Husband Henry Augustus [2] Muhlenberg 1 2
Born: 21 Jul 1823 - Reading, Berks Co, PA 1
Christened:
Died: 9 Jan 1854 - Washington, D. C. 3
Buried:
Father: Rev. Henry Augustus Philip Muhlenberg (1782-1844) 2 4
Mother: Rebecca Hiester ( -1841) 2 5
Marriage: Nov 1847 6
Wife Annie Hall Muhlenberg 7
Born:
Christened:
Died:
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Father: Dr. F. A. Muhlenberg ( - ) 6
Mother:
Other Spouse: Gustavus Anthony Nicolls (1817- ) 8 - Jan 1869 9
Children
1 M Henry Augustus Muhlenberg 2
Born:
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General Notes: Husband - Henry Augustus [2] Muhlenberg
His preliminary education was acquired under the direction of his father. At the age of fourteen he entered Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, where he remained one year, passing thence to Dickinson College, where he entered the sophomore class, and was graduated in 1841. He was a close student, especially of the classics and of history. He passed three years, from 1841 to 1844, in the office of his preceptor, Hon. J. Pringle Jones, engaged in the study of the law.
During his father's candidacy for Governor, in 1844, he displayed marked ability as his private secretary, and conducted all his father's correspondence during the canvass. In 1846, when the Mexican War broke out, he raised a company of volunteers in Reading, and personally tendered their services to the Governor, but the complement of Pennsylvania having already been filled, the offer was declined. In the County Convention of 1846, he, with his brother Hiester, the president of that body, was mainly instrumental in causing the adoption of a resolution approving of the principles of the tariff of 1842, and demanding that, as it was passed by Democratic votes, it should receive a fair consideration from a Democratic Congress. He also delivered a speech in the same body on the Oregon question, in which he strongly favored the claims of the United States to all that district of country lying south of the parallel of 54° 40'. In 1847 and 1848 he was occupied in writing a "Life of General Peter Muhlenberg," of Revolutionary fame, which was published early in 1849, by Cary & Hart, Philadelphia, and was well received. It was dedicated to Jared Sparks, as a slight recognition of his services in elucidating our Revolutionary history.
In the fall of 1849 he was elected to the Legislature from Berks County, and served three years. He there acquired a reputation for integrity, eloquence and business ability. Shortly after taking his seat he delivered a speech on the supplement to the act incorporating the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, which greatly influenced the Senate in its decision to pass the measure. During the second part of his Senatorial career he was the Democratic candidate for Speaker, though the youngest member of that House, his competitor on the Whig side being Hon. John H. Walker, of Erie (the president of the Constitutional Convention of 1872-73). The Senate then contained sixteen Whigs, sixteen Democrats and one Native American, and a majority of all who voted was required to elect. On the eighth ballot, and on the third day, when it was evident that no choice could be made, unless the Whig candidate should vote for himself, the Democratic candidate, together with Messrs. Packer and Guernsey, also Democrats, out of political courtesy, abstained from voting. Throughout the whole contest the two candidates respectively voted for Thomas Carson and William F. Packer. As chairman of a select committee, to which was referred that portion of Governor Johnston's message for 1851 treating of the care and preservation of the State archives, Mr. Muhlenberg reported a bill, which became a law, for the publication, at the expense of the State, of the records of the proprietary government and of all papers relating to the Revolutionary War down to 1783. He was greatly instrumental in securing the passage of an act making an appropriation to continue the geological survey of the State, conducted by Professor Rogers. He favored also the building of new railroads to develop the resources of the commonwealth, though he was opposed to the State granting any direct aid to these objects. During the whole of his Senatorial term he was, in the
words of Hon. C. R. Buckalew, "The bulwark of the treasury against the assaults of outside interested parties." He was outspoken in defense of a tariff of such amount and so levied as to protect the great manufacturing interests of country. He also thought that as iron was an indispensable requisite for any nation, to provide against the contingency of a war, and to render the United States independent of any other country, that a high, though not a prohibitory duty should be imposed on that article.
In the Senate and in the County Conventions he, in connection with Judge Strong and other distinguished Democrats, demanded a modification of the tariff of 1846, in favor of the iron interest, in accordance with the views of Hon. Robert J. Walker, the author of that tariff-views expressed at the time of its passage. He was an earnest opponent of slavery, and considered it "a curse to that community on which it was inflicted; no one could dislike it more than he did, nor did he ever wish to be thought the friend and advocate of the institution." In his devotion, however, to the Union, and in his desire to do away with all causes which might inflame one section of the country against the other, looking upon the compromise measures of 1850 as a solemn compact between the North and South, he thought those measures and the laws resulting from them should be executed fully, honestly and completely. His devotion to the Union was one of the cardinal principles of his political faith. The words used by his father in Congress, at the time of Clay's compromise act of 1833, might be placed in his mouth also,-"The Union is the first and greatest of our national blessings, and to preserve it, nothing can or ought to be too precious. I go for the Union, the whole Union and nothing but the Union. It must be preserved, peaceably, if we can, forcibly, if we must."
No one who knew him intimately can doubt for a moment that he would have been foremost in the van of those Democrats who, in the hour of greatest danger, rushed to the rescue of their government and of their Union if he had then lived.
At such a time he would not have been behind his brother Hiester, or his uncle, Dr. F. A. Muhlenberg, of Lancaster, in forming that party which, in their opinion, held the true Democratic doctrine, in that it advocated the greatest good to the greatest masses. In July, 1852, he was nominated by acclamation the Democratic candidate for Congress in Berks County, and was elected the following October by a large majority. He left Reading late in November, 1853, for Washington, and was present at the opening of the thirty-fourth Congress, but had scarcely taken his seat when he was stricken down by illness. Everything was done for him that was possible and it was believed at one time that he was materially improved, but a relapse occurred and he died January 9, 1854, of hemorrhage and congestion of the lungs. His remains were laid to rest in the "Charles Evans Cemetery," near Reading.
He was a warm and true friend; no act of kindness was ever forgotten by him, and nothing within the limits of possibility was deemed too difficult when done in the cause of a friend. His fearlessness in all departments of life was one of the most marked traits of his character; he never shunned bearing the responsibility of any of his actions; he did what he considered his duty, no matter what the consequences might be. Above all, throughout all of his public life he was a man of unswerving integrity and unblemished honor; he would do nothing, however great the inducements to the contrary, which could lower himself in his own esteem or in that of others.
His standard was a very high one, and when he believed himself to be right, no power on earth could divert him from the path which honor, good faith, good feeling and his own judgment pointed out. He possessed an ample fortune, from which he was ever ready to contribute to all objects, whether charitable, religious, political or literary, which deserved his support.
As a citizen of Reading, he was foremost in advancing, by pen, tongue and purse, all projects which could benefit or increase the prosperity of his native place. [HBC 1886, 506]