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LIVES
OF TIIK
EMINENT DEAD
AND
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES
OF PROMINENT
LIVING CITIZENS
OF
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA.
BY M. AUGE.
We do nut yivc the ((Itt-AUpi f>iU ilelail^ aud iVvih scriijiiduns c.niditcs.'i, but ruthcr
in nhort SKmmcry : fiivcc vr nrr '>ini r-^)^Wniii hi;.1ny}i\i hiil lirrs. — Pr.t'T.VKCH.
irrS-<-r-, — ,'^— ;">', o
rUBLISHED BY THE AUTIIOK,
NOKKISTOWN, PA.
1879, K>
1 y •^.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1879, by
M. AUGE,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress.
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Preface.
In the preparation of a work of this kind, local in its cluracter,
the reader can hardly conceive the difficulties that Jay across the
author's path. Prejudice, jealousy, parsimony, false pride, modesty,
real and imaginary, met him at every step.
The first question presented to his mind was, Ought the names of
our distinguished dead to lie forever among forgotten things? He
had no trouble in answering this query in the negative. But how
should the rescue of their fame be accomplished? The life of any
one would not payor sell; nor would all Montgomery county's
dead statesmen, if grouped by themselves, defray the expense of
publication, as it is the living rather than the departed that mainly
occupy the people's thoughts. Besides, a book concerning the citi-
zens of a single county, however eminent the subjects might be,
could not expect to command a full sale in distant counties. Hence
the author was driven to the alternative of writing a home book
to sell at the enormous price of six or eight dollars a copy, thus
placing it out of reach of the masses, and virtually preventing its
circulation, or of securing an endowment from the living, who
might thereby assume the character of "patrons" of an enterprise to
honor and do justice to our distinguished dead. The latter plan
was adopted as most feasible. Accordingly, whenever a respectable
citizen was found, willing to contribute ten dollars to the work (the
book included), he was entitled to a sketch of his family and busi-
ness on its pages. But very many of our v/ealthiest people — we
state it with regret — were se^m'in^ly too 'conservative, unpatriotic,
or morbidly modest,' 'Lo'cona'i'bute to the publication fund, though
some have subscribed for the bock.
But the inception and fi'nanti'al takis o*" the scheme were the least
of the difficulties encountefed'. ' "Patron's had to be personally so-
licited, their individual a/od 'family memoranda procured, often after
repeated visits; authorities had to be examined, facts collated, and
numberless letters written. The manner in which the author has
now finished his work is admitted to be a fit subject for criticism.
In further explanation he may be allowed to say, first, that his pro-
mise in the prospectus to avoid comment on the living has been
found in most cases impracticable, and is partially disregarded. A
IV PREFACE.
few eminent citizens, whose public lives are public property, having
failed to respond, either by subscription or memoranda, the writer
has been compelled to use his knowledge of their common fame or
leave them out of the book entirely. It is believed, however, that
in all departures as to comments the author has erred, if at all, in
favor of his subject, and not against him. In nearly every instance,
moreover, sketches of the living have been submitted to their in-
spection either in manuscript or proof before publication. In most
cases also lives of the dead have been submitted to their nearest rela-
tives'-for revision. A few of the lives and sketches have been sup-
plied nearly complete for the book by friends of those sketched.
Some stereotyped objections to a book of this kind will be noted
and answered. "There are a few men's names in the volume who
are neither noted nor eminent, and some eminent Montgomery
county men whose names are not included." Both these state-
ments are true in fact. We could not in honor refuse a place to
those who generously became patrons of a book which could not be
issued without their assistance. Of those who are omitted it is suf-
ficient to say that they were invited, but did not respond; besides,
in a volume of this size, it was impossible t® include everybody.
None of the most eminent class of our public men, however, have
been left out.
Another objection will be, " The author has not given the whole of
what is known of each person mentioned." That is true also. Of
this objection it may be remarked generally that from the life of
Washington down to that of Lincoln only worthy matters are re-
corded for our emulation, the unworthy or trivial being discarded.
We have been writing biography, and not strictly history. If "stat-
ing part of the truth is equivalent to a falsehood," then the objection
lies against all biography, ?iljk(p.; .^ThCcpersons who are sketched, or
others who read the recoid, must not, jmagine that the individual
described is regarded as pel:ft;ctly. free .from weaknesses and errors
because none are mentioned^ •. Nqliod.y,' however, is "puffed," in
the strict sense of the word, ,'.'b,i'<n&tJiiF.g.is set down in our lives and
sketches but what is believed' tb'bfexreii'ibl'e and true.
The first feature of the book that will strike the attention of tiie
casual reader is the space taken with genealogies and family affilia-
tions. It is admitted that to each person totally unacquainted with
the "sketch" and "life" in hand these details arc dry and uninter-
esting, and he can very conveniently pass them by. But he must
not forget that to each and all of the connections of the family de-
PkEt"Acfe. ■ V
scribed, these records are the most precious part of the vohimc. It
may surprise some also to see the wide reach of the enumeration of
collateral branches connected with eminent men. This is justified
by the fact that each person is entitled to a record of his relation-
ship with a noted man. This feeling is natural — it is commenda-
ble. This is emphatically a book of families, intended to be such,
where the curious may examine and speculate at their leisure. It
may be added in this connection also that in social intercourse
much of the conversation, especially with ladies, is devoted to the
status and relationship of living or departed families. Here that
information, in most cases revised by themselves, is given accurately
to the present era.
The next feature that will attract the reader is the mottoes. They
areafincyof the author's. First, to symbolize or illustrate the "life"
or "sketch"; sometimes they are striking and graphic. In the
second place they are often only intended to prominently herald a
choice thought or sentiment and effect its lodgment in the minds
of the young. Their general jjurpose is to relieve a book of dry
facts and details of its sameness and tedium.
The author in sketching the living and dead has not endorsed the
morals, politics or religion of any one. In selecting patrons or sub-
jects other than the most eminent he has been guided by one in-
quiry. Was the person respectable, according to popular estimate?
He has asked no more. The author has sought to avoid becoming
a party to the jealousies and thousand and one disparaging things
that some people say of others. He can be a vehicle of no such
matters.
The chief merit and use of this book will be found in its taking
tradition and turning it into accurate history, which may endure a
thousand years. It will become still more valuable for legal and
social uses with the lapse of time.
We have spent over a year of incessant labor upon it, mainly in
collecting the facts and memoranda. It could have been accom-
plished in two months if the material had been at hand. The nov-
elist constructs a plot, invents his facts, and coins his dialogues
from his own brain; but in biography and history it is not so. In
the latter it is a work of patient labor.
The author can hardly hope that the book is absolutely free from
errors, though he has striven to have it so. He asks the indulgence
of classical readers for any defects of style that may be found on its
pages.
VI PREFACE.
This volume contains sketches and memorials of a hundred and
fifty-three persons, covering from one to thirty-five pages each, which
are nowhere else so fully found in print. This book appeals to local
public spirit. It is about Montgomery county men, written by one
of our own citizens, and printed and bound by Montgomery county
workmen.
The writer was laid under deep obligations to Rev. Dr. Ralston
for encouragement and advice in planning the enterprise in its very
inception. He also acknowledges himself indebted to William J.
Buck, Esq., of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, for valuable in-
formation and several memorials of our early dead, and likewise to
Senator Detwiler for similar favors.
In issuing the book the author records the valuable assistance of
Morgan R. Wills, Esq., as also the interest manifested by him in
the literary and pecuniary success of the enterprise.
To Reuben K. Fullmer, the accurate and judicious compositor, the
author acknowledges himself indebted, and equally to John W.
Thomas, the careful and obliging pressman. M. Auge.
Norristotiin, April loth, 1879.*
This is a transitory world. Some changes in the personnel of our volume
have occurred since these pages were printed, bnt.before the binding and is-
suing of the book. In order to l)e accurate up to the day of publication we
note the following, who are recorded as living:
Mrs. Rev. Thomas Gibbs (page 204) died January 8th, 1879.
Mrs. Benjamin F. Hancock (page 285), mother of the General, died Janu-
ary 25th, 1879.
George Steinmetz (page 464) died March 26th, 1879.
In enumerating the connections of Hon. E. L. Acker, liis sister Elizabeth
was omitted.
In tlie motto prefacing the sketch of Abraham H. Cassel (page 324), the
words "life-long" should have been "live-long."
In the biography of General Brooke, his rank is set down as Lieutenant
Colonel in the regular army. Since printing it General B. has been pro-
moted to the full rank of Colonel.
There arc several papers, some of which are written, entirely crowded out,
together with a four or five-page history of the author's family. If the pres-
ent edition (which is only for sale by the author at No. 16 Main street, Nor-
ristown, and at the office of publication) is rapidly exhausted, he will at-
tempt another volume, uniform with this. There are other eminent living
persons worthy of mention, and a few deceased, whose names could not be
])nt in this puldication without swelling it beyond due proportions.
jewsir Read the preface ])efore ]ienising the book.
PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.
The word " edition " used here is not employed as indicat-
ing a revision or correction of matter in the original work, for
there was little that needed amendment or recall, but it is used
in the sense of new " lives " and " sketches " added to the book
as at first printed and published — there being a number of
copies of first issue in print left over and unbound, to which
this edition is added and all bound together, making now a
large dictionary of county biography.
The original volume of 568 pages, containing 153 "lives"
and "sketches," published 1879, has stood the test of eight
years' public examination and criticism, unimpeached. A
second edition (or addition) also, of over thirty pages, of per-
sons who sought the honor of being added to the book, were
printed in 1882. Readers of the present publication will per-
ceive, that the same manner of presenting lives and memorial
sketches has been observed as at first, with this exception, the
mottos or poetic quotations of the first have been entirely
omitted ; this was at the suggestion of a friend — whether wisely
or not — it is plain that, if it detracts from the literary appear-
ance, it at least makes the contents look more matter-of-fact.
In reference to the imputation sometimes heard from jealous
persons, " that those men or families recorded have themselves
procured admission to its pages," the author affirms on the
contrary that in nearly every instance he solicited the honor
of writing them himself Further, of the matter of these last
lives and sketches, the author wants it clearly understood, that
the material facts upon which the narratives are founded in
every instance have been procured from the subjects, or their
PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.
friends, or added of the author's own knowledge ; but wher-
ever he has added opinion or sentiment concerning a person
described, it is strictly the author's own volunteer tribute to
his or her character of something he regarded as just and true
in every particular. To this there is no exception but in one
or two instances, where sketches were drawn by friends of the
subjects and without revision by the author.
The patrons of the third edition will observe, that the writer
has laid aside his habitual bashfulness, as Franklin once did,
and appended a revised copy of an. auto-biography formerly
intended for this work but issued later in a pamphlet of essays.
As there are several items of needful information concern-
ing sketches of first and second edition, and a few errors in
both, corrected in the " appendix " to the second edition, those
pages are also bound in this third edition ; the reference there-
in, however, to "the sketch of the author," is superfluous, as
that life has been revised and reprinted in this last edition.
M. AUGE."
Philadelphia, March i, iSSy.
"t'Q O re
CONTENTS.
/
PAGE.
Aaron, Rev. Saimicl, A. M 135
Acker, Hon. K. L 5a'>
Adle, Jacob, .Ir 199
Antes, Rev. Henry W
Apple, Jolin ])., Esq 2(V>
Boehni, Rev. Philip 21
Boilean, Hon. N. li 43
Bolton, General AVilliani .1 315
BomberRcr, Itev. J. H. A., 1). D 404
Bosler, Charles 213
Boyd, Hon. James 52'2
Boyer, Hon. Benjamin INInrkley •W5
Brooke, General Jolni R 41H
Brower, Hon. Abraham lOS
Muck, William J 288
Bullock, George 5G0
Burnside, Hon. Tliomns 230
C'a«sel, Abraham H 324
Chain, Benjamin E., Esq 401
Christman, Charles 367
Collins, Rev. Charles, .Fr 563
Conrad, Hon. Frederick 34
Corson, Alan W .303
C^orson, Elias Hicks 245
Corson, Hon. Georjje N 432
Corson, Hiram, M. 1) 3.52
Cowden, Thomas, Si- 165
Craig-, Colonel Thomas 24
Crawford, .John Y 241
Cuthbertson, William P 43S
Pavis, Ca])tain Jesse B.
Derr, Franklin
.I'M)
.20S
Evans, Hon. .Tosiah W 197
Evans, Cadwallailer 400
Fornance, Hon. .T(>sei)h 113
Freedley, Hon. John 204
Frick, Hon, Benjamin 1<.)0
Fronefield, Dr. Charles 207
Fry, Hon. Jacob, Jr .50
Gartley, Snmnel, M. T> 42
Gery, General Jesse H 440
Gibl.s, Rev. Thomas 201
Go\ild, Rev. Samuel M .301
(iross, Hon. Samuel .32
Hamer, .Tames, Pr., M. D 131
Hamill, Robcit 148
Hancock, General AV^ S 269
I larley, Jonas M 3MI
Hiirtranft, Governor .John F 498
Helft'enstein, Samuel B., E.sq 285
Ilicster, Daniel 210
Hitncr, Daniel O .525
Hobart, Hon. Nathaniel P 263
Hobson, Frank M.,E.sq .339
PAGE.
Jlotl'man, Rev. Balthascr 107
Holstein, Major William H 309
Hooven, .lames 478
Hoover, Philip, Esq 51
Houpt, Isaiah B 430
Hnddleson, Isaac, M. D 128
Hunsicker, Rev. Abraham 125
Hunsicker, Rev. Henry A ■\ii'i
Iredell, Robert, Esq.
Ml
•Jamison, Samuel, Sr 4<'>8
Javrett, Samuel F 34'.t
Jenkins, Charles V 5.57
Johnson, Wilmcr II., Esq 4.5H
Jones, Caleb P 191
.Jones, Hon. Owen 250
Kennedy, .John, Esfj 145
Kratz, H. W., Esq 414
Krausc, Hon. David, LL.D 151
Kuj;ler, CharleB, Esq 295
Lecdoni, Dr. .Joseph ItM*
Eoch, John AV., A. JM., Ph. D 38J
JiOller, Colonel Robert 26
Longaker, Daniel 455
Eowe, Prof. T. S. C 5.37
liUkens, Ezra 436
Lukens, Seth 414
Marklev, Abraham 494
Markley, Hon. Philips 248
]McC;redy, Bernard 41
McDermott, William 453
:McKay, John 238
Mctiuaide, JNIajor James G 428
Meeh, Christian 2;W
Molt, Lncretia 3;?5
;MuhlenberKS, The M
Mnlvany, Daniel H., Esq 158
Newport, Davi<l 462
Pawling, Hon. J>ovi 252
Phillips, Rev. Josiah 342
Porter, (iencral Ai\drew 25
Porter, Governor David R 37
I\>tts, Henrv 200
I'otts, Robert T 103
Price, Itcv. Willianj W 220
(Juillman, .lacob F 470
Ralston, Rev. J. O., D. D., LL.D 4is
Rambo, William B I8|
Rapp, . Joseph E 187
Read, Louis W.. M. D 5.51
Kemer, Rev. Jacob K ^lli
VI 11
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Richards, Hon. George 39
Rittenhouse, Christopher „ 376
Rittenhouse, David 9
Roberts, Hon. Jonathan 66
Rogers, George W., Esq 484
Ross, Hon. Henry P., A. B 377
Rothermel, Peter F 426
Rutter, Thomas 299
Schall, Colonel Edwin 182
Schall, General William 471
Scheetz, General Henry 60
Schlater, Casper 29
Schrack, David, M. D 550
Schrack, James W 231
HcuU, Nicholas 23
Shannon, George .5.52
Shaw, Harvey 345
Shrawder, John S., M. D .567
Shunk, Governor Francis R 122
Slemnier, General Adam J 224
Smith, Moore William 12
SoM-er, David. 388
Ptahler, AVilliam 446
Steel, Rev. Robert, D. D 116
Steinraetz, George 464
Stem, Rev. Nathan, D. D 141
Sterigere, Hon. John B 173
Stevens, Henry A., Esq 528
PAGE
' Sunderland, J. Warrenne, LL.D 548
Swayne, General Francis 103
Taylor, AVilliam AV a58
Thomas, Zadok, Esq 5t
Thompson, Hon. John 341
Thomson, Hon. Charles 11
Umstad, Rev. ,Tohn H ]>>
Wnek, Rev. George 170
Weaver, Captain Charles P 166
AVeber, John 370
Weiss, Rev. G. M 10
AVills Family, The 5«
Wilson, Hon. Bird 30
AVinnard, James, Esq 412
AA'ood, James 110
Wood, Hon. .John 320
AA'^nght, Morgan 333
Yeakle, Hon. AVilliam A 346
Yerkes, Harman 63
Yost, Hon. Jacob S 161
Yost, Philip, Esq 104
SECOND AND THIRD EDITIONS.
PAGE
Atkinson, Thomas 658
Author, Sketch of 763
Baker, A. H 756
Beyer, Percival K 586
Brendliuger, Frederick , 700
Bunting, Samuel M 666
Butz, Samuel 703
Corson, Laurence E., Esq 728
Corson, Eohert E 613
Corson, A\'Uliam, M. D 691
Cowden, Jacob M 677
Cowden, John 738
Custer, Jacob D 714
Eastburn, Jesse R 744
Evans, James B., Esq 695
Evans, Owen Brooke 640
Evans, Jesse 660
Eitzwater, Abel 709
Ereedley, Edwn T 671
Gilbert, Frederick 725
Gregg, Mnford H 712
Haws, Captain Frederick 722
Heacock, Josejih 653
Hendricks, Rev. Joseph H 635
Jones, Evan 580
Knox, Hon. Thomas P 591
Kohn, Gabriel 588
PAGE
Kite, Edmund A 698
KopUn, AViUiam H 759
Markley, Hon. Benjamin 595
Martin, Charles AV 742
McCann, John 643
McCarter, Isaac 662
McFarland, George, Esq 583
Moore, Edward B 683
PhUlips, Jonathan C 645
Preston, Mahlon, M. D 675
Quillman, Philip 706
Eennyson, AVilliam 736
Koyer, Hon. Joseph 596
Schall, Col. Edward 680
Shannon, Charles P 569
Shannon, James 668
Sheeleigh, Eev. Matthias, D. D 605
Shoemaker, Isaac L 720
Smith, WiUiam G 611
Snyder, John C, Esq 687
St. Clair, Major General Arthiir 573
Stein, Daniel H 664
Supplee 754
Thomson, Elizabeth 747
AVampole, AVilliam H., Dentist 649
AVeinberger, J. Shelly, A M 719
AVentz, Thomas H 732
AVentz, AVilliam AV 602
AVhiting, Francis, Esq 633
\.
/
DAVID RITTENHOUSE.
Modern philosophy anon,
Will, at the rate she's rushing on.
Yoke lightning to her railroad car ;
And posting like a shooting star
Swift as a solar radiation.
Ride the wide circuit of creation. ^ — Old Sonj.*
This name is a household word in Pennsylvania — a s}-no-
nym for mathematics, mechanics and philosophy. No name
in American annals furnishes a more exemplary instance of
climbing the hill of science almost unaided, and by the mere
force of native genius, industry and perseverance; and there
is no name in history that affords more encouragement to the
young to pry into the arcana of nature in search of her yet
unrevealed truths.
David Rittenhouse, or Rittenhaus, as the name was origi-
nally spelled, was the son of Matthias Rittenhouse, one of the
original settlers (or of the preceding generation) who emigrated
to "ye Germantown," or vicinity, soon after Penn founded
Philadelphia. He was born on the 8th of April, 1732, almost
contemporaneous with Washington. He was the oldest son,
and as such put early to the plow, for help in those days was
the great desideratum, as every useful thing had to be got
from the earth by delving for it. But like Burns^ who about
the same time was weaving poetic measures in the furrow, so
Rittenhouse had his thoughts revolving with cogs, levers and
equations, as he abstractedly strode over the fields, Althour;h
born on the Wissahickon, his father removed with him when
a child to a farm a little northwest of Norristown, where he
showed his mechanical bent so early as his eighth year in
constructing a miniature water-power mill. His father had a
brother Henry, located near him in Worcester township, from
*Th ^ sentiment of this verse was prophetic, for it was written twenty year? before the
invent, on of the telegraph.
\
\
10 DAVID RITTENHOUSE.
whom many of the present family now living in Montgomery
county are descended.
It seems nearly incredible, and yet is authoritatively stated,
that he made a wooden clock, untaught, so early as his eigh-
teenth year, and presently builf a workshop at his father's
place and began the business of a clockmaker soon after. Not
only did he master that art, but soon began to manufacture
planetariums, for one of which, made for Princeton College, he
received three hundred pounds. He had an observatory on
the eminence above Providence Presbyterian Church, a locality
which afforded a sweep of the heavens east and west of near
fifty miles, and north and south half the distance. Here he
and Franklin, who was a frequent visitor, studied astronomy,
electricity and kindred subjects. " So industrious was he that
with the aid of three or four books, before his twenty-fifth
year, he was able to read the Principia of Newton in Latin,
and it is asserted that he discovered the method of fluxions,
usually a'jtributed to Newton or Leibnitz." *
In 1764 his father moved to another farm, giving the home-
stead to David, who, on the 20th of February, 1766, married
Ellanor Coulston, daughter of Bernard Coulston, a farmer of
the neighborhood, of which name there are many respectable
families still residing in our county. He shortly after made
-at this place the celebrated orrery for Princeton College, be-
fore referred to, which was probably the first machine ever
'.constructed in America to illustrate the motions of the orbs
of the solar system. Dr. Gordon, who wrote in 1790, says
■*' there is not the like of it in Europe." I quote again from
Buck: "In 1769 Rittenhouse was named one of the com-
smittee appointed by the American PJlilosophical Society to
observe the transit of Venus over the sun's disk, which hap-
pened June 3d, of that year. His assistants were Rev. Dr.
Wm. Smith, the Provost of the University, John Luken, Sur-
veyor General of Pennsylvania, John Taylor, also a surveyor
and member of the Assembly from Chester county." From
the date just named till the close of the Revolutionary war,
he was frequently employed with others to settle boundary
•'Buck's History of Montgomery County.
CHARLES THOMSON. II
lines between neighboring States, and in 1770 he removed to
Philadelphia. He held the office of Treasurer of the State
from 1777 to 1789; and some dispute or question of liability
between him as an officer of the State and the National gov-
ernment, led to suits being instituted against Elizabeth Ser-
geant and Esther Waters, executors of his estate, by a certain
man named Gideon Omstead. These executors came before
our Legislature several years after, praying for relief, as appears
on the records of the executive department of the State.
Rittenhouse, whose fame had become continental, as also
world-wide, was elected a member of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences, at Boston, in 1782, and of the Royal
Society of London, in 1795. He succeeded Dr. Franklin as
President of the Philosophical Society, and held the office till
his death in 1796. At the founding of the mint, he was ap-
pointed a director, but resigned in 1795 on account of ill health.
His death, which occurred on the 26th of June of that year,
terminated his useful life in his 64th year, and his remains lie
buried in the cemetery of the Pine Street Presbyterian Church,
Philadelphia, and Dr. Benjamin Rush, by order of the Philo-
sophical Society, pronounced an eulogium on his life and
virtues, which has been published among its transactions.
David Rittenhouse's fame abroad is that of a mathematician
and astronomer; but at home he was more known as the
great clockmaker, there being quite a number of his fabrica-
tion still in use in our county.
CHARLES THOMSON.
The above is one of the classic names of American history.
The Secretary of nearly all the sessions of our Revolutionary
Congress is so well known to everybody that it is hardly
needful to \vrite more of him than to state that he was born
in Ireland in 1730, came over in 1741, enjoyed the confidence
of all the " fathers," and lived in Lower Merion, where he died
12 WILLIAM MOORE SMITH.
in 1824, at the age of 96. His remains were first interred at
the Presbyterian grave yard near his residence, but afterwards
removed to Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. His life and
part in the American Revolution is one of the earliest illustra-
tions of the trueness of the Irish heart to the mandates of
liberty as further shown through all our history ; and that he
should have held the one post of difficulty through all our
struggle is the highest eulogy upon his integrity, zeal and
fitness for the post.
WILLIAM MOORE SMITH.
[Contributed by Wm. J. Buck.]
Thou slialt come to thy grave in a fall age, like as a shock of corn eometh iu his
season. — Job v, 26.
The father of the subject of this notice was William Smith,
a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, where he graduated at the
University in 1747, and three years later came to America.
He was considered one of the most accomplished scholars of
Philadelphia, and it was through his exertions that the Uni-
versity there owes its origin, and he was elected its first Provost.
He was early admitted to the ministry of the Episcopal
Church, and of which he was a pastor for many years. He
married Rebecca, daughter of William Moore, of Moore Hall,
in Chester county, who was a descendant of Sir John Moore,
of England. His eldest son, William Moore Smith, was
born in Philadelphia, June 1st, 1759, and completed his
studies at the college over which his father presided with such
credit and usefulness. He studied law, which profession he
followed with honor, profit and success.
It appears he had inherited a taste for letters, for he was
early distinguished for the extent and variety of his acquire-
ments. In 1785 he collected twenty-five of his fugitive pieces
and had them published under the title of " Poems on Several
Occasions, Written in Pennsylvania," which were re-published
the following year in London, by C. Dilly, in an octavo of
106 pages, and in Baltimore in 1804. These poems are not
WILLIAM MOORE SMITH, I 3
without merit and local interest, for in several of them he
mentions the Schuylkill and fixes incidents on its banks.
At the time that Montgomery county was formed from
Philadelphia, the land where is now Norristown chiefly be-
longed to the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, to
whom it had been transferred by the Rev. Dr, Smith, the
Provost. His son, William Moore Smith, however, became
the final owner under certain reservations to that institution,
and has the honor of having first laid it out as the town of
" Norris" into streets and lots. There were in all, in 1785,
sixty-four town lots, bounded on the north by Airy street,
east by Green alley, south by Lafayette street, and west by
Cherry. This may be considered the original size of the
town, which probably then did not contain eight dwellings.
During his residence at Norristown, John Brown, a notorious
offender, was executed for burglary on the 12th of April, 1788,
of which he wrote a full account dated the following 5th of
May, which was published in the Pcnhsylvania Archives.
Near the close of the century he became general agent for
British claims in America, provided for in the sixth article of
Jay's Treaty, and in consequence visited England in 1803 to
close his commission. After his return he retired from his
professional practice to a residence near Philadelphia, where
he died the 12th of March, 1821. His remains were interred
by the side of his father in Laurel Hill Cemetery,
Two sons survived him, William R. and Richard Penn
Smith. The former was born in Montgomery county, August
31st, 1787, and became distinguished. He had accompanied
his father as his private secretary to England, and in 1837
removed to Wisconsin, where the following year he published
a work entitled " Observations on Wisconsin Territory," af-
terwards succeeded by a " History of Wisconsin," in four vol-
umes, octavo. In 1853 he became Attorney General, and was
also for many years President of the State Historical Society
there. He died at Quincy, Illinois, August 29th, 1868,
Richard Penn Smith was a noted literary man about the com-
mencement of the present century, and lived in a fancy man-
sion at Schuylkill Falls.
14 THE MUHLENBERGS.
THE MUHLENBERGS.*
Patriots have toiled in their country's cause —
Bled nobly ; and their deeds, as they deserve,
Receive proud recompense. We give in charge
Their names to the sweet lyre. Th' historic muse.
Proud of the treasure, marches with it down
To latest times.— r/ie Tosfc.
Montgomery county was fortunate in securing early in the
past century the settlement of one of the most eminent Luth-
eran clergymen that ever Germany sent to the United States.
The Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the founder of the
family, was born at Eimbeck, in Hanover, September, 171 1.
Entering the University of Gottingen in 1735, he passed to
the theological school in 1737, and after graduating there went
to the famous University of Halle ; after perfecting himself in
his studies there he was ordained to preach the gospel, and soon
after started for America, where the want of a regularly edu-
cated Lutheran ministry was greatly felt. Accordingly, he set sail
and landed in this country in 1742 ; came to Philadelphia and
found a congregation gathered there, one at Trappe, and an-
other at Swamp or New Hanover. He pushed into the coun-
try, and soon found it necessary to build churches for the small
congregations already gathered. The Swamp people had a
small log house of worship, but the Trappe congregation had
none ; but one was built the next year, 1743, which still stands
a monument of the liberality of that rude age. Here, and at
New Hanover, and Philadelphia, Muhlenberg gathered the
scattered German emigrants, who had begun to throng into
Eastern Pennsylvania about that time, and he broke to them
the bread of life in their mother tongue. Two years after
building the Trappe church he married Anna Maria, daughter
of Col. Conrad Weiser, the celebrated Indian interpreter, tak-
ing up his residence at Trappe. Here there were born to him
the following noted children : Peter, Frederick Augustus and
Henry Ernst, who were all noted clergymen or civilians ; also,
Mary, intermarried with General Francis Swayne. Another
daughter married Rev. John Shulze, and became the mother
*For the material facts of the Muhlenberg family we are indebted to Buck's History-
of Montgomery County, 1859.
THE MUHLENBERGS. I^
of Gov. John Andrew Shulze, of Lebanon, Pa. Rev. Henry
Melchior Muhlenberg had two other daughters whose names
have not reached us. Mr. Muhlenberg continued to live at
Trappe till 1761, when he removed to Philadelphia to give
better attention to his church there ; but fifteen years later, in
1776, returned and resided here till his demise, October 6th,
1787, when he died, aged ^6. His wife, Anna Maria, was born
1727, survived till 1802, August 23d, and died at the age of 75.
Their bodies lie beside each other and beneath a marble slab
in Augustus' Church Cemetery.
General Peter Muhlenberg was born at Trappe, Oct. i,
1746. At the age of sixteen, with his two younger brothers,
he was sent to Halle, Germany, to receive an education.
Being of a bold, resolute turn of mind, and a wild American,
he could not endure the restraints of the school, so he left it
and joined a German regiment as a soldier. From this posi-
tion he was rescued through the influence of an English offi-
cer, with whom he returned to America again. He completed
his studies under his father, and prepared for ordination in the
Swedish Lutheran Church. In order to accomplish this he
went to England in 1772 in company with Bishop White to
receive Episcopal ordination. On his return he took charge
of several churches near Woodstock, Dunmore county, Vir-
ginia, where he remained until the breaking out of the Revo-
lutionary war. Here he was in the hot-bed of Virginia dis-
content during the arbitrary acts of the British government,
and being an ardent Whig was sent by them to the House of
Burgesses, where, of course, he sympathized with the patriot
cause. About the middle of January, 1776, as foreign invad-
incf armies began to land on our shores, he resolved to leave-
the pulpit for the army. He prepared a sermon on " the duties
men owe their country," which he preached, adding at the
conclusion " there is a time for all things — a time to preach
and a time to fight — and now is the time to fight." He at
once descended from the pulpit, took off his gown, which had
covered a Colonel's uniform, and told his people he was ready
to serve his country thenceforth. He read his commission,
ordered drummers to beat for recruits, and within a few days-
1 6 THE MUHLENBERGS.
three hundred men of his own churches had enlisted for the
war. It was not long till he had a full regiment mustered into
service. His first military service was in Georgia and South
Carolina, but he soon joined the army under Washington. In
February, 1777, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier
General, and in that year participated in the battles of Brandy-
wine and Germantown, and at Valley Forge held the advance
of the encampment. He was also engaged in the battle of
Monmouth on the retreat of the British, and was one of the
captors of Stony Point under General Wayne. On the tide of
war rolling South, Gen. Muhlenberg followed, and was at the
taking of Yorktown in 1781. He continued in the army until
it was disbanded, and received the brevet rank of Major Gen-
eral. He is one of the brigade commanders of the Continen-
tal army whose record was tarnished by no defeat, and whose
name is not specially distinguished by any victory. He ap-
pears never to have returned to the pulpit, but sought and
obtained honorable employment in civil life. Such confidence
was reposed in him that he was chosen a member of the Su-
preme Executive Council of the State, and elected its vice-
President in 1787. This body performed the functions of
Governor till 1790, when Mifflin was chosen under the new
State Constitution. As soon as the federal government went
into operation in 1789 he was chosen a member of Congress,
and served from that year to 1795 ; and after an interregnum
of four years, during which he served in the State Assembly
one year, 1797, was elected again in 1799 and served till ses-
sion 1 80 1, during which year, in February, he was chosen to
represent our State in the U. S. Senate. He seems to have
resigned this post soon after, and was succeeded by George
Logan, and on the following June was appointed by President
Jefferson Supervisor of Federal Revenues in Pennsylvania. In
1803 he was appointed Collector of the Port of Philadelphia,
which he held till his death in 1807. ^e died at the age of
62. All these offices he seems to have filled with scrupulous
fidelity ; and in a notice of his death by the Aurora it says :
" In private life just, in domestic life affectionate and sincere
his body lies beside his father's at the Trappe Church."
THE MUHLENBERGS. 17
He not only filled the foregoing numerous public trusts but
was named on the commission to manage the drawing of a
lottery in aid of the fund to build Pcrkiomen bridge on the
Reading and Germantown turnpike at the crossing of that
stream. A friend at Freeland has placed in our hands the
following relic of said lottery. It is without date, but is sup-
posed to belong to the year 1800 or 1801 :
[No.===== ^*
PERKIOMEN BRIDGE LOTTERY.
CLASS THE Fn<ST.
S Ticket entitles the 15earer to fuch prize as may ^
r:\ againft its number, if demanded within twelve g
after the publication of tlie fortunate numbers, "t
THIS Ticket entitles the 15earer to fuch prize as may
jK be draw:
Jf months after the p
[t fubje6l to a deduction of twenty per tent.
it p. Miihlenherg
-J -Zl"l:i> c!!*^^ ^^^^*^ v^»«-/-^,. ^- 7f T|- ^,.(3i' -iff iri)(i 7ff Tri)(igf y»)(igitf'^j;fc^
General Francis Swayne, a brother-in-law, was his executor.
It is proper to add here that G:;neral Peter Muhlenberg has
been selected as one of the two distinguished Pennsylvanians
who are awarded statues in the Federal Capitol.
Hon. P'rederick Augustus Muhlenberg, son of Rev.
Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, was the second son, and not less
brilliant and distinguished than his brother Peter He was
born June 2d, 1750, and remained at the University of Halle,
where his father had placed him with Peter, till he became an
accomplished scholar. After graduating in Germany he re-
turned and took charge of a church in New York, but on the
breaking out of the Revolution left it in consequence of the entry
of the British into that city. The stirring events of the war
seem to have secularized him, as they did his brother Peter, for
we find him elected to the State Assembly in 1779. In 1783
he was chosen one of the Executive Council, and in 1784 was
appointed a Justice of the Peace, and also the same year one
of the first Judges for Montgomery county. Leaving that
.position soon after his selection he accepted that of Register
1 8 THE MUHLENBERGS.
and Recorder for the new county of Montgomery, holding it
from 1784 to 1789. The latter year he was elected a repre-^
sentative to Congress, and had the honor of being the first
Speaker. He continued a representative in Congress four
terms, or till 1797. He had previously been elected by the
State Legislature a member of the Continental Congress in
1779, and served in that capacity two terms. He had also
been a delegate to the State Convention in 1787, called to
ratify the Constitution of the United States, and was its Presi-
dent. In 1793 he was run by the Federal party for Governor of
Pennsylvania against Thomas Mifflin, and again in 1796, but
was beaten the first time by about eight thousand votes. In
1800 he was appointed Receiver-General of the Pennsylvania
Land Office, which he held at his death in 1802. He died at
the age of 52.
Rev. Henry Ernst Muhlenberg, son of Henry Melchior
Muhlenberg, was born at Trappe, Montgomery county, Nov.
i/j 1753- With his two brothers he was sent to the Univer-
sity of Halle at nine years of age, and remaining nine years,
returned in 1770, a young man of 18. In his twentieth year
he was ordained, and acted as assistant pastor of the Lutheran
Church, Philadelphia. He, like his brothers, had to leave his
charge when the British entered that city. Being like his
father, and an ardent patriot, the enemy tried to capture him,
but without success. For a short time after leaving Phila-
delphia he devoted himself to the study of botany, mineralogy
and kindred sciences, till 1780, when he was installed pastor of
a Lutheran church at Lancaster, Pa., with which he remained
thirty-five years, till his death in 18 15, at the age of 62. He
was distinguished for his talents, piety, usefulness and exten-
sive literary and scientific acquirements. His works are Cata-
logus Plantarian, Gramina America Septentrionalis, and Flora
Laiicastricnsis, all in Latin. There have been a number of
distinguished men of the third generation of the Muhlenberg
family, of which Henry A., of Reading, was. Democratic can-
didate for Governor in 1835.
REV. GEORGE MICHAEL WEISS. I9
REV. GEORGE MICHAEL WEISS.
[Contributed by J. D.]
Lord, I have loved the habitation of Tliy house, and the place where Thine honor
dwelleth. — Psalm xxvii, 8.
Rev. George Michael Weiss was a native of the Palatinate
on the Rhine. He came to America in company with about
400 emigrants (as they expressed it), " Natives and late Inhab-
itants of the Palatinate upon the Rhine and Places Adjacent
into this Province of Pensilvania in hopes and expectation of
finding a Retreat and peaceable Settlement therein." His name
with the affix " V. D. M." appears at the head of a list of fifty
heads of families, who, on the 2ist of September, 1727, sub-
scribed the obligations of allegiance to the King of Great
Britain.
Mr. Weiss was sent to this country by the upper consistory
or classis of the Palatinate. He came, as it seems, with a
number of people, migrating thence at that time as their pas-
tor. Four years after Mr. Weiss's arrival, we learn, from a
report made to the Synod of Holland, that there were about
15,000 Reformed members holding to the old Reformed Con-
fession in America.
When Mr. Weiss arrived in this country he settled in
Schippach, (Skippack), then in Philadelphia, now Mont-
gomery county, about twenty-four miles from Philadelphia.
Here they built a wooden church, and Dominie Weiss was
chosen their minister. This was among the first regular or-
ganized German congregations in Pennsylvania. There were
some congregations formed in the Province, but none previous
with a regularly ordained preacher of that denomination. The
old church stood until about the year 1760, when it was torn
down and never rebuilt, the congregation having removed
their place of worship to what is now called Wentz's, Worces-
ter township. The church officers at the old wooden church
were Jacob Deimer, Michael Hillegas, Peter Hillegas, Joost
Schmidt, Heinrich Weller, Jacob Siegel and William Rohrich.
In this neighborhood the German Palatinates are more thickly
settled than in other parts.
In the year 1729, in company with an elder, he went to
20 REV. GEORGE MICHAEL WEISS.
Holland to collect money, Bibles and other good books for the
destitute families and consfreg-ations in America. The amount
of cash collected, after deducting some expenses, was about
In 1732 Mr. Weiss became pastor of a church in Rheinbeck,
Dutchess county, near Albany, New York. He was com-
pelled to flee from that field of labor on account of the war
with the Indians, by which not only individuals but also fam-
ilies and settlements were in danger of being massacred.
He now returned to old Goshenhoppen, a place where he
had often ministered, and from 1746 until the time of his death
preached for that congregation.
Mr. Weiss, so soon as Schlatter arrived, fell in with his mis-
sion and helped him to gather together the scattered members
of the Reformed churches in the Province. For this purpose
he accompanied the latter to Oley, Lancaster, then across the
Blue Mountain to Tolpehocken, and back to Lancaster the
second time.
Mr. Weiss was among the number (four ministers) that or-
ganized on the 1 2th of October, 1746, the first Reformed
Synod (German) in America. His charge at the time of his
death consisted of Old Goshenhoppen, New Goshenhoppen
and Great Swamp. These three congregations paid him ;{^40
per year. He died in the beginning of the year 1763 at a
good old age, and was buried in the church at New Goshen-
hoppen. Tradition says that he was a fine Latin scholar and
a man of much energy, and the records of the churches show
that they enjoyed great prosperity during his ministrations.
It is said, by industry and economy, he accumulated a great
deal of property, and got to be what is called a rich man. He
owned at one time the Green Lane iron works.
Mr. Weiss had no children, but owned about twenty slaves.
The most of these at his death passed into the hands of Mr.
Mayberry, who became proprietor of the iron works. He
baptized all his slaves and their increase Some of the de-
scendants of these slaves still linger around Goshenhoppen.
REV. JOHN PHILIP BOEHM. 21
REV. JOHN PHILIP BOEHM.
[Contributed by J. D.]
With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding.— Jo'j .ti'i, 12.
From some papers found in the archives of the Collegiate
Reformed (Dutch) Church in New York, and translated b>-
the Rev. Dr. Chalmers, and published in full in the October
number of the Mcrccrsbiirg Rcviciv, it appears that Mr. Boehm
arrived in this country as early as the year 1720. Having
been school-master and fore-singer in Worms, a city of Ger-
many, for about seven years, he found a demand for his services
as reader (doorlezer) upon his arrival here. The Reformed
people around him were destitute of the means of grace, and
he became a sort of pastor to them by exhortation, catechising
their children, and performing other religious services without
receiving any compensation for the same.
The great influx of the immigrants began about the year
1707.
So well did he perform these services that the destitute Re-
formed people besought him to assume the functions of the
ministerial office. This he did in 1725, receiving as compen-
sation only the voluntary contributions of the people.
Mr. Boehm was the first Reformed minister, either Dutch
or German Reformed, as they called them, in the Province of
Pennsylvania.
When Mr. Weiss, the first regularly licensed and ordained
minister of the Reformed (German) Church arrived here, in
September, 1727, he visited the Schippach (Skippack) congre-
gation and preached there. This brought him into collision
with Mr. Boehm, who had been preaching there for some time
without regular license and ordination. Some of the people
then disclaimed Mr. Boehm's ministerial acts, because he was
not ordained, and wished to retain Mr. Weiss as their regular
minister.
In July, 1728, the Consistories of the three congregations
where Mr. Boehm had been preaching, fWit Marshen, Schip-
*Rupj)'s 30,000 German names, page ol».
tWhitemarsh, where the Barren Hill Luther.m f'hurch now stands; Skippack,
Wentz's Reformed Church, Worcester ; Falkner Swamp, now Swamp Churches, New
Hanover township, Montgomery county, yet a large and flourishing congregation.
22 REV. JOHN PHILIP BOEHM.
pach and Falkner's Swamp, sent an application to the New
York Classis to have Mr. Boehm Hcensed, ordained, and his
former pastoral acts approved. This appeal was forwarded to
the Classis of Amsterdam, under whose jurisdiction the Amer-
ican Classis was at that time, and a favorable answer was re-
turned, dated June 20th, 1729.
On the 23d of November of that year the Rev. Mr. Boehm
was ordained and set apart to the work of the ministry by
Henricus Boel and Gualterius du Bois, under the oversight of
the Consistory of the Low Dutch Church of New York.
The work of Mr. Boehm was exceedingly exhausting in
Eastern Pennsylvania. His chief points of labor were in
Philadelphia, Germantown, the other places already mentioned,
and at the forks of the Delaware, then Bucks, now Northamp-
ton county, ministering unto them and laying foundations for
future churches.
The congregation in Whitpain, now called Boehm's Church,
was first organized by him, and it is said at the building of this
church in 1740 Mr. Boehm "labored with his own hands."
The exact time he settled in Whitpain is not exactly known.
In the list of land-holders, published in 1734, his name?is
marked, having two-hundred acres and paid a quit rent. The
deed for the property on which he resided at the time of his
death was dated September 9th, 1736, and calls for two hun-
dred acres, costing £\^'^ 13s. id.
As a minister and teacher he was quite successful, and tra-
dition speaks well of his labors. He held large tracts of land,
and became wealthy, although it appears he did not set his
heart upon it.*
" The gospel was his joy and song
E'en to his latest breath.''
He died suddenly at his house in Whitpain, May ist, 1749,
having on the previous day administered the Holy Commu-
nion to the Egypt congregation in Northampton county, and
is buried under the wall of the present church, in the east
corner, at that time under the altar, and in front of the pulpit
where he had often preached.
*In Whitpain he held 200 acres : Saucon, Lehigh county, 200 ; Skippack, 150— total, 550.
NICHOLAS SCULL. 23
At the time of his death he held slaves and had a Hquor
'distillery. In the appraisement of his personal property three
servants are mentioned, two boys and one girl, appraised at
jC^O ; two distilling tubs and coolers, ^40.
These facts are a curious commentary on the advance made
since that day as to the rightfulness of holding slaves and the
manufacturing and using alcoholic liquors as a common drink.
His descendants were numerous in Philadelphia and some of
them quite wealthy. He held considerable correspondence with
the church in the rftother country, and kept a record of his
labors ; but unfortunately the chest containing these valuable
relics was destroyed by fire.
NICHOLAS SCULL.
Among the early residents of what is now Montgomery
county, and who left their impress upon our State, was Nich-
olas Scull, a surveyor and Indian interpreter in early colonial
times, who left some maps and surveys, showing that he was
a man of education. His origin or nativity is unknown, but
he was probably an Englishman, who came over shortly after
Penn's settlement of the colony, and located in Whitemarsh.
He belonged to Franklin's literary club, the " Junto," in 1729.
It is known that he run and laid out the road leading from
Willow Grove to what was Gov. Keith's residence in Horsham.
In 1748 he succeeded William Parsons as Surveyor General of
the Colony, which post he held for thirteen years till his death
in 1 76 1, when he was succeeded that year in the office by
John Lukens, of Horsham. His wife, Abigail, died in 1753,
in her 65th year, and is interred in the family cemetery on
•Camp Hill, near the line of Whitemarsh and Upper Dublin.
24 COL. THOMAS CRAIG.
COL. THOMAS CRAIG.
[Ccntributed by William J. Buck.]
Amongst the early and conspicuous settlers of Northampton
county may be mentioned William and Thomas Craig, who
immigrated from the north of Ireland sometime between 1728
and 1733, and several years afterwards took up a large tract of
land in Allen township on which they settled. They were
probably brothers, and at the first court held at Easton for said
county, in June, 1752, with three others, presided as Justices;
and both also rendered effective service in the French and
Indian war. Thomas, son of the last mentioned, was born in
1740 at what was generally known as the Irish or Craig's set-.
tlement, about four miles from the present town of Bath. He
received a fair education for the time, and was brought up to
an agricultural life.
The Revolution breaking out, he early took an active part
in behalf of his country, and raised a company of soldiers in
his vicinity, of which he was commissioned Captain, January
5th, 1776, and placed in Col. St. Clair's Pennsylvania Battalion.
He was in the campaign to Canada and in several engage-
ments, and for his services was promoted to the rank of Major,
September 7th following. He was appointed Colonel of the
Third Pennsylvania Regiment in the summer of 1777 ; was in
New Jersey in Gen. Poor's Brigade under command of Wash-
ington, and was subsequently in the battles of Brandywine and
Germantown. He remained with the army at Valley Forge,
where, under date of April 12th, 1778, he addressed a letter
strongly appealing for clothing, showing the destitute condl
tion of his soldiers in this respect. In the battle of Mon-
mouth his regiment greatly distinguished itself, being in the
thickest part of the engagement. After serving throughout
the war, on his return, he was appointed in July, 1783, Lieu-
tenant of Northampton county.
Montgomery was formed from Philadelphia by an Act
passed September loth, 1784; on the same day he was ap-
pointed to be its first Associate Judge, Prothonotary, Clerk of
the Courts, and the following year Recorder, all of which
GEX. ANDREW PORTER. 2$
.offices he actually held till near the close of 1789. In a letter
,.to President Franklin, dated " Norriton Farm," May 5th, 1788,
.he says that he was charged by the sheriff, Francis Swainc,
'.with opposing the execution of John Brown on the previous
1 2th of April, and about which there was some excitement.
•" Can it be possible," he writes, " that a man who has served
you faithfully from the commencement of the late war to the
■ end of it, in order to establish the present Government — a man
that has gone forth on every occasion to support the laws of
'his country, — I say, can it be possible to suppose him capable
«of such an act?" About this matter it appears considerable
feeling had been created between him and the sheriff Wm.
.Moore Smith stated that Colonel Craig desired Mr. Roberts to
inform the sheriff " that he could give no consent to erecting
.a gallows on the Farm, but that he would make no objection
,or opposition to any place which might be fixed upon at a suf-
ficient distance from the town."*
It is probable that after his term of office had expired he
shortly removed back again to his native county, where he was
elected Major General of the Seventh Division of Pennsylva-
nia Militia, which he retained for a number of years. He sur-
vived till 1832, when he died at the advanced age of 92 years,
with his faculties but little impaired.
GENERAL ANDREW PORTER.
Is there not an appointed time to man upon eai'th? Are not his days also like the
.jilays of a hireling? — Job vii, 1.
General Andrew Porter was the son of Robert Porter,
who emigrated from Ireland early in the past century, and
settled in Worcester township, where Andrew was born
September 24th, 1743. On the breaking out of the Revo-
lutionary war, like most Irishmen, or the sons of Irishmen, he
*This agrees with tradition gathered from very old persons still living. Mrs. Eliza-
beth Thompson, now a centenarian, very well rememl)ers that Craig said he did not
" want tlie tow,n disgraced by an execution for such a crime."
3
26 COL. ROBERT LOLLER.
was ready for a fight for that liberty so long denied in their native •
land. Being at the head of a mathematical school in Philadelphia-
in the spring of 1776 he was early enthused with the cry for " Lib-
erty!" A few days before the Declaration of Independence he-
accordingly offered his services to Congress, received a commission;,
as captain of marines, and was ordered on board the frigate Effing-
ham, but shortly after transferred to the land service with the same-
rank, and was engaged in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, and.
Brandywine.
At the dreary, suffering encampment at Valley Forge in the win-
ter of 1777-8, he was Major of a regiment of artillery, and in va-
rious positions continued with the army during the war. At the-
restoration of peace, in connection with his friend and neighbor^
David Rittenhouse, he was engaged in surveying, being in 1785
appointed to ascertain the boundary line between Pennsylvania and
Virginia, which was satisfactorily accomplished ; and two years
later, in 1787, he ran the northern line between us and New York^.
His fitness for the post was so conspicuous, and his eminent Revo-
lutionary services such, that Governor Snyder appointed him Sur-
veyor General of the State in 1809, which position he held till his.
death in 1813.
Nearly all the sons of General Porter became afterwards distin-
guished. David R. was Governor; General James M. Porter has.
been a member of Assembly, President Judge of the Twenty-second
district, and Secretary of War under President Tyler ; George B.
Porter, born at Lancaster in 1791, when the State government was.
located there, afterwards became a member of the Legislature, was
Adjutant General in 1827, and appointed Governor of Michigan.
Territory in 1834, where he died the next year.
COL. ROBERT LOLLER.
[Contributed by William. J. Buck.]
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not
stand before mean men. — Proverbs xxii, 29.
Col. Loller was of Scotch-Irish origin,, born in 1740, and it is sup-
posed within the present limits of Montgomery, then Philadelphia
county. He was undoubtedly a man of education, and this would;
seem to show that the means of acquiring knowledge were not.
COL. ROBERT LOLLER. 2/
neglected in his youth. In the year 1772 we find him engaged in
teaching a school at Chestnut Hill. How long he taught at that
place is not known ; but early in the commencement of the Revo-
lution he resided at Hatboro, then better known as the ** Crooked
Billet." He married Mary, the daughter of Archibald M' Clean,
Esq., who resided in Horsham near where is now the village of
Babylon. Dr. Archibald M' Clean, who was a poet, wit, and no
less than six feet four inches in height, was a brother-in-law.
After leaving his school he set up the business of surveying and
conveyancing, in which he became quite successful. From speci-
mens transmitted to us we know that he was a neat and ready
writer and skillful draftsman. Major Loller early espoused the
cause of the Revolution, and with Joseph Blewer, John Bull and
AVilliam Coates, was elected, June i8th, 1776, delegate from Phila-
delphia county to consider the resolution of the Continental Con-
gress, passed the 15th of May previously, recommending the several
Colonies to adopt governments adapted to their peculiar circum-
stances. This convention framed the Constitution of Pennsylvania,
which was agreed upon the following 28th of September. He soon
after joined the army under Washington, and was in the battles of
Trenton, Princeton, and Germantown.
The Supreme Executive Council appointed Colonel Loller on the
25th of March, 1777, paymaster of the militia of Philadelphia
county, which office he held till in the spring of 1781. He was
selected on July 24th, 1777, to make a survey of the shore of the
river Delaware from Christiana creek downwards for the purpose of
having a better knowledge in carrying on the proposed operations
against the enemy. In November following he was, with four
others, appointed Commissioner for seizing on the personal estates
of those who had resided in the county and abandoned their fami-
lies or habitations to join the royal army. He was elected to the
Assembly the same year, also in 1779, ^^'^ continuously from 1784
to 1788. He became a member of the Hatboro Library February
3d, 1787, and the following year was elected one of its directors,
in which office he was continued for several years. He was ap-
pointed by Governor Mifflin one of the Associate Judges of Mont-
gomery county September 25th, 1789, and also to the offices of Re-
corder of Deeds and Register of Wills as successor to Col. Craig.
The two last he held till June 24th, 1791, but the former office we
believe he retained to the time of his death. Being afflicted with a
painful malady, he was taken from his residence at Hatboro to
28 COL. ROBERT LOLLER.
Philadelphia, and on the loth of October, 1808, had the operation
of lithotomy performed on him, but without relief, and died on the
2ist of said month.
Knowing that his disease would likely prove fatal. Judge Loller
prepared himself accordingly in his temporal affairs. Not having
children, and being a man of property, the idea fortunately occur-
red of making his fortune prove a blessing to the present and future
generations of his neighborhood. In that day education was not
diffused among the body of the people ; those who did not possess
the means labored under great disadvantages, such as we in this day
of knowledge and books can scarcely realize. His wife died
October 21st, 1810. By provision he had ordered ;^5o to be
paid for the use of the Academy at Norristown, ;^5o for the Abing-
ton Presbyterian church, and ;^2o to the Library at Hatboro, and
after appropriating various sums to relatives the balance to be ap-
plied to the erection of an institution of learning to be called after
his name, which was built in 1811-12 on his estate, at a cost of up-
Nvards of ^11,000, besides an annual endowment of $283 for its sup-
port. In the order of time "Loller Academy" was the thirty-fifth
incorporated in Pennsylvania.
In connection with Judge Loller's last visit to Philadelphia the
following curious incident is associated. About' the year 1850 the
Legislature very properly passed a law requiring banks and other
incorporated companies to publish by advertisement in the news-
papers all unclaimed moneys, dividends, etc., in their possession,
with the names of the depositors. In consequence of this it ap-
peared that the sum of ^350 had been deposited in the Philadelphia
Bank by him on his arrival there, for the defrayment of his ex-
penses, without the knowledge of his friends. On learning this,
application was made by the Trustees of the Academy and the
amount duly received and placed in the endowment fund in ac-
cordance with his will.
The remains of Judge Loller, with those of his wife, repose be-
neath the same stone in the grave-yard attached to the Presbyterian
church at Abington. His executor was the Hon. N. B. Boileau,
long his near neighbor and friend, who wrote for him the following
epitaph : "To the memory of Robert Loller, Esq., this stone is
dedicated. He departed this life October 21st, 1808, aged 62> years.
In the American Revolution he took an early and active part in de-
fending the rights of his country. As a Patriot, Soldier and States-
mo.n, he acted with honor and usefulness, and in the practice of
CASPER SCHLATER. 29
every domestic and social virtue was highly exemplary, A Literary
Institution, called by his name, was erected and endowed in the
village of Hatborough. Abi Lector, ejus virtutes, si poteris imiiare. ' '
From his will we learn that he had brothers, James, Alexander
and AVilliam ; and a sister, Grace Townsend ; a nephew, Joseph
M'Clean; and nieces, Mary Stephens and Mary Iredell. To the
last he bestowed his share in the Hatboro Library, to Samuel Hart
his surveying instruments, and to N. B. Boileau his telescope.
CASPER SCHLATER.
Nor love thy life nor hate; but what thou livest, live well. How long or short, per-
mit to heaven. — Milion.
Among the prominent men of Montgomery county sixty years
ago was he whose name stands at the head of this memorial. He
was the son of Casper and Barbara Schlater, who arrived at Phila-
delphia from Rotterdam in the ship Thomas Coatman on Septem-
ber 22d, 1752. Casper Schlater, who is the subject of this notice,
was born July 13th, 1759, i'"^ Upper Dublin township, Montgomery
county, and married Mary, daughter of Nicholas Seltzer. He was
a man of education and business capacity, and a leader in the Demo-
cratic party, filling the offices of County Treasurer and Commis-
sioner for the years 181 7-18 with public acceptance; besides, was
frequently called to act as executor, administrator, arbitrator, and
in adjusting disputes between neighbors. He was a member of
Boehm's Reformed Church, and filled the offices of elder, deacon,
and trustee, holding the elder's office at the time of his death,
July 14th, 1835, having held official position therein since 1790.
In his will he donated $800 to the church.
30 HON. BIRD WILSON, D. D., LL.D.
HON. BIRD WILSON, D. D., LL.D.
[Contributed by William J. Buck.]
Thy praise, O, Cliarity ! thy labors most divine ; thy sympathy with sighs and tears
and groans: thy great, thy God-like wish to heal all misery. — Pollok.
His father, James Wilson, was born near St. Andrews, in
Scotland, about the year 1742. Having completed his educa-
tion, he turned his thoughts to America, and arrived in Phila-
delphia in 1766. He first became connected as a tutor with
the college there, and afterwards studied law with the cele-
brated John Dickinson. He commenced practice at Reading,
and subsequently removed to Carlisle. In 1775 he was elected
to Congress, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence. His son, Bird Wilson, was born at Carlisle on
the 8th of January, 1777, and graduated at the University of
Pennsylvania in 1792, at the early age of 15 years. He
shortly afterwards applied himself to the study of the law, and
was admitted to practice at the bar in Philadelphia in March,
1797.
For a time he held a position of trust in the office of the
Commissioner of the Bankrupt Law, his next appointment be-
ing President Judge in 1806 of the Court of Common Pleas in
the Seventh circuit, comprising the counties of Bucks, Mont-
gorriery, Chester and Delaware, in which he succeeaed Wm.
Tilghman. As soon as he had entered on the duties of this
office he made Norristown his residence, and thus became one
of the most active workers in the building of St. John's Epis-
copal Church, which was commenced in 18 13 and finished the
following year; being the first house of worship erected there,
of which he was one of the wardens. At this time he also
edited an edition of the "Abridgement of the Law," published
in Philadelphia in seven octavo volumes. In speaking of this
work Judge Story says that he " has enriched it with many
valuable additions." A murder was committed near the pres-
ent town of Media, in which a young man of very respectable
family connections was implicated, essd who was arraigned
before him October 20th, 18 17, which led to his conviction
in the first degree. But the Judge was unwilling to sentence
him. After several postponements he finally concluded to
HON. BIRD WILSON, D. D., LL.D. 3 1
iresign the position, Judge Ross taking his place April 13th,
1 8 1 8, and the condemned received his sentence from the latter.*
Judge Wilson now devoted himself for the ministry, and
studied under Bishop White, by whom he was admitted a
Deacon in March, 18 19, and soon after chosen Rector of St.
John's Episcopal Church at Norristown and the charge of St.
Thomas's church at Whitemarsh, which he held till in the
summer of 1821. Having been appointed a Professor of Sys-
tematic Divinity in the General Theological Seminary at New
York he removed there. In 1850 he became Emeritus Pro-
fessor of the same, which position he filled till near the close
of his life. In 1829 he was elected Secretary of the House of
Bishops, in which capacity he continued until 1841, when he
declined re-election. His Memoir of the Life of Bishop White
was published in 1839, which contains also the early history of
the Episcopal church in this country. The degree of D. D.
was conferred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania in
1821, and of LL.D. by Columbia College in 1845. He died
April 14th, 1859, aged St, years, and was buried in the ground
belonging to Christ church, at the corner of Fifth and Arch
streets, Philadelphia.
His father was taken from him just as he had reached his
twenty-second year, and, owing to unfortunate speculations in
lands, left his family dependent. As a consequence Dr. Wil-
son remained unmarried and provided for the wants of his
three brothers and two sisters through his own unaided exer-
tions. Habits of prudent, careful living thus early, made im-
perative by the circumstances in which he was placed, enabled
him in after years to acquire a handsome competency. It was
a daily practice, after his studies or recitations, to take his
walks for exercise and recreation, sometimes extended to five
miles, and often in the same direction. On the Sabbath and
rainy days these would be taken either in his back yard or in
some shelter. Here was one of the secrets of his uniform good
health and length of life. A memoir of his life was written by
*This was John H. Craige, a dissipated blacksmith, who shot his neighbor, Edward
Hunter, Esq.. who had been instrumental in writing his father-in-law's will, thereby
- disinheriting liim, andthus incurred his enmity. Craige shot him as he was standing in
■his stable, and was hanged for it at Chester, June 6th, 1S18. His confession was one of
ithe first pamphlets the author read ia his youth. '
32 HON. SAMUEL GROSS.
William White Bronson, and published in 1864, to which -w&'
are indebted for a portion of the information contained in this'
sketch.
To the foregoing, furnished by Mr. Buck, the author cannof^
omit to add the following anecdote in further illustration of
Judge Wilson's kindness of heart, which was proverbial about
Norristown at the time of his residence here. It was commu-
nicated to the author by Mrs. Dr. Huddleson before her death.
She said : " The Judge lived on the eminence east of the town,
his mansion occupying the site now of Oakland Female Insti-
tute. In the evening, when the maids were milking, the lawn"
or cow-yard would be thronged with cats waiting for their'
rations, because, as was understood, the kind-hearted Judge'
would not allow the kittens bred about the premises tO' be'
drowned, as is the custom. He would, however, as a partial'
remedy for over-cat population, order his black man-of-all'-
work, "Jupiter," to transport the young felines in a bag and'
drop them in the neighboring village."
This story aptly illustrates the tender sensibility of the man
above described, who rather than sentence even a deliberate
murderer to death preferred to resign his seat on the bench.
HON. SAMUEL GROSS.
Among the men of early prominence in our county Was He-
whose name stands at the head of this article. He lived in'
Upper Providence township, and was a Democrat of great in--
fluence in the early years of the century. In 1803 he was-
elected to the Assembly in company with Nathaniel B. Boileau,
Henry Scheetz and John Mann, and served the session of
1803-4, and also the two following sessions. By the record!"
of proceedings he appears to have been Mr. Boileau's " right-
hand supporter," as it is published that when Mr. Boileau of-
fered his resolution for the Pennsylvania Legislature to invite"
President Jefferson to all®w his name to be used for re-election.
HON. SAMUEL GROSS. 33
Mr. Gross seconded the motion. It was adopted, and a hand-
some address put forth. At that time Mr. B. was the leader
of the House, and wielded great influence in the Assembly.
In 1807, in addition to being renominated, he was placed chair-
man of the committee of correspondence of the party, and in
1 8 10 was one of the committee named in the bill to sell the
stock of the Reading and Perkiomen Turnpike Company. In
the fall of 181 1 he was elected from Montgomery county to
the State Senate. In this office we have not found any record
of his doings, but as he was nominated by his party and elected
to Congress in 181 8, four years after the completion of his
Senatorial term, it is presumable that he was up to the full
standard of Jeffersonian Democracy.
In 1818 the question of the admission of Missouri, with
slavery existing therein — as it had been when ceded by France
in 1803 — arising in Congress, public feeling ran very high on
the subject, both North and South, the former resisting and
the latter advocating the measure. The North contended for
the application of the Ordinance of 1787, a compact between
the United States and Virginia for the exclusion of slavery
from all the Northwest Territory, and the slaveholding States
resisting it. The matter was debated in Congress during nearly
all the time Mr. Gross was a member, and when the question
finally came up for decision in 1820, on what was called the
Missouri Compromise line, i. e., all territories south of 36-30
degrees to have slavery and all north to be free, Mr. Gross,
under the advice of the Legislature of the State, as Jonathan
Roberts in the Senate under instruction, voted against the ad-
mission of Missouri because of its slave constitution. He en-
joyed the honor of a renomination and election to Congress in
1820, at the close of which term it is presumed he retired from
public life.
Samuel Gross was born November loth, 1774, and died
March 19th, 1844. His wife, Mary Gross, died November
i6th, 18 1 2, aged 35 years. Their tombs are together in the
cemetery of Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe.
Samuel and Mary Gross left three children : John E. Gross,
Mary, the wife of Hon. Jacob Fry, Jr., and Thomas Jefferson
34 HON. FREDERICK CONRAD.
Gross, who for many years had been assistant clerk at Harris-
burg, a position given him and retained by the influence of Mr*
Shunk. Mr. T. J. Gross was an admirable expert in assisting
the routine of legislation, and remained about the State capital
nearly all his later life.
All the immediate children of Samuel and Mary Gross are
deceased; but John E. Gross, the eldest, left five children, all
living, and the youngest, Thomas Jefferson, six, also living.
One of the latter is Charles H. Gross, Esq., attorn ey-at-law, of
the law firm of Barger & Gross, No. 242 S. Fifth street, Phila-
delphia, to whom we are indebted for some facts concerning
the family.
HON. FREDERICK CONRAD.
