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'08 '69
GKNEALOGY COLLECTION
3 1833 01076 4873
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012
http://archive.org/details/annualproceedin190708sons
BANNER
DESIGNED FOR CHURCH DECORATION
A GIFT FROM A MEMBER OF THE
PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY OF SONS OF THE REVOLUTION
Exegi Monumenlum art Perennius
£*
ANNUAL PROCEEDINGS
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907-1908
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PHILADELPHIA, I90S
EDITED BY
ETHAN ALLEN WEAVER, C.E., M.Sc, Secretary,
AND
published by the society. April 3, 1908.
■'
1412769
Contents
PAGE
Object oe the Society 5
General Society, List oe Oeeicers, 1908-1911 6
Founders oe the Pennsylvania Society oe Sons oe the Revo- lution , 7
List oe Oeeicers, Managers, Delegates, Alternate Delegates,
Standing Committees and Color Guard, 1908- 1909 8
>
Oeeicers and Managers oe the Pennsylvania Society oe Sons oe
the Revolution erom its Organization, 1888- 1908 15
Proceedings oe the Twentieth Annual Meeting, and Report oe
Board oe Managers, April 3, 1908 17
Historical Address oe Hon. Samuel WhitakEr Pennypacker, LL.D., at Dedication oe Monument at Pho^nixvillE, Pa., Sep- tember 21, 1907 J7
Annual Sermon, Preached in Christ Church, Philadelphia, by the Rt. Rev. James Henry Darlington, D.D., LL.D., Bishop oe Harrisburg, December 22, 1907 91
Object of the Society
T being evident, from a steady decline of a proper celebration of the National Holidays of the United States of America, that popular concern in the events and men of the War of the Revolution is gradually declining, and that such lack of interest is attributable, not so much to the lapse of time and the rapidly increasing flood of immigration from foreign countries as to the neglect, on the part of descendants of Revolutionary heroes, to perform their duty in keeping before the public mind the memory of the services of their ancestors and of the times in which they lived: therefore, the Society of the Sons of the Revolution has been instituted to perpetuate the memory of the men who, in the military, naval and civil service of the Colonies and of the Continental Congress, by their acts or counsel, achieved the Independence of the country, and to further the proper celebra- tion of the anniversaries of the birthday of Washington, and of prominent events connected with the War of the Revolution ; to collect and secure for preservation the rolls, records and other documents relating to that period; to inspire the members of the Society with the patriotic spirit of their forefathers ; and to promote the feeling of friendship among them.
General Society
(Organized at Washington, D. C, April 19, 1890)
Officers
1908-1911.
General President, Hon. John LEE Carroee, LL-D.,
Of the Maryland Society.
General Vice-President, Edmund Wetmore, LL.D.,
Of the New York Society.
General Second Vice-President, WiivSON Godfrey Harvey,
Of the South Carolina Society.
Secretary, James Mortimer Montgomery,
Of the New York Society.
Assistant Secretary, Proe. Wieeiam Libbey, D.Sc,
Of the New Jersey Society
Treasurer, Richard McCaee Cadwaeader,
Of the Pennsylvania Society.
Assistant Treasurer, Henry CadeE,
Of the Missouri Society.
Registrar, Waeter Gieman Page,
Of the Massachusetts Society.
Historian, Capt. Wieeiam Gordon McCabe, LL.D., Litt.D.,
Of the Virginia Society.
Chaplain, Rev. Edward Everett Hale, S.T.D., LL.D.,
Of the Massachusetts Society.
6
Pennsylvania Society
Instituted April 3, 1888 Incorporated September 29, 1890
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Board of Managers
1908-1909
Chairman,
Charles Henry Jones,
Philadelphia.
Secretary,
Ethan Allen Weaver,
Lock Box 713, Philadelphia.
Residence, 251 West Harvey Street, Germantown, Pa.
Officers
President, Richard McCall Cadwalader.
Vice-Presiden ts,
Hon. James Addams Beaver, LrL.D.,
Major-Generae John Rutter Brooke, U.S.A.,
Wieeiam Maceay Hall, Jr.,
Rev. Rogers Israel, D.D.,
Hon. Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, IX.D.
Secretary, Ethan Allen Weaver.
Treasurer, Charles Henry Jones.
Registrar, John Woolf Jordan, IX.D.
Historian Josiah Granville Leach.
Chaplain, The Rev. George Woolsey Hodge, M.A.
Managers
The Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden.
Thomas Hewson Bradford, M.D.
Francis von Albade Cabeen.
Hon. John Bayard McPherson, LLD.
Hon. William Potter.
Richard DeCharms Barclay.
Stanley Griswold Flagg, Jr.
Edward Stalker Sayres. Hon. Norris Stanley Barratt.
8
DELEGATES AND ALTERNATE DELEGATES
TO THE
General Society
1908-1909
Delegates
Major-Generae John Rutter Brooke, U.S.A.
Richard McCain Cadwaeader.
Wieeiam Dareington Evans.
Coeonee Charles Heath Heye, U.S.A.
Hon. Henry Martyn Hoyt.
Sydney Pemberton Hutchinson.
Charees Henry Jones.
John Wooef Jordan, LL.D.
Josiah Granvieee Leach.
David Miene.
Hon. Wieeiam Potter.
Joseph Aeeison Stein metz.
Curwen Stoddart.
Rev. Nathaniee Seymour Thomas.
Alternates
Richard Lewis Ashhurst.
Captain Wieeiam Baird, U.S.A.
Robert Packer Brodhead.
John Edgar Burnett Buckenham.
George Hoeeenback Buteer.
John Kay Ceement.
Captain Ben Hoeeaday Dorcy, U.S.A.
Arthur Haee.
Luther Reiey Keeker.
Wieeiam De Witt Kennedy.
Joseph Leidy, Jr., M.D.
John Wieeiam Lodge, M.D.
Captain Frank Ross McCoy, U.S.A.
Charees R ho ads Roberts.
Standing Committees
Ex-Officio Members of All Committees
Richard McCall Cadwalader, President of the Society. Charges Henry Jones, Chairman Board of Managers.
On Applications for Membership
Josiah Granville Leach, Chairman.
John Woolf Jordan, LL.D.
Edward Staeker Sayres.
On Equestrian Statue to Major-General Anthony Wayne
John Mieton Coeton, Chairman.
WlEEIAM CEARE AlEISON.
Richard DeCharms Barceay. Wieeiam Henry Barnes.
Frank Battles.
Samuee Taylor Bodine.
Albert Newton Cleaver.
John Heman Converse, LL.D.
George Howard Earle.
Edgar Conway Felton.
Addison Murray Imbrie.
Henry Griffith Keasbey.
Horace Magee.
Caleb Jones Milne.
John Buck Morgan.
Israel Wistar Morris.
Hon. Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, LL.D.
Levi Lingo Rue.
Samuel Small.
Adam Arbuckle Stull.
Eben Boyd Weitzel.
Edward Stalker Sayres, Secretary of Committee.
ID
On Landmarks of the Revolution, Monuments and Memorials
John Wooee Jordan, LL.D., Chairman.
Hon. Norris Stanley Barratt.
Harry James Cooper.
Thomas De Witt CuyeEr.
Poweee Evans.
Emmett Gherst.
John MarkeEy Hartman.
Wieeiam Macpherson Hornor.
James McCormick Lamberton.
Horace Magee.
Asher Miner.
Hendrick Eesworth Paine.
Richard Randolph Parry.
John Fribeey Parsons.
Eeeingham Perot.
Washington Beeddyn Poweee.
Benjamin Hayes Smith.
Hon. Archibaed Loudon Snowden, LL.D.
Hon. Charees Boone Stapees.
George Steinman.
Levi Eeemaker Waeeer.
Rev. Etheebert Dudeey Wareieed, D.D., LL.D.
On Library and Relics of the Revolution
Ethan AeeEn Weaver, Chairman.
Thomas Warren Bareow.
James Caevin Bergstresser.
Robert Severs Bowman.
Lieutenant Mark Brooke, U.S.A.
Wieeiam WaeeEy Davis, Jr.
Frederick Wieeiam Grayson, Jr.
Waeter Ferdinand Haee.
Jacob Butz HeeeEr, M.D.
Charees Hodge.
Christian Henry Hohmann.
Major John Stewart Kuep, M.D., U.S.A.
Daniee Lammot, Jr.
George Grossman Lennig.
Samuee Marshaee.
James Martin.
Wieeiam Chauncey Myers.
Wieeiam George Pheeps.
Louis Barcroet Runk.
Winthrop Smith.
Frank PeaeE Snodgrass.
Waeter Macon Lowrie Ziegeer, M.D.
ii
On Valley Forge
Richmond Legh Jones, Chairman.
Thomas BiddlE, M.D.
William Henry Brown.
John Cadwalader.
Major Joseph Kirby Corson, M.D., U.S.A.
Charles Edward Etting.
Joseph Fornance. John Sergeant Gerhard.
William Goodrich.
Edmund Graff Hamersey.
Alexander Krumbhaar.
Alfred Eei Lewis.
Right Reverend Alexander Mackay-Smith, D.D.
S. Emlen Meigs.
Benjamin Matthias Nead.
S. Davis Page.
C. Stuart Patterson.
Earl Bill Putnam.
Rear- Admiral Alexander Wilson Russell, U.S.N.
Hon. Ernest Leigh Tustin.
Henry Redwood Wharton, M.D.
Col. John Andrew Wilcox, U.S.A.
On Flags and Banners of the Revolution
Charles Edmund Dana, Chairman.
Hunter Brooke.
Captain Edward Carpenter, U.S.A.
William Henry Castle.
Isaac Roberts Davis.
Pay Director Reah Frazer, U.S.N.
Manuel Eyre Griffith.
Davis Henry.
Price Wetherill Janeway.
Oliver Boyce Judson.
Nathaniel Seaver Keay.
Henry Kuhl Kelly.
Daniel Smith Rittenhouse.
Edmund Munroe Sawtelle.
Richard Sharpe, Jr.
Harris Elric Sproat.
James Thorington, M.D.
Charles PeaslEE Turner, M.D.
Charles Harrod Vinton, M.D.
Francis Nichols Whitney.
Richard Norris Williams.
Frederick Ernest Windsor.
12
On Lectures
Hon. William Potter, Chairman.
Henry Ayres.
George Washington Bailey, M.D.
wllliam ludwig baker.
Albert Forster Damon.
Rev. Aeered Langdon Elwyn.
Henry Korn Fox.
Edward Augustine Groves.
Richard Wistar Harvey.
George Henry Haverstick.
George Van Geeder Heberton.
Bernard HoopES.
Clarence Walter Hudson.
Rev. William Filler Lutz.
Rev. Irwin Pounds McCurdy, D.D., LLD.
Charles Marshall, Jr.
Horace TurlEy Potts.
Rev. Lucien Moore Robinson.
Robert Porter Shick.
Richard Dale Sparhawk.
Charles Love Scott Tingley.
Joseph Longstreth Wtoolston.
On Annual Church Service
Horace Magee, Chairman. The Rev. George Woolsey Hodge, M.A., Chaplain.
On Celebration of Evacuation Day
Francis von Albade Cabeen, Chairman.
On Color Guard
Francis von Albade ' Cabeen, Chairman.
13
Color Guard
Organized October 7, 1897.
Alexander Wilson Russell, Jr., Captain.
John Morgan Ash, Jr.
Edgar Wright Baird.
Matthew Baird, Jr.
Paul Henry Barnes, Jr.
David Knickerbocker Boyd.
Lawrence Visscher Boyd.
James Hopkins Carpenter.
James De Waele Cookman.
Samuel Babcock Crowell.
Henry Lindley Crowther.
William Darlington Evans.
Stanley Griswold Flagg, Jr.
Clarence Payne Franklin, M.D.
Clinton Franklin, D.D.S.
William Copeland Furber.
William Partridge Gilpin.
Samuel McClintock Hamill, M.D.
Albert Hill.
Henry Douglas Hughes.
William Leverett.
Jacob Giles Morris.
Jonathan Cilley Neff\
William Campbell Posey, M.D.
Ralph Currier Putnam.
Frank Miller Riter.
Roberts Coles Robinson.
Frank Earle Schermerhorn.
Learoyd Silvester.
Robert Hobart Smith.
Joseph Allison Steinmetz.
Ogden Dungan Wilkinson.
Officers and Managers
OF THE
PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY FROM ITS ORGANIZATION
April 3, 1888
1888, 1907 1907 1907 1907 1907
Chairmen of the Board of Managers
Elected. Retired
1888. *James Edward Carpenter. 1901
1901. Charles Henry Jones.
Officers
Presidents,
1888. *Wileiam Wayne. 1901
1901. Richard McCaee Cadwaeader.
Vice-Presidents.
Richard McCaee Cadwaeader. 1894
Hon. James Addams Beaver, LL.D.
Major-Generae John Rutter Brooke, U.S.A.
WlEEIAM MACLAY HAEE, Jr.
Rev. Rogers Israee, D.D.
Hon. Samuee Whitaker Pennypacker, LL.D.
First Vice-Presidents.
1894. Richard McCaee Cadwaeader. 1901
1901. *James Edward Carpenter. 1901
1901. Hon. Samuee Whitaker Pennypacker, LL.D. 1907
Second Vice-Presidents.
1894. *Wieeiam Henry EgeE, M.D. 1901
1901. *James Edward Carpenter. 1901
1901. Hon. Samuee Whitaker Pennypacker, LL.D. 1901
1901. *Aeexander Johnston Cassatt. 1902
1902. Maj.-Gen. John Rutter Brooke, U.S.A. 1907
Secretaries.
1888. George Horace Burgin, M.D. 1892
1892. David Lewis, Jr. 1892
1892. Ethan Aelen Weaver.
Treasurers.
1888. *Robert Porter Dechert. 1892
1892. Samuee Emeen Meigs. 1893
1893. Charees Henry Jones.
Registrars.
1889. John Woole Jordan, LL.D. 1894
1894. *Capt. Henry Hobart Beeeas, U.S.A. 1897 1897. *Maj. Richard Strader Coeeum, U.S.M.C. 1899 1899. John Wooee Jordan, LL.D.
15
Historian. 1890. Josiah Granville Leach.
Chaplain. 1890. The Reverend George Woolsey Hodge, M.A.
Managers
1888. Oliver Christian Bobyshell. 1891
1888. Herman Burgin, M.D. 1891
1888. *James Edward Carpenter. J9°i
1888. John Woolf Jordan, LL.D. 1889
1888. Josiah Granville Leach. 1890
1888. *Elon Dunbar Lockwood. 1891
1888. Charles Marshall. i89i
1888. Hon. Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, LL.D. 1901
1888. William Brooke-Rawle. 1890
1889. *William Henry EglE, M.D. 1894
1890. *Hon. Clifford Stanley Sims, D.CL. 1891
1890. *Thomas McKean. 1892
1891. *Isaac Craig. 1892
1 891. Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden.
1891. William Macpherson Hornor. 1904
1891. Charles Henry Jones. 1893
1892. *William Spohn Baker. 1897 1892. *George Mecum Conarroe. 1896
1892. *James Mifflin. 1895
1893. Thomas Hewson Bradford, M.D.
1894. *Isaac Craig. 1899
1896. John Woolp Jordan, LL.D. 1899
1897. Hon. Charlemagne Tower, LL.D. 1897
1897. Francis von Albrade Cabeen.
1897. *Capt. Henry Hobart Bellas, U.S.A. 1906
1899. *Maj. Richard Strader Collum, U.S.M.C. 1900
1899. *Dallas Cadwallader Irish. 1899
1899. Samuel Stanhope Smith Pinkerton. 1900
1900. Hon. John Bayard McPherson, LL.D.
1900. Park Painter. i901
1901. Hon. William Potter.
1901. *William Wayne. i9°i
1901. Sidney Byron Liggett. 1908
1901. Richard DeCharms Barclay.
1904. Stanley Griswold Flagg, Jr.
1906. Edward Stalker Sayres.
1908. Hon. Norris Stanley Barratt. .
16
of tip
(Bfornttrtlj Annual JHwitng
April 3, 10OB
Proceedings of the Annual Meeting OF THE
PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY OF SONS OF THE REVOLUTION
April 3, 1908
The Twentieth Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution was held in the Assembly Room of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, Philadel- phia, about one hundred and fifty members being present.
The meeting was called to order at 8.00 P. M. by Mr. Russell Duane, who had been invited to act as chairman.
On motion of Mr. Ethan Allen Weaver, Secretary, Mr. John Edgar Burnett Buckenham was elected Assistant Secretary of the meeting.
The first order of business being "Prayer by the Chaplain," in the latter's absence, Rev. Nathaniel Seymour Thomas, Rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles, Philadelphia, conducted the usual chaplaincy services.
The next order of business, "Reading of the Minutes of the Last Meeting," was, on motion of Mr. William Darlington Evans, dispensed with, and the minutes were approved as printed in the last annual proceedings.
The next order of business being the "Reports of Officers and Committees," Col. J. Granville Leach read the following report of the Board of Managers.
f nutaghmma &tu\tt% of &mta nf tijr lUtuihttton
OFFICE OF SECRETARY.
Philadelphia, April 3, 1908. To the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution.
Gentlemen: Your Board of Managers respectfully submits its report for the twentieth year, ending April 3, 1908. During the past year the Board has held nine stated meetings and one adjourned meeting.
At the meeting held April 9, 1907, for the organization of your Board for the present year, a communication was read from Gregory Bernard Keen, LL.D., declining the office of historian, to which you elected him at the annual meeting last year, where- upon Col. J. Granville Leach was unanimously elected to that office.
The Society of Colonial Dames of America having invited a representation from this society to their unveiling of the Memo- rial Gates at Jamestown Island, Virginia, to commemorate the birth of the American Nation, and which were presented by that organization on May 9, 1907, to the Association for the Preser- vation of Virginia Antiquities, Rev. Rogers Israel, D.D., one of your vice-presidents, being in attendance, acted as your official representative.
At a meeting of your Board of Managers, held June 11, 1907, a communication was read concerning a bill introduced in the Senate of the United States by Senator Lodge, of Massachusetts, with reference to the appointment of a commission of not less than five members whose duty it shall be to ascertain which battlefields of the Colonial, Revolutionary, Mexican and Civil Wars it is desirable for the United States to acquire for military, historical, or other purpose, and to recommend a general system by which they may be acquired and maintained for the public benefit, and requesting action on the part of the Pennsylvania
21
Society of Sons of the Revolution favoring such action, where- upon a resolution was introduced and unanimously adopted approving- of the measure.
The fifteenth annual historical pilgrimage in commemoration of the evacuation of the city of Philadelphia by the British and the simultaneous retirement of the American army from its winter entrenchment at Valley Forge in 1778, was made to New Hope, Bucks County, Pa., the "Coryell's Ferry" of the Revolution, on Saturday, June 15, 1907.
The weather was delightful — a perfect June day — and two hundred and ten subscribing members and their guests were con- veyed by special train from the Reading Terminal to their destin- ation, where they were met by Mr. Richard Randolph Parry, a member of the society, who escorted the party to the ancient Parry mansion, where they were cordially received by members of Mr. Parry's family.
After viewing the interesting interior of the old mansion the party was seated on the porches and lawn ; and the assemblage was called to order by the president, Mr. Richard McCall Cad- walader. Prayer was said by the chaplain, Rev. George Woolsey Hodge, M.A. Mr. Richard Randolph Parry was then introduced and read an interesting historical address entitled, "Coryell's Ferry in the Revolution," which was printed in our last annual proceedings. After luncheon the guests visited the various points of historic interest in the neighborhood, among these the head- quarters of Generals Stirling and DeFermoy, just prior to the battle of Trenton ; the old tavern, where the American troops made wassail and drank to the success of their cause and the downfall of King George in his American colonies ; the Neely (Thompson) house, where were quartered, just prior to the battle of Trenton Dr. Riker, Captain Washington, Lieutenant James Monroe (later President of the United States) and Cap- tain James Moore, of the New York artillery, the latter of whom died there of camp fever and is buried nearby; the "Beaumont Place," for a time occupied by General Lord Stirling, in 1776, and the headquarters of Generals Washington, Greene, Sullivan, Knox and Captain Alexander Hamilton. The party returned to Philadelphia late in the afternoon.
22
The arrangements were in charge of a committee consisting of the following, Mr. Roberts Coles Robinson acting as treasurer :
Francis von Albade Cabeen, Chairman.
