JUDGE ASA PACKER, of Mauch Chunk, was during an active career covering about one half a century one of the most conspicuously useful men in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was equally noted and honored as a master of large affairs, for his great public spirit which made him a leader in the development of his state, for his munificent liberality in the establishment and maintenance of educational and benevolent institutions, and for those graces of personal character which made his life a benediction upon the community at large.

He was born in Mystic, Connecticut, December 29, 1805. His early education was extremely limited, being only such as he could obtain in the primitive district schools of those early days. To compensate for deprivation in this respect, he was possessed of a receptive mind and habits of thought and observation, and through these he was enabled to acquire a generous store of practical knowledge which proved ample equipment for his future life, and gave him position side by side with many who had won college honors. At the age of seventeen he packed all his worldly possessions, consisting of a few simple articles of clothing, shouldered his humble pack, and set out afoot to make his own way in a great world which was altogether unknown to him. Trudging along the rugged roads of that almost primitive time the plucky lad walked the entire distance between his birthplace in the land of blue laws and wooden nutmegs to Brooklyn, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania. This first achievement was a fair index to his future-the boy was father of the man whom, once determined upon a course of action, no obstacle could stay, whose purpose no discouragement could shake, to whom could come no task too great to undertake. After many days of weary walking, of climbing his way up rocky hills and toiling through lusty valleys, in sunshine and in rain; the lad arrived, footsore, weary and hungry, at the home of his cousin, Mr. Edward Packer, in Brooklyn. Mr. Packer was a house carpenter, and young Asa determined to learn the trade under his tutelage. He applied himself to his work with genuine enthusiasm and characteristic thoroughness, and became an accomplished mechanic. No master of the trade could push a plane truer or more rapidly, or send a nail home with greater precision.

His apprenticeship ended and now a grown young man, Mr. Packer went to New York, where he did journey work for a year. The life of the city was distasteful to him, however, and he returned to Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, settling in Springville Township, where he worked at his trade for some few years. Meantime, on January 23, 1828, he married Miss Sarah M. Blakslee. In 1833, learning that men were wanted to run coal boats on the then just opened Lehigh canal, he drove in a primitive sled to Mauch Chunk, made a satisfactory engagement, and then returned home to close tip his affairs in time for the opening of navigation. In the spring he set out to engage in his new undertaking, walking to Tunkhannock, on the Susquehanna River, where he boarded a raft which took him to Berwick, whence he walked to Mauch Chunk. He was at once given charge of a canal boat, and not long afterward contracted for an additional vessel which he placed tinder his brother-in-law, James I. Blakslee. During the summer he brought his family to Mauch Chunk. His boating business proved so remunerative that at the end of two years he withdrew from active effort in this line, but retaining an interest in the enterprise. With a portion of the means which he had acquired he bought the general store of E. W. Kimball, on the banks of the Lehigh, making Mr. Blakslee its manager, while he himself established a boat yard and engaged in the building of canal boats, a work for which he was well adapted by reason of his former experience as a carpenter. From this time on he prospered in all his undertakings, and in a few years came to be regarded as a wealthy man, though his means were small compared with what they afterwards became. About this time he placed in his store a stock of goods amounting to $25,000 in value, which was a large purchase for those days. He took large contracts for building locks on the upper Lehigh, which he completed with handsome profits in 1839. The following year he and his brother Robert took large contracts from Stockton & Stevens, of New Jersey, for building boats at Pottsville, Schuylkill County, to run in the direct coal trade to New York. At the end of three years the brothers dissolved partnership, Asa returning to Mauch Chunk, and Robert locating in Reading.

Mr. Packer next engaged in mining and shipping coal from the Nesquehoning and other mines, loading his product into his own boats from the first named at a point a little above where the East Mauch Chunk bridge now stands Thenceforward his career was continuously and conspicuously prosperous, and altogether the result of his own endeavor. In 1852 he took up his greatest business enterprise-the building of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. With rare foresight he discerned the vast results which would grow out of such a highway, and he entered upon the gigantic undertaking unaided and alone. He contended with difficulties, physical and financial, ' which many pronounced insuperable, and at one time his entire fortune was seriously imperiled. With almost superhuman courage and determination he persisted in his work, and in 1855 his judgment was vindicated and his victory won, in its completion.