Was born in Worcester township, Montgomery county, near
Centre Point, on a farm which he inherited from his father, and
where he lived most of his life. His father, Frederick Conrad,
was married to Mary Hartman. They were either German emi-
grants or of the first generation after, as the date of the emi-
gration of the family is not recorded. The subject of our
biography was married first to Catharine Schneider, of Long
Swamp, New Hanover township, and they had seven children,
as follows : Elizabeth, Mary, Catharine, Frederick, Henry, Su-
san, and Christiana. Of these, Elizabeth married Jesse Weber;
Mary, Philip Hoover, the father of Judge Hoover; Catharine,
Frederick Foust; Frederick, Elizabeth Anslee; Henry, Eliza-
beth Kendall; Susan, Abraham Wanner; and Christiana, John
Kline. All the immediate children of Frederick Conrad, Sr.,
are dead, but numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren
are found nearly all over Montgomery county, and many are
doubtless scattered elsewhere. Elizabeth, the relict of his eld-
est son, and mother of Mrs. William P. Cuthbertson, died at
the residence of her daughter, in Norristown, at an advanced
age, a few years ago ; and within the last thirty years, theVidow,
HON. ■FREDERICK CONRAD. 35
■or second wife of the elder Frederick Conrad, died in Norris-
town, where she resided with her step-daughter, Elizabeth
Conrad. Hon, Frederick Conrad himself died in Norristown
also, having removed to it late in life.
There is no record of his having other than a good common
school education, but he must have been a man of superior
mind, well improved by reading and study, for we find he was
elected to the Assembly as early as 1798, and re-elected the
two following years, making three terms. In 1804 and 1805
he was Paymaster of the Fifty-first Regiment of Pennsylvania
Militia, and filed and published the settlement of his accounts
in the papers. In 1803 he was elected to Congress on the
Federal ticket from the district composed of the counties of
Montgomery, Bucks, Northampton, Wayne and Luzerne, his
coadjutors being John Pugh of Bucks and John Ross of North-
ampton. He was re-elected in 1805, thus serving two terms,
or four years. The last time he was nominated was at a meet-
ing of conferees at Nazareth, September 25th, 1804. In 1809,
on the transference by Governor Snyder of Nathaniel B. Boileau
from the House to be Secretary of the Commonwealth, a spe-
cial election to fill the vacancy was held, when Mr. Conrad was
nominated, doubtless by the Federals, but beaten by Richard
T. Leech, Republican. He had been previously appointed Jus-
tice of the Peace, however, in 1807, and it is presumed he might
have held the office as long as he lived, for at that time the
office continued during " good behaviour."
Towards the close of Governor McKean's second term of
service he (the Governor) became rather unpopular with his
party (the Republicans, as they were then called), and party
spirit ran very high. Many Republicans charged him with
being aristocratic, and not feeling in harmony with established
institutions, and Simon Snyder was brought forward in oppo-
sition to him. Boileau, Jonathan Roberts, Richard T. Leach.
Samuel Gross, and other prominent men, opposed McKean's
re-election, while Frederick Conrad, General Francis Swayne,
and others of our county, adhered [to him. From that time
both Conrad and Swayne were thrown into the ranks of the
opposition, and doubtless so remained while they lived. From
3^ HON, FREDERICK CONRAD.^
McKean Frederick Conrad received the appointment of Jus-
tice of the Peace in 1807. In February, 1 821, he received from
Governor Hiester, Federal, the appointment of Prothonotary
and Clerk of the Courts, and was reappointed by Governor
Schultz in 1824, thus completing two terms of three years.
Frederick Conrad learned the trade of a blacksmith in his
young days, and followed it for a time; but when not in pub-
lic employment was farming till late in life, when he removed
to Norristown. His farm and residence was located, as has
been stated, near Centre Point, on the Skippack road, and was
the resort of politicians and business men. The battalion and
militia elections were also annually held at his house. He
wrote a great many deeds, mortgages, and other instruments
of writing, and being " 'Squire" joined many couples in mar-
riage. He was a member and officer of the Wentz congrega-
tion (German Reformed), and is buried in its cemetery. After
he removed to Norristown he felt a lively interest in the im-
provement of the town, and is reputed to have been instru-
mental in giving to DeKalb street the name it bears.
In person Frederick Conrad was stoutly built, corpulent, and
not quite medium height, with auburn hair. He was a man
having excellent flow of animal spirits, lively in conversation,
with a great fund of anecdote, which made him a pleasant com-
panion and his company much sought in his day.
Frederick Conrad in his later years married a second wife,
Catharine Anslee, the mother of Elizabeth Anslee, who was
married to his son Frederick, and when both women became
widows they continued to reside together, during life, in Nor-
ristown.
GOV. DAVID R. PORTER. 37
GOV. DAVID R. PORTER.
"Ah! whither now are fled those dreams of greatness? those unsolid hopes of hap-
piness? those Uingings after fame? those restless cares? those busy, bustling days."—
Thomson.
On the tablet that inscribes the noted men of Pennsylvania
few are more justly distinguished than he whose name stands
at the head of this article. We claim him as a Montgomery
county man on account of birth and early education. His
father, General Andrew Porter, was a noted officer in the war
for independence, and a resident of our now borough of Nor-
ristown, where he built the stately mansion on the Ridge
turnpike occupied by Colonel Thomas P. Knox. General
Porter was born in the neighboring township of Worcester,
his father, Robert Porter, having emigrated from the north of
Ireland and settled in that place before the middle of the last
century, and died there in 1770. Here Andrew Porter was
born in 1743. He was entrusted, in conjunction with David
Rittenhouse, in 1785, with the commission to ascertain the
boundary between our State and Virginia. He also, in con-
nection with Andrew Elliot, ran the northern boundary two
years later, and in 1809 Governor Snyder appointed him Sur-
veyor General of the State, which post he held till his death
in 1813.
His son, whose life we write, was born in the mansion just
described, still standing opposite the entrance to Montgomery
Cemetery, and received his education at Norristown Academy,
a famous school in its day. His birthday was October 31st,
1788. His father, being on intimate terms with David Ritten-
house, named his son after him, and intended him for the bar,
'but when grown, a want of robust health, added to a distaste
for so sedentary an employment, led him to more stirring pur-
suits. He went westward and settled in Huntingdon county,
where he soon embarked in the iron business then just grow-
ing into importance in our State. In 1821 he was elected to
the Assembly from that county by the Democrats, of course,
as the family had always adhered to what was called the Re-
publican or Democratic party. After serving a term in the
popular branch he was sent to the Senate from the same county.
,;
38 GOV. DAVID R. PORTER^.
Like his father, he was born for a leader, anrd though nK) speech-
maker his influence in public affairs continued to inx:rease, till-
in 1838, in the midst of the financial conflicts and Public-Im-
provement wrangles he was brought forward by his party for
Governor and triumphantly elected. Few men ever reached a
public office by running such a gauntlet of vituperation and
bitter controversy, and yet at the close of his term he was re-
elected, after another fierce contest, and by a majority nearly
four times as great as at first. This was a noble testimonial
in favor of a bold, brave man, wha fearlessly performed the
behests of his party, relying on the patriotism of the people for
his vindication. There was adduced, however, much evidence
of corruption, favoritism and mismanagement by his political
opponents, much of which was doubtless true. He was an.
active supporter of the extension of the canal and railroad sys-
tem, then fairly getting under way, and it was to be expected'
that rivalry and local jealousies would be rampant. Notwith>-
standing his integrity was constantly called in question, his<
supervision of the finances of the State was eminently wise and
judicious, nor was any peculation ever traced to his door. It
was during his administration that what was called the " relief
law" was passed, authorizing a loan by the banks to the State,
upon the basis of paper issues to those banks, called " relief
notes." These were very similar in inception to the greenback
issues of the National government during the recent civil war,
and the effect was similar in reviving the stagnated industries
of the State, which soon enabled the Commonwealth to meet
her obligations for interest, which from that time to this has
never once been dishonored,
David R. Porter was a man of bold action, and a shrewd
observer of men and things, and as a consequence his appoint-
ments were generally wise and judicious. During his admin-
istration the Native American or anti-Catholic riots occurred
\in Philadelphia, and his management of the State military and
his co-operation in the restoration of order were so salutary
tBat both branches of Philadelphia City Councils passed a vote
of 1:hanks in his commendation.
Having closed his Gubernatorial service of six years, he sur-
^
HON. GEORGE RICHARDS. 39
rendered the chair of State in 1845 to so mild and placid a suc-
cessor as Francis R. Shunk, when he resumed his old business
of smelting iron at Harrisburg, and was among the first to
successfully put anthracite furnaces in operation in that part
of the State. He continued this business very profitably till
the financial storm of 1857 overtook the industry of the State,
when he was made to suffer in common with others, which,
however, he bore with the philosophy that always distinguishes
men of strong minds.
When the great rebellion broke out in 1861, though not in
sympathy with the party in power, he espoused the side of the
government of the Union, and rejoiced to have one of his sons,
General Horace Porter, take up its cause, and fight so many
of its battles. Governor Porter's active, useful life was pro-
tracted to the ripe old age of 79, and he died, surrounded by
his family, in Harrisburg, August 6th, 1867. His remains lie
in the Harrisburg cemetery, and a handsome monument, com-
memorating his life and public services, has been erected
thereon.
HON. GEORGE RICHARDS.
So mayst thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou dropst
Into thy mother's lap, or be with ease gathered. — Milton.
George Richards, merchant, farmer and Senator, was born
in New Hanover township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania,
on June 17th, 1788. His ancestors Avere German Lutherans,
and identified with the early history of this county. His father
was a member of Congress during Jefferson's administration,
a member of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania,
and a State Senator one term under Governor McKean.
George Richards was educated in his native county, and on
attaining his majority went to Philadelphia, where he entered
a counting house as clerk, and was interested as such and part
owner for several years. In 181 1 he made a mercantile voy-
40 HON. GEORGE RICHARDS.
age to the island of Cuba as supercargo and part owner, land-
ing at Santiago de Cuba. During the same year he made a
like venture to the island of Porto Rico, which proved suc-
cessful. In the spring of 1812 he made his third and last voy-
age, during which he nearly lost his life. This time he sailed
to La Guayra, the sea port of Caraccas, the capital of Vene-
zuela, South America. On the 15th of March he proceeded
to the city of Caraccas, crossing the eastern extremity of the
Andes, and arrived in time to see the memorable earthquake
in that city. He was an eye-witness of all the horrors of that
terrible scene. He saw the earth open and shut before him,
walls of houses tumbling down, and thousands of people buried
in the ruins. The violent concussion threw him on his knees,
and the deplorable catastrophe so shook the country as to leave
its sensible marks on the surface two hundred miles from the
sea coast.
On his return home, finding the country engaged in war, he
volunteered in a company which marched to Port Deposit
under General Cadwallader. He returned to Philadelphia the
next year. In 18 15 he again embarked in mercantile pursuits,
in connection with the iron .business, in New Jersey. In 1820
he returned to his native county, and commenced farming, sur-
veying and conveyancing. He acted many years as Justice of
the Peace, and was much engaged in settling up estates. In
1833 ^^ removed to Pottstown. He was much interested in
politics, and in 1846 was elected to the State Senate. He
married in 1 820, and had five children — three sons and two
daughters.
He took an active part in all local improvements and enter-
prises. He with others established the Pottstown Academy,
which continued to be a successful educational institution for
many years. He was an active friend of the adoption of the
common school system when it was submitted to a vote of the
people. He was connected with the Lutheran church from
the age of 17 years until his death, which occurred August
19th, 1873. He died at the ripe old age of 85 years.
His son, Mark H, Richards, Esq., of Pottstown, who is one
of the most public spirited citizens of that borough, was some
BERNARD m'CREDV. 4 1
years ago elected a Justice of the Peace, and is a very active,
capable business man, doing a general scrivening business.
He is besides a very warm and active Republican, often taking
a leading part in the conventions of that side.
BERNARD McCREDY.
Tho-ugh not at any time a resident of Montgomery county,
Bernard McCredy deserves a place among our eminent men,
because for a period of nearly thirty years he was the head of
one of the largest cotton manufactories within our bounds. He
was born of a reputable family in county Derry, Ireland, in
1775 ; studied six years in the University of Dublin, where he
graduated in his twenty-first year, and very soon afterwards
came to the United States to seek his fortune. He opened a
private school in Philadelphia, where he taught three years.
About 1824, in connection with Samuel R. Wood, he bought
the site and valuable water power at the foot of Swede street,
and immediately below the great dam that crosses the river at
Norristown. Here they erected what was known as the first
and largest structure of the kind built near the borough pre-
vious to 1840. The concern and its manufactures were booked
in Philadelphia and New York as " The Wyoming Mills," but
only known here as " McCredy's cotton factory."
Bernard McCredy died at the age of 71. In person he was
below the average height, stoutly built, comely in features, and
with light hair and complexion. He lived and died in con-
nection with the Catholic church.
42 SAMUEL GARTLEY, M. D.
SAMUEL GARTLEY, M. D.
Was born in the city of Philadelphia in the year 1 779. He was the-
son of John and Elizabeth Gartley, the former of whom was born in^
Ireland and the latter a daughter of John S. Hutten, of Philadelphia.
John Gartley was a classical scholar, having been a graduate of the-
University of Edinburgh. For many years he taught school in-.
Philadelphia, and during the Revolutionary war was in the Com-
missary department of the army. While residing there his son,
Samuel, the subject of this biography, was born, who in due time-
studied medicine and graduated from the University of Pennsylva-
nia in 1 801. Soon after receiving his diploma Dr. Samuel Gartley
was appointed Surgeon on the ship Ganges, an East Indiaman,.
which at that time, in consequence of the constant war in Europe,,
shipped what was called "a fighting crew." Dr. Gartley returned,
from China in 1803, and located in Norristown. In 1807 he mar-
ried Sarah Potts, who was the daughter of Thomas and Abigail*
Potts, he holding at that time the ofi&ce of Register and Recorder-
at Norristown under the appointment of Governor McKean. Dr.
Samuel and Sarah Gartley had one son, William H. Gartley, wha
still lives in Norristown, intermarried with Harriet, daughter of
Valentine and Elizabeth Saylor, of Upper Providence.
In 1809, two years after her marriage, Sarah Gartley, the wife of
Dr. Gartley, died, leaving her son William an infant. Some time
afterwards Dr. Gartley married Catharine M. Potts, a sister of his,
first wife, and he continued to reside here, having a widely ex-
tended practice for many miles around Norristown, till 1824, when
he died, in his 45th year. The children of this second union were-
John H., living in Philadelphia; Elizabeth H., deceased at Potts-
town in 1848; Thomas P., who died in Clearfield county in 1876;.
and Samuel, who lives in Coventry, Chester county.
Having had two years experience on shipboard and abroad. Dr..
Gartley was esteemed a very skillful physician, and was often
called into consultation by other practitioners in Montgomery,
Bucks and Chester counties. He was besides, during the war of
181 2, appointed a local examiner of soldiers as to their fitness for
service in the army. Dr. Samuel Gartley was a member of the
Episcopal church, and is buried at Swedes' Ford Cemetery. His.
second wife, Catharine M. Gartley, still remains his widow, and.
*Tlic daughter of Colonel Samuel Miles, of the Continental army.
HON. N. B. BOILEAU. 43
lives in Pottstown, a sprightly old woman of 92, having survived
him fifty-four years.
The son of Dr. Gartley, William H., and Harriet his wife, were
married in 1830. Their children who survived infancy were Fer-
dinand Potts, intermarried with Mary Ann Wilson. He died in
1874 at 43, leaving four children, to wit; Samuel F., William H.,
Clara, married to Edward Moore, and Adeline Gartley. William
H. and Harriet Gartley's second son was Samuel Gartley, who
died in 1852, in his 20th year. Their third child is Sarah Ann,
the wife of Martin Molony, of Norristown. The children of the
latter, being of the fourth generation from Dr. Samuel Gartley, are
Joshua, Adele M., Anna B., Martin, and Sarah Molony.
HON. N. B. BOILEAU.*
This is the state of man : To-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope ; to-morrow, blossoms.
And bears his blushing honors thick upon him.
The third day comes a frost, a killing rost,'
And, when he thinks, good, easy man, full surely
His greatness is aripening, nips his root.
And then he fells. — Shalcspeare.
And now, behold, my witness is in heaven and nay record on high. — Job xvl, 19.
Nathaniel Brittan Boileau, who was eight sessions a member of
the lower house of Assembly, elected Speaker of that body, and
thence made Secretary of the Commonwealth for three terms by
Governor Snyder, was in many respects the greatest man Mont-
gomery county ever produced. His equal and compeer at the time
was Hon. Jonathan Roberts, who, with him, were the ruling spirits
of young Montgomery during the first twenty years of the preseni
century.
He was the son of Isaac and Rachel Brittan Boileau. The fathei
of Isaac Boileau was a Frenchman, driven from France among othei
Huguenots, and exiled on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
which gave toleration to Protestants. Along with a shipload 01
other refugees he landed on Staten Island about 1675. After re-
maining there some time, during which Isaac Boileau was born,
many of them, he of the number, emigrated to Bucks county and
*For the particulars of the private and personal history of N. B. Boileau we are in-
debted to Mr. William Sprogel and Mrs. Hannah D. Yerkes, of Hatboro.
44 HON.-N. B. BOILEAU.
to the neighborhood of Philadelphia. The father of Nathaniel B,
came to Mooreland township and purchased a farm of eighty acres
land now owned by Mr. Lewis R. Willard, about two miles north-
east of the present borough of Hatboro. Here Nathaniel B. Boileau
was born in 1763, and also two sisters. When Nathaniel B. was 33
years old, in 1796, his father sold to him his farm just referred to,
and at the same time a tract of twenty acres in Bucks county, for
^550, the deed for both being certified ''before Robert Loller,
one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas." This property,
or the first part of it, he exchanged some time after for a farm of
two hundred acres on the southern limit of the borough, land now
owned by Judge W. H. Yerkes and the Bates family.
Isaac Boileau was a well to-do farmer, and gave his only son the
best education possible, sending him to Princeton College, where
he graduated. His mother must have been advanced in life at his
birth, for persons still living remember her residing at Hatboro as
late as 181 2, when she was well nigh a hundred years old. We do
not know when Mr. Boileau graduated at college, but it must have
been previous to 1788, when he was 25 years of age; for he had
married Hester Leech in 1795, who bore him one son, Thomas
Leech Boileau, she dying in her 30th year, in 1797. Of the events
of his life from the time he graduated till he began to figure as a
politician in 1797, we have no record beyond the fact that he was
interested in Fitch's efforts to perfect his boat to run by steam.
Mr. Boileau himself was an ingenious man, accustomed to the use
of tools, though but a farmer, and constructed one of Fitch's model
steamboats. During college vacations, as he related in after life,
he made the paddle-wheels of said boat, and assisted the inventor
in testing its capacity on some of the ponds near his father's resi-
dence. In this period of eight or ten years it is presumed he was
dividing his time between farm labor and studies, preparatory to
the active public life he afterwards led. He was undoubtedly con-
versant with all the writings of the political fathers of our young
Republic, and it is safe to say that few men of his time more heartily
drank in the spirit of Seventy-six than Nathaniel B. Boileau. Pub-
lic documents and political papers from his pen, found in the news-
paper files of the first quarter of the present century, abundantly
show this.
Some time after he made the exchange of properties he divided
(in 1 801) the large farm on the York road, and built a very fine
mansion on one part of it for his own use, which at that time was
HON. N. B, BOILEAU. 45
one of the finest residences in the county. The remainder of the
property, with the old homestead, about thirty-five years after, he
sold to Joseph B. Yerkes, Esq.* The stone for building his fine
house was quarried with his own hands, and he also dug the cellar.
This dwelling, adjoining Loller Academy, he occupied many years,
till compelled by losses in his old age to part with it also.
Nathaniel B. Boileau's family history is one of the most curious
and unfortunate in private annals. He was born rich, married
twice to wealthy sisters; was sober, industrious, frugal, and yet
died poor. He was one of the few eminent men who lived a use-
ful life, and departed with the world greatly his debtor. But he
was in a sense unfortunate in all his domestic relations. He first
courted and was engaged to Charlotte Leech, but just before their
nuptials were to be celebrated she took sick and died. After a time
he offered his hand to Hester, the sister of his affianced but de-
ceased bride, was accepted, and they were married in June, 1795.
She died on September 13th, 1797. After remaining a widower
about seven years he married still another sister, Ann Leech, who-
lived till March, 1834, but they never had any children. Thus, at
71, Mr. Boileau was left alone again, with the one only son of his-
first wife, to whom he gave the best education, he being, as him-
self, a graduate of Princeton College. The latter, after completing
his studies, had graduated as a lawyer, and practiced for some time
in Philadelphia. But after marrying a very nice woman, named
Maria Kline, sister of Dr. William Kline, of Philadelphia, he fell
into irregular habits, separated from his wife, and died at Beaver
Meadows, Pennsylvania, without children, in 1855. His father fol-
lowed him in offices of mercy and paternal love for many years,
hoping he might be reclaimed, and wasted large amounts of money
to make him comfortable, only to be disappointed in the end.
With the exception of the children of two sisters of N. B. Boileau,
there is none of his family living to-day.
We turn now from this melancholy record to the public life of
N. B. Boileau, which in the main was grand and useful to his coun-
try, but, measured by the disappointments at its close, unfortunate,
as his domestic relations had been.
As before stated, Mr. Boileau was elected to the General Assem-
bly in 1797, at the bottom of the legislative ticket, along with Cad-
*The following: anecdote illustrates the attachment of the kind old gentleman to the
home of his youth. Mr. Yerkes, on purchasing the homestead, consulted him about re-
moving some of the timber. " Cut it all down as you like, but spare that dear old chest-
nut tree while I live," said Mr. Boileau.
46 HON. N. B. BOILEAU.
■wallader Evans, Benjamin Brooke and Peter Muhlenberg, This
■was before the division of voters into Federals and Republicans, for
all the others were afterwards Federals, as Boileau was subsequently-
known as an active Republican. Mr. B. was thus returned three
times, making four sessions he attended continuously. In 1802 he
was left at home, but the session of 1803-4 he was sent back again,
as also the sessions of 1806-7-8. He stands alone on the records
of the county as having represented it in the lower house for eight
years. During his last session, in 1808, he was elected Speaker on
the 19th of January. But we must go back and detail his legisla-
tive acts in their order, as they are recorded in the newspaper files
consulted.
During the years 1803-4-5-6 he was paymaster of the county
volunteer militia. On December 17th, 1804, Mr. Boileau obtained
by appropriation ^2000 for the endowment of the Norristown
Academy, and in 1805 had charge of the articles of impeachment
against Judges Edward Shippen, Jasper Yates and Thomas Smith.
He made a very able and elaborate report and argument against
them before the Senate on behalf of the House, but the former
body acquitted the accused by 13 to 11 — not a two-third vote. At
this time party spirit began to run very high. Republicans charging
Federalists with sympathy for England, and the latter stigmatizing
their opponents with the name of Jacobins, and with being in favor
of "French atheists." In 1806 Mr. Boileau, as the leader of the
House of Representatives, moved a committee to draw up an ad-
dress to President Jefferson, urging him to suffer his name to be
used as a candidate for a third term. The House adopted the mo-
tion, and Mr. B. presented a very able paper, which was passed by
both houses (in the House by 56 to 19), and sent to Washington.
During this year politics were fiercely contested, and a Democratic-
Republican association formed, of which Mr. Boileau was Presi-
dent, Dr. William Smith Vice President, Jonathan Roberts, Jr.,
Secretary, and Stephen Porter Treasurer.
The year 1807 was a busy one for Mr. B., and his name appears
as connected with almost every public movement. On January ist
he presented a petition from members of the German Lutheran
church of Barren Hill asking for "permission to raise ^3000 by a
lottery for its benefit." He also framed the law for the establish-
ment of the Montgomery county poor-house, and got it passed.
This year also a bill, adopted by his agency, authorized the raising
of ^1400 by lottery to build an English school at Sumneytown, and
HON. N. B. BOILEAU. 47
-on February 25th, being chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means, he made a report on State finances, exhibiting the revenue
Hn a healthy condition.
This year the outrage of the British frigate Leopard firing on the
Chesapeake in time of peace, and taking out of the latter some al-
ile^ed British seamen, produced a profound feeling of exasperation
dll over the country. Public meetings were held in different States
:to take action upon it, and prepare the public mind for a becoming
^vindication of the outrage or a declaration of war. Such a meet-
ing of enrolled militia was held in our county, and Mr. Boileau was
appointed chairman of a committee of correspondence to confer
vwith other such meetings or bodies, with a view of bringing public
-«entiment up to the point of resistance.
>0n-Febxuary .13th, ^1807, Mr. Boileau offered a resolution to ap-
:point a committee to inquire into the expediency of repealing an
act of Assembly passed in 1777, making the Common Law of Eng-
land the law of Pennsylvania, and report by bill or otherwise. This
was a time of much anti-English feeling in the country, and it was
alleged impossible for unlearned persons to know under what laws
•they were living.
As before stated, party spirit ran very high, and much dissatis-
iTaction was felt and expressed in "Republican" circles at the aus-
"tere and aristocratic bearing of Governor McKean. So much oppo-
sition was manifested against his renomi nation for a third term, in
fact, that Simon Snyder came within a few votes of beating him in
the canvass before the legislative caucus. Accordingly a motion
was made in the House during the last year of his third term to
■"inquire into his official conduct," but it was lost by a tie vote.
Mr. Boileau recorded in favor of laying the motion on the table —
that is, in the negative. In January, 1808, Mr. B. moved that
"our Senators in Congress be instructed and our Representatives
ibe requested to support a bill for opening water navigation, by
-canal, between the Delaware and Susquehanna," and Mr. Boileau
;and Mr. Leib called up a bill which had been previously reported
iin favor .of opening water communication between the Schuylkill
:and Susquehanna rivers.
As .before stated, Mr. B. was elected Speaker of the House on
TDeceai"ber 8th, 1808, and made a pertinent speech on the occasion.
On the 20th of the same month, however, Simon Snyder, then just
•elected Governor, appointed him Secretary of the Commonwealth,
4o which office he was reappointed December 17th, 181 1, and De-
48 HON. N, B. BOILEAU.
cember 20th, 18 14. On his resignation to accept the Secretaryship,
Richard T. Leech, probably a relative, was elected early in 1809 to
the vacant seat.
It is a curious fact that one of the last legislative acts of Mr. B.,
as one of the first, signed by the new Governor (Snyder), was an
omnibus lottery scheme, entitled an act to raise $7000 by that
means, to enable an association in Montgomery county "to pro-
mote the culture of the vine and to pay their debts and accomplish
the objects of their association" ; also including two thousand, as
before stated, to build a school house at Sumneytown in which to>
teach English.
In the fall of 1808, Colonel, or Judge Robert Loller, an eminent
and wealthy neighbor, died, leaving the bulk of his estate, after the
death of his widow, which happened in 1810, to build and endow
Loller Academy, and Mr. Boileau was left sole executor, a positiors
of great trust and responsibility. He was charged in the will with
the duty of building and providing for the seminary according to his
own judgment and plans. This institution Mr. B. erected during
1811-12 on ground adjacent to his property, and disbursed some
;^i 1,000, the residue of the estate, with great wisdom and* fidelity..
The war breaking out in the summer of 181 2 greatly increased
the duties and responsibilities of Governor Snyder and his Secre-
tary. Though bred only a civilian, he had to assume the duty of
Aid to the Governor, and was so appointed in May of that year in?
company with John B. Gibson, Wilson Smith and John Binns, with
the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. About that time, or soon after, a
draft was issued for fourteen thousand men for the defence of the
State and nation, and there not being appropriations to fully equip
the troops Mr. Boileau made advances from his private purse. In
fact, the first mortgage given on his land was to raise three or four
thousand dollars to procure blankets for the soldiers, and either-
through informality of law or the modest unselfishness of Mr..
Boileau, that vaonty was never repaid him. This is given on the
authority of one who had it, many years after, from his own lips„
Mr. Boileau and his family were Republican or Democratic in all
their habits and instincts. Instead, therefore, of his wife and soni
removing to Lancaster* and Harrisburg, and living in style as the
manner of most officials now, his family remained at Hatboro.
• The eight years of legislative service, and nine as Secretary of the
Commonwealth under Honest Simon Snyder, caused no abate-
*Tbe State Capital at th« time of Snyder's inauguration.
HON. N. B. BOILEAU. 49
ment in the rigid morality and sterling patriotism of Mr. Boileau.
All the animosities felt against him, therefore, were purely political,
and from the able manner he had filled the post of Secretary for
three terms, having the full confidence of Mr. Snyder, justified the
expectation that he would be taken up for Governor to succeed
him. Nearly the last political, or military, appointment he filled
was that of Acting Adjutant General from May, 1816, to January,
181 7. In March, 181 7, however, the legislative caucus, or State
convention, assembled to place a Democratic candidate for Gover-
nor before the people. William Findley, who had been a repre-
sentative in Congress almost from the organization of the Govern-
ment, Isaac Weaver, of our county, Speaker of the Senate, and the
Secretary, N. B. Boileau, were informally nominated. When it
came to a vote Findley received 99 to Boileau's 14. Whether per-
sonal chagrin at his defeat by Mr. Findley had anything to do with
warping his clear judgment in the matter, or whether Mr. Boileau's
allegations were well grounded, cannot now be known, but Mr. B.
charged the nomination to corrupt influences exerted by Findley,
and he broke with his party by writing a bold letter in which he
made that charge in unmistakable terms. Mr. Boileau did not hesi-
tate in that letter to espouse the side of Joseph Hiester, Mr. Find-
ley's Federal opponent. This letter got into the hands of the latter
party, which was used in the canvass, and a crisis in Mr. Boileau's
political life was reached at once.
The Democratic county committee appointed by the nominating
State convention, consisting of Philip S. Markley, Henry Scheetz,
Benjamin Reiff, Philip Reed and Philip Yost, prepared and issued
a secret circular just before the election, denouncing Mr. Boileau
as a traitor for charging that Findley got his nomination corruptly.
Mr. B. retorted briefly but sharply, charging that Markley had col-
lected a large sum of bounty money that he had appropriated to his
own use, and paraded some documents fastening the charge upon
him.
Except an active advocate of the anti-Masonic movement from
1829 to 1834, this Findley and Hiester campaign was Mr. Boileau's
last appearance in politics. In reference to the letter that led to
his exit from the Democratic party, the editor of the Norristown
Herald, alluding to it, says: "We have never been the eulogist of
Mr. Boileau, but his integrity and probity have never by us been
questioned."
Mr. Boileau joined the anti-Masonic movement with considerable
50 HON. N. B. BOILEAU.
zeal, and when Joseph Ritner was elected Governor by that party
he received the appointment of Register of Wills in January, 1836,
and held it three years, his son Thomas acting as his deputy and
clerk. This was the last public office he filled.
It only remains further to refer to Mr. Boileau's exalted private
life, sum up his political career, and record his peaceful death. In
sterling integrity, patriotic aims, ingrain Republican principles,
and unselfish benevolence, Mr. Boileau has had few if any superiors
in our county. One that knew him best of any says: "He was
very benevolent. The indigent never went away from his door
empty handed; he gave to the poor as long as he had anything to
give. He worked on the farm in haying and harvest till past mid- •
die life. He was very industrious and never idle; was very handy
with tools for working in wood; made nearly all his farm imple-
ments, even wagons, carts, plows, harrows, etc. He was the most
capable and trusty business man of the time to settle estates, act on
arbitrations, and the like." Another neighbor says: '"'Mr, Boi-
leau's moral and religious character was as high as any man's could
be for honesty, integrity and good will to men ; he was benevolent
to a fault, for he seemed to give when he had nothing to bestow.
No man more than he had the confidence of his friends." After
the temperance reform arose he was an ardent advocate of the
cause; was many years President of the Montgomery County Tem-
perance Society, and a member of the Bible society. The latter
quoted friend further says of him: " His estate was largely sunk by
efforts to reform his prodigal son. He went West to look after
his welfare, then returned and died with his niece at Abington,
whose husband was sexton of Dr. Steele's church, to which he (Mr.
Boileau) had long been a worthy member and supporter. As his
money left him, so did his friends; and of all he knew in the days
of his wealth and influence, there were not enough present at his
funeral to carry him to the grave without his relatives assisting."
In person Mr. Boileau was rather under than over the medium
stature, Avell built, dark, florid complexion, stooping somewhat in
his old days, and in figure and countenance resembled the portraits
of John Quincy Adams. In society he was social, cheerful, and
could adapt himself to all grades of people, often bringing himself
down to the capacity and moods of children, and jesting with them
to their great delight. His want of rigid care of property in his
old days was perhaps a weakness, but an amiable one, for his wealth
PHILIP HOOVER. $1
lasted nearly as long as he had use for it, and when the summons
■came he had no idol to bind him to earth as many have.
The most interesting remains of this truly great and good man
are two oil portraits in the possession of Mr. William Sprogel, of
Hatboro, one of them taken early in life and the other when he was
Secretary of the Commonwealth ; and the large Bible containing
family records in the bold, clear handwriting of this eminent man,
as also a painted life-size portrait of Mr. Boileau's first wife, are
now in possession of Mr. John Jacobs, of Norristown, whose wife is
.a sister of the wife of Thomas L. Boileau, deceased.
Thus died in poverty Nathaniel B. Boileau, who was born rich,
married two wealthy wives, was industrious,' honest, frugal, and
patriotic. He outlived all his early friends and relatives except his
(■unfortunate son, till he was nearly left alone in the world, and went
up like Lazarus to his reward on high. As his life was no sham, so
there are no "lies" nor fulsome eulogies on his tomb-stone, the in-
scription on which, in Abington Presbyterian church-yard, reads as
follows ;
N. B. BOILEAU,
DIED MARCH i6TH, 1850,
In the 8Sth year of his age.
PHILIP HOOVER, Esq.
" No man knows his own strength or value but by being put to the proof. The pi-
lot is tried in a storm ; the soldier in battle ; the rich man knows not how to behave him-
self in poverty. — Seneca.
Philip Hoover was born July 20th, 1782, in HiUtown township,
Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He was a son of Henry and Margaret
Hoover, the maiden name of the latter being Hern. Their parents
came from Germany. In the year 1794 the family removed to
■Gwynedd township, Montgomery county, where he purchased a
'farm containing two hundred acres. Philip received a common
•school education, and was a close student, which in his after life
^was of great advantage to him. He became a member of Boehm's
(German Reformed) church on September 13th, 1804, and such he
■continued while he lived. He was first elected a deacon, and then
•an elder, which latter position he held at the time of his death, be-
iing a member of the consistory over forty years. He was delegate
52 PHILIP HOOVER.
to iTiany of the ecclesiastical bodies that convened during that
period.
Mr. Hoover married Mary, second daughter of Hon. Frederick
Conrad, of Worcester township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania,
on November 13th, 1804. They had thirteen children, named
Frederick W., Julian, Susanna, Maria, Henry C, Ann, Catharincr
Hiram, Conrad, Albert C, Ann Elizabeth, and Andrew J. Only
six, however, lived to manhood and womanhood, four sons and two
daughters, to-wit: Frederick, Hiram, Albert, Andrew, Maria, and
Ann Elizabeth. At the death of the progenitor, Henry Hoover,
the property was divided into two parts, Philip taking the old man-
sion with one hundred acres of land, upon which he lived nearly
all his life. He removed to the city of Philadelphia, however, and
kept a grocery store one year. Preferring farming as an occupation,
he returned, and there remained till 1830, when he removed to new
buildings which he had erected on the place, and retired from the
active duties of the farm for awhile. He had also been elected to
the State Legislature, in which position he served three years, the
customary term. While sitting there he opposed granting such un-
limited franchises to corporations, believing it was dangerous to in-
vest a corporate body with power that could, and most likely would,
be used to enhance their own interest regardless of the welfare of
others. He served as an officer in a rifle regiment under command
of General Cadwallader during the war of 181 2-1 4. He was con-
sidered a useful and good citizen, serving his neighbors in various
ways, and filling nearly all the positions of township officer, juror,,
and the like, during the whole period of his adult life. Betweea
the ages of sixty and seventy he traveled considerably, taking de-
light in seeing the improvements of the country. He helped to de-
fend against British aggressions. His faculties were unimpaired^
down to his death-bed, when he died in his 83d year.
Hiram C. Hoover, son of Philip and Mary Hoover, was born ons
October 23d, 1822, in Gwynedd township, Montgomery county,.
Pennsylvania, and educated in the common and select schools of the-
neighborhood. He also studied vocal and instrumental music, whichi
he afterwards taught for twenty-five years. Several choirs in neigh-
boring churches were established by him, and he was a member of
the first Sunday school organized in the neighborhood, of which he
became teacher, and next Superintendent. He was admitted a.
member of Boehm's church in his i8th year, elected elder at an
early age, and has been re-elected continuously at the expiration of
PHILIP HOOVER. 53
-each term ever since. He has been President of the consistory
^luring all the time except the first year.
On the 4th of March, 1847, ^^ was united in marriage with
Margaret, youngest daughter of the late Frederick Dull, Sr., of
Whitemarsh township. To them were born four children, William
A., Irvin W., Sarah D. and Mary M. Irvin died in the 3d year of
his age; the three living are grown to manhood and womanhood.
William and Sarah are married, the latter removing to Richmond,
Virginia. All are members of the Reformed church. In 1849
Hiram C. Hoover purchased a farm in Norriton township, at the in-
tersection of the turnpike and the Stony Creek railroad, on which
he has erected a number of improvements. Soon after his removal
to this place he was elected Superintendent of a Sabbath school at
Burr's meeting house, where he continued several years. He also
became a member of Penn Square Literary Society, in which he
took great interest, participating in nearly all the discussions. He
has served as school director eleven years, was President of the con-
vention at which Professor A. Rambo was first elected County Su-
perintendent of the schools of the county, was elected Justice of the
Peace three times, and has been President of the Norristown and
■Centre Square Turnpike Company since its organization. He was
-elected to the State Legislature three times, serving during the ses-
sions of 1862-3-4, and also served two terms of five years as an Asso-
ciate Judge of the several courts of this county. He has also been
a member of the Board of Trustees of Franklin and Marshall Col-
lege, and also recently chosen to a like position on the Board of
Ursinus at Collegeville. He has been connected with Sabbath
schools the greater part of his life, and is at present teacher of the
Bible class at Boehm's church, consisting of over thirty young men
and women. This record shows that he is a very worthy descend-
ant of his father, and also of his grandfather, Hon. Frederick
Conrad.
54 ZADOK THOMAS.
ZADOK THOMAS, Esq.
" Old age, thine evening twilight, for him who has a Saviour, blends so undistin--
guished with the sunrise,' that there is scarcely a night between." — Tlwltick.
Among the quiet, unpretending business men of the past
two generations in this locahty, none have left a stronger ex-
ample or brighter testimony to the excellency of uprightness
and commercial integrity than he whose name stands at the-
head of this page. He was born in Newtown township, Del-
aware county, 1773. The family are of Welsh origin, and.
connected by blood or affinity with that of General Wayne,,
having settled in the same locality with the ancestors of that
great man. Very early in life, being of delicate frame, he was-
put into a store, to which business he was trained, and became
a very successful merchant and expert book-keeper, always-
adhering to the double-entry system.
In all his long intercourse with the world, the writer has-
rarely if ever met with a more scrupulously honest or exact-
man than Zadok Thomas.* To a nice sense of justice and
truth he added wonderful prudence and exactitude in details..
He was sought, therefore, for charitable trusts, and accordingly
for nearly fifty years was Treasurer of the Montgomery County
Bible Society, as also for many years Treasurer of the First:
Presbyterian Church, and his accounts were always accurate
to the half-penny.
Early in life Mr. Thomas was married to Ruth Thomas,,
whose maiden name was the same as his own, and they had-
one son and two daughters. The first, named Azariah, he-
bred to store-keeping, and for a great many years he followed
mercantile business in the Great Valley, and afterwards at
*Many years ago Mr. Thomas was a trustee of one of the Norristown churches, but
not a member of its communion or of any church tlien, when the following question
arose: A certain very prominent man, bearing about the same relation to the church
congregation and property as himself, had assisted to lay off the grave-yard adjoining,,
specifying certain aisles or passages between the lots, which latter were proposed to be
sold for tke benefit of the corporation. Stakes had been affixed to these passages, and
the survey was considered settled and final. Subsequently this leading individual de-
sired to purchase a large lot close in the rear of the house of worship, and- to extend
across the middle avenue, forgetful or regardless of the meets and bounds of the yard.
This almost demand came up as a question in the Board of Trustees, and at first a ma-
jority of the members, many of them eminent for their piety, were disposed to yield the-
point out of deference to a strong-willed, wealthy man, but Mr. Thomas still mildly
protested, saying, "It is not right; Mr. ought not to ask such a thing.
There is ground enough on each side, as much as he desires. Besides, Mr. knows-
that he is seeking to break over the regulations he himself helped to establish."
His arguments and firm uprightness prevailed. The wealthy gentleman was recon-
ciled to a side lot and the rules of the corporation maintained.
ZADOK THOMAS. 55
Sugartown. He is now some years deceased, leaving one or
two daughters, who reside at West Chester. Zadok and Ruth
Thomas' daughter JuHa Ann married a gentleman named Gait,
who died about middle life, leaving her a widow with two sons,
Zadok T. and James Gait. These were educated partly at
Norristown, and the former studied law with Daniel H. Mul-
vany, Esq., and married his sister. For many years he has
resided at Reading and in Schuylkill county, and been in the
employ of the Reading Railroad. His younger brother, James
Gait, lives a prosperous business man at Stirling, 111. Zadok
and Ruth Thomas' youngest daughter, Maria, also married a
Gait, and has a son, Azariah T. Gait, Esq., a prominent lawyer
at Chicago, 111. They also had a younger son, Z. T. Gait,
who learned watchmaking.
At a very early date Zadok Thomas formed a partnership in
store-keeping with William Speakman, a friend of his youth,
doing business at Dilworthstown, in Delaware county, five
miles south of West Chester, which firm existed over forty
years, and was only dissolved by the death of Speakman. For
a short time also, about 1816, Mr. T. was in partnership with
David Thomas in Norristown ; but afterwards for many years
with his son kept the King-of-Prussia store, but some time be-
fore retiring from active business purchased a small farm on
the Ridge turnpike road above Norristown, where he lived till
about 1853 or 1854, when he sold it and removed into town.
Shortly before this, August 5th, 1852, Ruth Thomas died, aged
Biy years.
In 1 83 1 he was elected President of the Montgomery County
Bank, a post which his accurate business habits, great pru-
dence and judgment, eminently fitted him to fill. A few years
before his death Mr. Thomas united with St. John's Episcopal
Church, Norristown. His mind had been keenly alive to the
claims of religion for several years before, but was prevented
from uniting with the Presbyterian Church, to which his eldest
daughter was attached, out of conscientious scruples in accept-
ing the whole Calvinistic creed. For a long time before his
death he was feeble, but clear-headed and cheerful, and the
venerable old patriarch quietly passed away December 27th.
$6 HON. JACOB FRY, JR.
1865, in his 92d year, and is buried in the cemetery of the
First Presbyterian Church. Zadok Thomas' hfe was a re-
markable illustration of the Bible declaration that "The fear of
the Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall
be shortened," for from a delicate youth, by uprightness and
temperance, his time was almost extended to a centur}'.
HON. JACOB FRY, Jr.
" An honest man's the noblest work of God," says Pope in
his Essay on Man. Very few men, especially politicians, ever
more modestly earned the title " honest" than Jacob Fry, Jr.,
the subject of this biography. His friends applied it to him,
and his political opponents conceded it, during a long public
career. In this respect he resembled Abraham Lincoln, who
was so single-minded, and of such blended firmness and gen-
tleness, that he neither excited the animosity of his associates
on the one hand nor their envy on the other.
Jacob Fry, Jr.,* son of Jacob and Elizabeth Fry, of the vil-
lage of Trappe, Upper Providence township, Montgomery
county, was born on the loth of June, 1802. His family is
said to have arrived in Pennsylvania from one of the German
palatinates during the emigrations from 1710 to 1750.
His early education was chiefly obtained in the common
schools of his native village, and much of it under the tuition
of Francis R. Shunk, afterwards Governor of the State, as
also he attended school in company with him, as they were
neighbors to each other. In his twenty-fifth year he was mar-
ried to Mary Gross, only daughter of Hon. Samuel Gross, who
had served several terms in the State Legislature, and two
(from 1 8 19 to 1823) in Congress.
Jacob and Mary Fry's children were Benjamin F., born
*His father lived near him till 1852, during: nearly the whole period of his public life,
and having used the affix "Jr." so long, he continued to sign his name so while he
lived.
HON. JACOB FRY, JR. 57
March 13, 1828; Samuel Gross, January 24, 1832, and Jacob
February 9. 1834. The eldest died in infancy, 1831 ; Samuel
Gross, in Philadelphia in 1876. The youngest and only sur-
vivor of the family is the Rev. Jacob Fry, D, D., of Trinity
Lutheran Church, Reading, Pa.
On arriving at manhood the subject of our biography, having
a good common school education, engaged in teaching till
1830, when Governor Wolf appointed him Prothonotary and
Clerk of the Courts of Montgomery county, which post he
lield about four years, till the conclusion of Hon. Joel K,
Mann's second term in Congress, when he was nominated and
-elected in the fall of 1834 as his successor. At the conclusion
of his first Congressional term he was re-elected in 1836, and
•served during the exciting times consequent upon the collapse
of bank credits and the inauguration of the Independent
Treasury under Van Buren's administration. Being elected as
.a Democrat, Mr. Fry gave his party an active and uniform sup-
port, and returned to the people at the end of four years popu-
lar with the Democracy at least, though he had sympathized
to some extent with the free-trade notions then prevalent with
his party at the South. He also, doubtless from convictions
of duty, acted in harmony with those of Van Buren's admin-
istration who maintained that all discussion of the subject of
■slavery by the National Legislature was impertinent and un-
^varranted by existing compacts. He was present, therefore,
during most of the time the Atherton rule against " agitation"
and the right of petition was in force, and witnessed many a
tilt between the old-man-eloquent (J. Q. Adams) and slave-
holding Hotspurs, who ruled supreme at that time. Mr. Fry
^vas present also when the great Commoner expired in his seat.
From 1838 to 1853, a period of fifteen years, he was in no
public employment, but attended to his store and assisted neigh-
bors by counsel in matters of law and business. It is related
to his credit in this connection that he squelched many law
suits among his neighbors by bringing them together and per-
suading them to compromise their disputes. It is further re-
lated of him that while very shrewd and devoted to his own
interests in buying, selling, and attending to his concerns, he
58 HON. JACOB FRY, JR.
was never known to take advantage of opportunities for pecu-
niary gain afforded by office or while dealing in behalf or
others. With such qualities of mind and habits of industry it
is not surprising that his estate at the time of his death was
considerable. It was during this long period that he acquired-
from his confiding friends the familiar title of " Honest Jacob
Fry."
In 1853 he was elected to the lower house of Assembly, and;
was re-elected the next year, thus completing a legislative term
according to party usage. A short time previous to this his
brother Daniel, no doubt under his patronage and by his as-
sistance, started the Montgomery Watchman, which was pub-
lished at Norristown many years, and finally incorporated with
the Register. It is thought that the establishment of that paper
looked to the presentation of his claims for Governor as against
the aspirations of Mr. Sterigere, who owned and controlled the
Register. Be that as it may, in 1856, just about the time or
his rival's death, he was nominated for Auditor General, was
elected, and served the full term, commencing May 5th, 1857,
and ending in i860. His administrative supervision of State-
finances was, like all his other fiduciary trusts, discharged with^
scrupulous honesty and care.
From the close of his public life in i860, to 1866, when he
died, on the 28th of November, he was engaged in his store,
thus, like an old-fashioned German as he was, ending life at
work in his native village, after a long and useful career, andl
his remains lie buried in the cemetery of Augustus Lutheram
Church, of which for many years he had been an honored
member and President of its vestry. He died of dropsy of the:
chest, aged 64 years, 5 months, and 18 days.
In person Mr. Fry was rather above medium height, stoutly-
built, and of grave demeanor, which was made more conspicu-
ous by generally dressing in black and wearing a white cravat,,
thus making him resemble a clergyman in appearance. His.
complexion was darkly florid, with jet black hair. His air and
the contour of his features bore a striking resemblance to-
Governor John F. Hartranft.
Francis R. Shunk, whom he greatly resembled in moral andi
REV. HENRY ANTES. 59
social traits, and the subject of our biography were life-long
friends, the latter presiding over the convention that nominated
the former for the Chair of State in 1844. The Governor
usually spent nearly a week each summer at the house of his
friend. He was devotedly attached to the doctrines and usages
of the Lutheran church, and was on intimate terms with many
of its most prominent clergymen. In early life, while teach-
ing school, he was for a time organist of the church.
A vein of dry humor was natural to him, but neither sar-
casm nor bitterness ever fell from his lips. The writer of these
lines, though heartily antagonizing his political opinions during
and subsequent to his Congressional service, had frequent in-
terviews with him, and bears witness to the firmness yet cour-
tesy with which he defended his own political views. His
widow died in 1872.
REV. HENRY ANTES.
Religion ! what treasure untold
Resides in that heavenly word !
More precious than silver or gold,
Or all that this earth can afford.— CoifpeA
The subject of this biography, originally a pious layman of
Frederick township, Montgomery county, was probably born
in Germany, and emigrated to Pennsylvania during the first
quarter of the last century. Church records inform us that
about 1736 he was known in the upper end as " the pious Re-
formed layman and farmer of Frederick." Being a man of
deep and earnest religious feeling, he felt a lively interest in
the Germans and their descendants, who at that day had few
opportunities of divine worship. Accordingly he undertook
to supply the lack of a licensed ministry by gathering the peo-
ple together wherever he could do so, praying with them, and
addressing them on religious matters. Hence he acquired the
title of " the pious farmer and teacher of Frederick."
On the invitation of John Adam Gruber, a Moravian brother,
60 GEN. HENRY SCHEETZ.
he went to Bethlehem and joined the community there. From
1745- to 1750 he was entrusted with most of the secular affairs
of the settlement, and frequently accompanied the celebrated
Zinzendorf in his missionary journeys abroad. In the latter
year, however, finding the " brethren" disposed to introduce
the wearing of a white surplice at the administration of the
sacrament, and thinking it a backward step toward Rome,
separated himself from them and came back to his farm in
Frederick. Two years after, however, he accompanied Bishop
Spangenberg and two others to the wilds of North Carolina,
with a view of purchasing a tract of land upon which to found
a new Moravian settlement. Late in the summer of that year
he died, and was buried on his farm in Frederick. Ten of the
brethren from Bethlehem carried his remains to the tomb, and
Bishop Spangenberg preached a funeral sermon on the occa-
sion.
We do not certainly know, but it is highly probable that
Frederick Antes, who figures in Revolutionary annals, was a
son of Rev. Henry Antes. The former was one of the dele-
gates to the Revolutionary convention or congress which met
at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, in 1775, and also of the one
that met the year following. His name appears associated with
Colonel John Bull, also of our county, during the war, as a pur-
chaser of army supplies.
GEN. HENRY SCHEETZ.
" I have had many things in my hands, and I have lost tlieni all; but whatever I
have been able to place in God's, I still possess." — Martin Luther.
One of the most prominent and influential citizens of Mont-
gomery county fifty years ago was Brigadier General Henry
Scheetz, of Whitemarsh township. Without doubt the family
is of German origin and Protestant, probably of the emigra-
tion which came to Philadelphia about 1686 under Francis
Daniel Pastorius, and settled " ye Garmantown." This is
made the more probable by the fact, stated in Colonial or State
GEN. HENRY SCHEETZ. 6 1
archives, that " Johan Jacob Scheetz owned 428 acres of land
in Germantown, being part of a tract of 5350 acres bought for
the German Land Company by Pastorius."
Henry Scheetz was the son of Henry and Catharine Scheetz,
of Whitemarsh, and no doubt was born near where, as a farmer,
he Hved all his life, and probably on the land above described
as being in Germantown. His father was a capable and influ-
ential man, as shown by the fact that he was appointed one of
the five Associate Judges of Montgomery county as early as
1784. His grandfather, also named Henry, who came from
Germany, was the owner of a mill on Sandy run, in White-
marsh or Springfield township.
General Henry Scheetz was born in 1761, and in his youth
received a common school education. He married Elizabeth
Hocker, who lived near Camp Hill, she being eight years
younger than he. They had nine children, to-wit: Henry,
Catharine, George, Margaret, Ann, John, Jacob, James, and
Eliza. The intermarriages and offspring of these, so far as can
be ascertained, are as follows :
Henry married Sarah Campbell; children, George, Eliza-
beth, Margaret, Sarah, and James. Also intermarried with
Margaret Zimmerman; issue by second wife, two children,
Amanda and William.
General Henry and Elizabeth Scheetz's second child, Catha-
rine, was the second wife of Daniel Hitner, Sr., of Marble Hall,
and their children were Daniel Otto, Henry Scheetz, Marga-
ret, and Catharine.
Their next child was Margaret, married to Jonathan Wentz;
children, Henry, Elizabeth, Catharine, and George.
Their third child, George, was married to Margaret Trap;
offspring, Eliza, Charles, Sarah, Catharine, Samuel, George,
and Jacob.
Ann was intermarried with Jacob Harmon, but left no child-
ren.
John H., who studied and practiced law in Norristown many
years, and was Clerk of Courts in 1830, was married to Mar-
garet Plumstead, and had two children, Henry and Ellen.
Jacob married Christiana Acufif, but they had no heirs.
62 , GEN. HENRY SCHEETZ.
James was intermarried to Hannah Wentz; they had three
children, Henry, Eliza, and Caroline.
Eliza, the youngest daughter and the only one of General
Scheetz's children still alive, married William Acuff, who, when
an old man of 90, was accidentally killed near his dwelling, on
September nth, 1878, by a passing railroad train, while at-
tempting, in a carriage, to cross the track. The children
of William and Eliza Acuff are James S., Alfred S., and
Margaret G. These children of the third generation are in-
termarried as follows: Alfred S. to Mary Marshall; issue,
Eliza, John, Willie, and Margaret. Margaret G. is married to
David Thomas, and their children are named William A.,
Harry, and James.
General Henry Scheetz, after the death of his first wife, mar-
ried the widow of Peter Dager, of the same township, who had
died some years previous. Mr. S. and his family were bred in
the tenets of the Reformed church, and most of them were
members of the same. Their remains lie buried in the ceme-
tery of the church of that name in Whitemarsh. Mrs. Eliza-
beth Scheetz, the first wife of General Scheetz, died in 1825,
aged 56 years. He survived her twenty-three years, dying of
pleurisy, in 1848, at the age of 87.
It only remains to narrate his services as a public man. As
appears by the files of the county papers during the early years
of the century, the name of Henry Scheetz is very prominent,
frequently occurring in connection with Democratic meetings,
as also with the county militia. So early as 1805 he was
elected to the lower house of Assembly, and once nominated
for Senator, but failed of an election by a few votes. In 181 1
he was Director of the Poor ; and in connection with John B.
Sterigere and others, though in his 77th year, was chosen in
1837 a member of the convention to revise the Constitution of
the State. Previous to 1825, and for several years thereafter,
he was at times chosen a director of the Bank of Montgomery
County. Shortly after the breaking out of the war of 1812,
Henry Scheetz marched to the camp established at Marcus
Hook, on the Delaware, designed to defend DuPont's powder
works, near Wilmington, from destruction by the British. We
HARMAN YERKES. 63
'have not learned his rank there, though it is certain he held
some command, as for many years after he was designated as
^General Scheetz, having finally reached the rank of Brigadier.
In person the General was tall and stoutly built, of dark
■.complexion, but not black hair; dignified and manly in bear-
ing, and wielding a marked influence in his party and on the
-general public till the time of his death. His influence in the
.Democratic party was such that in 1826, when a hitch occurred
.in making the nomination for Congress, he had sufficient ad-
^dress to get his young friend and protege, John B. Sterigere,
!Esq., on the ticket, and secure his election two or three years
tbefore he was admitted to the bar.
HARMAN YERKES.
W^hile he, from all the stormy passions free
That restless men involve, hears, and but hears,
At distance safe, the human tenapest roar,
Wrapt close in conscious peace. — Thomson.
Harman Yerkes,* merchant and farmer, of Whitemarsh, was
:horn May 21st, 1774, in Mooreland township, Montgomery
county. His father, John Yerkes, was a farmer, who finding
his son Harman a delicate boy, hardly strong enough for his
own calling, placed him at an early age with Samuel Livezey,
•of Plymouth, as a store help, where he remained a number of
years. Having saved of his earnings fifty pounds, he con-
cluded, under the advice of his patron friend Livezey, to start
• a store for himself at Spring Mill. The manner of his going
♦The Yerkes family made their appearance in Bucks county, settling in Warminster,
about a hundred and fifty years ago, when Harman Yerkes bought one hundred and
■ eighty-one acres of the Noble tract, on the Street road. The name is of Germanf origin,
and has been variously spelled Jerghes, Gerjhes, Gerches, Y^erkas, Jerghjes, Sherkes,
■ and otherwise. — Daria' History of Bucks County.
tFrom the various spellings, and consequent rough pronunciation, much more likely
"to be Dutch than German, especially as a large part of tlie settlers of that part of Bucks
•county are known to have been Hollanders.
64 HARMAN YERKES.
Into business is given in his own words, as related to the*
writer many years ago : " Samuel said I had served him faith-
fully, and he would assist me. He went with me to town and
introduced me to the merchants, and said to them, ' Harman
is poor, but he is honest. If he wants a little credit, trust him ;
but don't trust him too much, for much trust ain't good for a
young man.' " He soon, however, had little need of trust fromi
anybody, for till his death he was known in Philadelphia as the
" money-down" buyer. After continuing several years at Spring-
Mill he removed to the store and farm so long known by the
name of " Yerkes' Corner," now Harmanville, at the intersec-
tion of the Ridge turnpike road and the Spring Mill road,
where he died, universally respected, on March 15 th, 1845, at
the ripe old age of 71 years.
Harman Yerkes was eminently a merchant of the olden time,,
disposing of everything at exact and uniform prices, and at
very small advances. He would as soon hare thought of sell-
ing with a short yard-stick or false bushel as to- retail goods om
the modern sensational style — one article at less than cost,, and
another, not so well known, to the buyer, at threefold profits.
If goods would not bring their price they remained on the
shelves as mementoes or as caution not to buy more. This,
perhaps, was not best, but it was his way. Consequently, when
his stock was finally closed out, very many things, well kept,,
were sold to buyers as curiosities of a former age. He was
scrupulously honest to the half penny. If a half cent was due ai
customer on an account or in change, he woi*ld, if no half cent
were at hand, give a half row of pins, or the like, to make precise
settlement. With equal exactitude and conscientiousness he
expected it if due him. In his later years he became wealthy,
and loaned considerable money on bonds and mortgages, and,,
as may be supposed, knew or cared n^hing for " bonuses" in
placing loans. Though living with Friends nearly all his life,
and attending their meetings with tolerable regularity, he was
never a member of the society.
HARMAN YERKES. .65
In 1803 he married Elizabeth Weaver, of Germantown, by
whom he had four sons, Joseph, Reuben, Hiram, and Nathan-
iel, and five daughters, Miriam, Susan, Mary, Martha, and
Anna. Mary intermarried with Daniel H. Dager, who had
extensive marble works near by. Mrs. Dager resides in Nor-
ristown with her daughter, Mrs. Morgan R. Wills, wife of the
editor and proprietor of the Herald. Miriam, the eldest daugh-
ter, has been deceased some years, as also all the sons. Joseph
was married three times. His first wife was Hannah Davis,
daughter of John Davis, of Plymouth, by whom he had two
children, Elizabeth Y., intermarried with J. H. Cooper, and
Hettie Y.,wife of Caleb R. Hallowell; second wife, Mary Harry,
daughter of David Harry, of Conshohocken, by whom he had
three children, Annie H., widow of William Wilson, Mary H.,
wife of Hon. Alan Wood, Jr., and David H., killed at the battle
of the Wilderness; third wife, Elizabeth Marple, of Philadel-
phia, by whom he had two children, Evan M. and Hiram,
who reside in Philadelphia.
Reuben was twice married, but left no children. Nathaniel,
the youngest son, married Sallie J. L. Leedom, and there were
born to them three children, James C, Susan W., and Willie
S., who, with the mother, survive the father, the latter dying
in 1870, aged 53 years.
Daniel H. and Mary W. Dager, the former of whom has
been deceased many years, have also a son, Robert P. Dager,
who is intermarried with Mary D. Hitner, daughter of Henry S.
Hitner, of Marble Hall; also a daughter, Elizabeth Y. Dager,
married, in 1866, to Hutchinson P. Yerkes, oif Doylestown,
where they now reside. They have no children.
Elizabeth, the venerable relict of Harman Yerkes, lived at
the old homestead till April, 1877, when she departed, almost
a centenarian, at 96 years.
66 HON. JONATHAN ROUERTS.
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.*
Constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fixed and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.
The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks, —
They are all fire, and every one doth shine ;
But there's but one in all doth hold his place.f — Shakspeare.
Justly, therefore, was Cato entitled to admiration; when other citizens were fright-
ened at labor and enervated by pleasure, he alone was unconquered by either, not only
when young, but when old and gray-haired. — Plutarch.
Jonathan Roberts, United States Senator from Pennsylvania, was
born on the T6th of August, 1771, at Swamp Vrass Farm, Upper
Merion township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He was the
lineal descendant of John Roberts, of PennychlawdjDenbighshire,
North Wales, who about the year 1682 emigrated to America and
settled in what is now Lower Merion township. He was a mill-
wright by occupation, and erected upon a tract of two hundred and
fifty acres of land, which he purchased from John Ap John and
Thomas Wynne, the third mill which was built in the province of
Pennsylvania. This ancestor, unmarried, had attained the age of
threescore when he reached America. Some time thereafter he mar-
ried a young woman named Elizabeth Owen, aged 18. The latter
died early, leaving her husband three young children, two sons and
a daughter. The youngest of these three children was Mathew
Roberts, the grandfather of the subject of this biography. His
father, the emigrant, died when Mathew was quite young, bequeath-
ing to him the "Plantation lying back in the woods," as it was
then called, but since known as Swamp Vrass. This property is
now owned and occupied by William B. Roberts, a lineal descend-
ant, and has never been out of the family. Mathew, the grand-
father of Jonathan Roberts, had learned the trade of a blacksmith,
and carried on that business in connection with his farm. In 1727
or 1728, at the age of 30, he married Sarah Walter. This marriage
produced five children, who survived their father. Jonathan Rob-
erts, the father of the subject of this sketch, being the eldest, re-
*This biography is compiled from voluminous Memoirs left by the subject in the
hands of his family.
fThe distinguishing characteristics of Jonathan Roberts were moral courage and in-
flexible purpose to do what he thought right. In a recent interview of the author with
the venerable Simon Cameron, the latter gave as his earliest recollections of Mr. R. his
boldly standing up alone, or nearly so, in the caucus of the Pennsylvania Legislature,
against the nomination of Andrew Jackson for President in 1824.
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 6/
-ceived all the advantages of education which were at that time at-
tainable. Of him his son has said: "His conversational powers
were ready, seasoned with judgment and sound reflection. I have
often felt admiration, when of mature age, at the justness of his
views and the weight of his reasoning. To the close of his life I
could discover in him no decay of mind. He was always a great
reader, and delighted in books."
In 1 771, the year of the birth of his son Jonathan, the subject of
this biography, he was chosen a member of the Colonial Assembly,
and returned four successive years, until that body ceased to meet.
The first period of his public service terminated with the Declara-
tion of Independence. He participated in measures which, before
the final rupture with the Crown, were technically treasonable. When
the controversy between England and the colonies became a san-
guinary struggle, he, being a member of the society of Friends, was
constrained to retire from public service. He continued, however,
in his political sentiments a non-militant Whig. In 1784, after the
close of the Revolutionary war, he took great interest and a promi-
nent part in having the county of Montgomery organized and
separated from Philadelphia, and was much from home on that
business at a time when his own concerns needed his presence and
oversight. He had a full share in fixing the seat of justice at Nor-
ristown. It was a warmly contested point, and required, to effect
it, both firmness and address, which he displayed with eminent
success.
He was one of the five commissioners named in the act to pro-
cure the construction of the original public buildings for the county.
In 1 78S he was elected a member of the convention for Montgomery
county to act upon and ratify or reject the Constitution of the
United States, for the State of Pennsylvania. He voted for the
ratification, but not without feeling its imperfections; for, with all
its defects, he regarded it as being preferable to the old Articles of
Confederation. In 1790 he was elected to the House of Represen-
tatives of the United States, under the old Constitution. The old
Whig and Tory parties existed no longer as such. Those questions
had been put at rest by the peace of 1783. He continued, how-
ever, to favor every measure which tended to the establishment of
a free and progressive government and the adoption of a liberal and
tolerant policy. His votes were conclusive in settling some of the
questions arising out of the measures adopted by the Federal Gov-
ernment. In this he acted independently of political association.
68 ' HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
He felt strongly the defects of the State Constitution of 1776, and
exerted himself to have a convention called to remodel it. The con-
vention met, but its labors failed to accomplish the results desired.
The judicial tenure of office, the uncontrolled appointing power in
the Governor as well as the pardoning power, and the long tenure of
service in the Senate, were objectionable to him. In his course in
the National Legislature he took a decisive stand with the anti-
Federalists against the Federalists, who favored a strong executive
government. Those with whom he acted were soon known as Re-
publicans. Montgomerv county was originally in the hands of the-
Federalists. With the close of the session of the House of Repre-
sentatives in 1 791, his public service terminated. He lived in re-
tirement for more than twenty years thereafter, and at the age of Sz
passed to the higher life, a worthy example to his children and their
descendants.