Richard McCall Cadwalader, Charles Henry Jones, General Wm. Watts Hart Davis, Hon. Harman Yerkes, Major Frank Peter Muhlenberg, Oliver Randolph Parry, Colonel Edwin North Benson, Colonel J. Granville Leach, Paul Augustine Hendry, Roberts Coles Robinson, Alexander Purves Gest, Alexander Wilson Russell, Jr., Henry Lindley Crowther, Hon. Norris Stanley Barratt, Henry Wikoff Birkey, M.D., Burnet Landreth, Jr., William Porter Ogelsby, George Ferdinand Klock, Frederick Meade Bissell, Alexander Krumbhaar, Colonel Joseph Ripley
Ward, William Henry Hulick, Jacob Butz Heller, M.D.
Judson Crane,
Colonel Charles
U. S. A., Hon. Charlemagne Tower, LL.D., Rev. Cyrus Townsend Brady, LL.D., Russell Duane, William Arthur Lathrop, Horace Brock, Addison Murray Imbrie, Francis Suydam Keese, Albert Newton Cleaver, Benjamin Matthias Nead, Edgar Arthur Singer, Ph.D., Levi Lingo Rue, William Heyward Myers, Frank Evans Townsend,
Colonel Oliver Christian Bosbyshell, Paul Ross Weitzel, Edward Pepper, M.D., Pennell Coombe Evans, Wm. Henry Sutter, Captain William Goodrich, James Patterson Ziegler, M.D., William Macpherson Hornor, Henry Griffith Keasbey, Ethan Allen Weaver.
Chandler
Music was furnished throughout the day by Winkler's Sec- ond Regiment Band of Trenton, N. J.
The next Evacuation Day excursion will be made to Valley Forge on Saturday, June 20, 1908. The equestrian statue of Major-General Anthony Wayne, now being erected by the Com- monwealth of Pennsylvania on that historic ground, will be com- pleted for dedication on that date and the commission appointed by the Governor to erect this statue has extended an invitation to this society to participate in the ceremonies. United States Sen- ator Philander C. Knox has placed at the disposal of this society, for our exclusive use upon that occasion, his grounds, on which are located the headquarters of General Henry Knox during those memorable months in 1777- 1778.
23
This society, having been honored with an invitation to dedicate a monument erected in the borough of Phoenixville, Pa., to indicate the "high water mark in the invasion into Pennsyl- vania of the British army under Lord Howe," attended the exer- cises on Saturday, September 21, 1907. The number of members in attendance was small, doubtless due to the intense heat of the day. The Color Guard was well represented and the presence of our flags added much to the occasion.
Upon arriving at Phoenixville, about two o'clock P. M., our delegation was met by a committee of citizens and the Phoenix Military Band and proceeded thence in company with various local organizations to the site of the monument at Fountain Inn Square.
In 1898, at our Evacuation Day Celebration, held at Valley Forge, the Hon. Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, LL.D., now a vice-president of this society, called attention to the fact that the high-water mark of the British invasion during the Revolutionary War was at the Fountain Inn tavern, in the town of Phoenixville. Subsequently Mr. John O. K. Robarts, the veteran editor of that borough, with a number of citizens interested in local history, arranged for the proper marking of this historic spot and accord- ingly procured for the purpose a dressed granite bowlder from the falls of French Creek. It stands about six feet high and presents an imposing appearance. On its face is carved the fol- lowing inscription:
"the farthest inland
POINT REACHED IN THE
BRITISH INVASION OF
THE NORTHERN COLONIES
DURING THE
REVOLUTIONARY WAR,
SEPTEMBER 21-23, *777-
"ERECTED BY THE BOROUGH
OF PHOENIXVILLE.
"DEDICATED BY
THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY,
SONS OF THE REVOLUTION,
SEPTEMBER 21, I907."
24
The plot on which the monument stands is inclosed by a coping, and a fountain of artistic design occupies a portion of the square. Adjoining is the old Fountain Inn.
Upon arriving at the monument Battery C, National Guard of Pennsylvania, fired a salute, after which the programme was concluded as follows :
Opening Remarks, by Mr. Charles F. Bader, president of town council.
Invocation, by Rev. J. Witherspoon Henderson.
Unveiling the Monument, by Mr. John O. K. Robarts.
Address, by Wilmer W. MacElree, Esq., district attorney of Chester County, Pa.
Selection, by the Phoenix Military Band.
Historical address, by the Hon. Samuel Whitaker Penny- packer, LL.D., Ex-Governor of Pennsylvania, president of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and a vice-president of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution. The address of Vice-President Pennypacker will be printed with our annual proceedings.
Remarks, by Hon. Wayne MacVeagh, Ex-Attorney-Gen- eral of the United States.
Hymn, "America."
At the conclusion of the exercises the procession reformed and escorted the representatives of the Sons of the Revolution to the railroad station, whence they returned to their homes.
On December 4, 1907, our sister society in New York, the parent society of our organization, formally took possession of Fraunces' Tavern, the historic edifice at Broad and Pearl streets, New York City, erected in 1719, famous as a hostelry during Colonial and Revolutionary times, but whose most interesting associations are that in its famous "long room," Washington bade farewell to his officers on December 4, 1783, and wherein the Society of the Sons of the Revolution was instituted one hundred years later. In a congratulatory letter to the New York Society, Mr. John Austin Stevens, the founder of the organi- zation, who at the time was the librarian of the Historical Society of New York, writes :
25
"Prevented by distance and age from being with you in the flesh at your festivities on this interesting anniversary, yet I am with you in spirit. For to-day one of my dearest wishes for more than thirty years has come to a perfect fulfillment of which I never dreamed — the establishment of our Society, not only in a home of its own, but in the very building in which it was instituted, a building sacred in history because of its connection with Washington and Clinton, the first President of the Republic and the first Governor of our great State. Nor was this fortui- tous or unpremeditated, for, as the Society of the Sons of the Revolution had its birth in the rooms of the New York Historical Society, on the anniversary of Washington's Birthday on the national centennial 1876, so it was instituted in the Long-room of Fraunces' Tavern, our present home, on the one hundredth anniversary of Washington's farewell to his officers, December the 4th, 1883, many of whom were ancestors of many of ourselves. ..."
An invitation having been received from the New York Society to send a representative from this society to attend this ceremony, Mr. Charles Henry Jones, chairman of your Board of Managers, was duly selected and was present at the exercises, which were informal in character and interesting in what has been accomplished for the society in the twenty-fifth year of its institution.
Your Board of Managers at a subsequent meeting (December 10) sent a resolution of congratulations to the New York Society upon the successful completion of this important historical work.
The nineteenth regular church service was held in Christ Church, Second Street, above Market Street, Philadelphia, on Sunday afternoon, December 22, 1907.
Early in its history this society considered the propriety of holding special religious services, and the by-laws of the society provide that "an annual church service shall be held on the Sunday nearest to the nineteenth day of December, commemora- tive of the commencement of the American army's encampment at Valley Forge."
The earliest of these services, beginning with the first one in 1890, were held in Christ Church, it being the oldest of the
26
church edifices now standing in Philadelphia with which there are associations connected with the War for Independence.
The Continental Congress attended here a service of fasting and prayer in 1775, shortly after the battle of Lexington. The Right Reverend William White, D.D., for sixty-four years (1772- 1836) minister and rector of this parish, first Bishop of Penn- sylvania, long Presiding Bishop of the United States and the first in the American Episcopate derived from the Church of England, was chaplain of the Continental Congress in 1777. The Rev. Robert Blackwell, D.D., assistant minister of the United Churches, consisting of Christ and St. Peter's, was for some time chaplain of General Anthony Wayne's brigade, Pennsylvania Line, and chaplain of the American army at Valley Forge; General and Mrs. Washington, President John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Peyton Randolph, Robert Morris, Francis Hopkinson and others whose names are prominently connected with the Revolution were members of this parish and many of the officers of the American army attended service here during their stay in Philadelphia.
The exercises this year were attended by a number of fea- tures of special interest. The attendance was unusually large, about two hundred members of the society being present. These assembled in the parish house, and preceded by the Color Guard and clergy, entered the church in a body. The service was in charge of the chaplain, the Rev. George Woolsey Hodge, M.A., and was the regular shortened form of evening prayer, with a special psalm and lessons. The hymn, as follows, was com- posed by the Rev. Hamilton Schuyler, rector of Trinity P. E. Church, Trenton, N. J., a member of the New Jersey State Society of Sons of the Revolution, for the patriotic services held under the auspices of the latter society, at Trenton, N. J., on Washington's Birthday, February 22, 1907, and dedicated by him to the General Society of Sons of the Revolution :
Lord God of hosts, who led our fathers hither And gave this western strand to freedom's cause,
We praise Thy name, whose mercies never wither, And pledge obedience to Thy righteous laws.
27
Our fathers hoped in Thee and trusted surely;
Thou didst deliver by Thy mighty hand ; Under the shadow of Thy wings securely
Dwelt they at freedom in this favored land.
To us their sons give of Thy grace abounding
That we may cherish liberty and law, By justice strong all baser breeds confounding
Who hold not Thee, nor righteousness in awe.
From foes without and foes within assailing Keep Thou our country through the changing days,
From Mammon's pride and anarchy's prevailing Guard Thou the state and prosper all her ways.
O God we pray through centuries unceasing That this dear land may be with freedom bright
In justice strong and ever still increasing In peace and health, prosperity and right.
Those in the chancel, besides the chaplain, who took part in the exercises, were the Right Reverend James Henry Darling- ton, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Harrisburg, who preached the ser- mon ; Rev. John Dows Hills, D.D., of Oil City, Pa. ; Rev. Clar- ence Clark Sylvester, curate of St. James Church, Philadelphia, members of this society, and the Rev. Louis C. Washburn, D.D., and Rev. R. Heber Barnes, rector and curate, respectively, of Christ Church.
The music was furnished by a specially augmented choir in charge of Mr. Jesse L. Stackhouse, choirmaster of Christ Church.
The sermon was preached from the text, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him," — Bzekiel xxi, 27.
A feature in the arrangements by the chairman of the com- mittee which was distinctively effective was the carrying of the flags of this society by the Color Guard and the depositing of the same in holders in the chancel. The decoration of the galleries in draped buff and blue bunting, the colors of this society, was beautified by the presence at the center of each of the long galleries of a blue silk banner bearing the badge of this society in gold, and at the four gallery intersections by a
28
silk flag, facsimiles of those used during the Revolutionary War, the gift of a member of this society as hereinafter noted. The arrangements were in charge of Mr. Horace Magee, chairman, and the following committee :
Richard McCall Cadwalader, William George Buehler, Rear Thomas Hewson Bradford, M.D., Admiral, U. S. N,
William Easterly Ashton, M.D., Frederick Prime, Ph.D.,
LL.D., James Hunter Ewing,
John Sergeant Gerhard, John Rutter Brooke, Major-Gen- William Porter Ogelsby, eral, U. S. A.,
Rev. Nathaniel Seymour Thomas, Frank Perley Howe,
Stevenson Hockley Walsh, William Macpherson Hornor,
Colonel William Brooke-Rawle, William Wayne,
Alexander Williams Biddle, M.D., Persifor Frazer D. es-Sc. Nat.,
James McCormick Lamberton, Ethan Allen Weaver,
Albert Newton Cleaver, Richard Peters,
Henry Van Fossen Harper, Martin Withington Clement,
Effingham Buckley Morris, Russell Duane,
Benjamin Rush, James Mauran Rhodes,
Charles Henry Jones, Hon. William Potter,
William Walley Davis, Jr., Thomas DeWitt Cuyler,
Richard Francis Wood, Colonel J. Granville Leach, George Steptoe Washington.
Invaluable assistance was also rendered by the Color Guard in command of Captain Alexander Wilson Russell, Jr.
In addition to members of this society and their families, invitations were extended to the General and State officers of the Society of Sons of the Revolution, the officers of the United States army and navy on duty in Philadelphia, the officers and managers of the following kindred societies, and the press of Philadelphia :
The Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America.
The Colonial Dames of America, Philadelphia Chapter II.
The local chapters of Daughters of the American Revolution.
Daughters of the Revolution.
State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania.
Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Pennsyl- vania.
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the State of Pennsylvania.
29
Pennsylvania Commandery, Naval Order of the United States.
Society of the War of 1812 in the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania.
Pennsylvania Commandery, Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States.
Pennsylvania Society of the Order of the Founders and Patriots of America.
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
New England Society of Pennsylvania.
Netherlands Society of Philadelphia.
Society of Mayflower Descendants.
The Welcome Society of Pennsylvania.
The third annual reception to the members of this society and their guests to commemorate the birth of General George Washington was held in the Assembly Rooms of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, on February 22d, four to six-thirty P. M., during which hours about four hundred persons were in attendance. Among these were members residing at Elmira, N. Y. ; Sunbury, Pa. (from whence came the son of a Revolu- tionary soldier) ; Berwick, Pa. ; New Hope, Pa. ; Wilmington, Del., and other out-of-town places.
The arrangements were in charge of a committee con- sisting of the president, chairman of your Board of Managers, and secretary, who were assisted in receiving by the Hon. Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, LL.D., President of the Historical So- ciety of Pennsylvania and a vice-president of this society; Hon. William Potter, John Woolf Jordan, LL.D., Col. J. Granville Leach, Dr. T. Hewson Bradford, Mr. Francis von Albade Cabeen and Mr. Edward Stalker Sayres, also members of your Board of Managers.
The officers of the following kindred organizations were the guests of the society: Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America; Colonial Dames of America, Philadelphia Chapter II ; local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Pennsylvania Society of Daughters of the Revolution.
A pleasant incident of the day was the formal reception on the part of this society of a gift of two banners and four flags, the
3Q
latter facsimiles of those used during the Revolutionary War, pre- sented by Mr. Horace Magee, a member of this society. Mr. Cad- walader, president of the society, formally accepted the gift, turn- ing the same over to the custody of the Color Guard.
These banners and flags of silk, mounted on ebony staffs, are for interior decoration purposes only and were first used at the annual church service on December 22, 1907. They are as follows :
Two blue silk banners bearing the badge of the society in gold.
The United States flag.
Standard of the Society of Sons of the Revolution.
The Continental or Grand Union Flag.
The Royal or Bourbon Flag of France.
The change of place for holding these receptions from the Bellevue-Stratford to the hall of the Historical Society of Penn- sylvania was thought desirable in that it gave those in attendance an opportunity to view the collections of that great historical storehouse of Pennsylvaniana and at the same time afford ample accommodations for the members and their friends. A special exhibit of Washingtoniana was made by the Historical Society for this occasion.
The Committee on Landmarks of the Revolution, Monuments and Memorials is carefully considering places which have been suggested for tablets, memorial stones and monuments to mark sites having historic associations connected with the Revolutionary War.
October 4, 1907, being the one hundred and thirtieth anni- versary of the battle of Germantown, a suggestion was made early in the year that a tablet be erected to commemorate the event, and your Board of Managers having approved of the suggestion, a committee consisting of John Woolf Jordan, LL.D., chairman of the Committee on Landmarks of the Revolution, Monuments and Memorials, Mr. Washington Bleddyn Powell, a member of the committee, and Mr. Ethan Allen Weaver, secretary of this society, viewed various localities and decided upon the point of rocks overlooking the creek on the Wissahickon drive, near the intersection of Lincoln drive. Here an elaborate bronze
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tablet, designed by Mr. Powell, was erected on January 28, 1908. The inscription thereon is as follows :
"on the morning of the battle of germantown,
OCTOBER 4, 1777,
THE PENNSYLVANIA MILITIA, UNDER
GENERAL JOHN ARMSTRONG,
OCCUPYING THE HIGH GROUND ON THE WEST SIDE
OF THE CREEK OPPOSITE THIS POINT, ENGAGED IN A
SKIRMISH THE LEFT WING OF THE BRITISH FORCES,
IN COMMAND OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL KNYPHAUSEN,
WHO OCCUPIED THE HIGH GROUND ON THE
EAST SIDE, ALONG SCHOOLHOUSE LANE.
ERECTED BY THE PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY OF
SONS OF THE REVOLUTION, 1907."
It has been suggested that the Evacuation Day celebration of 1909 be held in this locality or in nearby Germantown, to which point no historic pilgrimage of this society has ever been made, though the engagement here was one of the most important of the Revolution.
There has been no marked activity in the direction of secur- ing subscriptions to the General Wayne statue fund during the past year, owing to the general depression in financial matters. This society has, however, been fortunate in securing as chairman of the committee Mr. J. Milton Colton, who at the proper time will give the subject active consideration. During the year we received a subscription to this fund of $10 from Mr. John Fribley Parsons, a member of this society. This, together with the accumulated interest, and the sale of one copy of Dr. Stille's "Life of Wayne," has increased the fund to $9,512.91, an increase of $278.22 over the amount reported last year.
The finances of this society continue in a healthful condition. The expenses of the year have been unusually large, due to the increased cost in stationery, printing, distribution of the General Society report for 1905, and the amount expended for the tablet on the Wissahickon drive, etc. To the permanent fund, however, there has been added during the year $480.00, making a total at this time of $17,152.34 securely invested, as will be noted in the report of the treasurer.
32
During the year the society has received by gift to its collec- tions and library the following:
( i ) Two silk banners and four silk flags, from Mr. Horace Magee, Philadelphia, Pa.
(2) Gavel made from native woods of Palestine, from Mr. David Milne, Germantown, Pa., a member of this society.
(3) "Notes on the American Flag and Some Others," from Mr. Charles Edmund Dana, Philadelphia, a member of this society.
(4) "Regimental Colors in the War of the Revolution," one hundred and twenty-five copies privately printed, 1907, from Mr. Gherardi Davis, New York City, a member of the New York State Society.
(5) "James Wilson, Nation Builder, 1 742-1 798," from Lucien H. Alexander, Esq., Philadelphia.
(6) Memoir of William Richardson Davie — James Sprout Historical Monograph, from the University of North Carolina.
(7) "Early History of Lambertville, N. J., 1 703-1903," by Sarah A. Gallagher, from Mrs. Ashbel Welch, Germantown, Pa.
(8) Report of the Valley Forge Park Commission, 1907, from John Woolf Jordan, IX. D., Registrar, a member of the Commission.
(9) Report of Librarian of Congress, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1907, from the librarian.
( 10) Catalogue of the University of Pennsylvania, for 1907- 1908, from the University.
(11) Pennsylvania Society of New York, year book for 1907, from Mr. Barr Ferree, New York City, secretary.
(12) Berks County, Pa., Historical Society, transactions No. 2, Vol. II, from the society.
(13) Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, register of members, from Col. John P. Nicholson, recorder, Philadelphia.
(14) Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of Amer- ica, register for 1907, from the society.
33
(15) Colonial Dames in Rhode Island, annual report for 1 906- 1 907, from the society.
(16) "Links of Past History Amid Scenes of the Present" (pamphlet), from Mrs. Margaret Drake Cooper, Taylor, Pa., member of Tunkhannock Chapter, D.A.R.
(17) Pennsylvania Commandery, Military Order of Foreign Wars of the United States, proceedings of annual meeting and banquet, 1907, from the society.
(18) Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, Penn- sylvania society.
(a) Constitution, by-laws and general regulations, 1906.
(b) Original warrant, charter, constitution and by- laws of the Pennsylvania Society, 1904.
(c) List of members, 1906.
From Mr. Edwin Lang Perkins, a member of this society.
(19) Netherlands Society of Philadelphia, proceedings of sixteenth annual banquet, January 23, 1907, from the society.
(20) Year books and other pamphlets and publications from the state societies of Sons of the Revolution in New York, the District of Columbia, Ohio, Missouri and California.
(21) Miscellaneous unclassified documents, announcements, etc., from various sources.
During the year the Board has approved thirty-seven (37) proposals for membership, and application forms were issued accordingly, being an increase of twelve (12) over the number approved in the preceding year.
During the same period there were elected to membership thirty-six (36), as follows, two (2) of these by transfer from other State societies, being a decrease of seventeen (17) over the number elected in the previous year.
Acker, Abraham Lincoln, December 10, 1907.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-grandson of Private Peter Klein (1741-1819) ; Captain Adam Stahler's Company (Colonel Christian Shouse), North- ampton County, Pennsylvania Militia, September 11 to November 12, 1781-1782.
34
Agard, Charles Walter, November 12, 1907.
New Bedford, Mass.
Great-great-great-grandson of Lieutenant Edward Walker (1739- 1801), Seventh Company (Captain Fish), Fourth Regiment (Colonel William Shepard), Massachusetts Line, January, 1777, to January, 1783. Also Regimental Paymaster.
