized in
the construction of barges. In 1850 the thriving
enterprise was moved again to the west side of the
river near Lewisburg. Slifer remained a partner
in the firm until 1858.
When the company moved in 1845, the Slifers
settled in Lewisburg. Eli and Catharine had eight
children, five of whom lived to adulthood. Five
of the eight children were born after the family
relocated. John Frick Slifer, Samuel Harley
Slifer, and Catherine Spyker Slifer were born in
Northumberland. The rest of the children, Clara
Jane Slifer, William Henry Slifer, John Eli
Slifer, Eli Slifer, Jr., and Anna Frick Slifer
were born in Lewisburg.
The partnership with Frick was the basis for
Slifer's other highly successful business pursuits.
He began investing in a variety of commercial
concerns that contributed to the prosperity of
Lewisburg, and Union County. In 1853, recognizing
the need for an institution offering secure local
financial transactions, he joined William Cameron
and John Walls as a founding Director of the
Lewisburg Dimes Savings Institution (chartered as
the Lewisburg National Bank in 1865). The three
men also became charter members of the Lewisburg,
Centre, and Spruce Creek Railroad Company in 1853
(renamed the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad in
1879). They were on the Board of Managers of the
Lewisburg and Mifflinburg Turnpike Company, re-
established by the state in 1858, and were
co-founders of the Lewisburg Gas Company which
began operations in 1859.
Slifer now had "the confidence and respect of his
neighbors of every class and political belief."(7)
With his support of projects that contributed to
the economic expansion of the Buffalo Valley,
known as a man of integrity who was devoted to his
community, he was elected to the Board of Curators
of The University at Lewisburg in 1854. He was on
the Board until 1882, serving as Secretary from
1861-1867.
In 1860 Eli Slifer founded Slifer, Walls, Shriner
and Company with Johnson Walls, brother of John
Walls; Joseph Shriner; Samuel Geddes; and Thomas
Murray. Their Central Foundry manufactured an
array of durable, labor-saving machines for
farming operations, including Bullock's Iron Mower
and Reaper. After the death of Johnson Walls in
1868, Slifer became sole owner of the business.
As his family and investments grew, he built Delta
Place in 1860-1861, a beautiful estate located
just outside Lewisburg at the mouth of Buffalo
Creek. The property included extensive fields
Slifer carefully nurtured into fertile farmland.(8)
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Johnson Walls and Eli Slifer founded the Union
National Bank in 1865. Walls was President of the
Union National; Slifer served on the Board of
Directors, and became President of the bank in
1869. With William Cameron and John Walls as the
other two major stockholders, Slifer was also
named President of the Lewisburg Bridge Company.
When the new span across the Susquehanna River
was completed, the first train arrived at the
Lewisburg depot in 1869, opening up a multitude
of trading opportunities for the entire area.
But Eli Slifer was far more than a successful
entrepreneur. He was a devout Christian of deep
spiritual faith, with firmly held humanitarian
values. Committed to equal rights for every man,
Slifer was vehemently opposed to slavery. These
beliefs brought him into the political arena where
he became a member of the Whig Party. He was
frequently asked to deliver pro-nationalist speeches
to local gatherings during the presidential campaign
of 1848. The resounding triumph of Whig candidate
Zachary Taylor, and Slifer's abolitionist stance,
led to his unanimous nomination for the State
Legislature as a Representative of the Union and
Juniata District. He received the largest vote
of any state or local Whig candidate in the 1849
election.(9)
Slifer also won the unanimous Whig nomination for
the Pennsylvania State Senate. He was elected by
an overwhelming majority for the 1853-1854 term
against a strong Democratic Party. There was a
loudly debated local controversy raging over the
division of Union County into two separate counties,
Snyder and Union. Slifer introduced a bill for
division, but when the proposal failed, he
suggested a referendum to settle the question
by public ballot. Three years later, in December
1855, Snyder County became a separate entity, and
the first court case was heard in Lewisburg, the
new seat of Union County.(10)
Eli Slifer was elected State Treasurer for a
one-year term in 1855. With the formation of the
new Republican Party, he connected to other
Northerners who placed national interests above
States' Rights. Slifer was elected State Treasurer
again in 1859 when the Republicans returned to power.
In the 1860 race, re-elected as State Treasurer,
he championed Abraham Lincoln's bid for the Presidency.
Slifer resigned as Treasurer in January 1861, when
Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin named him Secretary
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Slifer served
in this position until 1867, playing a vital role
in the crucial years of the Civil War. He handled
most affairs of state after Governor Curtin
suffered a severe breakdown during his first term
in office. As Secretary, Slifer was responsible
for the state's volunteer militia troops who
responded in overwhelming numbers to the urgent
appeals of President Lincoln for combat units.