The maternal grandfather of Jonathan Roberts, jr. ,as the subject of
this memoir was for many years called, was David Thomas, a native
of Wales. He married Anna Noble, who was his third wife and
the grandmother of the subject of this biography. Thomas was a
man of influence, but of unpretending modesty. His third wife
was a woman of great force of character, and from her, through his.
mother, Jonathan Roberts inherited some of his most marked traits.
From these parents sprang the mother who gave him birth. Of her
the sou wrote, in describing her to his children: "Her mind was-
active and discriminating, and owed more to exercise than early
cultivation. Her perceptions were quick, clear, and her taste and
appetite for knowledge very strong. She possessed uncommoa
firmness and nerve when their exercise were needed. Her sympa-
thies and affections were ardent, though well regulated and tem-
pered with tenderness. Early impressions and subsequent interrup-
tions of health had strongly impressed her mind with the religious
tenets of Friends; but her piety, though sober, was not tinctured
with gloominess. She had a high relish for the stoic philosophy,,
and with true Catholicism held that it taught much in the spirit of
truth. Even at a late age she relished the sturdy morals of Seneca.
She held the teachings of the Grecian sages in not less veneration
than those which have come to us from the Hebrews. She cher-
ished exalted notions of the value of good faith and integrity of
character."
Such was the ancestral line from which sprung Jonathan Roberts.
He was the fourth of six children that were raised to adult age. As
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 69
before stated, he was born August i6th, 1771, and at the tender
age of five years put to school, his teacher being Lawrence Bathurst,
a nephew of Allen Lord Bathurst, one of the English nobility. He
continued under the charge of Mr. Bathurst until he reached the
age of ten. The latter had received a liberal education at West-
minster school, England, and his influence over his youthful pupil
was permanently impressed upon him. Bathurst was then an elderly
-man, having in his early manhood taught the father in the same
building, which was situated on land of the old family homestead.
Under his old tutor he learned to read, write and cipher with con-
siderable credit, although, as he admitted, with little gratification
in his studies. Even then his services upon the farm became an
object of importance, and he performed his part with such diligence
as to win the approbation of his father, whose habits of industry
made him less indulgent to idleness than is usual with parents. The
habit of useful occupation, thus early acquired, never left him, and
his appreciation of the value of time became keener as he grew in
years. He frequently repeated the lines :
" We take no note of time
But by its loss."
Even as early as the age of ten years Jonathan Roberts had
developed a literary taste unusual in one so young. Speaking of
himself and his elder brother Mathew, he says: " We relished El-
wood's Davidies. We could then distinguish the flowing lines and
good rhymes. I had some perception of David's prowess and his
love of Jonathan. I was not then aware that Achilles had his Pa-
troclus, Alexander his Hephestion, and the existence of the later
imitations of Nisus, Euryalus, Eneas, and Pallas. But none of these
could, in my estimation, compare with the friendship of Jonathan,
the heir of Israel's crown, for his rival, the shepherd boy of Beth-
lehem. I date from this period and circumstance my enthusiastic
veneration for the sages of Greece. Those of Rome never claimed
the same regard from me, nor do they yet." [He was then more
than threescore and ten.] "About this time my mother procured
me the Jewish Antiquities of Josephus. It awakened my admira-
tion for that wonderful people, but it soon subsided when I had
come to know something of the Greek sages, in whom all that was
amiable and sublime in virtue was to be met. I had now begun to
comprehend the full meaning of what I read. Sir Walter Raleigh's
History of the World raised the veil that I might know something
of the outlines of Ancient History. Gordon's Geography, which
had been my father's text-book, was perused with interest, although
70 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
it left a boundless terra incognita. I read the History of Englandi^
in sixteen volumes, by Smollet. With the writings of Josephus
added to these I had an outline, though a faint one,, of much an,-
cient and modern time."
In 1785, when 14 years of age, he entered the school of Edward
Farris at the "Gulph." He lived at home while attending the
latter school, and had about four miles to walk to and from school
daily. His aptness at learning and diligence in the pursuit of
knowledge soon attracted the attention of his teacher, who strove
to diversify his studies. This was an important era of his life, as
his mind was fast opening to the realization of such learning as was.
within reach at that time. Notwithstanding the distinction attained
as a pupil, he remained the humble farmer's boy, and this sim-
plicity of demeanor characterized his early youth. He was markedly
respectful and obedient to his teacher, never having incurred his.
displeasure except in one instance. Mr. Farris wished to train him.
in elocution, and set him to memorize Addison's soliloquy of Cato.
This he refused to do, and in speaking of the incident in after life,,
said : ''I felt too great a repugnance to declaim what had been said
by a man who, as it then appeared to me, had criminally killed,
himself.* I did not then comprehend the purpose of Addison. It.
was a great cross to my teacher. My father, hearing of my obsti-
nacy, was mortified, and censured me freely. Although I revered
his authority, I doubt whether even he could have vanquished my
repugnance to pronounce the soliloquy, for good moral reasons, as-
I then understood the case." His teacher loaned him Rollin's
Ancient History and Pope's Odyssey, which he read with the great-
est delight. With the close of the sping of 1786 his school instruc-
tion ended, when in his i6th year. Long after that, however, his
intercourse with his honored preceptor was of great advantage to
him, and he retained the sentiments of high regard which he had
formed for Mr. Farris in early manhood until the close of his life.
When entering upon his 17th year he was indentured an apprentice
to learn the wheelwright trade with a Mr. Evans, near Downing-
town, Chester county. Accustomed to habits of industry and ap-
plication to business, he soon acquired a knowledge of the handi-
craft, and rapidly won the esteem, confidence and friendly interest
of Mr. and Mrs. Evans.
During the period of his apprenticeship,, which continued for the
*Mr. Roberts must refer liere to the historical fact that notwithstanding Addison'S-
high character as a moralist, he was very intemperate.
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 71
full term of three years, he sought and relished intercourse with
men more cultivated and enlightened than himself. In this respect
he was favored, for among his neighbors were several families whose
friendly interest in the young artisan opened to him that social in-
tercourse, which greatly tends to mould the character of youth for
usefulness and distinction in after years. For the memory of these
early friends and patrons he ever cherished the most grateful re-
gard. In speaking of the recollections of his apprenticeship, late
in life, he said: "I was so engaged in my .work, sometimes, from
earliest dawn to latest twilight, that I could feel the loss of a mo-
ment's interruption in comparing the labors of one day with an-
other. Work absorbed every thought and feeling. I have felt at
times a like abstraction when in ofhce, discharging public duties.
Such entire engrossment has filled up the most pleasurable inter-
vals of my life. To this faculty of entire absorption of my powers,
whether mental or physical, I owe any success I have ever reached. "*
On the expiration of his apprenticeship, in his 21st year, he re-
turned home and resumed labor upon the farm, but took little en-
joyment in the usual recreations, pastimes and pleasures of his
young acquaintances. He hungered after a wider field of action
and higher aims. Visions of a part to be performed in life inspired
his imagination and incited him to efforts for the public good. Al-
though athirst for knowledge, his relish for rural labor was not les-
sened. Indeed, he much preferred the latter occupation to the pur-
suit of his trade. While continuing to attend to such calls for the ex-
ercise of mechanical skill as offered, he did not seek to extend his
business in that direction, preferring to be employed on the farm
whenever his services were needed or could be made most useful.
From the time of his return home he laid down a plan of study
which was to be pursued by the lamp before and after the labors of
the day were performed. It was his especial object to acquire a
satisfactory style of composition, and he wrote much with that view
in the way of essays and correspondence with others having similar
tastes.
At that time political controversy ran very high. Great events
were passing from day to day in which he took the deepest interest.
The French Revolution and the war between Great Britain and
France in 1793 gave rise to a popular ferment in this country that
divided the people into parties animated by the strongest convic-
*This posthumous sentiment of this truly great man is a bright beacon, inviting every
young reader to emulate his example.
72 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
tions as to the proper policy to be adopted by the American Gov-
ernment. Notwithstanding the cruelties and tyranny of the British
Cabinet, many of the most noted and honored statesmen of the
country had been deeply indoctrinated with British theories of a
mixed government. These distinguished leaders in the war for in-
dependence were in control of the government, their notions cul-
minating during the administration of the elder Adams, and the
public measures to which they resorted were such as to arouse the
apprehensions of all wJio felt a desire for the continuance of a real
Republican poMty. This latter portion of the people looked to
Thomas Jefferson as the statesman best fitted to give effect to the
great Declaration of 1776, and initiate a real Democratic govern-
ment. In the political contests which followed, Jonathan Roberts,
although a young man, took a most active and decided part in favor
of Republican men and measures. Hamilton, Knox, and others,
were steadily pressing a policy Avhich they called strong govern-
ment, and among the measures they sought to establish was a sys-
tem of excises. The excise on whiskey fell heavily on the interior
of Pennsylvania, which, in 1794, produced an insurrection in the
western part of the State. This was promptly suppressed by a vig-
orous and powerful military demonstration against the malcontents,
thus avoiding bloodshed ; but the feeling of opposition which even
this show of force aroused, gave vigor and coherence to the anti-
Federal tendencies of the people.
In January, 1795, Mr. Roberts joined in the organization of a
literary association which numbered twenty-five members, and
which was continued for a year. It comprised several young men
who afterwards attained considerable distinction in their respective
lines of effort in after life. Before this society he read some twenty
essays on various subjects, which are still extant and display the
youthful efforts of a promising literary organization. Finding it
necessary to relinquish the association, owing to the diminution of
its members, it was concluded by those who remained to organize
a library company, which was afterwards incorporated under the
title of " The Great Valley Library Company," In this enterprise
Mathew and Jonathan Roberts took a leading part. The catalogue
included nearly all the standard works, whether in literature, science
or general information, and displayed a discriminating judgment on
the part of the managers. Through the facilities for learning which
this library afforded, the active mind of Mr. Roberts was constantly
stimulated and fed to an extent not usual to those whose time was
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 73
■mainly devoted to useful physical labor. He had for several years
%een a reader oi Freeman' s National Gazette, Gale's Gazetteer, and
when these were discontinued, o{ Bache' s Philadelphia Aurora. He
Avas thus prepared to stand in the front rank of opposition to the
liigh-toned measures of the General and State Governments. In
the election of 1796 John Adams, by a mere accident, received a
majority of votes over Thomas Jefferson for President, on the retire-
ment of Washington. During this period Montgomery county was
controlled by the Federal party, but the opposition continued to
•gain strength steadily.
Late in that year Mr. Roberts and his brother Mathew became
the lessees of their father's farm. Jonathan was then in his twenty-
fifth year. He had attained the position which was most to his
taste, that of a managing agriculturist. The arrangement with his
father proved every way satisfactory and profitable. In speaking of
their business at that time, he says: " In seven years we could com-
mand seven thousand dollars, and had greatly increased our stock
and improved our land. At every spare moment I still recurred to
my studies. My desk and books were ever kept at hand. I never
touched them, however, but with cleanly washed hands." Such
Avere his occupations until he attained his twenty-eighth year. Early
in July of 1798 Mr. Roberts was nominated for the State Assembly,
at the great election then pending. The activity of himself and
Ijrother Mathew in politics attracted public attention to them. Both
were young men of high promise, but although the younger, the
-choice fell to Jonathan Roberts. This was doubtless owing to the
fact that he had. already manifested high qualifications for public
service. He was then a consistent member of the society of Friends,
his life had been passed mainly in literary seclusion, and he had
been habituated to use the plain language of Friends in his inter-
course with his family and neighbors. He was elected, however,
.and entered the .Assembly as one of its youngest members as well iu
years as in legislative experience. The election of 1799 gave the
Republican party a majority of two in the House. The Federal
joarty had a majority of one in the Senate. Party feeling was very
violent, and personal civilities, outside of party lines, were hardly
.discernible : it was near the crisis of the contest between those early
political leaders. The future policy of the Union hung in doubtful
,poise. In the Assembly he was associated politically with Dr. Lo-
gan, Governor Mifflin, and a few other active and prominent pub-
lic men. Being naturally retiring and modest, he hesitated to as-
6
74 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
sume a leading position on the floor of the House. He did not
lack general knowledge to render him efficient as a debater, but was-
one of the most thoroughly informed in that body, although re-
garded as its youngest member. What he only lacked was practi-
cal experience in legislative and administrative duties. At that time^
the seat of State government was in the city of Lancaster. Speak-
ing of his return home at the close of the first session, he said: "I
sat down to a plain farmer's table, lodged in the old loft on a chafif
bed, and in three days had resumed my usual habits of daily toil.
It was my pui^ose to retain habits of industry at whatever cost, as a
necessary foundation for persorial a7id political independence. ' ' This,
resolution he adhered to during a long public career, the experi-
ences of which never weakened his taste for labor or made him sigh
for the enjoyments of ease. He was returned to the Assembly the
next year, and having made the most of his opportunities at the pre-
vious session, began to take part in the discussions before the House.
At this meeting, by a coalition of fifteen Federalists with a part of
the Republicans, Governor Muhlenberg was elected to the United.
States Senate by one majority over Dr. Logan. The former was-
then in the United States House of Representatives. President Jef- .
ferson soon after made Muhlenberg Collector of Philadelphia, which
appointment the latter accepted, and Dr. Logan was then sent to the
Senate, in accordance with the wishes of the Republican party.
The part Mr. Roberts took in the choice of a Senator, favoring
and working for the election of Dr. Logan, gave offence to some of"
his Republican friends, who, acting with the Federalists, secured
his defeat the next year (1802) by a small majority. His success-
ful competitor was his neighbor, Samuel Henderson, of Upper-
Merion. The Federal party had found him an active and formida-
ble opponent, and they were glad to aid in keeping him out of pub-
lic position. He had given them every reason to know that he was.
firm and inflexible in his opposition to their policy. Although out
6f office, and constantly engaged in business occupations, his influ.
ence was everywhere felt in the current of political events. His-
retirement continued until 1807, when he was nominated without
solicitation, and indeed against his inclination and expectation, for
the State Senate, from Montgomery county. He was elected by a
majority of more than five hundred over John Richards, a popular
German candidate. He was then in his thirty-sixth year, with men-
tal and physical powers in full vigor. He was,, however, about that
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 75
time stricken down by an epidemic fever, which affected his whole
family, his father falling a victim to it at the age of 82.
His father bequeathed his landed property, consisting of some
three hundred and seventy-five acres, to his two eldest sons, Mathew
and Jonathan Roberts, and they continued to hold it in joint pos-
session till 181 2.
Mr. Roberts served out his term in the State Senate, having taken
throughout a very prominent and active part in that body. Here
his great fund of general knowledge, added to his former experience
in public life, enabled him to take the first rank among his breth-
ren, many of whom were even then his seniors. Although a man
of decided party feeling, his public course was so distinguished by
manly independence and regard for public interests, that he com-
manded the respect of political opponents as well as the admiration
and approval of his party friends. At the end of the term he left
his seat in the State Senate with a solid reputation for high charac-
ter and ability.
While yet in the latter body his name was brought forward as a
candidate for the National House of Representatives, and the fol-
lowing summer he was nominated for the district composed of the
five counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Northampton, Luzerne and
Wayne, in conjunction with General Roberts Brown of Northamp-
ton and William Rodman of Bucks, and all three were elected.
He was now called to enter upon a new field of action and to
mingle with his fellow men in a more exalted arena. In the autumn
of 181 1 he left home to attend the sessions of the twelfth Congress.
His conveyance to Washington was by a private hack, through Lan-
caster, by what was called the western route. Never had there ex-
isted in this country more bitterness of party feeling than at this
period. The old Federal party, after more than ten years of de-
feat, remained well organized and buoyed up with the hope of re-
gaining power. Its leaders had ever displayed a veneration for
British institutions, which the Republican party regarded as re-
actionary. The latter looked upon the British Government as the
rule of a cruel stepmother, whose tyranny had driven this country
to resistance at the expense of widespread calamities. France, on
the contrary, had essentially aided us in making our defence against
the mother country effectual. This sympathetic feeling was strength-
ened by witnessing her mighty struggle against the league of Con-
tinental despots; This country, however, had suffered in its com-
mercial interests at the hands of both powers, but in nothing had its
76 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
rights been so outraged as in the impressment measures of the British
Government as inflicted upon our sailors navigating the high seas.*
The resort to embargo and non-intercourse having failed to ar-
rest European aggressions, public feeling became so aroused that
Congress was filled with a large number of Republican members of
talent and influence determined to command redress. It met that
year with a decided majority of its members impressed with a reso-
lution that if negotiations failed to obtain relief, a declaration of war
must be resorted to. Negotiations did wholly fail to effect a change
of English policy. France, it is true, in some sort, suspended her
hostile decrees, but England, while pretending friendship, still per-
mitted her ships of war to impress our men. A large majority of
the Republican members of Congress were elderly men, hardly one
of whom could not claim meritorious service in the Revolutionary
struggle. John Randolph, on the contrary, had then reached the
acme of his fame. He took the side of opposition to war measures.
Indeed, to him the Federalists looked as to their forlorn hope.
This was all well enough so far as it strengthened the arm of nego-
tiation, but the committee, determined that the time had come for
decided action, made a strong report in favor of a declaration of
war and against the aggressive power of Great Britain. Mr. Rob-
erts took a firm stand with the administration of President Madison,
and gave his earnest support to the measures brought forward by
the able men connected with it. He also made a very able speech
pending the consideration of a declaration of war, found published
at length in James Winnerd's Weekly Register, which may be con-
sulted in the Norristown Library. Mr. R. closed with the words :
' ' I repose safely on the maxim, ' Never to despair of the Republic. ' ' '
In taking this course he came into conflict with the peace tenet of
the society of Friends, which compelled him to forego his connec-
tion with that religious body. ^
His official and personal intercourse with Mr. Madison led him
to form an exalted opinion of the ability and patriotism of that dis-
tinguished statesman. Mr. Roberts had the entire confidence of
Mr. Madison^ who availed himself of his services in many important
emergencies, pending the preparations for a declaration of war and
afterwards. Not only in Congress did Mr. Roberts support the ad-
*A miller at Easton, in our State, named Paschal Hollingsworth, wrote Mr. Koberts
a carping letter about this time, complaining that he was helping to ruin the country by
the Enibargo law, to which Mr. Roberts replied in a two-column article with great force
and pertinence, proving that upon such men as he, the British and other enemies of the
country were relying for "aid and comfort," and that it was just because of such that ■we
should have to go to war. Mr. Roberts, according to the modern phrase, "cleaned hina
out."
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 77
ministration, but as a correspondent of several public, journals sus-
tained it with his pen with marked ability and force. His letters
were for a time printed in \}i\Q Aurora, the State Republican organ
for Pennsylvania, published in Philadelphia by John Binns. One
series of his letters were addressed to John Randolph, of Roanoke.
These letters created general public attention, and were regarded as
highly creditable to their author. As a controversial writer few
men were his superiors, especially in relation to the current politi-
cal topics of that day.
Early in May, 1812, the President informed Congress that there
was no hope that Great Britain would abandon her aggressions.
The time had arrived when resistance or colonial vassalage were the
only alternatives. The Federal opposition then sought by dilatory
measures to postpone decisive action. The Senate passed a resolu-
tion to adjourn for thirty-eight days, that Congress might go home
and learn public opinion, and sent it to the House. This artful
stroke of policy was promptly negatived by the latter. A confer-
ence was asked for by the Senate and granted. The latter -body
appointed . General Bradley of Vermont, Chauncey Goodrich ot
Connecticut, General Reed of Maryland, Governor Worthington
of Ohio, and William B. Giles of Virginia. Those on the part of
the House were Dr. Bibb of Georgia, Mr. Macon of North Caro-
lina, Mr. Pleasants of Virginia, Jonathan O. Mosely of Connecti-
cut, and Jonathan Roberts of Pennsylvania.
At the conference a most spirited discussion arose, in which Mr,
Roberts took a prominent part, he standing alone against any ad-
journment on the final vote being taken. His colleagues of the
House all voted for a longer or shorter adjournment, but opposed
the time fixed by the Senate. A report of disagreement followed.
In speaking of these events Mr. Roberts, in his memoirs, says :
"The measure of aggression was full; negotiation had been ex-
hausted, and such a case was presented, after embargo and non-
intercourse had been tried without effect, as brought up the alter-
natives of submission or resistance. The policy of the Senate was
obviously to give the war question the go-by. Their measure of
adjournment seemed to be as futile as it was strange, as at the end
of thirty-eight days they could promise nothing but to prepare the
country for submission. When, after war was declared, we learned of
the modification of the aggressive British Orders in Council, and of
the export from their ports to ours of an immense amount of their
accumulated manufactures, in anticipation of a proclamation by our
y8 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
President that our ports would be open to them, there remained
scarcely a doubt that the proposed adjournment of Congress was
predicated upon some understanding that was had between the oppo-
sition or anti-war men and the British Minister that within that time
some concession would come from the British Government. The
modifications of the Order in Council, unsatisfactory as they cer-
tainly were, claimed '* the right to withdraw them whenever British
interests should require it."
On the report of disagreement by the committee of conference,
the Senate again sent to the House the resolution to adjourn for the
same period. Instant action was called for, when Mr. Roberts
moved to suspend the daily pay of members during the adjourn-
ment. This was a measure the friends of adjournment were not
prepared to meet, and a short debate followed. While this was
pending, Mr. Blacklege, of North Carolina, moved to postpone the
resolution and amendment indefinitely. This was carried by a
majority of three votes. So near was this nation falling into a
policy that must have shown it to be shamefully unworthy of its
patriotic founders.
The crisis had then been reached, and soon the House was in de-
liberation on the question of war. An animated debate ensued, in
which the purpose of the opposition seemed to be to consume time.
Mr. Roberts got the floor, and at the first opportunity moved the
previous question. Mr, Clay in the chair ruled out all dilatory
motions, and declared the main question to be on the war bill.
The House was thus enabled to reach a vote with unexpected celerity.
It was carried, by a large majority, on June i8th, 1812. It now
remained a duty on Congress to provide revenue and armaments.
Men had been voted beyond any practicable enlistment, but there
was little inclination to act upon the question of internal taxes. The
two houses of Congress had been in session many months, and it
was then nearly midsummer; many members had retired, and there
was a general impatience to get aAvay.
Secretary Gallatin had early been called upon for a war project
of revenue. He promptly complied, and included all the items
which he thought would yield revenue beyond the expense of col-
lection. Every specification pinched somewhere. It had become
obvious that Congress could not be kept together to digest so intri-
cate a matter as the Secretary proposed. The responsibility of ad-
ourning without levying taxes adequate to the emergency of war
rested on the House as the revenue-originating branch. With Dr.
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 79
!Bibb, of Georgia, Mr. Roberts called upon Mr. Gallatin and sub-
mitted to the latter the question of imposing internal taxes before
•Congress arose, or of adjourning action thereon until Congress again
assembled. Mr. G. said he had very much desired those taxes pro-
vided for, but thought it was impossible to then obtain them. He
went on to show that delay might not work such evil as at an ear-
lier period might have been justly apprehended. He said the late
date when the declaration of war took effect would give larger re-
ceipts of ordinary revenue, and the slow progress of embodying an
army would absorb an amount less than the estimates. Dr. Bibb then
wished to know if Mr. Gallatin would be willing to embody those
ideas in a report to the House. This he decidedly declined to do.
Dr. Bibb was intent on his project to have him do so. Mr. Rob-
erts took the ground that Mr. Gallatin ought not to issue such a re-
port, and claimed that it was for the House to transact its business
independent of tlie suggestions of the Secretary of the Treasury.
As the motion to postpone action upon the pending bills was
likely to prove unpopular, there was much reluctance on the part of
members to make that motion. Satisfied of the wisdom, if not of
the necessity of that course, Mr. Roberts promptly made the mo-
tion, and the bills were postponed.
The elections were all depending and Congressional districts
were all arranged under a new census; therefore, the result must
necessarily be more or less uncertain. Montgomery and Chester
•counties were formed into one district, and Mr, Roberts was nomi-
nated by the Republicans for re-election. In the canvass which
followed the opposition in Chester county cited Mr. Roberts' mo-
tion to postpone action upon the tax bills, and denounced the war
measures and his whole course in Congress. He was, however, re-
elected by a handsome majority.
On his return to Washington Mr. Roberts' relations with Mr.
■Gallatin were such that he came to be regarded as his representa-
tive on the floor of the House. His relations with President Madi-
son also were hardly less confidential and friendly. Congress had
adjourned on the 6th of July to meet early in November. Not-
-withstanding his non-militant principles, he being a member of the
■society of Friends, Mr. Roberts took an active and prominent part
in enacting the measures to which the Government resorted in the
^war that followed. He was appointed a member of the Committee
■of Ways and Means, of which Langdon Cheves was chairman. Im-
joaense importations had followed the recall or modification of the
So HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
British Orders in Council. Those importations arrived subject to*
forfeiture. The cargoes were accordingly libelled, but released by
the District Courts on bond. They were in no case entered at their
selling value, but generally very much below it. Every Judge acted'
on his own discretion, and the bonds varied in every district. In
all cases the profits were immense — often three hundred per cent.^
caused by low valuation and the greedy demand of an exhausted'
market. The Secretary of the Treasury thought the bonds might:
be sued out, and still leave the importers very unusual profits.
Committees of merchants from many of the maritime ports ap-
peared before the Committee of Ways and Means, which took down
a large volume of testimony from their statements. The considera-
tion of that information was referred to Mr. Cheves and Mr. Rob-
erts as a sub-committee. Mr. Cheves, although a Southern Feder-
alist, had voted for the declaration of war, but was opposed to the*
forfeiture of the bonded importations.
After a protracted inquiry the Committee of Ways and Means re-
ported for forfeiture, Dr. Bibb, Richard M. Johnson'and Mr. Rob^
erts voting in the affirmative, and Messrs. Cheves and Coxe against
it. In the debate which followed upon the report, Mr. Roberts
took a very prominent part, and made a speech which consumed
more than one session of the House. This speech is still extant,
and displays a degree of ability and thorough knowledge of public
affairs which fully justified the high estimation in which he was held
by the foremost statesmen of that eventful epoch. It can be truly
said of that speech that it would have been most difficult to con-
dense more argument and information in so little space had it been
written and not delivered extemporaneously, as it was. The de-
bate was protracted until enough strength had been gained to de-
feat the measure. Had the result been different the resort to taxa-
tion would then have been avoided. The latter measure became:
absolutely necessary, and Mr. Gallatin pressed for its adoption witb
all possible earnestness. Some of the Congressional elections were
still pending, and this made many of the members reluctant to act
on so unpopular a measure. Loans were at all events necessary, but
to obtain money upon them could only be secured on a basfs af ad^
quate taxation to insure a regular payment of interest.
A loan bill to raise ^25,000,000, however, was passed; but Mr-..
Gallatin saw that even if taxes had been levied, such a sum could
hardly be raised then. Without those taxes he deemed it impossi-
ble to obtain the loan. The event proved this.
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 8 1
The new Congress was called by President Madison to meet on
the 19th of May, 1813. Mr. Roberts still retained his place as a
member of the Committee of AVays and Means. In the short re-
cess between the rising of the old and the meeting of the new Con-
gress, Russia had offered her mediation, and it had been accepted
by the belligerent pov/ers, Gottenburg having been selected for the
seat of negotiations. Gallatin went as Commissioner of Peace from
our Government, and was not again at home during the remainder
of the war.
The next year, 1814, military operations still being crippled for
want of funds, and during the pendency of a new loan, forty-one
new banks were proposed to be chartered in Pennsylvania by the
Legislature. The Government's best hope for a loan was in Phila-
delphia, and if the Governor should sign the bill chartering those
banks the Secretary of the Treasury knew they would absorb all the
ready money awaiting investment. He therefore requested Mr.
Roberts to go to Harrisburg and acquaint Governor Snyder with
the evil that law might work. He reached there without delay, to
find that the Governor had negatived the Bank bill, which, how-
ever, was afterwards carried over the veto.
The war was progressing with varying fortune, and negotiations
for peace were pending. The anti-war party seemed to be trying
the expediency of not provoking the enemy with too hard blows.
Mr. Roberts was among the most active advocates of a vigorous bel-
ligerent policy as the shortest road to peace. The seat of negotia-
tions was changed to Ghent, and the United States mission was
strengthened with two or three additional members, one of whom
was Mr. Clay, who had been Speaker of the House. At that time
Mr. Roberts had attained a prominence that ranked him among the
first and ablest members of the House.*
About that time he made the acquaintance of the lady whom he
subsequently married. Miss Eliza H. Bushby. She was the eldest
child of Mrs. Mary Bushby, a widow lady, who kept a boarding-
house in Washington, on Capitol Hill. Miss Bushby was then in
her twenty-first year. She was the main dependence of her mother,
and conducted the business of the establishment for her. Her pa-
trons were principally members of Congress and military and naval
ofiicers. It was while boarding in Mrs. Bushby's family that Mr.
Roberts became aware of the rars endowments of the daughter. He
*He was soon after elected to the United States Senate, and resigned liis seat in the
House to take that of Senator from Pennsylvania, which he did on the 28th of February,
1814, being a handsome vindication of his course in the House.
82 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
had been, up to that time, so absorbed with his domestic relations
at home and public affairs abroad that he had not seriously thought
of matrimony, although he had then reached his fortieth year. They
were married two days after the adjournment of Congress, in 1813,
and at once proceeded to his home in Upper Merion. Up to that
time Mr. Roberts and his elder brother Mathew continued to hold
the land bequeathed to them by their father, and such additional lands
as had been subsequently purchased by them, as tenants in com-
mon. They then amicably divided the lands, and Mr. Roberts and
his wife went to reside at the place where they continued to dwell
until the time of his death. This property is still owned by their
second surviving son, Jonathan M. Roberts.
Between the adjournment and the next meeting of Congress the
British forces captured the city of Washington, and, vandal-like,
destroyed the public archives and buildings. The excuse for that
unparalleled act of barbarism by a civilized power was that a New
York militia General had burned the village of New Ark, in Can-
ada, contrary to or without orders from our Government. The
most active spirit in the latter outrage was a Colonel Wilcox, a
Canadian-Irish refugee, who sought to make a severance of the
English colonies from the mother country indispensable to a return
to peace.
When Congress again met the violent feelings of the opposition
had abated nothing of virulence. Though the campaign presented
no signal advantages, the arms of the United States, on land and
water, had sustained a high character. The visit to Washington
was all of which the enemy could boast, as they had been repulsed
from Baltimore with the loss of their commander. The hope of the
opposition of rising to power now seemed to rest upon looked-for
disasters to our arms. Things were grossly mismanaged both by
the War and Treasury departments. Under this aspect of affairs
every resource of the opposition was exerted to embarrass the Gov-
ernment. So confident of gaining their purpose had they become
that on the death of Mr. Gerry they avowed a wish to put Mr. King
into the chair of the Senate, with a view of requiring Mr. Madison
to resign on the plea that he could not effect a peace. The oppo-
sition, however, were in a minority in the House, and no one gave
way to aid them in their schemes. Peace did come, nevertheless,
and through President Madison, thus effectually destroying the last
hope of his opposers to obtain control of the Government. In the
legislative proceedings which were had during this most gloomy
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 83
period of the war, Mr. Roberts took a very prominent part, and
defended the administration against its unpatriotic assailants. He
was in ahnost daily intercourse with Mr. Madison, whom he re-
garded as a most able and capable executive and a man of tran-
scendent virtue. President Madison's great equanimity under the
most trying discouragements caused him to be censured as apathetic
even by some who were politically friendly to him. He was nobly
sustained, however, by Mr. Monroe, then Secretary of State, through
all his arduous responsibilities, who brought into requisition every
resource of his mind, putting aside all considerations but the one of
sustaining his country. He shared with Mr. Madison the laurels of
victory, to obtain which they had labored like father and son ; for
however the immediate results of the last war with Great Britain
may be regarded, it has resulted in an unbroken peace with that
nation which has lasted now for sixty-four years. Who can now
say how far the lesson which was then taught that haughty power
by the War of 181 2 may not have contributed to prevent her active
support of the late slaveholders' rebellion against the American
Union ?
On the conclusion of peace it became the duty of Congress to
regulate the imposts for the changed state of the country and to
protect our home industries against foreign competition. In this
Mr. Roberts took quite an active part, as he did in all the legisla-
tion that followed the close of the war. It was during that session
that the House passed and sent to the Senate a bill giving fifteen
hundred dollars to members of Congress for each year's service, in-
stead of a daily allowance. Small as was that increase of compen-
sation (not more than three hundred dollars), the measure was very
unpopular; but acting, as he did in all matters, from a sense of jus-
tice and right, Mr. Roberts not only voted for but publicly advo-
cated the measure. This fearless independence lost him the appro-
bation of many of his warmest political friends.
One of the most important subjects which came up during the
administration of President Monroe was the acquisition of Florida.
So important was that measure regarded, that General Jackson, who
was in command of the United States troops in a war with the In-
dians on the frontiers of Georgia and Alabama, determined to take
forcible possession of it. This could only be done in violation of
international law. General Jackson, on setting out with that in-
tention, wrote a private letter to President Monroe urging the ex-
pediency of the measure, stating that if the latter concurred with
84 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
him he might signify it in an unofficial way, and that he (Jackson)*
would himself assume the responsibility. On the receipt of thaf
letter Monroe was too sick to read it, and handed it to Mr. Cal-
houn, then Secretary of State, who called upon him soon after it
had been received. It being a private letter, Mr. Calhoun, as-
Secretary, declined to reply to it, and it was laid aside unanswered.
Jackson, without awaiting the approval of President Monroe,
marched into Florida and captured St. Marks, Pensacola, and the
Barancas Fort, little or no defence being made. He organized z.
civil government, appointed a collector, and reported his exploit tO'
the War department. The President now became alarmed at the
reckless course of Jackson, and called his Cabinet together. At
that council it was decided that the hostile acts of Jackson should
be disclaimed, and the captured places restored to the proper repre-
sentatives of the Spanish Government. This was virtually a cen-
sure of General Jackson's high-handed proceedings, and aroused in'
that iron-willed man the most determined purpose to maintain the
position he had taken. He was then trying Arbuthnot and Am-
brister, and having secured their conviction soon after executed:
them, certainly without color of law, to say the least. These arbi-
trary proceedings, if not approved by the President and his advisers,
were overlooked by them, and no action taken to call Jackson ta
account. Up to that time Mr. Roberts had been the warm friend
and supporter of President Monroe ; and, indeed, with his fellow-
Senator from Pennsylvania, Abner Leacock, he had been largely
instrumental in making him President. The plea of necessity,
which was set up by the administration to justify its course in the
Florida matter, was not approved by Mr. Roberts, and his relations^
with the President became reserved and not cordial.
Men were then straining for popularity; but, notwithstanding;.
committees in both houses of Congress were instructed to investi-
gate the facts relating to Jackson's conduct in the capture of Florida.
In the House that duty was assigned to the Committee on Foreign
Relations, and the case of Arbuthnot and Ambrister to the Com-
mittee on Military Affairs, The latter committee reported in favoc''
of censure ; the former dropped the inquiry. The investigation ini
the House, notwithstanding the brilliant arraignment of Jackson by-
Henry Clay, having failed, Mr. Leacock, in the Senate, moved for
a committee of inquiry. After a thorough investigation by Mr„
Leacock's committee a series of enormous wrongs were uncovered,,
and the chairman prepared a report setting forth the facts. This
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 85
report was adopted by the committee and submitted to the Senate.
This greatly exasperated General Jackson, and he declared ven-
geance against all who had had anything to do with the public ex-
posure of his unwarranted proceedings. Mr. Roberts, although
■not a member of the committee having the matter in charge, but as
the colleague of Mr. Leacock, the chairman, was in constant con-
sultation with the latter, and co-operated with him in making the
'inquiry. This was well understood by the members of President
Monroe's Cabinet, who were then much disposed to shield Jackson
from th6 consequences of his impetuous conduct. The session
closed without taking action on the report of the committee. The re-
port detailed a series of acts that were in flagrant disregard of law
and just authority. General Jackson, when he learned the nature
of the report, was geatly enraged, and immediately hurried back to
'Washington, breathing fury against the committee, and declaring
it to be his purpose to chastise those who had favored the condemna-
tion of his public conduct. He was, however, deterred or restrained
'from carrying out his threats.
At the session of Congress in the winter of 1819-20, the House
of Representatives passed a bill for the "admission of Maine into
the Union on an equal footing witfc the original States." It was
.sent to the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, who reported it with
.an amendment embracing the provision for authorizing also the
people of the Territory of Missouri to form a convention, etc., pre
paratory to its admission into the Union as a State. The bill, to-
gether with the amendment, coming up, Mr. Roberts arose and said
he felt it his duty to try the merits of these two subjects by a pre-
liminary motion to this effect: " That the bill for the admission of
the State of Maine into the Union, and the amendment thereto re-
ported, be recommitted to the Judiciary Committee with instruc-
tions so to modify its provisions as to admit the State of Maine into
the Union divested of the amendment embracing Missouri." In
the published reports of the debates in Congress Mr. Roberts is re-
ported to have said: "The question reported in the amendment
by the Judiciary Committee would probably excite much feeling.
For himself, however, he was determined to prepare to meet it with
the temjier and moderation which were due to it. But he wished,
in entering upon it, that there should be the most perfect regularity
and the fullest opportunity for discussion. The question of the ad-
mission of Maine into the Union was one thing; that of the admis-
sion of Missouri another; and that uniting the two in one bill was
86 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
itself a distinct question, for the purpose of obtaining an unembar-
rassed decision on which he had submitted the present motion."
Mr. R. adverted to the progress in the Senate of the proposition for
the admission of Maine into the Union. Very early in the session,
he said, a communication had been received from a regular source
that a convention of the people of Maine, duly authorized thereto
by an act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, had met and formed
a constitution of State government. A bill had been duly reported
by a committee for the admission of the State of Maine into the
Union, and made the order for a particular day. Then, and on
successive following days, it was postponed for various reasons on
account of the absence of members from different sections of the
Union. At that time Mr. R. said he had no idea there was an in-
tention to connect the two subjects of Maine and Missouri until a
member from Virginia, in moving a further postponement of the
bill, stated that he had some notion of endeavoring to connect the two
questions. This proceeding, on comparing it with the usual order of
proceedings in this house, struck him as a little curious, to say the
least of it, though he did not mention it as a matter for censure but
as a mere statement of facts. "On the 29th of December," said
he, "we find a memorial from the Legislature of Missouri is taken
from the files of the House and referred to the Judiciary Commit-
tee. Some days afterwards a message is received from the House
of Representatives, transmitting a bill for the admission of Maine
into the Union, which is referred to the Judiciary Committee, and
the two subjects being thus before the same committee they reported
the bill for the admission of Missouri by way of a rider to the bill
which came from the other house for the admission of Maine*
This," Mr. R. said, "was an extraordinary mode of proceeding,
which ought to be met at the threshold." He knew not how it
could be more directly met than by the motion he had submitted.*
"The motion to recommit," he admitted, "was a regular motion,
but not to be made except in extraordinary cases." This was a case
of that description. He appealed to gentlemen whether it was regu-
lar or even justifiable to connect in one bill two subjects totally dis-
tinct, as these in reality were. "Maine," he said, "was a part of
the old territory of the United States. Her Constitution was al-
ready formed, with the consent of the State from which she was to
be separated. There was no dispute about her limits, which were
*This "was the comnaencement of the system of counterbalancing the admission of
free States by those permitting slavery, which continued till the admission of California
in 1850 broke the rule.
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 8/
•
defined, nor about the justice of her claim to admission, which was
admitted. There were many doubts about Missouri witK respect to
her extent, boundaries and population, without regard to other ques-
tions which might arise respecting her Constitution, etc. The
cases of Kentucky and Vermont had been cited as a precedent for
this proceeding, "but," Mr. R. said, " they were admitted by sepa-
rate bills, passed at different periods of the session." He said for
his part he had no objection that the two bills for the admission of
Maine and Missouri should pass on the same day, but they ought to
pass separately and independent of each other. Standing, as they
did, on different grounds, they ought to be decided on their own
merits.
The motion of Mr. Roberts was further debated by Senators Wil-
liam Smith of South Carolina, Edward Lloyd of Maryland, James
Barbour of Virginia, Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina, and Wil-
liam Logan of Kentucky, in opposition to the motion ; and by Sena-
tors Prentiss Mellen of Massachusetts, James Burrill of Rhode Is-
land, Gray Otis of Massachusetts, and Samuel W. Dana of Con-
necticut, in favor of the motion. It was lost by the following vote :
Yeas — Burrill, Dana, Dickerson, Horsey, Hunter, Lauman, Lowrie,
Mellen, Morrill, Noble, Otis, Roberts, Ruggles, Sandford, Tiche-
nor, Trimble, Van Dyke, and Wilson — 18. Of these all were
Senators from non-slaveholding States except Horsey and Van Dyke
from Delaware. Nays — Barbour, Brown, Eaton, Edwards, Elliot,
Gaillard, Johnson of Kentucky, Johnson of Louisiana, King, Leake,
Lloyd, Logan, Macon, Palmer, Parrott, Pinkney, Pleasants, Smith,
Stokes, Taylor, Thomas, Walker of Alabama, Walker of Georgia,
Williams of Mississippi, and Williams of Tennessee — 25. All these
were Senators from slaveholding States except Edwards and Thomas
of Illinois, King of New York, Palmer of Vermont, Parrott of New
Hampshire, and Taylor of Indiana.
So Mr. Roberts' motion was negatived by 18 to 25, the Senate
thus refusing to separate the conjunction of the two States of Maine
and Missouri. The Senate adjourned to the next Monday, when it
resumed the consideration of the admission of the State of Maine
into the Union as proposed to be amended by the annexation of
Missouri. And the said proposed amendment being under consid-
eration, Mr. Edwards, of Illinois, offered an amendment having in
view the principle of compromise by the exclusion of slavery from
the other Territories of the United States, but subsequently with-
drew it to give an opportunity for the following motion.
88 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
•
Mr. RoJDerts moved to add to the amendment, whereby Missouri
is proposed to be admitted to form a Constitution, the following
proviso: '^ Provided, that the further introduction into said State o
persons to be held to slavery or involuntary servitude within the samef
shall be absolutely and irrevocably prohibited. ' '
This amendment having been read, Mr. Roberts said :
" My objection to the order followed in the introduction of this
bill was a serious one. Irregularity in legislative proceedings ought
always to be avoided, but more especially on a question laying the
foundations of a great community. I have thought, and still think,
with deference to the decision had, it has been an unfortunate course,
and that this will be more apparent as we progress. Many remarks
which fell from the gentlemen in the discussion hitherto had now
invite reply. I have taken some care to arrange my thoughts for
that purpose, but I have determined to withhold them at this time.
The subject we are entering upon is one of great magnitude, claim-
ing the coolest exercise of the faculties of the understanding and
the absence from the mind of all sorts of passion. I very much
desire to avoid touching any and every subject, however pertinent,
calculated to awaken impatience or dissatisfaction, or to use lan-
guage which may be justly excepted to as incompatible with this de-
claration.
"It has sometimes been permitted, in God's providence, that a
people should deliberately fix the great principles of their polity
under circumstances happily calculated to secure to themselves and
their posterity the high blessings of His benevolent justice, so as to
promise the fulfillment of the great end for which He created man
— happiness. Such was the occasion when these States declared
themselves free and independent; such was that which secured to
the people of the Northwestern Territory the fundamental principles
of civil and religious liberty; and such, let me observe, and not least
in importance, is that on which we are deliberating. The people
of these happy States were the first who proclaimed before the uni-
verse that ' AH men are created equal ; that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed.' I pray you, sir, go back with
me to the memorable era of which I am speaking. How stood the
affairs of our ancestors when they adopted these truths as the maxims
of their policy? The power of one of the mightiest nations was
raised to crush them; that power was directed by the vindictive
spirit of an incensed king and parliament and a prejudiced people.
A large mass of the people of America adhered to the mother coun-
try, ready to become her willing instruments in the worst scenes of
the sanguinary conflict. The States were without government, with-
out allies, without revenue, without arms, and without military or-
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 89
;ganization. In such a state of things, under such circumstances,
they called the Supreme Judge of the world to witness that as to
them His laws had been violated, and it had become their duty to
.resist oppression, and on the purity of their motives they invoked
the protecting arm of His providence, and plighted their lives, their
.fortunes and their sacred honor to vindicate the truth that govern-
. ments ought to secure to all men the inalienable rights of life, lib-
, erty, and the pursuit of happiness. What a prodigy! Truths that
i the speculative philosopher and retired philanthropist had hardly
ventured to indulge, were now proclaimed as the bright gem which
was to be obtained cheaply, at the cost of every danger that man
, could encounter. All that before was wonderful, sunk into little-
ness. The fainting hopesof humanity were revived; the world was
irradiated by the blaze of truth; it was as the voice of Justice cry-
.itg from the wilderness, whither the arm of tyranny had banished
her: 'Despair not, ye oppressed nations. My temples are not
■ everywhere desolate. There is still a people determined and able
to vindicate my empire.' The pledge they gave was redeemed.
' The arm of that Providence besought with all the fervency of the
prayers of suffering virtue was extended to good men engaged in a
just cause, who had sworn to establish the great principles of social
liberty or to fall victims to the high attempt. The oppressor was
humbled to acknowledge that our country was and of right ought
to be free and independent. Magnanimous allies had been obtained
. during the contest, and the recognition of the independence of our
. country by Britain removed the last caveat to our admission into the
community of nations. History informs us, though independence
and peace had been achieved, still much remained to be done, by a
wise policy and just laws, to secure the benefit of the great princi-
ples consecrated at the birth of our political community.
"In 1787 an occasion offered still more felicitous than that in
which the faculties of sovereign power were assumed to apply the
just, social principles unanimously recognized by the great act of
the Congress of 1776. The cession of the Northwestern Territory
by the several States claiming it, in full sovereignty, to the United
States, gave to the old Congress an opportunity of showing that
peace and security had not weakened their faith in or lessened their
.attachment to the principles of the great corner-stone of all our laws
and constitutions — the Declaration of Independence. That instru-
ment had the unanimous vote of the representatives of all the States.
There were no geographical distinctions then; slaveholding and
non-slaveholding States were not thought of. By one simultaneous
act the Congress declared and the States ratified the declaration that'
governments were established to secure the enjoyment of individual
rights, deriving their just authority from the consent of the gov-
, erned.
"At that time, let it be remembered, all the States contained
slaves, and all the States declared before the Supreme Judge of the
xworld that slavery was a violation of His truth, and admitting the
7
go HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS..
binding obligation to remedy the wrong when possible. Now letr
us recur to the ordinance of 1787 and the articles of compact it con-
tains. I can do it justice in no other language than that declaring^
its purposes, as laid down by the wise and good men who conceived;
and gave it effect. Thus it reads:
**' 'And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and re-
ligious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their-
laws and constitutions, are erected; to fix and establish those prin-
ciples as the bases of all laws, constitutions and governments whicb
forever hereafter shall be formed in said territory;; to provide also*
for the establishment of States and permanent governments therein,
and for their admission to a share in the Federal councils on anj
equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be
consistent with the general interests.'
" Look at the scope and character of this declaration. Here, in-
deed, the great self-evident truths of which I have been speaking;
were applied in full effect to a virgin territory imstaiited by the vices,
untainted by the errors, atid unembarrassed by the nvistaken notions of
interest incident to human society. They were the laws of God ap-
plied to a country before it had been peopled, by a wise foresight,,
which has been often displayed under the guidance of a kind Provi- ,
dence, by the councils of our country. At the era of independence'
the wholesome maxims of our policy, though recognized, could not
have their full effect, because in the infancy of our settlements the
curse of slavery had been entailed upon us by a blinded and unkindl
mother country. All that virtue could require was- that so inveter-
ate a disease should be relieved by applying diligently discreet cor-
rectives, and, above all, guarding against the extension of the evil:
Thus do we find, four years after peace had been settled, on cool
deliberation, the Federal council seized the first opportunity of
planting the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty,
like seed cast in a soil received, as it were, from the hands of the
Creator, where they designed them to flourish in eternal vigor and.
spread their fragrant branches through the world. This mighty
stroke of a wise policy was had under the utmost freedom from alls
bias of selfishness and of constraint.
" The great men who executed this trust looked not at the bear-
ings of interest or to the gratification of an unworthy ambition. The
ordinance declares a second time that slavery was viewed as a great
evil, and one for the existence of which the people of that day were:
not accountable; that States which found themselves under the'
sad necessity of permitting its continuance, might, at the saime time,,
without inconsistency, declare again and again all men are created,
equal. This immortal ordinance, which, with its elder sister, the
Declaration of Independence, will shed eternal and unextinguish-
able lustre over the annals of our country, was also adopted by am
unanimous vote. It was aye, aye, from New Hampshire to Geor-
gia. Here again there was no geographical distinction. In this,
act of imperishable virtue Virginia had the largest share. She ceded
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 9 1
the most extensive and best founded right to the territory. She left
Congress free to impress on it the fundamental principles of civil
and religious liberty. She gave her ready voice for the ordinance,
and it is believed her representatives were among the most ardent
advocates for the measure. I cannot look into the articles of com-
pact without burning with admiration of their principles and the
wisdom and virtue by which they have been consecrated. There
are no marginal notes, or I would briefly recount them. The rights
of the untutored Indian were guaranteed, and, in the goodness and
wisdom of the legislator, it was left open to his hopes that his pos-
terity might one day enjoy the blessings of the rights they secured.
These blessings, Mr. President, have been already consecrated to
three stars of your constellation, that will soon take rank as of the
first magnitude. Ohio will probably appear in that character at
the next census. I have spoken of the ordinance of 1787 as apply-
ing to a territory. But of what mighty magnitude it is ! It is fitted
to contain a mightier population, than that of the mightiest coun-
tries of the Old Continent. If its history was not insulated by more
comprehensive events, it might now stand as the world's best hope.
In this instrument it was not necessary to repeat that all men are
created equal ; that was already inscribed on the corner-stone of all
your laws and polity. It was here enough to say no man should be
a slave, and that every man should have an equal share of civil and
religious liberty by the decree of unchangeable justice. So far we
discover no holding back; all is one consistent, just, enlightened
and unvarying policy. Everything seems to have been done in the-
divine spirit, breathed by the representatives of an oppressed peo-
ple, in the Declaration of Independence.
"About this period it became necessary to form a more perfect
union, and the Constitution framed by an assembly over which
Washington presided, seemed to have put the last hand to the work
which placed on an immovable foundation the fundamental princi-
ples of civil and religious liberty wherever our republics, their laws
and constitutions, are erected. That instrument, framed with al-
most superhuman intelligence, clothed the Congress with all legis-
lative powers granted in it, and with power to make all needful rules
and regulations respecting the territories belonging to the United
States; and all engagements were declared to be as valid against
the United States under the Constitution as under the Confedera-
tion. Among the first acts of the new Congress is one providing
that the ordinance of 1787 should continue to have full effect. At
the formation of the Constitution this ordinance must have been
well understood. It was enacted a little time anterior to the ad-
journment of the convention, and was the harbinger of the great
compact of union. The councils from which they emanated were
clothed with the power and represented the majesty of the people,
and it was impossible that the compromise resorted to by the con-
vention, in settling the rule of representation and taxation, should
have been considered as applicable only to the States then existing
and to those which might be admitted out of the territory of the
92 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
.'good old thirteen. The same obligation of duty, consistency and
aregard to right, which induced the old Congress to prohibit slavery
in the Northwestern Territory, could not have been inoperative in
ihe convention, as many States had long before abolished slavery,
and nobody seems then to have thought it admissible only under
Jiard necessity. I think it Avill scarcely be contended that in 1787
any of our councils could have contemplated the purchase of the
territory which presents the great question on which we are now
<leliberating, or that such a question would have grown out of such
an event.
"In 1787 North Carolina ceded to the United States the terri-
tory which is now called Tennessee. In the cession she stipulates,
among other things, that the inhabitants of that territory should en-
joy the benefits of the ordinance, save only that the Congress should
pass no law tending to emancipate slaves. In this, I apprehend, it
will hardly be contended she was binding them by restrictions, but
that it will be allowed she intended to secure to them all the liberty
their condition would permit. This recognition and ratification of
the ordinance is proof of the estimation in which its principles were
held; and Tennessee has been admitted under its enfranchising, or,
as you will call them, restricting provisions, and has long appeared
amongst us as an ornament to this body. On her admission were
the words ' on an equal footing with the original States' first used.
■She being the first State admitted under the articles of compact in
the ordinance of 1787, the words were from thence transplanted, and,
like texts from another book, not standing in their original relation
to other words, their meaning has been misunderstood. Turn to
the ordinance, and they are made plain. It there reads : ' The new
State shall be admitted when it shall have sixty thousand free in-
habitants therein, by its delegates in the Congress of the United
States, on an equal footing with the original States in all respects
whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution
and State government; provided, the constitution and State gov-
•ernment so formed shall be republican and in conformity to the
principles contained in these articles.' These are conditions under
which seven new States have been admitted into this Union, save
•only the article respecting slavery has been silent in the admission
of Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, and by especial reservations
it has not been required of Louisiana to forbid slavery.
" Can it be possible, after this long settled construction, that it
can be seriously contended that the Congress, in the admission of
Missouri, can propose no check on the evil of slavery, and, by parity
of reasoning, none on any portion of the country acquired under
the title of Louisiana? We have seen Mississippi and Alabama
brought into the Confederation under compact to permit slavery.
Louisiana has been admitted in the discretion of Congress, on what
grounds I know not, but, I am bound to believe, from what was un-
derstood to have been uncontrollable necessity. If so, it can avail
Missouri nothing, as no such necessity exists in this case. The
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 93
amendment has, I have to regret, but a limited operation on slavery.
It is not proposed to free the slaves in Missouri, but to prevent their
increase by immigration. This principle does not touch all the:
provisions of the treaty. The country is to be eventually incor-
porated into the Union, it is admitted. We are all anxious the
portion in question should be. The dispute is, shall she be admitted
without securing to her the franchises of civil and religious liberty,,
as far as her condition admits of its being done. Congress has
power to prevent the migration of slaves, and though lexicographers
may not be uniform in their interpretation of the word, in general
acceptation it means change of place ; so it has been construed by the
Congress. An act now exists prohibiting the migration of slaves to-
Louisiana in any manner but as bona fide the property of persons,
actually going to settle within it. I know it will be alleged that it
has been repealed. But I have searched the Statue Book, and looked!
into the Constitution of Louisiana, and can find no repeal of it..
The section I allude to is as follows:
•
" 'It shall not be lawful for any person or persons to import or
bring into the said Territory, from any part or place without the
limits of the United States, or cause or procure to be so imported
or brought, or knowingly to aid or assist in so importing or bring-
ing any slave or slaves; and every person so offending, and being.;
thereof convicted before any court within said Territory having
competent jurisdiction, shall forfeit and pay for each and every slave
so imported the sum of three hundred dollars; one moiety for the
use of the United States and the other moiety for the use of the per-
son or persons who shall sue for the same, and every slave so brought
shall thereupon become entitled to and receive his or her freedom,"
etc.
" If this be the law, where is your wonder-working writ of habeas
corpus? Are your judiciary asleep and your laws a dead letter? If
I am mistaken I hope to be corrected, but it is enough for my pur-
pose to show that such a law has existed, and that the power of Con-
gress to regulate the migration of slaves is not a new doctrine, nor
now first proposed to be exercised. It proves incontestably that the
motion I have now offered has not hitherto been deemed as con-
flicting with the provisions of the treaty of cession. I am willing
to consider Missouri as an inchoate State. No one will more gladly
see her admitted into the Union ; but I wish to see the page of her
Constitution irradiated with the fundamental principles of civil and
religious liberty — to see her become a party to that covenant around
which the patriots of '76 pledged their lives, their fortunes, and
their sacred honor. The committee have attached the admission of
Missouri to the bill for admitting Maine under the pretext of con-
geniality. How insufficient the pretence ! What ludicrous incon-.
gruity do the two propositions present ! You are not acting on a.
section of two or three lines. As to Maine, it is her Constitution
that you are ratifying. What do you find on the front of it?
" 'Article i, Section i. All men are born free and equal, and are
94 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
free to worship God in their own way. ' Here is a substantial pledge
to the good old faith. To her we say, 'Come, sister; take your
place in our constellation. The lustre of your countenance will
brighten the American galaxy.' But do not urge us to admit Mis-
souri under a jDretence of congeniality — with the visage of a savage
deformed with the hideous cicatrices of barbaric pride — with her
features marred as if the finger of Lucifer had been drawn across
them."
That speech, one of many which he delivered while in Congress,
displays, as nothing else could, the habit of his thoughts and the
style of his oratory. Able as were all the others made in the de-
bate upon the Missouri question, there were none of them which sur-
passed this brief but comprehensive oration in the force of its logic
or the foresight which it displays. The debate lasted three weeks,
at the end of which time the vote was taken on Mr. Roberts' re-
strictive amendment, and was negatived by a vote of i6 ayes to 27
nays. As the mover Mr. R. made the closing speech, which was a
complete refutation of every position which the opponents of the
motion had taken. On the defeat of that amendment, Mr. Thomas,
of Illinois, submitted the following additional section as an amend-
ment to the Missouri scheme, which it was proposed by a report of
the Judiciary Committee to incorporate with the Maine bill:
'■'And be it further enacted, That in all that tract of country ceded
by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which
lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude,
excepting only such part thereof as is included within the limits of
the State contemplated by this act, there shall be neither slavery
nor involuntary servitude otherwise than in the punishment of crime
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted ; provided, always,
that any person escaping into the same from whom labor or service
is lawfully due, claimed in any State or Territory of the United
States, such fugitives may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to
the person claiming his or her labor or service aforesaid."
Mr. Roberts opposed this amendment as determinedly and ably
as he had advocated his own, but it was eventually adopted, and
the bill, so amended, admitting Missouri into the Union, was en-
acted into law. This was the famous act, the repeal of which in
1854, under the lead of Stephen A. Douglas and President Pierce,
gave rise to the present Republican party, and eventually led to the
slaveholders' rebellion against the United States. The opposition
of Mr. Roberts to the extension of slavery, at that early day, was
most earnest and unyielding. This was the last of the great mea-
sures on which he was called to act, as the close of the session ter-
minated his useful and most honorable public labors in Congress.
mjOSL JONATHAN ROBERTS. 95
His efforts to stay the spread of the social pestilence was for the time
fruitless, as the compromise was adopted, and slavery had full sway
•over all the territory lying south of thirty-six degrees and thirty
sminutes north latitude until the ist of January, 1863, when it was
.abolished forever in all our borders.
In 11823, after the expiration of his term of office as Senator of
the United States, he was invited to stand for the Legislature, an
invitation which, with much reluctance, he accepted. At that time
ipublic attention became engrossed with the duty of selecting a suc-
cessor to President Monroe. There were several candidates, all
claiming to be iDemocrats — Crawford of Georgia, Adams of Massa-
chusetts, Clay of Kentucky, Jackson of Tennessee, and Calhoun of
:South Carolina, each having some show of support. Mr. Roberts
favored the nomination of Crawford, who was the favorite of the
intellect of the Republican or Democratic party. Had not his
health failed him the probability was that he would have proved the
strongest candidate. Supposing that by obtaining a seat in the
Legislature at that time he would thereby promote the chances of
'Crawford's election, Mr. Roberts accepted the nomination, and
nvas elected. Almost single-handed and alone he stood out against
the tide of Jacksonism that swept through the Pennsylvania Legis-
lature. In this his standing as a public man was rendered quite un-
ipopular, notwithstanding he was once thereafter returned to his seat.
.As the last of his legislative services he took an active and leading
part in the great internal improvement scheme which at that time
-started the prosperous career which has since been pursued by the
Keystone State. That great system was not adopted in the form
Mr. Roberts desired, owing to the refusal of the Senate to incor-
iporate the essential provision for a sinking fund to eventually liqui-
date the outlay. He was urged to stand as a candidate for the next
session of the Legislature, but he felt it was time for him to retire
.and look more after his private affairs. One feature of the Improve-
ment enactment was for a Canal Board to serve without pay, as an
expedient to get rid of drones. This plan was only partially suc-
'Cessful, as idle and incompetent men pressed themselves into even
that public position. Governor Shultz at length sent a commission
'to Mr. Roberts with the request that he would accept it. Being un-
nvilling to show reluctance to execute a policy which he had so ear-
nestly supported, and to keep the appointment out of improper
!hands, he consented to fill the place, although at great private sacri-
ifice. He continued to fulfill the duties of his office for three years.
96 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
much to the advantage of the State. This brought his public ser-
vices up to the year 1827, when Jacksonism had acquired control of
all State affairs in Pennsylvania. The Republican Canal Board was ■
■obnoxious to the predominant Jackson junto in the Legislature, and-
the members of the former body were legislated out of office, they
having refused to resign the discharge of their duties, and a new '
Jackson board was legislated into office, as they would not trust -
Governor Shultz to make other appointment.
From this time forward Mr. Roberts was active in his oppositionr'
to Jacksonism, and kept the defenders of the Hero of New Orleans ■
engaged in an animated public discussion of the claims of that im-
petuous and arbitrary man to the confidence of the American peo--
ple. This drew down upon him the displeasure of those who were '
carried away by the military renown of Jackson. Mr. Roberts was ■
a warm and able defender of Mr. Adams, who was made the target
for the bitter assaults of men like Samuel D. Ingham, and Timothy
Pickering, who sought to advance Jackson's interests by creating ,
popular prejudice against President Adams, who, as well as Jackson
and Clay, had been Democrats up to the time of his election. In-
this purpose these adversaries of Mr. Adams were successful, and in ■
1828 Jackson was elevated to the Presidency by the popular vote.
In his opposition to General Jackson, Mr. Roberts was governed
solely by patriotic and impersonal motives. He felt and knew he "
was engaged in an unpopular cause, and the public controversy was
most distasteful to him ; but he fearlessly breasted the storm and^
looked forward to the time when it was to spend its force. That
time came with the expiration of President Jackson's last term. It-
is true Van Buren succeeded him, but the unnatural coalition which ■
had constituted the Jackson party melted away under the adminis-
tration of his more politic but less willful predecessor.
During his public career Mr. Roberts had been an earnest and'
active supporter of the policy of protection to American industries-
in the laying of imposts on imported goods and merchandise. About
the close of the last term of his public service the revision of the :
tariff" laws became necessary. Foreign governments had so adapted-
their legislation as to defeat the protective policy of this country.
The old free States had turned their attention to manufactures, while -
the Southern slave States could not adapt slave labor to these pur--
suits. Notwithstanding this development of sectional interests, some"
advantages were gained for the manufacturing interests ; but, as time-
passed on, further measures in that direction were called for. A-
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 97
society was formed in Philadelphia to promote the growth of the
useful arts. At their instance a national convention was held at
Harrisburg in 1827. Mr. Roberts took a prominent and influential
part in that assemblage. So strongly was he in favor of encouraging
home manufactures that he never knowingly would wear a garment
of foreign-made fabrics.
The result of this movement was the triumph which the policy of
protection gained in all our free territory, and population throve
with wonderful rapidity, as New England had before done in the
pursuits of navigation and the fisheries. The jealousy of the slave-
holding South therefore became aroused on seeing the prosperity
attending free labor. In 1831-32 it became obvious that the pub-
lic debt, for which impost duties were largely required, would soon
be extinguished, and it had become the cry of the South to conform
the duties to the payment of the economical wants of the National
Government. Their aim was to get something like a horizontal
tariff of duties on all imported commodities.
A free-trade convention met in 1830 or 1831 in Philadelphia, at
the head of which was Albert Gallatin as the representative of the
importing trade. He was placed at the head of the committee to
memoralize Congress in the interest of the free traders. In doing
this he could not avoid admitting the discriminative principle, and
if not to encourage at least to sustain home industry. The con-
vention served no other purpose than to rally the cotton-growers
and those concerned in the ocean-carrying trade to make a stand
against a squarely protective policy. A few months thereafter the
friends of home industry held a national convention in New York
city, which was attended by from five hundred to six hundred dele-
gates. Mr. Roberts was sent to that body, and, against the strong
opposition of the Jackson element in the convention, was placed on
the committee of business. In discharging the duties of that com-
mittee he performed the most valuable services. The session was
continued for a week, and throughout its proceedings Mr. R. took
an active and prominent part. The result of these popular move-
ments was the compromise tariff of 1832-33, which subsequently
proved so disastrous to the prosperity of the country.
During the anti-Masonic agitation in Pennsylvania, Mr. Roberts,
feeling that he could not aftrliate fully with either of the fragmentary
political movements into which the people of tlfe State were divided,
withdrew for a time from active participation in politics. But in
1835 he warmly supported Joseph Ritner for Governor, as the Whig
98 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
candidate. Disappointed in the policy of Governor Ritner's ad-
ministration, Mr. Roberts remained a passive observer, of the drift
of public affairs until the misgovernment of Presidents Jackson and
Van Buren brought on a crisis in 1839 that called him again into
the field of politics. A National Whig convention met at Harris-
burg to nominate a Presidential candidate to succeed Van Buren.
Mr. Roberts went as a delegate to that convention, and energeti-
cally supported the claims of Henry Clay to the nomination. The
choice, however, fell to General Harrison, who received the untir-
ing and able support of Mr. Roberts during the very exciting politi-
cal campaign which followed. In making choice of a candidate for
Vice President it fell to the lot of Mr. Roberts, on behalf of the
Pennsylvania delegation, to nominate John Tyler, of Virginia, a duty
the discharge of which subsequently caused him the deepest regret.