Agard, Frederick Tyler, November 12, 1907.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-great-grandson of Lieutenant Edward Walker (1739- 1801), Seventh Company (Captain Fish), Fourth Regiment (Colonel William Shepard), Massachusetts Line, January, 1777, to January, 1783. Also Regimental Paymaster.
Bell, William Thompson, May 14, 1907.
Mt. Union, Penna.
Great-great-grandson of Hugh Alexander (1724-1777), a member of the Provincial Conference of Pennsylvania, Carpenters' Hall, June 18, 1776; Delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitu- tional Convention of 1776; member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, i77&-'77.
Brice, Charles Frederick, June 11, 1907.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-great-great-grandson of Lieutenant Edward Walker (1739-1801), Seventh Company (Captain Fish), Fourth Regi- ment (Colonel William Shepard), Massachusetts Line, Jan- uary, 1777, to January, 1783. Also Regimental Paymaster.
Clapp, Benjamin Franklin, January 14, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel Ebenezer Clapp (1732- 1802), Colonel Joseph Read's Regiment, Massachusetts Mili- tia, March 7, 1775.
Clement, Charles Francis, May 14, 1907.
Sunbury, Penna.
Great-great-great-grandson of Captain Joseph Thorne (1733- 1823), Second Battalion, Gloucester County, New Jersey Militia, August 10, 1776.
Clement, John Kay, May 14, 1907.
Washington, D. C.
Great-great-great-grandson of Captain Joseph Thorne (1733-1823^, Second Battalion, Gloucester County, New Jersey Militia, August 10, 1776.
1412769
35
Clement, Martin Withington, May 14, 1907.
Sunbury, Penna.
Great-great-great-grandson of Captain Joseph Thorne (1733-1823), Second Battalion, Gloucester County, New Jersey Militia, August 10, 1776.
Darlington, Rt. Rev. James Henry, D.D., LLD., October 8, 1907. Williamsport, Penna.
(By transfer from the Society in the State of New York.) Great-great-grandson of Private Griffin Wilde (1738-1817), Fifth Regiment (Major Brinton Pain, commanding), Dutchess County, New York Militia.
Dewhurst, Richard Miles, November 12, 1907.
Allegheny, Penna.
Great-great-grandson of Second Lieutenant Josiah Philips (1751- 1817), Second Company (Captain David Philips), Seventh Battalion (Colonel William Gibbons), Chester County, Penn- sylvania Militia, 1777.
Ehreneeld, Charles Hatch, Ph.D., January 14, 1908.
York, Penna.
Great-grandson of Private Henry Stitzer (1753-1838), Pennsyl- vania Militia. At Germantown and other engagements.
FullErton, Joseph Palmer, December 10, 1907.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-grandson of Ensign Humphrey Fullerton (17 — 1781), Captain Philip Pancake's Company (Colonel Jonathan Bayard Smith), Philadelphia Militia; Ensign in Captain John Down- ing's Second Company (Colonel Sharp Delaney), Second Battalion, Philadelphia Militia.
Hartman, John Markley, February 11, 1908.
Mount Airy, Philadelphia.
Great-grandson of Major Peter Hartman (1740-1810), Captain Second Battalion, Chester County, Penna. Militia; commis- sioned May 17, 1777.
Heaton, Robert Douglas, March 10, 1908.
Ashland, Penna.
Great-great-grandson of Quartermaster Samuel McNeill (1753- 1817), Quartermaster Third Brigade (General Edward Hand), Continental Army; wounded at Princeton, January 3, ^777', in Sullivan's Expedition, 1779.
36
Hohmann, Christian Henry, January 14, 1908.
Lincoln, Neb.
Great-great-grandson of Private Peter Walter (1 753-1793), Cap- tain Peter Mending's Third Company, Second Battalion (Colonel Sharp Delany) of Foot, Philadelphia Militia, June 25» J777 "> Private, Captain William Powell's Company, Fourth Class, Colonel Jehu Eyre's Battalion, Philadelphia Artillery, September 13, 1777; Private, Captain Michael Gilbert's Com- pany, Third Regiment of Foot (Colonel William Will), Phil- adelphia Militia, August 10, 1780.
Hohmann, Samuel Brown, January 14, 1908.
Lincoln, Neb.
Great-great-grandson of Private Peter Walter (1753-1793), Cap- tain Peter Mehrling's Third Company, Second Battalion (Colonel Sharp Delany) of Foot, Philadelphia Militia, June 25, 1777 "> Private, Captain William Powell's Company, Fourth Class, Colonel Jehu Eyre's Battalion, Philadelphia Artillery, September 13, 1777; Private, Captain Michael Gilbert's Com* pany, Third Regiment of Foot (Colonel William Will), Philadelphia Militia, August 10, 1780.
Keen, Haroed Perot, May 14, 1907.
Bellevue, Del.
Great-great-grandson of Private John Keen (1747-1832), Captain Richard Humphrey's Company, General John Cadwalader's Brigade, Philadelphia Militia, at Trenton ; wounded at Prince- ton, 1777.
Knight, Frederick Henry, February 11, 1908.
Sunbury, Penna.
Son of Drummer Richard Knight (1767-1849), Fifth Pennsylvania Battalion, Continental Line.
Lane, Thomas Wakeman, March 10, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-grandson of Sergeant Jabez Wakeman (1762 ), Private,
Captain Ebenezer Hill's Company, Fourth Regiment (Colonel Whitings), commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Dimon, 1777; Sergeant, Captain Eliphalet Thorp's Company, under Colonels Webb and Dimon, i778-'79; Private, Captain Jabez Botsford's Company, 1780, Connecticut troops. Served also at various times in Colonel Sheldon's Regiment of Vol- unteers.
37
Marston, John, December 10, 1907.
Johnstown, Penna.
Great-great-grandson of Second Lieutenant John Marston (1756- 1846), Ninth Company, Captain Perez Cushing (Colonel Craft's Regiment), Massachusetts State Artillery, September 9, 1776, to February 1, 1777, and February 9 to August 1, 1777 ; First Lieutenant, Seventh Company, same regiment, August to September 30, 1777, and November 1, 1777, to March 1, 1778.
Miles, George Keiter, November 12, 1907.
Allegheny, Penna.
Great-grandson of Second Lieutenant Josiah Philips (1751-1817), Second Company (Captain David Philips); Seventh Battalion (Colonel William Gibbons), Chester County, Pennsylvania Militia, 1777.
Owens, James Bowie, March 10, 1908.
Wilmington, Del.
(By transfer from the Society of the District of Columbia.) Great-great-grandson of Captain Robert Bowie (1750-1818), Member of the Committee of Observation of Prince George County, Maryland; First Lieutenant, Prince George County, Maryland Militia, January 20, 1776; Captain, Second Battalion, Maryland Flying Artillery, June 21, 1776; joined General Washington at New York, September, 1776, and participated in the battles of Harlem Heights and White Plains, where he was wounded; re-commissioned Captain of a company of Prince George County, Maryland Militia, September 1, 1777, and was wounded at the battle of Germantown.
Peirce, Caleb Clarence, November 12, 1907.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-great-grandson of Colonel Thomas Potts (1735-1785), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Associators, 1775 ; member of the Committee of Correspondence of the City and County of Philadelphia, 1775 ; member of the Constitutional Conven- tion of 1776.
Roberts, Victor Jamison, January 14, 1908.
Norristown, Penna.
Great-great-great-grandson of Private Benjamin Corson (1743- 1811), Southampton Township Company (Captain John Fol- well), First Battalion (Colonel Joseph Kirkbride), Bucks County, Penna. Associators, August 19, 1775.
38
Runk, Louis Barcroft, June n, 1007.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-grandson of Private Samuel Runk (1753-1847), who served in the Companies of Captains Cornelius Carhart, Jacob Carhart, Samuel Growendyck, Adam Hope and Daniel Bray, Second Regiment; served sundry tours of duty in the Third and Fourth Regiments, Hunterdon County, New Jersey Militia, and as Artificer in the Quartermaster-General's De- partment, New Jersey Militia, March 1, 1776, to October I, 1778. Took part in an engagement at Short Hills, N. J., and in a skirmish at Hopper's Mills, N. J.
Rupp, Michael Riter, May 14, 1007.
York, Penna.
Great-great-grandson of Lieutenant Andrew Caldweil (1760-1797), Corporal and Sergeant, Captain Bernard Roman's Company, Pennsylvania Artillery, February 20, 1776; Second Lieutenant, Captain Isaac Coren's Independent Company of Artillery, Pennsylvania Line, April 1, 1777; resigned July 23, 1770; Surgeon's Mate, Hospital Department, Continental Army, June, 1780; served to close of war. Member of the Pennsyl- vania State Society of the Cincinnati.
Silvester, Rev. Clarence Clark, June 11, 1907.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-grandson of Captain John Westcott (1742-1813), First Lieutenant, Captain Samuel Hugg's Western Company of Artillery, New Jersey State Troops, March 1, 1776; pro- moted successively Captain-Lieutenant and Captain of same; at Trenton, Princeton, Germantown and Monmouth.
Sinex, John Henry, March 10, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-grandson of Captain John Quandrill, Jr. (1737-1800), Second Lieutenant, Fifth Company, Third Battalion, May 14, 1777; Lieutenant, Fourth Company, Sixth Battalion, 1780; Captain of same, 1781 ; Captain-Lieutenant, Tinicum Company, 1782; Captain Tinicum Company, Fourth Battalion, 178.3, Chester County, Pennsylvania Militia.
Steinman, George, November 12, 1907.
Lancaster, Penna.
Great-grandson of Captain Jacob Krug (1750-1817), Colonel Matthias Slough's Battalion of Lancaster County, Pennsyl- vania Associators, forming part of the "Flying Camp," 1776. Participated in the battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776. Captain, Colonel Jacob Glotz's Battalion, Lancaster County. Pennsylvania Militia October 25, 1777.
39
Weisel, Elmer Preston, January 14, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-grandson of Ensign Henry Weisel (1760-1830), Private, Captain William McHenry's Company, Fourth Battalion (Colonel Archibald McElroy), May 10, 1780, and June 12, 1781 ; commissioned Ensign, Third Battalion (Lieutenant- Colonel Robert Robinson commanding), May 1, 1783, Bucks County, Penna., Militia. WEISEL, Oscar Williams, January 14, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-grandson of Ensign Henry Weisel (1760-1830), Private, Captain William McHenry's Company, Fourth Battalion (Colonel Archibald McElroy), May 10, 1780, and June 12, 1781 ; commissioned Ensign, Third Battalion (Lieutenant- Colonel Robinson commanding), May 1, 1783. Bucks County, Penna., Militia. Welles, Albert Hunt, May 14, 1907.
Scranton, Penna.
Great-great-grandson of Captain Samuel Welles (1727-1800), Seventh Company, Second Battalion, Glastonbury, Connecti- cut Militia. Taken prisoner in the retreat from New York, September 15, 1776; exchanged June 17, 1778. Wetherill, Francis Macomb, February 11, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-great-grandson of Colonel Jacob Morgan, Sr. (1716- 1792), Member of the Provincial Conference of Pennsylvania, Carpenters' Hall, June 18, 1776; Delegate to the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention of 1776; Member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 1777-1778; Lieutenant of Berks County, Pennsylvania, with rank of Colonel, 1777-1781. Wiltbank, Samuel Paynter, January 14, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-grandson of the Honorable John Wiltbank (1731-1792), Member of the Delaware Constitutional Convention of 1776; Member of Council of Safety, 1777; Chief Justice of Sussex County, Delaware, 1777. Wood, Richard Gilpin, November 12, 1907.
Conshohocken, Penna.
Great-great-grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Bull (1744- 1837), Chester County, Pennsylvania Battalion of the "Flying Camp" (Colonel William Montgomery), 1776; Lieutenant- Colonel, First Battalion, 1779; Lieutenant-Colonel, Second Battalion, May 10, 1780, Chester County, Pennsylvania Militia; Colonel, Second Battalion, Militia Light Horse of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 1780-1781 ; captured at Fort Washing- ton, New York, and confined on prison-ship "Jersey," twenty- one months.
40
Among the new members elected is the son of a Revolu- tionary soldier, the third one admitted since the organization of this State society in 1888, and of which number two are still living.
In addition to the above, two persons whose membership had terminated were reinstated.
The following supplemental claims were also approved and placed on file:
Agard, Charles Walter, January 14, 1908.
New Bedford, Mass.
Great-grandson of Private Othniel Belden (1755-1834), Captain Samuel Wright's Company, Colonel Samuel Wylly's Regiment, January, 1776; Captain Elias Williams' Company, Colonel Thomas Belden's Regiment, August, 1777; served also in Colonel Hezekiah Wylly's Regiment, July, 1781, at Saybrook, Conn., and in other organizations of the Connecticut Line and Militia from 1777 to 1781 in harbor and coast defenses. Was present at the evacuation of Boston, March 17, 1776.
Great-great-grandson of Corporal Timothy Hatch (1756-1838), Drummer, Captain Abner Prior's Company of Hartford, Conn., at the Siege of Boston, 1776; Private, Captain Joseph Palmer's Company, Colonel Cushman's Regiment, 1776; Cap- tain EHsha Noyes' Company, 1777; Corporal, Captain Micah Hamlin's Company, Colonel Jonathan Reed's Regiment of Guards, 1778; Private, Captain Samuel Fish's Company, Colonel Nathaniel Freeman's Regiment, 1779; Captain Mat- thias Tobey's Company, Lieutenant-Colonel Hallet's Regi- ment, 1780, Connecticut Troops.
Agard, Frederick Tyler, January 14, 1008.
Philadelphia.
Great-grandson of Private Othniel Belden (1755-1834), Captain Samuel Wright's Company, Colonel Samuel Wylly's Regiment, January, 1776; Captain Elias Williams' Company, Colonel Thomas Belden's Regiment, August, 1777; served also in Colonel Hezekiah Wylly's Regiment, July, 1781, at Saybrook, Conn., and in other organizations of the Connecticut Line and Militia from 1777 to 1781 in harbor and coast defenses. Was present at the evacuation of Boston, March 17, 1776.
41
Great-great-grandson of Corporal Timothy Hatch (1756-1838), Drummer, Captain Abner Prior's Company of Hartford, Conn., at the Siege of Boston, 1776; Private, Captain Joseph Palmer's Company, Colonel Cushman's Regiment, 1776; Cap- tain Elisha Noyes' Company, 1777; Corporal, Captain Micah Hamlin's Company, Colonel Jonathan Reed's Regiment of Guards, 1778; Private, Captain Samuel Fish's Company, Colonel Nathaniel Freeman's Regiment, 1779; Captain Mat- thias Tobey's Company, Lieutenant-Colonel Hallet's Regi- ment, 1780, Connecticut Troops.
Ash, Gordon Monges, January 14, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-great-grandson of Colonel Timothy Matlack (1730- 1829), Colonel, Fifth Battalion, Philadelphia Associators, 1775; Member of the Provincial Conference, Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, June 18, 1775; Delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1776; Member of the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania, July 24, 1776, to March 13, 1777; Secretary of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, March 6, 1777; Secretary of the Council of Safety of Pennsylvania, October 17, 1777, to December 4, 1777; Member of the Conti- nental Congress from Pennsylvania, i78o-'87.
Brice, Charles Frederick, January 14, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-grandson of Private Othniel Belden (1755-1834), Cap- tain Samuel Wright's Company, Colonel Samuel Wylly's Regi- ment, January, 1776; Captain Elias Williams' Company, Colonel Thomas Belden's Regiment, August, 1777; served also in Colonel Hezekiah Wylly's Regiment, July, 1781, at Say- brook, Conn., and in other organizations of the Connecticut Line and Militia from 1777 to 1781, in harbor and coast de- fenses. Was present at the evacuation of Boston, March 17, 1776. Great-great-great-grandson of Corporal Timothy Hatch (1756- 1838), Drummer, Captain Abner Prior's Company of Hart- ford, Conn., at the Siege of Boston, 1776; Private, Captain Joseph Palmer's Company, Colonel Cushman's Regiment, 1776; Captain Elisha Noyes' Company, 1777; Corpora!, Captain Micah Hamlin's Company, Colonel Jonathan Reed's Regiment of Guards, 1778; Private, Captain Samuel Fish's Company. Colonel Nathaniel Freeman's Regiment, 1779; Captain Mat- thias Tobey's Company, Lieutenant-Colonel Hallet's Regiment, 1780, Connecticut Troops.
42
Clapp, Benjamin Franklin, January 14, 1908.
. Philadelphia.
Great-grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel Algernon Roberts (1751- 1815), Seventh Battalion (Colonel Isaac Warner), Philadel- phia County, Pennsylvania Militia, 1777; Commissioner of Purchases for Philadelphia County, Penna., July 6, 1780. Great-great-grandson of Colonel Isaac Warner ( 1794), Lieu- tenant-Colonel, May 6, 1777; promoted Colonel, 1777, Seventh Battalion, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Militia.
Clement, Charles Francis, May 14, 1907.
Sunbury, Penna.
Great-great-great-grandson of James Loughead ( 1788), Pay- master of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, June 26, 1777, and August 12, 1780. Assistant Paymaster-General, with rank of Colonel, March 25, 1778.
March 10, 1908. Great-great-great-grandson of Captain Peter Withington (1733- 1777)> Twelfth Regiment, Pennsylvania Line, 1776.
Clement, John Kay, May 14, 1907.
Washington, D. C.
Great-great-great-grandson of James Loughead ( 1788), Pay- master of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, June 26, 1777, and August 12, 1780. Assistant Paymaster-General, with rank of Colonel, March 25, 1778.
March 10, 1908. Great-great-great-grandson of Captain Peter Withington (1733- 1777), Twelfth Regiment, Pennsylvania Line, 1776.
Clement, Martin Withington, May 14, 1907.
Sunbury, Penna.
Great-great-great-grandson of James Loughead ( 1788), Pay- master of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, June 26, 1777, and August 12, 1780. Assistant Paymaster-General, with rank of Colonel, March 25, 1778.
March 10, 1908. Great-great-great-grandson of Captain Peter Withington (1733- 1777), Twelfth Regiment, Pennsylvania Line, 1776.
Darte, George Lockhart, May 14, 1907.
Providence, R. I.
Great-great-great-grandson of Ensign Gideon Leete (1733 ),
Seventh Regiment (Colonel William Worthington), Connect- icut Militia, 1780.
43
Great-great-gi eat-grandson of Private Elijah Cone (1723- 1793), who served in Sheldon's Dragoons in 1776; enlisted in First Regiment, Connecticut Line; discharged December 13, 1780; re-enlisted for three years in the Second Regiment, Con- necticut Light Dragoons.
Darte, Luther Curran, May 14, 1907
Kingston, Penna.
Great-great-grandson of Ensign Gideon Leete (1733 ),
Seventh Regiment (Colonel William Worthington), Connect- icut Militia, 1780.
Great-great-grandson of Private Elijah Cone (1723-1793), who served in Sheldon's Dragoons in 1776; enlisted in First Regiment, Connecticut Line; discharged December 13, 1780; re-enlisted for three years in the Second Regiment, Con- necticut Light Dragoons.
Dickinson, Daniee Stevens, May 14, 1907.
Ridgway, Penna.
Great-great-grandson of Private Thomas Dickinson (1735-1800), Seventeenth Regiment (Colonel Sheldon), Connecticut troops.
Haedeman, Horace Leander, May 14, 1907.
Chickies, Penna.
Great-grandson of Private John Haldeman (1753-1832), Captain Thomas Robinson's Company, Third and Seventh Battalions (Colonel Alexander Lowrey), Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Militia, April 20 and August 24, 1778, 1781 and April 21, 1783.
Great-great-grandson of Private John Breneman (1752-1806), Captain Andrew Boggs' Company, Seventh Regiment (Colonel Alexander Lowrey), Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Militia, November 28, 1781, and May 28 and June 5, 1782.
Great-great-grandson of Private John Steman (1730-1785), Cap- tain Andrew Boggs' Company, Seventh Battalion (Colonel Alexander Lowrey), Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Militia, 1782.
Hohmann, Christian Henry, February 11, 1908.
Lincoln, Nebraska.
Great-great-grandson of Private Martin Reiley (1758-1826), Cap- tain Samuel Davidson's Company, Colonel Thomas Smith's Battalion, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, Associators, March 22, 1776.
44
Runk, Louis Barcroet, March 10, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-grandson of Captain Rufus Lincoln (1751-1838), Sec- ond Lieutenant, July 5, 1776; First Lieutenant, March 7, 1777; Captain Lieutenant, December 28, 1779; Captain, July 28, 1781, Massachusetts troops, honorably discharged June, 1783.
