Excerpt from An Address on the Life and Services of John F. Hartranft You know the story of his life, and-yet it has seemed to me that it would be interesting to recall some of its incidents, and to go with him in memory, as he climbed the steps of preferment. He could boast worthy lineage. As far back as 1669, the name of Melchior Hartranft appeared on the rolls of a sect of pietists in Germany, whose simple but mystical faith provoked a persecution from which his children escaped by migrating to America. They settled in Montgomery County in this State, in 1734, and successive generations bearing their name have maintained to this day a home in that section. Here on December l6th, 1830, General Hartranft was born. His education was sedulously cared for, and in its preliminary stages he had the benefit of the tuition of Samuel Aaron, who was widely known as a teacher and speaker of intense convictions and extraordinary ability. He com pleted his course at Union College, Schenectady, New York. His taste for the study of Mathematics led him to adopt the profession of engineering, and for two years he assisted in running the lines of several railroads. Circumstances, however, induced him to re turn to Norristown and prosecute the studyof the law. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.