These troops included The Slifer Guards, mustered
in June 1861, a Union County company named in
honor of Eli Slifer. Slifer's own son, Alfred, also
volunteered during the emergency of September 1862,
when Lee's army crossed the Potomac River and
invaded Maryland. In Curtin's second term, Slifer
again covered the Governor's frequent absences.
Eli Slifer organized the Conference for Governors
of Loyal States held in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on
September 24, 1862, a meeting where essential
military strategy was planned. The second,
equally significant, objective of the conference
was to strengthen the Lincoln administration,
sagging under widespread criticism after heavy
Union losses.
When Lee's army was defeated at Gettysburg in July
1863, the tide of conflict had finally turned.
On April 6, 1865, three days after the fall of the
Confederate Capitol, an exhausted, but very
grateful, Eli Slifer issued this proclamation to
the people of the Buffalo Valley:
Richmond is ours . . . Let us give glory
to the Lord, who hath given us the victory.
The Republic is saved . . . . (11)
___ Mifflinburg (Pa.) Telegraph
6 April 1865
A steady, decisive leader who steered Pennsylvania's
military course, Eli Slifer stayed in close contact
with his troops. He visited campsites and
battlefields, inspiring weary soldiers to continue
fighting for the Union Cause. Always a staunch
advocate for his men, Slifer was given the honorary
title, "Colonel," used throughout his post-war years.
Colonel Eli Slifer retired from public office in
1867, his health nearly broken from overwork and
the stresses of war. Advised to move to warmer
climates to recuperate, he spent much of the following
year in the South where bitter resentment
abounded in the aftermath of the country's bloodiest
struggle.
In 1871, as a reward for his extraordinary service
to the nation, Colonel Slifer traveled throughout
Europe, a guest on a U. S. Navy vessel provided
by the government. After returning home to Lewisburg,
he was often called upon to write articles and
deliver speeches on his socio-political and economic
views. In the 1882 State election, he campaigned
for the Republican Party and its gubernatorial
candidate. Slifer also continued his active
participation in community affairs. He was President
of the Lewisburg Water Works, formed in 1883, and
assumed heavy responsibilities for Lewisburg's
Centennial Celebration held on July 4, 1885. As
President of the Lewisburg and Tyrone Railroad,
Slifer was appointed Chairman of Transportation for
the Centennial. He organized the travel arrangements
for 25,000 visitors.(12)
He must have felt enormous pride celebrating the
anniversary of the community he had helped to
build, but was then plunged into his greatest time
of sorrow. After nearly fifty years of marriage,
his wife Catharine Frick Slifer died on
September 7, 1886. Colonel Slifer was devastated
by the loss of his beloved Catharine. Although
suffering a number of debilitating physical problems,
he drove his carriage into Lewisburg every day to
place flowers on her grave.(13)
Only one day after his seventieth birthday, as he
was returning from the cemetery, Colonel Eli Slifer
was fatally injured. On the road near his home,
his horses bolted, frightened by the sound of a
passing train, and he was thrown from his carriage.
Two men who had witnessed the accident carried his
unconscious body back to Delta Place. Slifer died
on May 24, 1888.
The funeral for Colonel Eli Slifer was held on
May 31, 1888. The pallbearers included life-long
friend, John Walls; former governor Andrew G. Curtin;
business partner, Joseph Shriner; and State Treasurer
William B. Hart.(14) The military Guard of Honor was
formed by veterans from Andrew G. Tucker Post 52,
Grand Army of the Republic.(15)
As part of his eulogy, the Reverend G[?]. T. Gray
read one of Slifer's poems, first published in the
April 16, 1875, issue of the Lewisburg (Pa.)
Chronicle:
Not in summer's heated sunshine,
When reapers gather golden sheaves;
But let me die in early spring time,
When buds are opening into leaves.
There in eternity's Springtime
We shall again embrace each other,
Where God's own light is the sunshine,
Meet father, daughter, son and mother.
___ Eli Slifer
"Let Me Die in the Springtime"
2nd, 14th stanzas
1 Newspaper clipping, Clippings folder, Slifer
General Papers, Box 5. Slifer-Walls Collection,
Special Collections/University Archives, The
Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library, Bucknell University,
Lewisburg, Pa., hereafter cited as Clipping, Box 5. [RETURN]
2 Philadelphia Times, 28 May 1888, Clipping,
Clippings folder, Slifer General Papers, Box 5.
Slifer-Walls Collection, Special Collections/
University Archives, The Ellen Clarke Bertrand
Library, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa. [RETURN]
3 There are many variants of the family name. For
clarity, the spelling used here is the one adopted
by Eli Slifer. Other spellings include: Schleipfer,
Schleiffer, Sleifer, and Sliver. [RETURN]
4 Clara Slifer Long, "Our Slifer Family, 1718-1956"
(Typescript, n.d. Slifer Family Papers, Box 4.
Slifer-Walls Collection, Special Collections/
University Archives, The Ellen Clarke Bertrand
Library, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.) 9.