Great-great-grandson of Ensign John Woolverton (1755-1837), Private, April, 1776, and afterwards Ensign, Captain George Ely's Company, Second Regiment, Hunterdon County, New- Jersey Militia.
Great-great-great-grandson of Private Thomas Wallingford (
1792), Captain Moses Yeaton's Company, Colonel Joshua Wingate's Regiment, which marched from New Hampshire and joined the Continental Army on Rhode Island, August, 1778.
Silvester, Learoyd, January 14, 1908.
Cynwyd, Penna.
Great-great-grandson of Sergeant James Noyes (1760-1817), Cap- tain Ezekiel Giles' Company, of New Hampshire Volunteers, who marched from Plaistow, N. H., to join the Northern Con- tinental Army at Saratoga, N. Y., October, 1777.
Waller, Levi Ellmaker, ■ May 14, 1907.
Wilkes-Barre, Penna.
Great-grandson of Lieutenant-Colonel John Hopkins (1751-1820), Sub-Lieutenant of Lancaster County, Penna., March 20, 1780, and March 1, 1781.
Weisel, Eemer Preston, January 14, 1908.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-great-grandson of Private Frederick Solliday, or Sal- lade ( 1804), Bedminster Township Company, Lieutenant- Colonel Robert Robinson's Battalion, Bucks County, Pennsyl- vania, Associators, August 10, 1775.
Weisee, Oscar Williams, January 14, 1008.
Philadelphia.
Great-great-great-grandson of Private Frederick Solliday or Sal- lade ( 1804), Bedminster Township Company, Lieutenant- Colonel Robert Robinson's Battalion. Bucks County, Pennsyl- vania, Associators, August 10, 1775.
45
The summary of new and reinstated members and casualties for the year is as follows :
Elected to membership 36
Casualties :
Deceased 26
Resigned ■ 5
Transferred to other State societies 3
34
Reinstated to membership 2
32
Net increase in membership during the year
ending April 3, 1908 4
The society's membership on this date is as follows :
Founders, April 3, 1888 15
Elected to membership since April 3, 1888, (of these twenty-one by transfer from other State Societies) 1,639
1,654
Casualties :
Deceased 284
Dropped from rolls for non-payment of dues 108
Elected, but never qualified 6
Resigned 57
Transferred to other State Societies 25
480
Reinstated to membership 13
467
Net membership April 3, 1908 1,187
Classified as follows:
Perpetual or endowed 8
Life 71
Annual 1,108
1,187
Number of insignia issued 732
Number of certificates of membership issued 304
46
The Necrological Roll from reports received during the year, whilst showing a slight decrease in the number of deaths compared with the previous year, contains the names of many prominent persons whom it has been an honor for this society to have had on its roll of membership. It is as follows :
HON. ALFRED DARTE, Jr., was born at Dundaff, Penna., April 28, 1836, and died at Wilkes-Barre, Pa., July 20, 1901. He was the son of the late Captain Alfred Darte, Sr., a prominent member of the Sus- quehanna County, Penna., Bar. Judge Darte was educated at the Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Pa., 1853-1856, and read law with his father, being admitted to the bar of Luzerne County, Penna., May, 1859. During the Civil War he served in the Union Army, his mili- tary record being as follows : Private Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania In- fantry, April 18, 1 861 ; discharged for promotion, April 25, 1861. First Lieutenant Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry, April 26, 1861 ; hon- orably mustered out July 26, 1861. Second Lieutenant Fourth Pennsyl- vania Cavalry (in the company of which his father was captain), October 30, 1861 ; Captain March 1, 1863 ; resigned and honorably discharged September 19, 1864. He participated in all of the engage- ments in which the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac took part, under Generals Averill, Gregg and Sheridan, and was severely wounded in a hand-to-hand fight at Trevillian Station, Va., in 1864. When he had sufficiently recovered from his wounds after the war had closed, he resumed his practice in Luzerne County, and for a time also engaged in the mercantile business in Kingston, in the firm of Pringle & Darte. He served for several years as Justice of the Peace, was president of the Kingston Council, 1886-1888, and attorney for Kingston borough, 1893. In 1879 he was elected district attorney for Luzerne County, and re-elected in 1888. In 1896 he was elected Judge of the Orphans' Court, which office he honored, holding it at the time of his death. Judge Darte was a member of the Presbyterian Church, Kingston, and for over fifteen years was superintendent of the Sunday-school. He was intensely interested in everything relating to the military service through which he passed. For years he was an enthusiastic and active member of the Soldiers' Orphans' School Commission of Pennsylvania, and kept himself in full sympathy with the wards of the State in these schools. His visits to them were anticipated by the boys and girls with pleasure, and their personal dem- onstrations of love and affection towards him when visiting these schools were astonishingly touching and tender. He was a man of commanding presence, and a fine specimen of physical manhood, being six feet in height, and a splendid horseman, he made an ideal cavalry officer. Judge Darte was elected Department Commander of the Grand Army
47
of the Republic of the State of Pennsylvania in 1898, and also served as Judge Advocate-General on the National Department Commander's staff. In addition to his membership in this society, he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Society of Sons of Veterans, Society of the Army of the Potomac, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the State of Pennsyl- vania, Masonic Fraternity and the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.
JAMES RAYMOND CLAGHORN, who died at Hartford, Conn., in September, 1906, a member of a once well-known family in Philadel- phia, was born in the latter city on October 5, 1842. He traced his ancestry to early New England settlers. Mr. Claghorn was educated at Prof. Charles Short's Academy, Philadelphia, and at the Hill School, Pottstown, Pa. At the breaking out of the Civil War he enlisted as a private in Company C, Nineteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Harmanus C. Neff, Captain, Colonel Peter Lyle commanding. He was Aid-de-camp and Lieutenant on staff of General William D. Whipple, commanding Union League regiments located at Philadel- phia, in the "emergency call" for volunteers, June, 1863. He at various times occupied the offices of President, State Line and Sullivan Rail- road Company, May, 1880, to March, 1894; Director, Barclay Railroad Company, Penna., 1867 to 1891, and president from 1891 to 1894; mem- ber Common Council, Philadelphia, 1881 to 1892, declining a renomina- tion in the latter year. In recent years he resided at Hartford, Conn., where he was engaged as a broker. Mr. Claghorn was a member of Meade Post, No. 1, Grand Army of the Republic, and also held life memberships in the following: Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art; Zoological Society and the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia.
EDWARD WEBSTER SPANGLER, a well-known member of the bar, died suddenly at his home in York, Pa., April 22, 1907. He was born in Paradise Township, York County, Pa., February 23, 1846. He was a descendant of Baltzer Spangler, who came to Pennsylvania from the Palatinate, Germany. Mr. Spangler's early days were spent on a farm, but he received a liberal education at the York County Academy, subsequently clerking in a store until 1862, when he enlisted as a pri- vate in Company K, One Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment, Pennsyl- vania Volunteer Infantry, serving nine months in the Army of the Potomac, and participating in the battles of Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, in all of which engagements his regiment took a conspicuous part with heavy losses. After the expiration of his enlist- ment in 1863 he was for a short time deputy United States Marshal, resigning to resume his studies, during which time he read law and attended a course of law lectures at the University of Pennsylvania.
48
He was admitted to the bar of York County, March 4, 1867, and soon commanded a large practice, being widely known throughout the county of his birth. He frequently appeared in the trial of cases before the courts in adjoining counties and the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania, where his ability and attainments as a lawyer were recognized. For many years he was president of the Spangler Manufacturing Com- pany, engaged in the manufacture of agricultural implements. Mr. Spangler, being of a literary turn of mind, he frequently contributed to the newspaper press, and in 1892 purchased the York Daily and Weekly newspapers, which he controlled until 1904. Early in life Mr. Spangler became a student of local history, and devoted much of his time to historical and genealogical researches. A result of this is the very complete genealogy of the Spangler family, published in 1896. He also contributed to a local newspaper his experiences in service during the Civil War. Mr. Spangler served for a number of years as attorney for the First National Bank, and director of the Farmer's National Bank, both of York, Pa., and a trustee of the York County Historical Society. Besides his membership in this society he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Personally, Mr. Spang- ler enjoyed universal popularity among his friends and associates. He was widely known and held in high esteem. He was genial and affable in his manners, and uniformly courteous in all his relations with people, and the eulogies delivered by the bench and bar of his native county testified to the high esteem in which he was held in his profession and as a citizen.
HENRY WHELEN, Jr., died after a brief illness at his country home, "Clovelly," Devon, Pa., May 17, 1907, aged 59 years. He was an early member of this society, his membership dating from June 30, 1890. He was born and educated in Philadelphia, and most of his life was spent in the brokerage business as a member of the firm Whelen, Town- send & Company. Mr. Whelen was for many years a patron of music and the fine arts, and at the time of his death was president of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, of which organization he had previously been treasurer for sixteen years. For many years he had given his attention to the collection of works of art and was the owner of one of the finest collections of engravings and Washington prints in existence, a greater number of which he acquired through his father-in-law, the late Washington Spohm Baker, long an honored member of this society and of its Board of Managers. Mr. Whelen was also treasurer of the Rittenhouse Club and director of the Phila- delphia Orchestra, and one of its chief supporters, and was also treasurer of the Protestant Episcopal Divinity School. Since 1895 he had been actively interested in the productions of grand opera in Philadelphia. His body was laid at rest in historic St. David's, of Radnor.
49
JOHN HOOKER PACKARD, M.D., for many years a leading physician of Philadelphia, died at the Hotel Chalfonte, Atlantic City, N. J., on May 21, 1907, aged 75 years. He was born in Philadelphia, and received his education at the University of Pennsylvania, practicing his profession in Philadelphia and at his summer home at Devon, Pa., until about 1895, when he retired. He was for a short time connected with the Pennsylvania Hospital, and after his retirement from practice spent considerable time abroad and at Atlantic City, N. J. Dr. Pack- ard was a director of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and a member of the University Club, and of many medical societies. His mortal remains were interred in old St. David's churchyard, Radnor.
CHARLES EVERT CADWALADER, M.D, a member of an old and distinguished Philadelphia family, died in his apartments in the Prince of Wales Mansion, Battersea Park, London, England, June 12, 1907. He was born in Philadelphia, November 5, 1839, and was grad- uated from the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Arts, in 1858, receiving his master's degree three years later, when he was also graduated Doctor of Medicine from the same institution. During his college course he was a member of the Philomathean Literary Society and of the Greek letter fraternity Delta Phi. By reason of his high standing in class, he was also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society. At the first call for troops in the Civil War, Dr. Cad- walader enlisted as a private in the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cav- alry, serving three months during the summer of 1861. On October 3, 1861, he was commissioned first lieutenant, and captain in June, 1862, of the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry, known also as Rush's Lancers, and served until he was honorably mustered out on September 17, 1864. For a time he served on the staffs of Major-General Joseph Hooker and of Major-General George G. Meade, commanders of the Army of the Potomac. He was brevetted Major, United States Vol- unteers, March 13, 1865, "for distinguished gallantry and meritorious services at the battle of Chancellorsville, Va.," and Lieutenant- Colonel, March 13, 1865, "for distinguished gallantry in the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., and in the subsequent operations from the Rapidan to the James River, and the siege of Petersburg, Va." Colonel Cad- walader participated with the Army of the Potomac in all of its cam- paigns and most important engagements. From 1867 to 1873 he was in charge of the Bankruptcy Bureau, United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Upon resuming the practice of medicine, he was physician to the Protestant Episcopal Church Home for Children (1874) 5 Physician to the Philadelphia Dispensary (1874) ; Physician to the Home for the Homeless (1874), and Physi- cian to the Lincoln Institute (1876). Dr. Cadwalader was a member of the Pennsylvania State Medical and Philadelphia County Medical societies, American Medical Association. Philadelphia Medical Club,
5o
College of Physicians, American Academy of Medicine, Public Educa- tion Society, Civil Service, Municipal, Fairmount Park Art, City Parks and Forestry associations, the Municipal League, American Academy of Political and Social Science and the Bedford Street Mis- sion. He was one of the earliest members of this society, having been elected to membership December 9, 1889. He was also a member of the State Society of the Cincinnati of Pennsylvania, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Society of the War of 1812, the Aztec Society, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Society of the Army of the Potomac, the United Service Club, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the University Club, the Germantown Cricket Club, the Masonic Fraternity and the Church Club. A prominent feature of his social life was the New Year's day receptions which he gave for many years at the old Cadwalader home at Fourth and Locust Streets, where representatives of the old and distinguished Philadelphia families assembled. Aside from his distinguished family connections and the high social position which he held in the community, he was well known for his uniform kindness and charities and the professional aid which he extended to many of the poor of Philadelphia without receiving compensation ex- cept the pleasure it gave him in ministering to the wants of these people. The funeral services in memory of Colonel Cadwalader were held in old Christ Church, Second Street, above Market Street, Philadelphia. At his request his body was cremated and his ashes were deposited in the burial ground of that ancient parish at Fifth and Arch Streets, in the presence of members of his family and his comrades of the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry and members of the George G. Meade Post, Grand Army of the Republic.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HART, who died suddenly at his residence in Philadelphia, on July 18, 1907, was a native of Bucks County, Penna., having been born at Hartsville, March 22, 1825, a descendant of an early family of that name who settled in the locality in Colonial times. At an early age he came to Philadelphia and became interested in local passenger transportation. He was for many years vice-president of the company operating the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Streets line and a director of the companies running the Green Street and Fairmount Avenue line, the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Streets line and the Grays Ferry Road line. He retired from active business about twenty-eight years ago. Mr. Hart always manifested a deep interest in this society, and was rarely absent from its meetings or social functions.
FRANCIS HAZELHURST, who died at Philadelphia, on August 3, 1007, was a member of one of the prominent families of that city, where he was born November 23, 1849. He received his education at Friends'
5i
School, near Darby, but early in life entered business in a clerical capacity. He latterly became secretary and treasurer of the Lom- bard and South Streets Passenger Railway Company, and at one time was president of a passenger railway in Baltimore, Md. He served two years as a member of Common Council, Philadelphia. Besides being a member of this society, Mr. Hazelhurst was also a member of the Philadelphia Club.
FRANCIS SUYDAM KEESE, who died at Cynwyd, Pa., on August 17, 1907, was born in New York City, December 25, 1841. He was graduated from Rutgers College, New Jersey, in the class of 1862, and was a member of the Greek Letter fraternity Zeta Psi, of which he was a prominent official at the time of his death. In 1861 he enlisted in a military company formed of college students, which was attached to the First Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers, and became attached to the Army of the Potomac, and served under General McClellan on the Peninsula. Displaying marked military ability, Colonel Keese was, on September 4, 1862, commissioned Cap- tain of the One hundred and twenty-eighth Regiment, New York Infantry; he served under General Banks at the siege of Port Hud- son, in which he was one of the storming party, and where during a part of the day of the severest fighting he was placed in command of the brigade. He also distinguished himself in front of Vicksburg, and afterwards in the Shenandoah Valley campaign under General Sheridan; he was severely wounded in the battle of Winchester. After his recovery from wounds he returned to his regiment, and continued in military service for some months after the Army of the Potomac had disbanded, his retention after the muster out of his regi- ment having been necessitated because of duty in Philadelphia in the summer of 1865, on the Doubleday Court Martial, which was engaged in trying army contractors. Colonel Keese's military career, as re- corded by the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, of which he was a companion, is as follows: Sergeant First New Jersey Infantry, May 29, 1861 ; discharged for promotion August 30, 1862. Captain One Hundred and Twenty-eighth New York In- fantry, September 4, 1862; Major, September 15, 1863; Lieutenant- Colonel, November 29, 1864; honorably mustered out, September 6, 1865. Brevetted Colonel United States Volunteers, March 13, 1865, "for conspicuous gallantry at Winchester, Va., September 19, 1864." Colonel Keese was also a member of the Union League, the Nether- lands Society, and was the senior warden of the Church of the Ascension, Philadelphia. His refinement and culture drew about him a choice circle of friends.
THOMAS JULIUS HOSKINSON, a veteran of the Civil War, died at his residence in West Philadelphia, on September 19, 1907. He was born at Erie, Pa., August 2, 1833, and was graduated from the Ken-
52
tucky Military Institute, Frankfort, Ky., with high honors, and for a number of years pursued his profession as a civil engineer. He was first employed by the Erie and Sunbury Railroad, late the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, now the Erie Division of the Pennsylvania Rail- road System, and ran the first line for that railroad, and the line from Pittsfield to Tionesta, Pa., was under his charge during its con- struction. Major Hoskinson had an enviable war record. Enlisting at the outbreak of the Civil War, he served throughout the entire struggle, being successively advanced in rank, and was finally brevetted for conspicuous gallantry at the battle of Sailor's Creek, April 6, 1865. He was commissioned by Governor Curtin First Lieutenant Company E, Fifty-ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry, and to the end of the following year was for the most part engaged in the campaigns around Norfolk and Suffolk, Va. In the early part of 1863 he was stationed at Newberne, N. C, and on February 13, 1863, was com- missioned captain of his company. During 1863 he was located in North Carolina, where he took part in the battle of Bachelor's Creek, May 21 st. He was provost marshal at Washington, N. C, from Octo- ber, 1863, to April, 1864, and afterwards was attached to the staff of General W. H. T. Brooks, commanding the First Division, Eighteenth Corps. During 1864 he was engaged in the memorable battle of Cold Harbor, Va., and in the siege of Petersburg, Va., being attached to the staff of General Stannard until July 4, 1864. His term of service having expired, he re-enlisted for three years, and was appointed commissary, September 1, 1864, and was ordered to join Sheridan's Army in the Shenandoah Valley, and was present at the battle of Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864. He was present at the capture of Petersburg, Va., in 1865, and at the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia under General Lee at Appomattox, April 9, 1865. He was mustered out of service July 7, 1865. At the close of the war Major Hoskinson returned to Erie and engaged in manufacturing until the discovery of natural gas in Western Pennsylvania, when he resumed his profession as an engineer in locating various pipe lines for the conveyance of this product. In 1887 he removed to Philadel- phia, where for sixteen years he was confidential secretary to the general inspector of the pay corps of the United States Navy. He was compelled to retire from this position on account of ill health. Major Hoskinson was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, the Grand Army of the Republic, the United Service Club, the Masonic fraternity and of the Protestant Episcopal Church. His remains were laid at rest in his native place on historic Lake Erie. Major Hoskinson was a man of superior attain- ments, with marked characteristics, disclosing profound intelligence, refinement and culture.
53
HENRY HORTON LAWRENCE, whose death occurred at his home in Philadelphia on October 17, 1907, was of English descent, his paternal ancestors having settled on Long Island in 1635. He was born in New York City, July 15, 1855. His family removing to Yon- kers, N. Y., his early education was received in that place. When about seventeen years of age he entered the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, continuing in its service until the time of his death. The clerical work in the designing department there re- quired strict accuracy, and that condition he fulfilled in a remark- able degree. Mr. Lawrence was a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and of the Art Club of Philadelphia. His gentlemanly deportment, genial nature and kindly disposition made him a favorite with all his associates.
JOHN HORACE BLISS died at Honolulu, S. I., October 17, 1907, aged 84 years. He was born at Fort Howard, now Green Bay, Wisconsin, October 4, 1823, and is said to have been the first male child born in the State of Wisconsin. His father, Colonel John Bliss, U. S. A., was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was wounded at the Battle of Lundy's Lane. He was the second commandant at the United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y. Mr. Bliss was descended from many early New England settlers, among others William Bradford, of the Plymouth Colony. He spent a year at Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., and two years at the Cincinnati, Ohio, College. For some time he was engaged as a civil engineer on the Erie extension of the Pennsylvania Canal, and then entered upon the study of law at Little Falls, N. Y., later continuing his studies in Buffalo, N. Y., completing them at the Harvard Law School, whereupon he was admitted to the bar at Albany, N. Y., in 1847. He subsequently aban- doned law in 1855, removing to Erie, Pa., where he engaged in manufacturing of various kinds, and in 1864 purchased the Erie City Iron Works, of which he was president until within a few years of his death. In 1884 during a pleasure trip to Caracas, Venezuela, S. A., he wrote some interesting reminiscences of Fort Snelling for the Minne- sota Historical Society. Mr. Bliss was an attendant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and was known for his benevolence and extensive charities which he bestowed in a quiet and unostentatious manner.
