John Piersol McCaskey

John Piersol McCaskey (1837–1934) was an American politician. He served as the 23rd mayor of Lancaster, Pennsylvania from 1907 to 1911.^[1]

Dr. McCaskey is most remembered in the field of education and the high school in Lancaster, PA is named for him. McCaskey began teaching in the Boys' High School in 1855, with the exception of one year 1857-1858, most of which he spent in the Old evening Express" printing office, learning something of the printers trade. He was High School Principal for fifty years. Dr. McCaskey was born on a farm near Gordonville, Lancaster County, PA October 9, 1837. His father's family belonged to the Presbyterian and his mother's to the Episcopal Church. They attended services regularly at both churches.He learned to read at an early age before going to the old Zook schoolhouse, and was required to read daily and often aloud from the Bible. By the time he was ten or eleven, he left home for the Oak Hill Academy, and later attended school in Lancaster. In May 1849 Dr. McCaskey came to Lancaster, and was for a year in the secondary school on Duke street, under a noted teacher, Howard Worcester Gilbert. He entered the Boy's High School in 1850. In 1860 Dr. McCaskey was married to Ellen Margaret Chase, at Bath N.Y. Together they had seven children. In Politics Dr. McCaskey has always been a Republican. Dr. McCaskey is a published song writer many times over and introduced Arbor Day to Pennsylvania. Dr. McCaskey is interred in Greenwood Cemetery.

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