Unfortunately for the country General Harrison did not live to
inaugurate the policy which was expected from his election. One
short month after his inauguration he died, and the executive duties
devolved upon Mr. Tyler, the Vice President. The terrible busi-
ness depression under which the country was then laboring caused
an unusual desire and pressure for public appointments. In Phila-
delphia the Collectorship and other offices connected with the reve-
nue department were vehemently contested for, and remained un-
assigned on General Harrison's death. Among the aspirants for the
Collectorship were ex-Governors Shultz and Ritner, ex-Mayor John
Swift, Bela Badger, Henry Morris, and I. Washington Tyson. The
warm competition among these prominent and influential applicants
led Mr. Tyler to seek to avoid offence by appointing some person
who would be calculated to soften the asperity of feeling to which
the competition had given rise. He thought he knew enough of
the character of Mr. Roberts to warrant him in giving him the ap-
pointment without solicitation or suggestion on his part or that of
anybody else. Mr. Tyler had good reasons for this mark of confi-
dence in Mr. Roberts. He had known the latter while in Congress,
and knew his independent fidelity to what he believed his public
duty. Accordingly on April 14th, 1841, the appointment of Mr.
R. was made as Collector of Customs for the port of Philadelphia.
The announcement was a great surprise to Mr. Roberts, as he had
warmly urged the appointment of Henry Morris, the youngest son
of Robert Morris, the great financier of the Revolutionary epoch.
This appointment found Mr. R. just convalescing after a severe and
protracted illness of five months. Knowing the difficulties and per-
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. 99
plexities which would necessarily attend the discharge of the duties
of Collector at that anomalous period, Mr. Roberts hesitated to ac-
cept the appointment, although the President and others urged him
to do so. After some days he decided to accept the commission
from the President. In that short time the applicants for appoint-
ment to offices under the Collector, about eighty-two in all, num-
bered over a thousand. It was a difficult and trying duty to make
the necessary selections from so many applicants. By the ist of
May the new appointments were made, and the Custom House force
organized for an efficient administration.
At that time President Tyler gave no indication that he enter-
tained the idea of becoming his own successor for the next Presi-
dential term; but on the assembling of Congress the ensuing winter
his purpose to accomplish that object became manifest. This brought
bim into antagonism with the two houses of Congress on measures
which the latter bodies deemed important. Mr. Clay, who was an
active opponent of the President's financial views, became an object
of his hatred and jealousy as a rival candidate for the Presidency.
Mr. Tyler knew Mr. Roberts' partiality for Mr. Clay, and he be-
came distrustful of the latter. President Tyler at length determined
to fill all the offices under Mr. Roberts with his clamorous partisans,
and especially with those who would adopt his hatred of his dreaded
rival. Mr. Roberts' sympathies were entirely with the Whig party,
which was in open and avowed antagonism to the President.
In his last veto message President Tyler had promised to strive
to meet Congress with some measure that might meet their recipro-
cal duties. Mr. Roberts thought of resigning his office, owing to
his want of approbation of the course of the President, but he was
urged by the Whigs not to resign, in order that the purposes of the
President should be forced upon public attention. Finding that
Mr. Roberts did not tender his resignation, and incited by intriguing
parasites, President Tyler was guilty of the monstrous official impro-
priety of signing a requisition upon Mr. Roberts to dismiss without
cause thirty of his subordinate officers for whom he was held pecu-
niarily and officially responsible, and to appoint thirty other per-
sons who were named, about whom he knew nothing, and who did
not possess his confidence. Mr. Roberts lost no time in personally
expostulating with the President, but failing to have any influence
with him peremptorily refused to comply or resign. It was Mr.
Roberts' duty to hold the office until a successor could be lawfully
appointed, and whose receipt would discharge him from its respon-
5383'^3
100 HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
sibilities. While the Senate was in session no one could assume the
ofifice until con.'^rmed by that body, and no one he could have ap-
pointed could have.been confirmed. Congress did not adjourn un-
til August. The adjournment left the way open for the President's
action, and he appointed as Mr. R.'s successor Thomas S. Smith,
who cheerfully assented to -all that the administration required of
him. Notwithstanding this subserviency on the part of Mr. Smith,
his appointment was rejected by the Senate at the instance and with
the approbation of the President, and Calvin Blythe was appointed
Collector in his place. Mr. Blythe had been removed by John
Tyler to make the appointment of Mr. Roberts, and he was now re-
appointed without any other reason than the hope of his support as
a prominent Democrat— so far had the President drifted from the
party that had elected him to the Vice Presidency. In refusing to
bend at the behests of the President, Mr. Roberts was controlled by
influences solely of a public nature, and did not forfeit the respect
and confidence of President Tyler, who through his intimate friend,
Mr. Catlett, in the hour when he was about to restore Mr. Blythe,
assured Mr. Roberts that he thought as highly of him as he ever did.
Mr. Roberts left the Custom House with the affectionate regard of
all who had been associated with him officially and with the good
will and respect of all who had had business transactions with him.
From that time Mr. Roberts held no public position, but con-
tinued to have a lively interest in all that was transpiring of a pub-
lic character. He had reached the ripe old age of 71 years, with
unimpaired mental powers and vigorous physical strength. The
last twelve years of his life were spent in rural occupations upon his
extensive farm and in the enjoyment of books, his keen relish for
the acquisition of knowledge seeming to increase with age. He was
an ardent friend and advocate of general education, and paid much
attention to that work at home and elsewhere. Several very able,
lectures of Mr. Roberts on the subject of education are still in ex-
istence in manuscript, which were written and delivered at a very
advanced age. He has left in his memoirs, which he addressed to
his children, a treasury of information which is not attainable else-
where, but which, owing to its personal nature, is not well suited
for public reading.
As before stated, Mr. Roberts was until nearly his 40th year a
birth-right member of the society of Friends. Owing to the active
and prominent part which he took in the National Councils in sup-
port of the war of 181 2 against Great Britain, he vyas disowned by
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS. lOI
that denomination. This he felt to be a relief from observances
which he could not apprehend were suited to a free and independ-
•nt exercise of his intellectual and moral promptings. He always
continued, however, to sympathize with Friends in most of their
views and convictions. He notwithstanding never sought to renew
his connection with either branch of that divided religious denomi-
tion. Up to within a few months of his death he continued in the
full enjoyment of all his faculties. In the spring of 1854 his strength
began to fail him, and continued to do so until the succeeding July,
when on the 21st of that month he died in perfect peace, "confi-
dent of a spiritual life beyond the grave neither limited as to time
nor restricted as to its possibilities."
Mrs. Roberts survived him nearly eleven years. She passed a
life of general usefulness in her various spheres of action hardly less
marked and prominent than that of her distinguished husband. Her
whole life was devoted to the good of others. She lived to the ripe
old age of 76, and passed to the reward of the righteous on June
nth, 1865.
The remains of Jonathan Roberts and wife sleep beside each other
in the private cemetery of the family on the farm of William B.
Roberts, their son, a little west of the road leading to King-of-
Prussia. The lot is enclosed and the graves indicated by plain
marble memorials.
Mr. and Mrs. Roberts had nine children : Mathew Thomas, Mary
C, William B., Anna M., Jonathan M., John B., Sarah H., Ma-
thew, and Edward F. Of these children Mathew Thomas, Mary
C. and Anna M. died when young. The youngest of the four, Ma-
thew, attained maturity, but was not married. He was drowned in
the spring of 1851, in California, while trying to save the property
of a friend. The other five are still living.
WilliaiTi B, Roberts married, in 1842, Susan H. Holstein, young-
est daughter of Colonel George W. Holstein, of Upper Merion.
They (William B. and wife) have eight children, all living: Eliza
A., who is married to David Conrad, of Plymouth ; Sarah L., mar-
ried to William Wills, Jr., of Plymouth; Mathew H., married to
Clara V. Conrad; William H., married to Laura Massey, of Chester
county. Jonathan, George, Edward and John are unmarried. At
the fall election in 1878 William B. Roberts was chosen a member
of the lower house of Assembly on the Republican ticket.
Jonathan M. Roberts married Mary H. Abbott, of Norristown.
They have had seven children, six of whom are living. They are
102 GEN. FRANCIS SWAYNE.
Susan A., Rebecca H., Eliza B., Mary T., Virginia L., Anna T.,
and Sarah T. All survive except Eliza B., who died in infancy, and
all are minors.
John B. Roberts married Virginia M. Lewis, of Burlington, New
Jersey. They have had two children, Louisa and Jonathan M. The
latter, a minor, survives ; the former died in infancy.
Sarah is married to Samuel Tyson, of Upper Merion, and they
have had four children, Jonathan R., Edward M., Eliza H., and
Mary F. The first three named survive, and are minors; the last
died in infancy.
Edward F. Roberts is unmarried.
[Note. — Since the earlier pages of this biography were printed
the author learns that his conjecture — expressed in a foot note — that
Mr. Roberts' repugnance, when a boy, to declaim " Cato's Solilo-
quy" was not on account of Addison's reputed intemperance, but
because the boy's moral sense was shocked at Cato's suicide, follow-
ing his lofty musings on the immortality of the soul. Young Jona-
than Roberts had not then learned that self-murder was right and
honorable according to heathen ethics, and only condemned by
christian morals. Very properly, Addison made Cato talk like a
heathen, as he was, and not like a christian.]
BRIGADIER GENERAL FRANCIS SWAYNE.
other things are disposed of by Cliance and Fortune, but Death treats all men alike.
— Seneca.
The first public notice of General Francis Swayne is the recorded
fact in the Pennsylvania Archives that he was State Clothier, ap-
pointed July 23d, 1779, probably with a Colonel's or Major's com-
mission, to contract for clothing for the State militia during the
Revolutionary war. He settled here about the time of the organi-
zation of our county, and was elected the second Sheriff in 1787,
to succeed Zebulon Potts. As the office was then annually elective,
he was twice re-elected, closing his term of service in October, 1790.
He had probably received the appointment of Brigadier General by
brevet in the State militia, for we find his name appended as such
to a notice to the qualified and enrolled militia to meet and hold
the annual election in 1805. In 1800 he was appointed Clerk of
GEN. FRANCIS SWAYNE. IO5
the Courts and Prothonotary by Governor McKean, which posts he
held nine years, till superceded by Philip Hahn, who was appointed
by Simon Snyder in 1809.
Towards the close of Governor McKean's first term there began
to be great opposition to him (McKean) in the ranks of his own
party, the outcry being that he was an aristocrat and sympathized
with the English. In 1804 Swayne was a Presidential elector. He
had married a daughter of Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, and in
1807 was left executor of the estate of his brother-in-law, General
Peter Muhlenberg, who died that year. When parties began to de-
velop, after the formation of the Federal Constitution, Swayne, in
common with the Muhlenbergs, Hon. Frederick Conrad, and others,
took the Federal side as against the Jeffersonians. Accordingly we
find him participating in a public meeting in 1807 in favor of Mr.
McKean and against Jefferson and Snyder, and opposing Jonathan
Roberts, Nathaniel B. Boileau, and other Republicans. Before
McKean retired from the Governor's chair, in 1808, he appointed
Swayne a Justice of the Peace, which at that time was a life office.
In 1811 he was elected President of the Ridge Turnpike Road Com-
pany and one of the commissioners to superintend the sale of stock.
On March 17th, 1813, he advertises in Winnerd's Register to sell
all his household furniture. It is presumed this was just after the
death of his first wife, who was buried at Trappe, in the Muhlen-
berg family row. General Swayne was elected the first President
of the Bank of Montgomery County, which was organized shortly
after the events just recorded, but having expressed a desire in 1817
to resign the post, the Board of Directors accepted, and tendered
him a vote of thanks, signed Levi Pawling, President, and Zadok
Thomas, Secretary of the Board.
General Swayne built the large two-storied brick house at the
southeast corner of Main and Cherry streets, afterwards owned by
John B. Sterigere, and occupied it till his death. After his first
wife's demise he married a widow, who on his death married an inn-
keeper of Pottstown named Ritze. In person General Swayne was
rather under medium height, stout made, of florid complexion, and
was advanced in age at the time of his death. He left no children
by either of his wives, and the time of his death is not certainly
known, but doubtless was previous to 1825. He sleeps beside his ^' w
first wife at St. Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe.
104 PHILIP YOST, ESQ.
PHILIP YOST, Esq.
It was not by choice meats and perfumes that our forefathers recommended them-
selves, but in virtuous actions and the sweat of honest, manly labors. — Seneca.
There is no family of German descent in eastern Pennsylva-
nia whose respectability and standing have been better preserved
than the Yosts. They are spread nearly all over the county
of Montgomery, and so separated that relationship is scarcely
traced among its remote branches.
The progenitor of the family of which we are writing was
Philip Yost, who was born in Nassau, West Germany, in 1718
and emigrated about 1740. The maiden name of his wife was
Vronicei Dotterer, They settled near Pottstown, where he
died in 1804, aged 86 years, leaving among other children
Philip Yost, the subject of this biography. He was born in
Limerick township, August 24th, 1757, and received a good
German and English education at Pottstown. When quite a
young man he enlisted in the army that assisted to gain our
independence. He was first enrolled as a private, but subse-
quently attained the position of Cornet, and went through the
disastrous battles of Brandywine and Germantown unhurt".
Returning at the end of the war he married Rozina Beringer.
The children of that union were Mary, Jacob, Benjamin B.,
Salome, Tobias, Elizabeth, Rozina, Herman, Jonas, Sarah, and
Philip. Of this large family, one (Rozina) is still living at or
near Limerick Station.
Philip Yost, the Revolutionary soldier, and subject of this
notice, was, as his father, a member of the German Reformed
church. He learned the trade of a wheelwright, but afterwards
followed farming till nearly the time of his death, which took
place on August 28th, 1832, in his 76th year.
We will now give the descending genealogy through the line
of his son, Benjamin B. Yost, who was born December 31st,
1787, in Pottsgrove township. He also received a good com-
mon school education, and married Sarah Feather on Novem-
ber 30th, 1 8 1 3. Benjamin B. Yost, when the war of 1 8 1 2 broke
out, enlisted as his father had done in the Revolution, and was
fife or drum major at the camp at Marcus Hook, on the Dela-
PHILIP YOST, ESQ. 10/
ware. He was elected County Commissioner in 1833, County
Treasurer in 1836, and Register of Wills in 1845. He was also
Justice of the Peace for many years. He died September 30th,
1858, in Pottsgrove township, aged 70 years.
We continue the record of the family in the fourth genera-
tion. Benjamin B. and Sarah Yost had four children, Isaac F.,
Sarah, Benjamin F., and Elizabeth. Isaac F., late Associate
Judge, one of the above, resides at New Hanover, usually called
"Swamp." When a young man he taught school, for which
he was qualified by a good common school education, but has
been a farmer for many years. Previous to being elected As-
sociate Judge in 187 1, he had served terms of three years each
as County Auditor and County Commissioner. To the latter
he was elected in 1854. He sat on the bench during the mur-
der trials of Curley and Pistorius, and closed his term in 1876.
The other son of Benjamin B, Yost, Benjamin F., lives in
Pottstown.
Of Hon. Isaac F. Yost and family we give a fuller account
as follows: He was born at the homestead in Pottsgrove town-
ship, March 2d, 18 15, and was married November 1st, 1838,
to Rozina Miller. They have had thirteen children, as fol-
lows : Daniel M. Yost, the well known merchant of Norris-
town, who is intermarried with Hannah C. Feather. Their
children are Marie R., Daniel, Harry, and Ella. Benjamin,
the second son of Judge Yost, is married to Kate Bleim, and
lives at Pottstown; Amelia is intermarried with Tobias Shelly;
Salomi is the wife of William S. Bleim, of Limerick Station;
Isaac M., married to Sallie Johnson, of Norristown, and re-
cently removed to Hayes City, Kansas; John R., also resides
at* Hayes City; Philip M. was with Daniel M., in Norristown;
Mary A., Rebecca and Emma Elizabeth reside in New Hano-
ver; Louisa, Rosina and Josiah are deceased.
Daniel M, Yost, of Norristown, has a brief but honorable
military record also, which should be added. He enlisted as
a private in Colonel Hartranft's Fourth Regiment, served the
full term, and rose to the position of Orderly Sergeant; re-en-
listed in the Eleventh Regiment of Pennsylvania militia in 1 862,
went out as Captain, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colo-
8
JOSEPH LEEDOM, A. M., M. D.
104 y -y
nel. He also served nine months with the same rank in the
One Hundred and Seventy-ninth Regiment. This shows that
for three generations the Yost family have had a hand in at
least three wars of the country.
It is proper to add that nearly all of the younger branches
©f the family, as was stated of the elder, are members of the
Reformed church.
JOSEPH LEEDOM, A. M., M. D.
Dr. Joseph Leedom, son of Richard and Sarah Leedom, of
Southampton, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born August,
1769, and died January, 1845, aged ^6 years. His mother was
a Twining. His ancestry on the paternal side were from
Wales, and came over in the ship Welcome, in 1682, with
William Penn, whose frequent visits to their cabin in Penn's
Woods and the trials they endured in those pioneer days were
ever interesting themes of recital to their descendants. They
belonged to the society of Friends, the faith to which the sub-
ject of this biography adhered through life. Dr. Leedom's
father, being a man of wealth, gave his son every educational
advantage. He graduated at Brown University when about 21
years of age. Afterwards he entered upon the study of law
with Mr. Ingersoll, of Philadelphia, but the profession not be-
ing to his taste he abandoned it for that of medicine. At first
he studied with Dr. Fenton, of Bucks county, and afterward
with Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia,
He graduated in medicine at the University of Pennsylvania,
and commenced practice in Sussex county, New Jersey, where
he remained several years. Finding, however, that riding over
a mountainous country impaired his health, he resolved to re-
turn to Pennsylvania. While a resident of New Jersey he mar-
ried Eleanor Van Couwenhoven, or Conover, as it is some-
times written, who was a lineal descendant of Wolfert Gerret-
son Van Couwenhoven, from Amersfoort, Utrecht, Holland,
REV. BALTHASER HOFFMAN. 10/
ivho came to America in 1630, and settled in Upper Freehold,
New Jersey.
In 1803 ^^- Leedom took up his residence on a farm be-
longing to his father, at Plymouth Meeting, where he lived
and practiced his profession for forty-two years. He had six
children: Dr. Edwin C, intermarried with Susan Lukens;
Emma, who died in childhood; Twining, who died in infancy;
Julia L., intermarried with Daniel H. Mulvany, Esq., whose life
is elsewhere given in this volume; Joseph, who also died in
infancy; and Sarah Ann, who died February 4th, 1846, inter-
married with Thomas P. Knox, Esq. Dr. Leedom had a very
extensive practice in Montgomery county, was fond of his pro-
fession, and devoted his life to it. He stood very high as a
physician, and his skill and success in the treatment of the
fevers so prevalent during his life-time were often spoken of in
;the country long after he had passed away.
The only living grandchildren of Dr. Joseph Leedom are the
following: Howard, Dr. Oscar, Joseph, Daniel H. M., and
Franklin, sons of Dr. Edwin C. Leedom ; Emma L. Spear, only
:surviving child of Daniel H. and Julia L. Mulvany; Ellen,
.daughter of Thomas P. and Sarah Ann Knox.
REV. BALTHASER HOFFMAN.*
The -world was all before them where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.— Paradise Lost.
For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.— Hebrews XIII, 14.
'^ Casper Schwenkfeld von Ossing, a Silesian Knight and Coun-
:sellor to the Duke of Liegnitz, was a German scholar and the-
ologian of the time of Martin Luther. Differing on some mi-
nor points with the great reformer, he was much persecuted in
his life-time, and his followers after him. He died at Ulm, in
*This memoir is translated from a record left by his son, Christian Hoflman, which
was written in German in 1777. two years after his father's ileath the same being tran-
scribed and written out in that lanRuage, by Rev. Reuben Kriebel, of T<>\yainencin and
iranslated by Abraham Cassel, of Harleysville. Montgomery county. This biography is
an imperfect version or synopsis of.it.
I08 REV. BALTHASER HOFFMAN.
1552, aged 72 years. Subsequent to 1 730 many Schwenkfelders,,
flying from persecution, emigrated and settled in Montgomery^
Bucks and Berks counties, where their descendants remain, a
very worthy and pious people, to the present day. Among-
those so coming to Pennsylvania, Balthaser Hoffman, who set-
tled in Lower Salford township, was one of the most eminent.
He was born in Harpersdorf, Principality of Liegnitz, in Sile-
sia, Austria. By his own testimony he was born of " wicked,
poor and simple parents," and was first reared to the trade of"
a weaver, occasionally working as a day laborer in the sum-
mer. He early embraced the religious principles of Casper
Schwenkfeld, and became pious. He was tall in stature, lean
in person, and " after his fiftieth year wore an entire white-
head." From his earliest youth he seems to have been very-
industrious and desirous of acquiring truth. By assiduous la-
bor he soon gained a knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew,,
and by help of good books set himself to study the Sacred
Scriptures, for which his knowledge of the languages gave him
great facilities. He was very diligent in acquainting himself"
with christian teachings around him, and especially of those
promulgated by Casper Schwenkfeld, but "had also avery
watchful eye to keep clear of side teachings."
In 1 7 19 the Reformation had made great progress in Silesia,,
and the Catholic church in 1721 sent a mission to convert the
people back to the old faith, at first laboring with them mildly,
but soon after committing great acts of violence. The perse-
cuted people in 1721 therefore resolved to send an embassy to-
" Hofe," to the Emperor, to implore toleration. Of this body
Balthaser was one. During this effort, which lasted five years,,
Hoffman delivered no less than seventeen memorials to the
royal ruler. At last, however, in 1726, the mission turned the
heart of the sovereign still more against the reformed people,,
so that Balthaser dared not show himself by day, but had to
return by night, taking with him to Ober Laufuitz his wife and
two daughters. Even there he was not safe, but fled again
with his gray-haired father from Vienna by way of Prague to
Laufuitz, and obtained the protection of Count Zinzendorf..
Here he resided eight years, during which time a son was born.
REV. BALTHASER HOFFMAN. lOQ
ito him. As tolerance was not even here assured he, with
many others, concluded to emigrate to Pennsylvania, where
William Penn had promised religious freedom to all. This
resolution was formed in 1734, and on November 22d of the
same year, with his wife and family, " under the guidance of
the good Lord they arrived at Philadelphia, and offered praise
to God for his graciousness to them." He was especially
grateful that no evil had befallen them on the way, and further
that kind friends in Holland had sent himself over free and
"without cost to him. He did not remain in the city, but re-
moved to the country, " where, too, the grace of God provided
for him and his." During all this time he continued a diligent
Bible reader and christian teacher to those around him. Here
he freely worshiped God according to the dictates of con-
:science.
The open service of God was entrusted to George Weiss, as
well as the marriage and funeral services and the catechising
•of children. George Weiss was quite discouraged at times,
yet in 1740 these duties were put upon him.* He several
times withdrew, especially in 1749, when he became afflicted
on his breast and debilitated in his power of speech and of
>singing. Still, demands were made upon him, particularly for
outdoor services, as catechising the children; but by the help
■of God he labored till the weight of years made it impossible.
Nor did he ever tire in his many duties. His Sabbath fore-
noons, afternoons or evenings, were employed in writing, read-
ing and singing. He left many letters and writings on Holy
Scripture and christian teachings, prompted by the questions
of others as well as of his own conception, thus at once render-
ing- service to his brethren in time to come. He also left
"hymns. Of these writings we have a catalogue. " To him
iidleness and the want of truth were of great moment, seeing
ihow God's gift of freedom was misapplied."
The closing years of Balthaser Hoffman's life were spent in
:a small room, spinning; yet daily would he read, write, sing
and pray. And as he had long been blessed with bodily health,
*The tratislation here is somewhat ambiguous. Strictly and literally the sense is
that the services described were performed by George Weiss; but from a consideration
of the whole context the author inclines to think tliat all the succeeding narrative re-
lates to Balthaser Hoflinan.
110 JAMES WOOD,
SO God protected him against much and severe sickness in his-
last days. Gradually, however, his sanctified spirit was loosened
from its earthly tabernacle, and nature sank year by year, till
December 2ist, 1774, when he was attacked with vertigo and"
increasing debility, and on July nth, 1775, in his 89th year^
he passed peacefully away. His wife, Ursula, died May iSth^
1767, aged 80 years, and lies in the burial ground belonging ta
the Schwenkfelder congregation of Lower Salford. Balthaser"
Hoffman and wife left three children, Anna, Rosina and Chris-
tian, who were all born in Europe. All three were married,,
but the son left no issue. There are descendants of the daugh-
ters, however, to the fifth and sixth generation.
He remained an acceptable minister to the Schwenkfelders-
from the death of Weiss, in 1749, until the time of his own
death. He resided on a tract of land by the east side of Skip-
pack creek, two miles west of Franconia village, now owned
by Henry Derstine. He was a man of eminent wisdom and
piety, and left behind him a catalogue of his writings, embrac-
ing fifty-eight tracts, all on theology and practical religion, be-
sides eighty-three letters on various kindred topics.
JAMES WOOD.
All is the gift of Industry ; whate'er
Exalts, embellishes, and renders life
Delightful . — Thomson.
Among the eminent men who during the present century
have founded manufacturing industry in Montgomery county,
none are more justly celebrated than James Wood, who began
life as a mere village blacksmith. From this grade and posi-
tion he pressed his way to the very front, as a man of inge-
nuity, enterprise, and wealth, establishing an iron business that
for many years has been on the lead, in its particular line, in
Pennsylvania.
He was the son of John and Catharine Davis Wood, and was
born near the village of Blue Bell, in Whitpain township, Mont-
JAMES WOOD. Ill
gomery county. While growing to proper age to be appren-
ticed he was taught the rudiments of a good education in the
common schools of the period. Having acquired the trade of
a smith, he established himself in that business at Gulf, or
"Bird-in-Hand," as it was usually called. Being a very active,
robust and enterprising mechanic, he first added the manufac-
ture of sickles, which were in great demand before cradles and
reapers had come into use. In connection with smithing he
followed that branch extensively, first at Valley Forge, after-
wards at Fox Chase on the Pennepack, and finally at Consho-
hocken, where, having obtained a good water power, he added
domestic and agricultural hardware, such as spades, shovels,
saws, and other implements in common use. This complex
business he drove with great vigor for many years, and " Wood's
iron implements" obtained a national reputation.
James Wood was born of English and Welsh lineage, and
was a Quaker by religious profession. He was twice married,
and quite as remarkable in his domestic relations as he was in
business, for he is recorded as the father of twenty children, all
born in wedlock. He was first married to Tacy Thomas, of
Plymouth, by whom he had nine children; afterwards to Anne
W. Warner, of Philadelphia, who bore him eleven. The off-
spring of the first marriage were James, Alan, Catharine, Mark,
Mary, an infant deceased, Thomas, Mary, and Sarah; those of
the second wife were Lydia, Charles, John, William W.., David
L., Thomas C, George F., Anna J., Martha A., Caroline T.,
and Benedict D. Of these two large families of children the
following are still (1878) living: Alan, Catharine, Mary, Charles,
Lydia, John, David L., Anna J., Martha A., and Benedict D.
David L. is married to Mary K., daughter of Richard P. Gum-
ming; Thomas C. to Ann E., daughter of William McCahan,
all of Philadelphia; Anna J. is the wife of Jonathan Cleaver, of
Upper Merion, Montgomery county; Martha A. is married to
Richard C. Walker, Jr.; Caroline T. is intermarried with Con-
rad Seidentoph ; Benedict D. married Rebecca Walker.
James Wood was a strictly temperate man, and much re-
spected by all who knew him. He was also a man of patriot-
ism and public spirit, but not a seeker after office, never being
112 JAMES WOOD.
willing to accept but a single public position, that of School
Director in Plymouth township, of which board he was Presi-
dent for five years, from 1834 to 1839. During that time he
and his conferees encountered much opposition from the ene-
mies of the public school law, which was then first being put
in operation.
James Wood was not only a citizen of the olden time in in-
dustry, energy, and personal vitality, as shown by his large
family, but was noted as a man of great promptness, justness
and punctuality in the payment of debts due to others, feeling
a just pride in "owing no man anything." He had the rare
experience also of never having been sued nor ever being the
plaintiff in a suit against others. For a long series of years he
did business loaning money and discounting bills, but never
would take advantage of his creditors or the poor by exacting
more than six per centum interest. He enjoyed the rare bless-
ing of a lively, cheerful temper, and good health, which gave
zest to life and lengthened out his existence beyond fourscore
years, to see several of his sons and grandsons in successful
business, building upon the foundation which he had himself
laid at Conshohocken.
Thus, after a long and useful life, James Wood died peace-
fully, in January, 185 1, aged 81 years. His second wife, Anne,
survives him, and now (1878) resides in Norristown, a smart
old lady, in her 87th year, who keeps her own house, attends
to household duties personally, and has nearly all her senses
and mental faculties seemingly unimpaired. She recently un-
derwent a severe surgical operation, recovering her wonted
health in a few days. She bids fair to equal her grandmother
in longevity, who continued a robust woman till the day of her
death, at the extraordinary age of 104 years. Her natural force
was so little abated that when lOO years old she would carry
a bucket of water from the spring to the house " like a girl in
her teens."
HON. JOSEPH FORNANCE. II3
HON. JOSEPH FORNANCE.
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world, This was a man. — Shdkspeare.
Hon. Joseph Fornance, who represented the now Seventh
'district in the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congress
from 1839 to 1843, was born in Lower Merion township, Octo-
ber 1 8th, 1804. He was the son of John, who was the son of
Antony Fornance, previously a resident of New Castle, Dela-
ware, and of Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Roberts, of Block-
ley township, Philadelphia county. Antony Fornance, his
grandfather, emigrated from France and settled in Delaware
about 1750, and died there in 1768. Thomas Roberts, his
maternal grandfather, was a grandson of Hugh Roberts, who
came from Wales in 1684, and was a minister of the society of
Friends. He died in 1702, and was buried in the cemetery at
Friends' meeting in Merion.
Joseph Fornance was chiefly educated at the old academy
of Lower Merion, and his attention was particularly directed
to the study of the higher mathematics. He had one brother,
John, who surviv^ed him some years, and who was a well known
resident of Norristown. Immediately on his leaving school he
commenced teaching in his native township, and remained in
that calling until about 1829 or 1830, when he began the study
•of law in the office of Hon. Philip S. Markley, and was admitted
to the bar August 21st, 1832, continuing in active practice to
the period of his death.
In 1834, almost as soon as graduated in his profession, his
Democratic fellow-citizens selected him to represent the county
in the Assembly, serving one term till the Muhlenberg
division of the party caused his defeat. In 1838 he was
elected to represent the district in Congress, and was re-elected
in 1840, in the midst of the famous "Log Cabin," "Hard
Cider" and " 'Coon" campaign that carried Harrison and Tyler
into the Presidential chairs. While in the Legislature he took
an active part in the abolition of public executions, which was
effected in 1834, and during his term he secured the passage
of several important laws to lay out and improve the streets of
114 HON. JOSEPH FORNANCE.
Norristown. He was also conspicuous as an advocate and
supporter of the then inchoate public school system ; and,
though not a member of any secret society, in common with
his party opposed the then prevalent political crusade against
Masons and other secret orders.
His two terms in Congress were distinguished by the bitter
controversies about the safe keeping of the public funds and
the institution of the independent Treasury by Van Buren's ad-
ministration. That famous measure had been rejected at the
extra session in 1837, but passed both houses, in the session of
1840. It was regarded as the great achievement of that Presi-
dential term. During all this exciting period Mr, Fornance
steadily sustained the principles of his party, and doubtless
truly represented his constituents. His manner was ever mild,
consistent and firm. On retiring from the post he held, as at
first, a character above reproach for ability and integrity. From
the close of his Congressional term, in 1843, ^^ 1854, when
the elective judiciary was to go into effect in our county, Mr.
Fornance was engaged in an extensive practice of his profes-
sion. In that year the Democracy of Bucks county presented
the name of Henry Chapman as their nominee for the Seventh
district, composed of Bucks and Montgomery, and the party
in our county presented that of Mr. Fornance for the position.
After repeated conferences between the representative Demo-
crats of the two counties, no agreement was reached to secure
unity, each county adhering to its own nominee. Taking ad-
tage of this division the Whig party nominated Hon. D. M,
Smyser, of Gettysburg, and elected him. After this Mr. For-
nance was not again before the people as a candidate, except
as a non-partisan nominee for Town Council of Norristown,^
which position he filled and was President of that body for
several years immediately preceding his death, which took
place November 24th, 1852, in the 48th year of his age.
In all public stations Mr, Fornance was an active and indus-
trious yet unassuming member, whose judgment was always
relied upon, and whose integrity was unquestioned. As an
advocate addressing a jury his manner was earnest and impres-
sive, carrying great weight, yet his mildness, modesty aod
HON, JOSEPH FORNANCE. 115
sedateness detracted from his effectiveness as a pleader at the
bar.
During his Congressional term he formed the acquaintance
of Anne B., daughter of Captain John McKnight, of Alexan-
dria, Virginia, and they were married at Washington, D. C,
June 23d, 1840. The offspring of this union were the follow-
ing: Joseph, who studied law, and for several years success-
fully practiced in our courts, occupying the office late of his
father, but who is now recently removed and engaged in his
profession at St. Louis, Missouri; John, whose melancholy
death is recorded below; James, Lieutenant in Thirteenth In-
fantry, now stationed at Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Thomas, a
machinist, residing at Merillan, Wisconsin; Elizabeth, inter-
married with Edward Price Jones, son of Davis Jones, Esq., of
Lower Merion, Pennsylvania; Catharine, intermarried with
Frank H. Edmunds, Lieutenant of First Infantry, U. S. A., and
son of Newton Edmunds, Esq., ex-Governor of Dakota Terri-
tory. Lieutenant Edmunds is now stationed at Fort Sully,
Dakota. Mary resides with her widowed mother in Norris-
town, in the same mansion where the husband and father died.
All the children of the family just enumerated are living ex-
cept the second, John, who graduated with high honors in 1861
at the Philadelphia Polytechnic College as a civil engineer. He
chose, however, mechanical engineering in the navy the latter
part of that year, and was for three years in service in the
blockading squadron in the Gulf of Mexico. The remainder
of the war he served on the Atlantic coast. He was in a num-
ber of skirmishes, and in the attack on Fort Fisher in January,
1865. In 1867 he was ordered to the United States steamer
Oneida, one of the Asiatic fleet which represented our country
at the opening of the ports of Japan to the commerce of the
world. After a cruise of three years the Oneida was ordered
home, and left Yokohama at noon on January 24th, 1 87 1 , and
six hours later, while still in the Bay of Yokohama, was run
into by the large British iron steamship Bombay, and so badly
crushed that she began to fill rapidly, sinking within ten min-
utes, and carrying down with her one hundred and twelve offi-
cers and men, who perished almost in a moment. This terri-
Il6 REV. ROBERT STEEL, D. D.
«
ble event produced a shocking sensation all over the country,
but causedja still more melancholy sympathy in our commu-
nity, who knew of the gallant services of young John Fornance
through the war and the flattering promise of his future. He
was a young man of high moral character. Through the en-
tire war he was distinguished for courage and devotion to duty.
When last seen by the few who survived the disaster, he was,
like Casabianca, at his post of duty in the engine room. He
was born October i8th, 1844, and perished January 24th, 1871,
aged 26 years, 3 months, and 6 days.
In person Hon. Joseph Fornance was tall and well formed,
over six feet in height, with dark, ruddy complexion, dark
hair and eyes, and rather handsome features overspread with
an expression of habitual gravity and dignity.
REV. ROBERT STEEL. D. D.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. —
Timothy II, 7.
Perhaps there has been no Presbyterian minister in Pennsyl-
vania, not attaining extraordinary fame as a great preacher,
who has been so justly distinguished for all the qualities that
make up an under-shepherd as Rev. Dr. Steel. In view of the
results of a continuous ministry to one people of just forty-
three years, we would characterize the man by three words —
kindliness, gentleness, and fidelity to divine truth. His heart
was !n his calling from the first; so years only added to his
fervor and usefulness. This was doubtless the main source of
the " imperdible toughness" of the cords that bound him and
his congregation together. But we must trace his life in nar-
rative form.
Robert Steel was born January 9th, 1794, near Londonderry,
Ireland, and while a small boy came to the United States in
charge of an elder brother. Having well grown, doubtless as
most emigrant boys, with some experience in earning his own
REV. ROBERT STEEL, D. D. 1 1/
living, and only such chances of early education as common
schools of that period afforded, he then entered the celebrated
academy of Gray and Wiley, and was prepared for Princeton
College, where in due time he graduated. Having finished his
college course, without delay he entered the Theological Semi-
nary of New York, which was famous for being presided over
at that time by the celebrated Dr. Mason. Finishing his stu-
dies there, and having received a call from Abington Presby-
terian Church, he was ordained and installed by the Philadel-
phia Presbytery on November 9th, 18 19. This covenant, as
the elder theologians called it, was never broken — perhaps no
more in thought than in deed. That inkling for the high
places in the church, so characteristic of some ministers, never
seems to have seized the humble, godly man we are describ-
ing; nor did his congregation, that had laid the bones of three
previous life-long pastors to sleep in their cemetery, ever be-
come afflicted with " itching ears," as is so common in our
days. So the quiet, simple work of preaching the gospel went
on from year to year, the good man teaching the living, bury-
ing the dead, and nursing as a father the children of the flock
and " dedicating them to the Lord in baptism," according to
the teachings of his church. Apart from the round of minis-
terial duties which are a portion of a pastor's life, the biogra-
pher finds a lack of stirring incidents such as make up ordi-
nary public lives. When there is strife, division, or great mo-
ral lapses among the people, a church is often made painfully
conspicuous, and the minister also. But here it was not so.
Results in Dr. Steel's case were finely stated by Rev. L. W.
Eckard, the present pastor of the church, in a historical dis-
course delivered at Abington August 30th, 1876, of the emi-
nent men and women who have gone out from that church to
bless other localities. He says :
" Rev. Joseph Travilli, for some time Superintendent of the
Sunday school, went to Singapore as a missionary. Rev. Al-
fred Ryors studied with Dr. Steel, went to Cannonsburg, be-
came tutor in Lafayette College, and died a professor at Dan-
ville, Kentucky. Dr. Joseph Stevens, one of the Abington
Sunday school scholars, became the esteemed pastor of the
1 1 8 REV. ROBERT STEEL, D. D.
church at Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. Rev. Stephen Yerkes
occupies a professorship in the Danville Seminary, and has
long been distinguished for learning, talent, and piety. Rev.
John Johnson became a minister of the Reformed church, New
York. Rev. Dr. George Stewart graduated from Lafayette
College in 1845, Princeton Theological School in 1848, and
was pastor of churches at Bath, New York, and West Point,
Iowa, and still more recently of a church in Omaha, Nebraska.
The brother of the last, Rev. Dr. Stewart, graduated from
Princeton in 1859, preached at Greenwich, New Jersey, and is
now pastor of a church at Towanda, Pennsylvania. Rev. John
Chester, M. D., was a member of the church and a practicing
physician; he studied for the ministry under Dr. Steel, and
was pastor of a church at Burlington, New Jersey, and since
of a flourishing congregation in Washington city. Rev. Hugh
Craven, who was a graduate, went north, where he became
very useful in furthering the interests of the home mission
work. Rev. Jacob Krewson graduated at Nassau Hall in 1866,
and has since been successfully preaching at Forrestville, Bucks
county, Pennsylvania. Rev. John Newton, M. D., missionary
to India, is also claimed by Abington as one of her sons. Rev.
Charles Beatty Newton, an evangelist in India, is identified
with this place; here he received his education in part under
the care of Dr. Steel. Three lady missionaries to the foreign
field, Mrs. Jane Vansant Martin, Mrs. Mary Parvin Janvier,
and Mrs. Sarah Wigfall Newton, were sent out by Abington."
Many, if not nearly all these "lights of the world," without
doubt, received much of their training from the godly man
whose life we are writing.
Abington is one of the first organized Presbyterian churches
in Pennsylvania, Rev. Malachai Jones, a Welshman, being con-
stituted first pastor in 1714, a hundred and sixty-four years
ago. He continued to minister to them till his death, which
occurred in 1729. On December 30th, 1731, Rev. Richard
Treat was next installed pastor, and continued till 1778, a
period of forty-nine years. In 1781, after an interregnum of
three years. Rev. Dr. William Mackey Tennent was placed
over the church by the Presbytery. While here he gave part
REV. ROBERT STEEL, D. D. II9
of his time to the congregations of Norriton and Providence.
During Tennent's pastorate the log house of worship was torn
down and a stone building erected in its place. Dr. Tennent
died December 2d, 18 10, after an incumbency of twenty-nine
years. In 18 12 Rev. William Dunlap, a son of the President
of Jefferson College, was next called. He died in 181 8, after
laboring six years, and was buried in the same yard with other
pastors.
On September 9th, 1819, the pastorate of Rev. Robert Steel
began, which was terminated by his death on September 2d,
1862, lacking only a week of forty-three years. Thus, after a
life-time (between the young man of 24 and the old one of 68)
spent with one people, his remains, as those of his predeces-
sors, lie in charge of the people to whom he ministered so long
and well. To a friend, a short time before his demise, he
made the following solemn and remarkable declaration con-
cerning the church and himself: " There is an interesting fact
in the history of this church worthy of note. It is this: all
the ministers who have preceded me for the space of more
than one hundred years are but four in number, and have lived
and died among you ; and they all sleep in yonder grave-yard,
waiting in hope until the trumpet shall sound and the dead
shall be raised. There, too, I hope to be laid when I put off
this tabernacle." "And it is even so now," says his eulogist*
It is certainly a wonderful if not unprecedented fact in congre-
gational records, deducting the brief pastorate of Rev. Mr.
Dunlap, Dr. Steel's immediate predecessor, and including the
.subject of our notice, that these four men who spent their
ministry there aggregate a period of one hundred and forty-
two years, or an average for each minister of thirty-five and a
half years.
But it becomes us to speak of his general work. That he
took a deep interest in every spiritual and worldly need of his
people and of the community at large, is but telling how he
felt instead of what he accomplished. A warm, sympathetic
heart is but characteristic of the Celtic race; but when a gener-
*Rev. Jolin Gray, D. D., of Easton, Pennsylvania, who preached his comiueniora-
tive sermon.
I20 REV. ROBERT STEEL, D. D.
ous nature has been touched and sanctified by divine grace, it
is doubly prepared to fly to the reHef of the wretched and to
lift up the fallen. His judgment in matters of charity was sa
well known and confided in that one wealthy|man made him
his almoner, as doubtless did others.
In 1 83 1 his church was visited by a deep revival work. A
day of humiliation and prayer had been appointed by the ses-
sion, which was solemnly observed. The next Sabbath the
number attending divine service could not all be seated, and
so for weeks the work went on, Dr. Steel being aided by Drs.
Ely, Green, Junkin, McAuly, and others.
In 1833 his congregation found their house of worship too-
strait for the adequate accommodation of the people, and an
enlargement was accomplished at considerable cost, during
which time he preached to the people in a grove near by.
On the rise of the temperance reform in 1842 he espoused
the cause, and was one of the early members of the first or-
ganization, called the Montgomery County Temperance So-
ciety, which met in different places from time to time, and
which assembled at Abington Hall in November, 1843, under
his patronage.
Dr. Steel was the President of the Montgomery County Bi-
ble Society almost from its organization till a short time before
his death, the annual convocations being generally held at
Norristown in the early spring.
In i860 the Huntindon Valley Presbyterian Church was or-
ganized — an offshoot of his own, and founded with his assist-
ance and favor, which doubtless has a promising and hopeful
future.
In 1863 the Abington congregation, that he had left so pros-
perous the previous year, replaced their church edifice with a
new one up to the standard architecture of the times.
Dr. Steel was held in high estimation by his clerical breth-
ren, and wielded a large influence among them. This is shown
by the official positions he held at their hands, permanent and
occasional. He was for a considerable period a trustee of the
General Assembly of the church and also of the Board of Do-
mestic Missions, and of the government of Lafayette College.
REV. ROBERT STEEL, U. D. 121
In all of these trusts he was so scrupulously true, and punc-
tual in attendance upon church courts also, that his friend, Dr.
Murphy, says: " Some months before his death he declared tO'
a friend that never during all his long ministry had he been.:
absent from one stated meeting of Synod." The honorar}^
title of D. D. was conferred upon him by the Faculty of Lafay-
ette College in 1846.
Dr. Steel was blessed with a true helpmate in his wife, Mrs..
Mary Steel, daughter of Dr. Reading Beatty, of Bucks county,.
w4iom he married in October, 1820, and who survived him.
about fifteen years, passing away near the close of the Centen-
nial year or beginning of 1877, While she lived she also was
a constant alms-giver. The ladies of the church, after her
death, in recounting her fidelity, add: "This season was com-
pleted the thirtieth box of clothing sent to gospel workers in
the West, largely through her help."
As a preacher Dr. Steel was characterized by great earnest-
ness and simplicity, never seeking to electrify his hearers with
great conceptions or sensational rhetoric. The secret of his
power is described by Rev. Dr. Gray, who preached his memorial
sermon. He says: " Feeling deeply both his subject and his
responsibility to God and man, and with a soul warm and af-
fectionate even to the tenderness of tears, it is not strange that
he often suffused the souls of others with a similar tenderness
through the contagious influence of his own feelings." And
again: " Another peculiarity of his moral constitution was the
power he possessed of differing from others, if differ he must,
in love and tenderness, not in wrath or denunciation. This
was the more remarkable in a person of ardent feelings; for
while no man was more decided in his judgment, nor more can-
did in declaring it, yet lie did not quarrel with his adversary."
In person Dr. Steel was rather under the common stature,
stoutly built, of light florid complexion, inclining to baldness,
with gray locks in his later years. His features were round
and full, indicating the warm, sanguineous temperament.
Dr. Steel and wife had four daughters and one son. The
son and one daughter are deceased. One daughter, Elizabeth,
is married to John J. C. Harvey, Esq., and Mary to Dr. Har-
vey, a brother of the former.
122 GOV. FRANCIS R, SHUNK.
GOVERNOR FRANCIS R. SHUNK.
The -wise man Is always for some solid good, civil or moral ; as to make his country
more virtuous, preserve her peace and liberty, employ her poor, improve land, advance
trade, suppress vice, encourage industry and all mechanical knowledge ; and that they
should be the care of the government and the blessing and praise of the people. — Williain
I'enn.
As an eminent native of Montgomery county none is more worthy
of a page in our galaxy of bright names than Francis Rahn Shunk,
who was twice elected Governor of Pennsylvania. He was a " Penn-
sylvania German" in the highest sense of that title, for, to use a
modernism, he never "went back on" the simplicity of his village
education or his honest German ancestry. He was born at Trappe,
Upper Providence township, August 7th, 1788, just before the ex-
isting United States government went into operation. His father,
John Shunk, who was but a plain farmer, married Elizabeth Rahn,
a name still common in that locality. He belonged to or was de-
scended from the Protestant Germans who came in great numbers
to America from the Palatinates about 1715 to 1717, and settled
all over Pennsylvania. They were a religious people, who fled from
persecution in the fatherland, and made the best citizens that came
to our State.
The parents of Francis R. Shunk, being poor, were not able to
put him on a farm, but gave him instead a good common school
education, which he improved so well, and so added to by private
study, that some time before he attained his majority he was fitted
to teach the country school in his native village. Hon. Jacob Fry,
Hon. Joseph Royer, and other prominent citizens of the vicinity,
were his pupils. He followed this calling for several years till his
friend, General Andrew Porter, of our county, became Surveyor
General of the State under Governor Snyder, in 1812, who em-
ployed young Shunk as his secretary. While filling this position
he commenced the study of law with Thomas Elder, Esq., a pro-
fession, however, for which he never had much taste. In 1814 he was
among those who, with the militia of the State, marched to the de-
fence of Baltimore from the invasion of the British, Very soon
after this he was elected assistant clerk of the House of Represen-
tatives of the State, and finally chief clerk, a post which he filled
many years. He was so capable and faithful in a clerical capacity
that in 1829 he was appointed clerk to the Canal Commissioners, a
GOV. FRANCIS R. SHUNK. 1 23
<very important and influential office, for it brought its incumbent
into contact with contractors and public men all over the Common-
Avealth. It was an office, too, that tried the integrity of the man ;
'for the immense sums then being disbursed by the State in internal
improvements were a fearful temptation to the commissioners and
rtheir clerk to play "Boss Tweed," as has been done in various
.parts of the country in late years.
On the accession of David R. Porter, in 1838, Mr. Shunk was
.appointed Secretary of the Commonwealth, and held the place till
1842. In 1844 ^"'G was nominated to succeed Governor Porter, and
-elected over Joseph Markle, Whig, by 4272 votes. He chose Jesse
Miller to be Secretary of the Commonwealth, and filled the office
of Governor during one of the most difficult periods in our history,
arising from the prostration of the industry of the State and the
..doubtful credit of the Commonwealth, the debt having become
very large. The State had extensive works going on requiring
great financial skill in the Governor and the Canal Board, who de-
rived their power from him. Notwithstanding the difficulties of his
position, his administration was so popular that he was renominated
;as a matter of course, and at the next election^ in 1847, ^ven with
the Free Soil influence against him, and with a Native-American
.and an Abolition candidate also in the field, was elected over James
Irvin, Whig, by a plurality of 16,933, or ^" absolute majority over
all of 4825 votes.
Very soon after his inauguration to a second term, his health,
Avhich had never been very robust, gave way, and he concluded to
resign the office. This made William F, Johnston, then Speaker of
'the Senate, Governor till the next election, when the then incum-
bent reached the office, at the polls, by 299 votes over Morris
Longstreth, another Montgomery county man, who had been nomi-
nated by the Democracy. Thus ended, July 20th, 1848, when he
.died, the long and useful life of Francis R. Shunk, at the age of 60
years. According to his request his remains were brought to Trappe
ifor interment, showing that his after-life distinction had not effaced
the attachments of his youth.
Over his body there was erected on July 4th, 185 1, in Augustus
JjUtheran Church Cemetery, by subscription of citizens of the State,
a marble shaft twenty-five feet high, bearing the following inscrip-
tions:
124 GOV. FRANCIS R. SHUNK.
South side : A medallion likeness of Governor Shunk in bas-
relief above, and below, chiseled in German,
Zum Gedachtniss
der
hier ruhenden Gebeine
des weihland verstorbenen
FRANTZ RAHN SHUNK
er wurde geboren
in der Trapp
Montgomery County
Pennsylvania
den 7 August im
Jahre unsers Herrn
1788 Er starb den 20
July 1848 im Alter von
59 Jahren 11 Monaten
18 Tagen. Ich
weiss das mein
Erloesser Lebt
Hiob Cap 19
vers 25.
East face reads:
FRANCIS R. SHUNK,
Governor of Pennsylvania.
Born at Trappe August 7, 1788.
Died at Harrisburg July 20, 1848.
Francis R. Shunk was not a brilliant but a sincerely honest man..
This reputation he maintained through a long political life. Like-
his predecessor, Simon Snyder, he was one of the old-time, honest
Germans, of whom our State has produced so many. The text-
chgsen for his monument shows that the halo of the Muhlenbergs,'
who used to breathe patriotism and piety combined in the old'
Trappe church, was not lost on young Frantz Shunk as he sat in
that classic sanctuary.
Annually, while he lived at Harrisburg, he paid a visit to the-
scenes of his childhood, generally being the guest of his life-long
friend, Hon, Jacob Fry, Jr. At such times he loved to visit among,
his old acquaintances, without any regard to rank or party. A
gentleman, who was a small boy then, relates the following inci-
dent, showing his utter lowliness of mind and enduring friendship
for old acquaintances. He says: *'Iwas but a mere lad at tha^
time, but well remember his tall and noble form and pleasant face..
His child-like simplicity and goodness of heart were conspiciuous.
His delight was to visit the abodes of the older villagers of Trappe,^
no matter how humble their lot, and talk with them of ' ye oldenu
REV. ABRAHAM HUNSICKER. 12$
time.' A poor widow, named Haxpel, lived in a little log house
•above the village, on whom he especially delighted to call. On
one occasion (I recall the occurrence as if it had been yesterday) he
purchased a basket of groceries and sent my brother and myself to
carry them to her. Having tarried a little at starting with our
charge, when we arrived we found him already there, stretched on
the bare but clean floor and leaning against a cupboard, talking
with her in Pennsylvania German about the time when he and she
were boy and girl together."
His religious feeling was very strong, and he always arranged his
visits so as to worship once in the quaint old building of his child-
'hood, or in the more modern edifice near by erected in later years.
REV. ABRAHAM HUNSICKER.
Rest from thy labor, rest;
Soul of the just set free. — Montgomery.
One of the most eminent and respectable German families in
Montgomery county is that whose surname stands at the head of
'this page. The record of its emigration is that Valentine Hun-
. sicker, a native of Switzerland, a nation which has preserved its
freedom and independence a thousand years, came to the United
■States in 171 7, and about 1720 settled in what was then called Van
Beber, since Skippack, now Perkiomen township. He is probably
ithe progenitor of all of the name in Montgomery county. The
next generation in the direct line was Henry Hunsicker, whose wife,
".Esther, was the daughter of John Detwiler. These were the parents
of Rev. Abraham Hunsicker, the subject of this biography, who was
born July 31st, 1793, in East Perkiomen township, Montgomery
county, Pennsylvania. His ancestors being the followers of Menno
Simon, a plain, unworldly sect, most of whom grew up to under-
value liberal education **as of the world," Abraham Hunsicker en-
joyed but the most limited educational advantages. When grown
up he felt the disadvantages of the want of scholastic training, and
'being of a strong natural endowment early conceived the idea of
■reforming his religious brethren in reference to that subject.
On May 30th, i8i6, he was married to Elizabeth Alderfer, and
'.there were born to them ten children, as follows: Ann, intermar-
iried with John B. Landis; Benjamin A. to Hannah Detwiler;
.Esther, first married to Abraham Detwiler, and afterwards to Gideon
126 REV. ABRAHAM HUNSICKER.
Fetterolf ; Henry A., intermarried first with Mary Weinberger, and^
afterwards with Anne C. Gotwals; Abraham H., married to Rachel
Rittenhouse; Elizabeth, wife of Francis R. Hunsicker; Elias A.,
intermarried with Susan F. Moyer; Mary A., widow of Rev. Jared
T. Preston; Catharine A., wife of Rev. Joseph H. Hendricks, pas-
tor of Trinity Church, Freeland; Horace M., who married Eliza
Cosgrove. All the children of Abraham and Elizabeth Hunsicker,-
except Benjamin, the eldest son, who died in 1855, are living. Two-
sons reside in Philadelphia, two in Montgomery county, a daugh-
ter in Bucks county, and the others near the place of their birth.
Abraham Hunsicker was ordained a minister of the Mennonist"
church January ist, 1847, ^^^*i soon after was elected a Bishop.-
About that time a schism occurred in the Mennonite body, and-i
Rev. Mr. Hunsicker was separated from the " old school" or con-
servative class of the society. In 185 1 a second division took place,-
when Mr. Hunsicker set about organizing anew. He issued a pam-
phlet entitled "A statement of facts and summary of views on mo-
rals and religion, as related with suspension from the Mennonite-
meeting." In this he portrayed the excellence of that christian^
charity and toleration which should prevail among religious denomi-
nations, as clearly set forth in the teachings and example of Christ.-
He deplored to the close of his life the undue tenacity evinced by
most christian sects for non-essentials in religious doctrine, thus-
keeping them apart instead of drawing them to co-operate in the"
great work of saving souls.
Though brought up a Mennonite, under a rigid discipline which
forbade marriage with any outside of the meeting, prohibiting mem-
bers also from going to law to recover property, and regarding a
liberal education as not only unnecessary but dangerous, he was-
strongly impressed with a sense of duty to labor to modify and cor-
rect these traditional views. He believed that whatever ground
might have existed in early ages of the church for strict adherence
to such rules, the time for a change had come.
About the time of his ordination (1847) ^s Bishop of the Men-
nonites of the district of Skippack, Providence and Methachen, he
conceived the idea, in connection with his son. Rev. Henry A.
Hunsicker, to found a boarding-school to furnish his people better
means of education. This was accomplished in 1848 by the erec-
tion, upon land which belonged to him, of the extensive buildings
now occupied as Ursinus College. At the head of this school his
son, Henry A., who was shortly after ordained a minister, was»
REV. ABRAHAM HUNSICKER. 12/
placed, together with able assistants. The supervisory charge of
Bishop which he now held had been filled for many years previously
by his father, Rev. Henry Hunsicker, Sr., who died in 1836 at the
advanced age of 85 years, after fifty-four years service as minister.
Holding it to be the right and privilege of women as well as men
to be liberally educated, he proposed, in 185 1, in conjunction with
Prof, J. W. Sunderland, to found Montgomery Female Institute,
now Pennsylvania Female College, near by, which was also in due
time accomplished.
These proceedings in the cause of education and other liberal
views held by Mr. Hunsicker, led to division in the Mennonite
body of the locality, and he proceeded at once to organize Trinity
Christian Church, of Freeland, and to build a new house of wor-
ship, he tendering the ground for the purpose. This enterprise was
accomplished in 1853. Unlike the society in which he had been
raised, he regarded Sunday schools as a necessary adjunct of the
church, and soon had a flourishing school connected with the
meeting. In a missionary spirit he planted a Reformed church and
school at Skippackville, which, like the Freeland society, has flour-
ished, and both are ministered to by his son-in-law, Rev. Joseph H.
Hendricks. These societies differ from old school Mennonites not
only in the matters before stated, but in holding protracted meet-
ings with a view of gathering in the unconverted.
Being of a humane and practically benevolent nature, he dis-
pensed freely what he had to give, and labored long and hard to
establish through the church a systematic Poor Fund that should
supercede the necessity of beneficial organizations outside of its
pale. Notwithstanding his efforts in this direction, he combatted
the prejudice of his late brethren in the church who were opposed
to secret societies, though he never belonged to any of them him-
self He thought the church ought to feel a concern for the ma-
terial welfare of its members, as it claims to overlook their spiritual
well-being. Practical religion, born of love and good will to all^
was pre-eminently his, and that which he labored to establish ; hence
he was ever impatient of meaningless customs and traditions founded
on the letter but destroying the spirit of the gospel. Accordingly
he was an advocate of free communion among evangelical sects, and
set the example in the church to which he ministered. He con-
tinuad to wear the plain Mennonite garb while he lived, but was
not prepossessed in its favor, rather holding attire to be a thing of
religious liberty, as he also thought of the form of baptism. He
.128 ISAAC HUDDLESON, M. D.
lield, however, that the pouring on of water was the significant form
«of the rite, but would have every one act on his or her conscien-
ttious convictions in the matter.
He was of such clear judgment, and so untrammeled in thought,
Tthat he followed the Divine Word as he understood it. He was of
:a mild and generous nature, and yet uncompromising in what he
Tegarded as vital ; so that he may be set down as one of the genu-
ine reformers of our day. In alms-giving he was free to a fault.
-Although he differed from his old Mennonite brethren in many
^things, he had the most exuberant charity for those who differed
from him in their attachment to forms and dogmas.
In person he was tall and stoutly built, weighing over two hun-
'dred pounds, with a face expressive of honesty, force and resolu-
;:tion. His forehead was massive, and his temperament sanguine-
'bilious, indicating power and endurance. His complexion was
'dark but ruddy. He enjoyed good health as a consequence of a
..good constitution, vivacious spirits, and temperate living. He was
■eminently social, finding enjoyment in the company of old or young
-alike, and ever giving appropriate advice and counsel to all.
From the time of settlement in Upper Providence in 1816, he
'resided on the same farm till 1851. Subsequently he moved on a
.smaller property purchased from William T. Todd in 1846, in the
lov/er part of the village, where he continued to reside till within
■three or four years of his death, when he and his aged partner went
to live with their daughter, Mrs. Rev. J. T. Preston. Abraham
Hunsicker died January 12th, 1872, aged 79 years. His widow
still (1878) survives at an advanced age.
ISAAC HUDDLESON, M. D.
We prospered together, and it was our mutual study to render each other happy. —
iFranklM s Aiitobiography.
Isaac Huddleson was born in Attleboro, Bucks county, in 1767.
His grandfather, William Huddleson, came from Yorkshire, Eng-
Hand (date unknown), and was of the Quakers who arrived here
shortly after Penn's settlement. He had five sons and three daugh-
ters. The sons were Joseph, William, Thomas, George, and Henry.
This Henry had two sons, Isaac and Henry, and two daughters,
none of whom had issue except Isaac, the subject of this memorial.
Dr. Isaac Huddleson studied medicine with Dr. Samuel Torbert,
«of Newtown, Bucks county, who gave him a very flattering certifi-
ISAAC HUDDLESON, M. D. 1 29
cate of qualification. He attended the Pennsylvania Hospital dur-
ing the year 1792, for which service he got the following certificate:
We, the attending managers and physicians of the Pennsylvania
Hospital, do certify that Isaac Huddleson, student of medicine, of
the county of Bucks, in the State of Pennsylvania, hath studied the
practice of the physicians of the said hospital for the season.
Signed: Managers — Wm. McMurtrie, Saml. Coates; Physicians
— Benj. Rush, M. D., James Hutchinson, M. D.
[At that time, it is thought, degrees were not conferred.]
Early in 1793 Dr. Huddleson settled in Norristown, and soon
acquired an extensive practice, being considered a good physician
and very successful in minor surgical and obstetrical operations.
His name appears in 1796 as one of the original corporators of
the Norristown Library Company. He was married in 1799 to
Martha Gray Thomson. She was a young woman of unusual re-
finement and culture for those times. The following is her gene-
alogy: Her great-grandfather was Isaac Taylor, who came from
England in 1684, and settled in Chichester, now Delaware county,
where his son John rose to be a prominent man. The latter was
born in 1695, and became a physician and surveyor. He estab-
lished what at that time were considered extensive iron mills, on
Chester creek, called " Sarum Iron Works," at or near Glen Mills,
Delaware county, the site now occupied by Willcox's paper mill,
which he carried on up to the time of his death in 1756. He also
filled the ofiice of Sheriff of Chester county for ten years, and repre-
sented it in the Provincial Assembly for 1730-31. His son, also
named John, married Sarah Worrall, of Edgemont, and had three
children, Mary, Isaac, and Sarah, who married respectively Persi-
fer Frazer, Elizabeth Townsend, and James Thomson. The last
was the father of Mrs. Martha Huddleson. She (Mrs. H.) was
born at Glen Mills, Delaware county, in 1777, and educated there.
Upon her marriage she removed to Norristown, where she continued
to reside until her death, which occurred in 1869. Three children
were born to Dr. Isaac and Martha Huddleson, as follows : John
Taylor Huddleson, who is still living, an eminent practicing physi-
cian at Thornbury, Delaware county; Eliza B., who became the
wife of the late John McKay, of Norristown; Mary Anna, who in-
termarried with Dr. Beaton Smith, late of the city of Philadelphia.
Dr. John T. Huddleson married Caroline Pritner in 1828.
Shortly after Dr. Isaac Huddleson's marriage he purchased a lot
and erected a dwelling and office upon it, on the south side of Main
street above Green, where they lived a number of years. While
130 ISAAC HUDDLESON, M. D.
residing there Mrs. H. for a short time attended a class to learn
drawing, under the instruction of the afterwards celebrated John- J.
Audubon, the naturalist, who at that time was attending a select
school kept by Parson Jones near by, to obtain an English educa-
tion, and who, as a means of assisting to pay for his own instruc-
tion, taught a drawing class.
Some years later Dr. Huddleson sold the property just described,-
and built or purchased another at the southwest corner of Main and
Cherry streets, where he and she resided till his death, March 5th,
1852. As the doctor advanced in years he sought relief from the
labors of outdoor practice by opening an apothecary shop, which he
kept many years, till age admonished him to retire from business
altogether. Mrs. Huddleson survived her husband many years, re-
taining her mental and physical vigor till she had nearly reached
the age of ninety, and even after becoming an octogenarian took
long daily walks, stepping forth as nimbly as a woman of middle
life. She had lived for a considerable period before death with
her granddaughter, Mrs. R. T. Stewart, in her cherished old home.
She died in December, 1868, aged 92 years. Dr. Huddleson was
not distinguished by very great force of character, but was a care-
ful, successful surgeon, and so placid and kindly in disposition that
he probably never had an enemy in his life. In person he was of
full average height, spare in flesh, dark hair, and of a very happy
disposition. He was universally respected and esteemed.
The family is very ancient and respectable on both sides, and
doubtless of a long-lived stock, both the doctor and his wife living
to great age, as also their son. Dr. John T. Huddleson, who is
(1878) living at a very advanced period of life.
The following curious historical incidents or coincidents of the
family may be narrated together: Dr. Isaac and Martha Huddleson
were married on the last day and year of the last century, Decem-
ber 31st, 1799. They had but three children, the son and two
daughters, the two latter being Mrs. Mary A. Smith and Mrs. John
McKay. Each has had three and but three children; and now Mrs.
Elizabeth McKay Stewart and husband, of the third generation,
have had three and only three children. Still further, the two
daughters of Dr. Isaac and Martha Huddleson died but two days
apart, August loth and 12th, 1835 ; and finally, Mrs. Martha Hud-
dleson, going on a visit to her son, Yell sick, and died in the same
house and identical chamber in which she was born ninety-two years
before.*
*Dr. John T. Huddleson lives upon and owna the maternal homestead originally
held by the Taylors.