JOHN PETER KELLER, an honored and highly respected citizen of Harrisburg, Pa., long known in historical matters, died at his home on December 23, 1907, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was born in Harrisburg, February 20, 1831, and was descended from two of the earliest families of settlers of that city. His maternal grand- father, Christian Kunkel, removed from York County, Penna., to Harrisburg, in 1786, and became a prominent business man and land holder in that locality. His paternal great-great-grandfather, Johann
54
Peter Keller, ist, came from Switzerland in 1735, and settled in Lancaster County, Penna., from whence the latter's grandson, John Peter Keller, 2d, removed to Harrisburg in 1796, where he became a prominent manufacturer, also filling many public positions, and who at the time of his death in 1859 was the last of the original directors of the Harrisburg bank. Dr. Keller's education was obtained in private schools and at the Harrisburg Academy. In 1849 he began the study of dentistry, and subsequently built up a large practice. In 1867 he relinquished his practice and entered into mercantile pur- suits, in which he continued until his retirement in 1887. Upon the organization of the Dauphin County Historical Society he at once interested himself in its work, and for many years was chairman of its executive committee. He succeeded the late Judge Simonton as presi- dent of the society, and continued in that office till his death. He was also one of the founders of the Pennsylvania German Society, and at one time was one of its vice-presidents. He was the last surviving charter member of the Young Men's Christian Association, and was also a charter member of the Harrisburg Chapter, Knights of Honor, and was for years a member of the Board of the West Harrisburg Market House Company. Dr. Keller was an authority on the early history of Harrisburg, and was a frequent contributor to the news- papers on the annals of that city. Early in life he connected himself with Zion Lutheran Church, in which church his parents and grand- parents were deeply interested and were leaders in helping to found and establish. During the greater part of the time he was a member of the vestry of the church, and was an elder at the time of his death as well as a teacher and officer of the Sunday-school. He was fre- quently elected a lay delegate to represent the church in the East Pennsylvania Synods, and also a delegate to the General Synod of the United States, held at Allegheny, Pa. He served several terms on the Board of Directors of the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and for years was a member of the Board of Directors of the Lutheran Observer, serving as such at the time of his death.
COLEMAN SELLERS, inventor and scientist, whose death occurred at his home in West Philadelphia, December 28, 1907, was born in Phila- delphia, January 28, 1827. At the age of eleven he entered the acad- emy of Anthony Bolmar, West Chester, Pa., and while there his interest in natural philosophy was first stimulated by the simple ex- periments used as illustrations by the instructors. While at school he invented a hygrometer, and kept a diary in which he noted from day to day those things which interested him. At seventeen he left school, and for two years engaged in farming, during which time he invented several practical improvements in agricultural implements. In 1846 he accepted a position with the Globe rolling mills, Cincinnati,
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Ohio, where he designed improved machinery for rolling iron, and before he was 21 years of age he became superintendent. From 1850 to 1856 he was engaged in locomotive building. In the latter year he returned to Philadelphia and took charge of the draughting rooms of William Sellers & Co., and during the next thirty years much of his time was devoted to the improving of the general run of machine and special tools. In 1858 he became interested in the then new art of photography, and made many notable improvements and discoveries in the art. The kinematoscope, the first moving picture machine, was patented by him in 1861. During the Civil War he designed a num- ber of machines for use by the Government. He served the commun- ity on various boards and committees, and devised the rules under which the City Inspector of Steam Boilers worked for many years. In 1880 he wrote his much quoted paper against the adoption of the metric system of weights and measures. He was a member of the Sey- bert Commission of the University of Pennsylvania for the investi- gation of the claims of spiritualism. In 1889 he was requested to report on the practicability of generating electric power at Niagara Falls and transmitting it to Buffalo. His report so strongly endorsed the scheme that a company, the Cataract Construction Company, was formed, and he was appointed consulting engineer for it. In June, 1890, he assisted in establishing the International Niagara Commission in London, England. This commission consisted of the late Lord Kelvin, chairman; Dr. Coleman Sellers, Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Turrettini, of Geneva, Switzerland, engineer of the water-power plant on the Rhone, and Prof. William Cawthorne Unwin, dean of the cen- tral institute of the guilds of the city of London, as secretary. Dr. Sellers was more than able to hold his own with these men, and on several vital points, which meant everything to the future of the gen- eration of power at Niagara, he differed from his associates, and it was his ideas that were put into effect. Of his work here Dr. Henry Morton, the late president of Stevens Institute of Technology, said that his foresight in judgment in adopting methods which were with- out precedent made the Niagara Falls project a crowning achievement of a remarkable lifetime. In 1881 he was appointed professor of mechanics at the Franklin Institute, and in 1888 he was made non- resident professor of engineering practice in Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N. J. Dr. Sellers, in addition to the above labors, conducted a general engineering business, and was consulted on a variety of work, especially water power and electrical projects. The honorary degree of Doctor of Engineering was conferred upon him by the Stevens Institute of Technology, in 1887, and that of Doctor of Science by the University of Pennsylvania in 1899. Dr. Sellers was a charter member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, was also a member of the Franklin Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers, British Society of Mechanical Engineers,
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British Society of Civil Engineers, Geneva Society of Arts, Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He served as president of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, and as vice-president of the American Philosophical Society. He was one of the founders, and for some time president of the Philadelphia Photographic Society. In 1877 the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olaf was conferred upon him by the king of Sweden in recognition of his valued services in his profession. Dr. Sellers was a man of strong patriotic feelings. He was an early member of the Union League, and during the war he assisted in many ways in providing for the comfort of those in the field. He was a Whig in politics, an abolitionist, and when the Republican party was formed he was an ardent follower. He was an early member of this society, his membership dating from April 21, 1892, inheriting his right from the distinguished services of his two grandfathers, viz.: Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), Lieutenant of Philadelphia Militia, 1776; Captain, Fourth Company, Fourth Bat- talion, Colonel John Bubenheim Bayard, January 3, 1777; Captain, Fourth Regiment of Foot, Lieutenant-Colonel William Will, com- manding, June 17, 1777, Philadelphia Militia; at Trenton, Princeton, Germantown, White Marsh and Valley Forge ; Commissioner to Seize the Personal Effects of Traitors, October 21, 1777; Commissioner of Forfeited Estates, May 6, 1778; Member of the Assembly of Pennsyl- vania, 1779; Member of the Court of Inquiry respecting Militia Offi- cers of Pennsylvania, May 12, 1779; Member of the Committee to conduct rejoicings at completion of Confederation, 1781. Nathan Sellers (1751-1830), Private, Colonel Jonathan Paschall's Battalion of the Pennsylvania "Flying Camp," February 24, 1776 ; appointed by Council of Safety of Pennsylvania to make military survey along the Delaware River, July 24, 1777. The former of these was the well- known portrait painter of his day. Dr. Sellers' interest in this society was attested by his frequent attendance at the annual meetings and various social gatherings.
THOMAS HETICH LANE, for fourteen years a member of this society, died at his home, 1825 Bluff Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., on December 31, 1907, in the eightieth year of his age. He was a native of Chambers- burg, Pa., where he was born on August 21, 1828, being a son of Nicholas Bittinger Lane, M.D., and great-grandson of Captain Nich- olas Bittinger, of the York County, Pa., Militia, who was captured by the British at the fall of Fort Washington, N. Y., in 1776. Mr. Lane's mother was, before her marriage, Miss Eliza Hetich, of Chambersburg, descended from prominent Franklin and York County families. Mr. Lane attended the famous old Chambersburg academy until he was fourteen years old, when he went to Pittsburgh to enter the employ of
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the hardware firm of Whitmore & Wolff. He was one of the oldest men in continuous business life in the iron city, having been con- nected as employee and partner for about sixty-five years with the hardware establishment known in the latter part of his life as Wolff, Lane & Company. The estimation in which his business judgment was held is indicated by the facts that he was for many years, and up until his death, a director of the Bank of Pittsburgh, and vice- president of the Dollar Savings Bank. He was one of the projectors and an early officer in the Pittsburgh Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, was closely identified with the American Bible Society, and was a trustee of the Western Pennsylvania Institute for deaf and dumb at Edgewood. During the Civil War he was an active supporter of the work of the Sanitary Commission. Despite the cares of a large commercial establishment, Mr. Lane devoted a great deal of his time and a large share of his means to the advancement of his fellow-men, through the agencies of the church and charity, as well as in more utilitarian bodies. He was a devoted and life-long member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. His faith was an inheritance from the ancestors who were impelled to leave Lorraine after the revoca- tion of the Edict of Nantes in the seventeenth century, and settle in Holland, from which the family emigrated to America, settling in York County, Pa. Immediately upon going to Pittsburgh he became a member of the Sunday-school of the First Lutheran Church. He was successively its librarian, teacher, assistant superintendent and superintendent, sustaining the last relation for thirty-six years. He was most widely known and esteemed in his denomination, however, for the part that he took in the formation of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America forty years ago. He was one of the leading laymen in that movement, and was the trusted advisor and personal friend of such leaders as the Rev. Dr. Charles Porterfield Krauth, the Rev. Dr. Joseph A. Seiss, the Rev. Dr. George F. Krotel, and others. He was for a period of years the treasurer of the General Council, and was a director of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Mount Airy, Philadelphia. The Board of Directors of that institution has placed upon its records the following estimate of his character :
"In the first English Church of Pittsburgh, with which he was "connected for more than sixty years he commanded universal esteem "and affection, and was recognized as wielding a power for good "among all his associates, and especially over the young men who grew "up under his training in the Sunday-school, of which he was super- intendent for many years. In the community at large he occupied a "most honorable position, and was universally respected as maintaining "throughout a long business career an unimpeachable reputation for "uprightness, efficiency and wisdom, and was regarded as one of the "most valuable citizens of Pittsburgh. In private life he was a
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"very attractive person. Hospitable, generous and charitable, firm in "upholding the right, unflinching in condemnation of wrong doing, "he could always be relied upon as kind and friendly. He was a "man of superior intellectual power, and spent many hours in his "library, which was large and well selected, in converse with the "authors of past and present times, whose writings it was his delight "to read. He wrote well, and his articles have frequently graced the "columns of The Lutheran. A faithful friend, an honor to the rela- "tions of life which he sustained, a Christian gentleman, he was one "of the noblest characters that has adorned our church. We gladly "record this tribute to his memory, while we deplore the loss our "Church and our Seminary have sustained."
Mr. Lane never married, and was the last member of his immediate family.
FREDERICK MEADE BISSELL died suddenly at his home "Roadside," Wissahickon Avenue, Germantown, Penna., on January 10, 1908. His ancestors were of English origin, who in early Colonial times located in New England. He was born in Philadelphia, December 5, 1842, and was educated in the University of Pennsylvania, but left at the end of his junior year. During the Civil War he was a private in the First Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia, at the time of the invasion of Pennsylvania by the Confederates in 1862-1863. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits from 1863 to 1873, when he entered the employ of the Empire Transportation Company as a clerk in the Auditor's office. July 1, 1873, he was appointed chief clerk to the Auditor of the Erie and Western Transportation Company; April 1, 1874, he was made assistant auditor of the Empire Transportation Company, and also assistant auditor of the Erie and Western Transportation Com- pany and of the Atlantic, Duluth and Pacific Lake Company. In 1877, when these companies came into possession of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company, he was made assistant auditor of the Empire Line, and in 1878 was appointed auditor of the Empire Line, Pennsyl- vania Railroad, in which office he continued until a few years before his death, when he was selected for special duty in the Comptroller's Department, Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Mr. Bissell was very fond of athletic sports, especially cricket, and from 1883 to 1893 was secretary of the International Cricket Committee. He was one of the earliest members of this society, his membership dating from May 13, 1889. He was also a member of the University Club and of the Ger- mantown Cricket Club, having served as secretary of the latter from 1879 to 1891.
HENRY FLETCHER KENNEY, a widely known railroad official for more than fifty years prominently identified with transportation in the Atlantic Coast States, died at his home in Ridley Park, Delaware County, Pa., January 10, 1908. Mr. Kenney was born on a farm at
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the foot of Blue Hill, in Milton, Mass., December 22, 1824. His parents were Abel Kenney and Lydia Kenney, nee Mcintosh. The latter died in 1825, when scarcely twenty-two years of age, and Mr. Kenney's father subsequently married her older sister, who was a devoted mother to her sister's son. His paternal ancestor in this country was Henry Kenney, who settled at Salem, Mass., in 1651. His grandfather Kenney married Sarah Fletcher, a descendant of Robert Fletcher, who settled in Concord, Mass., in 1630. His grand- father, Jeremiah Mcintosh, Dedham, Mass., was among those who armed themselves at the alarm of April 19, 1775. With Captain Heath's company he proceeded to Lexington, where they met the enemy on their retreat towards Cambridge, having a severe conflict. He served at Bunker Hill, and later (September, 1776), as a private under Captain Ebenezer Gore, in the regiment commanded by his uncle, William Mcintosh. The life work of Mr. Kenney began about 1844, when he was appointed station agent at Fitchburg, Mass., on the Boston and Fitchburg Railroad. His father and family followed him there, and the Dorchester farm, the former property of Jeremiah Mcintosh, was sold. He continued in the service of this railroad until June 25, 1854, when, at the request of Mr. S. M. Felton, formerly of the Fitchburg Railroad, he came to Philadelphia, and on July 1 of that year assumed the duties of master of transportation of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, which property was owned chiefly by New England interests, a number of whose ex- ecutive officers were New England men, several of whom had taken up their residence in Philadelphia. On February 12, 1864, he was appointed assistant superintendent, promoted to superintendent May 17, 1865, and July 2J, 1881, when the Pennsylvania Railroad Company acquired the property of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company and its affiliated lines, was made general superin- tendent of the entire system, and continued in that office until January I, 1899. Mr. Kenney was immediately thereafter elected president of the Delaware Railroad, Junction Railroad, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Railroad and Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad Companies — subsidiary corporations of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad system. This office he held at the time of his death. His abilities as a transportation officer, coupled with shrewdness and diplomacy, won for him special distinction during the trying days of the Civil War, when he had charge of the trans- portation of troops and munitions, his road being at that time the main artery of transportation between the Atlantic border States of the North and those of the South. Intricate problems often pre- sented themselves to Mr. Kenney for solution, and he frequently had to resort to strategy to accomplish the desired end. In these relations he personally met many of the Union leaders, and for a time received orders direct from the Secretary of War. Several
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incidents connected with his official life are matters of permanent record in our national history. His safeguarding of the body of John Brown through Philadelphia in 1859 and the transportation of President-elect Lincoln from Philadelphia to Washington on the eve of his inauguration in 1861 are typical of his resourcefulness.
John Brown was hanged at Charlestown, Va., December 2, 1859, and his body reached Philadelphia over the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad about noon of December 3. The excitement and feeling which the event produced were no less marked in Philadelphia than elsewhere throughout the United States. Large crowds of ex- cited negroes and abolitionists assembled in and around the passenger station at Broad and Prime Streets to pay tribute to the dead, while a mass of pro-slavery men congregated in Kensington with sullen determination that honors should not be paid the body during its transfer to the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad at Front and Berks Streets. The situation was alarming, and a riot was imminent. At this juncture Mayor Henry turned to Mr. Kenney for advice and assistance in averting trouble. No sudden emergency had yet been too great for him to meet, and the one the Mayor presented was no exception. His action was cool, prompt and effective. Obtaining a rough box he had it conveyed in a wagon in the direction of Ken- sington station, and, then, while the decoy was being followed by the negroes and abolitionists had the body placed on an express wagon, taken to Camden and quietly started over the Camden and Amboy Railroad towards its place of interment near Lake Placid in the Adirondacks.
Mr. Kenney was also prominent in the arrangements perfected for the safe transportation of President-elect Lincoln from Philadelphia to Washington on February 22, 1861. Early in that year it was dis- covered that a well-conceived plot was in existence for the assassina- tion of Mr. Lincoln on his passage through Baltimore to Washington to be inaugurated as President. He arrived in Philadelphia from New York on February 21, and at his rooms in the Continental Hotel was informed of the plot by several intimate friends and by Mr. Allan Pinkerton, the well-known detective, who had discovered it, and who, with a number of his staff, was engaged for special service on the southern end of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Rail- road, where the property of the company had been threatened by seces- sionists. Early on the morning of February 22 Mr. Lincoln raised a flag over Independence Hall, and then proceeded to Harrisburg to accept an invitation to visit the State Legislature, then in session. He left Harrisburg at six o'clock P. M., and arrived at West Philadelphia about 10 o'clock. During the afternoon of that day Mr. Kenney, with several of his railroad associates, was in conference with Mr. Pinkerton, and the former's plan was adopted for conveying Mr. Lin- coln to Washington in such a way as to defeat the arrangements
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which were believed to have been matured for the assassination and to baffle the vigilance with which his movements were watched by those concerned in that nefarious project. Soon after 10 o'clock Mr. Lincoln and party arrived at West Philadelphia, where a carriage was in waiting to convey him to the depot at Broad and Prime Streets to take the train leaving for Washington at 10.50 P. M. In this carriage were seated, besides Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Allan Pinkerton, Colonel Ward H. Lamon and Mr. Kenney, who took his seat alongside of the driver. To Mr. Kenney's distress the driver discoursed almost all the time about "Old Abe" and the extreme likelihood of his being killed by the "secesh" element, and he found it impossible to divert him to more timely topics. By instructions of Mr. Kenney the train was to be held at the station until his arrival there with a valuable package for delivery in Washington. There being ample time the carriage pro- ceeded down Market Street to Nineteenth Street, thence northward to Vine Street, down Vine Street to Seventeenth Street, and thence to the station, reaching there five minutes after scheduled time for the departure of the train. The party alighted in the shadow of the freight yard around the corner from the station proper, and passing quickly to the front walked quietly and quickly through the nearly deserted station to the train, on which Mr. Lincoln was assigned quarters in a public sleeping car, Colonel Lamon being the only one of the party to accompany him. Mr. Kenney then handed the bogus bundle of "important" papers to the conductor (John Litzenberg). As the train began to move out slowly, the conductor walked beside it, and said to him very significantly, "Is 'Old Abe' going through to Washington to-night?" Mr. Kenney looked at him and said sternly, "John, if you think you have 'Old Abe' on board you want to take good care of him." The conductor then swung up on the train, lifted and waved his cap to Mr. Kenney and the train pulled out into the night. It was a part of the design of Mr. Kenney's arrangements that Mr. Lincoln and his party should arrive at the P. W. & B. R. R. station a few min- utes later than the starting time of the train so as to evade being seen by the ticket agent, who was known to be a keen observer, and who, as was his custom, closed his office the moment the hour arrived for the announced departure of that train, as also the observation of any others who might be at the station to witness its departure, as was frequent. The train reached Washington early on the morning of the twenty-third without accident, and Mr. Lincoln soon occupied his quarters at Willard's Hotel.
On the night of President Lincoln's assassination (April 14, 1865), General U. S. Grant was on his way from Washington to join his family at Burlington, N. J. A message announcing the assault on Mr. Lincoln had been sent to him in care of Mr. Kenney. The latter was at his home, but immediately proceeded to the station, and there met General Grant on his arrival and handed him the message which
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the General read in his presence. The next morning Mr. Kenney had a special train, consisting of an engine and car, ready to convey Gen- eral Grant to Washington, and sat in the telegraph office until the special was reported at its destination, receiving the report of each operator as it passed. Somewhere in Delaware there was a break, and one operator who had fallen asleep failed to report it. Mr. Ken- ney's anxiety was intense then until the next man reported the passing of the special by his station, and from there the chain was again unbroken.
Some weeks after the shooting of President Garfield (July 2, 1881), the latter was removed to Elberon, N. J., the movement from Balti- more to Philadelphia having been made under Mr. Kenney's per- sonal supervision.
There were many other incidents of interest connected with Mr. Kenney's official life. As a railroad officer he had the good will of his subordinates and the confidence of his superiors. As a citizen he was popular with all classes. He served for a time as chief burgess of Ridley Park, a beautiful suburb of Philadelphia, which he was largely instrumental in developing. He married November 10, 1853, Mary Frances Ide, of Sharon, Mass. A son, who was educated to the engineering profession, died in early manhood; a daughter survives. As a member of this society he was deeply interested in its objects, and was rarely absent from its meetings, taking special pleasure in attending the annual historical pilgrimages. Mr. Kenney was a mem- ber of the Union League Club, Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the New England Society of Pennsylvania. His remains were laid at rest in Laurel Hill cemetery, Philadelphia.
