My Genealogy Hound

JACOB MILLER HALDEMAN was born March 4, 1781, in Manheim township, Lancaster Co., Pa., and died Dec. 15, 1837, in Harrisburg, Pa., where he resided the latter years of his life, aged seventy-six years, nine months and eleven days.

Jacob Haldeman, the grandfather of Jacob Miller Haldeman, was born Oct. 7, 1722, in the Canton of Neufchatel, Switzerland, and died Feb. 27, 1783, in Rapho township, Lancaster Co., Pa. During the troubles which resulted in the war of the Revolution he was one of the Committee of Public Safety for Rapho township, and appears as a member of the “Committee of Observation” for Rapho township, Lancaster county. [Vide proceedings of Nov. 8, 1775, Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. XIII pp. 275 and 294.] He was a near relative of the noted British general. Sir Frederick Haldimand, K. B., who served with distinction in the armies of Sardinia and Prussia, entered the military service of King George in 1754, and was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 16th Regiment of Royal Americans in January, 1756. In 1776 Sir Frederick was commissioned a general in America, and subsequently became commander-in-chief of His Majesty’s forces and governor of the province of Quebec. Jacob Haldeman was one of the earliest settlers in Rapho township, Lancaster county, and died possessed of very considerable land there. He married Maria Miller, a daughter of Henry Miller, of Earl township, Lancaster county, who survived him together with a family of some twelve children.

John Haldeman, a son of Jacob, was born in 1753, and died in 1832. He married Maria Breneman, and they became the parents of Jacob M. Haldeman, the subject of our sketch. John Haldeman moved to Locust Grove, Conoy township, Lancaster county, where, in 1790, he built a large stone gristmill and, in 1800, a distillery. Bayard Taylor’s grandfather, a mason, worked on this mill, and ran away with and married a relative of Mr. Haldeman’s wife, the match having been bitterly opposed. John Haldeman was one of the boldest and most successful business men in the State, gradually increasing the number of his acres and extending his business until his operations frequently extended far beyond his own State. As an instance of his activity and hardiness, it is related of him that he would occasionally make the trip to Philadelphia in one day, a distance of nearly ninety miles, starting early in the morning and arriving the same evening. His flour and produce he sent down the Susquehanna river to Wright’s Ferry and thence to Philadelphia. He was elected to the Legislature in 1800. After retirement from active business he took up his residence in Columbia, Lancaster county, where he died, after first having the pleasure of seeing al his sons become successful men of business.

Jacob Miller Haldeman obtained a good English and German education under the private instructions of an English officer. At the age of nineteen years he was sent by his father to Pittsburg, making the journey on horseback, through many Indian settlements, to purchase flour to send down the river in flatboats to New Orleans. Not finding a good market there, he chartered a vessel and took his cargo to Havana, Cuba. About 1806, or before, assisted by his father to the extent of some $30,000, Jacob M. purchased the water power and forge at the mouth of the Yellow Breeches creek, Cumberland county, and established himself in the iron business. In six years he had paid back in full the $30,000 borrowed from his father. Mr. Haldeman manufactured a superior grade of iron which found a ready market, and he soon added a rolling and slitting mill to his works. During the war of 1812 he supplied the Government with iron which he forwarded across the South Mountain on muleback to the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, where it was manufactured into guns. All of this iron he gave to the Government. In 1814 he established the town of Haldeman, now New Cumberland, where he built a sawmill and gristmill. He managed all his business without the assistance of a manager or clerk. In August, 1809, he and Thomas Fisher bought the mill and forge of John Walker, situated on the Conedoguinet creek, a mile due north of Hogestown, and jointly operated both until in December, 1814, when Mr. Haldeman sold out to his partner, who in his own name carried on an extensive business at that place until in 1834, when he died. In June, 1830, Mr. Haldeman, with John Moore and John D. Mahon. bought the Mary Ann and Augusta furnaces, situated along the “Old Baltimore Road” in Southampton township, and operated them for several years.

In 1810 Mr. Haldeman married Eliza Ewing Jacobs, who was born at Mount Hope Furnace, Lancaster county, on June 13, 1789. Her grandfather, Richard Jacobs, was of Welsh birth and was one of the early iron manufacturers of Pennsylvania, while her father, Samuel Jacobs, was engaged in the same industry, not only at Mount Hope but also at Colebrook. After the war of 1812 he invested largely in real estate in Dauphin county, and in 1830 he moved to Harrisburg, Pa., and purchased a residence on Front street (Nos. 25 and 27 North Front street), in which he lived until his death. He was one of the incorporators of the Chestnut Hill Iron Ore Company, of Columbia, in 1851, and was also one of the incorporators and managers of the Susquehanna Tide Water Canal Company. He was largely interested in all local enterprises, aiding greatly in building the bridge over the river at Harrisburg, and was president of the Company owning it, the Harrisburg Bridge Company. He was one of the founders and a director of the Dauphin Deposit Bank at Harrisburg, also became a large stockholder in the Harrisburg Bank, of which he was chosen president in 1853, and held the position until his death. Mr. Haldeman was independent and liberal in his political views, but was known as a Whig, and in his religious affiliations was a Presbyterian. He enjoyed the acquaintance of many prominent men of his day and derived great pleasure in intercourse with them when opportunity permitted or they visited this part of the country. By those who knew him he was regarded a man of extraordinary foresight and judgment, whom they considered in advance of his time and environment.