The "One of My Heroes" Story

Foreword:  "My university has been the book, the newspaper, the play, the concert, the opera, the lecture, the sermon, the church, the world of nature, the world of art, the printing office, the dictionary, the cyclopedia, the poem, the restraining influence of the school, the blessed association of friends."  This was penned by John Piersol McCaskey years ago. If his name is a mystery to you, it's because you are not a citizen of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  My story today will tell you about this outstanding educator, musician, song writer, politician and human being who called Lancaster home.

My Polaroid print of J.P. McCaskey HIgh School

It was an ordinary day.  Just finished making an 8"x8" print of my McCaskey High School altered Polaroid which I sell from time to time at a small store in downtown Lancaster.  The John Piersol McCaskey High School was completed and dedicated on May 3, 1938 on the east side of the city of Lancaster.  The high school bore the name of one of the finest citizens Lancaster has ever known.  Dr. McCaskey was born October 9, 1837 to Scottish immigrants on a farm near Gordonville, PA.  He attended the Zook school house where he was required to read daily from the Bible.  At the age of ten he left home to study at the Oak Hill Academy in Virginia until his family moved to nearby Lancaster and he enrolled at a secondary school on Duke Street.  He eventually graduated from Boys High School in 1855.  He then began teaching at the high school the same year and taught the next ten years there except for one year when he studied printing at the Evening Express printing office.  While teaching he met and fell in love with Ellen Chase, another teacher at the school.  She then took a job at a school in Bath, NY and accepted his marriage proposal by mail.  They were married in 1860 and had seven children. The same year he got married he introduced a vocal music course into the school curriculum at Boys High and soon after organized a high school orchestra.  

Dr. John Piersol McCaskey, hero

He became principal of the high school from 1865 to 1906.  He was also the co-editor of the Pennsylvania School Journal from 1866-1921 while using his printing skills he learned earlier.  J.P., as he was known, was an accomplished musician, having written the famous Christmas song "Jolly Old St. Nicholas" in 1867.  It is said that the "Johnny" who wanted a pair of skates was his son who died in childhood.  He eventually earned a Master of Arts degree from nearby Franklin and Marshall College and was granted a Doctor of Philosophy degree from F&M in 1887.  One of his remarkable feats was the introduction of Arbor Day in Lancaster County while his friend Dr. E.E. Higbee, State Superintendent of Public Instruction eventually made it a state holiday.  In 1907, after leaving education, he became the 23rd Mayor of Lancaster for one four-year term.  But, with all of the tremendous educational and political accomplishments he achieved, I was most impressed with the fact that he was a Vestryman for 68 (you read that right) years and a warden for 24 of those years at St. James Episcopal Church in downtown Lancaster where I am now a member.  Makes the 4 years that I was a Vestryman look like nothing.  Dr. John Piersol McCaskey died at the age of 97 while arrangements were being made for his 98th birthday party.  In 2013 his great-great grandson, Patrick McCaskey, whose family owns the NFL Chicago Bears, had a family friend, Richard Smith of Gordonville, PA, submit a memorial story to the Lancaster Newspaper to celebrate his great-great grandfather.  It was a great tribute and an interesting read.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.