JOSEPH MAXFIELD RITTER, who died in Philadelphia on January 29, 1908, was born in that city on September 21, 1855. He received his education in the public schools, and for a number of years was engaged in the insurance business. He was a man of quiet domestic habits, and for some time prior to his death was an invalid. Besides membership »n this society, he was a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
SAMUEL WILCOX died at his home in Philadelphia on February 14, 1908, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. He was born in Philadelphia, October 21, 1823, and was the son of Edmund Wilcox and Mary Tod Wilcox. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1838, but was compelled to relinquish his studies at the end of his sophomore year by reason of his father's financial losses in the panic of that period. At college he was a member of the Philomathean Literary Society. He was a clerk with Wain and Learning, 1842 to 1846; sec- retary of the commissioners of the Girard Estate, 1846 to 1854; secre- tary and treasurer of the Perkiomen Consolidated Mining Co., 1851
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to 1855 ; secretary and treasurer North Branch Coal Co., 1855 to 1856 ; secretary of the trustees of the City Ice Boats, 1855 to 1872; secretary Phoenix Insurance Company of Philadelphia, 1856 to 187 1 ; secretary and treasurer Big Mountain Improvement Co., 1857 to 1876; secretary and treasurer American Sewing Machine Company, 1871 to 1888; secretary and treasurer Reliance Manufacturing Company, 1888 to 1889; and was for some time, beginning with 1889, superintendent of the safe deposit vaults in the Commonwealth Title Insurance and Trust Company of Philadelphia. He was third sergeant of Company A, First Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Artillery, Captain John Cadwalader commanding, 1844 to 1848. On May 29, 1861, soon after the formation in Philadelphia of the First Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Artillery, Governor Curtin commissioned Mr. Wilcox Third Lieutenant of Company A, Captain Chapman Biddle command- ing. Upon the formation of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in August, 1862, several of the artillery officers resigned to accept commissions in the newly formed regiment, whereupon Mr. Wilcox was promoted to Second Lieutenant, Henry D. Landis having been promoted to captain of the company. With this organization he was actively engaged in the State's defense during the invasions of 1862 and 1863, and was present in the engagement at Carlisle on July 1, 1863, the day of the opening of the Battle of Gettysburg. Mr. Wilcox was a member of the General Alumni Society of the University of Pennsylvania and of E. D. Baker, Post No. 8, Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Wilcox was a frequent attendant at the meetings of this society, and always manifested a deep interest in its affairs.
CHARLES GREENE SAWTELLE, Jr., Captain, United States Army, died suddenly at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyo., on February 18, 1908. He was the son of Charles Greene Sawtelle, Brigadier-General, United States Army, retired, and Alice Chester Sawtelle (nee Munroe), and was born at San Francisco, Cal., January 30, 1870. His early educa- tion was received in the schools of Washington, D. C, and after grad- uating from the Central High School, in 1888, he was appointed a cadet in the United States Military Academy, from whence he gradu- ated in 1893, and was commissioned Additional Second Lieutenant, Seventh Cavalry, June 12, 1893, and Second Lieutenant, Second Cav- alry, August 14, 1893, to rank from June 12, 1893. He served on frontier duty at Fort Wingate, N. M., October 1, 1893, to November 16, 1895; School of Instruction Torpedo Service and Sub-Marine Mining, Willets Point, N. Y., December 1, 1895, to September 30, 1896; on leave of absence September 30, 1896, to January 1, 1897; rejoined regiment at Fort Riley, Kan., January 3, 1897. At the breaking out of the Spanish-American War, in 1898, he accompanied his regiment to the camps of mobilization at Chickamauga, Ga., Mobile, Ala., and
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Tampa, Fla., respectively. On June 3, 1898, he was appointed Captain and Assistant Quartermaster of Volunteers and immediately pro- ceeded from Tampa to San Francisco, Cal., where he embarked on June 2J for Manila, P. I., as Chief Quartermaster, Third Philippine Islands Expedition on staff of Brigadier-General Arthur MacArthur, U. S. A., commanding United States Volunteers. Arriving at Cavite, he was appointed, on August 3d, Brigade Quartermaster, First Brigade, First Division, Eighth Army Corps (MacArthur's). He acted as aide on the staff of Gen. MacArthur in the assault on Manila, August 13, 1898, and on September 5, 1898, was made Chief Quartermaster, Second Division, Eighth Army Corps. On July 1, 1899, he was appointed assistant to Chief Quartermaster of the Department of the Pacific and Eighth Army Corps, and continued in the quartermaster's department until his return to the United States in October, 1899. In this expedi- tion to the Philippines he took part in a number of important engage- ments, notably that of the assault of Manila and combat of Singalong, August 13, 1898; Filipino insurrection, attack on Manila, Liko Cross Roads and assault of La Loma, assault on Caloocan, battle of Guada- loupe Church, Tuliajan Defile, Malinta and Tinijeras, Polo, Marilao, Bigaa, Guiguinto, Malolos, Rio Grande River Columpit, Santo Tomas and San Fernando in 1899. In an official report of Gen. MacArthur, Capt. Sawtelle was recommended for the brevet rank of major of volunteers, brevet captain in the regular army, and for the Congres- sional medal of honor for gallant and meritorious services and marked intrepidity in combat at Singalong. Gen. MacArthur, in his report of that engagement, says : "The gallant manner in which Capt. Sawtelle, brigade quartermaster, volunteered to join the advance party in the rush ; volunteered to command a firing line, for a time without an officer, and again volunteered to lead a scout to ascertain the presence or absence of the enemy in the block-house, was a fine display of per- sonal intrepidity." He was promoted to First Lieutenant, Second Cav- alry, March 2, 1899, and to Captain, Eighth Cavalry, February 28, 1901. On April 13, 1901, he was honorably discharged from the volunteer ser- vice. Captain Sawtelle had recently returned from a second term of duty in the Philippines, where his health had become somewhat impaired. His death from heart failure was sudden, he having passed away in his sleep. Captain Sawtelle was one of the most popular of the younger officers in the army; he was greatly beloved by his fellow officers, and his subordinate officers and enlisted men held him in high esteem. A kindly, generous and polished gentleman, he made friends of all with whom he was brought into association. Having been born and brought up in the army, he enjoyed an unusually wide acquaint- ance, and the announcement of his death was received with deep sor- row. The funeral services were conducted at the post, where the Episcopal service for the burial of the dead was read, and at Cheyenne the services of the Masonic Order were conducted. On March 2d the
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remains of Captain Sawtelle were interred with full military honors at historic Arlington. At the conclusion of the service in St. Paul's P. E. Church, Washington, D. C, the funeral party was escorted by two troops of cavalry and the cavalry band to the cemetery, where the ceremonies were concluded by the firing of musketry and the sounding of "taps." Captain Sawtelle was a Companion of the Mili- tary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the State of Penns)dvania.
JOHN GUSTAVTJS GILBERT, after a lingering illness of about two years, died at a hospital in Philadelphia on February 20, 1908. Mr. Gilbert was the son of the Rev. Dr. D. M. Gilbert, a Lutheran clergy- man, and was born in Savannah, Ga., February 26, 1868. He was educated in Winchester, Va., where he attended private schools, and was graduated from the Shenandoah Valley Academy, being the salu- tatorium of his class. On completing his education he became a clerk in the Shenandoah Valley National Bank, where he remained until February, 1888, when he removed to Harrisburg, Pa., several months after his father resigned the pastorate of the Zion Lutheran Church. Mr. Gilbert became a clerk in the Mechanic's Bank, in Harrisburg, and a few years later began to study law with Charles H. Bergner. Upon being admitted to the Dauphin County Bar, Mr. Gilbert entered the office of Mr. Bergner, where he remained until his health failed. Several years before the outbreak of the Spanish-American War Mr. Gilbert became a member of Company D, Eighth Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, and went with his company to Camp Hastings at Mt. Gretna, where he was mustered into the United States Service. May 12, 1898, he was appointed sergeant-major of the Eighth Regiment. Following the promotion of the late Captain A. Wilson Norris, while the regiment was encamped at Augusta, Ga., he was commissioned to succeed him as adjutant of the regiment, with the rank of first lieutenant, September 15, 1898. He was mustered out of the service of the United States at Augusta, Ga., March 7, 1899, at the close of the war. He continued as adjutant of the Eighth Reg- iment with the rank of captain for several years after the war. Mr. Gilbert was also a member of the Military Order of Foreign Wars.
FREDERICK SCHOBER died at St. Agnes' Hospital, Philadelphia, February 26, 1908, aged 66 years. He was born in that city October 6, 1841, and was the son of Samuel Schober (1810-1890), for many years a queensware merchant in Philadelphia, and Jane Markrina Schober, nee Mott (1814-1853). His grandfather, Frederick Schober (1783-1868), who married Catharine Knorr (1774-1846), was a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and came to America in 1805. On his mother's side Mr. Schober was descended from an ancient and dis- tinguished ancestry. His grandfather, William Beckett Mott (1785- 1851), was a merchant on Second Street, Philadelphia, but for some
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years also resided at Easton, Penna., where he engaged in the real estate business, and there he married Sarah Green Moore (1786-1843). His great-grandfather, Edward Mott (1753-1824) served seven years in His Majesty's Second Troop of Life Guards. He married in Eng- land Sarah Beckett (1758-1822), and they with the latter's father, Gervis Beckett (1723-1806), who had served forty-four years in Lord Amherst's Second Troop of Life Guards, came to America _about 1798, locating first in Philadelphia, and afterwards for a time in Easton, Penna., where Gervis Beckett died in 1806. Edward Mott and his wife are buried in Christ Church yard, Fifth and Arch Streets, Philadelphia. The Mott family traces its origin to Thomas Pelleve de la Motte, who accompanied William the Conqueror to England and survived the battle of Hastings in 1066. Mr. Schober was ninth in descent from Rev. George Phillips (1593-1644), the first congregational minister in America and the ancestor of the late Hon. Wendell Phillips, Rev. Dr. Phillips Brooks, and other distinguished Americans; from Edward Jessup (d. 1666), an early magistrate of Long Island. Eighth in descent from Zerubbabel Phillips (1632-1687), a militia officer on Long Island; from Edward Howell (1584-1655), representative to the Colonial Assembly of New York, and from Ralph Hunt, a militia officer in the Colonial period on Long Island. Seventh in descent from Richard Betts (1613-1713), a captain of militia, deputy to the Provincial Assembly and delegate to the New York Convention; from Rev. Peter Pruden (1601-1656), one of the founders of the New Haven Colony. Sixth in descent from Rev. John Pruden (1645-1723), A.B., Harvard, 1668, the first regular pastor of the first organized Presbyterian Church in America, Deputy to the Colonial Assembly of Connecticut; from William Green (d. 1722), judge of Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Fifth in descent from Theophilus Phillips (d. 1762), judge of Hunterdon County, New Jer- sey. He was also a lineal descendant in the seventh generation from the Rev. John Moore (1620-1657), member of the Connecticut Assem- bly, and first minister at Newtown, L. I., who was the ancestor of a well-known family in New York and New Jersey bearing that name, and among whose descendants are the late Rt. Rev. Benjamin Moore, S.T.D., a former rector of Trinity Church, New York, and Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church; Clement C. Moore, LL.D., Professor of the Oriental and Hebrew languages in the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and author of those well-known lines beginning with " 'Twas the Night Before Christ- mas"; and the Rev. Nathaniel Fish Moore, LL.D., a president of Columbia College, New York. Sixth in descent from Captain Samuel Moore (1645-1717), magistrate, judge, and captain of militia in the Leisler troubles on Long Island. Fifth in descent from Nathaniel Moore (1687-1759), a Colonial judge on Long Island. Fourth in descent from John Moore (1718-1768). captain in the French and
67
Indian War. Third in descent from Samuel Moore (1754-1799), a private in Captain John Mott's Company, First Regiment, Hunterdon County, New Jersey Militia. It was through the latter ancestor that Mr. Schober derived his eligibility to membership in this society. Among other well-known family names from whom he was descended are those of Borroughs, Ely, Pettit, Reeder and Way. Mr. Schober was a student at the Central High School of Philadelphia, February, 1857, to February, 1861, and graduated in the latter year with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1866 received the degree of Master of Arts from the same institution. At the time of his death he was a member of the Board of Governors of the Alumni Association of the Central High School. He entered the engineer corps of the United States Navy, June 23, 1863; i863-'64-'65, U. S. S. "Niagara," Commo- dore Thomas T. Craven, special service cruising in the North Atlantic after privateers; captured "Georgia," Rebel ram "Stonewall" affair at Ferrol and Corunna, Spain ; Belem-Fort at Lisbon, chase of the "Ches- apeake;" also with escort of body of Prince Imperial of Russia, from Lisbon to Plymouth, England, with English, French and Russian men- of-war composing the fleet ; i866-'67, U. S. S. "Rhode Island," Captain D. McN. Fairfax, home squadron, James M. Palmer commanding; i867-'68, Naval Station, League Island; 1868- '69, U. S. S. "Saginaw," Captain R. W. Meade, Alaska exploring expedition ; i86g-'70, U. S. S. "Pensacola," Captain George Preble, Pacific Squadron, Admiral Thomas Turner, Coast of Mexico and Puget Sound ; i870-'7i, U. S. S. "Resaca," Captain Lewis, Pacific Squadron, South America and South Sea Islands; i87i-'72, U. S. S., "Resaca," Captain Nathaniel Green, Pacific Squadron, Darien Ship Canal expedition, Cap- tain Thomas O. Self ridge commanding; 1872, Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., Department of Engineering ; 1873, June 9, re- signed. The official record of his services as furnished by the Navy Department is as follows: Third Assistant Engineer (Mid- shipman), U. S. Navy, June 23, 1863; Second Assistant Engineer (Master), July 25, 1866; resigned and honorably discharged June 9, 1873. During the railroad riots of 1877 Mr. Schober was a private in the "Grand Army Battalion," Twenty-first Regiment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, Colonel Robert L. Orr commanding, recruited to suppress rioting, but was never called into service. He was secretary of the board of Mercantile Appraisers, Philadelphia, 1891-92. From 1892 to 1895 he was chief clerk in the office of the Auditor-General of Pennsylvania, during the occupancy of that office by General David McM. Gregg, and since then was engaged in the occupation of mechanical engineer and contractor. He compiled and edited at con- siderable labor and expense valuable genealogies of the Mott, Moore, Schober, Foering, Dallam and Wayne families, having contributed very materially to the Moore genealogy recently published. He was enrolled a life member of this society on March 8, 1898, and in
68
addition thereto was a member of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- vania, Pennsylvania German Society, Post No. 2, Grand Army of the Republic, Connecticut Naval Veterans' Association, and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Commandery of the State of Pennsyl- vania. He was specially interested in the latter organization, to which he was elected on November 6, 1878, Class 1, Insignia 1853. He was a member of the Council of the Commandery May 2, i888-'9o; its treas- urer May 7, i890-'99, and May 2, i900-'o2, and again at the time of his death. He was Senior Vice-Commander May 2, 1899- '00. Mr. Scho- ber, after his retirement from the navy, lived a quiet life in Philadel- phia. He was unmarried, and gave much time to books, having ac- cumulated an invaluable library relating to the United States Navy. He also was diligent in historical and genealogical researches. Until the death of his stepmother, with whom he and his unmarried stepbrothers and stepsisters made their home, he resided at 478 North Fifth Street, Philadelphia, which had been occupied by his parents and grandparents for a period of sixty-five years, after which the remnant of his family residing in Philadelphia removed to 1724 Monument Avenue, which was his home at the time of his death. Mr. Schober was a man of much culture and refinement, possessing a most genial character which made him popular with his friends and endeared him to his relatives. The funeral services were held under the auspices of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and took place at the P. E. Church of the Nativity, Eleventh and Mt. Vernon Streets.
WILLIAM FISHER LEWIS died in New York City on March 1, 1908, aged 59 years. He was the son of the late George T. Lewis, a well- known wealthy Philadelphia manufacturer, and the family has been prominently known in social circles in that city for many years. Mr. Lewis was born and educated in Philadelphia (where he resided at the time of his death). During the Civil War he was enrolled in the Union service, first as private in Company A, First Regiment, Penn- sylvania Reserve Brigade, and later in the Thirty-second Regiment, Penns}rlvania Volunteer Militia. Whilst he was at one time connected with the firm of John T. Lewis & Company, he lived most of his time retired. He was a member of a number of clubs, among these the Philadelphia and the Rabbit Clubs, the Society of Colonial Wars, the State in Schuylkill and the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry (City Troop).
EDWARD HENRY CHASE died at his home in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on March 9, 1908, aged 73 years. He was born in Haverhill, Essex County, Mass., February 28, 1835. His father was Samuel Chase, a native of Hampstead, New Hampshire. His grandfather, Benjamin Chase, a native of Newbury, Mass., was a musician in the Revolu- tionary War. The pioneer ancestor was Aquila Chase, who emigrated
69
from Cornwall, England, in 1640, and settled in Newbury, in 1646. Mr. Chase was educated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., gradu- ating in 1855. After graduating he taught one year in the Aurora Academy, now West College, at Aurora, N. Y. The following year he removed to Pennsylvania and entered the law office of Hon. Edmund L. Dana, and was admitted to practice January 4, 1859. He was a member of the Wyoming Light Dragoons, and when the Civil War broke out he left for the seat of war with his company, April 18, 1861. They were organized April 22 as Company E, Eighth Regiment, Penn- sylvania Volunteers, and were enrolled for three months, and Mr. Chase was appointed colonel's clerk. On June 19 he was captured at Falling Waters, on the Potomac River, while on a reconnoitre in sight of the camp, and taken to Richmond. When he arrived there he was the eleventh prisoner taken since the war commenced. He was on parole at Richmond for two weeks, and amused himself by at- tending the constitutional convention, then in session, and arranging personally with President Davis for an exchange for Judge Merryman, of Maryland. The Battle of Bull Run having been fought in the meantime, he lost his chance for a parole, was taken to Raleigh and Salisbury, N. C, and was finally surrendered without exchange, May 22, 1862, eleven months after his capture. Mr. Chase was* appointed postmaster of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., in 1865, by President Lincoln, but was removed by President Johnson in 1866. He was clerk and attorney for the Borough of Wilkes-Barre for the years 1868, 1869 and 1870. Mr. Chase was active in drafting the charter of the city of Wilkes-Barre, and when it became a city in 1871 he was appointed city attorney and clerk, which he occupied for three years. In 1873 he was appointed United States collector of internal revenue. His district embraced the thirteen counties of northeastern Pennsyl- vania. For a great many years after 1862 he was a member of the Republican State or County Committee. He was also a director and founder of both the Wilkes-Barre City Hospital and Wilkes-Barre Academy, and was also a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, Wilkes-Barre. One of the most effective uses to which his life was devoted was his service in behalf of the former institution. He served as director ever since its establishment thirty years ago, and during this entire time was its secretary, and in the death of Mr. Chase the hospital sustains an inestimable loss. Mr. Chase was a useful and public-spirited citizen, and the city of Wilkes-Barre has sustained a great loss in his death.
JOSEPH GAZZAM DARLINGTON died at his home, Roselyn, near Haverford, Penna., after a long illness, on March 18, 1908. He was born at Pittsburgh, Penna., May 4, 1842, but was brought to Philadel- phia in his infancy. He was the son of Samuel P. Darlington and Caroline W. Darlington, nee Seymour. On his father's side he was
7o
descended from an old English Quaker family, his mother's family being of New England origin. His maternal great-grandfather was Captain Horace Seymour, Second Connecticut Light Dragoons, Con- tinental Army, who served from 1777 to the end of the war. He was an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati, in the State of Connecticut. Mr. Darlington was educated at the Friends High School, Walnut Street, above Sixth Street, Philadelphia, after which he served his apprenticeship with the house of Dale, Ross & Withers, silk importers. During the Civil War he served at various times in the Hamilton Rifle Corps and in the Thirty-second Regiment, Penn- sylvania Volunteer Infantry Militia. At the close of the war he entered the employ of John W. Thomas, merchant, of Philadelphia, and soon afterwards became a partner, and in 1874 became the head of the firm now known as Joseph G. Darlington & Co. Mr. Darling- ton was for many years a prominent member of the Union League Club, of Philadelphia, having been elected president for four con- secutive terms, a most exceptional honor. He occupied this position at the reception given to President McKinley and his entire cabinet, and also to Prince Henry, of Prussia, on his visit to Philadelphia. Among the many financial institutions, societies and clubs of which Mr. Darlington was a member are the following : director Franklin National Bank, American Surety Company of New York, and the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company ; member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, Merchants' Fund, Merchants' Beneficial Society, the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Connecticut, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, St. Nicholas Society of New York, Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, New England Society of Pennsylvania, of which he was president in 1907 ; Art Club, Penn Club, Radnor Hunt Club and a governor of the Merion Cricket Club. The funeral services were held at the Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr, on Saturday, March 21st.
