The National cyclopædia of American biography : being the history of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time, edited by distinguished biographers, selected from each state, revised and approved by the most eminent historians, scholars, and statesmen of the day . 118 THE NATIONAL CYCLOPAEDIA HEERMANS, Charles Abram, lawyer, wasborn at Scranton, Pa., March 10, 1843. His father,Sylvanus Heermans, was bom at Wilkes-Barre in1810; his mother, Ma
The National cyclopædia of American biography : being the history of the United States as illustrated in the lives of the founders, builders, and defenders of the republic, and of the men and women who are doing the work and moulding the thought of the present time, edited by distinguished biographers, selected from each state, revised and approved by the most eminent historians, scholars, and statesmen of the day . 118 THE NATIONAL CYCLOPAEDIA HEERMANS, Charles Abram, lawyer, wasborn at Scranton, Pa., March 10, 1843. His father,Sylvanus Heermans, was bom at Wilkes-Barre in1810; his mother, Martha M. Thorp, was born inOswego county, N. Y., in 1817, and both were ofAmerican descent. The family moved to Prestoncounty, W. Va., when Charleswas but four years old. Hisfather was an active politician,and represented his county inthe national whig conventionthat nominated Gen. Scott. In1854 the family was broken up,and Charles was put out tolive with a family in Alleghanycounty, Md., where he stayedeighteen months. In 1855 hewas taken by his mother to Rich-mond, where he worked in aclothing store as errand boy foreighteen months; then becamea newsboy, and was the first toserve in that capacity on a rail-road — the Chesapeake and. Ohio, then the Virginia Cen-. , ^4^<yr£X.^ir-i^ia^i^a.\ tral. When the civil war brokeout he volunteered in one ofthe first companies from Richmond. He servedthrough the war as a private in the Army ofNorthern Virginia, and was at one time a prisoner,spending five months in Point Lookout. Whilea newsboy he acquired the habit of reading care-fully his papers, and was always posted on currentevents. During the war his was seldomwithout a spelling-book, arithmetic and the close of the war he was dropped, so tospeak, homeless in Pulaski county, Va., but imme-diately went to work as a farm laborer; two yearsafter, learned the shoemaking trade, and followedthis four years. The last year of his trade he kepta law-book on his be
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