Quartermasater Gilbert L. Eberhart, 8th Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserves Photo Courtesy of Ronn Palm's Museum of Civil War Images, Gettysburg, Pa.

     Major Gilbert L[eander] Eberhart is descended on his father's side from a noble German family, with ancestors who came to this country in 1758, and served with honor in the wars of the Revolution and 1812; his father was a grandnephew of General Hugh Mercer, who fell at the battle of Princeton, N.J., in 1777. He is a native of Beaver County, and his education was begun in Beaver Academy, and later Mercer Academy, where he was graduated in a classical course of three years, and then spent two years in Washington, Pa., College. He was a civil engineer on the Erie & Pittsburgh Railway, of which his uncle, General Thomas J. Power, was promoter and first president. He taught school in Greenville, was superintendent of the Mercer County public schools and principal of the Conneautville, Pa., Academy. April 17, 1861, he enlisted in Col. John W. McClane's Erie Regiment as Sergeant in Company D., later serving on the staff of the Eight Pennsyvlania Reserve Volunteer Corps. June 21, 1862, he was promoted by General Meade to Commissary of Subsistences in his brigade in the Third division of Porter's Corps. In 1862 he was commissioned Quartermaster of the Eight Pennsylvania Reserves. At Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862, he lost the hearing in his right ear. In 1865 he was assigned to duty by General Rufus Saxton as superintendent of Freedmen's Schools for the State of Georgia, and established more than 250 schools in two years. In 1868 he was superintendent of the public schools of Rochester, and later in Kittanning. He was admitted to the Beavery County bar June 14, 1870, and soon after to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Represented Beaver County in the Legislature in the sessions of 1877 and 1878. In 1883 he was chosen Burgess of New Brighton, serving two terms and declining a third. In 1891 he was elected a Senatorial delegate by the district composed of Washington and Beaver Counties, to represent it in a convention to amend the State Constitution. In 1879 he organized a military company in New Brighton, of which he was Captain, and which, in 1880, became Company B, 15th Regiment, N. G. P., and one year later a part of the 10th Regiment. He is also the author of many articles on philology and kindred scientific subjects, and as a poet has achieved some notoriety. He has been twice president of the Law Association of Beaver County, has been for over 30 years a member of the vestry of the parish to which he belongs, and for many years has been one of the Judges of the Ecclesiastical Court and a trustee of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. He is also a member of the Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, the G.A.R. and Union Veteran Legion. Recently the honorary degree of LL.D. was conferred on him by the Nashville College of Law.

Most of the reporters of the county have been engaged on the "Tribune" from time to time, of a few of whom we have secured sketches, which may be found herewith or in connection with other papers of the county.1

1. 1. History of the Newspapers of Beavery County. Pennsylvania. By Francis S. Reader. 1905

First Lieutenant Addison Gordon Mason, Adjutant, 5th Regiment, Pennsylvania Reserves Photo Courtesy of the PA Reserve Volunteer Corps Historical Society

     Colonel ADDISON GORDON MASON, superintendent of Exeter Colliery, Lehigh Valley Coal Company, Pittston, was born in Monroeton, Bradford Co., Pa., October 16, 1839, a son of Gorden F. and Mary A. (Mason) Mason, both of whom were born in Bradford county. Gorden F. Mason was a prominent member of the Bradford county bar, and at one time was an extensive banker. He was honored by his fellow citizens to fill the office of State Senator for several years, an office which he fitted and filled with much credit to himself and the entire satisfaction of his constituents. He also held the office of county surveyor for some time, and was at one time colonel of a regiment of militia. He was a prominent politician and a successful financier. Politically, he was a Democrat until the formation of the Republican party, which cause he espoused till his death, which occurred in 1886, when he was at the age allotted to man - three score and ten years. His family consisted of eight children, seven of whom grew to maturity, of whom are now living: Maria, widow of Col. Guy H. Watkins; Irene, now the wife of Judge Searls, of Lackawanna county; Newton E., a lieutenant in the United States navy; Edwin M., in business in Towanda; and Addison G. The subject of this sketch was reared in Towanda, where he received a rudimentary education fitting him for the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, which he entered and from which he departed with high honors. He completed his studies in Worcester, Mass. His purpose in fitting himself for business pointed to that of civil engineer, but after he graduated he abandoned the idea, not because of his unfitness, but because of a change of taste. After leaving school he entered a bank in Scranton, where he remained till 1859. He then went to Towanda, where he was engaged in similar business, and left it only when his country called to arms. When that call reverberated through the land by the fall of Fort Sumter, A.G. Mason was one of the first to respond. In 1861 he helped to raise 250 men, entering the ranks as a private, but before the command reached Harrisburg he was promoted to second lieutenant of the Fifth Pennsylvania Reserves, Company F. He was made adjutant the same year, a rank he held till the battle of South Mountain, where he displayed a heroic courage that brought eulogies from several officers of the line. After the action his service was demanded at Division Headquarters, when he became a member of Gen. Meades staff, on which he remained up to the close of the war. He soon received his commission as first lieutenant, was subsequently made captain and recommended for the rank of major, and finally was made lieutenant-colonel by brevet, a rank he held at the close of his army career, which was an eventful one. He had participated in all the battles of the army of the Potomac, excepting that of Five Forks. At Charles City Cross Roads, in June, 1862, he was wounded. On his return to civil life he again engaged in the banking business with his father. On October 15, 1868, Col. Mason married Miss S. Adelaide, daughter of H.S. and Sarah A. Mercur, and to them were born four children: Sarah A., Charlotte I., James G. and Elizabeth M. (the latter being deceased). Mr. Mason remained in Towanda till 1872, when he removed to Elmira for a brief time; in 1873 he came to Luzerne county, locating in Wilkes-Barre, where he entered the service of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company; in 1874 he moved to Exeter, where he superintended the erection of the Exeter Colliery. Col. Mason has held several offices since his residence in Exeter, among which may be mentioned those of president of the board of councilmen, four years; councilman, six years; and is now school director of the borough. Politically, he is a Republican.1

1. 1. History of Luzerne County, Pa., by H.C. Bradsby, 1893