LOUIS YOUNGLOVE SCHERMERHORN, after an illness of about two years, died at his home, 511 Lincoln Drive, Germantown, Pa., April 2, 1908. He was born at Greenwich, N. Y., November 10, 1840, and was the son of Barnet Cornelius Schermerhorn and Catharine Schermerhorn, nee Wiltbeck, and was a lineal descendant of Jacob Jance Schermerhorn, who came from Holland in 1636 and settled in Albany, N. Y. Mr. Schermerhorn was educated at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y., and graduated as a civil engineer from Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., in 1864. He was engaged in railroad survey and construction, i864-'66; engineer, Brooklyn Park, 1866- '69; chief engineer, Riverside Improvement Company, i869-'72; chief engineer, Chicago Great Western Railway, i872-'74; engineer on river and harbor improvements, 1874- '90; president American Dredging Company, 1890 to date of death. It was during his term
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that the latter company removed, under contract with the United States Government, Smith and Windmill Islands and a large portion of Petty Island, in the Delaware River. Mr. Schermerhorn was a member of the United States engineer commission for improvement of Wilmington Harbor, Delaware, 1891 ; a member of engineer com- mission for protection of Williamsport, Pa., against floods, 1895; a member of commission for survey of canal route between Philadelphia and New York, 1894 ; president of the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia, 1898; a director of the Philadelphia Board of Trade and director of the Philadelphia Maritime Exchange. He was also a member of the Holland Society of New York.
Respectfully submitted,
[Signed] Charles Henry Jones,
Chairman Board of Managers.
[Signed] Ethan Allen Weaver,
Secretary. [SEAI,]
On motion of Mr. William Darlington Evans, the report was approved, ordered to be printed in the annual proceedings and filed with the records of the Society.
The Treasurer was then called upon and read his report and that of the auditors, whereupon, on motion of Mr. Abel Eukens Stout, the report was accepted and ordered to be printed in the annual proceedings. The report is as follows :
72
Chari.es Henry Jones, Treasurer, in account with Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution. April 3, 1907, to April 3, 1908.
Dr.
|
General Fund |
Perma- nent Fund |
Wayne Monument Fund |
|
|
1007 April 3d, To balance on hand |
$414.31 2906.00 23.00 472.80 31.75 |
$1822.34 100.00 100.00 280.00 |
$734.69 |
|
1907 " receipts for the year : to Annual dues |
|||
|
1908 Washington Birthday reception. Sale of Life of Wayne |
10.00 |
||
|
Interest on investments " " deposits |
230.00 27.14 |
||
|
Endowed memberships |
|||
|
Life " Initiation fees |
|||
|
Subscription to Wayne monu- ment Transferred from Permanent Fund Totals |
686.17 |
11.08 |
|
|
$4534.03 |
$2302.34 |
$1012.91 |
Cr.
1907 By disbursements for the year. . to Expenses of Treasurer
1908 " Secretary
" Annual Meeting...
Supper for members who at- tended Annual Meeting, April 3, 1907
Expenses of Board of Managers.
Evacuation Day services
Church service
Washington Birthday reception. .
Monuments and memorials
Library
Storage of records
Stationery and printing
Postage
Publication of Annual Proceed-
ings
Post-office box rent
Records
General Society tax for 1907 and
for 1908
Correspondence
Miscellaneous expenses
Carried forward
$249.50
300.00
90.62
156 00 158.34 314.78 309.89 467.75 361.50 79 49 47.00 242.87 122.52
607.73 16.00 47.90
593.25 23.87 98.92
$4287.93
73 Cr.
|
General Fund |
Perma- nent Fund |
Wayne Monument Fund |
|
|
Brought forward Historical Society (for use of re- ception and annual meeting) . General Society announcement. . Standing Committee Dedication of Phoenixville mon- |
$4287.93 100.00 72.74 4.75 68.61 |
$ 686.17 1616.17 |
|
|
Transf erred to General Fund... Balance on hand Totals |
$1012.91 |
||
|
$4534.03 $2302.34 |
$1012.91 |
STATEMENT 0E ASSETS.
|
Cash on deposit in |
|||
|
Phila. Trust and Safe Deposit Co. |
$1616.17 |
||
|
$513 07 |
|||
|
Philadelphia Saving Fund |
499.84 |
||
|
Mortgage, Darby, Pa., interest, 5 |
|||
|
per cent |
2650.00 |
||
|
Mortgage, N. W. cor. Wyoming, |
|||
|
Kensington Aves. and Oxford |
|||
|
St., Phila., interest, 4l/2 per |
|||
|
cent |
1500.00 2500.00 |
||
|
Mortgage, do. interest, 4^2 per cent. |
|||
|
Mortgage, 1210 S. Paxon St |
1600.00 |
||
|
Mortgage, 1212 S. Paxon St |
1600.00 |
||
|
Electric & Peoples' Passenger |
|||
|
Railway Co.'s 4 per cent bonds. . |
4500.00 |
||
|
Philadelphia City, sT/2 per cent. .. . |
5000.00 |
||
|
<< « cc (< a |
2000.00 |
||
|
a a a a a |
2000.00 |
||
|
$16466.17 |
$9512.91 |
[Signed] ChareEs Henry Jones, Treasurer.
We, the undersigned committee, duly appointed to audit the accounts of Charles Henry Jones, Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution, do hereby certify that we have examined the said account for the year beginning April 3, 1907, and ending April 3, 1908, have compared the vouchers and examined the assets, and find the same to be correct, as above set forth in all particulars.
[ Signed]
[Signed]
April
Edward S. Sayres,
Geo. Cuthbert Gillespie,
1, 1908.
Committee on Audit.
74
There being no other "Reports of Officers and Committees," and no "Unfinished Business," "New Business" was called, where- upon the following communications were read :
First : From the New York State Society of Sons of the Revolution, extending an invitation to the members of this Society to use the special dining room for members on the fourth floor of "Fraunces' Tavern" (Broad and Pearl Streets, New York City) upon presentation of their card of membership.
Second : From the Public Ledger, Philadelphia, soliciting contributions to the fund for a statue in bronze of General George Washington, to replace the marble statue recently removed from in front of Independence Hall.
On motion of Mr. Weaver, Secretary, it was ordered that full reference to the contents of these communications be made in the minutes for the information of the members.
There being no additional "New Business" the next order of Business, "Election of Officers — an appointment by the President of a judge and two tellers to count the votes and declare the result," was called, whereupon the Chairman appointed Mr. Adam Arbuckle Stull judge, and Mr. David Milne and Mr. Joseph Alli- son Steinmetz tellers. Mr. S. Davis Page, representing the Nomi- nating Committee, consisting of Mr. Page, Chairman, Mr. Henry Heston Belknap and Captain Frank Earle Schermerhorn, pre- sented its report by placing in nomination the following for officers, managers, delegates and alternate delegates to the Gen- eral Society, for the ensuing year.
President, Richard McCall Cadwalader.
Vice-Presidents, The Hon. Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, LL.D. Major-General John Rutter Brooke, U. S. A. The Hon. James Addams Beaver, LL.D. William Maclay Hall, Jr. The Reverend Rogers Israel. D.D.
Secretary, Ethan Allen Weaver
75
Treasurer, Chari.es Henry Jones.
Registrar, John Woolf Jordan, LL.D.
Historian, Colonel J. Granville Leach.
Chaplain, The Rev. George Woolsey Hodge.
Managers, The Hon. John Bayard McPherson, LL.D. The Rev. Horace Edwin Hayden. Thomas Hewson Bradford, M.D. Francis von Albade CabeEn. The Hon. Norris Stanley Barratt. The Hon. William Potter. Richard DeCharms Barclay. Stanley Griswold Flagg, Jr. Edward Stalker Sayres.
Delegates, Charles Henry Jones. Richard McCall Cadwalader. John Woolf Jordan, LL.D. Colonel J. Granville Leach. Curwen Stoddart.
Major-General John Rutter Brooke, U. S. A. Joseph Allison Stein metz. David Milne.
Colonel Charles Heath Heyl, U. S. A. The Hon. Henry Martyn Hoyt. The Hon. William Potter. S. Pemberton Hutchinson. William Darlington Evans. The Rev. Nathaniel Seymour Thomas.
Alternates, Captain William Baird, U. S. A. Richard Lewis Ashhurst. Captain Frank Ross McCoy, U. S. A. Robert Packer Brodhead. Arthur Hale.
76
Luther Reily Keeker.
John Kay Clement.
John William Lodge, M.D.
Charles Rhoads Roberts.
William De Witt Kennedy.
Captain Ben Holliday Dorcy, U. S. A.
George Hollenback Butler.
Joseph Leidy, Jr., M.D.
John Edgar Burnett Buckenham.
There being- no other nominations, on motion of Daniel Wunderlich Nead, M.D., the Secretary was instructed to cast one ballot, representing the vote of the Society for the nominations presented by the committee, which motion having been unani- mously carried, the Secretary deposited the ballot and the Assist- ant Secretary of the meeting announced the result thereof, where- upon the Chairman announced the election of officers, managers, delegates and alternate delegates proposed by the Committee on Nominations in their report.
The next order of business, "Reading of the Rough Minutes of the Meeting," was, on motion, dispensed with.
A motion was made and duly seconded, and placed before the Society by the Secretary, Mr. Weaver, and unanimously agreed to, conveying to Mr. Russell Duane the thanks of the Society for the able and impartial manner in which he has presided at this meeting.
On motion of Mr. Richard DeCharms Barclay, the meeting adjourned.
Russell Duane, Chairman of Meeting. Richard McCall Cadwalader,
President. Ethan Allen Weaver,
Secretary.
John Edgar Burnett Buckenham,
Assistant Secretary of Meeting.
of
^n. S>zmmtl iUJjttak?r Jktuujparkrr, IB, {fl)j?nixtitti*, $a., g>rptrothrr 21, IBU7
MARKER
AT THE FOUNTAIN INN TAVERN.
PHOENIXVILLE, PA.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS
OF
Hon. Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker, LL.D.
Delivered at Phoenixville, Pa., September 21, 1907
At the Dedication of the Monument to designate the "High-water
Mark" of the British invasion of the Northern Colonies
in the Revolutionary War.
Ladies and Gentlemen :
We meet here to-day upon the outer edge of the classic region of America. On the battlefield of Gettysburg the Government of the United States has erected an elaborately inscribed memorial to mark the farthest northward surge of the waves of rebellion. In like manner the borough of Phoenixville has here set up this stone of native granite from the shores of the French Creek to designate the westernmost inland point reached by the main army of British invaders during the Revolutionary War, in the times that tried men's souls. Philadelphia was then the metropolis and capital city of the country, the center of its literature, science and cultivation, as well as of its trade and wealth. In that city had met the preliminary Congress of 1774, and there, in the most memorable of American buildings, the state house of the Province, the Continental Congress had in 1776 issued the fateful Declaration of Independence, and in 1777 were holding their daily sessions. The purpose of the campaign of 1777, with its many battles and its long and rapid marches, was upon the part of Howe to capture, and upon the part of Washington to protect, the city of Philadelphia. Both of the contestants were of the opinion that the outcome of this campaign would in all prob- ability determine the result of the war. On the one side it was believed, and on the other it was feared, that the fall of Phila- delphia would lead to a cessation of hostilities and the restoration of British control over the colonies. Howe took his army by sea to the Chesapeake Bay, and on the 25th of August landed
8o
at the head of the Elk River. On the 5th of September Washing- ton, then at Wilmington, said to his soldiers:
"Should they push their designs against Philadelphia on this route, their all is at stake. They will put the contest on the event of a single battle. If they are overthrown they are utterly undone. The war is at an end. Now, then, is the time for our utmost endeavors. One bold stroke will free the land from rapine, devastations and burnings and female innocence from brutal lust and violence."
On the nth the two armies met at Chadd's Ford on the Brandywine Creek, and the Americans were defeated. Howe reported to his superiors at home : "The enemy's army escaped a total overthrow that must have been the consequence of an hour's more daylight;" and Washington, having retreated across the river to Germantown, on the 13th consoled his soldiers as best he could by saying:
"The General has the pleasure to inform the troops that notwithstanding we gave the enemy the ground, the purchase has been at (the cost of) much blood, this being by far the greatest loss they ever met with since the commencement of the war."
The armies encountered each other again on the 16th, near the Warren Tavern, and a decisive engagement was anticipated, but a heavy rainstorm wet the ammunition and separated the combatants. Twenty-one Americans were killed, forty-three were taken prisoners, and many were wounded. It was the opinion of the Baron De Kalb that since the British were separated and the Americans united, Washington on this occasion lost a great opportunity.
Into the battle, Isaac Anderson, a young Lieutenant then seventeen years of age, and afterward a member of Congress, whose name heads the list of those who voted in favor of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, fed a company of men from this neighborhood. They lay in the Warren Tavern through the night of the 15th, and in the morning were stationed on the left of the army, on the South Valley Hill. It now became the object of Washington to prevent Howe from crossing the river, and that same night he withdrew the army to the Yellow Springs. At this place he issued an order that the loads were to be drawn
8i
from the guns, "but if they cannot be drawn, they are to remain loaded, for not one gun is to be fired in order to clean it. The General desires the officers to pay the most particular attention to these orders. Not only their own safety, but the salvation of the country may depend thereon." From there he marched to Parker's Ford, on the Schuylkill, where in the earlier day Edward Parker had established a landing for the iron from Coventry and Warwick, to be carried in boats down to Philadelphia. Sheeder, in his MS. history of Vincent, upon the authority of Judge John Ralston, who acted as guide, says that Washington came from the Yellow Springs to the General Pike, a few hundred yards above where we now are, and thence turned northward on Nutt's road. If this statement be correct, it establishes the interesting fact that both armies were at this place within three days of each other. The meeting between Washington and Ralston is very graphically depicted in the quaint and uncouth language of Sheeder, who says:
"Now I shall proceed to make some remarks of which i never seen any mention of on record which is concerning g. Washington and John Ralston Esq. deceased. Of the later the writer was for 25 years an near neighbor of intimate entercorse. He a many times related to me when the conversation on the Revolutionary (war) was the subject, that when g. Washington was about leving the Springs he made inquiries of how and who he could get with sufficient trust to guide him to Reading. Captain John Ralston was recommended to him to be such a one. He the General wrote a few lines, sent one of his officers to induce Captain John Ralston to appear before him. The captain was for making some excuses but the request was so pressing that he must go with the bearer. * * * His good conscience cheered him as he had done no wrong to his country and had acted the part of a good patriot and with this animation got to his usual vivacity, and when arrived at the general's quarters he was intro- duced to g. Washington by saying 'here is Captain John Ralston.' The general at this time was siting at the Table writing but immediately got on his feet and walking back and forwards in his room making inquiries how far he lived from the Springs, and how far his father lived from there, and how thev all where, and
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where he had been born, and the captain had answered all of these questions, the next was 'are you acquainted with the roads in these parts?' When the general put this last question he made a halt before the captain where he had been requested to take a seat and staring the captain in the face. Then the captain use to say that then his heart beat faster than at any time before, looking at this monstrous big man. The captain replied 'yea.' Then he was asked if he knew such and such a road that the general made mention. The captain said 'no' he knew of none by that name. Like lightning he clapt his hand in his pocket, drew out a book with the maps in (In all this the captain knew nothing of the general's design. Here whenever the captain related this circumstance he made the same motion as the general did when he clapt his hand to his pocket) and looking for the road he entented to know of the captain and then said 'the Ridge road leading by Brumbach's church.' The captain answered 'yes' he was well acquainted with (it). Then said the general by laying his hand on the captain's shoulder 'You must be my pilot to Reading' and not till then the captain's heart ceased beating and the general ordered him to be ready at such an hour tomorrow and appear at his room. The captain done as ordered and the line of march was commenced from the Springs to Kimberton road, then to down Branson's road to where now the General Pike is where this and the Schuylkill road forks to git across French creek bridge as there was no stone bridge known of far and near at them times. Then up the Ridge road."
After again crossing the river to the east bank, Washing- ton marched down and encamped upon both sides of the Per- kiomen at its mouth, watching the different fords below. From the French Creek he sent Wayne with a division of fifteen hun- dred men to the rear of the British to harass them. This plan which separated his army resulted disastrously, since Gen. Grey, with a force double in number, fell upon Wayne on the night of the 20th, at Paoli, and defeated him with serious loss. There- upon Howe turned his back upon Philadelphia and marched northward, having in view, it may be, the stores accumulated at Reading, the more shallow fords further up the river, or more probably only intending a deceptive manoeuvre.
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At 2 P. M. on the 19th, the column of Lord Cornwallis encamped at the Bull Tavern. On the 21st, of which day we are now celebrating the one hundred and thirtieth anniversary, Howe marched up Nutt's road, and the left wing of the army reached the point where this stone is erected. Howe says :
"On the 2 1st the army moved by Valley Forge and encamped upon the banks of the Schuylkill, extending from Fatland Ford to the French Creek."
This general description did not quite hold out at either end. Major John Andre, who later met so sad a fate, kept a journal, and it fortunately happens that he prepared a careful plan of the location of the army along Nutt's road. He says they covered an extent of three miles from Fatland Ford to "some distance beyond Moore Hall."
Howe's headquarters were at the house of William Grimes, on the high ground near the Bull Tavern. The first brigade were upon the east side of the road, about a mile above the Valley Forge. Then came the second brigade on the west side of the road. The fourth brigade were on the high ground on the east side, overlooking the river back of the Bull. The third brigade were on the west side of the road on land of Matthias Pennypacker, still owned by some of his great grandchildren, opposite the present hamlet of the Corner Stores. Gen. Grey, the victor at Paoli the night before, had his quarters at a house at the southwest corner of the White Horse Road and Nutt's Road. The Second Regiment of Light Infantry and the Hessians under General Stern were here.
The Hessian General Knyphausen had his quarters at the house of Frederick Buzzard, on the west side of the road above the Corner Stores. Elizabeth Rossiter, a daughter of Moses Coates, who lived on Main Street west of Nutt's Road, gave, in 1 841, when eighty-five years of age, this description of their approach :
"The first that I saw of the British was the evening after the massacre at Paoli. Four girls of us were out walking in the road opposite to father's close by Polly Buckwalter's lane, when accosted by three men sitting on their horses near by us. They said, 'Girls, you had better go home.' We asked 'Why?'
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'Because the English regulars are coming up the road.' At this moment two more Americans came riding up the road at full speed and announced that the army was just behind. We looked down the road and saw them in great numbers opposite Becky Lynch's. The army encamped the whole way from Valley Forge to Mason's Hill by the tavern."
Andre says that large bodies of the Americans were seen on the opposite shore and that they frequently fired on the sentries. That same night Washington hastened to Potts Grove twelve miles further up the river.
At that time the rules of warfare were more lax than they are at present, and the British occupation resulted in much destruction of property and violence to persons, and it caused the greatest consternation among the inhabitants. The Valley forge and Col. Wm. Dewees' mill at that place were burned, the powder mill on the French Creek near here, where Peter Dehaven was making powder for the Continental army, was destroyed, and at Matthias Pennypacker's mill on the Pickering, after all the grain and flour had been taken, the soldiers broke up the machinery and cut the bolting cloths into pieces. Upon all sides it was a scene of plunder. Patrick Anderson at that time had a company in the Continental army and his family abandoned their home and fled for safety, with a team of oxen, horses and provisions to a lonely place in the woods along Stony Run. In their absence the British destroyed the furniture and carried away property valued at £303 3s. 6d., including 11 cows, 7 other cattle, 40 sheep, 10 swine, 19 geese, 6 turkeys and 96 chickens.
The family of Edward Lane lived in a Conestoga wagon in the woods near Diamond Rock for several days. The beds in the house were ripped open and everything about was destroyed. A daughter of Moses Coates related in 1841 :
"No sooner were they encamped than they began to plunder the surrounding country. They came in great numbers to my father's, carrying away potatoes, fowls, hay and everything they could make use of. A flock of geese in the yard was taken from the door. A Hessian taking one by the neck and holding it up before us said, 'Dis bees good for de Hessian mans,' when Elizabeth told him she hoped he would choke on the bones.''
