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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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FILLMORE MAUST. About 1840 there settled at Shepherdstown, Allen township, Cumberland county, a young man named Daniel Maust. As the family record is missing not much can be ascertained concerning his ancestry, but it is known that he was born May 3, 1823, and consequently was yet a youth when he came into the neighborhood. Shepherdstown became his permanent abiding place, for on June 20, 1844, he married Fanny Beelman, of Allen township, Rev. J. Moore, of Carlisle, performing the ceremony. Fanny Beelman was born Sept. 8, 1823, and was a member of an old and prominent family of that part of the county, being a daughter of George and Eve (Brandt) Beelman, and a lineal descendant from a Revolutionary ancestor. Her mother was a daughter of Adam Brandt, who was a private in Capt. Charles Leiper’s Company, of the Second Battalion, Cumberland County Militia, in active service in May, 1778, as is shown by the public records. Daniel and Fanny (Beelman) Maust had children as follows: (1) Sarah Ann, born May 15, 1845, married W. H. Dougherty, a well known citizen of Upper Allen township, who has since been sheriff of Cumberland county. (2) Emma Jane, who was born Sept. 29, 1850, died in infancy. (3) Fillmore was born Nov. 22, 1855. Daniel Maust died July 20, 1866, his wife on Aug. 22, 1888, and their remains are buried in the graveyard of Cocklin’s Church, in Upper Allen township.

Fillmore Maust was born at Shepherdstown, where he continued to live until he reached man’s estate. His early experiences were those of the average boy of the neighborhood. In the public schools he sat under the instruction of D. K. Noell, A. T. Palm, S. P. Goodyear, and other famous teachers of that day and section. When seventeen years of age he entered the Cumberland Valley State Normal School, and was a member of the first class graduated from that institution. After graduation he taught in the public schools of Upper Allen township for six years. Then, deciding upon the law for his profession, he entered upon the study of it under the instruction of W. H. Sponsler, Esq., of New Bloomfield, Perry county, and was admitted to practice in that county in December, 1881. He began practicing in the Perry county courts, but concluding to return to his native county, he in 1883 was admitted to the Bar of Cumberland county and began practicing in Carlisle, where he has studiously applied himself ever since, and made steady progress in the various lines of his profession.

Politically, Mr. Maust is a Republican, and he has done much to promote the best interests of his party. In 1884 he was made chairman of the Republican county committee, and helped to elect the Republican candidate for President Judge. This success gave him prestige for organization and pohtical management, and he was continued as chairman for three years, when he voluntarily relinquished the incumbency to give his exclusive attention to his profession. In 1889 he became the Republican nominee for the office of District Attorney, and notwithstanding the strong Democratic bias of the county was elected by a majority of 274 votes. His term in the office of District Attorney was marked by the amount and character of its work, there being two trials for murder, and an important trial for cruelty to a child, besides many other cases involving much labor and careful interpretation of the law. In 1894 he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Judge, in which he was not successful, but made a very creditable showing before the convention. In 1896 he was elected a representative in the Lower House of the State Legislature, with a Democratic colleague. While in the Legislature he followed a conservative course, but on political questions acted with the reform element in his party, representing, as he believed, the dominant sentiment of his constituents. Among the work that gave him prominence in the Legislature was his advocacy of an “act authorizing grand and petit juries to dispose of the costs in certain criminal cases,” which he originated and pushed to successful passage. He was again nominated to the Legislature in 1898, but by that time the tide in Cumberland county had set against his party, and he was defeated. Since then he has in a measure withdrawn from active participation in politics and devoted himself to his growing law business. However, he has kept up his interest in public affairs, is in sympathy with the people, and is frequently mentioned as a fit man for high public position.

On March 19, 1885, Fillmore Maust was married, by Rev. W. R. H. Deatrich, pastor of the Reformed Church of Mechanicsburg, to Elizabeth Jane Sechrist, who was a daughter of Dr. Adam B. and Sarah Ann (McClure) Sechrist, her father being a son of Adam and Mary (Cavanaugh) Sechrist, of Upper Allen township, and her mother a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Kunkle) McClure, of near Mechanicsburg. Dr. Sechrist for many years practiced medicine in Upper Allen township, but in his later years removed to Mechanicsburg, where he died Nov. 19, 1889. A short time after his marriage Mr. Maust built himself a house on North Hanover street, Carlisle, where he and his wife began housekeeping in the fall of 1885, and where they have ever since resided. They have had two children: Mary Sechrist, born Jan. 18, 1888, and Sarah Frances, born April 24, 1891, who with their parents, and the aged grandmother, Sarah Ann Sechrist, comprise the family who live in the pleasant home at No. 509 North Hanover street, Carlisle.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania published in 1905 by The Genealogical Publishing Company. 

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