JAMES HAMER, SR., M. D. I3I
JAMES HAMER, Sr, M. D.*
" How can we find that wisdom which ehiiics through all his works in theforniatioii.
of man, without looking on this world as a nursery for the next?" — Addison.
The above named, less the affixes, dates back in Pennsylva-
nia annals one hundred and sixty-five years, or to 17 13, when
there was an order of survey given by William Penn's agents,
Richard Hill, Isaac Norris and James Logan, for three hun-
dred acres of land in Providence township, to James Hamer,
Sr., and James Hamer, his son. The patent for this on parch-
ment is still held by the family, dated Fifth-month 20th, 17 17,
and labled " Patent to jfames Haincr for three Jmndred acres of
landy The tract, as also two hundred and fifty acres con-
veyed to Adam Hamer, a brother, was part of the manor of
Gilbert's, one of the several estates set apart and conveyed by
the proprietor to members of his family. The location was
north of the present village of Port Providence, and near the
intersection of the road from Norristown and Phoenixville with
that which passes from the poor-house road to the village
just stated. Part of this land has remained in the family till
*The original James Hamer, whose blank book (small 12mo. size) has been pre-
served in the family to the j)resent time, appears to have been a blacksmith, storekeeper,
and cobbler combined. We copy the charges on the first page, dated 1716, as follows :
John Web deptor to me James Hamer
£ s. d.
payd to Reespotts 6
ozenbrike [perhaps osnaberg], 9 yards 1 H
sharping one hogh -l
one scain of mohair [thread] 5
2 pennyworth of pipe 2
one pair of soles
one new axe 7
Stiling [probably hooping] one hogshd to7 yards of ozenbrik S 2
one pair of shoos 6
one Hatt 5 (>
one pair of sols 6
sharping one hooe \
steeling one axe 1 (>
one pound of tobako 1
one pair of stokings 1 •'<
one sadel 1
3 2 1(1
There appears also some entries or memoranda the same year of considerable sunifi
of £2, £4, £6, and £8, given to James Logan, Evan Evans, Abraham Hill, and Edward
Roberts, evidently paid on account of the land.
They have also preserved the following curious bill : £ s. d.
James Hamar Dr to the Honbl John Penn" Jun and John Penn, for Quit rent
on 77 acres & 8 perches of Land in Gilberts Manor, from 13th Feb 1761 to Do
1788 is 27 years at Is Sterling pr ct per annum is 1 4
To Do on 47 acres of Do in Do from 1 March 1717 to 1788 is 71 years at 1 s Ster-
ling per Hundred per annum is 1 13 334
£ s. d. 2 13 ~Y.
Cuirency 4 9 3Ji
Exchange 66% per ct.
This curious vellum-bound note-book lia.s many other curious memorials of the past
that are worthy of a place, but space forbids.
132 ; JAMES HAMER, SR., M. D.
the present year (1878). On January 7th, David, the last oc-
cupant, died without direct heirs.
The Hamer family are Welsh, and probably (as they were
Quakers) emigrated with Penn or very soon after. They have
records of births and deaths preserved as early as 1755, and
thence down to the present. The subject of this biography is
probably the third or fourth in descent from the original emi-
grant James Hamer, inheriting the patronimic and part of the
estate. He was born on the homestead Third-month 4th, 1 78 1 ,
and was the oldest of his father's family. His father's name,
as his grandfather's, was James ; and what is still more re-
markable, he left a son James, who also has a son James, both
practicing physicians at Freeland, in the township where the
family settled in 171 7.
The brothers and sisters of Dr. James Hamer, Sr.,were : Mar-
tha, intermarried with John Gordon, born Sixth-month 12th,
1783 ; Sarah, born Tenth-month 30th, 1785 ; Humphrey, Sec-
ond-month 27th, 1788 ; Rachel, Fifth-month 24th, 1791 ; Jesse,
Seventh-month 23d, 1793; Charles, Twelfth-month 1st, 1795;
David, Seventh-month , 1798 ; John, Fifth-month 4th,
1 80 1. Of these parents and nine children, Rachel died in in-
fancy in 1794; John, 1820; James Hamer, the father, 1822;
Sarah Hamer, the mother, 183 1 ; Humphrey, 1843; Sarah,
185 1 ; James, M. D., the subject of this notice, May 6th, 1857 ;
Jesse, October 8th, 1863; Charles — record lost; David, as
before stated, January 7th, 1878.
Before tracing further the history of Dr. James Hamer, Sr.,
we pause to insert the descendants of some of his brothers
and sisters : Martha, wife of John Gordon, had three children,
two of whom are now (1878) living; George Gordon, jeweler,
resides in Philadelphia, and Sarah, intermarried with Oliver P.
James, M, D., of Doylestown. Humphrey Hamer had seven
children, as follows : Martha, intermarried with Abraham
Moore ; William, James, anc^ Sarah, the last, intermarried
with George Supplee ; Hannah, with Joseph Miller ; Jane,
with Daniel Crout, now deceased ; and Robert, the well known
teacher, who some years ago taught at Treemount, Norristown,
but now of Chicago. Jesse Hamer was intermarried with Ann
JAMES HAMER, SR., M. D. 133
Lukens, of Kulpsville, but left no heirs. David, who died last,
was never married.
Dr. James Hamer, whose life we write, was born on the old
homestead, as before stated, and after receiving a good educa-
tion engaged for a time in teaching. He next commenced
the study of medicine with Dr. Griffith, of Bucks county, at-
tending lectures at the medical university when Drs. Rual and
Wistar were professors therein. He graduated and commenced
practice in the spring of i8i2, at Skippackville, and followed
it continuously there until 1844, when his son James had fin-
ished his medical education and entered into partnership with
him, James the elder, however, practiced at times as long as
he lived. In all those thirty-two years or more he had a very
laborious practice, extending largely over the townships of Per-
kiomen, parts of Upper and Lower Providence, Lower Salford,
Limerick, Frederick, Franconia, Towamencin, Hatfield, Wor-
cester, and Norriton, covering an area perhaps of a hundred
square miles. He was largely engaged in midwifery practice,
recording the births as they occurred, which aggregated near
two thousand cases. Some years as high as eighty-nine were
registered, and occasionally as many as two or three a day.
Dr. H, never till late in life abandoned the more robust habit
of making his professional visits on horseback, instead of the
light carriage, which prevails now. He managed to train his
horses so that they would keep the path and avoid accidents
even on the darkest nights, when he could not see the way
himself. During the prevalence of the ague, or malarial epoch,
from 1820 to 1830, he also suffered at times from the "shakes,"
and has been known to dismount for a short time, while the
chill lasted, lie down a spell, and then start on his round again.
His habit was to leave a memorandum at home of the route
he meant to take, and as subsequent callers often pursued him
with professional summons it frequently happened that he
would not return to his family for days. He was subject nearly
all his life to a chronic bronchitis, which was very severe at
times, but he rarely permitted ailments to hinder his business.
This was doubtless owing to two things — open air riding and
his total abstinence from alcoholic drinks.
134 JAMES HAMER, SR., M, D.
Dr. James Hamer, the elder, was married in Philadelphia to
Fanny, daughter of Abraham and Magdalene Gotwals, who
resided at one time on the property now embraced in the Mont-
gomery alms-house farm. This family were German Mennon-
ites. The children of this union were Dr. James Hamer, now
of Freeland, and Mary, intermarried with Seth Lukens, of
Gwynedd, near North Wales, whose notice is elsewhere in this
volume.
In person the elder Dr. Hamer was about medium stature,
stout built, broad-chested, with large head, dark hair and eyes,
and dark-florid complexion.
For the purpose of making a full family record we will add
a sketch of Dr. James Hamer the second. He married Caro-
line A., daughter of William and Caroline U. Downing. This
Caroline was a Mather, from Lyme, Connecticut, and without
doubt a lineal descendant of Cotton Mather, of New England.
Dr. James and Caroline Hamer have five children living: Caro-
line Cecilia, intermarried with John M% Vanderslice, attorney-
at-law, Philadelphia; Dr. James H. Hamer, now practicing his
profession in conjunction with his father, at Freeland; Fannie,
Lizzie, and Emily. The two elder daughters, Caroline Cecilia
and Fannie, have graduated at Pennsylvania Female College,
under Dr. Sunderland, and the two younger are pursuing like
studies with a similar aim. Dr. James Hamer, previous to
purchasing the famous Todd-Townsend property, where he now
resides, practiced medicine several years at the village of Oneida,
Madison county, New York. He now principally attends to
the farm, while his son. Dr. James H. Hamer the third, is
rapidly increasing the practice received at his father's hands.
The Hamer family, though not so prolific as some others,
has been perhaps fully as well preserved, from surrounding de-
moralizations as any others, they having been in all their gen-
erations Quakers, not of the external, but internal type, most
of its members being strongly anti-slavery and opposed to in-
temperance.
REV. SAMUEL AARON, A. M. 135
REV. SAMUEL AARON, A. M.
Cry aloud and spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their
transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. — Isaiah LVIII, 1.
Love thyself last. Cherish those that hate thee.
Be just and fear not.
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,
Thy God's, and Truth's. Then if thou fallest.
Thou fallest a blessed martyr.— S/iafc«j)ca»e.
The most noted clergyman that has figured in Montgomery
county annals during the past forty years was undoubtedly
Rev. Samuel Aaron, whose name stands at the head of this
page. In mere scholastic sermonizing or revival power we
may have had his superiors, but in breadth of intellect, exalted
imagination, gifts of oratory, melting pathos, abounding charity
and liberality, both of religious sentiment and alms-giving, we
never had a greater. He was preacher, politician, philanthro-
pist and teacher, all combined in one. There was no neces-
sary incongruity in this strange conjuncture of functions, for,
says one of his biographers, " his religion was his politics and
his politics his religion." He drew his political aphorisms
from the Bible, and his faith within the compass of Scripture
morals had no sect in it.
Samuel Aaron was a man of gushing sympathies, and like
all full-blooded Celts, as he was, being free-spoken and com-
bative, was often brought into contact with fastidious conserva-
tism. His warmth of nature and impulsiveness, joined to ex-
cessive charity in matters of faith, often made him appear in-
consistent with himself; hence he was never much in favor
with precise theologians but always held in highest reverence
by the friends of humanity, who knew " his heart was in the
right place." And yet he was ever ready, on fitting occasions,
to defend what is held to be orthodoxy, and not long before
he removed from Norristown had an oral debate in Odd Fel-
lows' Hall, continuing many evenings, with Rev. J. H. Light-
burn, of the Methodist Episcopal church, on the form, long
controverted, of Scriptural baptism. In this Mr. Aaron ac-
quitted himself well, proving, as a scholar, much more than a
•match for his opponent, though in coolness and adroitness Mr.
136 REV. SAMUEL AARON, A. M.
L. was his superior. The contest was continued some time
afterwards in the papers. In this Mr. Aaron was manifestly
superior to his opponent, although Mr. L. was assisted by most
of the clergy of the town.
As a writer Mr. Aaron was clear, forcible, and incisive; and
if there was any vulnerable point in the harness of an enemy,,
his blade was sure to find it. This was manifest in a contro-
versy that sprang up between him and B. Markley Boyer,.
Esq., in one of the Norristown journals, which continued for
many weeks, involving reform subjects, men and things gener-
ally. This discussion, which was very able, and somewhat
personal on both sides, raised Mr. Aaron to the highest rank
as a controversialist with the pen. His opponent, however,.
had one advantage of him — not feeling trammeled, as he did,
by the amenities of the clerical profession ; and so, when it de-
generated to personalities Mr. A. was at a disadvantage.
As a preacher Mr. Aaron rarely indulged in critical exposi-
tions of Scripture except to fortify some controverted point in
morals, but was distinguished for wonderful fervor and mental
force, generally aiming, after convincing the judgrnent, to move
the feelings of his hearers. Always speaking extemporaneously,,
he had the full attention of his hearers, and rarely failed to
make a deep impression by the warmth and pathos of his ap-
peals. It is impossible in the space assigned us to do justice
to his labors in Montgomery county or the record of his whole
life. But the historical thread of his biography is so com-
pactly drawn by his friend and associate in the ministry. Rev..
A. L. Post, that we copy it in extenso :
" Samuel Aaron was born in New Britain township, Bucks,
county, Pennsylvania, October 19th, 1800, and was at the time
of his death (April nth, 1865) in the 65th year of his age.
He was of Welsh-Irish extraction, his father being of Welsh
and his mother of Irish descent. The offspring of a second
marriage of his father, he was the youngest but one of four
brothers, the family consisting also of three sisters. His father,
Moses Aaron, a farmer of respectable circumstances, was (as
his wife Hannah) a member of the Baptist church, and a man
of sincere piety. Mr. Aaron always spoke of his father as 'a
REV, SAMUEL AARON, A. M. I 37
good man,' and cherished his memory. His mother died
when he was but three years old, and at the age of six he had
the misfortune to lose his father also. Left an orphan at this
tender age, he was placed under the care and control of an
uncle, a kind-hearted man by nature, but unfortunately ad-
dicted to habits of intemperance. The little boy was fre-
quently obliged to trudge bare-footed to the village store and
back with the jug of liquor; and the sad condition of his
guardian's family and business affairs, and the neglectful treat-
ment he experienced then, made him in after life the terrible
enemy he was of every form of intemperance. He worked on
his uncle's farm till about sixteen years of age, receiving each
winter a little schooling, when, obtaining a small patrimony
inherited from his father, he entered the academy of Rev.
Uriah Dubois at Doylestown. At twenty he connected himself
with the Classical and Mathematical School of John Gummere
at Burlington, New Jersey, as both a student and assistant
teacher. In the year 1824 he married Emilia, eldest daughter
of his old friend and preceptor. Rev. Mr. Dubois, and not long
after left Burlington and opened day school at Bridge Point,
about two miles from Doylestown. Remaining there but a
short time he next became Principal of Doylestown Academy.
In 1826 he made a profession of religion, became a member
of the Baptist church and was ordained a minister, and in
1829 became pastor of the Church of New Britain, near
Doylestown. In February, 1830, his wife died, leaving him
two children, Martha and Charles E. Aaron, two others having
died in infancy. The death of a wife, with children to care
for, is a terrible loss to a young minister ; so three years after,
April, 1833, he married Eliza G., daughter of Samuel Curry,
a farmer of New Britain township. He immediately after re-
moved to Burlington, New Jersey, and in connection with
Charles Atherton took charge of the Burlington High School,
formerly kept by John Gummere. Mr. Atherton was associated
with him but a year or two when Mr. Aaron became sole Prin-
cipal, and the school attained a very flourishing condition. In
addition to conducting this large school, he was for five years
10
138 REV. SAMUEL AARON, A. M.
pastor of the Burlington Baptist Church, and also frequently
delivered addresses upon reform and subjects of science."
In April, 1841, he was called to take charge of the Norris-
town church, at the same time reopening a select school for
boys, which had been formerly kept by William M. Hough on
the present site of Dr. Ralston's seminary. This property be-
ing sold, and an invitation given to take charge of the Norris-
town Academy, he removed his school to that time-honored
building. While teaching here he was violently set upon in his
school room by two ruffians, of whom one stood with a cane
uplifted to prevent rescue while the other brutally beat him for
some pretended personal offence contained in a recent temper-
ance address. Mr. Aaron, at the time holding non-resistent
views, with wonderful self-control, like his Master, stood dumb
before his assailants. For this offence they were arrested, con-
victed, and condemned to a heavy fine and short imprison-
ment
Mr. Aaron's popularity at this time as a champion of tem-
perance and anti-slavery, and also as a teacher, was such that
the way was prepared for the erection of " Treemount," which
was effected in 1844, and in December the school was opened.
Having resigned the pastorate of the church, he devoted all
his energies to the school, and it rose till it became famous all
over the country. From this time, for a period of twelve or
fourteen years, this school often contained during a session
one hundred and twenty boarders and as many as sixty day
scholars. During this period many of the most eminent sol-
diers, civilians and scholars of the country were partly or fully
trained within its classic walls, among others the since distin-
guished Generals Hancock and Hartranft.
In 1857 Norristown fell under a commercial revulsion that
wrecked very many of its strongest men. Mr. Aaron had
given endorsements for friends, whose failure carried him down
with them; so in September, 1859, ^^ removed to take charge
of the Baptist church in Mount Holly, New Jersey, and in
connection with his son, Charles E. Aaron, A. M., to open
Mount Holly Institute, a seminary similar to the one closed
in Norristown. To show how the people of this locality re-
REV. SAMUEL AARON, A. M. 1 39
•garded his failure and abandonment of Treemount, we tran-
scribe from the '^ornstown Republican of September 3d of that
year an editorial written by the author of this book.*
During the closing six years of his life in New Jersey, he
was as industrious and fruitful in good works as he had been
the previous twenty at Norristown. He not only ministered
acceptably to the church at Mount Holly, but continued to
teach till near his death, holding himself still subject to calls
for public service. Among others, of various kinds, we fell
upon the following, recorded in the papers at the time.
Colonel James Wall had made a seditious speech at Bur-
lington on February 22d, 1862, on "The Compromises of the
Constitution," for which he was afterwards temporarily im-
prisoned in Fort Lafayette. People of all classes heard his
treasonable utterances peaceably, but nevertheless engaged Mr.
Aaron to answer him, which he effectually did a few days after.
On this occasion rebel sympathizers gathered and sought to
create a disturbance by throwing eggs and openly contradict-
ing his words. They were, however, soon silenced by the
Mayor, and Mr. A. laid out his opponent, as was his wont.
Early in his ministerial life, in 1838, Brown University con-
ferred the degree of Master of Arts upon him, and he was fre-
quently solicited to accept the Presidency of Central College,
at McGrawville, but declined the honor and responsibility. In
1856 he was an active participant in the great Republican con-
vention at Philadelphia which nominated Fremont and Dayton
.for the Presidency and Vice Presidency. Once, in 1854, he
was run for Congress by the Free Soil party of Montgomery
*" It is not often that the departure of an individual suggests so many interesting re-
flections as does tliat of the Rev. Samuel Aaron, whose family left our borougli on last
Wednesday for Mount Holly, New Jersey.
" For nearly twenty years Mr. A.'s labors and influence have been intimately con-
nected with every improvement of a moral or social nature that has occupied the atten-
tion of our people. During that time no scheme for the elevation of society or the i)ub-
lic improvement of the town and county has wanted his endorsement or co-operation ;
and no one who has had a plea of real charity to prefer or enterprise of benevolence to
.inaugurate, was ever turned empty away from his door. In religious matters lie has
been the pack-horse of the community, always depended upon to till other people's /or-
ffited engagements, or make speeches impromptu at anniversaries — in all cases gratui-
tously, of course. Unselfishness, excess of charity and benevolence combined, prevented
liis acquisition of wealth, for no one in the connnunity has worked harder than he.
.Judged by the true standard of hvnnan effort, his labors among us have been abundantly
successful, for we doubt if any man in eastern Pennsylvania has wielded a deeper or
wider influence in moulding the rising generation or giving tlie impress of free thought
ito others in active life.
"Again we remark it is not what the individual has in possession that constitutes his
ifortune or success in life, but what he has perfoi'med for the beneficent uses of society.''
I40 REV. SAMUEL AARON, A. M.
county, but having both Democrats and Whigs opposed tO'
him it was but an empty honor.
He was a pastor of three churches seventeen years, andi a
teacher of youth forty-five years. In very early Hfe he studied
law in Doylestown, but soon left it and returned to teaching.
Mr. Aaron was an accomplished Latin and Greek scholar, and
a profound mathematician. He also understood French. Da-
vis, in his *■ History of Bucks County," recently published,
says: " He was one of the most brilliant men Bucks county
ever produced." His ministerial labor was three years at New-
Britain, five at Burlington, three at Norristown, and six at;
Mount Holly.
In addition to the children of his first wife, before named,,
there were afterwards born to him John G, (died in infancy),
Mary E., Emilia D., and Louisa C., all now living in Mount
Holly. The eldest daughter, Martha D., intermarried with
Conrad Wiegand, and lives, with her family, at Virginia City,.
Nevada. Her husband is assayer of gold and silver, for which
he is fitted by years of such service in the United States Mint
in Philadelphia and afterwards at San Francisco. Conrad and'
Martha D. Wiegand had only one daughter, Emilia A., who grew
up to womanhood in the West, and married Thomas W. Dunn,
by whom she had one daughter, Adelaide Z. The latter sur-
vives her mother, who recently died on the Pacific coast.
Charles E. Aaron left Mount Holly in 1872, abandoned!
teaching for lack of health, and is engaged in outdoor employ-
ment at Maryville, East Tennessee, where he owns a saw and
planing mill and sash and door factory. The living children
of Charles E. Aaron and wife are Eugene M., S. Francis, and
Margaret M. The eldest, Eugene, is married, and has two'
sons, Joseph M. and Frederick E.
In person Samuel Aaron was nearly of average height, stout
built, florid complexion, light hair, slightly inclining to bald-
ness, a small eye, but a prodigious forehead, conveying the-
impression of immense intellectual force and strength. In
fierce invective and burning eloquence against wrong-doers he
probably never had a superior in our State. He nearly always
spoke from the inspiration of the moment, and on rare occa-
REV. NATHAN STEM, D. D. 14^
•sions, from trusting to impromptu utterances, made addresses
that did not satisfy himself or his friends.
His biographer, Mr. Post, in closing a long notice of him,
rsays:
" He lived to see the triumph of the principles he advocated
(so far as slavery was concerned), and the dawning of a new
national day. On hearing of the fall of Richmond and sur-
render of Lee, a few hours before his death, he exclaimed :
■'Thank God! I rejoice in the salvation of my country.' His
last words were: 'Thy grace is sufficient for me.' "
His funeral was numerously attended from distant places,
and the house of worship could not contain the throng. Sym-
pathizing letters were also received by the family from John
•G. Whittier, Wendell Phillips, and others. He died at Mount
Holly on April nth, 1865, in his 65th year, and his parish-
ioners erected in their yard a tomb-stone on which is the fol-
lowing inscription :
Honored as a minister, beloved as a friend, revered as
A teacher of youth, he is mourned as the guide and com-
JFORTER OF MANY.
REV. NATHAN STEM, D. D.
Servant of God, well done!
Rest from thy loved employ.— Montgomery.
^ev. Nathan Stem, many years rector of St. John's Episco-
pal Church, Norristown, was born in 1804 in East Nantmeal,
Chester county, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Jacob and
Elizabeth Stem, and his grandparents on his father's side were
Conrad and Mary Stem, who came from Germany. His ma-
ternal grandfather and grandmother were John and Catharine
Xline.
At the very early age of ten or twelve years Nathan exhib-
ited a thoughtful, pious turn of mind, and was thus early bap-
'.tized and confirmed at St. Mary's, under the ministrations of
Rev, Levi Bull, D. D., of that place. Receiving a good pri-
142 REV. NATHAN STEM, D. D.
mary education in the schools of the neighborhood, he was-
then sent to college at Alexandria, Virginia, for several years^,
and graduated about 1829. From college he went West, and
was ordained to the work of the ministry by that eminently
evangelical man. Bishop Chase, of Ohio, at Columbus. Shortly
after Mr. Stem was called to minister to two churches at or
near Delaware, Ohio. He remained settled there nearly four"
years, during which (June 19th, 1831) he was married, by their
old pastor, Rev, Dr. Bull, to Miss Sarah May Potts, of War-
wick, Chester county.
In March, 1832, Mr. Stem removed to Harrisburg, Penn-
sylvania, and was installed rector of a charge, which he held
about seven years, till Rev. John Reynolds resigned charge of
St. John's, when he was elected by the vestry, and removed to
Norristown in January. He preached his first sermon here on
the 17th of February.
Mr. and Mrs. Stem had born to them six children, three
sons and three daughters, all deceased young except two. Of
those living, Martha Ellen is intermarried with Major Oliver C,
Bosbyshell, then of Pottsville, but now of West Philadelphia;,
and Sarah Potts Stem, who resides with her mother.
Mr. Stem was settled in Norristown at a period of great re-
ligious activity. Rev. S. M. Gould had a short time previously
been installed pastor of the First Presbyterian Church and his
congregation visited with copious revivals and large ingather-
ings. The Baptist pulpit was filled by Rev. David Barnard,
and later by Revs. Samuel Aaron and Isaac N. Hobart, who
held like meetings. The Methodists also were actively work-
ing, as likewise the church of which Mr. Stem was the rector..
Shortly after, all these congregations entered upon needful im-
provements to their houses of worship. St. John's church edi-
fice was unsightly and without ornament of any kind. Under
Mr. Stem's pastorate the congregation went into improvements
and repairs with a will. A front adc^ition, including a tower,
was built, a fine bell procured, flanking buttresses erected on
the outer walls, and the whole interior done up in modern
style. •
Mr. Stem was a man of courtly manners, a very comely per-
REV. NATHAN STEM, D. D. 143
son, and a fine reader. Few men, who did not make mere
pulpit oratory an exclusive study, were ever more popular with
their people and the general public than he. During his whole
pastorate this church was quite as prosperous as those of other
denominations at Norristown, and in the operations of the Bi-
ble society and works of charity and benevolence Mr. Stem
and his people co-operated in a fraternal spirit with members
of other denominations. Although St. John's has always been
ranked as what is called "high church," there was no minister
in the town more evangelical in his views or preaching than
Mr. S., nor was there ever an undue lifting of the ceremonials
of religion above plain Bible preaching so far as the rector of
that chu -ch was concerned. A strictly temperate man, Mr.
Stem's sympathies were with temperance, though he never
joined in concert with the active workers in that cause. But
in reference to its twin sister, the cause of freedom as against
slavery, Mr. Stem was widely known as an original Abolition-
ist. He was so strongly committed on this subject that at one
of the first annual gatherings of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery
Society he was elected to preside over its sittings in the Bap-
tist church, Norristown. This was in 1838 or 1839, and al-
though subsequently, from prudential reasons, he did not act .
openly with Abolitionists (when it required less courage to do
so), he never lost his interest in the cause of the black man or
ceased to defend his rights where he could make it effective
This sympathy for a down-trodden race was appreciated by
them till his death, when great numbers of colored people at-
tended his funeral as sincere mourners as any who followed
his remains to the tomb. For a number of years Mr. Stem
alternated with other clergymen of the town in holding Sab-
bath afternoon services in the corridor of the prison.
As a preacher Mr. S. was terse, argumentative, and earnest,
never addressing himself to the ear, but always with plainness
to the judgment and hearts of his hearers. His manner of
reading the service also, was solemn and natural in intonation,
with an entire freedom from that affected tone and manner
sometimes heard in the church service.
144 REV. NATHAN STEM, D. D.
Toward the close of his pastorate the Faculty of Franklin
and Marshall College very worthily conferred the degree of
Doctor of Divinity upon Mr. Stem, which but for his native
modesty had been much earlier bestowed.
A few years before his death his constitution, as that of
others, was shattered by a fearful snow storm which, blocking
up the railroad track, arrested an evening train upon which
they were returning home from Philadelphia. The blockade
was so complete, and the cold so intense, that, being without
fuel or food, and after waiting hours to be extricated, the pas-
sengers had to walk nearly two miles in the midst of drifting
snow and cold to reach Norristown. Some actually perished
within a few days from the sufferings and exposure of that ter-
rible night. Dr. Stem never fully recovered, but still for a
period officiated as before. Going to Swedesburg, however,
in June, 1859, to fill Rev. Mr. Reese's place one evening, the
house being overheated, he fell into a perspiration, and riding
home he took a violent cold, which, between June and No-
vember, developed into a rapid consumption, carrying him off
on the 1st of the latter month, in the 55th year of his age.
Perhaps no man ever died in Norristown whose demise pro-
duced more profound heart-felt sorrow. His remains were at-
tended to the grave by all classes and denominations of our
people. His body is interred immediately in the rear of St.
John's Church, in an enclosed lot, upon which is erected a
handsome but plain marble obelisk. On this is chiseled the
following simple but truthful inscription :
A tribute of respect
To the memory of our pastor,
REV. NATHAN STEM; D. D.,
Who died Nov. i, 1859,
in the 55th year of his age.
He was Rector of St. John's Church 20 years and 9 months.
In life he preached Jesus,
And now he sleeps in Him.
JOHN KENNEDY, ESQ. 145
JOHN KENNEDY, Esq.
Behold Thou hast made my days as a hand-breadth.— PsaJwi XXXIX, 5.
John Kennedy, of Port Kennedy, was youngest of the eight
children of Alexander Kennedy, of Upper Merion township,
Montgomery county. He was born at the old family home-
stead, now owned or held by the heirs of Major David Zook,
adjoining the village, October i8th, 1815. His elder bro-
thers were : William, who many years ago kept a store in what
was then called " Kennedy's Hollow" ; W. Robinson, who owns
and occupies a lime-stone farm south and adjoining the works
of his brother now deceased; a third, Alexander, a farmer,
lives near Kimberton, Chester county. The family, which is
derived from the energetic Scotch-Irish stock, has owned most
of the land around the " Hollow" for many years.
Until his twenty-fourth year the subject of our notice re-
mained at farming on his father's place, but then (1839) com-
menced dealing in live stock, taking frequent journeys to Ohio
and Western Pennsylvania to make purchases.
In 1 841 he was married to Margaret S. Connell, of Lancas-
ter county. The offspring of this union have been eight child-
ren, three of whom are living: Josephine, intermarried Octo-
ber 25th, 1872, with Major M. M. Ellis, son of Nathaniel M.
Ellis, of Phoenixville; Maggie S., united October 22d, 1874, to
Nathan D. Cortright, of Mauch Chunk, where they now re-
side; the youngest, Moore C, resides with his mother, as does
Josephine and her husband. But we anticipate.
In 1842, having followed the stock business alone up to that
time, he purchased the celebrated lime works at Port Kennedy.
Here for thirty-five years he has pushed one of the most ex-
tensive lime productions on the line of the Schuylkill, ship-
ping immense quantities, mainly by canal, to Maryland and all
over the Delaware peninsula. Selling fertilizers South brought
him into intimate relations with the people of Maryland, and
he soon became the owner of several tracts of land in Kent
county, which he improved by extensive buildings — so much
so that a village sprung up in one locality, which, in his honor,
J46 JOHN KENNEDY, ESQ.
is called " Kennedysville." Some of these tracts contain fine
peach orchards in full bearing, and Mr. K. was frequently down
at his Maryland estate looking after improvements and repairs,,
and in autumn, the game season, he would frequently spend a
week shooting (of which he was fond) in those localities.
Mr. Kennedy took a deep interest in all matters of educa-
tion, being several years a school director of Upper Merion.
He sent his children to Norristown, however, in their maturer
age, for the best instruction. In 1852 he built himself a stately
mansion, surrounded with trees and shrubbery, on a declivity
east of the village, which he occupied till his death, and where
his widow still resides. It is not saying too much to state that
Port Kennedy, during the time he has owned it, has been
quadrupled in size, growing into quite a town, and having a
large hotel, Presbyterian church, blast furnace, with store-
houses, work-shops, and a bridge over the river, all of which
were built largely, if not mainly, by his pecuniary aid and en-
couragement. Again, during his later years, he was exten-
sively engaged, as formerly, in buying and selling horses and
cows of superior breeds, his monthly auctions being one of the
features of the locality, and adding greatly to the accommoda-
tion of the farmers of Chester and Montgomery counties.
During this period, too, he took a lively interest in the gen-
eral subject of agriculture, being for some time President of
the county agricultural society. Notwithstanding all these
concerns, which were attended with care and expense of time,
he was chosen President of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank
of Phoenixville, which post he filled at the time of his death.
He also held the position of postmaster at one time in connec-
tion with his village store.
Mr. Kennedy in education and sympathy was a Presbyterian
during His whole life, and to his patronage and assistance the
church of that name at the village was mainly indebted for its
foundation and prosperity. He was an observer of the Sab-
bath asa day of religious obligation, his pew being rarely va-
cant when he was able to attend divine service. He was, how-
ever, not in covenant relations with the church, and yet his
external walk and conversation were more exemplary than are
JOHN KENNEDY, ESQ. 147
many who are so related. In person he was tall and well
formed, of ruddy complexion, dark eyes, very comely at ad-
vanced life, with hair becoming intermixed with gray.
He was a man of indomitable will and energy, always busy,
yet ever cheerful and good natured; so much so that few who
came into contact with him but felt the magnetism of his genial
nature. He thoroughly enjoyed life, and in all its proper and
right paths desired all around him to share in his enjoyment.
Till the last five or six years of his life he had enjoyed uni-
form good health, but then began to be troubled with dyspep-
sia. During his last summer (1877) he and Mrs. K. spent a
brief period at Cape May, returning in August, and he being
much improved in health. On September 4th, notwithstand-
ing he felt somewhat ill, he had been attending to business,
having ridden out during the day, but returned about five
o'clock in the afternoon, and while sitting in a rocking-chair
in his bed-room expired, it is supposed, of heart disease, aged
61 years. The suddenness of his departure was a terrible
shock to his family, who had no reason to apprehend danger
from the apparently slight nature of his indisposition. He
died universally respected, and deeply mourned by his family,
as also by sympathizing friends. His funeral was largely at-
tended and his remains deposited in the cemetery beside the
church he had helped to found and within whose walls he had
so long and reverently sat to hear the gospel.
148 ROBERT HAMILL.
ROBERT HAMILL.
THE HAMILL FAMILY.
For the promise is unto you and your children. — Acts II, 39.
A few more years shall roll,
A few more seasons come.
And we shall be with those that rest
Asleep within the tomb. — Bonar.
Robert Hamill, one of the early merchants of Norristown, was
born near Bush Mills, County Antrim, Province of Ulster, North
Ireland, His father, Hugh Hamill, was an elder in the Presby-
terian church. His mother, Letitia Hamill, bore the same name
before her marriage, being remotely related to her husband. Rob-
ert was brought up on a farm, and received a good education. After
his marriage his brother John wrote to him as follows : "I hope it
may be said of your descendants, as it can be of your ancestors, that
for more than a century they have not been without a ruling or a
teaching elder." This explains Robert Hamill's well known re-
ligious training of his family and conscientious course, as exempli-
fied in subsequent life.
At the time of the Irish troubles of 1798, when many Scotch-Irish
from the north of Ireland emigrated to this country, Robert Hamill
came over also, in the same ship with the late John Patterson, of
Philadelphia. Before leaving Ireland he had converted most of
his patrimony into Irish linen, which met a ready market in Phila-
delphia, and with the proceeds he soon commenced business in Nor-
ristown, in company with Mr. Patterson. The title of the firm was
Hamill & Patterson. They continued together for two years, when
they dissolved partnership, and Mr. Patterson removed to Philadel-
phia. They, however, continued to have great regard for each
•other, and kept up an intimate acquaintance through life. Mr. P.
survived, and was present at the funeral of his old partner in 1838.
They both married in Montgomery county, Mr. P. the daughter of
Colonel Christopher Stuart, of Norriton, and Mr. Hamill marry-
ing Isabella, daughter of Colonel Andrew Todd, of Trappe, a sol-
dier of the Revolution. This union allied Mr. Hamill with the
Porters, McFarlands, and other leading families of the locality.
Mr. Hamill continued merchandising in Norristown until 1835,
when advancing years induced him to retire. His place of business
was adjoining his residence, and precisely opposite the present site
of the Central Presbyterian Church.
In all his social and business transactions Mr. Hamill was noted
ROBERT HAMILL. I49
for integrity and scrupulous uprightness. As an illustration of these
qualities it may be mentioned that after retirement from business
his store-house for a period remained unoccupied, because its owner
would not rent it with the privilege of vending intoxicating drinks,
he having come to see such leasing and sale as contrary to christian
morals.
In temper of mind he was remarkably calm, self-poised, patient
and persevering in all the settled pursuits of life, to which were
added every trait of a christian gentleman. His judgment was ex-
cellent, and his counsel often sought by others. With his family
his advice was ever consulted and followed with alacrity. It was
the favorite purpose of his life to give all his children a liberal edu-
cation. His daughters were sent to the best boarding-schools of
Philadelphia and each of his sons afforded the advantages of a full,
collegiate education. And the fact that all three subsequently chose
the ministry as their profession was largely owing to the influence
of parental advice and careful home training. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Hamill maintained a high standard of religious character, and were
very faithful in training their children. Their word was the undis-
puted law of the household. Their house was also noted as a hos-
pitable resting place for clergymen as they passed to and fro in min-
istration to the churches.
Mr. Hamill took great interest in whatever was calculated to pro-
mote the good and growth of Norristown ; was active in getting
up the first fire company; was for many years a member of Town
Council, and at one time its President, and once also Burgess. He
took an active part in the organization and maintenance of the old
academy which stood on Airy street at the head of DeKalb, and he
was elected a trustee in 1804, and for some time was President of
the Board. This academy did a good work in training the boys of
Norristown and vicinity for nearly half a century.
Always fond of books, and devoting his leisure hours to reading,
Mr. Hamill was much interested in the Norristown Library Com-
pany.
He was one of the originators (and, in a spiritual sense, one of
the fathers) of the First Presbyterian Church of Norristown, and
one of its most liberal pecuniary supporters from its foundation un-
til his death. He was at different times the President and Trea-
surer of its Board of Trustees, and a ruling elder from its first or-,
ganization, having previously held that office in the church of Lower
150 ROBERT HAMILL.
Providence. He was a warm and liberal friend to the poor, and
frequently visited the sick and suffering in his leisure hours.
His pure and spotless life commanded the respect and confidence
of all who knew him. He traced the hand of Providence in every-
thing. On one occasion, in his later years, he was present at the
court house attending a trial of general interest. When he entered
the court room. Judge Ross, of Doylestown, who was then Presi-
dent Judge of the district, sent an officer of the court to escort him
to a vacant chair on the Judge's platform. On returning home he
remarked, " When I saw the crowd in the court I thought I should
have to retire, but the Lord, who took care of His children, had,
through the polite attention of Judge Ross, provided a seat for me."
Mr. Hamill lived to reach his 80th year. His was truly a long
and useful life. He died in the faith of the gospel. On the day
of his funeral, as the procession passed along to the First Presby-
terian Church, the stores were closed out of respect to the deceased,
and the solemn toll of the bells announced the general regard and
sympathy. After the death of his widow the remains of both were
transferred to the cemetery of the Presbyterian church on Prospect
Hill, in Lower Providence township, where five generations of Mrs,
Haraill's family lie buried.
Robert and Isabella Hamill had nine children born to them. Two
died in infancy. One, Andrew, at nine years of age, was accident-
ally drowned in Stony creek, one died in advanced life, as else-
where described, and five are living, as named below. The oldest
daughter, Letitia, married Rev. James C. How in 1826, who was
for several years Principal of the Norristown Academy, and subse-
quently pastor of the Presbyterian church at Springfield, Otsego
county, New York, and afterward, for twenty-five years, until the
time of his death, pastor of the Presbyterian church at St. George's,
Delaware, where Mrs. How is now living, with four of her six child-
ren settled near, and where she is greatly respected and loved:
The second daughter, Hannah, married Rev. Charles W. Nassau,
D. D., who was for some years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church
in Norristown, subsequently Professor in Marion College, Missouri,
afterward Professor and President of Lafayette College, Easton,
Pennsylvania, and still later, for twenty-five years. Principal of the
female seminary at Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
Since the foregoing memoir of Mr. and Mrs. Nassau was written,
and before publication, both he and she have died at Trenton, New
Jersey, within six weeks of each other. They were greatly beloved.
ROBERT HAMILL. 15 I
and their deaths lamented by a large circle of friends. Two years
ago they celebrated their golden wedding. Thus, fifty-two years
ago, they were joined in holy bonds, at Norristown, Rev. Dr. Ezra
Stiles Ely performing the marriage ceremony. Rev. Dr. Sylvester
Scoville and Rev. James C. How were groomsmen, and Miss Eliza-
beth Pawling (now Mrs. Ross) and Eliza Huddleson (afterwards
Mrs. John McKay) bridesmaids. Of that interesting group Mrs.
Ross is the only survivor.
Mr. and Mrs. Nassau left ten children : Rev. Joseph E. Nassau,
D. D., of Warsaw, New York; William Nassau, M. D., of Burling-
ton, Iowa; Isabella A. and Rev. R. Hamill Nassau, M. D., mis-
sionaries to Gaboon, West Africa; Hannah, the wife of Hon. Ed-
ward Wells, of Peekskill, New York; Letitia, the wife of Rev. Dr.
Gosman, of New Jersey; Matilda, the wife of Jonathan Roberts
Lowrie, Esq., of Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania; Emma, the
wife of Rev. William Swan, of Stockton, New Jersey; Charles W.
Nassau, Esq., of New York, and Elizabeth, who remained with her
parents.
Hugh, the oldest son of Robert and Isabella Hamill, prepared for
his classical course at Norristown Academy, graduated at Rutger's
College, New Jersey, sharing the first honors of his class, and in
theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He entered the min-
istry, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. He was
pastor at Black Rock, New York, and Elkton, Maryland. He has
been an able sermonizer and most acceptable preacher. For many
years he was associated with his brother, Samuel, as Principal and
Professor of Ancient Languages in the High School at Lawrence-
ville. New Jersey; was a faithful, thorough, and successful teacher.
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from his Alma Mater.
He married Miss Russell, of Newark, Delaware, where he now re-
sides. Many of his pupils and former parishioners have a most
grateful recollection of the interesting relation they formerly sus-
tained to him. Having retired from active service, he is engaged
in literary pursuits and in preaching for his brethren in the minis-
try as opportunity and health permit. He is greatly esteemed as a
man of superior scholarship and culture.
The third daughter of Robert and Isabella Hamill, Elizabeth, is
married to Mr. Benjamin Davis, an elder in the Presbyterian church
and a son of General Davis, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, of
the Revolutionary army, whose wife was a daughter of John Mor-
ton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence from
152 ROBERT HAMILL.
Pennsylvania. Four of Mrs. Davis's sons were in the Union army
during the late rebellion. The oldest, Captain Newton Davis, re-
ceived eleven bullets through his cap and clothes during the battles
of the Wilderness, one of which sent him to the hospital. Major
Charles L. Davis became the chief signal officer of the Army of the
Potomac, and at the close of the war was appointed an officer in the
regular army. The youngest of the four is James Winnard Davis,
now a successful practitioner at the bar of New Jersey, at Somer-
ville. The oldest son. Rev. R. Hamill Davis, is at the head of a
prosperous female school in Lavvrenceville, New Jersey. Hugh
Davis is practicing medicine in Pennsylvania. Benjamin and Eliza-
beth also have two daughters. The eldest, Mary, is married, and
lives at St. George's, Delaware. The youngest, Isabella, resides
with her parents at the same place.
Samuel M. Hamill, the second surviving son of Robert and Isa-
bella Hamill, having prepared for college with Dr. George Junkin,
at Germantown and Easton, was graduated with honor at Jefferson
College, Pennsylvania, in 1S34, and entered the ministry of the
Presbyterian church. He was licensed by the Second Presbytery
of Philadelphia, and ordained by the Presbytery of New Brunswick.
He accepted an appointment as instructor of Latin and Greek lan-
guages in the male High School at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, im-
mediately after his graduation from college, and a few years later
became Principal of the institution, which position he has filled
with marked success for many years. His enthusiasm for youth,
equable temperament, ripe scholarship, ability as a teacher, earnest
christian character, together with an unusual executive ability, form
a remarkable combination of qualities that peculiarly adapted him
for this position. Few have been so successful and industrious in
training youth to be patriotic, useful and good men. And hundreds
throughout this and other lands are living witnesses of his power as
a teacher and his excellence as a christian. He still acts as chap-
lain of the institution over which he has so long presided. He has
often been called to deliver public addresses, and has written many
articles on education and other subjects for publication, the result
of his experience and observation at home and abroad.
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Rutger's Col-
lege, New Jersey, and also from Hanover College, Indiana. For
many years he has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the
theological seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, and Vice President.
Now he is President of the, New Jersey Historical Society, and by
ROBERT HAMILL. I 53
appointment of the Supreme Court of that Commonwealth one of
the managers of the State Asylum for the Insane at Trenton.
He married Matilda, only daughter of Richard M. Green, Esq.,
of Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and has four children living — two
sons, educated at Princeton College, and two daughters.
Robert Hamill, the youngest son of Robert Hamill, Sr., was pre-
pared for college at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, and graduated at
Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1839. He pursued his theo-
logical course also at Princeton, New Jersey, and was for some years
a teacher in the High School at Lawrenceville. He was licensed
to preach by the Presbytery of New York, and ordained to the
work of the ministry by the Presbytery of Huntingdon, Pennsyl-
vania. He has been settled for many years as pastor at Lemont, in
Penn's Valley, Centre county, Pennsylvania. He lias been Mod-
erator of the Synod of Philadelphia, and subsequently of the Synod
of Harrisburg. For a number of years he has also been a trustee of
Lafayette College and a director of the theological seminary at
Princeton, New Jersey. He is widely known in central Pennsyl-
vania as an able and popular preacher. By his marriage to ]\Iar-
garet, daughter of John Lyon, Esq., late of Pittsburg, he has six
children, who are in a course of education. The degree of Doctor
of Divinity was conferred on him also by the trustees of the college
of New Jersey at Princeton. He has had repeated pressing invita-
tions to other fields of labor, but has clung to his home among the
mountains of his native State, where his labors have been greatly
blessed and his influence for good extensively felt.
[Note. — In the foregoing sketch of the Hamill family, on page
150, eleventh line, the word "took" should be "takes," and the
last four lines on page 152 should read: " For many years he has
been a member of the Board of Trustees of the theological semi
nary at Princeton, New Jersey, and Vice President, now President,
of the New Jersey Historical Society," etc.]
11
154 HON. DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D.
HON. DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D.
His moral qualities were in perfect harmony with those of his intellect. Duty w^as
ithe ruling principle of his conduct. — Spark's Washington.
David Krause was the youngest son of David and Regina
Xrause, of Lebanon, Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and was
born in that town November 2d, 1800. His father was a farmer^
who enjoyed the honorable record of having been a Captain
through the Revolutionary war, and Colonel and Paymaster
■during the war of 181 2. He had also been a member of the
State Legislature while the sessions were held in Philadelphia,
and finally was an Associate Judge of his native county. His
mother's father had also been an officer in the Revolutionary
army.
Being thus distinguished by his ancestry, young David did
not fancy the business of his father; so, after acquiring the
rudiments in the common schools of the time as he grew to-
ward manhood, he obtained further instruction from Rev. Mr.
Ernst, Lutheran minister of Lebanon, under whom he was fitted
to enter upon some higher career than that of a farmer, for
which his father had designed him. When approaching ma-
jority he conceived the idea of going to West Point, and wrote
a letter to John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, and proba-
bly also through the friendly offices of Mr. Buchanan, obtained
a commission to that effect. Owing to the opposition of his
parents, however, he was prevented from accepting it, and was
:sent, instead, to the law office of Hon. Jonathan Walker, United
States District Judge at Pittsburg, where, in due time, in com-
pany with the Judge's son, the late Hon. Robert J. Walker, he
was admitted to the bar.
Having thus qualified himself for the business of life, he re-
turned to Lebanon, opened an office, and commenced practice.
Shortly after, the Gubernatorial election of 1823 coming on,
he took an active part in the canvass in favor of his distin-
guished fellow-townsman, John Andrew Shulze, who had just
been nominated. After his election the Governor chose Mr.
Krause as private secretary, he serving him in this capacity
for several years.
HON. DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D. 155
In 1825, having been found to wield a ready pen, he became
associated with Simon Cameron, then State printer, as editor
and reporter for the Pennsylvania Intelligencer, the Democratic
organ of the administration, they doing all the English State
printing, and employing a large number of hands. He con-
tinued to fill these positions till the election of President Jack-
son, in 1828, when he sold out his interest to his partner, and
returned to practice again.
It should have been stated before that on the arrival of Gen-
eral Lafayette in Philadelphia, late in 1824, Governor Shulze,
2iis secretary, and a cavalcade, went down to that city to invite
the nation's guest to Harrisburg. Arriving at Norristown on
Saturday evening, they laid over as the guests of Hon. Philip
S. Markley, who was then one of our most prominent citizens,
till Monday, when they proceeded on their mission, and in due
time the General came to Harrisburg.
About the beginning of January, 1829, Frederick Smith, be-
ing Attorney General, appointed Mr. Krause his deputy for
Dauphin county, which position he held about a year, until
Governor Wolf took the chair of State, when he was super_
ceded, and he returned again to practice.
In 1835 he was nominated to the lower house of Assembly
for Dauphin county, on the Whig ticket, and elected. During
the ensuing session (1835-36) he voted to recharter the United
States Bank as a State institution. This session was also dis-
tinguished for the widening of the free school system and an
enlargement of public improvements then in progress. All of
these measures had Mr. Krause's earnest support. From the
close of his one year's legislative service till the nomination of
David R. Porter for Governor, in 1838, he was practicing his
profession and taking little interest in politics. He espoused
the cause of Porter, however, who was " the best abused man
in the State," and on his triumphant election Mr. Krause took
editorial charge of the State jfoiirnalxvi the support of his ad-
ministration. In the meantime he practiced law in Harrisburg
till January, 1845, when, just at the close of the Governor's
term, there occurred a vacancy on the bench of Montgomery
and Bucks counties through the transference of Judge Burn-
156 HON. DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D.
side to the Supreme Court. This post, unasked, was tendered'
to Mr. Krause, but before his acceptance could be certified
Governor Shunk came into office and confirmed the appoint-
ment, though solicited by Krause's enemies to withhold it-
Judge Krause accepted the position, took his seat September
17th, 1845, ^^^ continued to occupy the bench of our district
acceptably, residing in Norristown, till the expiration of the
term (185 1), when the elective judiciary, under the Constitu-
tion of 1838, was to go into effect. Prominent men of both
parties tendered him the nomination before the people for the
post, but being opposed on principle to an elective judiciary,.
Judge Krause positively declined, preferring to return to prac-
tice, which he did till the time of his death in June, 1871.
As a legislator and judge the subject of our notice was al-
ways distinguished for a bold and fearless discharge of what
he regarded as right; and it may be recorded to his credit that
not many of his rulings were reversed by the Supreme Court.
Among the members of the latter Judges Gibson and Rogers,
were his intimate friends. Whether as a legislator, judge, or
citizen, he was a man of positive convictions, and did what he:
thought his duty; hence in his early political life he was often
cast athwart party movements, thus seeming to lack political;
consistency.
Having thus given a rapid and imperfect sketch of Judge-
Krause as a public man, it only remains to fill out the remain-
ing incidents of his private life and those of his family.
As his name indicates he was German in genealogy, his.
family coming from Prussia. German, in fact, was his vernacur
lar, as his accent proved as long as he lived. In September,.
1825, he was married to Catharine Orr, a lady of much cul-
ture, who had long resided in Philadelphia. Their children,
still living are : Mary, intermarried with Dr. Mahlon Preston^,
of Norristown; Frederica, wife of Dr. H. O. Witman, of Har-
risburg; Anne; David, now Captain of the Fourteenth In-
fantry, who was during the rebellion appointed to a command;
by Hon. Simon Cameron, then Secretary of War; William, the
youngest, who was also appointed by Secretary Cameron, ever
the fast friend of the family, to a cadetship at West Point He
HON. DAVID KRAUSE, LL.D. 157
rBubsequently graduated with honor, and is now serving as a
Lieutenant in the Third Infantry in the West.
In person Judge Krause was about the medium height, but
lightly built, his whole exterior indicating a man in whom the
intellectual and moral predominated over the animal and sel-
fish. Few men had more suavity and winning manners or a
Hcinder heart. Early in life he had entered the communion of
rthe Reformed church, and continued a member while he lived.
-His early friendship with General Simon Cameron, his first
ipartner, continued during his whole life, and the latter was in
attendance at his funeral. One chapter of his life remains to
'be recorded. It has been stated that he was of Revolutionary
^lineage. Accordingly, when the rebellion broke out in 1861,
there was no voice more bold or outspoken than his in denun-
ciation of the secessionists who had drawn the sword for the
.propagation of slavery.
When Lee invaded our border in 1862, about the time of
ithe battle of Antietam, he marched in the ranks to near Sharps-
Iburg with a company hastily organized to assist in repelling
"the enemy, serving two weeks. Again, in 1863, when Gover-
nor Curtin called for " emergency men" to aid in driving back
the invaders, he and a few more concerted a Sunday meeting
• at the court house in Norristown, and his voice with others
was heard calling " To arms !" And when two companies were
•organized the next day, the old Judge's name, though in his
sixty-third year, was booked as a private in Company I, Forty-
third Regiment, in which the writer also served with him six
weeks guarding mills on the Potomac. During this emer-
gency call of Governor Curtin he performed every duty per-
taining to the common soldier, kept up with " the boys" on
"the march, and was mustered out at Harrisburg with the regi-
ment.
In 1862 the Republicans of our county were so impressed
^with Judge Krause's earnest loyalty that they nominated him
for Congress, and he stumped the district in hearty defence of
the Union cause, but the period being one of doubt and uncer-
tainty as to the final issue of the war, he was not elected.
It only remains to say that being thus patriotic and unself-
158 DANIEL H. MULVANY, ESQ.
ish, and having often endorsed for friends to his hurt, he did
not accumulate wealth. Shortly after coming to Norristown,,
however, he bought the "Whitby" house, on an eminence west
of the town, which some years after he sold, and erected a cot-
tage near the court house, where he died June 13th, 1871, in
the seventy-second year of his age, universally respected. He
was buried in Montgomery Cemetery. His consort survived
him about four years.
The following resolution on his demise was unanimously
adopted by the bar, accompanied by numerous feeling re-
marks :
Resolved, That in mournins the decease of this eminent member
of our profession, we desire to record our sense of the virtues which
adorned his character; that we esteemed him as a public-spirited
and useful citizen; a man of kindly and generous impulses, ever
ready to give aid in furtherance of benevolent works; whose genial-
nature and amiabilityof character endeared him tO' every circle into-
which he entered; and that we will ever remember him as an hon-
est legislator, an upright judge, an able, conscientioios lawyer, with-
out guile, and without reproach.
DANIEL H. MULVANY, Esq.
And, breathing high ambition through his soul,
Set science, wisdom, glory in his view . — Thomson.
Daniel H. Mulvany, a distinguished member of the Mont-
gomery county bar, and the son of Thomas and Mary Mul-
vany, of Upper Merion township, was born November 12th,
1809. His mother was a Hitner. His paternal ancestry came
from Ireland. Martha Davis, daughter of Arthur Davis, Esq.,.
of Coot Hill, County Caven, a woman of great beauty and fine
intellectual endowments, was his grandmother. She was in-
termarried with P. Mulvany, Esq. Daniel H. Mulvany re-
ceived his early education under the care of Alan W. Corson
and others. At the age of seventeen he went to Reading,
where his scholastic course was continued for two years, at
the expiration of which time he became a student in the law
office of A. L. King, Esq., of that place, remaining there one
DANIEL H. MULVANY, ESQ. 159
year. He returned to Montgomery county in 1829, and con-
tinued his legal studies with Hon. Philip Kendall, with whom.
he remained two years. He was admitted to the Montgomery-
county bar April nth, 1831. Soon after his admission he be-
came associated with the late Hon. John Freedley, who was
then enjoying a very extensive practice. This arrangement
continued until near the time of the election of Governor Rit-
ner, when his Attorney General appointed Mr. Mulvany the
deputy for Montgomery county, which position he successfully^
filled until the election of Porter, who appointed G. Rodmam
Fox to supercede him.
During his official term a very remarkable case occurred.
Six young railroad surveyors or engineers, some of them sons
of wealthy and influential families in Philadelphia, were indicted
for murder. George M. Dallas and other distinguished coun-
sel were employed for the defence. It was a trial of intense
nterest to the whole community. Mr. Mulvany felt his great
responsibility as counsel for the prosecution, and, though a ver>'
young man, conducted his case so ably as not only to have the
approbation of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth but
also the commendation of the opposite counsel.
While holding this office he became extensively known, and
had a large practice in the Court of Common Pleas. In 1837
he married Julia, daughter of Dr. Joseph Lcedom, of Plymouth,
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. She still survives him,
and is living at Elmwood, the family mansion, in West Norris-
town. They had four children, all daughters: Eleanor, who
died in childhood; Emma Louisa, intermarried with Dr. John
C. Spear, Surgeon in the United States Navy; Julia Leedom.
the third daughter, intermarried with Valentine H. Stone,
United States Army, who, with her husband, died of yellow
fever in 1867 at Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, Florida, while
he was in command of that post; Bertha Conover, the young-
est daughter, died in Savannah, Georgia, in 1874, whither she
had gone for her health.
Mr. Mulvany had fine intellectual endowments, a quick
perception of the ideal and elegant, which at once gave him
rank as a leading advocate at the bar. His temperament was
l6o DANIEL II. MULVANY, ESQ.
fine; naturally gentle, but earnest; his self-control remarkable^
It is said that during the forty years of his legal life he was
never in any forensic tilt betrayed into discourtesy to an oppo-
nent, but was ever the gentleman. In addressing a jury there
was always a classic refinement of manner, a clearness of logic,
a persuasiveness of tone, which took the listener over to his
view of the cause. His candor, perspicuity, gentleness of enun-
ciation, and elegance of diction, procured for him the sobnquet
of the " silver-tongued."
He was an accomplished scholar, a reader of not only
law but literature. In every department of law he was con-
sidered safe authority. His literary taste and aptitude for ele-
gant composition were so well known that on most public oc-
casions he was made chairman of committee on resolutions,
drafting such papers with great skill and judgment and to pub-
lic acceptance. Though well calculated to serve the people in
a public position, he never sought preferment at their hands,
and frequently declined proposals of that kind, preferring the
practice of his profession, of which he was very fond. To the
young members of the bar he was ever ready to lend a help-
ing hand. Though not an office-seeking politician, he was
ready on all occasions to serve his party, the old line Whigs,
with his influence or to speak on great occasions. He was,
however, run for Congress in 1836, and again in 1856 and de-
feated by Owen Jones. He was always decidedly anti-slavery
in his instincts. When the rebellion broke out, being a strong
Republican and denouncer of the rebels, he took an active part
in raising and equipping a company of cavalry, of which he
was elected and commissioned Captain. Accordingly, in the
summer of 1862, when the State was invaded by General Lee,
he felt it his duty, although well advanced in years and not in
robust health, to respond to the call of the Governor, and
marched to the border with his company, doing good service
a few weeks while the danger by invasion existed.
Mr. Mulvany died of acute pneumonia May l8th, 1873. He
is buried in Montgomery Cemetery,
HON. JACOB S. YOST. l6l
HON. JACOB S. YOST.
A man of ideas, of will and of talent, a gentleman by birth, a Democrat from con-
viction. — Parton.
Jacob S. Yost, the son of John and Anna Maria Senewell
Yost, was born in Pottsgrove township, Montgomery county,
Pennsylvania, July 29th, 1 801, on the Yost farm, which has
been in the possession of his ancestors and of himself and
family for one hundred and ten years. He was descended
from an old German stock, who emigrated from the Rhine to
this country a century and a half ago.
Jacob S. Yost had a large, active brain, which gave him a
desire for more education than he could procure in his native
place. Accordingly after the death of his parents (his father
dying July 13th, 18 19, and his mother September 3d, 1822) he
went to the old Fourth Street Academy in Philadelphia, where
he studied the higher branches of mathematics and surveying,
and prepared himself by a course of study for an active busi-
ness life. He was married in 1826 to Ann M. Childe, of Potts-
town, by whom he had four children, Anna Maria, Thomas
W., Jacob A., and Annie R. The latter three still survive.
The sons reside in Philadelphia, and the daughter, who is mar-
ried to George H. Gillet, lives at New Lebanon Springs, New
York.
Mr. Yost, as his father and grandfather, was bred a farmer,
and remained in that occupation many years, becoming in due
time the owner of the old family homestead. His intelligence
and activity soon brought him prominently before the people,
and his kindly disposition and genial manners made him a
favorite with his party. Accordingly the Democratic party
took him up in 1836 and elected him, with Henry Longaker
and Samuel E. Leech, to the Assembly. To this post he was
re-elected three times. During this period occurred what was
called " the buckshot war," which originated in the charge by
Stevens and the leaders of Ritner's administration that " Porter
had been elected by fraud," and suggesting that " the election
be treated as a nullity." It was also proposed that Whigs
should go to Harrisburg armed with guns loaded with " buck-
l62 HON. JACOB S, YOST.
shot" to prevent Porter's inauguration. This, however, was;
only the vaporings of a few heated partisans. Still, in history,
it has attained the dignity — or indignity — of " a war."
Closing his service in the State Legislature in 1839, he was
taken up in 1842 to succeed Hon. Joseph Fornance in Con-
gress, and took his seat March 4th, 1843. To this post he v^^s
re-elected in 1844.
Having lost his wife some years before, Mr. Yost while at
Washington formed the acquaintance of Mary A. Harrington,
of Troy, New York, whom he married on December 26th,
1844. At the close of his second Congressional term he re-
turned to the family mansion at Pottstown with his accom-
plished lady, who was intelligent, pious, and capable of assist-
ing him in all his business affairs, public or private.
Mr. Yost during and after his Congressional service con-
tinued an active promoter of all the measures of his party. On
the accession of Mr. Buchanan to the Presidency he was ap-
pointed in 1857 United States Marshal for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania, which office he held till the breaking out of
the rebellion in 186 1.
Mr. Yost's last tour of public duty was rendered conspicu-
ous by the contested slave cases from Lancaster county and
their return to their owners. From this time Mr. Y. partially
retired from public life, only representing his district, when
called upon, in its county and State conventions, where, through
his great tact and many personal friends, he often secured the
success of particular candidates.
Mr. Yost early in life had connected himself with the Ger-
man Reformed church, it being the denomination of his an-
cestry. He withdrew from it in 1849, however, to unite with
the Presbyterian, of which church the second Mrs. Yost was a
member. With a few others, Mr. Yost, in that year, joined
and organized the first Presbyterian church of Pottstown, be-
coming its first ruling elder. Religiously inclined by nature,
he now became a very devoted member of the church and
active in promoting its work. He was a man of wide informa-
tion, clear judgment, a judicious manager of business, and do-
mestic in all his ways, regarding home as the most attractive
ROBERT T. POTTS, 1 65,
spot in the world. He had large business operations on hand
at the time of his death, and was the owner of very valuable
property, but the revulsion that began in 1873 has greatly-
diminished his estate. He died at his residence in Pottstown,
in the full hope of redemption by the blood of Christ, March
7th, 1872, aged 71 years. His excellent widow still survives
him, and occupies the family mansion.
ROBERT T. POTTS.
So fades a summer cloud away.
So sinks the gale when storms are o'er,
So gently shuts the eye of day.
So dies the wave along the shore. — Barbatdd.
Robert Towner Potts, son of Zebulon and Martha Potts, was-
born at the Potts homestead, Plymouth township, January i ith,
1790. His father was the first Sheriff of Montgomery county
after its organization, and was re-elected for the years 1785-6.
Robert T. Potts' brothers and sisters were: Joseph, Wil-
liam, Daniel, Ann, Alice, Esther, and Martha. William still lives
at an advanced age with his son-in-law, Evan D. Jones, at Con-
shohocken. Robert T. Potts married Mrs. Elizabeth McCalla
Weaver, the daughter of Daniel Hitner, Sr., of Marble HalL
She was a young widow, the mother of two sons, Abraham
and William Weaver. Robert T. and Elizabeth Potts had
born to them the following children: Henry Clay, Ellen E.,.
E. Channing, Martha T., and William W. The last is inter-
married with Ella H., daughter of Dr. George W. and Abby
Holstein, of Bridgeport; Henry C. died in 1851; Ellen E. was-
intermarried with Robert Lewis Rutter; E. Channing is mar-
ried to Caroline E., daughter of Abraham R. and Caroline E.
Cox, of Norristown; Martha T. was intermarried with Dr.
Charles Shafer, of Philadelphia, and died March 13th, 1878.
E. Channing and Carrie Potts have buried a daughter, Caro-
line E.
We turn now to record the business life of Robert T. Potts,
the proper subject of this memorial. He began as store-boy
164 ROBERT T. POTTS.
with Harman Yerkes, and after being grown went to Philadel-
phia in the employ of Isaac Lawrence, then engaged in the
dry goods business, afterwards entering into partnership. He
continued with him some years. Lawrence dying, however,
Mr. Potts took the stock and associated with him William V.
Reynolds, afterwards also taking in James B. McFarland, and
the wholesale trade was thence conducted under the firm title
of Potts, Reynolds & Co. This concern continued for several
years, till 1840, when Mr. Potts drew out and removed to
Swedeland on a hundred-acre farm of valley land on the river,
at Swedesburg, where he lived till his death, which took place
December 13th, 1873, in his 83d year. His wife had died in
1850.
Robert T. Potts was a man of great probity and public spirit,
a life-long Whig and Republican, and in 1840 was nominated
and run for Congress. His business capacity was of the first
order, and he acquired a large estate, having a half ownership
of the Cedar Grove marble quarries. In person Mr. Potts was
tall and stoutly built, light complexion and hair, and of very
dignified yet sprightly demeanor, enjoying remarkably good
health all his life.