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William Fussell then lived here in a house later converted into the Fountain Inn. It was thoroughly ransacked. His wife thinking to save some bed curtains wrapped them about her person and covered them with her dress, but some Hessian women, of keen vision, without any ceremony, threw her down on the floor and unwound the coils.
The house of Benjamin Boyer had been stripped of every- thing of value. Some of the family then carried the hives of bees inside, and putting them in the room in the west end of the first floor covered them with a sheet. An intruder appeared, and demanding to know what was there concealed, was informed they were bees. Not to be deceived by what seemed to be so plain a subterfuge, he jerked off the sheet and was severely stung by the already disturbed and enraged insects. This story was told of no less important a person than Lord Cornwallis.
Joseph Starr, accused of being a spy, was placed in confine- ment and very much abused, but was soon afterward released.
Most of the young women secreted themselves and kept out of the way, but the three sisters of a farmer living within half a mile of this point, whose name I forbear to give, were dragged to the camp and outrageously maltreated.
A son of Moses Coates, then a mere youth, owned a horse which was stolen from the pasture field by some of the British. The young man went to headquarters, and upon asking to see the general in command, was met with derisive smiles. He however insisted and was finally ushered into the presence of Howe. There he was questioned and told that he could have his horse if he would cross the Schuylkill and report the location and condition of the American army. The proposition was enforced by an offer of six guineas in addition. He indignantly declined the suggestion, and after it had been found that he could not be prevailed upon to serve their purposes, he was given permission to search for his horse and take it away. That this family were held in high favor by the American officers appears from a letter to Col. Thomas Bradford dated Moore Hall, May 19th, 1778, and published in the Lee papers, which says:
"Col. Biddle mentions to me Mr. Moses Coates about a mile from hence just back of his quarters, where there is a good house
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and agreeable family with every convenient accommodation and will probably suit you both at least equally well with your present situation."
At this time there was living in a cave in the hill just below the Pennsylvania railroad station in the present village of Mont Clare a man named Patrick Gordon, who had been a tenant under the Penns since 1761, and the ford across the Schuylkill, where is now the bridge at the terminus of Bridge Street, became known as Gordon's Ford. As such it is famous in the history of the Revolution, since here for the first time the British were able to cross the river. Col. John Montresor, Howe's Chief of Engineers, writes in his journal on the 226. :
"At 5 this morning the Hessian Grenadiers passed the Schuylkill at Gordon's Ford under fire of their artillery and small arms and returned back being intended as a feint."
He further tells us on the 21st "A bridge was ordered to be made across the Schuylkill at this place (Moore Hall) where the river is 120 yards and got in great forwardness intending to deceive the enemy."
Andre says on the 22d :
"In the evening the Guards passed the river at Fatland Ford and the Hessian Chasseurs and some grenadiers passed at some distance above Moore Hall. Some light dragoons crossed at dusk at Long Ford. The guns of the Hessians and those of the third brigade fired a few shots across the river opposite their encampment to deceive the enemy with respect to the ford at which it was intended the army should pass."
The firing of cannon therefore extended from here to the Corner Stores and the balls were shot over what is now South Phcenixville. The Long Ford at which the light dragoons crossed is where the White Horse Road passing through the Corner Stores reaches the river.
Howe in his report says :
"On the 22d the grenadiers and light infantry of the guards crossed over in the afternoon at Fatland Ford to take post, and the Chasseurs crossing soon after at Gordon's Ford opposite to the left of the line took post there also. The army was put in motion at midnight, the vanguard being led by Lord Cornwallis,
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and the whole crossed the river at Fatland Ford without oppo- sition."
It is plain from the stories of the treatment of Starr and Coates and from other traditions that the British were eager to find local guides who were familiar with the country and fords, and that they had difficulty in securing them. In the early morning Cornwallis and his staff came riding across the fields toward Gordon's Ford, and at the residence of Thomas Robinson they called the old man and told him they wanted him to point out the location of the ford. He declined, but when they threatened compulsion he put on his broad brimmed hat and went along determined to be of as little use as possible. They were on horseback, he was on foot and he was soon lagging far in the rear, with slow gait and tardy steps. When Cornwallis reached the crest of the hill near the Starr farm house he turned to ask some questions and found that his guide was almost out of sight. An aide hurried him up to the general, who threatened and swore furiously. Just then, however, the balls from across the river began to whistle about them, distracting the attention of Corn- wallis, and Robinson, taking advantage of the opportunity, briskly disappeared. The wing of the army which crossed at Fatland Ford took with them a son of Edward Lane as guide. To all questions put to him he answered in a silly way, "I don't know," and they dismissed him as either stupid or obstinate. Then they compelled Jacob Richardson to conduct them across the river and he went with them to Philadelphia, and he there remained, afraid to return. During the following winter he one day saw an American officer of some prominence disguised as a Quaker farmer selling provisions in the market. He told the officer he was known and in danger and he aided him to escape. On arriving at Valley Forge, the officer detailed the circumstances and made a certificate of the attachment to the American cause of Richardson, who then came back to his home. It appears of record officially that he was proclaimed as a Tory and afterward discharged.
To protect the crossing at Gordon's Ford the British planted a battery on the high ground on the Starr farm and from it they fired at least three shots, one of which struck the corner of
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the farm house in Mont Clare removed by Joseph Whitaker about forty years ago. The crossing was not accomplished without some sacrifice. A Briton and his horse were shot and killed under the buttonwood trees still standing where the roads to Norris- town and Port Providence intersect in Mont Clare. The man was carried away, but the horse lay there for several days after- ward. A rifleman concealed on the island shot a British officer just as he was about to enter the water at the ford. He fell and was taken back to the house of John Allen on the south side of Bridge Street, where in a short time he died. He was buried in the Starr burying ground directly in the angle at the northeast corner of Main and Church Streets.
John Keiter, born at Skippack, then lived at the Rhoades farm house on the north bank of the French Creek, and he went over the hill toward the mouth of the creek to watch the army. A Hessian raising his piece fired at him and the ball struck a tree near the river. The tree with its bullet hole stood until within a comparatively recent period.
A squad of the British stopped at Gordon's cave, and there found a goose roasting on the fire. While they were busy having a rich feast, they were abandoned by their comrades and were captured by a body of American militia who had come down from the hills to follow in the rear of the enemy.
While there is some difference in the contemporary state- ments as to the exact time when the main army crossed the river, Howe and Montresor agree that it began after midnight on the morning of the 23d, and according to Howe it ended at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when Major General Grant with the rear guard and the baggage reached the further shore. Sergeant Thomas Sullivan, of the 49th regiment of foot, in his journal makes the same statement. The country they had left was a scene of desolation. The fences had been torn down and burned, the corn in the fields had been beaten to the ground by the feet of horses and men, and what was left of the hay and straw from the barns lay in the mud of the deserted encampments. The two wings of the army came together at Bean's tavern, on the Manatawny Road, and after stopping "to dry themselves and rest" they went on their way.
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And what in the meantime was Washington doing, and what did he think of these occurrences? This is what he wrote from Pott's Grove to the President of Congress on the 23d :
"The enemy, by a variety of perplexing manoeuvers through a country from which I could not derive the least intelligence, being to a man disaffected, contrived to pass the Schuylkill last night at the Fatland half a mile below Valley Forge and other fords in the neighborhood."
It is rather remarkable that the day before Montresor, the British engineer, had written exactly the opposite statement of fact and used the same word, saying :
"Inhabitants many about Moore Hall fled, being disaffected."
Gen. John Armstrong wrote to President Wharton from the Trappe a day or two later :
"A feint of the enemy in rapidly moving a part of their body up the Schuylkill by French Creek led the General to appre- hend they designed to cross above us and turn our right wing. To prevent this he marched high on this side of the Swamp Road, when the same night or next morning they crossed at Fatland Ford. * * * So that before full intelligence of their crossing came to headquarters, or rather before it gained credit, they were thought in council to be at too great a distance to be harassed in the rear by fatigued troops."
Upon Friday, the 26th of September, a cold, rough, windy day, about ten o'clock in the morning, fifteen hundred of the British and Hessian grenadiers, under the command of Lord Corn- wallis, Sir William Erskine and Commissary General Wier, led by Col. Harcourt and his light dragoons, with a band of music playing "God Save the King," marched in triumph into Philadelphia. On the same day, almost at the same instant of time, Washington and the Continental army went into camp at Pennypacker's Mills. The campaign which had been believed to be fraught with conse- quences so momentous had ended with Howe in possession of the city and Washington out upon the hills of the Perkiomen.
The Revolutionary War was brought to a successful con- clusion not by the display of exceptional military skill or by brilliant successes upon the fields of battle, but by the firmness and undaunted persistence of Washington, supported by a stead-
go
fast people. Had they been shaken by the clamor which arose against him at the close of the unsuccessful campaign of 1777, culminating in the efforts of Conway in the army, and certain members of the Congress, to remove him from his command, the colonies would probably have remained in the condition of Canada and South Africa.
Every age is confronted with its own dangers, and there is a lesson in the result of the Revolutionary War and in the conduct of our forefathers of that time amid trying difficulties, to which we may well give heed to-day. Mommsen wrote of the Celts that they have been ''Good soldiers but bad citizens," and that they "have shaken all states and have founded none." The cause is to be seen in that weakness of character which led them to strike at every man who rose above the level of the mass, and therefore brought about internal dissension thwarting every important effort. So long as we cherish the virtues which con- duce to self respect, to confidence in and support of those whom we select to administer our affairs, and to faith in our system of government, our institutions are safe, both against assault and disintegration, while the loss of these virtues will be the pre- monitory symptom of the fate that befell Assyria and Rome.
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THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE
PENNSYLVANIA SOCIETY OF SONS OF THE REVOLUTION
Christ Church, Second Street, Philadelphia December 22, 1907
BY THE
Rt. Rev. James Henry Darlington, Ph.D., D.D., LL.D.
BISHOP OF HARRISBURG.
Ezekiel, 21st Chapter, 27th verse: ,"I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it : and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is ; and I will give it him."
This text is, I think, doubly appropriate for our sermon this afternoon. This is the last Sunday in Advent, and the text speaks prophetically of Christ's coming. Overturning is revolution, and God, with threefold repetition (perhaps referring to his tri-per- sonality), affirms that He is the Author of revolution.
This means that revolution, change, overturning, are God's methods of advance. The overthrowal of the past has Divine blessing, and is the appointed way of all growth and progress. ''Christianity," says an old writer, "will keep on turning the world over until it turns it, at last, right side up."
To-day, as I stand in the pulpit of Bishop White, in this historic church of George Washington, Franklin, the Penns, and so many leaders of Colonial and Revolutionary times, I feel grate- ful that after years of membership in your honored Society in New York State, I have, by change of residence and application, become a Son of the Revolution of Pennsylvania, and am privil- eged to address you at this annual gathering.
There are those who fault our meeting together at stated times for mutual fellowship and to recall our forefathers' deeds of valor. The complaint is made that it is unfair to later arrivals in this land, to form societies which they cannot enter. They argue that it is aristocratic, undemocratic and un-American to
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magnify our birthright and boast our pedigree. In the interests of peace, they claim we are wrong in keeping alive the memories of wars long since past, and that our children will be more quarrelsome and less kindly, because of the wrong ideals we are keeping before them.
To all of this, and much more which may be urged, it is enough to. answer that our blessed Lord said, He came, "not to bring peace upon earth, but a sword;" that St. Paul continually speaks of the Christian life as a warfare; that the Church is called an army, and its members "Soldiers of the Cross,"
"Oh! watch and fight and pray,
The battle ne'er give o'er. Renew it boldly every day,
And help divine implore;"
and that in some unexplainable way evil crept into the world, and, so long as it remains, every brave and honest man is bound to combat it and overcome it.
As individuals, we must battle individual sins in our own heart and life. As social beings, we must oppose baseness and unreality in society. As good citizens and descendants of patriots, we must demand civic righteousness in even the smallest details, and watch constantly to see that our Nation never departs from the high ideals of its birth.
We must, however, not forget that looking back historically to the past should only be for the purpose of creating a much greater future. A glance backward is necessary for the angler facing the stream before he swings his rod for casting his line ahead. But, after all, his object is to make a straight cast, in spite of contrary wind, tree branches, or other obstacles far ahead.
Your carefully bred trotting horse may have the finest and longest of pedigrees ; his ancestors may have been the great race track champions of the past ; but, after all, the great test is what speed can he make himself.
The Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War were good beginnings. The first as a symbol, and the sec- ond as a victory, will forever mark a great advance to better things for the whole human race. But do not make the mistake
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of considering either of them final. There will be other foes than Generals Clinton, Howe, Burgoyne and Cornwallis to conquer. There will be other tyrants than King George of Eng- land to drive out.
Evolution is greater than revolution. Revolution was the necessary condition for the beginning and birth of our great Republic. Evolution is the constant law of the Republic's life, which shows it is a growing child and not a still-born corpse. The various wars and struggles since we became a Nation are but the natural growing pains which every healthy normal infant must have. Our fathers did their best, and we are deservedly proud of them, their foresight, honesty and honor. Our lot is much better because of their suffering and bravery.
But, after all, it was "their best," not ours, we celebrate in our Revolutionary Societies. To rest content upon their laurels is to proclaim ourselves mere degenerates. There are sacrifices for freedom and independence to be made to-day. Battles for truth and righteousness must be fought this year, and every year, if the heritage of the past will be preserved.
A Christian woman travelling in Japan some years ago, met a young, scholarly, native nobleman, who was almost converted to Christianity by her zeal and missionary enthusiasm. After hesitating for some weeks about being baptized, he finally said, ''I believe Christianity is true, and yet at the same time I will not embrace it. The reason is this : my father was an eminent prince, living up to the highest principles of bushito, our native knightly code of honor. He was just and never wronged any- one. He despised selfish money making and practised abound- ing charity. My mother went constantly to the temple of our religion to pray for my father and for me. She never did harm to, or spoke ill of any one, and even when suffering severely of fatal illness never complained. They both died, universally respected and loved, and I will follow them in their old-time customs, only hoping I may be worthy of them."
The American lady was touched by this filial devotion, and, knowing not what to answer, referred the case to me. The answer, it seemed to me, was plain. When the Japanese scholar admitted that his mind was convinced of the falsity of his former
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belief in heathenism, and of the truth of Christianity, he made it impossible for himself, as an upright and truthful man, to appear to worship that which he did not worship, or to approve of a system which was based upon falsehood. As a true son of a noble father and mother, he must be as noble as they. He could not stand just where they stood, and remain a heathen, without falling below them. The New Light had not come to Japan in their day. They had lived up to all the light they had. To be their true son in the spirit, he must advance with the times and live up to all the light which he had. He must be a Christian. This argument convinced the Japanese student. He saw that to stand still was really to go backward. He sought baptism and became a follower of Christ.
Can we not also be helped by a similar chain of reasoning? The Tories, who fought for the King against the federated Colonists, were only a hundred years behind the times. A Con- stitutional Monarchy was not so good for human progress and liberty as a Republic. Over-loyalty to the past made them disloyal to the present and future, and history calls them traitors. So, to stand for only what the signers of the Constitution had in mind, and nothing additional, is to declare useless or misleading the experience and suffering of the last hundred years. To say that the deeds or proceedings of the First Con- gress should rule the present, is to be a Tory of to-day, over- devoted to the past and fighting to destroy the new and broader thought.
Liberty, to live at all, must expand and grow. To cut off its branches is to kill it. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are the roots from which are to spring many stalwart shoots, of which to-day we are altogether ignorant. The divinest moment of the world's history is now. More Christianity, more human fellowship, more general education, more unselfish patriotism are in the world than ever before. Modern inventions are helping men the better to know each other and the world we live in. The railroad, the steamboat, the newspaper, books, electric tele- graph and telephone, help to break down national and social
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lines of separation. We have set before us daily the needs and happenings of the whole round earth.
An altruistic spirit is growing, which refuses to permit narrowness and provincialism to be called by the noble name of patriotism. We are beginning to see that not only our own race is to be loved, but that all races are God's children. When we pray "Our Father" in the Lord's Prayer, we, in this enlarged view of things, see clearly that with the common Fatherhood goes the additional truth and fact, that "all men are brothers."
Instead of simply a "United States of America," of which our forefathers dreamed, we, too, have a dream, suggested by the recent meeting of the "Peace Conference" at The Hague, in Holland, of the final ending of war, and the formation of that ultimate federation of governments to be called "The United States of the World/' The great increase of taxes due to raising and sustaining vast navies and armies; the desire of business interests to enter all markets ; the spread of Christianity ; and increased travel and intercourse, will surely move civilized peoples this way. The extermination of plagues and disease, and the policing of the world against anarchists and criminals will also aid.
"Relentless Time, that gives both harsh and kind,
Brave let me be To take thy various gifts with equal mind
And proud humility, But, even by day, while the full sunlight streams,
Give me my dreams !
"Whatever, Time, thou takest from my heart,
What from my life, From what dear things thou may'st make me part, —
Plunge not too deep the knife, As dies the day, and the long twilight gleams,
Spare me my dreams !"
Joseph, son of the Patriarch Jacob, was called a "dreamer of dreams" in derision by his brethren, but later, in Egypt, as prime minister to the greatest ruler of his time, these brethren acknowledged that all had more than come true.
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The world spirit, the " Zeitgeist," as the German scholars call it, will bring the world right in time. There will be no permanent peace until all is settled, and settled right. "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it," says the text.
But while with the great world movement we have little to do, in our own persons and neighborhoods, we have many and pressing duties, as soldiers and "Sons of the Revolution."
First: The body politic must be made pure. A politician must no longer be a man considered lowered by taking public office, but honored by it. He must no longer be a man under suspicion, but a free man, crowned with the laurel wreath of public praise and approval. The primary meetings, where good or bad nominations are made, are our Lexington, Con- cord, Bunker Hill and Princeton. If we are worthy of our Revolutionary sires, we will be present and rout the Hessian mercenaries, who in all our States and cities look upon such meetings, not as patriotic opportunities, but as chances for personal and political graft.
Second : The proper superintendence and direction of immi- gration into this country (amounting to over one million two hundred thousand souls last year), and their education in the principles of Republicanism must have our laborious thought and supervision. The coming of over one million monarchists, knowing nothing of Reformed Christianity or of democratic poli- cies, is an alarming invasion, which would have been viewed with the utmost dread by the members of our Colonial Congress, could they have foreseen it.
Third: The attacks upon our public schools made by these people, as soon as entitled to vote, after five years' residence, and the demand from the same aliens for hundreds of thousands of annual appropriations from the city, and especially the State treasury, which our legislators have granted (in defiance, I am told, of the State Constitution), in ever increasing sums, for sectarian hospitals, orphanages and homes, should be met, and in all proper and legal ways resisted.
Fourth : We cannot have a worthy Republic or State, unless we have moral, right thinking and right acting voters. The fac- tory laws of this State must be radically strengthened, so that
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no little children working in mines or factories lose their educa- tion and health at the same time, by long hours of poorly paid labor.
Fifth : Instead of being one of the most lax, our State must strengthen and more generally enforce its laws for the regulation or extirpation of the liquor traffic. We are behind most other Commonwealths in this matter.
Sixth: Civil Service Reform, the only method for insuring efficient work from our public employees by guaranteeing per- manent positions to faithful men, must be made a real thing, and a rule never to be broken by any political boss or party. The only way to make the whole nation worthy is to make each city and State worthy.
Sons of the Revolution of the State of Pennsylvania, men of my name came here among the earliest of the Society of Friends. Chester County is still filled with their descendants. As one who loves this State and this glorious country, as one who remembers that Pennsylvania took not alone a prominent part in the Revolutionary War, but the most prominent part in that con- flict, let me beg of you that we, working together, and cheered by the remembrance of the great deeds of our noble ancestors, rally, not merely as historians, to recount "the brave days of old," but to swear a new loyalty to their principles, to gain a new courage to face the ignorant horde, who, unless taught, will destroy the freedom they came to seek in this land of opportunity, and to pray that, as we sing in the hymn "America," "Our fathers' God" will be the God of their succeeding race.
Thank God, indeed, for every Patriotic Society which fosters a love of country and brings men of thought together to celebrate the past and take counsel for the future. In the words of our martyred President, Abraham Lincoln, we must see that "Govern- ment of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth."
"Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate !
IOO
We know what Master laid thy keel, What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, What anvils rang, what hammers beat, In what a forge, in what a heat Were shaped the anchors of thy hope ! Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 'Tis of the wave and not the rock; 'Tis but the flapping of the sail, And not a rent made by the gale ! In spite of rock and tempest's roar, In spite of false lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee, — are all with thee."
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