Dr. Robert Harris Awl died on 13 March 1905 and is buried at Pomfret Manor Cemetery, Sunbury, Northumberland County. At one time he was a physician and surgeon in Gratz and in Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. In addition, he was a descendant of a colonial family and was a noted writer and historian.
The Harrisburg Telegraph, 24 March 1905, posted a brief obituary:
Dr. Robert Harris Awl
Dr. Robert Harris Awl died at his home in Sunbury, 13 March 1905, at the advanced age of 85 years. Dr. Awl was born near Sunbury in 1819. He was the son of Samuel Awl and his wife, Mary Maclay. His father was born in Dauphin County in 1773. His mother was the daughter of William Maclay, who was United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1789 to 1791.
Dr. Awl studied medicine with John W. Peal. In his early days Dr. Awl practiced medicine at Gratztown and Halifax, Dauphin County. In the spring of 1849 he located permanently in Sunbury, As a physician he stood high, although for many years he has not been in active practice. He was possibly one of the oldest Masons in the State of Pennsylvania. Death was due to an attack of grip, from which he suffered about one week.
A slightly longer obituary was published in the Miltonian (Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania), 17 March 1905.
Doctor Robert Harris Awl answered the summons of death at his home on Market Square, Sunbury, on Mondyay evening last at 6:16 o’clock.
Death was due to an attack of lagrippe, from which the deceased suffered, for a week, the heart being finally affected. He was aged 85 years, 2 months and 17 days.
Besides occupying a prominent place among the substantial and highly respected citizens of Sunbury, he gained an enviable reputation as a physician and in his earlier days was a regular medical adviser at the county prison for a period of fourteen years.
He also gained distinction as a writer on historical subjects. For John F. McGinniss‘ various publications he furnished monographs of high merit on “Northumberland County Prisons,” “The Old Cannon,” “The First Duel in Northumberland County,” and “The Brady Family.” While the numerous acknowledgments to his assistance in the preparation of this work furnished ample evidence of his interest in other matters pertaining to local history.
The Doctor in early life was a prominent Democratic politician and is the last of the leaders who conducted the politics of the country before and during the War of the Rebellion.
As a physician he stood high in the medical world, although for many years he had not been in active practice. He was a careful business man and a kind friend, and as one of the landmarks of Sunbury, will be missed and remembered. Some time ago he purchased a lot in Pomfret Manor Cemetery and had his own monument with his name, leaving a blank space for the insertion of the date of his death.
The deceased was possibly one of the oldest Masons in the State of Pennsylvania having joined Lodge No. 22 of this city in 1840, and was also a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
He was first married 9 March 1843 to Eliza Bower, of Dauphin County, who died 28 July 1846. On 21 November 1849, he married Rebecca A. Pursell, of Sunbury, who died 11 December 1897. The children born to this union were William R. Awl; Ellen E. Awl; and Mary P. Awl, now Mrs. Edward Young, of Renovo, all of whom survive him.
The funeral was held on Thursday afternoon at 2 .m. interment in the Pomfret Manor Cemetery, Rev. J. W. Rue officiating.
The Snyder County Tribune of 17 March 1905 reprinted the Sunbury Daily Item’s obituary, which was more attuned to Dr. Awl’s ancestry, his medical training, and his work in public affairs:
Doctor Robert Harris Awl, the oldest male resident of Sunbury, died at his residence on Market Street at 6:30 Monday evening at the age of 85 years and 3 months. Notwithstanding his great age his health had been fairly good during the past winter until last Wednesday, when a sudden decline of his vital powers occurred and he succumbed to a failure of heart action.
Doctor Awl descended from an old and distinguished colonial family. His grandfather was William Maclay who was Surveyor general of Pennsylvania while it was a colony immediately preceding the Revolution, and subsequently took part in the revolutionary movements when Pennsylvania became one of the revolting colonies. At the formation of the State government he was elected one of the first two United States Senators from Pennsylvania, the celebrated Robert Morris being the other. As surveyor under the Penns he secured extensive tracts of land in this neighborhood, and his son-in-law, Samuel Awl, near the close of the last century, settled upon one of those properties, about two miles from Sunbury, where Robert Harris Awl, the subject of this obituary notice, was born on the 26 December 1919, being the youngest of a large family of children. He was reared on the farm and received such education as the schools of the neighborhood afforded. About the time he attained the majority he entered upon the study of medicine with Doctor John W. Peal, of Sunbury, was graduated from Philadelphia Medical College in 1942, and commenced the practice of his profession at Halifax, Dauphin County, in which he continued for some years until he joined his brother William Awl, Superintendent of the Ohio State Assylum for the Insane, as one of the assistants. His health failing in consequence of arduous duties in that position he resigned it in 1849, and came to Sunbury where he resumed the practice of his profession, which he pursued here with great success and credit up to the date of his death, covering a period of 56 years. In addition to his general practice he was prominent in the medical staff of the Mary M. Packer Hospital.
Dr. Awl also engaged quite prominently in public affairs. In his younger years he was an ardent Democrat and quite an expert politician, he having come within a comparatively few votes of being elected to the Legislature, as a democratic candidate, from the strong Republican county of Dauphin. Subsequently he was elected Treasurer of Northumberland County, and served in that capacity when the present court house was built. For a number of years he served as the physician at the county prison, and filled the position of school director and councilman. He had the distinction of being one of the oldest Mason in the State having been initiated into that order in 1842.
Doctor Awl was a brother of Mrs. Rohrbach, of this place, and an uncle to H. A. Rohrbach.
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Obituaries from Newspapers.com.
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