A further notice of his son, E. Channing Potts, who is the
representative and successor to his name and business in this
locality, will not be an inappropriate conclusion. He has had
the best educational advantages short of a college course, hav-
ing attended Friends' school at Conshohocken, Strode's near
West Chester, Bleck's seminary at Bethlehem, and Elmwood
and Treemount seminaries at Norristown. He began business
in 1857 ^s clerk at Swedes' Furnace, and afterwards operated
the Cedar Grove marble works in Whitemarsh, associated with
his father and Nathan Hallowell, under the firm name of Potts,
Hallowell & Co. In 1864 he bought out his partners and took
in Mr. Solomon Gilbert, and continued as Potts & Gilbert.
They dissolved the firm in 1869, and he built large steam mar-
ble-sawing works at Spring Mill, where he prepares and ships
great quantities of blue and clouded marble for Philadelphia
and distant markets. His mills are capable of turning out from
THOMAS COWDEN, SR. l6$
twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand cubic feet of sawed
stone per year.
Some years ago Mr. Potts purchased a large lot in the First
Ward, extending from the Ridge turnpike road to the Schuyl-
kill river, on which, by that stream, he has erected a large ice-
house. On the Egypt street front, on an eminence, he has
built of marble one of the most spacious and costly mansions
in Norristown. This fine residence, with its handsome ob-
servatory, in consequence of the deflection of the avenue just
above Stony creek, enjoys the rare advantage of bounding the
view from all points of Main street in the Second Ward.
THOMAS COWDEN, Sr.
Of loss and profit balancing, relieved at intervals, the irksome task, with thought
Of future ease. — Course of Time.
The Cowden family is of Irish or Scotch-Irish origin, and
dates back a few years previous to the Revolutionary war.
The head of the Montgomery county line was Samuel Cow-
den, who came from Ireland previous to the war for independ-
ence, and occupied a small dwelling in the eastern suburb of
Norristown. Being a poor laboring man, he left his wife and one
or two young children to the care of herself and neighbors, and
enlisted in the Continental army. When, therefore, the British
marched through our county on their way to Philadelphia,
learning that Samuel Cowden was a soldier in the American
army, they sacked his dwelling, cutting open perhaps the only
feather bed in his house and giving the contents to the winds.
To this act the late Thomas Cowden, who was then a child,
could never refer without an ebullition of anti-English feeling.
Returning after the war he lived a few years, died, and was
buried in Providence Presbyterian Cemetery. Samuel Cow-
den, the emigrant, had three children, Hester, Thomas, and
Samuel.
Hester, the eldest, married a man named Creighton, and
afterwards William Stewart. By the latter she had three daugh-
1 66 THOMAS COWDEN, SR.
ters and one son: Martha, who was never married; Mary, in-
termarried with Mahlon Ranier, who had one son and one
-daughter; Hester, who married A. Frowart; Benedict D., the
youngest, who was for many years an extensive and success-
ful manufacturer of morocco in Philadelphia. The latter has a
number of sons and daughters living in that city. All branches
of the Stewart family reside in Philadelphia.
Samuel Cowden, the Revolutionary soldier, had a son named
Samuel, who married and removed to the West.
Thomas Cowden, Sr., the subject of this biography, and son
-of Samuel Cowden the soldier, was born near Norristown
February 6th, 1775. He learned the trade of a blacksmith
with John Miller, the father of Isaac H. Miller, of Norristown,
in that borough. After working a short time as a gunmaker
at Evansburg, about 1798 he married Hannah Couch, of Upper
Providence, and set up his trade at Hickorytown, Plymouth
township, where he continued some years, till a family began
to grow about him. He then purchased a farm half a mile
above, removed his smithy, and carried on both farming and
smithing together. Here he remained till he acquired a com-
petence, when he gave his business to his sons, but lived on
the farm till his death, which took place in September, 1847,
at the age of 73 years. His widow, on the death of her hus-
band, removed to Norristown, and lived with an unmarried
daughter, where she died in September, 1850, also aged jt^
years. They both lie buried in the cemetery of the First Pres-
byterian Church, Norristown.
Thomas Cowden was a man of athletic frame, very indus-
trious, frugal and self-reliant; one who pushed whatever he took
hold of with indomitable will and energy. He was also a
man whose word was as good as his bond.
The children of Thomas and Hannah Cowden were : Samuel,
William, Hester, Ellen (died in childhood), Charles, George,
John, Mary, and Ann. This family of children are further re-
corded, as follows: Samuel, like his father and most of his
brothers, was at first a smith, but afterwards bought a farm in
Upper Dublin township. His first wife was Mary Printz, who
died young, leaving one daughter, who died at the age of 14.
THOMAS COWDEN, SR. 1 6/
He married a second wife, who survives him, but they had
no children. William was intermarried with Abigail Mitchell,
of Whitemarsh township, and they had two sons, Thomas C.
and Jacob M. He (William) died in 1837, aged 37 years, and
his widow in i860. Thomas Cowden, the elder of these two
grandsons of Thomas Cowden, Sr., married Catharine Culp. by
whom he had seven children, Jerome W., Samuel, Kate, Jen-
nie, Anne, Martha, and Thomas. Thomas Cowden, Jr., whose
children are just named, died in the West. His brother, Jacob
M. Cowden, now of Norristown, as his brother, was left an or-
phan when a small boy, and lived with his grandfather Cow-
den till old enough to learn a trade. His mother then appren-
ticed him to Andrew Fisher, of Chestnut Hill, to learn the
family trade of a blacksmith, and when free he married Ange-
line, the daughter of his employer. Soon after he set up his
trade in Norristown, followed it some time successfully, then
bought a small farm on DeKalb street, in Norriton township,
and erected a large house upon it. After remaining there a
few years he sold the property, returned to Norristown, and
went into the real estate and scrivening business, which he has
followed to this time. He owns considerable real estate in the
borough, generally investing in such properties as yield a good
income. Jacob M. Cowden had but a moderate school educa-
tion, but has risen in fortune by shrewd judgment and close
attention to business. His wife has been dead about twenty
years, leaving three daughters and one son, whose names are
Emily Virginia, Mary Ella, Amanda, and John.
We return now to the elder branches, the other children of
Thomas and Hannah Cowden.
Hester, the third child of Thomas Cowden the elder, died
in 1863. She was never married. Her remains are in Provi-
dence Presbyterian Cemetery.
The next son is Charles, who lives in Illinois. He was in-
termarried first with Emeline Jones, by whom he had one
daughter, Mary, who lives in Norristown. His second wife he
married in the West, and by whom he has several children.
George, the fourth son of Thomas Cowden the elder, mar-
1 68 HON. ABRAHAM BROWER.
ried Harriet, daughter of Abraham Butz, of Norriton. He
moved to Illinois and died there, leaving several children.
John, the fifth son, was intermarried with Charlotte, daugh-
ter of Jacob Zimmerman, of Whitpain. He was many years a
farmer on the homestead, was elected County Commissioner,
and served during the erection of the court house. Subse-
quently he was warden of the prison several years, and died in
September, 1876. He had four children, Mary, Hannah,
Charles, and Samuel. Mary was married to Ellis W. Baily,.
of Ohio, and died in December, 1872, leaving one daughter,
Gracie. Hannah was intermarried with J. Jones Wright, and
died in 1873, leaving one son, Carroll. Charles died young
and unmarried. Samuel, the youngest of John's family, is in-
termarried with Eliza, daughter of William Keiger, and has
two children, Lottie and Harry.
The seventh child of Thomas Cowden the elder is Mary,,
wife of Moses Auge. They have two children living and two
deceased, referred to elsewhere.
Thomas and Hannah Cowden's youngest child is Ann, the
widow of James B. Evans, Esq., attorney-at-law, Norristown,.
who died June 30th, 1857, aged 37 years, leaving one son and
two daughters, Charles W., Mary, and Ella.
HON. ABRAHAM BROWER.
Pleased to do good,
He gave and sought no more, nor questioned much,
Nor reasoned who deserved ; for well he knew the fece of need. — Course of Time..
Abraham Brower, farmer and State Senator, was born May
22d, 1787, on the left bank of the Schuylkill, in Upper Provi-
dence township, Montgomery county, where he always lived,,
and where he died. The tract of about two hundred acres de-
scended to him from his father. It is situated not far from the
famous Fatland ford, where the British army crossed the river
in 1777, and almost opposite the junction of the Reading and
HON. ABRAHAM BROWER. 1 69
Perkiomen railroads. He was trained to the business of a
farmer, and followed it all his life. When young he was mar-
ried to Margaret, daughter of Joseph Crawford, of the adjacent
township of Lower Providence. There were born to them
eight children, two or three dying young. The following are
the five who grew up : Ann, intermarried with Charles Shep-
ard; Joseph Crawford and John E. — the last still occupying
the family homestead and the former son a farm adjoining ;
Frances was married to Samuel H. Umsted, but died soon
after; Abraham, when a young man, was accidentally killed
by the fall of a tree while felling timber in the woods.
Abraham Brower was a man of very superior natural endow-
ments, physical, mental, and moral, as any one could see by
his gigantic frame and lofty brow. He enjoyed but OTd'ma.ry
opportunities of education, yet his keen, penetrating mind
grasped any subject of which it took hold. He was distin-
guished all his life, therefore, for strong common sense. He
was never at any time an office-hunter or politician, though a
hearty Whig and Republican. In 1840 the party nominated
him, unsolicited on his part, for State Senator, and he was
elected by a considerable majority over Hon. John B. Steri-
gere, who had occupied the seat at the previous session. Al-
though no talker on the floor, Mr. Brower was an industrious
member, and filled his term of three years service to the satis-
faction of his constituents. In private life he was distinguislied
for great probity and kindness of heart, the latter quality being
so prominent that his house in winter was a general refuge for
the poor and unfortunate. In truth, his benevolent instincts
were so marked and dominant that he could never turn the
needy or hungry away from his door without lodging them
or supplying their wants. As a consequence he was often im-
posed upon by the unworthy, who sought his bounty when it
was in their power to provide for themselves.
The Schuylkill canal passed through his farm, and outlet
locks were on his property. For many years he kept a store
at the place for the provisioning of boatmen, which, added to
careful and judicious farming, made him wealthy at the time
12
170 REV. GEORGE WACK.
of his death, which resulted, mainly from old age, in his 86th
year, in 1873.
Margaret Brower, the aged and worthy wife of Abraham
Brower, died suddenly and shockingly from her clothes taking
fire while engaged in household duties December 2d, 1869.
She lived about twenty-four hours after the dreadful accident,
and died in the 83d year of her age. This terrible visitation
was received with profound sorrow by a large circle of friends
and acquaintances, who attended her remains to Providence
Presbyterian Cemetery, where her husband was afterwards in-
terred by her side.
The descendants of Abraham and Margaret Brower, of the
second generation, are the following:
The eldest daughter, Ann C, married to Charles -Shepard,
of Norristown, has had two children, John, deceased in his 21st
year, and Thomas, a law student in Norristown.
The second daughter, Fannie, married to Samuel H. Um-
sted, had one child, but both she and her offspring are dead.
The eldest son, Joseph Crawford, intermarried with Catha-
rine Highley, and has ten children living: Sarah Jane, Mar-
garet, Mary Ann, Abraham C, Nettie, Fannie, John, Charles
5., Laura, and Henry.
The youngest son, John E., is married to Ann Eliza Horn-
ing, and they have the following children : Abraham H., Sarah
Ann, James H., Fannie, Frank, Anne S., Mary, Norris, and
Martha Jane.
REV. GEORGE WACK.*
"Xhou shalt know that thy tabernacles shall be in peace.
Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his
season.— J06 V, 24, 26.
Few clerical names are more familiar to the people of Mont-
gomery county than that we have placed at the head of this
sketch. Rev. George Wack was the son of Rev. Casper and
Barbara Wack, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania. After study-
*For the material from which is drawn the following life we are indebted to Har-
baugh and Heisler's "Fathers of the German Reformed Church."
REV. GEORGE WACK. I/I
ing for the ministry he was examined and ordained at Read-
ing in October, iSoi, and on the 25th of April in the next year
took charge of Boehm's and Wentz's Reformed churches in our
county. In 1806 he extended his charge to embrace Hilltown
church, in Bucks county. Here, within the bounds of these
three congregations, he ministered till 1845, when he closed
his service at Wentz's, having preached thirty-two years at
Boehm's, twenty-two at Hilltown, forty-three at the first, and
also ten years at Gwynedd. This last congregation he held in
connection with Wentz's, after he had resigned Boehm's in
1834. This pastorate, with the exception of that of Rev. Dr.
Steel, of Abington, is doubtless the longest continued ministry
to the same churches recorded in our county.
In 1 805 he married Elizabeth Pannebecker,with whom he lived
forty-five years, and who bore him four children. Although
he had charge of three congregations nearly all his life, his sup-
port was so meagre that he followed the business of a farmer
for many years to assist in procuring a livelihood. Though he
often worked with the plow or other implements in the field all
the week, he was punctual in filling appointments to preach at
his different charges on the Sabbath.
In 1817, during the Gubernatorial term of William Findley,
he was appointed to the office of Register of Wills of Mont-
gomery county, which l^ie filled for three years.
Mr. Wack was a classical scholar, and in his later years
■^vrote a work on theology in Latin, which he partly translated
into English for publication, but never completed. He was an
.ingenious man in the use of tools, often making and repairing
his farm implements, and, being very fond of music, built an
organ with his own hands. The last annual classis he at-
tended met at Boehm's church in 1855, he saying, " This, I
think, is the last meeting we shall have on earth, and I desire
to attend."
He had retired from the active work of the ministry about
1846, when near 70, mainly because of bodily infirmities, and
lingered on till 1849, when he relinquished housekeeping and
went to reside with his son-in-law, Philip S. Gerhard, Esq., of
Centre Square, where he died February 17th, 1856, aged 79
172 REV. GEORGE WACK.
years, 1 1 months, and 14 days. His funeral was attended by
Revs. Father Helfifenstein, Samuel Helffenstein, Jr., John Naile,,
Jesse B. Knipe, George D. Wolff, E. M. Long, J. S. Ermen-
trout, S. G. Wagner, of the Reformed, and Rev. John Hassler,
of the Lutheran church, who had been an intimate friend. His
children have marked his resting-place in Boehm's church
cemetery by a handsome marble memorial stone. It is re-
corded that during his long ministry he united seven hundred
and twenty-four couples in marriage, preached five thousand
times, baptized a thousand infants, and confirmed a like num-
ber of catechumens.
In personal appearance Mr. Wack was of medium size and
erect; in habits, orderly, frugal, and laborious. His character
for childlike simplicity and unsuspecting confidence was re-
markable. Without a shadow of dissimulation himself, he
trusted implicitly in the integrity of all with whom he had to
do.*
Rev. George Wack had three children who grew to matu-
rity, as follows: Rev. Charles P., a minister of the Dutch Re-
formed Church, and settled at New Brunswick, New Jersey,,
who is intermarried with Adeline Van Dursen; Abigail, the
wife of Philip S. Gerhard, of Centre Square; and Elizabeth
Amanda, married to Rev. Alfred B. Shenkle, many years ago
pastor of St. Luke's Church at Trappe, and Reformed Church
at Vincent, Chester county, but later of Millersville, Lancaster
county.
The following are the grandchildren of Rev. George Wack:
Caroline, Joanna, Eleanor, Elizabeth, Salome, Charles B., and
S. Van Dursen, children of his son Charles P.; George Wil-
mon and Andora Elizabeth, children of his daughter Abigail;
and George Caspar and Laura Elizabeth, children of his daugh-
ter Elizabeth Amanda.
*" Fathers of the German Reformed Church," Vol. II, p. 116.
HON. JOHN B, STERIGERE. 1/3
HON. JOHN B. STERIGERE.
I'll give thrice so much land
To any well deserving friend ;
But in the way of bargain, mark ye me,
I'll cavil on the ninth part of a hair.
— Hotspur, Part First of King Henry TV.
ambition, how much art thou shrunk !
When this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound ;
But now, two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough. — Prince Henry over the body of Harry Percy.
Within the past fifty years Montgomery county has produced no
public man possessing more marked characteristics than John B.
Sterigere, who rose from obscurity by perseverance, industry, and
indomitable will. Apart from inherited force of character he was
entirely a self-made man, rising without the slightest aid of wealth
or influential kinsmen. Nor was he a man of transcendent mental
ability.
He was the son of Peter and Elizabeth Sterigere, and was born
October 13th, 1793, in Upper Dublin township, Montgomery
county. His grandfather, Justus Sterigere, came from Germany,
settling in that township about the middle of the last century. Both
his father and grandfather were probably farmers, and the earliest
public mention of them is contained in a newspaper item, issued in
1800, which stated that "the house of Peter Sterigere, of Upper
Dublin, was accidentally consumed by fire." The latter appears
to have died the following year, for we learn from the same news-
paper file of the date of 1806 that Elizabeth Sterigere and Edward
Burk offered "a small iract of land for sale on the Susquehanna
•street road, the property of Peter Sterigere, deceased."
Beside the subject of our notice, Peter Sterigere had two other
sons and four daughters. One of the former, Peter, went West,
settled, married, and had children, at least two daughters, who
came East, and were educated at Oakland Institute and Pennsyl-
vania Female College at the expense of their uncle, John B. The
other son, William, studied medicine for a time, but died of sun-
stroke in 1829, before graduating. One of the sisters was married
to Augustus Brock, who recently died in Norristown; another was
the wife of Jonathan Taylor; and the third, Sarah, intermarried
with James Conrad, lives in Maryland. The last sister, Martha,
unmarried, boarded a long time at the Montgomery House, Norris-
town, with her brother, John B., and, by his fraternal liberality, at
174 HON. JOHN B. STERIGERE.
his expense. She inherited considerable of his property, and sur-
vived him till 1867, a period of fifteen years. In making her wilK
she bequeathed j^yoo, the residue of her estate, to the Norristown
Town Council in trust, the income to provide food and fuel for the
poor in winter. This merciful remembrance of the destitute should
keep her memory green forever.
Some time after the decease of Peter Sterigere, his wife married
a man named Philip Somers, who lived a short distance from Nor-
ristown, near Stony creek. Both are now dead.
The early life of John B. Sterigere is thus described by persons
who knew him well : " He was a very studious, exemplary boy ; was-
hired with a Mr. Engard as a farm hand during the summer, and in
the winter worked mornings and evenings for his board while at-
tending school. Having acquired a good education, he stood so-
high in the estimation of the people that they gave him the school
at Puff's church, and he taught it for a considerable time."
So early as 1818, when 25, he received a commission as Justice
of the Peace from Governor Findlay, and remained several years in
the neighborhood surveying, scrivening, and serving the people as-
magistrate. During that time, in 1 821, he was put on the Demo-
cratic ticket and elected to the lower house of Assembly. He was
returned to this position three succeeding years, making a term of
four sessions. Two years after, in 1826, the competition for a suc-
cessor to Hon. Philip S. Markley in Congress being very sharply
contested between two aspirants, General Henry Scheetz had suffi-
cient address and influence in the party to bring forward his friend
and neighbor, John B. Sterigere, as a compromise candidate. He
was nominated, and, in those Jackson times, elected without diffi-
culty, and returned to the next Congress. Mr. S. was quite a
young member, but being ambitious and irrepressible as a debater,
and much less influential than Hon. Jonathan Roberts had recently
been, his Federal opponents at home applied to him very con-
temptuous epithets. There is no evidence, however, that he did
not represent his constituents fairly and satisfactorily. The fact
that the opposition hated him was proof that he was a live man..
While a member of Congress he studied law, and was admitted tO'
the bar November 17th, 1829. Being a man of indomitable will
and industry, and very correct in his habits, he rose rapidly in the
legal profession, though he did not enter upon the study of it until
his thirty-fourth year. He enjoyed the fullest confidence of clients
from the start, being always reliably devoted to their interests.
HON. JOHN B. STERIGERE. 175
Fidelity to his friends and employers was, indeed, a marked trait
of his character, but being without much suavity or affability of
manners, it was always a marvel to people who did not watch hini;
closely how he maintained for so many years influence and popu-
larity with his party. But he was a constant worker, a man of un-
yielding pluck and mental force : he was set in his own way and in-
flexible even to obstinacy. Accordingly, often when defeated im
court, he went to the Legislature and procured some explanatory
act that enabled him to enter a new plea for his client. Besides,
while other young attorneys were spending time conversing in bar-
rooms, or in social intercourse with ladies, Mr. Sterigere was harcE
at work in his office.
The secret of his power, moreover, was the unyielding fidelity he
always maintained to party friends. He had all the second-class-
politicians of the county as his retainers, and had promised most ot
the working men of the party small offices, such as he could secure
them by his influence. In every part of his bailiwick he had meni
who were devoted to his interests and aspirations. The ancient
relation of lord and clansmen was not more real than the tie that
bound John B. Sterigere and his friends together.
In 1835 Mr. S. was taken up for Senator by his party, but owing-
to the division about Wolf and Muhlenberg the whole ticket was
defeated and he beaten by James Paul, a Whig or anti-Mason.
A law having been passed to revise the Constitution, Mr. Steri-
gere was nominated as delegate, elected, and took quite an active
part in the debates of that body. He never hesitated at the ex-
tremest doctrines of what was then regarded as national Democracy.
This was the period, it may be added, when proslavery pretensions
and Northern subserviency were inaugurated. Pennsylvania Hall,
in Philadelphia, had just been burned by a mob in the endeavor tO'
extirpate the Abolitionists, the story having been started that ' ' white
and black persons were seen coming from the hall in Sixth street^
arm in arm, during a meeting of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery
Society." Mr. Sterigere and others in the convention, desiring to
testify their abhorrence of abolitionism, and to please national leaders,
of both parties, proposed to make progress in the direction the
nation was then drifting by inhibiting by constitutional law negro»
suffrage, which up to that time had existed in Pennsylvania to a.
limited extent. It was customary when colored men were free-
holders to assess and allow them to vote. Mr. Sterigere therefore
moved that the word "white" be inserted in the new instrument,.
1/6 HON. JOHN B. STERIGERE.
■which motion, after much debate and opposition, finally prevailed.
This unjust offering to slavery and the spirit of caste was a part of
our elementary law for a quarter of a century, and only removed at
the last convention, advocated by George N. Corson, Esq. ^ of our
county, who then owned and occupied the identical law office Mr.
Sterigere held at the time the ''white" clause was inserted. This
anay be set down as historical retribution.
About this time there was a contest prosecuted before the Senate
for the seat held by Thomas S. Bell, Esq., of Chester, by Nathaniel
Brooke, also of that county, the latter securing his seat after long
■delay. The claim grew out of a clerical error made in our county
in the Trappe dist^ct, by which Bell wrongfully received the cer-
tificate of election. The Herald and J^ree Press charged Mr. Steri-
gere with being privy to the corrupt return in such language that
Mr. S. commenced suit for libel, and it was a long time in the
courts. Finally the two Whig associates overruled the President
Judge upon some question of law or fact, and the trial came to no-
thing.
In 1839 Mr. Sterigere was again taken up for State Senator, and
elected in a district composed of Chester, Delaware, and Mont-
gomery. As the new Constitution had reduced the term from four
ito three years, Senators had to draw lots for the long or short term.
Mr. Sterigere drew the short period, going out at the expiration of
one year. Accordingly in 1840, the next year, he was again put
lip by the Democracy, but defeated before the people by Abraham
Brower, a Whig. Before the next Senatorial election in 1843, ^^•
Sterigere had enough influence at Harrisburg to get our county de-
tached and made a Senatorial district of itself, and that fall he was
of course nominated and elected for three years, which he served
out to the satisfaction of his party friends at least. In 1846 Mr.
Sterigere closed his Senatorial career, although he had been nomi-
nated for the place the third time, being now defeated by George
Richards, of Pottstown. This was the last occasion of his coming
§3efore the people for a public office at the polls, though the very
year he died (1852) he was a candidate for Senator before the county
convention, but beaten by John C. Smith, of Pottstown, who was
himself defeated before the people by Benjamin Frick, of Limerick.
Thus Mr. Sterigere was twice elected Senator, serving four years as
such, was thrice defeated for the office before the people, and once
■failed of a nomination as just stated.
During his term in the Senate, however, he wielded a wide influ-
HON. JOHN B. STERIGERE. 1/7
ence, and while giving Shunk's administration a reasonable support,
was all the time especially laboring to promote Mr. Buchanan's
national interests.
In 1847 I'^e ^vas really though not nominally chairman of the com-
mittee on resolutions at the preparatory county meeting, and they
were moderately and carefully drawn, calculated to pave the way
for the advancement of his friend, Mr. Buchanan, to the Presidency.
In that also he was disappointed, for Cass instead of Buchanan was
nominated the following year. That autumn Governor Shunk was
re-elected, but early the next year resigned, and soon after died,
making a vacancy in the Gubernatorial office to be filled at the next
ensuing election. This emergency created a lively competition
among our Democratic statesmen for the succession. Hon. Morris
Longstreth, who had moved into our county from Philadelphia, and
obtained the office of Associate Judge, and afterwards Canal Com-
missioner, had pressed himself forward as a prominent candidate.
Hon. Jacob Fry, Jr., also had some pretensions. Mr. Sterigere set
himself vigorously at work to checkmate Longstreth, whom he con-
sidered a sort of interloper, or what in modern phrase is called " a
carpet-bagger. ' '
Accordingly, pending the Governor's election in 1848, Mr. Steri-
gere secured, by a public meeting of Democratic citizens at Potts-
town on the 31st of July, a popular nomination for himself to suc-
ceed Johnston, who, as President of the Senate, was acting Gover-
nor. It is not certainly known, however, whether Mr. Sterigere's
chief motive in this was a serious move for the Governorship him-
self, or merely to create a diversion against Longstreth, but the first
is more probable, for he was a man of unbounded ambition. There
was then much plotting and counterplotting among these Demo-
cratic politicians, and it so happened (as in Mr. Sterigere's case
when first nominated to Congress) both Sterigere and Fry were pushed
aside when the convention met, and Morris Longstreth taken up,
but finally defeated by William F. Johnston by two hundred and
ninety-nine votes. There were ill natured persons who did not
hesitate to say that Mr. Sterigere was glad of the result.
In 1849 Mr. Sterigere seemed to have fallen from the lead of his
party, as his name does not appear in the proceedings at either of
the annual convocations. The same remark applies the following
year, though he was again chairman of the county committee.
Having failed in present Gubernatorial aspirations himself, his only
desire now was to promote the hopes of his life-long friend, James
178 HON. JOHN B. STERIGERE.
Buchanan, for the Presidenc)'', and through him secure a national
office. Accordingly, though failing in health, he continued to
partly edit and control the Register in that interest, and when the
national convention was called to meet in Baltimore in 1852, hav-
ing been elected a delegate from our district, and leaving his bed,
sick and feeble, attended the great convocation over the *' Union
just saved" by the Compromise bill, confidently hoping to see his
friend chosen, and assist in the result. At that time Mr. Sterigere
was so ill and helpless that he had for some time previously em-
ployed a trusty man, named John Williams, as nurse, and when he
started for Baltimore was accompanied by an intimate friend and
also by a young colored man as servant to provide for his comfort
and welfare. In this patriotic hope Mr. S. was also disappointed,
as the claims of "Pennsylvania's favorite son" were overlooked, and
Franklin Pierce chosen in his stead. From the occurrence of this
event till his death the following fall, his health never rallied, and
he did not live to see his friend chosen, as he was, at the next trial
in 1856, Had he so survived he would undoubtedly have been
either a Cabinet officer or chosen for a foreign mission. But we
have anticipated.
Some of Mr. Sterigere's most valuable service to the public was
performed at home after the conclusion of his Congressional career
and during his time in the Senate, when, like some ancient kings
of whom we read in history, he went at work " to build us a city."
Scarcely any words of ours can do justice to Mr. Sterigere's labors
and public spirit in this matter; for after he was elected to the
Town C'ouncil of Norristown in 1836 he worked "in season and
out of season," and without compensation, too, except curses and
misrepresentation from many who did not at all appreciate his
efforts in the way of town improvements.
A commission consisting of Alan W. Corson, Evan Jones, Henry
Scheetz and George Richards had previously been appointed by
act of Assembly, with fall power "to lay out, widen, vacate, ex-
tend, and improve the streets and lanes of Norristown." They
performed their duty, aided by an engineer, Mr. Gill. The com-
missioners recommended the widening of Lafayette and Penn streets,
which were formerly called Brick and Court-House alleys, and con-
siderable excavations on Penn and Airy streets, with the necessary
setting back of stables and fences, had to be done. The Town
Council enacted that these improvements should be made, and pro-
perty owners were required to conform to the new regulation. Now
HON. JOHN B. STERIGERE. 1 79
began a contest between fossil citizens and improvement men, and
Mr. Sterigere was just the leader to head the latter. He was hon-
est and unselfish, so far as private gain was concerned, arbitrary and
self-willed in an eminent degree, and therefore just the man for
rough knocks and a long fight. As phrenologists t-ay, he had a
large "bump of order," and a nice perception of symmetry, clean-
liness, and beauty, beipg always remarkably neat and becoming in
his own attire. Hence he must have seen in imagination the beau-
tiful town we are now enjoying as the reward of his labors.
Armed with the law and his own strong will, he ordered citizens
to remove their nuisances from the street and to conform to the
statute. The excavations about the court house were dubbed
" Sterigere's canals," but heedless of opposition he pushed the work
till the "stable" or "cow" alleys began to look like streets, as seen
at present. There were piazzas also built over the sidewalk at most
of the hotels, and high walls on the line separating streets and foot-
walks. These were removed under protest by the owners, or by
Council, and streets and walks leveled, curbed and paved nearly as
they now are. A few other influential men, such as W. H. Sling-
luff and Adam Slemmer, President of Council, sustained him and
co-operated, but the brunt of the battle rested on Mr. Sterigere.
Towards the last of these improvements he got himself appointed
one of the regulators, and many grades were adjusted by him to
meet the common design. Almost any time Mr. Sterigere could
be seen on the street taking ranges or making levels with his com-
pass, for he plied his surveying instruments, with a laboring assist-
ant (gratuitously, so far as he was concerned), just because he de-
sired things "exactly right." He was always on the lead. Another
influential member of Council used to say that unless Mr. S. was
bell-wether he would not go in the flock. Sometimes Mr. S. did
actually do some arbitrary and most unwarranted things, such as
twice changing the grade of Middle alley* to accommodate a friend
in the shedding of waste water away from his premises. Thus for
about ten years, from 1836, when he was first put in Council, he
was the ruling spirit of the borough authority. Towards the close
of his dynasty he would often give people volunteer "orders" to
remove some nuisance at their front door, or to conform to ordi-
nance, with the air of an autocrat, and was often thought needlessly
captious and precise, thus getting himself many enemies. He did,
*There was an aesertion current about that time that Mr. Sterigere first had that ave-
nue made a public highway by act of Assembly, then repealed tiie act, and afterwards
had it made public again by another act.
l80 HON. JOHN B. STERIGERE.
indeed, during his town rule, do many things in politics, as also in
prosecuting his practice in the courts, from which a man less reso-
lute and unscrupulous would have shrunk. His motives, however,
must be judged by the rule of success pursued in conformity with
law, for in business it is not supposed he acknowledged the obliga-
tion of any higher rule than the law of the land.
But now, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, it must be re-
corded to his credit that much we value about Norristown is the re-
sult of his judgment, perseverance, and pluck. Mr. Sterigere de-
serves in this, therefore, to be set down by the historian as a genu-
ine reformer and public benefactor.
It only remains now to record Mr. Sterigere's private life and
describe more accurately his moral and mental characteristics. As
before stated, he was a man of marked peculiarities; not of rough
exterior, but a very beau in air, countenance and personal appear*
ance. He was courtly to ladies, and on rare occasions gallanted
them to public a'ssemblies, but was never drawn into matrimonial
entanglements. He lived and died an honest bachelor.
We never heard his personal purity called in question, and though
he had been much in public employment, thrown in the way of
temptations of all kinds, yet his chastity and sobriety were never
impeached by any one. Whether he had been disappointed in an
early love, like his life-long friend, Mr. Buchanan, must ever re-
main a secret; but that he had a soft spot in his heart toward the
sex was manifested in the pleasure he used to take in romping with
little girls. Nothing gave him more enjoyment than purchasing and
bestowing upon them tickets to shows, fairs, and the like, or taking
a crowd of them there himself: and when the ladies of the town
succeeded in getting Mr, Sterigere to a fair his pocket-book had to
make atonement for lack of service to the sex on other occasions.
Though constantly alive to the increase of his fortune, he always
gave to objects of public charity and religion, being generally the
most liberal subscriber to all such contributions. He owned con-
siderable real estate and some stocks. It is related of him that at
one time, many years ago, when a defaulting officer swamped the
Norristown railroad, he owned one hundred and fifty shares of that
stock, which, as he was liable for debts and repairs of the road, he
offered to sell to Isaac Thomas, of Upper Dublin, for twelve and a
half cents a share, without finding a buyer.
For a long series of years Mr. Sterigere was counsel for Dr. Sam-
uel Hiester, of Chester county, in contesting a will settlement in the
HON. JOHN B. STERIGERE. l8l
Common Pleas of our county, and finally became plaintiff himself
against his former client^ involving matters that remained unsettled
at the time of his death. He had also been executor or adminis-
trator of Conrad Emrich, of Upper Dublin, as early as 1839, and
held as trustee the sum of $664 for the rebuilding of Puff's Reformed
Church, which was paid over with interest by his administrators.
It was long a cherished purpose of Mr. Sterigere to rebuild that
church himself, in the cemetery of which his father and other rela-
tives were interred.
While his health was very feeble for many months before his de-
mise, yet he braced himself against the idea of dying. He still
grew worse, however, and passed away in the early morn after elec-
tion night, October 13th, 1852, in the 59th year of his age. The
cause of his death was cancer of the stomach. He died intestate,
and is buried in Puff's church-yard beside his father and mother,
and above his remains is a plain shaft or obelisk, erected, it is pre-
sumed, by the surviving sisters, on which is chiseled a circular
wreath, having within the word "Brother," and beneath "Steri-
gere."
He was visited once during his final sickness by his personal and
political friend, James Buchanan, and the latter was also in attend-
ance at the funeral. Notwithstanding the saying, "Politicians have
no hearts," persons standing before Sterigere's bier testify that Mr.
B. dropped genuine tears over the corpse of his life-long adherent.
Mr. Sterigere was a man of enlarged public spirit and of genuine
Democratic instincts. An instance may be cited. Some years be-
fore his death, and previous to relinquishing borough affairs, he ob-
served our Potter's Field, which had been bought many years before
by the county, lying waste. At once he resolved that it should be
nicely graded and enclosed, though it only contained the graves of
a few outcasts. This he did. It is now falling into ruin again for
want of another John B. Sterigere.
He was also a man born to command; of unbounded ambition,
and withal of such patriotism and elevated motive, that, making al-
lowance for his violent partisanship, he was competent to fill any
public office in the land. He loved to rule, but mainly for the
good of others. He sought the honor of commanding men, but as
much for their good as his own.
His estate, which amounted to nearly $60,000, was divided among
his heirs at law, Benjamin F. Hancock and Adam Slemmer, Esqs.,
being the administrators.
1 82 COL. EDWIN SCHALL.
Undoubtedly Mr. Sterigere belonged to that robust Reformed
German stock which emigrated to America about the middle of the
last century in quest of religious freedom. Without being a pro-
fessor of religion himself, he was doubtless a believer in some
sense, for he occasionally attended divine service either at the Re-
formed or Presbyterian churches, and rented and paid for a pew in
each for many years, up to the time of his death. Without being a
religious man, therefore, Mr. Sterigere was puritanical in most of
his instincts and habits. It is doubtful, indeed, if he ever danced
or played. With him life was too real and time too precious for
any such amusements. He had no aptitude for jokes or hilarity,
and rarely laughed, being very like Shakspeare's "lean and hungry
Cassius," of whom he says,
" Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort
As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit
That could be moved to smile at anything."
In person John B. Sterigere was medium height and build, grace-
ful in form and motion, dark hair, dark-florid complexion, and but
for his sternness of countenance would have been regarded as good
looking. He appeared much younger than he really was.
COLONEL EDWIN SCHALL.*
His ambition was of that noble kind ^vhich aims to excel in whatever it undertakes,
and to acquire a power over the hearts of men by promoting their happiness and win-
ning their affections. — Sparks^ Washington.
Lieutenant Colonel Edwin Schall was the twin brother of Colo-
nel Edward Schall, almost equally distinguished as a soldier, and
now a practicing attorney at our bar. They are the sons of Gen-
eral William and Caroline Trexler Schall, whose biography appears
elsewhere in this volume. It is a military family. General Schall
being for many years Brigade Inspector of the district. Conse-
quently, on the breaking out of the rebellion, no less than five bro-
thers, Reuben, Edwin, Edward, David, and Calvin, volunteered to
fight for the Union. Most of them, however, had previously been
members of the several volunteer companies of the town.
*The name, being German, is pronounced as though spelled " Shawl," the
having the broad German sound of that language — " aw."
COL. EDWIN SCHALL. 1 83
Edwin, the subject of this biography, was born at Schall's Iron
Works (now called Green Lane), Marlborough township, Mont-
gomery county, February 15th, 1835.
General Schall removing to Norristown in 1848, Edwin, then a
small boy, was placed in Elmwood Institute, at West Norristown,
then under the charge of Rev. J. R. Kooken, where he gained the
elementary branches of a good education. He remained here till
near his majority, when he entered the military academy at Nor-
wich, Vermont, and afterwards Pembroke, Brandywine Springs, and
finally Bristol, where he graduated. He then entered the law office
of B. Markley Boyer, Esq., but, without continuing there, went to
the law school at Poughkeepsie, New York, where, after staying a
season, he was transferred to the Ohio Law School, at which he
graduated and was admitted to practice. From there he went to
Iowa and opened an office, but not finding things to his taste re-
turned home, and after a while was entered as an attorney at our
"bar. He had hardly got into practice when the disorganization of
parties, consequent upon the pressure of the slavery question upon
■old platforms, and the rise of the American party, to which he was
attached, drew him into politics.
A short time previously the National Defender had been estab-
lished to promote the Native-American sentiment, and advocate the
claims of Bell and Everett to the Presidency. This paper, started
to arrest the drift of the Whigs towards the Republican party, was
placed in the hands of the twin brothers Edwin and Edward Schall,
who conducted it with fair ability till the conclusion of the political
campaign and the breaking out of the rebellion. At this time, or
shortly before, he was nominated and elected Burgess of Norris-
town two years in succession, a post which he filled acceptably to
the people.
As known, the Bell and Everett campaign, to which the Defender
was committed, resulted in nothing, and Lincoln was triumphantly
elected through the division of the opposition. The winter of
1 860-1 will long be remembered on account of the fearful mutter-
ings of the coming storm. The Hotspurs of the South proceeded
to prepare the public mind of their section for open revolt, or se-
cession, as they called it. It was an interim of dubious discussion.
The Democratic and American masses held that the South had well
defined grievances demanding redress, but they stood aghast at the
remedy being organized at Montgomery, Alabama, under the name
of the " Confederate States of America."
184 COL. EDWIN SCHALL.
To show how " peace at any price," or opposition to "fratri-
cidal war," prevailed at this time among the then ruling party in
this county, we append a resolution adopted by a meeting at Trappe
in February, as follows :
3. Resolved, That we are unanimously opposed to the so-called
doctrine of coercion, and pledge ourselves to oppose any measure
that is calculated to bring the people of one section into deadly
conflict with those of any other section, believing that by compro-
mise and conciliation only the present national troubles can be set-
tled.
And yet when the news reached Norristown on the 12th of April
that Fort Sumter had been bombarded, and on the 15th, when
the President issued his proclamation calling for seventy-five thou-
sand men to defend the Union, a meeting was hastily called at
Odd Fellows' Hall, and thousands thronged there bearing effigies
of Jeff Davis and other representative traitors with ropes about their
necks. At this meeting Burgess Edwin Schall was called to pre-
side, and a long array of Vice Presidents occupied the platform.
The meeting was addressed by Judges Smyser and Krause, Hon.
Owen Jones, B. M. Boyer, Charles Hunsicker, E. A. Banks, and
George N. Corson, Esqs. James Boyd and Harvey Shaw, Esqs.,
respectively, offered their checks for ;^2oo and ;^ioo to assist the or-
ganization of the military for defence. At once Colonel Hartranft,
as commander of the previously existing Fourth Regiment Pennsyl-
vania Volunteers, with the following companies, offered themselves
for the national defence. Our home organizations were numbered,
and had previously been designated, as follows :
Company A,* Wayne Artillerists — Captain, William J. Bolton;
First Lieutenant, Joseph K. Bolton ; Second Lieutenant, William
Ensley.
Company B, Norris City Rifles — Captain, Robert E, Taylor;
First Lieutenant, Thomas Magee; Second Lieutenant, Matthew R.
McClennan.
Company C, of Pottstown — Captain, J. R. Brooke; First Lieu-
tenant, W. M. Hobart; Second Lieutenant, Joseph Umsted.
Company D, National Artillerists — Captain, Reuben T. Schall;
First Lieutenant, Charles Hansell; Second Lieutenant, David
Schall.
Company E, Keystone Rifles — Captain, George Amey; First
Lieutenant, Richard T. Stewart; Second Lieutenant, J. P. Butler.
♦Previously commanded by Captain William R. Lesher, who had just resigned.
COL. EDWIN SCHALL. 1 85,
Company I, National Artillerists — Captain, William Allebaugh;.
iMrst Lieutenant, Lewis Ramsey ; Second Lieutenant, Charles
McGlathery.
Company K, hastily recruited and formed partly of material froin.
Company B, Norris City Rifles — Captain, Walter H. Cooke; First
Lieutenant, Henry K. Weand ; Second Lieutenant, C. Y. Fisher.
These seven companies, with Colonel Hartranft at their head,,
left Norristown and Pottstown on the 19th for Harrisburg. Here
they were joined by Company F, Captain Dunn, of Media, Dela-
ware county, and Company G, Captain Chamberlain, of Lewisburg,
fully equipped, and organized on the 20th as the Fourth Regiment
Pennsylvania Volunteers. The staff officers of the regiment were
as follows: Colonel, John F. Hartranft; Lieutenant Colonel, Ed-
ward Schall; Major, Edwin Schall; Quartermaster, William H.
Yerkes; Surgeon, James B. Dunlap. The next day it left for
Havre-de-Grace, its first rendezvous. After remaining a few days,
it was ordered to Annapolis, and thence to Washington and Alex-
andria. During all this time the regiment was becoming proficient
in company and regimental drill. After many delays General Scott,
on Thursday, the i8th of July, ordered McDowell to advance froni
Centreville upon Manassas Junction, where the rebels were en-
trenched. The enlistment of the Fourth Regiment, of which Ed-
win Schall was Major, expiring the next day, Friday, the 19th, it
was not ordered forward, but to the rear to be mustered out, and
General McDowell, in dismissing them, signed an order dated July
20th, complinienting ihem by saying; "The servicea of this ixgi-
ment have been so important, its good conduct so general, its pa-
tience under privations so constant, its state of efficiency so good,
that tlie departure of the regiment at this time can only be con-
sidered an important loss to the army."
The regiment Avas finally paid off, started for home on the 27th,
and the officers proceeded at once to reorganize and recruit for
the three years' service under the call for three hundred thousand
men. They made up their rolls at home, and reported, unassigned,
at Camp Curtin, early in September. The first to submit its roll
was Captain William J. Bolton, on the loth, and became by rule
Company A. Thus five companies were soon brought from INIont-
gomery county, forming the right wing of the regiment. The other
five were recruited from Centre, Dauphin, Union, Snyder, North-
ampton, and Lycoming. The regiment was organized under the
immediate supervision of Colonel Hartranft, for all acknowledged
13
1 86 COL. EDWIN SCHALL.
his ability. Its staff officers were finally adjusted as follows ; Colo-
nel, John F. Hartranft ; Lieutenant Colonel, Thomas S. Bell, o^
Chester county; Major, Edwin Schall ; Quartermaster, John J.
Freedley; Surgeon, John P. Hosack; Assistant Surgeon, James D.
Noble; Adjutant, Daniel P. Bible; Chaplain, Daniel G. Mallery.
The regiment was mustered into service on the 28th of September,
and left for Baltimore and Annapolis on the i6th of November, pre-
paratory to going upon the Roanoke Island expedition under Burn-
side. This was intended as a midwinter invasion to draw attention
from Washington and break up facilities for blockade running.
After much hardship and endurance the expedition was entirely
successful, and returned, not without considerable losses, however,
to help McClellan in his ill-starred retreat from Richmond. It only
arrived in time to join Pope at the second Bull Run, and to suffer
afterwards from McClellan's stupid strategy at Antietam and Burn-
side's disaster at Fredericksburg. Thus, after commencing their
term of service gloriously in North Carolina, the regiment, with the
loss of two of its bravest officers (Lieutenant Colonel Bell and Cap-
tain Bolton, one dead and the other desperately wounded), took up
its weary march westward. The circumstances of the corps were
such as to test the metal of young Edwin Schall, who had now al-
most become its commander in the absence of Colonel Hartranft,
or rather from the latter's accession to the command of the brigade.
Thus also the Fifty-first, from the bleak mountains of the Blue
Ridge in winter, were transferred to the arid plains of Mississippi
in midsummer, where, after enduring incredible hardships, they
were permitted to assist in the taking of Vicksburg and hear the
glorious news of Gettysburg, all within a week. It is needless to
follow that brave regiment and its officers to East Tennessee, where
"hardships and sieges still more laborious and self-denying were en-
dured for another year, or recount its share in the final triumph at
Petersburg and the end of the war in 1865. Through all this glo-
rious tour of duty, up to the time of his death, Colonel Schall bore
his part and did his duty. It is only necessary to transcribe a little
of the testimony of comrades to his kindness, bravery, fidelity, and
ability in command, till he laid down his life for his country at Cold
Harbor, June 3d, 1864.
Major Schall, as he first ranked, was the synonym of fidelity to
duty and kindness to those under his command. His courage was
not of the animal but strictly of the moral sort. This was the secret
of his gentleness and reliability. He always held his life a waiting
COL. EDWIN SCHALL. 1 87
sacrifice for his country. Of his forbearance toward the men Cap-
tain Parker, the historian of the Fifty-first, writing of the terrible
march after the taking of Jackson, Mississippi, says:
"After marching five or six miles they (the men) began to give
out. Lieutenant Colonel Schall saw that each man had tried to
outvie his companions by endurance, and as there was no object to
straggle for, the men sinking from actual exhaustion, he dismounted
from his 'Bobby,' placed the most wearied ones on the horse, and
allowed them to ride until they became a little rested, when a couple
more invalids would take their places on the saddle and behind it."
Again, on embarking the troops from the Mississippi campaign.
Colonel Schall used extraordinary efforts to get his men sheltered
from the burning sun, but failed on account of the brutality of the
■captain commanding the boat.
During the terrible siege of Vicksburg, when every inch of ground
of the advance of Johnston's army had to be contested, Schall's
regiment lay three days in rifle pits on the picket line. On the
third day of the attack the enemy arose to their feet from their en-
trenchments and advanced with fixed bayonets for a charge u})on
the works, when Schall immediately warned his command that "the
charge must be repelled let the sacrifice be what it may," and it
was not driven from its position (History of the Fifty-first, page
358). And finally, in the Wilderness, when he gave up his young
life for his country, he was leading a charge upon the enemy's works
where every one, as he advanced, seemed to court death, and where
space gained on either side was purchased only by precious lives.
Here he fell, aged 29 years, 3 months, and 18 days. His body was
brought to Norristown, and lies entombed in Montgomery Ceme-
tery, where a handsome monument commemorates his deeds. It is
a marble obelisk, standing fifteen feet above the pedestal, and
contains on one of its faces the following inscription: "Edwin
.Schall — A dutiful son — An affectionate brother — A faithful friend
— A brave soldier — An efficient officer — A sincere christian."
In person Colonel Edwin Schall was under the common stature,
but well formed, of comely, pleasant features, very amiable, cour-
teous, and universally beloved. He probably had not a private
.enemy in the world. He was never married.
1 88 REV. JOHN H. UMSTAD.
REV. JOHN H. UMSTAD.*
Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.— _
Psalm XXXVII, 37.
John Horning Umstad, a very eminent minister of the.
" Brethren," as they call themselves, usually known as Dunkers,
or German Baptists, was born in Upper Providence township,
Montgomery county, January ist, 1802. He was not relig-.
iously brought up, but received a fair education, such as the
com.mon schools of the locality afforded. In' 1829, when in.
his twenty-seventh year, he married Ann, daughter of Daniel
and Frances Brower, and sister of Abraham, Christian, and'
Daniel R. Brower. John H. and Ann Umstad had born to them
four children, one son (who died in infancy) and three daugh-
ters. One of these, Sarah, grown up, and a member of the
society, died several years ago unmarried. The surviving
children and grandchildren of Rev. Mr. Umstad and wife are:
Catharine B., intermarried with Louis Detrich, and Frances B,
with Milton Davis, the latter of whom occupy the old home-
stead, situated near the Schuylkill, below Port Providence, in
Upper Providence township. The children of Milton and
Fanny B. Davis are : Anna Clara, Sallie Kate, John U., Nathan
D., Benjamin C, Jemima C, and Emma U. The children of
Louis and Kate Detrich are : Anna Elizabeth, William Henry,
John U., and Katie.
The period from 1830 to 1840 was one of extensive revivals.
of religion all over this region of country, in which all evan-
gelical sects more or less participated. So in the fall of 183 1
a great awakening commenced in the neighborhood where Mr.
Umstad lived, conducted by brethren of the Dunker persua-
sion. He had a sister, Mrs, Isabella Fitzwater, who already
belonged to the church, but being of a lively disposition, and
fond of worldly enjoyments, Mr. Umstad had not up to that
time given religion any attention. His sister, however, who
was very devoted, and deeply concerned for her brother, was
without doubt largely instrumental in bringing him within the
*T)ie material from ■which this Life is drawn is mainly gathered from a memorial of^-
him by J. Quinter, as pviblished in the "Brethren's Almanac for 1875."
REV. JOHN H. UMSTAU. 1 89
influence of the revival. The result of a series of meetings was
that the husband of Mrs. Fitzwater, Mr. Umstad, and also Rev.
Isaac Price, both since eminent as preachers, were converted
and baptized. This was in the fall of 1831, and the inroad
made upon the society of the neighborhood opened the way
for the organization of a church in the locality. Accordingly,
in 1834, Green Tree Church was built on land belonging to or
adjoining Mr. Umstad, and he and Isaac Price, who lived be-
yond the river, were ordained ministers. Of his labors and
efficiency from this time forward his memorialist, Mr. Quinter,
says:
" Brother Umstad's labors in winning souls were very suc-
cessful. He labored not only in the public ministry, but also
much in private. He was instant in season and out of season.
The cheerfulness of his Christianity, added to his natural viva-
'city, made him an agreeable companion, and when in private
'company with his friends he seldom failed to use the opportu-
■nity of recommending Christ to them, which was often done
successfully. The anniversary of his birth occurring on New
Year's day, it was his custom to observe that period in a de-
votional manner, and for many years after his conversion he
had prayer meeting in his house on the first night of the new
year. In his public preaching he was warm and pointed, and
his direct appeals to sinners were often very strong."
■ He was blunt and outspoken even to eccentricity, but these
qualities were but a spice to his exuberant honesty and kind-
ness of heart. Soon after his baptism and union with the church
he laid aside the fashionable attire he had hitherto worn, and
•conformed to the garb usual with his sect. He was very de-
Voted to the general interests of the society of which he was a
minister, but towards the close of his life became dull of hear-
ing, which greatly hindered his usefulness in this respect. His
health began to decline a few years before his death, and the
winter preceding his departure he did not preach any, being
so advised by his physician. As he lived close to the meeting-
house, however, he occasionally met with the church and de-
livered a short exhortation. He preached his last sermon to
the people of his charge, to whom he had so long ministered,
April 13th, 1873, and left home on the 15th to visit his
daughter and her family at Baltimore, where he arrived on the
1 90 HON. BEN'JAMIN FRICK.
i6th but little the worse for his journey. On the following
Sunday night, the 20th, he was taken with severe pains and a.
paralysis of the lower part of the body. The disease ran rapidl}^
to a crisis, and he expired on the 27th, just a week after the
attack. He died at the residence of his son-in-law, Louis Det-
rich, in that city, in the 72d year of his age, and after about
forty years devoted service in the ministry.
His remains were conveyed to his home, and on Thursday,..
May Tst, he was interred in the cenietery of the church he had
helped to found so many years before. At his funeral there
were in attendance nearly twenty ministers and an immense-
throng of sympathizing friends and neighbors.
HON. BENJAMIN FRICK.
A firm, unshaken, uncorriipted soul
Amid a sliding age. — Thomson.
Benjamin Frick, a Senator of the State of Pennsylvania from
Montgomery county, was born April 26th, 1796, in Coventry
(now East Coventry), Chester county. The family is of Swiss
origin, being among the early German emigrants of the Bap-
tist persuasion who settled along the Schuylkill in Chester and
Montgomery counties. Though not a member of the Dunkers
or German Baptists, he usually attended their religious meet-
ings, and lies buried in one of their cemeteries near where he
was born. The names of his father and mother were John and-
Catharine. They lived and died in East Coventry, where Ben-
jamin received a fair education, such as was common in coun-
try places sixty years ago. Having married Ellen Davis about
1831, he commenced the lumber business near the Schuylkill,
continuing in it as long as he lived, at his place, " Limerick
Bridge," or, as subsequently called, Limerick Station, on the
Reading railroad at or near the great bend of the river in that
township.
From early life Benjamin Frick was regarded as a man of
great probity, firmness, and veracity. So when tlie question!
HON. BENJAMIN FRICK. IQI
of forming a new county from parts of Chester, Montgomery
and Berks, with a seat of justice at Pottstown, came up, part}-
lines were broken down around that borough and on the north-
ern and western borders of the first two counties, and candi-
dates were often carried against considerable party majorities
on both sides. Democratic party leaders in the lower sections
of our county dreaded the loss of the heavy Democratic ma-
jorities in the " upper end," and so many of them would vote
for a Whig who was opposed to the division. The latter party,
knowing that this feeling was strong in the centre and east of
the county, brought forward Mr. Frick in 1852, who, while
popular with his neighbors, was moderately opposed to the or-
ganization of the new county of " Madison." He was thus
nominated and run on that issue, and elected by 32 majority
over John C. Smith, of Pottstown, his Democratic opponent.
The Whigs had no need to regret their choice, for Mr. Frick,
though no talker, was a very industrious and faithful member.
During his term of service he helped to unearth much of the
corruption and favoritism that had crept into the management
of the public works. He was also the active coadjutor of Hon.
Henry S. Evans, of West Chester, who was prominent in the
effort to sell the canals and reduce the State debt.
The following obituary, written by Mr. Evans in the Village
Record of West Chester, on announcing his death, is but a just
tribute to his efficiency and worth. After recounting his vari-
ous public trusts, the Record says :
''In local and township affairs, in settlements of estates, his prac-
tical good sense made him a valuable counselor. His manner was
kind toward every one, courteous always, but always decided when
decision was necessary. His prompt, almost intuitive judgment,
and his lofty integrity, secured the confidence of his fellow-citizens
in his worth, so that he was triumphantly elected Senator against
an adverse party majority. The writer of this, who was his col-
league, can bear testimony to his earnest and efficient devotion to
every great interest of the Commonwealth. No one ever breathed
a suspicion of the purity of the motives which incited him to action.
He scorned the corrupt as he did corruption itself. He loved his
State, and was jealous of its honors as of his own. As a Senator his
voice was never heard in debate, but his influence was known and
acknowledged by all. From his early education, long experience,
and habits of reading, he was versed in the history of all the public
measures and men of the State and country. He was not only hon-
192 HON. BENJAMIN FRICK.
■est, but, uniformly courteous and firm. Whatever was right had his
support, and whatever was clandestine or wrong met his unqualified
■opposition. In the death of Mr. Frick the community have lost a
useful and tried man, his friends one whose virtues will long be re-
anembered. He has gone to his long home, leaving a bright exam-
ple of the noblest work of God — an honest man."
The foregoing is high testimony in these modern times, when
legislators so often lend themselves to schemes of plunder and
self-aggrandizement.
Similar testimony to the foregoing appears about the sam.e
time in the Philadelphia Press, or possibly in the Norristown
Herald. It says: " His excellent judgment, high-toned integ-
rity, and strict attention to his duties as Senator and to the
"vvants of his constituency, rendered his term one of especial
notice. He went into and came out of office, and retained un-
til the close of a long life the high regard of his fellow-citi-
zens."
Flis connection with the officials of the Reading railroad as
a receiver and forwarder of freight, as office agent, and other
duties, at Limerick Station, was long continued and cordial,
and only severed by his increasing infirmities, in 1869. On
acknowledging the receipt of his resignation at that time, the
Treasurer of the company, S. Bradford, Esq., says: " I regret
that the infirmities of advanced age should have rendered it
aiecessary for you to retire from the service of the company.
I have highly appreciated your long and faithful services, and
trust that the satisfaction experienced by a well spent life may
afford you all the happiness which such a course always in-
sures."
If further testimony of Mr. Frick's judgment, capacity to
serve others, and of his incorruptible integrity, were needed, it
•may be added that he held the office of postmaster twenty
years, and in 1836 was chosen Secretary of the Perkiomen and
Reading Turnpike Road Company, a position he held thirty-
live years, till 1871, when death canceled the trust. He was
at one time a director in the Pottstown Bank, and for six years
iield a like position in the Bank of Montgomery County, at
INorristown. He was also for a long time local business agent
HON. BENJAMIN FRICK. I93
of the Philadelphia and Reading railroad, to the full satisfaction
of its directory, as shown by the extract copied above.
The children of Benjamin and Ellen Frick now living are:
Catharine, now Mrs. Sisler, of Pottstown; James, also living
in that borough; and Charles, who succeeded to the business
and homestead of his father at Limerick Station.
Mr. Prick's health had been rapidly declining for some time,
when, October 4th, 1871, he passed away, aged 75 years, 5
months, and 6 days. In stature he was tall and bony; hair
and complexion dark; features elongated, indicating moral and
mental force of a high order. Wc cannot close this notice of
a citizen whose life is a legacy to the community better than
by transcribing a letter written by himself in answer to a rela-
tive (probably a cousin) in reference to the history of the family :
Limerick Bridge, March loth, 1864.
Colotiel Jacob Frick:
Dear Sir — Your favor of the 22d ultimo was duly received, and I
deferred answering it, with the intention of first visiting the late
home of my elder sister to consult and compile a more full family
record than I have; but various causes seem to postpone my in-
tended visit.
Your ancestor, I presume, is the Conrad Frick mentioned in the
third volume of Colonial Records. I cannot claim so near an af-
finity to him as I wish. My grandfather's name was Jacob, and
he died in 1799, aged 82. He and his brother John, four years his
senior, came into this country about 1740 from Switzerland. John
Frick never married, but settled in Bucks county, where he acquired
a farm, and died in 1794, aged 81 yea.rs. My grandfather, on
marrying, settled about one mile east of Pottstown, where my fother
was born; but in his early boyhood they moved to Chester Valley,
about two miles from the Valley Forge camp ground, where they
lived during the Revolution, near the scene of the Paoli massacre,
their place affording an encampment for some days for the British
and Hessians after the battle of Brandywine. The most thrilling
incidents of that time that I ever heard were from the lips of Aunt
Christina, who died twelve or fifteen years ago, her descendants
possessing the old homestead until five years since, when it passed
into the hands of strangers. Grandfather had three sons, of whom
only John (my father) left descendants. Jacob, the oldest, was
drowned when about 21 years old, and David, a younger brother,
died at the age of 12. My father had six sisters, all of whom left
families, and some quite numerous ones. They are scattered over
most of the States of the Union (all the Western ones), including
Missouri and Texas, and some even in Brazil and Mexico. My
father left four sons and four daughters, of whom my youngest sister
194 CALEB P. JONES.
(Mrs. George Baugh) and. myself are the only survivors. They all
have descendants except my oldest brother, who died childless. I
am within a month of being 68 years old, and have been a widower
nearly twenty-eight years; have had nine children, of whom but
four are living. One of the deceased left three children.
Benjamin Frick.
CALEB P. JONES.
The reasoner, he who deeply searched the origin of things, and talked of good and
evil, much of causes and effects. — Course of Time.
The Jones family is one of the most numerous and respecta-
ble in eastern Pennsylvania. The following is the genealogy
of the family under consideration, as given by our subject's
surviving brother and sister, Nathan H. Jones and Hannah M.
Ogden, still residing in that classic homestead which Washing-
ton occupied as headquarters during the long, dreary winter
j'ust one hundred years ago.
About the year 1700 John Evans, with his wife, son and two
daughters, emigrated from Wales to Chester county, settling
near the forks of the Brandywine, in East Bradford township.
The son, according to a custom among Welsh people, received
the surname of his father reversed, and was called Evan Jones-
He married Sarah Woodward, and died in 1773. Of this mar-
riage was born John Jones, who intermarried with Rachel
Hayes, and they were the parents of James Jones. The latter
married Ann Pusey in 1806. The descendants of this connec-
tion were Caleb Pusey Jones (the subject of this notice), Nathan
H. Jones, and Hannah, intermarried with Thomas Ogden, the
last now many years deceased. Both Nathan H. and Hannah,
as has already been stated, still reside on the Valley Forge
property, the latter in the very house Washington occupied as
his headquarters, and her brother in another mansion near by.
The genealogy of the maternal ancestry, the Pusey family, is
thus given: It came from Wantage, Berkshire, England, along
with William Penn. Caleb Pusey, the elder, brought with him
a nephew, Caleb Pusey, who was married in 171 2 to Ann Car-
CALEB P. JONES. 1 95
ter. They lived on a thousand-acre tract taken up from the
proprietor, bounded on the Street road, a great thoroughfare
leading from Philadelphia to Grove meeting-house. The elder
Caleb was a member of the Colonial authorities very soon after
the settlement, and was a useful man in settling difficulties
among neighbors. In the line, down to the subject of our
notice, the couple whose marriage has just been stated, and
whose certificate, engrossed upon parchment and numerously
signed by the members of Chester meeting, is still preserved
by descendants, had two sons, Thomas and David. The former
married Mary Swayne, and had three sons, Caleb, Thomas, and
Jesse. The first, born in 1745, married Hannah Bailey in
1775, and they had five children, Ann, Caleb, Phebe, Lydia,
and Susan. Ann, the eldest, was married to James Jones, the
father of our subject, as elsewhere stated.
Caleb P. Jones was the sixth and next to the youngest of'
the family. He, with most of the children of his parents, was
born on the old Jones homestead in East Bradford township,
Chester county, which property the father sold to enter a labor-
combination enterprise, started at Valley Forge about the year
1826. This scheme did not prove a success, as originally de-
signed, and it was soon dissolved. His father, James Jones, on
the dissolution of the society, bought the old headquarters
homestead, grist mill, and part of the old Valley Forge or
Potts' estate, and the family, with an intermission of two years,
from 1826 to 1828, have resided upon it ever since, now over
half a century.
At a very early age Caleb P. showed a fondness for books
and papers, reading then much solid matter, and was conver-
sant with the Scriptures when quite young. Between the ages
of fourteen and sixteen he was sent to Westtown boarding-
school, an institution of Friends, where he made rapid progress
in grammar, chemistry, and the higher mathematics. He was
remarkably correct and thorough in elementary studies, be-
came a very clear and forcible writer, and so terse and perspi-
cuous in style that he usually took the lead in writing out
resolutions and making brief speeches at temperance, anti-
slavery and free soil meetings, to which his heart was deeply
196 CALEB P. JONES.
committed while he lived. He had joined the Methodist Epis-
copal church in 1844, and that fire infused into his Quaker
blood made him courageous and intrepid to the last degree
when any great question of human rights, such as slavery or
temperance, was concerned. He was a frequent contributor to
the reformatory press, especially of the type just mentioned.
After arriving at majority he went to teaching school, and con-
tinued for several years near home, at Wilkesbarre and Phila-
delphia. While thus engaged at the last place his health gave
way in a severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism. On re-
covering he was advised to seek more active employment, and
obtained a sort of supervisory position on the Reading railroad,
which he held with a few intervals for twenty years, his resi-
dence in the meantime being at Reading and with his sister at
Valley Forge. Had he not been so heartily identified with
, anti-slavery and temperance reform movements, in advance of
the age, he had all the qualities to have made a successful poli-
tician and legislator. Although social and very courteous, he
was retiring in his habits. His delight was to read, store his
mind with useful knowledge, and do good. He was, in fact,
to his family and neighbors a walking Encyclopedia. His life
was a busy one. At the time of his death he had an immense
amount of literary labor projected, leaving some valuable papers
worthy of publication behind him.
In person Mr. Jones was rather under the medium height,
hght complexion but dark hair, and of comely, pleasant fea-
tures. He died, unmarried, at the age of 46 years, in 1865,
and was buried at Friends' cemetery in Schuylkill township,
two miles above Valley Forge. Hon. J. Glancey Jones, of
Reading, who was possibly a distant relative, and a particular
friend, as also the writer, were at his funeral.
His brother, Nathan H. Jones, from whom most of the facts
of this notice have been gathered, is a man of high moral char-
acter and much culture, being a very fine mathematician.
Caleb P. Jones, notwithstanding his activity as a reformer, left
considerable estate to his brother and sister.
