Biography

01/26/1837 - 05/01/1910

Brevet Brigadier General John Peter Shindel Gobin (R17) Lebanon County 1885-1899

Early Life: 

Brevet Brigadier General John Peter Shindel Gobin, born January 26, 1837, Sunbury, Northumberland County, son of Samuel and Susannah (Shindel) Gobin; education, common schools; worked printer’s apprentice, attorney, Northumberland County Bar 1858; Brigadier General, Civil War, 1861-1866;  Provost Judge of Charleston, South Carolina, 1865-1866; served, Pennsylvania National Guard 1870-1907; elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 1885-1899, elected, President pro tempore 1891-1893; Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, 1897; elected, Republican,  7th Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, 1899-1903; married, Anna Maria “Annie” Howe, 1866, no children; died, May 1, 1910, Lebanon, Lebanon, County, Pennsylvania; Interment, Mount Lebanon Cemetery, Lebanon, County, Lebanon, Pennsylvania. 

Early Career:

Years of service 1861–1866 (Union Army)

Enlisted, Civil War, 1st Lieutenant in Company F, 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (three-Months). Promoted, Captain, Company C, 47th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, participated, capture, Confederate War Steamer "Governor Milton" (the only steamer captured by infantry during the war) promoted, Major, commander, 47th Pennsylvania Regiment; promoted, Lieutenant Colonel, November 24, 1864, Colonel; January 3, 1865, Brevetted Brigadier General, United States Volunteers, March 13, 1865 for "faithful and meritorious services during the war". Commanded, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 19th Army Corps, Lynchburg, Virginia; appointed Provost Judge of Charleston, South Carolina, 1865-1866. Post-war career, leading the Pennsylvania National Guard. Served, Brigadier General of Volunteers, Spanish-American War, Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, 1897.  

Professional titles; business ownership; board memberships; local government; club memberships:

Grand Master of the Knights Templar of North America. Grand Patriarch with the International Order of Odd Fellows; Vice President and Commissioner, Soldiers’ Orphans Schools (established Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin); trustee, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Home, Erie County; solicitor and member of the boards of directors, First National Bank of Lebanon and the Cornwall and Lebanon Railway Company; member, Loyal Legion and Sons of the Revolution.

Pennsylvania Politics:

Elected, Republican, Pennsylvania State Senate, 17th district, Lebanon County, 1885-1899, elected, President pro tempore 1891-1893. Co-sponsored, Baker Ballot Bill, clarified, election voting, 1891. Workhouse Law, 1893; committee assignments, Constitutional Reform, Judiciary (General), Judiciary (Local), Pension and Gratuities, Military Affairs. 

Elected, Grand Army of the Republic Department Commander, 1887. Gettysburg National Battlefield legislation, 1889. Served, member, Gettysburg Battlefield Monument Association (GBMA).   

Names of any service after Senate:

Elected, Republican, 7th Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, with Governor William Alexis Stone, 1899-1903. The first President Pro Tempore in the history of the Pennsylvania Senate to serve as Lieutenant Governor.

Pennsylvania National Guard 1870-1907.  

Appointed, United States Army Volunteers, President William McKinley, June 19, 1898, commissioned, Brigadier-General, served, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, Spanish -American War. Later stationed, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XIX Corps, Camp Mackenzie, Georgia and Camp Meade, Middletown, Pennsylvania. 

Legacy:

Nephew, United States Army Chaplain, Jeremiah Shindel, Jr., Pennsylvania State Senate, 5th district, Lehigh and Northampton Counties, 1858-1860.

Jeremiah Peter Shindel Jr. - Pennsylvania Senate Library (pasen.gov)

Wife, Anna Maria “Annie” Howe, the daughter, United States Army Captain Charles Howe from Massachusetts.

Cited: 

Cox, Harold. "Senate Members "G"". Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

Smull’s Legislative Handbook, (1888). Cochran, T.B., (Editor) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, pages 670, 676-678, Biographical Sketches of Senators, page 642-643.

William Henry Powell, editor, Officers of the Army and Navy (Volunteer) who Served in the Civil War, 1893, page 127. 

Officers of the Army and Navy (volunteer) who Served in the Civil War - Google Books

The Honorable John Peter Shindel Gobin « 47th Pennsylvania Volunteers

List of American Civil War brevet generals (Union) - Wikipedia 

John Peter Shindel Gobin (1837-1910) - Find a Grave Memorial