My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES H. MULLIN. In 1760 there came from the North of Ireland one James Mullin who settled in the part of Cumberland county that has since been erected into Franklin county, and engaged in the avocation of farming. Soon after the breaking out of the war of the Revolution he was found in the ranks of the patriots battling for liberty and independence. He was a member of Capt. William Rippey’s Company, which was recruited at Shippensburg, in the winter of 1775-76. It became part of the 6th Regiment commanded by Col. William Irvine, and saw its first service in Canada, where in July, 1776, Capt. Rippey was captured.

James Mullin was married and had a family of three sons — Sampson, Mannasseh, and George — and two daughters. George settled in Bedford county, where he became prominent in public affairs, and was elected to the offices of sheriff and State senator. His service in the senate was prior to the era of railroads, and he would journey to and from the capital on horseback, and on the way sometimes stop with his relatives in Cumberland county. Sampson and Mannasseh were twins, and were born in 1788, in Franklin county. Both became papermakers, and afterward residents of Cumberland county. Sampson first engaged at this avocation at Chambersburg, but about the year 1819 removed to South Middleton, now Mt. Holly Springs, where his wife’s uncle, William Barbour, several years before, had begun the manufacture of paper. There he spent the remainder of his days. Mannasseh operated a paper mill at Mercersburg, Franklin county, for a number of years.

In 1808 Sampson Mullin married Hannah Barbour, daughter of John Barbour, who bore him a number of children: James, William Barbour, Andrew Jackson, George, Fletcher, Alexander and Jacob. Sampson Mullin died in August, 1841; his wife, Hannah Barbour, died in 1833, and their remains are buried in the Old raveyard in Carlisle.

William Barbour Mullin, the second son of Sampson and Hannah (Barbour) Mullin, was born in Franklin county in 1811. While he was yet a small boy his parents came to South Middleton, where he grew to manhood and received such education as the country district schools of the day afforded, like his father and his uncles, he became a paper-maker, and made paper manufacturing the principal business of his lifetime. In 1840 he bought from McClure & Knox the paper mill which William Barbour, his maternal uncle, helped to build in 1812, and he operated it from that time till in 1869. He was also one of the five original promoters of the Mt. Holly Paper Company, which was organized in 1856.

William B. Mullin married Eliza Lightcap, daughter of Solomon Lightcap, who also was of Scotch-Irish nationality, and to them the following children were born: Charles Henry, William Alexander, Alfred Foster, Alica A., who married Rev. G. T. Gray; Emma, who married Prof. Harry; and, Marietta, who married Rev. W. H. Kieth.

Charles H. Mullin, the eldest child and the subject of this sketch, was born where now is the town of Mt. Holly Springs, Oct. 30, 1833, and he has always lived there. He received his education in the public schools, and early in life entered upon the business in which paternal and maternal ancestors, for several generations before him, had already been engaged. Being a born and bred paper-maker, and a man of energy he soon became a leading spirit in Mt. Holly’s paper manufacturing enterprise. He became superintendent and later secretary and treasurer, and while he was absorbed in the duties and responsibilities of his post the years multiplied till they have made of him one of the oldest and most prominent paper manufacturers of the country.

Mr. Mullin finds some time to give to public affairs. He is a Republican in politics, and while he has never held office, or aspired to any, his interest and activity in behalf of his party and friends have won for him a State-wide reputation. He seldom misses a county or State convention. In 1868 he was an elector on the Republican presidential ticket, and since 1876 has been a regularly elected delegate to seven consecutive national conventions, and in nearly all of them an active and influential factor. As a citizen irrespective of partisan politics, he is prominent, being frequently called upon to fill places of civic and honorary character. He has been a member of the Mt. Holly school board continuously ever since the town was incorporated in 1873. He has been president of the Cumberland County Agriculture Society for thirty-two years continuously, and has been a trustee of Dickinson College for twenty years, also for ten years a trustee of the State Lunatic Asylum at Harrisburg.

During the war of the Rebellion Mr. Mullin enlisted in Company A, 7th Pennsylvania Reserves, and went with his regiment to the front. With the view of being made an officer in another regiment he was soon afterward given his discharge, but, while his intended promotion was pending, there came legislative action that interfered with it, and business matters claiming his attention, he, for the time being, applied himself to them. In September, 1862, when the Confederates invaded Maryland, he raised a company of emergency men of which he became captain. This company became a part of the First Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia, Henry McCormick, Colonel, and did duty in the vicinity of Hagerstown, Md., before, during and after the battle of Antietam.

In 1862, Mr. Mullin was married to Miss Elizabeth Parsons, of Mt. Holly Springs, and to their union were born the following children: Clara Roslie, who married Rev. W. P. Eveland, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and who is now stationed at Bloomsburg, Pa.; Eliza L.; Sarah G., who married J. A. Brandt, of Harrisburg; Mary A., who married J. Kirk Bosler, of Carlisle; Evelyn P., and Alice A. Mrs. Elizabeth P. Mullin died in March. 1881, and the family now consists of Mr. Mullin and his three unmarried daughters. Fraternally he is a Knight Templar, a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the K. of P.