HON. JOSIAH W. EVANS. 197
The following lines, dedicated to his memory by A. J. Chris-
man, are added:
Bending o'er thy dust, my brother,
O'er thy sad and lonely tomb,
I would lay a sweet wreath on it,
Flowers that memory bids to bloom.
HON. JOSIAH W. EVANS.
Naked as from the earth wc came.
And rose to life at first;
We to the earth return again.
And mingle with the dust. — Waits.
Josiah White Evans was born October 2d, 1802, in Limerick
township, Montgomery county. His father, James Evans, was
a farmer, and well known throughout the county, once repre-
senting it in the Legislature. The Evans family is of Welsh
extraction, and some of the earliest settlers of Limerick town-
ship were of that name. His mother was Charlotte Brooke,
whose ancestors came from England about the year 1699 or
1700, and located a grant of about eight hundred acres of land
in the upper part of this county, west of the Perkiomen.
Josiah W. Evans received a good common school education
before he left his father's farm. All his acquirements beyond
this were through his ov/n unaided efforts. On ]\Iarch 4th,
1832, he married Miss Anna Hunsberger, of the same town-
ship.
He was a member of the congregation of Limerick Lutheran
Church, and never severed his connection therefrom, although
after coming to Norristown he regularly attended the Presby-
terian church, of which his wife was a member. He first
learned the trade of a blacksmith, and after completing his ap-
prenticeship went to Pottsville and followed it for a short
time, but becoming dissatisfied he returned to his father's farm.
On the nth of July, 1831, he came to Norristown and entered
the Prothonotary's office as clerk to Jacob Fry, Jr., continuing
in this position several years. He was appointed a Justice of
the Peace by Governor Wolf on the 3d of May, 1832, and
filled the office in connection with his clerkship. He entered
198 HON. JOSIAH W. EVANS.
upon the duties of Prothonotary as principal, by appointment
of Governor Porter, on the 7th of February, 1839, and in the
following November was elected by the people to the same
office, filling it three years longer, till the spring of 1843, when
the same Governor appointed him Associate Justice of the
courts.
During the four years he filled the office of Prothonotary
his brother James was his deputy, the latter continuing to fill
that position through the incumbency of Josiah's successors,
Dr. Jones Davis and Mehelm McGlathery, and then was him-
self elected to the office, in 1848, holding it three years.
At the conclusion of his first term of five years on the bench.
Judge Evans was reappointed by Governor Shunk in 1848, and
again chosen to the same office in 185 1 by the people, the place
becoming elective under the new Constitution. He died, how-
ever, before his term expired. '
During or between his judicial terms he was for a period of
two or three years associated with his brother Owen (who was
the active partner) in the lime bwsiness on the Schuylkill be-
low Norristown, the products of their kilns being sold whole-
sale in Philadelphia, and also shipped South. This business
was very remunerative and successful.
He was a member of the Norristown School Board and of
the Town Council for a number of years, as also clerk for the
latter body.
Mr. Evans died in Norristown on the 7th of April, 1855,
where he had lived continuously for twenty-four years. He
left a large estate to his widow during her life, and also made
a considerable bequest to a sister in straitened circumstances,
the bulk of it to finally revert to his collateral heirs.
His life was an even, uneventful, yet withal a very useful
one. By nature unassuming, and shunning all display and
prominence, he was truly a man of sterling character, ever fill-
ing with punctuality and fidelity all public and private trusts.
In person he was over the medium stature, and of quiet,
grave demeanor. His remains are interred in Montgomery
Cemetery, and over them is erected a handsome marble obelisk
bearing his name and age.
JACOB ADLE, JR. I99
JACOB ADLE, Jr.
The liniul of the diligrent shall bear rule; but the slothful shall be under tribute. —
Proverbs XII, 24.
Jacob Adle was born in Switzerland in the year 1800. When
six years of age his father and mother, Jacob and Susanna Adle,
seeing nothing before them but wars and invasions from ad-
vancing and retreating French and Austrian armies, concluded
to emigrate with their one son to America, where quiet and
industrious people might hope for peace and plenty.
Of the Swiss, after whose Reoublic our own is moulded,
Goodrich, in his Universal History, remarks:
"The great charm of Switzerland, next to its natural scenery, is
the air of well being, neatness and sense of property imprinted on
the people and their dwellings. They have a kind of Robinson
Crusoe industry about their houses and lands; they are perpetually
building, altering, repairing or improving something about their
tenements."
It was exactly this industry, frugality and care for iiome with
which Jacob and Susanna Adle began life in Norristown in
1806, and they soon had a small dwelling of their own. A
few years after settling here a daughter was born to them, who
is still living WMth us and well known to our citizens as Mrs.
Sarah Derr, relict of Franklin Derr, recently deceased. Su-
sanna Adle died at an advanced age in 1852, and her husband,
Jacob Adle, Sr., six years later, in 1858.
Jacob Adle, Jr., the subject of this notice, received a good
education at the Norristown Academy, but only at intervals,
as he was trained to industry from his earliest years, and ex-
pected to earn his living. For a long time, when young, he
rode as post-boy to deliver the weekly papers, and probably
carried the mail also. In due time he was apprenticed to a
chairmaker, which business he learned. Some time after he
married Sallie, daughter of Matthias Koplin, who for many
years ran a flour mill in Norristown. Their children who sur-
vived infancy are : Theodore, now a master smith; William H.,
a machinist; Matilda, deceased; Anna, intermarried with Josiah
Shaw, of Philadelphia; and Thaddeus S., watchmaker and
jeweler. All except Anna now (1878) reside in Norristown.
Having, as we stated, learned his trade, Jacob Adle, Jr., be-
200 HENRY POTTS.
gan chairmaking, and continued to follow it at the corner of
Main and Barbadoes streets, Norristown, till about 1842, when
he opened a grocery near by, which was successfully conducted
for a number of years.
Jacob Adle, Jr., was a man of considerable mental culture,
good judgment, and of great propriety of deportment. For
several years he filled the position of member of Town Coun-
cil with credit to himself and advantage to the public.
The wife and daughter of Jacob Adle, Sr., were members of
the Presbyterian church. The wife and daughters of Jacob-
Adle, Jr., were Episcopalians.
Being a man of sobriety, frugality and industry, he accumu-
lated considerable property, which enabled him to retire finally
from business. This he did about 1866, but his health con-
tinued to decline, and he expired August gth, 1 866. He is
buried in Montgomery Cemetery. His widow still survives
him.
HENRY POTTS.
• Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again. — Bryant.
Henry Potts, an extensive ironmaster ^t Pottstown, and as-
sociated with David Potts, of Warwick, Chester county, was
born August 5th, 1797, in the town which his great-grand-
father, John Potts, founded and called after his own name.
After obtaining a good education he completed a mercantile
training in Philadelphia, where he was first employed as book-
keeper or clerk, and afterwards engaged in the iron business,
which had been the family calling for several generations. Sub-
sequently he engaged in the manufacture of iron at the famous
Glasgow Forge, near the Manatawny, north of Pottstown. In
1834, associated with John P. Rutter, he built Isabella Fur-
nace, in Chester county, for smelting ore, which was worked
into malleable iron at Pottsgrove Iron Works, Pottstown. He
was also associated with his cousin, Hon. David Potts, Jr., in
running Warwick Furnace, Chester county, which was founded
REV, THOMAS GIBBS. 20I
before the Revolution. In 1857 he retired from business, hand-
ing over his extensive works to his sons, Henry, George H.,
and Joseph, and his son-in-law, Edward S. Davies.
Henry Potts was married October 8th, 18 19, to Isabella,
daughter of Daniel Hitner, Sr., of Whitemarsh township, by
whom he had several children.
He was held in high esteem all his life as a business man of
integrity, uprightness, and public spirit. In 1857 ^^ was
elected the first President of the Pottstown Bank. He was
also for several years Secretary and Treasurer of the Pottstown
Bridge Company, and a member of the gas board of the bor-
ough, as also President of the Town Council. He was during
his entire life a Whig or Republican, and strongly anti-slavery
in his views, but being retiring in his habits never sought or
attained any public position. He died at his residence, in his
native town, August 31st, 1861, aged 64 years.
REV. THOMAS GIBBS.
As the life of a wicked man is not worthy of the name of life, so the death of a godly
man is not worthy of the name of death. — Edwards.
Rev. Thomas Gibbs, of the Protestant Methodist Church,
was born in the State of Delaware in the year 1799. Of nearly
pure African blood, his father and mother, whose names were
John and Deborah, had been reared in slavery. But his father,
being a man of energy and sobriety, and his master favoring
emancipation, he found means to buy himself, and afterwards
his wife. Thomas was therefore born free, and when quite a
young man came to Pennsylvania, stopping awhile at Hamor-
ton, in Chester county.* He early acquired proficiency as a
violinist or fiddler, and made considerable money attending
parties in that capacity. When quite young he married a wife,
who soon after died, leaving to his care two small children.
*In relating? his habits then as liostler at a tavern and musician at frolics and sleigh-
ing parties, lie said to the writer: " It was a mercy of Ciod that I did not fall to drink-
ing and go to perdition, as did so many others."
]4
202 REV. THOMAS GIBBS.
He went to Philadelphia and obtained employment as porter
or store-helper. Here he got acquainted with Mrs. Sally Ann
James, whose maiden name had been Berry. She, like him-
self, had been widowed by the death of her husband, Furman
James, some time before. It was natural that he, a young
widower, and she, a young widow, should sympathize with
each other. The acquaintance therefore soon ripened into at-
tachment, and on the 9th of August, 1827, they were married
by " James Abercrombie, D. D., assistant minister at Christ
Church, St. Peter's, and St. James'." So reads the marriage
certificate.
Mr. Gibbs at this time was without book education of any
kind, the fiddle being then his book, Bible, and constant com-
panion. His wife, being almost a full white woman, and raised
in Philadelphia, was well educated for one in her rank in life,
besides well trained in the amenities of respectable society.
Shortly after her marriage with Mr. Gibbs she fell into the
currents of one of the then prevailing revivals, and according
to the phrase then common among Methodists, "got religion."
From that time her whole plans of life were changed. She
saw the importance of the conversion of her partner, and did
not long pray and labor for that end till she had the satisfac-
tion of calling him "brother" as well as husband. At once
she set about opening to his nature-darkened mind the world
of letters. Being herself fond of books, she read to him in the
evenings while he listened, and taught him also to spell and
read, till he became a fair reader. She also instructed him in
the use of the pen, so that he could write his name.
Very soon after his conversion he felt the deep obligation to
lead other sinners to Christ, and so rented a cellar, fitted it up
as a mission Bethel, and began to hold meetings lor prayer
and exhortation, which were thronged nightly and blessed to
the awakening and conversion of hundreds. This was about
J 83 5. The truth opened in his mind through the written
Word, now in his hands, added to the fervor of the Spirit, as
"afire shut up in the bones," began to manifest a gift and
power of exhortation, and it was soon plain to all who knew
him that he was " called " to preach the gospel of peace. The
REV. THOMAS GIBBS. 203
fiddle became an eye-sore to him, and was sold or given away,
he entering upon a new life. A Protestant Methodist church
was organized at Fifth and Gaskill streets, and Mr. Gibbs was
there appointed and ordained to minister in holy things, which
he did for several years.
Coming to Norristown shortly after the colored people of
the town were organized into an African Methodist Episcopal
Church, the denominational connection with which colored
people were most familiar. They proceeded to erect Mount
Zion Church edifice, west of Stony creek, and Mr. Gibbs, join-
ing the connection, preached for them several years. Divi-
sions arising among them, however, a considerable number of
the membership of the church resolved to organize anew under
the auspices of the Methodist Protestant Church, to which Mr.
and Mrs. Gibbs had originally belonged. Accordingly about
1852 or 1853 they proceeded to organize "Israel Methodist
Protestant Ebenezer Church," and erected a small stone build-
ing at Arch and Basin streets for a house of worship. Here
Mr. Gibbs preached for a time, but finally took charge of a
congregation in Philadelphia, to which he ministered till within
a few years of his death, though he continued to reside in Nor-
ristown.
Notwithstanding Mr. Gibbs had become a somewhat gifted
preacher, he never ceased to labor with his hands. He had
taken up the business of a professional whitewasher, and en-
joyed the common fame of being able to white a wall and ceil-
ing with lime-wash without the fall of a single drop on ^he
carpets. This brought him the best work of the kind in town
and country. Mrs. Gibbs also being a capable, trusty woman,
kept the refreshment stand in the ladies' waiting-room of the
railroad depot at Ninth and Green streets, Philadelphia.
Both Thomas Gibbs' children by his first wife died in infancy,
and he and his second wife had two children, John L., born
April 5th, 1839, and died in 1844, aged 4 years; Sarah Ann,
born January 1st, 1843, ^^^^ ^^^^ of consumption March 8th,
1869, aged 26 years. She also, as her mother had been, was
for a long time the waiting- woman and refreshment seller in
the ladies' room of the Norristown railroad depot.
204 no's. JOHN FREEDLEY.
By faithful industry and economy, therefore, the family were-
providing a moderate livelihood, and were enabled to buy for-
themselves a small home on Penn street, near Sandy, Norfis-
town. But the death of their promising daughter preyed deeply
upon the mind of the father, and seven months after her death
he was taken with dropsy, and quietly passed away October
20th, 1869, aged about 70 years. He is buried in the ceme-
tery of the First Presbyterian Church, of which his wife and
daughter had become members.
In person Rev. Thomas Gibbs was above the medium size,,
with large, prominent eyes, which gave fluency of speech. He
possessed the warm, earnest, social nature peculiar to his race,
which gave him fervor in urging the motives of the gospel he
preached. He was affectionate as a husband and father, and
the latter married life of both Mr. and Mrs. Gibbs was a refu-
tation of the frequent remark that second marriages are rarely
happy. Mrs. Gibbs, now (1878) advanced in life, has survived
her husband nine years.
HON. JOHN FREEDLEY.
Surely every man walketh in a vain slio^w ; surely they are disquieted in vaiu : he
heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. — Psalm XXXIX, 6.
John Freedley, a distinguished lawyer of the Norristown^
bap, third son of Henry and Catharine Isett Freedley, was born-
near Norristown in the year 1793. His father, the first noted
oneof the family, owned land in Whitpain and Plymouth "town-
ships, but came to Norristown about the commencement of
the present century, and established himself in the pottery and
brickmaking business at the rear of where the Montgomery
House now stands. His brick and pottery works extended
back to Washington street, and deep excavations, whence he
got the material, remained at the corner of that street and
Strawberry alley till within a few years ago. Henry Freed-
ley, of German extraction, was a very industrious, enterprising
business man, and accumulated means rapidly. In 1804 he-
HON. JOHN FREEDLEY. 205
erected the upper end of the present Montgomery House, and
his eldest son, the father of Henry Freedley, Esq., of Norris-
town, kept a store within it at an early day.
Henry Freedley, Sr., and his wife Catharine, had the follow-
ing children: Henry, intermarried with Sophia Kline; Mary,
with Richard Davis; Susanna, with Samuel Jacoby; Eliza-
beth, with George Prince; Jacob, with Susan Jacoby, and af-
terwards with Mrs. Dickinson, of Philadelphia; Catharine, with
Matthew Neeley; Dr. Samuel, with Mrs. Heckly. John, the
subject of this notice, left one son, Edwin T. Freedley, Esq.,
the author of several treatises on business. John had worked at
the business of his father, but soon turned his mind to reading
and intellectual pursuits. He did not, however, commence
the study of law till near his twenty-fourth year. Having a
robust, well knit physique, and a well developed brain, he soon
mastered the science, and was admitted to the bar August
i6th, 1820. Graduating in his profession at a time when the
older lights, Hon, Levi Pawling, Philip S. Markley, Benjamin
Evans, John Henderson, and others, were withdrawing from
practice, Mr. Freedley rose rapidly, and within a dozen years
was at the very head of the bar, his chief competitors being
Philip Kendall, D. H. Mulvany, John B. Sterigere, and Joseph
Fornance. He never attained great distinction as a criminal
lawyer, though generally engaged in the most important trials,
but gradually obtained a hold on most of the heavy real estate
causes that came into court. This was doubtless what led him
to engage in land speculations, in which he was largely em-
barked for many years. From the time he was fairly in prac-
tice till within a short period of his death, much valuable pro-
perty near Norristown, which passed through the Sheriff's
sales, came into Mr. Freedley's possession. Whenever there
was a clear speculation in prospect, Mr. F. was most frequently
the purchaser. This was what brought into his hands the
Matthias Holstein estate. Subsequent to 1830 he also bought
the property of Letitia Thomas, deceased, embracing the Rising
Sun, Montgomery House, and all the front from Swede street
to Strawberry street. About the same time also, in conjunc-
tion with Colonel James Bush, he bought the old Swedes'
206 HON. JOHN FREEDLEY.
Ford tavern property, covering much of the land now forming-
the site of Bridgeport. All these he sold at large advances on.
cost, for his rule w^as the correct one, "Always be ready to buy
and ever on hand to sell." Thus, when a monetary crisis;
came, he had the profits of his sales and not the property in
hand, as had very many about Norristown in 1857 who pur-
sued the opposite course of buying lots but never selling thenx
About 1840 he remodeled the fine two-story mansion that
had belonged to the Egypt Mill property, and which he had;
bought of Major Holstein, at the southwest corner of Main;
and Mill streets, tearing out the stone front, building it up^
with brick, and raising it a story, as it stands now. He fitted
it up for a residence for himself, and occupied it a year or two,.
but true to his rule, finding a purchaser in General William
Schall, of Green Lane Forge, he sold it and returned to board-
ing again. It is impossible at this late day to recall his ex-
tended business operations, though it is remembered that he
owned white marble quarries in Massachusetts, and was in
partnership with Charles Heebner in a marble-sawing mill at
Conshohocken, which did a very heavy business.
He was for a long time a director and heavy stockholder in
the Bank of Montgomery County, which enabled him to com-
mand money for his land speculations. He was also willing
to use his capital at times to further enterprises of a public
nature. In connection with Davis Henderson, Jacob Freed-
ley, Mordecai R. Moore, and Merchant Maulsby, he invested;
in a stock of thirty thousand dollars, in "Samuel Jamison's-
Spinning Mill," a limited corporation, which started about
1840. The first named person invested ten thousand dollars;;
each of the others five thousand.
Mr. Freedley always voted with the Whigs, and tho'UgJi-. notr
an active politician, often made speeches at the great gather-
ings of the party. In 1846 he was taken up for Congress im
the district composed of Montgomery and Delaware countiies;,
and re-elected in 1848 during the famous Free Soil contest
between Taylor, Cass, and Van Buren. At the conclusion oF
his second term he was nominated the third time, but defeated
by Hon. John McNair. In Congress Mr, Freedley was a
HON. JOHN FREEDLEV. 20/
faithful representative and a warm advocate and defender of
the policy of protecting American manufactures by a tariff.
He also generally sustained Northern anti-slavery views by
his votes, though during the long contest pending the passage
of what were called the Compromise measures, he failed to
respond at the critical moment, and the bill becarne a law.*
Shortly after Mr. Freedley's return from Washington his
health failed him, and to have the benefit of the treatment of
his brother, Dr. Samuel Freedley, who was then as now a prac-
ticing physician in Philadelphia, he removed to that city and
remained under his care till he died, December 8th, 185 1, aged
58 years. He made a will for the disposal of his estate, and
named Benjamin F. Hancock, and his nephews, Samuel F.
Jacoby, Samuel Prince, and Henry Freedley, Esq., executors.
His effects consisted of real estate, bank and other stocks, and
amounted to over three hundred thousand dollars, which he left
mainly to his nephews and nieces and son, making a legacy to
each of about eight thousand dollars.
In person Hon. John Freedley was under medium height,
stoutly built, with black hair and florid complexion, a man of
dignity and manly deportment; and while he had the reputa-
tion of a shrewd, close dealer, was charitable to the poor and
just and honorable in all his business transactions.
His remains are entombed in Montgomery Cemetery, over
which is erected a marble obelisk elaborately chiseled and let-
tered with a record of his life and public services.
*The writer, then taking a deep interest in the anti-slavery question, remembers*
spending a wliole day looking up Mr. Freedley's record on the passage of that famous>
act whicli was to "give peace to the country," and "end agitation in Congress and out
of it." The bill was a monstrous omnibus, that provided for the admission of California
as a free State; the assumption of the Texas State debt, or, what was the same thing,
the payment of ten millions to that State for its wild land ; and the passage of a fugitive-
slave law tliat made every Xorthern man a contingent slave-catoher. The l.i.--t two fea-
tures were very distasteful to the people of the free States, and representatives were care-
ful not to place themselves on the record in favor of the bill. Accordmgly. as there was=.
a clear majority in the Hou.se again.st its passage on the first call of the yeas and nays,
the bill was lost; but by a motion to reconsider, a number of members, Mr. Freedley
among them, failed to "respond. So the bill was called up again, in violation of thi-
House's own rules, and on the final trial it was suffered to pass as a " cf)nipromi.se."'
The multiplication of motions pending the main question was .so great, and the contest
lasted so many days, that it was very hard to determine what Northern representative-.
had yielded to the pretended "necessity" which our great .statesmen. Clay, Webster,
Calhoun, and others, had gotten up as a la.st "offering to peace." It was alleged by
Mr. Freedley's friends, however, that he was accidentally and unintentionally absent
at the momentous time. But whether so or not, many refused to vote fur him the third
time on that .account, and he failed of being returned again.
208 ' FRANKLIN DERR.
FRANKLIN DERR.
As a tradesman, I took care not only to be really industrious and frugal, but also to
avoid every appearance of the contrary. I was plainly dressed, and rarely seen in any
place of public amusement. — Franklin's Autobiography.
Of all the business men that have distinguished Norristown
•during the past fifty years, no one has been more eminent in
most respects than Franklin Derr, who came here from the
■" Swamp" a poor boy to learn the trade of a stone-cutter. His
career and success have been the more remarkable from the
fact that his immediate predecessors in the calling failed to
■"make it pay." Alexander Ramsey, Morton Kelsey and John
Niblo in turn had failed even to sustain themselves or make a
living by the mallet and chisel. But they lacked habits of
sobriety and patient industry, which, as in Mr. Derr's case, are
sure to yield their reward in due time.
The name of Derr, by its etymology, is manifestly German,
but when or whence the family emigrated to this country we
know nothing beyond the fact that Franklin Derr's grandfather
was settled at Shamokin, Pennsylvania ; that his christian
name is believed to have been John, and his wife's maiden
name Rushough ; that from that place his son John (Franklin
Derr's father) came to work for Jacob Schneider, who was a
tanner living in the upper end of our county. After laboring
some time at his trade with Mr. Schneider, he married his
daughter Elizabeth, and sister of Henry and Isaac Schneider,
of New Hanover. Shortly afterwards, with a very small capi-
tal, he and his wife removed to Hamburg, Berks county, where
he purchased fifty acres of land and started a tannery, which
business, in connection with farming, he followed till the time
he died. May 24th, 1827, aged 53 years, i month, and 13
days. His wife survived him about two years, dying August
nth, 1829, aged 46 years, i month, and 25 days. John and
Elizabeth Derr were exemplary, hard-working people, and had
twelve children, none of whom had come of age at the death
of the father in 1827. Having so large a family for which to
provide, he left but a limited estate, that did not divide an in-
heritance above five hundred dollars to each, and the children
were soon scattered.
FRANKLIN DERR. 2O9
Franklin Derr was born at Hamburg, Berks county,* July
1st, 181 5, and at the age of twelve years came to live with his
uncle, Henry Schneider, a farmer of New Hanover (usually
called " Swamp"), where he remained, enjoying limited oppor-
tunities of education, till old enough to learn a trade. About
the year 1832 or 1833 he came to Norristown and apprenticed
himself to John Niblo, who then followed the marble-mantel
and stone-cutting business, on the lot now occupied by the
Arcade Buildings, Nos. 40 to 48 East Main street. Here he
served faithfully nearly four years, and some time after being
free formed a partnership with his late master under the firm
name of Niblo & Derr, but which continued a short time only.
Niblo, being somewhat of a sporting character, did not pros-
per financially, and left suddenly, Mr. Derr then took into
partnership his cousin, Simon Schneider, and a live firm went
to work with a will. Soon after getting started Mr. Derr mar-
ried Sarah Ann, daughter of Henry Kerr, of Norristown. He
and his partner then proceeded to build themselves two uni-
form brick dwellings on Swede street. In a short time after
Mr. Schneider's health gave way, and he died of consumption,
leaving Mr. Derr alone in the business, which he pushed from
that time forward with redoubled vigor.
The site of the stone-yard being wanted by Mr. Sower, the
proprietor, for building purposes, Mr. Derr about 1842 traded
his dwelling on Swede street with David Heebner for his large
house and open lot near Barbadoes street, where he removed
his yard, and had ample room for an increasing business. To
this he purchased about 1844 the adjoining lots on the west of
his line, and erected a number of frame stores. He also bought
some unoccupied front below him, with adjoining dwellings.
These subsequent purchases increased the frontage on Main
street to two hundred and fifty feet by three hundred feet on
Penn street. The frame stores before mentioned are now be-
ing replaced by permanent brick structures by the heirs.
Very soon after getting established here, Mr. Derr, by giv-
ing close attention to business, fulfilling contracts with prompt-
ness, by energy and advertising his work, obtained orders for
mantels, house and tomb work from distant places.
2IO . FRANKLIN DERR.
About 1852 or 1853, by order of the court, the County-
Commissioners set about erecting a new court house, which
was ordered to be built of Montgomery county marble pro-
cured from Upper Merion and Whitemarsh quarries. Mr.
Derr secured the contract to supply and dress the stone, and
erect the stone part of the building, which was a very heavy
job, and was completed in 1854 or 1855. About the same
time he received the order for supplying marble for the new
banking-house of the then Bank of Montgomery County.
At this time Mr. Derr was a director of that bank, and its
issues having been counterfeited, the medallion likenesses of
several of its officers were engraved on the new note. The
portraits of Mr. Derr graced the ten-dollar bills.
In 1853 Franklin Derr had the melancholy trial to lose his
wife by death, leaving him four children, all needing more or
less a mother's care.
As his business widened, and contracts became heavier, Mr,
Derr felt the importance of quarrying his own stone instead of
buying it out of second hands. So, in 1857, ^e purchased
the interest of Samuel Brooks, of the firm of Adams & Brooks,
in the Reeseville quarries. Upper Merion. This gave him
stock at cost, and his promptness in filling the heavy contracts
here having given him a reputation abroad, he began to receive
large orders from Philadelphia and elsewhere for marble for
building purposes. Among others he furnished most of the
blue dressed stone for the Philadelphia post office, which was
erected in 1862 or 1863 near the Custom House; and also, at
a later period, furnished large quantities for extensions to
Girard College. The remaining interest of Brooks in the
quarry has been purchased since Mr. Derr's death by the Derr
brothers.
In 1856 Mr. Derr was married a second time to Miss Sarah
Adle, a lady of rare social and domestic virtues, who survives
him. Shortly before or after his marriage he refitted his house,
adding a third story, a marble doorway and facing to the front
base. A short time afterwards he erected a mill in the stone-
yard, driven by steam, thus having in operation all the facili-
ties of the most favored establishments in the land. In 1869
FRANKLIN DERR. 211
Mr. Derr contracted to erect the Soldiers' Monument that
graces the Norristown Public Square, furnishing it completely
at a cost of about five thousand dollars. His son Henry was
the main designer of the monument, which does credit to all
concerned.
It remains only to detail Mr. Derr's efforts of a semi-public
nature, and describe his character as a man. Though earn-
estly devoted to his private business and interest, he was always
alive to any project of a public nature likely to promote the
business of the town. In this respect his character contrasts
favorably with some other of our wealthy men, who scarcely
could be induced to invest a dollar for such a purpose.
Accordingly, when the rupture took place between the Old
and the New School Presbyterians in 1855, and the latter party
were deprived of their house of worship and resolved to build
a new one, Mr. Derr, though a Lutheran by sympathy, took
hold with a few other wealthy men, and was instrumental in
building the Central Presbyterian Church in 1856-7, making
himself liable for a time in a considerable amount. When the
proposition was started to organize the First National Bank
and sustain the new financial policy of the Government, he
became a heavy stockholder, and was a director from its start
till his death. In the project of making a branch road to con-
nect Norristown with the North Pennsylvania railroad Mr. Derr
was the most active man of the town, spending days booking
subscriptions to form a basis for the enterprise. Still again, in
1876, when a manufacturer of agricultural machinery proposed
to locate in Norristown, Mr. Derr invested in the undertaking
while the prospect was not one of certain profit by any means..
He was also active in having sewers constructed to afford
drainag-e for his own as well as the uses of others. He was
the agent of the Stony Creek Railroad Company in purchasing
the Freedley property to secure it an outlet and an intersection
with the Norristown track.
Though a man deeply devoted to his private interest, and
making the closest bargains he could, he was always honora-
ble in contracts and engagements to the letter; and while he
wanted from his hands an honest day's work, he was never a
212 FRANKLIN DERR.
harsh and exacting master, that regarded not the interest or
feehngs of his employes. The best proof of this trait of his
character was found in the fact that he employed John Hill as
polisher for over twenty years continuously, Charles Dignan
as saw-man nearly as long a period, and others in like manner.
When men grow rich through the employment of the labor
of others in this way, it is always a satisfaction to bear this tes-
timony in their behalf Franklin Derr labored, saved, and
drove industry for a little over forty years ; and without doubt
built up the largest fortune ever acquired hereabout by follow-
ing a mechanical trade. All his early gains certainly were
made by industry, saving, and by employing labor, and not by
investments in corporations or fixed property. In his later
years, however, he became as much an investor as a user of
money.
The estate was very large at the time of his death, and dying
intestate it was administered to by his sons, assisted by James
Hooven, Esq., President of the First National Bank. His
children and heirs are the following: Henry A., intermarried
with Ellen, daughter of Florence and Ann Sullivan, of Nor-
ristown; Annie E., wife of Charles W. Holmes; John J., mar-
ried to Elizabeth West, daughter of George West.
In person Franklin Derr was stoutly built, rather under than
over the average height, fair complexion, dark hair, round,
pleasant features, and a very genial companion. Though not
having much book learning, he was a man of wonderful shrewd-
ness and good sense.
He was a life-long Democrat in politics, but would occa-
-sionally break out of the ranks when unsuitable men were
nominated. He died March i6th, 1877, in his 626 year, and
his remains lie buried in Montgomery Cemetery, where his
children have erected a square, fluted column or obelisk of
white marble some twenty-five feet high above the pedestal.
It is the most imposing monument in the enclosure, and bears
near its base the name " Derr."
CHARLES BOSLER. 213
CHARLES BOSLER.
A good conscience is a continual feast, and a peaceful mind the antepast of heaven.
— Reynolds.
The Bosler family of Shoemakertown, Montgomery county,
as the name indicates, is of German origin. The grandfather of
the subject of this biography, with his wife, came from Ger-
many to Philadelphia, where Joseph, the father of Charles Bos-
ler, was born. Joseph Bosler, when a young man, removed to
Shoemakertown, and engaged in the business of hauling grain
and flour to and from the mills at that place. He married
Hannah MacBride, of Paoli, Chester county, by whom he had
two sons and three daughters: Joseph, Charles, Ann, Emma,
and Ellen. Their eldest son, Joseph, died June 23d, 1828, and
his widow January i6th, 1 831. They are both buried in
Friends' burial ground on Chelten avenue, Cheltenham.
Charles, the second son of Joseph Bosler, Sr., and the sub-
ject of this biography, was born August 27th, 18 10, and re-
ceived a good common school education. He married Mary
Watson, daughter of William and Hannah Gillingham, of
Buckingham, Bucks county. They had four children: Wil-
liam G., born December 2d, 1840; Joseph, born February 24th,
1846; Charles, a twin brother of Joseph, died in infancy; and
Hannah.
William G., the eldest son of Charles Bosler, was well edu-
cated. He wa§ a man of patriotism and enlarged public spirit.
Accordingly, when the great rebellion broke out, he enlisted
in 1862 as a private in Company C, One Hundred and Thir-
tieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served for nine
months, the full time of enlistment. He was promoted during
the period to the position of Sergeant Major of the regiment,
and also to Lieutenant of his company. He saw considerable
service in his short term, being wounded in the battle of Fred-
ericksburg, and, for so brief a period, left the army with a very
notable record. The next year, when Governor Curtin called
upon the people for "emergency" men to repel Lee's invasion,
he again enlisted, this time in Captain Samuel W. Comly's
cavalry company, serving about two months, till the raid was
Fromended. the time he returned from the army until the
214 CHARLES BOSLER.
period of his death, he was a very active and influential Repub-
lican, on one or more occasions acting as secretary of county
conventions. ' In 1868, because of his public spirit and eminent
fitness for the place, he was chosen transcribing clerk of the
Senate at Harrisburg, serving three years in that capacity till
January, 1871, when he returned home, and died on the 19th
of March following, leaving no heirs, as he had never been
married.
At the time of his death, as some years before, he had been
in partnership with his father in the milling business,' which he
learned in his youth. Shortly after his decease his brother
Joseph took his place in the firm, and it was still in form as
before, " Charles Bosler & Son." In about two and a half
years after the death of William G. Bosler, in the fall of 1873,
the father died also, leaving the concern in the hands of Joseph
Bosler, his second son. The latter, on the 8th of October,
1 869, had married Cynthia G., daughter of Watson and Mary
L. Comly, of Byberry, Philadelphia. They now (1878) occupy
the old family homestead, and have had born to them two
children, Mary W. and Carrie C.
Having given most of the family history, including the
youngest generation, we will return to detail some interesting
incidents of the life and character of the late Charles Bosler,
the subject of this biography. When his father died, in 1831,
encouraged by friends, he at once took his father's place in haul-
ing the grain up and the flour down to Philadelphia, till March,
1847, when he had so thriven that he was encouraged to buy
of Charles Shoemaker the flour mills at Shoemakertown. From
this to the time of his death, a period of twenty-six years, he
pushed the merchant milling business with great energy. He
received but a common school education, yet quickness in
accounts was his distinguishing characteristic in dealing. This,
added to industry and excellent judgment, were guarantees of
success.
From a small boy he was known among the neighbors (and
particularly to Charles Shoemaker, from whose mill he hauled
back and forth) as a lad of truth, industry, and promise. So
it is related that when his father died, in very limited circum-
CHARLES BOSLER. 215
Stances, and his effects came to be sold, Mr. Shoemaker, the
owner of the mill, urged young Charles, then only sixteen or
seventeen years old, to buy the team and wagons, offering to
be surety for him or advance him money to pay for them. This
offer, so generously made by his kind patron, was gladly ac-
cepted, and he began life where his father had. Shortly after
reaching his majority, the real estate being also offered for sale,
he was encouraged by the same kind friends to buy that like-
wise. This put him into all the business his father had fol-
lowed, and he pursued it with so much industry, energy and
honesty, that he soon began to pay off incumbrances and grow
rich, notwithstanding a generous and confiding disposition often
subjected him to losses in trusting the honest but unfortunate
poor. This kindly benevolent trait of character, which made
him sympathize with worthy persons struggling against the
adversities of life, and never allowed him to forget his early
friends, is one of the golden memories that cling to his name.
He always felt a warm regard for the Shoemaker family in
later life, when he had become rich and able to reciprocate
their former favors. An incident of his philanthropic nature
is related something like this. A physician, by some new
treatment, had cured his wife of a diseased member, where-
upon, knowing of a customer in Philadelphia afflicted in the
same way, he told the doctor to call on that person and tender
like treatment, and further to say that "Charles Bosler will
pay the bill." The physician did so, curing the patient, and
Mr. Bosler redeemed his word, although the person healed
owed him a large sum of money, which, in consequence of a
fire, he could not pay.
Mr. Bosler was a man of lively, cheerful disposition, and
everybody liked him, which no doubt accounted for a measure
of his success in business. He was justly denominated a suc-
cessful man, having no capital but industrious habits, integrity,
and a strong will to start upon, and leaving at his death a large
estate honestly accumulated. He voted the Republican ticket,
and once was run for County Treasurer, but not being on the
strong side failed of election.
In person Charles Bosler was of medium height, dark com-
2l6 DANIEL HIESTER.
plexion, and enjoyed good health till near the time of his death,
which resulted suddenly, from apoplexy, while seated in his
rocking-chair. His remains lie buried in Friends' cemetery,
Abington. His widow survives him.
DANIEL HIESTER.
■ • THE HIESTER FAMILY,
Our fathers ! where are they,
With all they called their own? — Doddridge.
It is doubtful if there be any more distinguished name in
Pennsylvania annals than that of Hiester. Daniel, son of John
and Catharine Hiester, was born January ist, 1713, in the vil-
lage of Elsoff, in domains of the Count of Witzenstein, pro-
vince of Westphalia, now belonging to the Empire of Ger-
many. In the year 1737 he and his brother Joseph came to
America, having been preceded by their elder brother John in
1732. Daniel settled in Goshenhoppen, then Philadelphia,
now Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He had four sons
and a daughter, the last of whom married Dr. Hahn. His son,
Daniel, Jr., took a very active part in the affairs of his country
during the Revolutionary war, as appears by the following ex-
tract :
'''October 21st, 1777, he was appointed one of the commissioners
to seize personal effects of traitors. November 8th, 1777, appointed
one of the commissioners to collect clothing. May 6th, 1778, one
of the agents for forfeited estates. May 26th, 1782, a I^rigadier
General of the Pennsylvania militia. October 15th, 1784, one of
the Councilors of Montgomery county. June 6th, 1785, appointed
on the Board of Property. May 22d, 1787, a commissioner in the
territorial dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut. July
19th, 1787, a commissioner for adjusting claims of Connecticut set-
tlers in Pennsylvania."*
After the war General Daniel Hiester was the first represen-
tative in Congress, under the present Constitution, from Berks
*Pennsylvania Archives.
DANIEL HIESTER. 21/
county, of which he had in the meantime become a citizen.
In 1796 he removed to Maryland, where he was again elected
repeatedly to the same office from the district composed of
Washington, Frederick and Allegheny counties, until the time
of his decease, which occurred in Washington city during the
session of 1 801-2.
His older brother, John, moved to Chester county when a
young man, was Major General of the militia of the district,
and elected to the Tenth Congress from that county in 1808.
Afterwards he moved to Pottstown, Montgomery county, and
was President of the first Town Council, His son Daniel was
Prothonotary of Chester county for a number of years, and
was elected to the Eleventh Congress from there in 1809,.
serving during the two following sessions. Another son of
Major General John Hiester was Samuel, a physician, who
practiced a number of years in Pottstown, and afterwards re-
sided, till the time of his death, in Chester county, near Potts-
town. John R. Hiester, now residing in Pottstown, is a son
of Dr. Samuel Hiester.
As a fitting sequel we add a general sketch of
THE HIESTER FAMILY.
The name of Hiester is so extensively connected with the
general and State governments that a brief sketch of the whole
family may not be uninteresting. Their remote ancestors were
of Silesian origin. From that country they were distributed
throughout Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, Switzerland, and the
countries bordering on the river Rhine. The immediate an-
cestors of the present race of that name in this country emi-
grated from Witzenstein, in Westphalia, and arrived in America
in the early part of the eighteenth century (1737). They con-
sisted of three brothers, Daniel, John, and Joseph, who, in the
first place, all took up their residence at Goshenhoppen, then
Philadelphia, now Montgomery county. Here Daniel at once
purchased a farm, which was somewhat improved. Afterwards
exploring, and becoming better acquainted with the country,
they united in purchasing from the proprietary government
between two and three thousand acres of land in Bern town-
ship, now Berks county.
15
21 8 DANIEL HIESTER.
Here John and Joseph settled, while Daniel remained at the
old homestead. Having thus, with the characteristic prudence
of that primitive day, first secured the means of supporting
families, they soon formed matrimonial alliances with Ameri-
can women, and sought in the pursuit of agriculture the fruits
of enterprise and honest labor. As they had been induced to
leave their native country by the vassalage of an oppressive
government, they naturally cherished a lofty spirit of freedom.
Accordingly, when the Revolutionary war broke out they
were among the first to enroll themselves in the list of "Asso-
ciaters." The efficient services of this class of citizen-soldiers,
which were organized by electing two Brigadier Generals at
Lancaster on the 4th of July, 1776 (afterwards rendered in the
campaigns of New Jersey and the lower part of Pennsylvania),
are well known matters of history. Daniel of Montgomery,
John of Chester, and Gabriel of Berks, the three eldest sons of
Daniel the emigrant, entered the service as field officers, the
two former with the rank of Colonel and the latter with that
of Major. William, the fourth and youngest son of Daniel,
also enrolled, but, on account of his extreme youth and the
infirmity of his parents, did not serve more than one campaign.
Joseph Hiester, afterwards Governor of Pennsylvania, the
only son of John the emigrant, entered the service as Captain
in "the flying camp," was made prisoner at the battle of Long
Island, and confined on board the notorious Jersey prison ship.
He was subsequently exchanged and promoted to the rank of
Colonel. After the war he and his two cousins, Daniel and
John, were elected to the rank of Major General of their re-
spective districts. The popularity gained by these men, their
devotion to country, and the public spirit always evinced by
them during the Revolutionary war, never forsook them. After
the return of peace they all enjoyed, by the suffrages of the
people, a large share in the councils of the State and general
crovernment.
Joseph Hiester was elected a member of the convention
which met in Philadelphia in November, 1787, to consider,
ratify or reject the present Constitution of the United States;
■ and in 1789 he was a member of the convention which formed
DANIEL HIESTER.
219
the second Constitution of this State. Under that Constitu-
tion he and Gabriel Hiester, who had also been a member of
the convention which formed the first State Constitution, were
i-t}3eatedly elected to the Legislature, the latter continuing
either in the Senate or House of Representatives uninterrupt-
edly for nearly thirty years.
General Joseph Hiester, after the removal of Daniel to Mary-
land, represented his district, composed in part of Berks county,
dn Congress. About the same time (1807) that General John
Hiester was chosen a member of the same body from Chester
county, Joseph was re-elected for a series of years, until he re-
signed in 1820, when he was elected Governor of the State.
The genealogy in the male line of the whole Hiester family
may thus be given. The eldest of the emigrant brothers, John,
moved to Berks county. He was born in Germany in 1707,
and died In 1757. His son (second generation). Governor Jo-
seph Hiester, was born in 1752, and died in 1832, aged 80.
Governor Joseph Hiester's son (third generation), John S., born
in 1774 and died in 1849, ^^^^ two sons of the fourth genera-
tion, Joseph M. and Frederick M. The former of these two
had a son, Henry M. M., and the latter also a son, John, both
of the last being of the fifth generation.
The second of the three emigrant brothers, Joseph Hiester,
born in 17 10 and died in 1772, left five sons, as follows: John,
born in 1754 and died in 1820; John Christian; Daniel, born
in 1 76 1 and died in 1827; Joseph, born in 1768 and died in
1830; William, born in 1770 and died in 1828. These bro-
thers (second generation) left sons respectively of the third
generation, as foUov/s: The first, John, left five, John, Daniel,
Joseph, John Christian, and Jacob; the next, John Christian,
left four, John, Isaac, Joseph, and Daniel; the third, Daniel,
left nine, John, Joseph, Gabriel, Daniel, Thomas, Jacob, Sam-
uel, David, and David again; the fourth, Joseph, left one only,
Levi ; the fifth, William, also left five, John B., William, Joseph,
George, and Cyrus.
The third and youngest of the emigrant brothers, Daniel,
the head of the family that remained at Goshenhoppen, has the
following genealogy: He was born in Germany in 17 1 3, and
220 REV. WILLIAM W. PRICE,
died in 1795. He had four sons, John, born in 1745 and died
in 1 821; Daniel, born in 1747 and died in 1804; Gabriel, born
in 1749 and died in 1824; William, born in 1757 and died in
1822. These brothers had issue as follows: John had thi^e
sons, Daniel, John, and Samuel. Of these three of the third
generation, the oldest, Daniel, left two sons, John and Henry;
the second, John, also left two sons of the same name, who have
sons of the fifth generation; the youngest. Dr. Samuel, left one-
son, John R., now of Pottstown, who has two sons, Samuel P.
and William.
The Gabriel just named above left three sons, named re-
spectively Gabriel, Jacob B., and Jonathan D. Of these sons
of the third generation Gabriel had one son, Augustus, and
Jonathan had three, Edwin, Gabriel, and Alexander.
William, the fourth son of Daniel the emigrant, had four
sons, Isaac, William, Daniel, and John Philip. Of these Isaac
has one son, William M.; and of the fifth generation, Isaac, the
son of William M.
REV. WILLIAM W. PRICE.
THE PRICE FAMILY.
Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure, take this rule::
Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures
your sense of God, or takes oflF the relish of spiritual things ; in short, whatever increases,
the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that is sin to you, however in-
nocent it may seem in itself. — Mrs. Wesley.
Aaron, the brother of Moses, was hardly more distinguished
as the lineal head of the Hebrew priesthood than was Jacob
Price as the progenitor and head of a line of elders or minis-
ters among the German Baptists of Pennsylvania, continuing
down to the present day. This Jacob Price, Avho was born in
Witzenstcin, Prussia, about the beginning of the eighteenth
century, emigrated about 17 19, and settled at Indian Creek, in
Lower Salford township, Montgomeiy county, where he took
REV. WILLIAM W. PRICE. 221
-up land. He was small in stature, rather imperfectly developed
physically, and not commanding in appearance.*
Jacob Price the emigrant had but one son, Johannes, who
"vvas so weakly that his father feared he would not live to have
issue. And yet so anxious was the parent to leave a name
and posterity behind him that he encouraged his son to marry
'while still very young. He did so, and was blessed with two
sons. The name of the one was Daniel, whose posterity still
live in the vicinity of the old homestead. The name of the
other son was Johannes, or John, who moved to Franklin
county, Pennsylvania, in early life. Of his descendants we
".know little except that they acquired property and independ-
ence there, and several became conspicuous as servants of the
■church.
The above named Daniel had thirteen children in all, but
there were but five sons and two daughters who left families
ibehind them. Their names were John, George, Heinrich, Wil-
liam, Daniel, Elizabeth, and Hannah. Elizabeth was married
to Jacob Weidner, and Hannah to John Clemmence.
John, the father of the subject of this memoir, was born De-
cember 5th, 175 1. He was married in 1780 to Elizabeth, the
^daughter of Lazarus Weidner. She died in April, 1793. They
Jiad four sons and two daughters : John, David, George, Wil-
iliam, Elizabeth (intermarried with George Nice), and Susan-
nah (married to Henry Moyer).
William Price, who was born August 29th, 1789, was many
years an esteemed elder of the Brethren's church at Indian
Creek. He was born on part of the ancient homestead, and
■early in life, when working with his father on the farm, mani-
fested an eager desire for knowledge, occupying all spare mo-
ments in reading and other studies. He had made great pro-
*About 1715 Jacob Price and Johannes Naas, the latter of wliom was a very large,
tall man, were traveling together as evangelists, in CJerniany, when they encountered
the recruiting oflieers of the King of Prussia, who, finding Naas just of the stature for one
of the Life Guards, insisted upon his enlisting. He constantly refused, however, al-
though they tortured him to enforce his consent. Being obdurate, they carried him be-
ifore the King, who, eyeing him closely, added : " Why, yes, I would very much like to
have you. Tell me why you will not enlist in my army." " Because," said Ntvas, " I
have already enlisted on the rolls of the noblest army, under the very best captain in
the world, and dare not prove traitor to him." " Why, to whom then — or who is your
captain?" asked the astonished King. Naas answered, " My captain is the great Prince
Emanuel, our Lord Jesus Christ. I have espoused his cause, and cannot forsake him."
"Neither will I then that you should," answered the noble King, when he dismi^^sad
him with a small present iW a reward for his fidelity, and Naiw rejoined Price. Both
started soon after for America. — Abra?iam H. Cassel.
222 REV. WILLIAM W. PRICE.
gress in learning, when, in his sixteenth year, he was appren-
ticed to the tailoring trade, which he followed until arriving at
manhood. Then he was requested to teach a school, in which
employment he continued for several years. In 1813, when
twenty-four years, old, he was married to Mary Reiff, and com-
menced farming. William and Mary Price had ten children
born to them, seven of whom are living: Mary, Avife of John
Fisher, of Pottstown; Timothy, residing at Annville, Lebanon
county ; Elizabeth, intermarried with Samuel H. Cassel, of
Harleysville ; Sophia, married to Ignats Karn, of Limerick;
Magdalen, wife of Abraham Heckler, of Franconia; Catharine,
living in Philadelphia; and Benjamin, of Springfield, Bucks
county.
In 1 8 14 Rev. William W. Price was elected to the ministry,,
and about 1830 was advanced to the office of Elder or Bishop,,
which position he filled with untiring zeal and unflinching faith-
fulness until the day of his death, which occurred August 7th,,
1849, in his 60th year. Of him it may well be said, " He
preached the word, was instant in season and out of season,"'
sowing the divine seed on every side. Beside the care of a-
large family and a faithful discharge of duties to his charge at
home, he traveled much as an evangelist, visiting surrounding
churches and assisting them at communion seasons. Occa-
sionally he took missionary journeys to other States, once at
least through Ohio before modern facilities of travel had been
established, going in his own conveyance and at his own ex-
pense, thus practically enforcing the precept, " Freely ye have
received, freely give."
As he was a preacher of more than ordinary gifts, he an--
swered many calls from outside his own people to labor in the-
work of the ministry. He had a powerful voice, retentive:
memory, a thorough understanding of the science of music,.
and sang with great compass and power. He was also a poet
of no mean abilities, and wrote a number of hymns and several
poems of considerable length, all in German. He also had
published at Euphrata, in 1838, a collection of German hymns,
many of them being translations by him of popular English
ones, with a large number of his own composing. He wrote
REV. WILLIAM W. PRICE. 22
J
a poem of some length on the promises to the patriarch Abra-
ham, and another on the histoiy of the prophecies, which have
never been pubhshed.
A friend, who knows of them in all their genealogies, says :
" The Price family have ever been identified with the most
intelligent people of Montgomery county. They appear to
have been a priestly race in all their generations as far back as
we have any knowledge of them, for their great ancestor, Jacob,
first described, was a noted preacher in Europe. His son Jo-
hannes was a preacher and poet, and Christopher Sauer, of
Germantown, published a small collection of his hymns as early
as 1753. Daniel, the son of Johannes, had at least two sons
in the ministry, namely: John, the father of William (the pro-
per subject of this memoir), and George, elder of the church
at Coventry. The latter's son, John, became a preacher so
young that he was at first called ' the boy preacher.' This
'Johnny Price,' as he was fondly and familiarly called in Ches-
ter county, was the father of Rev. Isaac Price, of Schuylkill,
in that county, and of George, the latter of whom has been for
many years a resident of Providence township, Montgomery
county, and is also an authorized preacher. The younger John
has now succeeded his father at Coventry. Jacob, old Wil-
liam's son, and uncle to Rev. William W., was elected at the
same time as the subject of this memoir; and his son Jonas is
now a minister in the church at Hatfield. Daniel, the brother
of the subject of this memoir, has a son now in the ministry at
Indian Creek. This makes at least sixteen in one line of de-
scent, of whom we know, that have been called to the " min-
istrv of the word."
The Isaac Price above named in his early manhood edited
an anti-Masonic paper in Pottsville a short time, but for the
past forty-five years has been a storekeeper and postmaster at
Schuylkill, near Phoenixville. He is known to the author as a
man of superior mental endowment and blameless life For
full forty years or more he has been an acceptable preacher at
the church at Green Tree, and has also traveled much into
distant parts as a Bishop overlooking the churches. For many
years also he has been an earnest enemy of slavery and advo-
cate of total abstinence from alcoholic drinks, speaking on
those subjects with great zeal and effectiveness.
224 ■ GEN. ADAM J, SLEMMER.
BRIGADIER GENERAL ADAM J. SLEMMER.
Prudent as Fabi-us, forbearing and patriotic as Phocion, unfortunate as Kegulus.
Brevet Brigadier General Adam Jacoby Slemraer, of the United
States Army, was born in Frederick township, Montgomery county,
Pennsylvania, on the 24th of January, 1829. He was the young-
est son of Adam and Margaretta Slemmer, so long residents of Nor-
ristown, where the former still (1878) resides, at the advanced age
of 87 years, being one of our most estimable and respected citizens.
Adam Slemraer the elder was born December 7th, 1 791, in Phila-
delphia, and about 1819, when a young man, removed to the
upper part of Montgomery county, where he engaged in teaching
school until 1826, when his Democratic fellow-citizens nominated
and elected him to a seat in the lower house of the General Assem-
bly, and was re-elected three times, making four years of service as
a legislator. After the conclusion of his legislative term in 1833,
Governor Wolf appointed him Prothonotary of Montgomery county,
when he removed to Norristown, at which time Adam J. Slemmer
was four years old. The next year Mr. Slemmer purchased the
Norristown Register, the organ of the Democratic party, and con-
tinued to publish it until 1846, when he retired from business alto-
gether. During his long life in Norristown he has filled various
public and social positions, always with credit to himself and pub-
lic acceptance. The ancestors of General Slemmer are known to
have emigrated from Basle, Switzerland, about 1740, and settled at
Philadelphia, where the grandfather, Jacob Slemmer, when quite
young, entered the army of the Revolution, and served through that
heroic struggle.
General Slemmer' s brothers and sisters are the following: Jacob'
C., deceased, leaving a number of children; Samuel, William, Dr.
Henry T., Charles, and one sister, Hannah S., intermarried with
John N. Pomeroy, Esq., the last many years deceased.
The school-boy days of General Slemmer were passed at Norris-
town, where in the public schools he acquired a good primary edu-
cation. After he had attained about his sixteenth year he entered
the drug store of his brother. Dr. Henry T. Slemmer, serving for a
period as druggist's clerk, and the next year (1846) was appointed
a cadet at West Point. Entering at the close of the encampment
season he necessarily took position at the foot of the class, which
was an unusually large one, numbering one hundred and six young
GEN- ADAM J. SLEMMER. 225
men. Gradually but steadily he advanced, and at the close of his
academic term stood twelfth on the list in a class noted for the in-
tellectual strength of its members. Upon graduating, in 1850,
Cadet Slemmer was assigned to duty as a brevet Second Lieutenant,
and was attached to the First Regiment United States Artillery.
He joined his company at Tampa Bay, Florida, in the fall of that
year-
The soldierly qualities of Cadet Slemmer were eminently dis-
played in his second year's course at the military academy^ The
class succeeding his was as much smaller than ordinary as his had
been larger. The new one, as usual, had assigned to it the police
duties of the camp. Owing to the paucity of its numbers this duty
was likely to prove irksome, and the third class, by reason of its
greater numbers, having had comparatively little of this kind of
duty the preceding year, was required to assist the then fourth class.
Of course the "dignity" of the higher cadets was touched and
obedience refused. None but Cadet Slemmer reported for duty.
He answered all remonstrances from his classmates with the inevi-
table "Duty to obey orders," and as a consequence received honor-
able distinction for his military bearing, while his misguided class-
mates were reduced, nolens volens, to obedience. That Cadet
Slemmer, notwithstanding, retained the respect and esteem of his
classmates, is ample evidence that his acquiescence was based on
rigid adherence to principle and not the offspring of cowardice or
other unworthy motive.
After serving a brief period at Tampa he was promoted to the
grade of full Second Lieutenant, shortly after serving at San Diego,
Fort Yuma, and other posts in California. In 1855 he was com-
missioned First Lieutenant in the same regiment, and stationed a
short time at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina. He was there but a
short time, when application was made by the United States Coast
Survey to have him assigned to duty in the principal office in Wash-
ington. But, as at the same time, he was called to assume the
duties of an assistant professor at the military academy at West
Point, the ^Var Department refused to grant the request of the
Coast Survey, and assigned him to the professor's desk. Here he
remained four years, first as instructor in ethics and English studies,
and afterwards m mathematics. During this period, in August,
1857, he married Caroline Lane, daughter of Rev. John Reynolds,
formerly rector of St, John's Episcopal Church, Norristown. This
226 GEN. ADAM J. SLEMMER.
union was blessed by the birth of a son, Albert Lane Slemmer, wha
died in his fourth year, leaving them childless.
In the autumn of i860 Lieutenant Slemmer was placed in com-
mand of the Florida forts, where he was joined by his accomplished
and loyal wife. Here, with a handful of men, he w^as given the
oversight rather than command of three forts, requiring two thou-
sand soldiers for their proper defence, while the fires of rebellion
were lighting all along the coast, and the chief conspirators were
busy at Washington and at Montgomery, Alabama, organizing the
"Confederate States of America."
Pensacola Bay is commanded by Forts McRea, Barrancas and
Pickens, the first two on the main land and the last on the point of
Santa Rosa Island. Early in January the Governor of Florida be-
gan to make arrangements, even before the ordinance of secession-
had declared the State out of the Union, "to take possession of the
forts, navy yards, and all property of the United States within the
limits of the State." Lieutenant Slemmer was early apprised of these
designs, and at once made the best arrangements in his power to
frustrate them. He, with his family, occupied as barracks Fort
Barrancas, the least defensible of the three, because the most com-
fortable and convenient as a place of residence in time of peace.
The navy yard, nearly a mile eastward, was held by Commodore
Armstrong, a veteran naval officer. Governor Perry, of Florida,
had just purchased in Northern cities and received six thousand
muskets and rifles, and the ordinance of secession was expected
daily. Lieutenant Slemmer learned also that the forts near Mobile
had been surrendered without resistance, whereupon he and Lieu^
tenant Gilmore called upon Commodore Armstrong, of the navy
yard, on the 7th of January, and engaged, as they thought, his co-
operation to secure Fort Pickens for the United States as the key-
fort to the harbor. The Commodore at first declined to do any-
thing, pleading "want of orders." Lieutenant Slemmer himself,
without waiting for orders from Washington, proceeded the same
evening to place the batteries of Barrancas in working order, secured
the powder or removed it, and, strengthening the outer guard, drew
up the draw-bridge, thus preventing an assault which was contem-
plated the same evening. About twenty armed insurgents appeared
before the fort, but finding it prepared for resistance retired. The
next day Lieutenant Slemmer received instructions from Washing-
ton to use all diligence in protecting the forts, and Armstrong had
like orders to assist him. The two commanders agreed that Slem-
GEN. ADAM J. SLEMMER. 22J
mer's petty garrison of forty-six men should be removed in the
Wyandotte to Fort Pickens from Fort Barrancas, where they then
were, and be reinforced by all the men that could be spared from
the navy yard. The armed vessel and the store-ship Supply were
to furnish him provisions, and both to anchor under the guns of the
fort. Lieutenant Slemmer fulfilled his arrangements, and was
transported to Pickens, but no reinforcements were then added.
He expostulated with the commandant, asking Armstrong how he
expected him (Slemmer) to defend a fort with fifty men which was
only fully manned when it had twelve hundred. It subsequently
appeared that Armstrong's subordinates who were expected to co-
operate were traitors.* Slemmer and his loyal little command,
with about thirty ordinary seamen from the yard, and the officers'
wives and children, were carried over, however, on the loth. Nearly
all the fixed ammunition also was transported, and the abandoned
guns, fifteen in number, spiked. In this hasty and tumultuous
"moving" the patriotic v/ives of Lieutenants Slemmer and Gilmore
did yeomen's service. Having apparently assisted thus far, Arm-
strong, against the protest of Lieutenant Slemmer, ordered the two
vessels off the coast on a cruise.
No sooner had the garrison become ensconced in Fort Pickens
than five hundred troops from the States of Florida, Alabama and
Mississippi, appeared before the navy yard and demanded its sur-
render, when the Commodore and sixty men, most of them dis-
loyal, yielded without a blow. The rebels soon after also occupied
both Fons Barrancas and McRae. Before leaving the coast Cap-
tain Berriman, of the Wyandotte, sent Lieutenant Slemmer some
muskets which he had procured from the navy yard before its sur-
render, with which to arm his small reinforcement of men. 'I'he
Commodore, however, ordered the captain of the Wyandotte not
to assist in the defence of Pickens, but only to defend his vessel in
case it was attacked. No sooner had Slemmer and Gilmore got
into the fort with their wives and families than they began to labor
unceasingly to strengthen every defence. He had but eighty-one
souls within, with five months' scanty provisions, and fifty-four
guns in position. They were not left long to wait, for on the i2th-.
♦Lieutennnt Gilmore, who acconipnnied Lieutenant Slemmer on a visit to Comnio-
ilore Armstrong to ascertain the cause of the failure to fuKill the promis^cfs before made.
said subsequently that "on that occasion Lieutenant Slemmer spoke as he had never
heard one man speak to another. Treason and bad faith were manifest, und I>ieutenant
Slemmer hesitated not to upbraid them in becoming terms. That the worht may never
know more than this, the old Commodore trembled before the patriotic impulses of the
young Lieutenant, and yielded so far as to give Inm some thirty od<i landsmen, who
were thus added to the jlumerieal force of Uie defenders of Fort Pickens."
228 GEN. ADAM J, SLEMMER,
Captain Randolph, Major Marks and Lieutenant Rutledge, all in
military dress, presented themselves at the entrance of Fort Pickens
and demanded admittance as citizens of Florida and Alabama.
They were not permitted to enter, but were allowed an interview
at the gate with Lieutenant Slemmer. "We have been sent," they
■said, "to demand a peaceable surrender of this fort by the Gover-
nors of Florida and Alabama." Lieutenant Slemmer immediately
replied ; "I am here under the orders of the President of the United
States and by direction of the General- in-chief of the army, and I
rrecognize no right of any Governor to demand a surrender of United
States property. My orders are distinct and explicit."
The intruders immediately withdrew, and Slemmer prepared for
an attack that night, which was dark and stormy.* The men stood
by their guns, but the attack was deferred. On the 15th Colonel
W. H. Chase, commanding Florida troops, and accompanied by
Farrand, a renegade officer of the navy, asked of Lieutenant Slem-
mer another interview, which was granted. They exhausted all
their powers of persuasion upon the patriotic commandant of Fort
Pickens, who, after consulting the commanders Of the two ships, posi-
tively refused to give up the fort. The rebels now made prepara-
tions to reduce it, and on the i8th again demanded a surrender,
which was still refused, and a siege regularly begun. Acting in
accordance with the spirit that then controlled Mr. Buchanan's
government, the garrison of Pickens stood merely on the defensive,
while its commander saw arrangements made on every hand to bom-
t)ard it.
General Scott urgently advised the reinforcement of Pickens, as
all the other Southern forts, but the President, though anxious, was
imwilling to do so, lest he should be charged with launching the
•country into civil war. But at last v.-hcn be learned, late in Jan-
uary, that the rebels in Barrancas and McRae were seriously men-
acing Pickens, he consented to send the Brooklyn with one com-
pany of ninety men, under Captain Vogdes, from Fortress Monroe.
Before landing them, however, a new order was sent not to do more
than deliver some provisions to the fort. Thus a sort of armed
neutrality continued all winter, while the insurgents were gathering
strength in every direction. Nevertheless, the fidelity with which
Lieutenant Slemmer held the fort, seemingly deserted, was worthy
■of all praise.
*Lossing's "History of the Civil "War," paga 17l
GEN, ADAM J. SLEMMER. 22^
To increase the deprivations of the little garrison there was no
surgeon at the post, but Lieutenant Slemraer had learned much of
pharmacy while in his brother's store, and afterwards, when sta-
tioned at Fort Moultrie, had procured some books on medicine,
which he had studied. Thus, during the emergency, he was able
to be not only the commander of his men, but also their surgeon.
With only a limited stock of provisions at first the fort had been
reduced to about a ration of Indian meal. The officers and men
were also greatly exhausted with watching and double duty. But
as soon as the new administration came into power, on the 4th of
March, orders came to the commander of the Brooklyn and Cap-
tain Vogdes to land reinforcements and supplies to the fort. Owing
to a notion entertained by Captain Adams, of the Sabine, then
cruising off the fort, that the armistice was still in force, the order
was not executed until the 12th of April, or full three months after
it was first beleaguered; and not then till Captain Worden, as mes-
senger, had passed overland to convey direct orders to the naval
commanders. Had it been postponed another day. General Bragg,
who was in command of the rebel troops, meant to open fire upon
it. Indeed, Pickens was only saved from successful assault by a
mere providential discovery made through a communication to
Lieutenant Slemmer from a loyal man in the navy yard that such
attack was to be made. The reinforcements, however, soon became
known to the rebels, and prevented an attack being made at all. A
few days later the Atlantic and Illinois arrived with several hundred
troops under Colonel Harvey Brown, and Fort Pickens, after the
long suspense, was safe. Being outranked and relieved by a supe-
rior officer, Lieutenant Slemmer and command, worn down by ex-
cessive labor and watching, were brought to Fort Hamilton, New
York harbor, to rest and recruit their strength. Lieutenant Slem-
mer, for his activity and fidelity under such trying circumstances,
was commissioned Major of the Sixteenth Infantry.
The gallant names of Slemmer and Anderson (the hero of Sum-
ter) were soon on every loyal tongue in the free North. The Cham-
ber of Commerce passed complimentary resolutions in behalf of
these two brave men, and ordered handsome bronze medals to be
struck in their honor, to be presented to them and their men. The
medal designed for and conveyed to Lieutenant Slemmer contained
a medallion likeness, with "Adam J. Slemmer" on the obverse,
and on the reverse a chained Cerberus, with collar engraved " U.
