A biographical sketch of Simon Sallada, also known as Salada, Sallade, & Solliday, as revised and edited from what appeared in the Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County:
Simon Sallade… by his excellent character and distinguished public services, made his name well known to all the citizens of Dauphin County. He was born near Gratz, Dauphin county, March 7, 1785; son of John Sallade. Owing to the lack of schools in his day and place, he was obliged to depend on parental instruction, but being an apt pupil he early mastered the main branches of a good education. Like Abraham Lincoln, he read and re-read the few books that fell into his hands and made their contents his own. He was also greatly assisted, when near manhood, by a private instructor employed by himself and other young men of the neighborhood. Mr. Sallade learned the trade of millwright with Jacob Berkstresser, of Bellefonte [Centre County, Pennsylvania], and designed and built many of the old mills within thirty or forty miles of his residence. He was self-reliant and social, energetic and industrious, thoroughly upright and reliable, and became one of the most popular men of the region. Brought into contact with all kinds and classes of people, in social life and in business relations, he naturally became warmly interested in public matters, and especially in those of a political nature, and was in consequence drawn into public life; not, however, as a professional politician, but as one seeking to promote the general welfare. He was always a loyal Democrat, but never a partisan, and when nominated for office made his appeal to the people and not to the party. He was four times the nominee of his party for the State Legislature, and was three times elected, although the majority in the county was with the opposite party, and the single instance of his defeat resulted from the clear and honest expression of opposition to the enactment of the Maine Liquor Law in 1853, when the candidate opposed to him was able to ‘trim’ on the issue. Mr. Sallade served in the State Legislature during the sessions of 1819-1820, 1836-37 and in 1853, in all of which he was a prominent and influential member. He was the author of what is popularly termed the “Wiconisco Feeder Bill,” and to his advocacy and influence, exerted with zeal and skill, that measure so important to the material interests of the upper end of Dauphin county owes its passage. Through the outlet provided by this improvement, the Lykens Valley coal fields were developed. Mr. Sallade was superintendent of the construction of the Wiconisco Canal, receiving his appointment from the canal commissioners.
Simon Sallade died at the old homestead near Elizabethville, November 8, 1854, and is interred in the village graveyard at that place. His wife was Jane Woodside, daughter of John Woodside, of Lykens Valley; she died September 3, 1854, and is buried in the same graveyard. They had eight children: Margaret Sallade, married John J. Bowman, of Millersburg; Ann Sallada, married Edward Bickel; Jane Sallada, married Daniel K. Smith; Simon Sallada, Jacob Sallada, John Sallada, George Sallada, and Joseph Sallada.
The story of the life of Simon Sallade is a familiar one in Lykens Valley. His sociability, hospitality, humor, honesty and generous charity are still talked about, and form a part of the traditional local history, in which his name is mentioned with grateful recollection of his goodness and just recognition of his greatness.
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The above information was modified/edited from Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, published in 1896 by J. M. Runk and Company of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. A free download is available from the Internet Archive.
The portrait of Simon Sallada is cut from a photograph of a painting by David Wainewright Bowman from 1922. Bowman’s painting was based on an original painting done about 1830. The photo was publicly posted on an Ancestry.com family tree.
For recently discovered information from what is believed to be the original family Bible of Simon Sallada, see YouTube video by Roy W. Schreffler.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.