D.H. Hastings

Historical Notes:

Daniel H. Hastings was born in Salona, located in Clinton County, Pennsylvania in 1849. Educated locally, he worked on his father's farm. He tried several times to run away to join the Union Army for the American Civil War in the footsteps of his brothers, but his father stopped him each time.  At age 14, Hastings became a school teacher in for four years and principal at the age of 18.  His own education progressed while he held this position at the Bellefonte Academy studying law.  Hastings was admitted to the bar in 1875 and established a successful practice. Other businesses he was involved with were coal mines, banking and he was editor of the Bellefonte Republican newspaper.  Involved in local government and civic institutions, Hastings served on the Bellefonte school board, as a town Burgess, a trustee of Bellefonte's Methodist Church and a trustee of Pennsylvania State College and Dickinson College.  Hastings was initiated into Bellefonte Lodge # 268 of Free and Accepted Masons in September 1874. He became their Worshipful Master of in 1878. He was a member of the Bellefonte Chapter # 241 of Royal Arch masons. He became the Eminent Commander of Constans Commandery #33 Knights Templar of Bellefonte in 1886.

Active in politics as a Republican in 1878, he managed the successful Congressional campaign of his law partner, Seth Harman Yocum, a Republican running as a Greenbacker. He also was active in an unsuccessful campaign of James A. Beaver for governor in 1882.  In 1886 he as a delegate to the state of Republican convention and gave the nominating speech for Beaver who won the election in 1886.  In 1887 he was chairman of the state Republican convention.  Hastings was a delegate to the to the Republican National Convention in 1888 where he gave a nomination speech for John Sherman and a speech for Levi P. Morton after being nominated for Vice president. 

In July 1877 Hastings joined the Pennsylvania state Militia as paymaster of the of the 5th Regiment with the rank of  Captain.. Within a year he had been appointed Lieutenant Colonel and second-in-command of his regiment, and soon afterwards he was appointed assistant adjutant of the Pennsylvania Militia's 2nd Brigade. By 1880 he had been promoted to commander of the 5th Regiment with the rank of Colonel.

In 1887, governor and fellow Bellefonte resident James A. Beaver named Hastings as Adjutant General of the state Militia with the rank of major general.  In his role as adjutant general, Hastings led relief efforts following the 1889 Johnstown Flood and gained statewide attention and praise.  Hastings was a candidate for governor in 1890 and lost by 11 votes.

Hastings sought the Republican gubernatorial again in 1893. He obtained it. Hastings served one term, 1895 to 1899.  As governor, in 1885 Hastings appointed the first seven judges to the newly created Pennsylvania superior Court, including former governor Beaver. In addition, his administration included the creation of the Pennsylvania State game Commission, State Forestry Commission and the Department of Agriculture.  He also signed into a law a measure to replace state property taxes with a tax on corporate profits.  Also in 1895, Hastings enacted the several police agencies modeled after the Texas Rangers. Fire destroyed the State Capitol Building in Harrisburg in 1897, and the Hastings administration erected a replacement, which was completed in 1906.

Hastings directed the state's response during the Spanish-American War, working with the state legislature to raise troops, supplies and equipment and transport them to mobilization sites, and then taking steps to return soldiers to Pennsylvania and demobilize them at the end of the war.  Following his term, Hastings returned to his law practice and business interests. He died of pneumonia in Bellefonte on January 9, 1903, and was buried at Union Cemetery in Bellefonte.

CONDITION:   The LETTERHEAD has normal letter folds, It is in very good condition.  The "EBAY ITEM" thing is just a loose piece of paper that is not attached to the letterhead.  

Letterhead is approximately

 8" X 10 1/2" in size. 

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