At the time of his death, Judge Packer was regarded as one of Pennsylvania's richest men. True, he accumulated vast wealth, but he administered it with a liberal and enlightened judgment and a deeply sympathetic heart, proving a great power in the development of his state, in the advancement of civilization, and in bringing employment to thousands of families. His personal benefactions were countless, but were so modestly bestowed that they went unheralded save by those recipients of his bounty who were helped to homes and established in business, or found relief at his hands in their time of sore need. Educational, religious and charitable institutions always held a first place in his estimation, and such he aided with an unsparing hand. St. Luke's Hospital in South Bethlehem was one of his favorite objects; he contributed to it liberally during his life, and at his death left it a bequest of $300,000. To St. Mark's church in Mauch Chunk, in which he was for forty-four years a warden and vestryman, he left the sum of $30,000. In this beautiful temple now stands, erected in his memory by his widow and children, one of the most beautiful rerodos in all America.

His principal monument, however, is the magnificent Lehigh University. Deprived, as has been seen, of a college training, he was desirous of affording to the youth of his state opportunities such as had been denied to him. This wish of his heart he imparted to Bishop Stevens, and to him unfolded his plans for the establishment at some point in the Lehigh Valley of a University where young men of limited means might have opportunity to secure a thorough education, especially along technical lines. Accordingly, in 1865, he set aside for the establishment of the proposed institution fifty-six acres of land in South Bethlehem, and a sum of $500,000 - a gift, it is believed, the largest given in the United Sates for such a purpose up to that time. In 1875 he added fifty-two acres to the University tract, increasing it to one hundred and fifteen acres, and also erected a fine library building at a cost of $400,000 in memory of his daughter; Mrs. Lucy Packer Linderman. This proved to be his last personal undertaking in connection with the institution, his death occurring not long afterward. Under the provisions of his will he left a permanent endowment of $1,500,000 for general maintenance, and added $400,000 to his previous gift of $100,000 for library purposes thereby increasing that special endowment to a half million dollars, and the aggregate of his University benefactions (land value included) to the princely sum of three millions of dollars and it is probable a similar amount will be received when his estate, now held in trust, is distributed. In the grounds of Lehigh University stands a most beautiful edifice, the Packer Memorial church, erected in 1886 by Judge Packer's last surviving child, Mrs. Mary Packer Cummings, at the cost of a quarter million of dollars.

Judge Packer was prominent in political affairs, and wielded a potent and salutary influence in the counsels of both state and nation, and in all pertaining to commercial and educational interests. In 1841 he was elected to the legislature, and he was re-elected to succeed himself at the expiration of his term. His retirement from the legislature was followed (in 1843) by his appointment by Governor David R. Porter to the position of associate judge of his county. In 1852 he was elected to congress, and he was reelected in 1854. These official honors, though not solicited or even desired, were cheerfully accepted, and all their multifarious trusts and duties were wisely and honorably discharged. In two instances he was brought prominently before the state and nation, when he permitted his name to be used solely as a matter of duty to his political friends, and where no reward were possible. In 1868 he was named for the presidential nomination in the National Democratic Convention, and in the following year he was the Democratic. candidate for governor.

He was a member of various Masonic bodies, and Packer Commandery, No. 23, Knights Templar, of Mauch Chunk, was named in honor of a member of his family. Mauch Chunk and Packer are names inseparable, for it was in the city named that he entered upon his career of phenomenal success and usefulness, and there his interest centered throughout his life.

Judge Packer died on May 7, 1879, in the seventy-fourth year of his age, after a life of highest devotion to the interests of education and other laudable objects. In his personal character he was most unassuming, and his wealth, power and position never changed his outlook or bearing, but he was the same brave, strong, kindly, simple-hearted and generous man to the last. His toleration was marked. Strong as were his own opinions, he recognized the right of as strong contrary opinions by others, and so long as they were honestly held they never affected his friendships. His observance of the "Lord's Day" was most marked, and it was some circumstance entirely beyond his control which would keep him from attendance at the services of his church.

Judge Packer was survived by his widow whose death occurred in 1882, three years after his passing away. The remains of the two, husband and wife, repose in the Mauch Chunk cemetery and by their side the bodies of their two sons - Robert, who died in 1883, and Harry Eldred, who died in 1884. The monument in the family plot stands prominently on the brow of Mount Pisgah, just rearward from the old home, the erection of which was begun by Judge Packer in 186o, and where, in 1878, he and his devoted wife celebrated their golden wedding, one of the most delightful and touching social events ever witnessed in the Lehigh Valley. The old home, about which cling so many tender memories, is now the residence of the only surviving child of Judge and Mrs. Packer - Mary Packer Cummings.

has his place of birth as Groton, CT on 12/20/1806.