[RETURN]
5 Ibid., 13. [RETURN]
6 Lois Kalp, A Town on the Susquehanna, 1769-1975:
With An Epilogue, 1975-1980 (Lewisburg, Pa.:
By the author; Colonial Printing, 1980) 35. [RETURN]
7 Newspaper clipping, Lewisburg by-line, William
C. Walls Scrapbook No. 2, Walls Papers, Slifer-Walls Collection,
Special Collections/ University Archives, The Ellen
Clarke Bertrand Library, Bucknell University,
Lewisburg, Pa. [RETURN]
8 Doris Hartley Reed, Delta Place: Indian Hunting
Grounds, Slifer House, Ross Mansion, United
Evangelical Home, Lewisburg United Methodist Homes,
1769-1976 (Lewisburg, Pa.: Slifer House, 1976) 10. [RETURN]
9 Clipping, Box 5. [RETURN]
10 Charles McCool Snyder, Union County, Pennsylvania:
A Bicentennial History. Contributions by John W.
Downie, Elizabeth L. Hitchcock, and Lois S. Kalp
(Lewisburg, Pa.: By Charles M. Snyder, and Union
County Bicentennial Commission; Colonial Print
House, c1976) 63-5. [RETURN]
11 Ibid., 239. [RETURN]
12 Lois Kalp, "Walls Memoir: Dedicated to the
Memory of Anna Frick Slifer Walls and Eli Slifer
Walls, and to William Cameron Walls for Whom this
Memoir was Written" (Typescript, 1904, Walls
Folder, Box 7, Slifer-Walls Collection, Special
Collections/University Archives, The Ellen Clarke
Bertrand Library, Bucknell University, Lewisburg,
Pa.) 161. [RETURN]
13 Clipping, Box 5. [RETURN]
14 Ibid. [RETURN]
15 Ibid. [RETURN]
Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania:
Including the Counties of Centre, Clinton, Union and
Snyder, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and
Representative Citizens, and Many of the Early Settled
Families. Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898.
Ellis F., and A. N. Hungerford, eds. History of that Part
of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys, Embraced in the
Counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Vol. II.
Philadelphia: Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886.
Kalp, Lois. A Town on the Susquehanna, 1769-1975: With An
Epilogue, 1975-1980. Lewisburg, Pa.: By the author;
Colonial Printing, 1980.
________. "Walls Memoir: Dedicated to the Memory of Anna
Frick Slifer Walls and Eli Slifer Walls, and to William
Cameron Walls for Whom this Memoir was Written."
Typescript, 1904. Walls folder, Box 7. Slifer-Walls
Collection. Special Collections/University Archives, The
Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library, Bucknell University,
Lewisburg, Pa.
Linn, John Blair. Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania,
1755 - 1855. Harrisburg, Pa.: Lane S. Hart, Printer and
Binder, 1877.
Long, Clara Slifer. "Our Slifer Family, 1718-1956."
Typescript, n.d. [37 pp., pagination added]. Slifer
Family Papers, Box 4. Slifer-Walls Collection. Special
Collections/University Archives, The Ellen Clarke
Bertrand Library, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.
Lontz, Mary Belle. Index to the Annals of Buffalo Valley.
[Milton, Pa.: By the author, typescript, c1965].
Newspaper clipping. Clippings folder, Slifer General
Papers, Box 5. Slifer-Walls Collection. Special
Collections/University Archives, The Ellen Clarke
Bertrand Library, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.
Newspaper clipping, Lewisburg by-line. William C. Walls
Scrapbook No. 2. William C. Walls Papers. Slifer-Walls
Collection. Special Collections/University Archives, The
Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library, Bucknell University,
Lewisburg, Pa.
Philadelphia Times, 28 May 1888. Clippings folder, Slifer
General Papers, Box 5. Slifer-Walls Collection. Special
Collections/University Archives, The Ellen Clarke
Bertrand Library, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa.
Reed, Doris Hartley. Delta Place: Indian Hunting Grounds,
Slifer House, Ross Mansion, United Evangelical Home,
Lewisburg United Methodist Homes, 1769-1976. Lewisburg,
Pa.: Slifer House, 1976].
Slifer, Eli. "Let Me Die in the Springtime." Autograph
manuscript, n.d. Manuscripts folder. Eli Slifer Papers.
Manuscripts and Writings, Box 2. Slifer-Walls
Collection. Special Collections/University Archives, The
Ellen Clarke Bertrand Library, Bucknell University,
Lewisburg, Pa.
Snyder, Charles McCool. Union County, Pennsylvania: A
Bicentennial History. Contributions by John W. Downie,
Elizabeth L. Hitchcock, and Lois S. Kalp. Lewisburg,
Pa.: By Charles M. Snyder, and Union County Bicentennial
Commission; Colonial Print House, c1976.
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