Jacob Rupley Eby (Harrisburg, PA)
Jacob Rupley Eby (Nov. 18, 1816 – Feb. 11, 1883)
Biography
- Name: Jacob Rupley Eby
- Birth: November 18, 1816, Columbia, Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania
- Death: February 11, 1883, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Early life and family
Jacob R. Eby was born at Columbia, Lancaster County, on November 18, 1816. He was early introduced to the business of milling, his father having been interested in that pursuit very extensively. He was apprenticed at 15 to learn the carpenter trade, and at the end of his apprenticeship, made a southern tour for ten months, working at his trade. When be returned to Columbia, he entered into mercantile life. At that time the Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal was under construction, a portion of public improvements which were regarded as being on a grand scale and which became an object of great interest in the finances and politics of the state. Messrs. Cameron, Lauman & Clark had large contracts on this improvement and in the construction of the Columbia Dam, by which the canal was fed. Young Eby's experience in hydraulic engineering, the building of dams for mills, attracted the attention of the contractors who offered him a position as superintendent which be accepted. The experience he gained there he applied with great benefit to himself and which be used in later life to great profit. It introduced him to the active, energetic businessmen of the period, who then lived in Columbia, Marietta and Middletown, one of whom at the latter place, offered him a position as partner in his business, regarding his capacity and integrity as an offset to his own capital invested in the enterprise. Remaining in this business for six years, increasing his acquaintances in Dauphin and Lancaster Counties, and erecting a business reputation on a solid foundation, advantages elsewhere attracted him, so he sold his Middletown interest at great profit. With his brother, E.C. Eby, he located in Harrisburg, having purchased the grocery and forwarding business of John H. Brant located on the canal, and likewise that of Brua and Trewick, at the corner of Fifth and Market Streets. The firm of J. & E.C. Eby continued for a number of years, when E.C. Eby retired to go into business in Philadelphia. A new firm was then organized under the name of Eby, Gross & Kunkle, but Mr. Gross retired in a short time and the firm was reorganized by J.R. Eby and B.S. Kunkle, under the name of Eby & Kunkle. In 1870, Mr. Kunkle retired from the firm, and Mr. Eby conducted the business in his own name for a number of years, after which he took in his two sons, Maurice C. and W. Howard, the firm becoming that of Eby & Sons. During Mr. Eby's residence in Harrisburg, he always occupied a respectable and influential position before the public, filling many places of honor and trust with fidelity to those who gave him their confidence.
Mr. Eby was married in 1843 to Elizabeth Gross, daughter of George and Anna Marie (Alleman) Gross. They had three children, Maurice Charles. William Howard, and Fannie, all of whom were still living. Elizabeth's sister, Magdalena "Lena" was married to Benjamin Kunkel, a businessman of Middletown.
Maurice Charles Eby was the Mayor of Harrisburg from 1893 to 1896. Mr. Eby was prepared for college at the Harrisburg Academy. He was graduated from Lafayette College and spent three years after his graduation traveling in Europe. He studied at Heidelberg University, in Germany. He entered the business life of the city when he returned home, joining his father in the grocery business conducted at Fifth and Market Streets. This business Mr. Eby continued until he retired. His beautiful home at Third and Maclay was a replica of a villa in Versailles, France. Here Mr. Eby lived with his sister, Miss Fannie Eby. Although he never married, he was fond of children and in the boys and girls who came under his care while a probation officer.
William H. Eby attended the Harrisburg Academy and later went to Princeton College where he graduated in 1869. He then returned to Harrisburg and at various times were engaged in the coal and real estate business and for a number of years with the firm of J.R. Eby & Sons, grocers.
Career highlights
Jacob R. Eby served as member of city councils, and at times was vice president, National Fire & Marine Insurance Co. of Philadelphia, director, Harrisburg Stove Works. At the time of his death was a member of the board of prison inspectors. He was also a director of the Northern Central Railway, director and president of the First National Bank for a number of years, a trustee of the State Lunatic Hospital, director of the Lochiel Iron Works and of the Harrisburg Car Works, a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and director and president of the State Agricultural Society. He acted as one of the commissioners to locate a hospital in the anthracite coal regions. He took a deep interest in public affairs and was especially devoted to the local progress and prosperity of the city of Harrisburg, contributing by investment in public enterprise and judgment as much as any other citizen of the place. In the midst of vast business and with manifold duties pressing urgently on his attention, he devoted his leisure to many acts of unselfish labor in the interests of his church, the First Lutheran, and its Sunday school. He was for years superintendent of one branch of that department. His zeal and care in the management of the Sunday school, developing its usefulness to a high degree, benefitted a large number of children while in school. He was seldom, if ever, absent, when at home.
Later life and death
Mr. Eby had not been well for several weeks and on a Monday in February 1883, he slipped and fell on ice on Fifth Street, striking his head. His condition deteriorated over a day or two, confining him to bed. It worsened such that he did not recognized those near him. At 6 o'clock AM on February 11, 1883, he died, his last moments apparently without pain.
On February 14th, all that was mortal of Jacob R. Eby was laid away in the old Harrisburg Cemetery. A driving rain added to the sadness and solemnity of the day. The concourse of people who crowded the Eby residence evidenced how popular the deceased had been. The casket containing the deceased stood in the parlor at the head of a large broken cross of white flowers, surmounted by a white dove, the offering from the Third department of the Lutheran Sunday School of which Mr. Eby was long the beloved superintendent. The services were exceedingly solemn and impressive and were conducted by Rev. A.H. Studebaker. The funeral cortege was very large.
Bank Officer Summary
During his banking career, Jacob R. Eby was involved with the following bank(s):
- Banking house of Cameron, Calder, Eby & Co., also known as the State Capital Bank
- First National Bank, Harrisburg, PA (Charter 201): President 1870-1873
Sources
- Jacob Rupley Eby on Findagrave.com:
- Banks & Bankers Historical Database (1782-1935), https://spmc.org/bank-note-history-project
- Harrisburg Telegraph, Harrisburg, PA, Thu., Feb. 8, 1883.
- Harrisburg Daily Independent, Harrisburg, PA, Mon., Feb. 12, 1883.
- Harrisburg Daily Independent, Harrisburg, PA, Wed., Feb. 14, 1883.
- Harrisburg Telegraph, Harrisburg, PA, Wed., Feb. 14, 1883.