S.," symbolizing these brave men as chained to an empty fort-
230 GEN. ADAM J. SLEMMER.
ress; and the inscription, "The Chamber of Commerce, New York,
honors valor, forbearance and fidelity. Fort Pickens, 1861." This
medal was six inches in diameter. There was a second one 'struck
also, in commemoration of the victor)' of patient endurance at
Pickens, with this inscription, "The Chamber of Commerce of
New York honors the defenders of Fort Pickens — far off, but faith-
ful." These medals were distributed among the heroes, number-
ing fifty-three, including two officers.
This demonstration of gratitude by citizens of New York was fol-
lowed by a public reception to Lieutenant Slemmer by the city
authorities of Philadelphia. He soon arrived home at Norristown.
After passing a short time at his father's house, seeking the rest
so much needed, he was promoted two grades, being now Major of
the Sixteenth Infantry. In the summer of 1861 he was assigned to
duty as Inspector General under General Rosecrans, in West Vir-
ginia. The effects of his fatigue at Fort Pickens were not then
wholly relieved, and exposure in the field caused him to be stricken
down with typhoid fever, his life at one time being in imminent
peril. He recovered, however, and before perfectly convalescent
was on duty. He recruited a battalion of men at Chicago for his
regiment, and in May, 1862, with them rejoined the army in Ten-
nessee. From this period he marched and fought with Buell's com-
mand, until at the head of his men at the battle of Stone River, in
December, 1862, he was severely wounded in the knee. For gal-
lantry in this action he was appointed Brigadier General of United
States Volunteers. His wound v.'-as so serious that amputation was
feared, but the limb was ultimately saved. Meanwhile, by direct
command of President Lincoln, and at the urgent request of Gen-
eral Scott, he was made brevet Brigadier General of the United
States Army for his gallant services at Fort Pickens. He next
served as a member of the Board, ultimately becoming its presiding
officer, to examine sick and convalescent officers, and subsequently
as a member of the Board to examine disbanded volunteer officers
who sought commissions in the regular army. He was eminently
qualified for these positions, and was thus retained by the War De-
partment, though he requested more active service in the field.
After the close of the war he was placed in command at Sackett's
Harbor, New York, and subsequently at Fort Laramie.
He was a strict disciplinarian, but kind withal, and everywhere
enjoyed the respect and confidence of all with whom he came in
contact ; even the Indian looking upon him as more than an ordi-
JAMES W. SCHRACK. 23 1
nary officer. His last official act was a conference with hostile In-
dians some distance from Fort Laramie, October 6th, 1868. He
returned to the fort, and feeling indisposed retired early. During
the night he suddenly expired, owing to a stoppage of the mitral
valve of the heart. In the general orders of Colonel Deye an-
nouncing his death, his many brave deeds and services are recited,
thus concluding: "During the eighteen years of honorable service
he stood fi.ir above the temptations of the hour, and exhibited, in
the discharge of his duties, economy and intelligence; also great
zeal and uncompromising faithfulness, which were no less honora-
ble to the army than to himself."
His remains were brought to Norristown, Pennsylvania, and from
the residence of his father conveyed to Montgomery Cemetery, fol-
lowed by a large concourse of sorrowing friends, both civil and mili-
tary.
In personal appearance General Slemmer was rather under medium
stature, lightly built, dark hair, and fair complexion. Over his re-
mains is erected a neat marble cross, entwined by a heavy wreath
of laurel leaves, to symbolize victory.
JAMES W. SCHRACK.
After my death I wish no other herald,
No other speaker of my living actions,
To keep mine honor from corruption. — Shakspeare.
James Winnard Schrack, son of Lewis and Phebe Schrack, was
born in Norristown, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, January
25th, 1813. His father was the well known proprietor of the stage
line between Norristown and Philadelphia in early times before
railroads were thought of. He was a descendant of Jacob Schrack,
who arrived from Germany in 171 7, settling on two hundred and
fifty acres of land at what is known as Trappe, in Upper Providence
township, and who, at the age of 63 years, died in 1742, being 38
years old when he emigrated and settled here.
James W. Schrack's mother was a Griffith, and of Welsh ex-
traction.
He received a common school education at Norristown Acad-
emy, and was trained to mercantile life in the dry goods and gro-
232 JAMES W. SCHRACK.
•
eery store of John Bean, who had married his sister. Through
nearly the whole subsequent period of his life he followed the busi-
ness of a dry goods merchant in the place of his nativity. On the
13th of January, 1835, he was married to Lydia, daughter of Fred-
erick Setzler, of Lawrenceville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, from
which union there were born eight children, five of whom are living.
In 1836 he became the junior member of the firm of Bean & Schrack,
who did business for a number of years at the southwest corner o-f
Main and Barbadoes streets. In 1845 ^^- Schrack commenced the
dry goods business alone at the northwest corner of Main and De-
Kalb streets, where he remained engaged until the close of his life,
associating Mr. A. A. Yeakle with him in 1854, after which the
business was conducted under the firm name of Schrack & Yeakle
until the time of his death.
He was a man of great business activity and energy, known in
mercantile circles foi promptness and integrity. At thetime of
his death he was the oldest merchant of the borough, having been
almost continuously in the dry goods trade for nearly forty years.
Being a strict business man he never sought office, but his fellow-
citizens in 1855 elected him one year to Town Council. He was
nevertheless, constantly alive to matters of public interest in the
town.
For nearly all his adult life he was a communicant, and during
his later years a very active member of St. John's Episcopal Church
and a warm friend of its former beloved rector. Rev. Nathan Stem,
D. D. He labored constantly in the Sunday school, and for some
years served in the vestry as Senior Warden. He also, as deputy,,
represented the parish in the diocesan convention.
His kindness of heart and generosity were often indulged beyoncJ
his financial ability. He was quick to observe wrong and condemn,,
but very forgiving in temper. He was a great lover of home and
family, and took a deep interest in the education and welfare of his
children, some of whom are good scholars and engaged in business.
In person Mr. Schrack was of medium height, light complexion,
and of good appearance. Some years ago he erected on Airy street,
opposite St. John's church, a handsome residence, which he occu-
pied until March 22d, 1876, when he departed this life in the 64th
year of his age. His remains are interred at Montgomery Ceme-
tery. Mrs. Schrack still (187S) occupies the mansion.
From an obituary in the Episcopal Recorder we copy the follow-
ing;
• CHRISTIAN MEEH, 2^$
"We mourn with those who are afflicted by this bereavement,
and feel that we have lost a friend and supporter of every good
work and enterprise having for its object the preservation and spread
of the true gospel of the word of God. As a member of the Pro-
testant Episcojial Church, Mr. Schrack was earnest, zealous, and
heartily in sympathy with the movements which the evangelical
portion made to preserve it from innovations and teachings not in
harmony with its traditions as a Protestant body."
CHRISTIAN MEEH.
He becometh poor that dealeth with a sJack hand; but the hand of the diligent
makcth rich. — Proverbs X, 4.
Among the active business men of Norristown forty years ago no
one more earnestly and worthily pressed his way upward than he
whose name stands at the head of this page. He was born at Knitt-
lingen, Wurtemberg, November 17th, 181 2. Receiving a good
primary education in his native town, and being of an enterprising
turn, he, so early as his fourteenth year, resolved to emigrate to
America, where he had an uncle named Christian Brown living at
Harrisburg, with whom he apprenticed himself to learn the busi-
ness of a baker. After ending his apprenticeship, and becoming
master of the trade, he removed to Philadelphia and worked till he
had accumulated a small start in life, when he looked about for a
place to establish himself in business. This was about 1833 or 1S34,
in his twenty-first or twenty-second year. While residing in Phila-
delphia he formed the acquaintance of Justina, daughter of John
and Clarissa Zeller, also German people from Wurtemberg, and
soon after, on the 22d of March, 1835, they were married. In that
year the railroad to Norristown was opened to the public, and popu-
lation began to gather here. Mr. Meeh and his wife ascertaining
that there was an opening (there being but one baker in the town,
the late Frederick Naile), came to Norristown, and located on
Washington street above DeKalb.
Here their activity, enterprise and industry, brought them busi-
ness, and they succeeded to a very large daily sale of bread and
cakes, being posted as to all the latest improvements in cater-
ing to popular tastes. About 1S39 or 1S40, having made some
money, and finding their bakery inadequate to the increasing daily
16
234 CHRISTIAN MEEH.
business, impelled also by the same enterprise to which reference
has been made, he resolved to procure a better locality. Accord-
ingly the old Rising Sun tavern property, which for nearly three-
fourths of a century had stood on Main street near Swede, becom-
ing dilapidated, was held for sale by John Freedley, Esq., and. Mr.
Meeh bought it for the site of an establishment. Removing part of
the hotel building, he erected in 1840 or 1841 the spacious store,
No. 12 East Main street, now occupied by Theodore E. Meeh, his
eldest son. Not long after building this large brick dwelling, store,
bakery, and confectionery, he also purchased of Mr. Freedley the
lot in his rear, some fifty feet on Lafayette street, extending to Mid-
dle alley, on vv-hich latter avenue he erected a commodious brick
stable, and afterwards an ice-house. At this time he went into the
manufacture of all kinds of confectionery and fancy cakes, employ-
ing additional hands and several teams to wholesale them all over the
surrounding country. This branch, in addition to his bakery, was
pushed vigorously for several years, doing a large business and accu-
mulating means rapidly. A short time afterwards he improved the
Lafayette street front of the stable lot by erecting thereon a row of
brick dwellings two and a half stories high, which still belong to
the estate. About 1850 Mr. Meeh purchased the forty feet west
of his bakery, and in 1851 put up three fine store-houses and a
fourth store-room, affording space in the second story for a ball-
room and ice-cream saloon for the use of parties and other assem-
TdUcs, besides large, airy rooms fitted up in the third story for pho-
tographic uses. At this time a considerable family of children were
;growing up, and employed between school hours in the bakery,
confectionery, and in waiting on customers. As may be supposed,
in this tidy, well ordered, industrious family, children were no in-
cumbrance, but all workers in the domestic hive. As a natural result
their means increased rapidly, and another lot was bought and a
large building erected on DeKalb street opposite the basin, then
recently constructed. This property was intended for an ice cream
and mead garden, but the enterprise did not meet his expectations.
Shortly after the buildings were refitted and furnished as a boarding-
school, and so occupied for a period. It was known for a number of
years as the ''Adelphian Institute" and the "Keswick Institute."
This property, never remunerative, was finally sold.
During the speculative fever that annually broke out in Norris-
town, farms and lots changed hands rapidly, and Mr. Meeh fre-
quently bought and sold as occasion offered. Once he purchased
CHRISTIAN MEEH. 235
•what was called the "Darrah" or "Phipps" farm, east of Jefferson-
ville, selling it out in parcels, realizing a profit on what he sold,
but retaining some of it till the time of his death.
When the business revulsion of 1857 overtook us, out of excess of
his good nature, Mr. Meeh became surety for one of his friends for
-several thousand dollars, which he had to meet and discharge on
his friend's behalf. Shortly after this his health, never very robust,
began to give way. He took a trip West with a view of reinvigor-
ating his system, but years of overapplication to business and ad-
'vancing age had done their work, and he gradually sank under a
complication of disorders, dying June 26th, 1S70, in the 58th year
of his age. He was attended to the grave by the Masons and Odd
Fellows, of both of which organizations he was a member, and his
.remains lie in the family vault at Montgomery Cemetery.
The Meeh family, who have always been Lutherans, are connected
by blood relationship with that of Henry Lehman, President of the
Town Council, Mrs. L. being a sister of Mr. Meeh. Another sis-
ter is intermarried with Jacob Shandein, cloth merchant, of Phila-
■delphia. John Cantz, baker, of Norristown, is also a nephew of
JV'Ir. Meeh.
The children of Christian Frederick and Justina Meeh are : Cla-
rissa, who was intermarried first with Noah Brower (who died of
.sickness contracted in the army), and afterwards with George Heeb-
ner. She died not very long after her second marriage, leaving no
■children. The second daughter, Henrietta, is the wife of Jacob F.
<^uiilman, Esq.j elsewhere recorded. Matilda was intermarried
with William Neiman, merchant, now deceased, and they had one
child. Theodore E., the eldest son, is married to Emma, daughter
•of Charles and Catharine Slingluff, of Norristown ; they have several
■children. The fifth, Mina, is the wife of Jonathan M. Hart, and they
have one son. The sixth is C. Washington, who, like Theodore,
was trained to the father's business; he is married to Eliza Heddle-
son, and they have one child. The next is Amelia, married to I.
Newton McCarter, of Bridgeport ; they have one child. The eighth,
and youngest daughter, is Emma, who lives with her mother, as also
William C, the youngest son. These children all received a fair
•education, some of the daughters at the seminaries of the town.
There were also several children who died in infancy.
In person Christian Meeh was about medium height, light hair and
•complexion, slightly built, spare in flesh, but very active, and of re-
markably pleasant, courteous manners. He was kind, obligino-
236 HON. THOMAS BURNSIDE.
and good natured; scarcely had an enemy while he lived, and died^
universally respected. His estate, which was considerable, still
(1878) remains undivided, Jacob F. Quillman and Theodore being;
the executors of the will.
HON. THOMAS BURNSIDE.
Methinks it was but yesterday that I exelianged my childish sports for manly exer--
cises ; and now I am resigning them both for tlie sleep of death. — Hervey.
Some years ago the author " intervievved " several of our ''oldest
inhabitants," including Mrs. Betsy Thomson, Zadok Thomas,
John Boyer, and Mrs. Martha Huddleson, to learn what might linger
in their memory as to the olden time. One of them stated that be-
fore the commencement of the present century there resided a short
time on Main street, near Stony creek, a Scotsman named William
Burnside, who adhered to the old Continental costume of looped-up
hat, straight coat, buckskin breeches, with long stockings, and large
silver shoe buckles. He had recently arrived from the old country,
and stayed here a short time only before locating, as he afterwards
did, near Fairview, in Lower Providence township. Here he had
several sons -born to him, among them Thomas, the subject of this
memorial, and Francis, who held a number of county offices. James,
a son of the latter, was clerk of the courts in i860, and Thomas,,
another son, is at present a teacher in the asylum for the blind in
Philadelphia.
When quite a young man Thomas Burnside the elder was thrown
from a horse and had a limb broken. The tedious hours of his
confinement were therefore spent in reading, and shortly after he
entered upon the study of the law, which was soon mastered, and he
admitted to the bar February 13th, 1804. He did not long remain
here, but went to Centre county, where he attained a leading prac-
tice. He was a man of great penetration, quickness, incorruptible
integrity, and withal social and genial in his habits, and as a con-
sequence rose rapidly in popular esteem. He was soon married to
Miss Mary Fleming, of Bellefonte, and early elected to the Legisla-
ture, where he continued several years. In 181 1 he was chosen to
HON. THOMAS BURNSIDE, 237
the Senate. In 181 4 he was elected a member of the Fourteenth
Congress, representing his district from 1815 to 1817. In iSiS he
was appointed President Judge of the Eleventh district, composed
of the counties of Wayne, Pike, and Luzerne. This position here-
signed some time after, and was elected again to the Senate, of
which body he was chosen Speaker in 1825. While in the Legis-
lature, as chairman of a committee to whom the subject had been
referred, he made a report and presented a bill to abolish capital
punishment, which, however, failed on its passage.
In 1S41, on the death of Judge Fox, Governor Porter appointed
him President Judge of the Bucks and Montgomery district, which
he held till January 2d, 1845, when the same executive transferred
him to a vacant seat on the bench of the Supreme Court, which
position he filled at the time of his death a (aw years thereafter.
As a Judge, Thomas Burnside was considered one of the most
clear-headed and upright men that ever sat on our bench. Though
thought deficient in dignity and courtly demeanor, his integrity and
accurate judgment were never called in question. Of his incorrupti-
bility the following anecdote is related : As he was passing from his
lodgings to the court-house, while Judge of our court, some litigant
approached him with a few words touching his own case, which had
been before him, at which Judge B. turned upon the person with a
withering look, repelling his salutation in language a little too rough
to be repeated here, but sufficient to send the foolish suitor ''to
grass," to use a sporting phrase. When off the bench he was noted
for wit and roilgh jollity, making him one of the pleasantest com-
panions imaginable. It was on this known familiarity, no doubt,
that the man presumed when he found that the Judge understood,
if he did not himself, the distinction between a man while acting as
a magistrate and as a private citizen.
Judge Burnside left several children, who reside at Bellefonte in
very respectable life. In person he was of medium height, promi-
nent nose and eyes, receding chin and forehead, dark complexion,
and rather noted for his want of comeliness of features. His kind-
liness and blunt honesty, however, made ample amends for his lack
•of personal beauty.
238 JOHN m'kAY.
JOHN McKAY.
It shall be well with them that fear God. — Ecclesiastics VIII, 17.
Teach me to feel another's woe,
To hide that fault I see. — Pope.
Since the death of Robert Hamill, in 1838, the longestr
known and most universally respected merchant of Norristown
was John McKay, who came to the town when quite young^.
and resided here until the time of his death, which took place
in 1873, in his 73d year. He was born in Philadelphia in 1800,.
and when fourteen or fifteen years of age entered the store of
Isaac Thomas, on the Bethlehem turnpike road, in Upper Dub-
lin township. After remaining there till his nineteenth year
he came to Norristown and obtained a situation with Jonathan
Thomas, a brother of his first employer, who kept store at the
southwest corner of Main and Swede streets. Here he also-
remained several years, until Thomas died, when David Thomas
and his son. Dr. George W. Thomas, took the store-house and
associated with them Mr. McKay. This arrangement lasted
two or three years, at the conclusion of which time the latter
withdrew and formed a partnership with Lewis Ramsey.
The new firm arranged with the Hiester family of Reading;
(who had purchased the property late of Hon. Levi Pawling) ■
to build them a store-house on the northwest corner of Maini
and Swede streets. During the erection of this building, which .
has recently been razed to make way for Albertson's banking-
house, they did business in a small frame structure with a shed,
roof resting against the dwelling of Samuel Jacoby, near Main .
and Strawberry streets. This was about 1830 or 1831. After
moving into the new store-house they did a leading business:
almost from the start, continuing for several years to keep full .
lines of dry goods, groceries, and hardware, until March, 1839,,
when Ramsey lost his health, sold out his interest in the con-
cern to S. Porter Stinson, and some time late that year died..
The new firm of McKay & Stinson continued until 1869.
Previous to associating with Ramsey, Mr. McKay was mar-
ried on the 28th of November, 1828, to Eliza Bennett, daugh-
ter of Dr. Isaac and Martha Huddleson. The offspring of this
JOHN M KAY. 239
union were three children : Sarah T., who died in 1869, greatly
lamented; Thomas; and Elizabeth H., married to Richard T.
Stewart, attorney-at-law, who have three daughters, Ada, Lida,
and Mary.
On the I2th of August, 1835, Eliza, the wife of John McKay,
when a young mother of thirty years, was taken away by death
from her husband and three infant children, leaving her little
ones to the tender solicitude of their father, who then gave a
home to his widowed sister, Mrs. Brown. She for many years,
and until her death, was a mother to the motherless.
In 1840 or 1 841 Mr. McKay built himself a handsome brick
mansion adjoining the store, where he resided till his death.
The new firm of McKay & Stinson continued to do a lead-
ing business at the old place, its members remaining continu-
ously till 1869, a period of thirty years, when Mr. McKay sold
the store-house, and the stock Avas closed out at public sale,
both partners retiring on a competence. About 187 1 or 1872
Mr. McKay made a will devising his property for the benefit
of his surviving children and grandchildren, making his late
partner and friend, S. P. Stinson, executor and trustee.
At a veiy early day Mr. McKay v/as confirmed a member
of St. John's Episcopal Church, and during his whole after hfe
he was one of its most faithful and efficient members. He was
one of the vestry of St. John's, and Warden for many years,
being all that time regarded as the rector's most capable ad-
viser and assistant. He was besides nearly as long and con-
stantly a member of the Board of Trustees. No one loved the
Episcopal church, its teachings, worship and temporalities,
more than he; in fact, it is thought that certain personal labors,
he was so fond of doing about the sacred edifice after he re-
tired from business, superinduced pneumonia, of which he died.
It only remains now to bear testimony to his high character
as a man, merchant, and christian. He possessed a remarka-
bly quiet, equable temperament, and probably never had a bit-
ter personal enemy, for he was incapable of giving voluntary
offence to any one. As a churchman, he was orthodox, with-
out disputation or bigotry; as a merchant, he possessed re-
markable judgment, great suavity, and quiet, ready address;
240 JOHN M KAY.
as a salesman, pleasant bon-mots were the spicing always
thrown in with the goods. Nothing could disturb his equa-
nimity and patience, or tire his habitual industry. He was a
man of inflexible integrity, and very kind to the poor, as was
;shown by his suffering a decrepit and pious old couple (mem-
bers of another church), who had many years occupied one of
liis tenement houses, to remain free of rent after they had be-
come too old, poor and infirm to pay for their old home.
In person Mr. McKay was rather under medium height,
light, florid complexion, well proportioned, with a quick, grace-
ful step, indicating a mind of force and decision. Being a quiet
business man, he never sought office, but rather avoided it.
Once, however, in 1834 or 1835, he was elected to Town Coun-
cil, but soon resigned; and a few years before his death, with-
out any agency of his own, he was nominated for School Di-
rector against Andrew H. Baker, so long known in Norristown
as a popular school-man and a Democrat. The election re-
sulted in a tie between them, and it afterwards transpired that
Mr. Baker, as most people do, voted the ticket whole, and of
course for himself; while Mr. McKay voted all the Republi-
can ticket, but substituted the name of "Andrew H. Baker"
for the name of "John McKay." On the tie being settled by
lot, Mr. Baker drew it, showing plainly that his opponent was
never born for political distinction.
It is also related of him that on the organization of the Gas
Board he was put in as one of the directors, but some transac-
tidli occurring which he thought was not according to the
Golden Rule he resigned the trust, preferring to retire rather
than to share a responsibility for what he did not consider was
right.
On the demise of Mr. McKay the vestry of the church took
action, and among other resolutions passed the following:
That in the removal from our midst of Mr. McKay the vestry and
church have sustained the loss of a faithful and efficient member,
and one that cannot be filled.
That through the forty-two years of his connection with this
church he never swerved from the path of duty ; that in his straight-
forward and christian demeanor he won the confidence and regard
of all ; that his many virtues, his acts of kindness and charity, his
ajntiring zeal in the work of the church, and his devotedness to her
JOHN Y. CRAWFORD. 24I
sacred services, are worthy of our emulation and regard, and should
stimulate us to more active work in the cause of Christ and his
church.
There were also eulogistic notices of his death in all the
public journals of the locality, and on the occasion of his fu-
neral the stores of the town, as by a common impulse of the
proprietors, were closed as the procession passed.
Mr. McKay's remains lie beside his wife's in the cemetery of
St. John's Church, Norristown,
JOHN Y. CRAWFORD.
Death rides on every passing breeze.
And lurks in every flower. — Heber.
The Crawford family is one of the most respectable and
wealthy in Montgomery county. Its original progenitor was
Scotch, or Scotch-Irish, and the tradition is that previous to
our Revolutionary era he had settled on land purchased of
the Swedes, near Swedes' Ford. About the commencement
of the present century there were two families, probably cou-
sins, settled on both sides of the Schuylkill a little below
Swedes' Ford. The one on the left bank was Alexander, who
left to his sons a very large tract of land, embracing all the
Cooke estate, the Mogee lime quarries, and that owned by the
daughter of the late Hugh Crawford, now intermarried with
Charles Earnest. His children were: Alexander, whose two
sons, John and Alexander, removed to the West; Andrew, who
built the Cooke mansion; Harriet, married to Samuel Detwi-
ler; Emily, married to Dr. Rutter; Hugh, and William. The
family on the west side of the river occupied a homestead on
land at present owned by William B. Rambo. The children
were: Elizabeth, intermarried with Hugh Long; Samuel, who
recently died in Norristown, leaving numerous heirs; Andrew,
who died a bachelor in 1870, in Lower Merion; William, who
died also unmarried in i8zH. in the same locality; and Joseph,
the father of the subject of this memorial.
242 JOHN Y. CRAWFORD.
Another cousin of the family we have been describing, Jo-
seph Crawford, Hved and died near Shannonville, in Lower
Providence township, whose daughter was intermarried with
Hon. Abraham Brower, and whose other descendants are af-
fihated with numerous respectable families of that locality.
John Yocum Crawford, the subject of this biography, son of
Joseph and Hannah Yocum Crawford, was born at Prospect
Hill, Lower Merion township, Montgomery county, May 14th,
1822. His mother being a Yocum, his descent on the mater-
nal side was Swedish. In his boyhood he received the usual
common school instruction. Later he was sent to the board-
ing-school of Joshua Hoopes, at West Chester, and afterwards
to Treemount, Norristown, under Rev. Samuel Aaron.
Having acquired a good academical training, he resolved,
shopdy after attaining his majority, to devote his life to farm-
ing, to which he had been raised. His father dying not many
years after left considerable landed estate. This homestead of
his father John Y. purchased, and also bought two or three
other farms, including the celebrated "Brookfield" property
near by, and pushed farming with great energy for several
years. Being located on Prospect Ridge, several hundred feet
above the river, and^within less than a mile of its banks, there
was no mode of reaching Conshohocken by a convenient road-
way. Mr. Crawford's cultivated, practical mind saw the neces-
sity to both the growing village and the farmers of Lower
Merion of a good highway to the river. Since the first settle-
ment of the country no better ascent from the Schuylkill had
been afforded than over rocks and boulders up a ravine, which
was often the bed of a rushing torrent. In the face of much
opposition from parties who were really to be benefited but
did not see it, Mr. C. got several juries to report in its favor;
and now a wide, smooth, graded highway renders intercourse
easy between those whom nature has made neighbors, but who,
for previous want of communication, were almost strangers to
each other. This road will ever stand a monument of Mr.
Crawford's foresight, enterprise, and pluck. The writer hap-
pened to be on one of the juries, of which there were several,
and he was struck with the cogent, forcible speech made by
JOHN Y. CRAWFORD. 243
Mr. C. on that occasion, actually eclipsing the attorney on the
other side who was employed to resist it. As of matters in
which himself and the public were jointly concerned, so in his
private farming he was an improvement-man, availing himself
of the advantages of all new things in agriculture. He accord-
ingly soon had his home beautified with evergreens and other
ornamental trees, constructed a fish and ice-pond near by, and
so on.
On the 19th of September, 1867, Mr. Crawford married V.
Virginia, daughter of Archibald and Jane Wright, of Philadel-
phia, but later of West Chester, Pennsylvania. The children
of this union are Mary Virginia, Annie Elizabeth, John Yo-
cum, and Andrew Wright.
For many years Mr. Crawford's bachelor uncle, Andrew,
was a noted money-lender on bond and mortgage, and as he
grew old felt the necessity of being relieved of the care of his
estate. So, having full confidence in the integrity and capacity
of his nephew, J. Y. Crawford, he appointed him his attorney
in fact to manage his whole business. This he did for some
eight or ten years, making the old man's wealth grow much
more rapidly than he could have made it' himself When the
uncle died in 1870, Mr. Crawford was the executor of his will.
It was a matter of remark at the time that he had the old gen-
tleman's estate, amounting to some ;^225,000, so well in hand
that he had it all settled up and divided among a number of
collateral heirs and his account filed within three months after
his decease. To J. Y. Crawford's fidelity, carefulness and accu-
racy, was this result achieved without quarrels or law suits
among claimants, a result rarely reached under similar circum-
stances.
Though a strict business man, and constantly seeking the
advancement of his own fortune, he was a gentleman of con-
siderable public spirit, ever willing to contribute to objects of
general welfare, as shown by his giving five hundred dollars
towards the spacious school-house erected near his dwelling.
He and his excellent lady were and have been the generous
patrons of Mount Pleasant Sunday School, that for a long time
has been held in the said building near their residence. Their
244 JOHN Y. CRAWFORD.
annual picnics or donation gatherings at Mr. Crawford's ex-
pense will for long years be among the sunniest memories of
very many children of the locality. It was only necessary to
enlist Mr. C.'s heart in a work of this kind to secure his most
liberal beneficence.
As a further illustration of Mr. C.'s public spirit it may be
added that when ladies of Lower Merion, during the late war,
procured a costly flag, he was selected to make the presenta-
tion speech. During the Congressional canvass that secured
the election of Hon. Alan Wood, Jr., Mr. Crawford rendered
efficient service, making a number of popular addresses.
Previous to the late revulsion in business Mr. C. had made
large profits by investments in stocks in various companies,
and when the First National Bank of Conshohocken was being
organized he was a considerable subscriber to its capital, and
chosen a director, remaining such until the time of his death.
In 1874 Mr. Crawford found his health declining and took a
trip to White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, where he remained
5ome time and returned greatly improved. His former vigor,
however, was not regained, and he died of neuralgia of the
heart on the 15th of April, 1875, in the 53d year of his age.
The Bank Board attended his funeral in a body, and the re-
mains were conveyed to Montgomery Cemetery, Norristown,
followed by a large concourse of mourning friends. To the
estate, which was large, Mrs. V. V. Crawford, administered, as
her husband left no will. She and the children still (1878) re-
side at the homestead.
To the foregoing a brief notice of John Y. Crawford's father,
brothers and sisters, will not be inappropriate. Joseph and
Hannah Yocum Crawford had five other children, as follows:
William H., occupying an adjoining farm to Mrs. V. V. Craw-
ford, and married to Eliza Broades; Martha Y., intermarried
with Dr. Isaac Anderson, of Lower Merion; Annie M., dead;
Hannah Emily, the wife of Hagy Yocum, also of Lower Mer-
ion; and Elizabeth.
ELIAS HICKS CORSON. 245
ELIAS HICKS CORSON.
And in thy riglit hand lead with thee
Tlie mountain nymph, sweet Liberty. — V Alhyro.
E. H. Corson, son of Alan W. and Mary Corson, of White-
marsh township, Montgomery county, was born Second-month
(February) 19th, 1816. His father, a distinguished mathema-
tician, botanist and scholar, and for many years himself en-
gaged in teaching, was able to give Elias the best opportuni-
ties of instruction. To these primary stores of knowledge he
added all his life by reading and observation.
About the time of his majority he engaged in the lime-burn-
ing business in Chester county, but soon came back and com-
menced the same in Plymouth, where he continued it with en-
ergy and profit till his death, which occured Eleventh-month
5th, 1877. Being of a peculiarly bland and pleasant turn of
mind, and of remarkably clear judgment, he did a very heavy
business for many years, partly exchanging lime for cord-wood,
which farmers in the northern line of the county brought to
his kilns. This wood he used for burning the best descrip-
tions of lime for building purposes in Philadelphia and else-
where. He was also extensively engaged in the general lime
and coal business. Thus his works were annually adding value
to and developing both city and country at the same time, as
also yielding him a steady profit. A farm of ninety-three acres
belonged to the quarries he worked, and which he tilled to its
fullest capacity.
After he was well settled in business, he married Emily R.
Harris, of Philadelphia, on the 13th of Third-month, 1845.
The children of this union were Mary, Henry H., George,
Charles A., Ellen W., Gertrude H., Emily, Martha, Walter H.,
Carroll, and Percy H. Of these, Mary, Charles A., Ellen W.
and Gertrude, are deceased. Henry H. now resides at Minne-
apolis, Minnesota, being there engaged in business.
"Hicks Corson," as he was usually called (having been
named after the famous Quaker preacher, Elias Hicks), was
educated a Friend, and, as befitted his name, of the Hicksite
branch of the society. He " married out of the meeting," how-
E]bl
246 EDIAS HICKS CORSON.
ever, a lady who had been bred a Baptist, but, hke himself,
of a kindly, genial temper. The union was a most happy one.
Notwithstanding his breach of the rules of the society he never
lost membership in Plymouth Meeting, but continued an act-
ive and efficient worker in the same until his death. Few men
had more humane, generous sympathies than Elias H. Corson,
or were more true to all the reforms, such as anti-slavery, tem-
perance, peace, and the like. Many a kindly expostulation he
employed with his brethren, who, as he thought, often relied
on the plain coat and speech instead of standing up in Avord
and deed to the "testimonies of Friends." He was eminently
fitted for that particular work, for no amount of opposition and
inconsistency of others could draw him into unbecoming vio-
lence, or prevent his reproving them if he thought it deserved.
He ever had the same caustic but pleasant rebuke to adminis-
ter to those who shirked what he thought to be duty, and per-
haps he did more of what we may characterize as " Quaker
fighting," without making enemies, than any other man whose
history we can recall. He rarely employed the direct and ag-
gressive mode of disputation with an opponent, but the satiri-
cal and inferential, thus laughing him out of his views rather
than driving him to the wall as an enemy. Rarely was an ob-
ject of charity or a scheme of public improvement commended
to his judgment but received some favorable response at his
hands.
He took a lively interest in matters connected with agricul-
ture, and was a director of the Montgomery County Mutual
Fire Insurance Company. In common with most Friends, he
was all his life a total abstainer from alcoholic drinks, and his
health as a consequence, up to the time of his death, had been
good. In person he was tall, stoutly built, and the picture of
robust health.
Early in the autumn of 1877 he was taken with a slight rheu-
matism, which developed into acute peritonitis, resulting in
death after a month's sickness.
A general sketch of the origin of the Corson family is found
elsewhere in this volume.
As an indication of the confidence of the business commu-
-ELIAS HICKS CORSON. 247
nity in Mr. Corson, we append the testimonial adopted at the
time of his death by the officers of the First National Bank of
Conshohocken, of which he was a director:
CoNSHOHOCKEN, Wednesday, November 17th, 1S77.
At a special meeting of the Board of Directors of the First Na-
tional Bank of Conshohocken, held at the banking house, the fol-
lowing paper was unanimously adopted:
It is with feelings of the deepest regret that we have been called
upon to record the death of our associate, Elias H. Corson, who
has been from the organization of this bank one of its most faithful
officers.
Mr. Corson's unflinching integrity, extensive infurmation, punc-
tuality, and conscientious discharge of every duty devolving, made
him a most valuable bank director.
His devotion to right in the face of every opposition, his meet-
ing all questions with intelligence, thought, and investigation — his
firm adherence to his convictions — made his opinion and advice
reliable, trustworthy and influential upon all points brought before
us.
We shall feel his loss in the deliberations of our Board with a
pointedness that time and circumstances cannot entirely obliterate.
We extend our heartfelt sympathies to his family, where the af-
fectionate husband and loving father has left a vacancy in the hearts
of that stricken household and happy home that nothing on earth
can fill; and we commend them to the God of all grace who alone
can heal the wounded heart.
We agree to attend the funeral of our former associate and es-
teemed friend.
It is ordered that a copy of these proceedings be signed by the
officers of the bank and forwarded to the fan-iily, and also be pub-
lished.
William McDermott, Cashier; George Bullock, President; Evan
D. Jones, William Davis, Jr., George Sampson, Michael O'Brien, A.
D. Saylor, Lewis A. Lukens, Samuel Pugh, Directors; Charles W.
Holmes, Teller.
The Universal Peace Union, of which Mr. Corson was a
member, also adopted an extended and flattering memorial,
which, handsomely engrossed, and signed by Lucretia Mott,
the venerable President of the Pennsylvania Peace Society,
Alfred H. Love, President of the Universal Peace Union, and
others, conveyed their sorrow and condolence to the family.
After referring to his active benevolence, the testimonial quotes
the following stanza as descriptive of the man:
248 HON. PHILIP S. MARKLEY.
Such was our friend. Formed on the good old plan,
A true and brave, and downright honest man !
His daily prayer — far better understood
In acts than words — was simply doing good.
So calm, so constant was his rectitude,
That by his loss alone 'we know its ■worth,
And feel how true a man has walked with us on earth.
There were also extended obituary notices of his death in
the Norristown Herald and other local papers. The Friends'
jfownial, of Philadelphia, in quite a lengthy notice of him,.
says :
"His conversation and presence were magnetic. Those who
knew him well will never be able to call him dead. To them he
will ever remain a bright memory and a spur to good and noble
deeds in the cause of humanity. On the day of his funeral men
and women came by scores from the surrounding region, as well as
from Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties, and from Philadelphia,-
to testify the sorrow which they felt for the great loss to themselves
and society."
HON. PHILIP S. MARKLEY.
Of all the phantoms fleeting in the mist of Time, though meagre all and ghostly
thin, most unsubstantial, unessential shade, was earthly fame. — PoUol;.
There is perhaps no eminent family in Montgomery county
which has filled a larger space in the public eye during the pres-
ent century than that of the Markleys. The original progeni-
tor we have not been able to accurately name, but are assured
that most of the family in this county, perhaps all, have de-
scended from a common head who came over from Germany
with the Protestant exodus between 1730 and 1740, and set-
tled in Whitpain or Worcester tov/nships, as many are interred
at St. John's Lutheran Church, Centre Square. The first of
the name who became prominent in public stations were Ben-
jamin Markley (maternal grandfather of Hon. B. Markley
Boyer), who was appointed Associate Judge in 1791, and John
Markley, chosen Sheriff in 1798, and who in 1800 was United
States Collector of distillery taxes, a very important ofifice at
that time. John was very shortly afterwards interested, possi-
bly as County Commissioner, in the construction of the bridge
HON. PHILIP S. MARKLEY. 249
over the Manatawny at Pottstown, as his name, with those of
Philip Boyer, Christian Weber, Phihp Hahn and Thomas Hum-
phrey, are chiseled on the date-stone. Late in life, in 1824,
he was appointed Register and Recorder by Governor Shuize,
and again in 1826.
This John Markley was one of the most eminent and influ-
ential business men that ever figured in Norristown annals.
He probably removed here when elected Sheriff, and it is sup-
posed founded and occupied for a number of years the cele-
brated tannery where the Slemmer Brothers' oil works now
stand. He also became the owner of a large amount of valu-
able real estate beside the tannery, including the Egypt Mill
(the old part of which he erected), the Judge Wilson mansion
(site of Oakland Female Institute), as likewise owning what
has recently been called the "Elijah Lewis farm," north of the
borough. This last tract was then very heavily wooded, and
estimated to be worth four hundred dollars an acre on account
of its timber. After being cleared, however, and under the-
subsequent war prices, it was sold to Mr. Lewis for about forty
dollars per acre. Mr. Markley traded it for Barbadoes Island.*
For many years John ]\Iarkley lived on Main street above-
Swede in the house which had been built by William Moore
Smith, and afterwards in the dwelling now the Derr mansion,
where he died July 28th, 1834. John Markley was the first
really enterprising and successful business man that located in
Norristown, and for nearly forty years was the leader in that
line.
Mr. M. was not only a man of careful speculation in busi-
ness, but of public spirit also. He largely assisted the Ridge
turnpike road enterprise by taking many shares of its stock, as
most other works of a public nature. In his domestic inter-
course with neighbors and friends he was charitable to all,
many poor men enjoying his free bounty as long as he lived.
He was twice married, first to Elizabeth Swenk and afterwards
to Elizabeth Henderson. By his first wife there were born to
him eight children: Samuel, Betsy, John (who died young),^
Hannah, Philip S., Sally, ]\Iolly, and Hetty.
*These statements are given on tlie aiithoiity of the late Zailok Thomas, Esq..
17
250 ■ HON. PHILIP S. MARKLEY.
These descendants are further described as follows : Samuel,
the eldest, studied law, but soon after entering upon practice
left it as not to his taste, when he removed to his father's tan-
nery, married Mary Harper, of Chester county, and there were
born to them John, Ann H., Elizabeth S., and Hetty. Of
these John married Eliza Holt, of Doe Run, Chester county,
and they now (1878) live retired from business in Germantown.
Ann H., the wife of Samuel Hartman, is deceased, leaving one
son, John M., and two daughters, Kate and Mary, the former
of whom is intermarried with J. Evans Isett.
It may be added here of John Markley Hartman, just men-
tioned above, that he is quite an eminent mechanical and civil
engineer, doing business on North Front street, Philadelphia.
He has constructed or planned a great number of blast fur-
naces that are scattered all over this country. South America,
and Mexico. He has also been a frequent contributor to sci-
entific periodicals on matters connected with furnaces and on
metallurgical subjects.
Elizabeth S., daughter of Samuel, and granddaughter of John
Markley, is the wife of Charles Lewis, and they have four
children: William H., married to Mary Hartenstein; S.Mark-
ley, intermarried with Eliza Taylor; E. Taylor; Mary E.,wife
of R. G. Calvert, of Delaware county. Hetty, the youngest
daughter of Samuel Markley, was married to Isaac Lewis, and
is now deceased. She had a number of children, who survive
her.
We return to describe the other children of John Markley.
Betsy died unmarried. John died young, and without heirs.
Hannah, who was intermarried with Bernard Drum, also died
young of consumption, and childless. Philip S., the proper
subject of this memoir, studied law, and became very eminent
both as an attorney and a politician. His public life is de-
scribed belov/. He married a widow lady named Helen Plum-
sted, who survived him. They had born to them two daugh-
ters, Elizabeth and Jane. The sixth child of John Markley
was Sally, the wife of Rev. R. U. Morgan, a minister of the
Episcopal church. They have had a large number of offspring,
as follows : James, who, like his father, is an Episcopal clergy-
HON. PHILIP S. MARKLEV. 25 I
man; Heber, Bankson, Richard, Anna L., the wife of Hon. J.
IL. Getz, of Reading, Pennsylvania; Elizabeth P., Ellen R., and
"Mary M. The seventh child of John Markley was Molly, who,
<at middle life, was intermarried with the late John Boyer, Esq.,
President of the Bank of Montgomery County. The young-
est of John Markley's children was Hetty, who died a maiden
lady at advanced life a few years ago. She, as her sister Molly
had been, was eminent in works of charity as a member of St.
John's Episcopal Church.
Having given the personnel of the family we return to de-
scribe Philip S. Markley as a public man. He was quite dis-
tinguished as a lawyer, being admitted to the bar in Novem-
ber, 1 8 10, and had a large practice, but soon fell into the whirl
-of politics. His father before him had been a very influential
Democrat, and he, walking in his footsteps, became active in
party matters. So in 18 19 he was appointed Deputy State's
Attorney, probably serving during the whole of Governor
Findlay's term of office, or from the spring of 1818 till 1821;
though, by the record, he was nominated for State Senate and
elected in 18 19, continuing there till 1824. It would seem,
therefore, that persons were then eligible to both offices at the
same time, for we have ascertained to a certainty that Mr.
Markley was Deputy State's Attorney in 18 19 and 1820, when,
as appears also by a newspaper announcement which lies be-
fore us, of the date of January, 1 821, that "Alexander Moore
•^vas appointed District Attorney vice Philip S. Markley re-
moved." Soon after the conclusion of his service as State's
Attorney and Senator, he was taken up by the party for Con-
gress and elected in 1823, serving during the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Congresses, from 1824 to 1828. His term in the
national House of Representatives was during the famous rise
of what was known as " Jacksonism," when Hon. Nathaniel B,
Boileau and Hon. Jonathan Roberts, the great early lights and
leaders of the party, retired from their places in disgust at the
dawn of what was called "mere military statesmanship."
At the conclusion of his Congressional term, or shortly after,
on the 17th of August, 1829, he was called by Governor Shulze,
.near the close of his administration, to fill the post of Attorney
252 HON. LEVI PAWLING.
General of the State, which he held one year, till the accession.'
of Governor Wolf, in January, 1830. This was the last public
office he occupied, but he continued at the bar till 1834. While
attending an arbitration at Spang's hotel he dropped in a fit or
apoplexy, and died instantly, in his 46th year.
It would not be within the possibilities of this work to hunt,
up his legislative record, and he has been so many years dead
that even his personal qualities have faded from the memories
of most of the living. His widow and some of his childrem
reside in Philadelphia, very worthy and respectable people.
HON. LEVI PAWLING.
Kiches certainly make themselves wiiig-s; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven..
—Proverbs XXIII, 5.
The Pawling family, according to tradition, came from New
York State during the last century, settling on the Schuylkill;
between Trappe and Fatland Ford, at the crossing of the-
Ridge turnpike road. It is doubtless from the same generic.
head as the Paul dings of that State, the orthography being-
changed, as is quite common in a new country. Our earliest:
authentic information of the Pennsylvania family is in the re-
cord that "Henry Pawling, Jr., Jonathan Roberts, Sr., George
Smith, Robert Shannon, and Henry Conrad, were appointed
by act of Assembly in 1784 to purchase ground near Stony
creek, and thereon erect a court house and prison for the use
of Montgomery county." This Henry Pawling was also one
of the first Associate Judges of the county, and doubtless re-
sided in Providence township. He had three sons and one
daughter. The sons were Henry, William, and Levi, the lat-
ter the subject of this memoir. William lived on the farm at
Pawling's Bridge, in Lower Providence, till about 1835, the
time of his death, leaving three sons, Henry, Thomas, and Al-
bert. Eleanor, the daughter of the elder Henry, married James
Milnor, a lawyer practicing in the county but residing in Phil-
adelphia, who subsequently retired from that profession^ took
HON. LEVI PAWLING. 253
orders, and became rector of St. George's Episcopal Church,
iNew York.
Levi PawHng came to Norristown, studied law, and was ad-
•mitted to the bar in November, 1795, thus taking his position
with William Moore Smith and Thomas Ross the elder. He
soon attained considerable distinction as a lawyer. On the
117th of October, 1804, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Gen-
-eral Joseph Hiester, the ceremony being performed by Rev.
iHenry A. Muhlenberg. The children born to them were three
.-sons and four daughters. The sons were Joseph H., James
M., and Henry De Witt. The first was many years in govern-
ment employ at Washington, and died in 1847, aged 39 years.
James M. studied law with his father, and rose rapidly at the
'bar, but died suddenly in 1838, in his 27th year. He was in-
termarried with Lydia Wood, and they had two children, Levi,
-^vho was accidentally drowned when in his 20th year, and Fan-
nie, who is married to Dr. Dana, of Morrisville, Bucks county.
The widow of James M. Pawling married W. H. Osborn, also
■ of Morrisville.
The next son is Dr. Henry De Witt, who was born in 1810,
-studied medicine, graduated at the University of Pennsylvania,
and soon after entered upon the frigate Potomac as Assistant
Surgeon in the United States Navy, serving three or four years
'on a cruise in the waters of South America. Returning home
lie located at King-of-Prussia, where he has been engaged in a
wery extensive practice over parts of three or four counties
-since 1835 or 1836. He was intermarried with Anna B., the
•daughter of Levi Bull, of Chester county, who died in 1862.
leaving several children. Dr. H. D. W. Pawling's two eldest
sons, Nathan and Harry, studied medicine with their father,
and for a time assisted him in his profession. In 1871 Harry
opened an office in Norristown, and has secured a large prac-
tice. His brother Nathan, who remained to assist his father,
was accidentally killed in 1872. George W., the youngest son-
has been trained an apothecary and pharmaceutist. On the
1 2th of December, 1877, Dr. Harry Pawling married Clara,
3^oungest daughter of William H. Slingluff, of Norristown.
The daughters of Hon. Levi and Elizabeth Pawling were in-
254 HON. LEVI PAWLING.
termarried as follows: Elizabeth, the eldest, married Hon..
Thomas Ross, of Doylestown, and survives her husband, who*
died years since They had two sons, Henry P., President Judge
of our county, and George, attorney-at-law, Doylestown, who-
was a member of the late Constitutional convention. The next
daughter, Rebecca, vv^as the second wife of Henry Freedley,
Esq., who died soon after her marriage, leaving one surviving:
daughter, Ellen. The third daughter, Ellen, Avas the first wife
of Henry Freedley, Esq., who died February 5th, 1850, while-
still young, leaving one son, Henry, now grown to manhood,,
and recently admitted to the bar, and one daughter, Rebecca,
intermarried with John J. Corson, of Norristown. The fourth
and youngest daughter of Levi Pawling is Mary, the wife of
S. N. Rich, Esq., of Philadelphia, whose son George is a mem-
ber of the Philadelphia bar, and whose daughters are Fannie
and Clara.
We return to narrate further the public career and personal'
incidents of the life of Hon. Levi Pawling.
Entering his profession just after the organization of the
county, he was for many years the Nestor of the bar, enjoying
a very large practice, and living in the most munificent style
of any in the borough. At one time, and for many years, he-
owned the flouring and saw mill at the foot of Swede street,
and ran it in partnership with James Bolton, the father of Gen-
eral William J. Bolton. He also owned a farm which em-
braced all the land north of Airy street lying between Stony-
creek and Saw Mill run, and extending back one-fourth of a
mile. The farm house on this land was near what is now the-
corner of Green and Chestnut streets. For a number of years-
before it was cut into town lots it was called the " Davis Farm."
Mr. Pawling, at an early date, also erected on Main street, a.
little west of Swede, perhaps the most stately double-roomed'
mansion in Norristown, where he lived till he retired from busi--
ness, and which, with the adjacent office, was occupied by his
son James M. till the latter's death in 1838. The building in;
which Martin Molony recently died embraces about half of"
the old mansion. After the death of the son just named he con-
tinued to reside with the daughters who occupied part of the;
)
HON. LEVI PAWLING. 255
old homestead; but for a number of years, when he had be-
come old and decrepit, he lived with his son, Dr. Pawling,
at King-of-Prussia. He, however, finally returned again to
Norristown, and died in 1845, at the age of 73 years. His
wife Elizabeth died in 1826.
Hon. Levi Pawling filled a great number of public positions
during his long life. Perhaps the first was that of trustee ot
the land ceded by the University of Pennsylvania for a court-
house yard or public square. Of this he divested himself in
favor of the Town Council on the 15th of May, 1S35.
Being a Federalist in politics, while, since the time of Jeffer-
son, the county has ahvays been Democratic, Mr. Pawling did
not reach any legislative office except a seat in Congress, to
which he was elected one term (1817-19) in company with
Isaac Darlington, of Chester. There was little, however, in
the nature of material improvement in town or county that did
not secure his pecuniary help and personal co-operation.
He was chairman of a public meeting held July 22d, 1807,
to denounce the outrageous attack of the British frigate Leo-
pard upon the Chesapeake in time of peace, and one of the
commissioners in 181 1 appointed to sell the stock of the
"Reading and Perkiomen Turnpike Road Company." In
April, 1 8 14, he was one of the commissioners named in the
law to sell stock in the "Egypt (Ridge) Turnpike Road Com-
pany." In pursuance of an act passed March 8th, 18 16, he
was also named at the head of a commission of nine persons
to sell stock in the company organized to make a lock naviga-
tion on the Schuylkill. In 1818 he was elected Burgess of the
town, a post he filled several times afterwards. Shortly after
the organization of the Bank of Montgomery County Mr. Paw-
ling was elected a director and made President of the Board.
About the time of his retirement from business his pecuniary
affairs had become deranged, and he lost the extensive pro-
perty he had owned, the homestead alone being retained for
his use by the assistance of his wealthy father-in-law, Gover-
nor Hiester, who, in his will, left each of the children of Mr.
and Mrs. Pawling a patrimony of about ten thousand dollars.
256 HON. OWEN JONES.
HON. OWEN JONES.
Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty
•:glory in his might ; let not the rich glory in his riches. — Jeremiah IX, 23.
The name of Jones in Pennsylvania is quite as familiar as a
liousehold word, descending to us from the reformation in
Wales and the first settlement of our State. The Jones family
here, which is of the highest respectability, is, as to religious
affiliations, about equally divided between Quakers and Bap-
tists. The universal toleration granted by William Penn
brought both these classes to our young colony for the liberty
they could not enjoy at home. The subject of this memoir
belongs to the Friends' branch of the family, who were men of
influence from the beginning. The tradition is that the ear-
liest head of the family came from Dolgelmy, Wales, in 1695,
and took up land in what is now Lower Merion, near Ard-
■more, which has remained in the family continuously nearly
two hundred years. The son of the first settler married the
<iaughter of William Wynne, Speaker of the first Colonial As-
:sembly, and located on the very spot where Mr. Jones lived.
Erom this maternal ancestor his mansion received the name of
Wynnewood. This is a very rare distinction in this country,
where law builds no bulwark in defence of family inheritance,
for so fine a property to descend so many generations, only
gathering importance, wealth and dignity by the lapse of time.
Colonel Owen Jones, formerly member of Congress from our
district, was born December 29th, 18 19, near where he resided
at the time of his death. His father was Jonathan Jones, and
his mother was Mary, daughter of William Thomas, also of
Lower Merion. He was educated at the University of Penn-
sylvania, read law in the office of William M. Meredith, of
Philadelphia, and admitted both there and in Montgomery, the
latter record bearing date May 19th, 1842. Mr. Jones was mar-
ried in 1 84 1 to Mary, daughter of Isaac W. Roberts, of Lower
Merion, and they have one son, J. Aubrey Jones (the only child
living), who has had a good education.
Though belonging to a family usually known as Federalists,
Whigs, or Republicans, Mr. Jones acted all his life with the
HON. OWEN JONES. 25/
Democrats, taking a lively interest in party matters. In 1856
he was accordingly taken up for Congress by his friends, and
elected, serving the sessions of 1857-8-9. At this period the
proceedings in Kansas, pending the contest between "slavery
propagandism" and "slavery limitation," had grown into such
proportions as to swallow up nearly every other feeling among
the people. Consequently, when Mr. Jones obtained his re-
nomination, according to party usage, the anti-slavery feeling
was so strong that he failed of election, John Wood, of Con-
shohocken, beating him in the race.
Besides representing the people in Congress, Mr. Jones was
some years previously appointed a commissioner from Mont-
gomery county, by Judge Burnside, to adjust the basis of State
taxation for the district composed of Bucks and Montgomery.
He was also run as one of the Democratic Presidential electors
in 1876. Though often solicited to accept private trusts, Mr.
Jones always refused, preferring to occupy his time with his
own individual business.
With great foresight, in 1845 he purchased the West Phila-
delphia Drove Yard property, which appreciated prodigiously
in value. This, with other judicious investments, increased his
€state to very large proportions.
In April, 1861, when the firing on Fort Sumter sounded the
tocsin of civil war, Mr. Jones, a National Democrat, responded
to the call of the Government, and assembled with a meeting
of citizens hastily called at Odd Fellows' Hall, Norristown,
and, among others, made a short patriotic speech to the peo-
ple, urging all to sustain the constituted authorities. This
was in strong contrast with a few leading men who stood in
sullen indifference while the Union forces were mustering for
the inevitable conflict. Another public meeting was held some
time after the Fourth Regiment had gone to the field, at which
it was resolved to organize a thousand men in the county as a
reserve and home guard, and a number of companies in differ-
ent parts of the county were formed and commenced to drill.
About the same time also (May 15th) an act of Assembly
provided for the raising of fifteen regiments to be called the
" Reserve Volunteer Corps of the Commonwealth," to consist
258 HON. OWEN JONES.
of thirteen of infantry, one of light artillery, and one of cavalry.
In pursuance of this law Hon. Owen Jones proceeded to raise
a company of cavalry among his personal friends in Lower
Merion and adjacent townships, whom, with a small squad
from near Norristown, consisting of Richard R. Corson, John
R. Styer and Samuel A. Haws, was informally organized as
follows: Captain, Owen Jones; First Lieutenant, Jacob L. Sta-
delman; Second Lieutenant, Theodore Streck. Having a full
company they rendezvoused at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg.
Here for a short time the usual difficulty was encountered in
forming a regimental organization. After a little delay, how-
ever, it was organized as the " First Pennsylvania Reserve Cav-
alry," or " Forty-fourth Regiment, First Cavalry." The fol-
lowing companies formed the imperfect organization, and were
mustered into the State service during July and August: Com-
pany A, recruited in Juniata county; Company B, in Mont-
gomery county: Company C, in Mifflin county; Company D,
in Cameron and Clinton counties; Company E, in Clearfield,
Centre and Clinton counties; Company F, in Greene county;
and Company G, in Blair county. From Camp Curtin they
went to Camp Jones, near Washington. The other companies,
H, I and K, first rendezvoused at Pittsburg, but joined the
others at Washington soon after. There were two other inde-
pendent companies, known as L and M, from Berks county,
which subsequently joined them.
Finally, on the ist of September, 1861, Lieutenant George
D. Bayard, a young officer of great promise, who had seen
considerable service in the regular army, was chosen to com-
mand, and the regiment was finally organized with the follow-
ing staff officers: Colonel, George D. Bayard; Lieutenant
Colonel, Jacob Higgens (Captain of Company G); Major,
Owen Jones (Captain of Company B). The companies and
regiment were then put under a course of severe drill. The
organization soon joined the division at Camp Tenallytown,
and remained till the loth of October, when it moved to Camp
Pierrepont, Virginia. At first the regiment was employed in
scouting and hunting guerrillas who infested lurking places,
but the battle of Drainsville coming on, most of the regiment
HON. OWEN JONES. 259
were engaged till the enemy was routed and driven from the
field.
On the 3d of January, 1862, Lieutenant Colonel Higgens re-
signed his command, and Major Owen Jones was promoted to
his place. Adjutant S. D. Barrows took the latter's rank.
From this time no important service took place till the 9th of
April, when the regiment did scouting and picket duty near
Catlett's Station. The latter part of May Bayard was promoted
to Brigadier General, Owen Jones was elected Colonel of the
regiment, and Barrows Lieutenant Colonel. "Then, on the
25th of May, when McDowell commenced his advance over-
land to join McClellan, the regiment crossed the Rappahan-
nock at Fredericksburg, and marching rapidly towards Rich-
mond, reached, on the evening of the 27th, a point on the Pa-
munkey river within fifteen miles of McClellan's right wing,
the enemy falling back as it advanced."* After this weari-
some march, and the expectation to join the grand Army of
the Potomac, orders suddenly came' to march back to meet
Stonewall Jackson, who had cut loose from the rebel army and
was threatening the line of the Shenandoah Valley, where Mc-
Dowell was ordered to the support of Banks and Fremont, whO'
were concentrating on Jackson's front.
Rapidly sweeping up the valley, Colonel Jones' regiment,
with the brigade, via Catlett's Station, through Thoroughfare
Gap to Front Royal, and thence quickly towards Strasburg,
crossed the Shenandoah and soon encountered Jackson's force,
skirmishing with it until dark. After a brief pause, a brigade,
consisting of Bucktails, Second Maine Battery, First New Jer-
sey and Forty-Fourth Pennsylvania Cavalry (Colonel Jones')„
drove the enemy's rear guard out of Strasburg. Here, joined
by the advance of Fremont's army, they galloped six miles and
dashed upon the enemy with such impetuosity as to nearly
capture a battery, and threw their cavalry force into great dis-
order.f Our brave men never halted till they had driven the
rebels beyond Woodstock. This was a running fight of eight
or ten days, reflecting great honor on our troops.
*" History of Pennsylvani.a Volunteers," page 1016.
t" Life of Stonewall Jackson," page 164. By T. E.sten Cooke (rebel).
260 HON. OWEN JONES.
At Harrisonburg Colonel Jones' regiment, assisted by the
First New Jersey and the Bucktails, "engaged a vastly supe-
rior force, inflicting severe loss upon them, and on the follow-
ing day led the advance of the centre column to Port Repub-
lic, but not in time to prevent the enemy from burning the
bridge across the Shenandoah."* After a fatiguing march,
constantly engaging the enemy for a month, and riding about
four hundred miles, it again returned to the ill starred Manas-
sas, preparatory to engaging in Pope's short and unfortunate
campaign. With a very little delay to refit, the regiment, with
the brigade of the gallant Bayard, on the 1st of August, was
sent down to the Rapidan to guard fords against Jackson, who
was returning.
Finally, on the 7th of August, Jackson crossed the river in
the face of our force, and under cover of darkness undertook
to capture our brigade, but was completely baffled, only two
prisoners being secured. Our men retired in order till near
Robertson river, when the enemy came dashing on them, but
were held in check by Captain Taylor until the brigade got
over the stream and quietly withdrew towards Cedar Moun-
tain. Here it made a stand, contesting the ground till Banks'
infantry force arrived, when the battle of that name was fought.
During this fight Knapp's Battery was nearly taken by the
enemy, when a squadron of Colonel Jones' cavalry rode through
their ranks, cutting their way back with fearful loss, but saving
the battery.
"Upon the retreat of Pope on the 19th of August, Bayard's
command, now increased to five regiments, formed the rear
guard. Contesting the ground stubbornly until it reached the
Rappahannock, the enemy there suddenly attacked with great
vigor, with the design of cutting off retreat. The First New
Jersey and Second New York Cavalry, unexpectedly struck
while forming, were broken and thrown into confusion. The
First Pennsylvania (Colonel Jones' Forty-fourth Regiment),
liaving passed on in advance, drew up in line on the first alarm,
ready to receive an attack, and stood one-half in an open field
and the other concealed by a wood. As the enemy came on
♦Bates' "History of Pennsylvania Volunteers," Volume I, page 1017.
HON. OWEN JONES. 26 1
the regiment charged on them from the front, and sweeping
around came suddenly upon their rear. The other two regi-
ments, having now ralHed and reformed, joined in the charge,
completing their utter route." — Page 1018. Here Colonel
Jones' regiment was the very key or hinge of the victory, which
for the time was complete.
" On the 28th the regiment, having the advance of Siegel's
command, moved between Jackson's rear and Longstreet's ad-
vance" (certainly a very dangerous position), "on the Thor-
oughfare Gap turnpike road, capturing nearly two hundred
prisoners of Jackson's stragglers. The same night the regi-
ment, with Rickett's division of infantry, held the Gap for six
hours against the attacks of Longstreet. On the following
morning Colonel Jones made a reconnoissance toward Centre-
ville, and received the fire of a light battery, which opened the
second battle of Bull Run." — lb. As a matter of course, the
cavalry had to cover the retreat from that unfortunate battle,
and Colonel Jones' regiment were almost constantly in the sad-
dle for several days, until the army crossed the stone bridge at
Washington.
On the 1st of September the regiment went into camp at
Munson's Hill, picketing the approaches to Washington, where
it remained about six weeks. About this time Lieutenant
Colonel Barrows resigned, and was succeeded by Captain John
Taylor, of Company C.
When Burnside took charge of the army, and advanced
on Fredericksburg on the nth of December, Colonel Jones
was in command of a brigade and Lieutenant Colonel Taylor
of the regiment during that battle. Colonel Jones' brigade,
during these operations, was the flank force of cavalry on the
extreme left, under General Reynolds, and received the very
brunt of the enemy's fire. On the first day of this terrible assault.
General Bayard, who was commanding the cavalry force en-
gaged, sent the regiment across the river on the 12th with orders
to advance till the enemy was found, which occurred a mile
beyond. It then fell back, followed by the enemy's skirmishers
and battle line, till our cavalry was relieved by the infantry. On
the next day Colonel Jones' cavalry was deployed as skir-
262 HON. OWEN JONES,
mishers on the left wing, where it was exposed to a galling
fire until three o'clock in the afternoon, when, in the midst of
the battle, General Bayard was killed by the bursting of a shell.
The cavalry force did good service, however, in covering the
retreat from Fredericksburg, and shortly after went into winter
quarters at Belle Plains, each alternate ten days doing picket
duty along the Rappahannock in the vicinity of King George
Court House.
"On the 19th of January, 1863, the regiment turned out with
the army to make another attempt to cross the river and give
battle to the enemy. After three days' splashing and flounder-
ing in the mud the movement was abandoned, and the troops,
drenched, bespattered, and half frozen, returned to their camps."*
This was the last military service of Colonel Owen Jones, as he
resigned his commission January 30th, 1873.
His record may be summed up briefly as follows : Chosen
Captain, August ist, 1861; Major, August 5th; promoted to
Lieutenant Colonel, October, 1861; and Colonel, May 5th,
1862. He was prominently engaged in the battles of Drains-
ville, Falmouth, Strausburg, Woodstock, Harrisonburg, Port
Republic, Cedar Mountain, in the front of the fight at the sec-
ond Bull Run, and finally at Fredericksburg, besides innumer-
able skirmishes and picket duties not set down in the books.
It may be added to Colonel Jones' credit that, though he
had made the acquaintance of numerous Virginians and other
Southerners while in Congress, and had acted with them po-
litically for years, his zeal, courage and loyalty, were never
called in question. He accepted in its entirety the words of
the Great Declaration — "Enemies in war; in peace, friends."
It is probable that if Bayard, that noble type of a soldier,,
had not been killed. Colonel Jones would have ren:;ained in the
service till the close of the war, as did Major Corson, the regi-
ment's efficient Quartermaster. The testimony of the men of
the command is that Colonel Jones, while he remained in the
army, was " every inch a soldier."
On the evening of Christmas day last (1878) Mr. Jones left
Wynnewood at half-past seven o'clock to visit a neighbor, leav-
*" History of Pennsylvania Volunteers," page 1019.
HON. NATHANIEL P. HOBART. 263
ing orders for his coachman to call for him at ten o'clock, which
he did, only to find that Mr. J. had not reached his destination
at all. A search revealed that he had fallen in a paralytic fit,
and was found entirely dead by the way. The suddenness of
his death produced a profound sensation throughout the county
and locality. His estate was estimated to be over one million
dollars.
HON. NATHANIEL P. HOBART.
Fugitives indeed they are. Our moments slip away silently and insensibly ; the thief
steals not more unpereeived from the pillaged house. — JJervey's Contemplations.
Nathaniel Potts Hobart was a lineal descendant of Edmund
Hobart,* who is recorded as landing with the Puritans of Mas-
sachusetts in 1633. The family is widely scattered over New
England, and is of the first respectability. The father of the
subject of this sketch was Robert Enoch Hobart, Avho early in
life was engaged as a merchant and marine underwriter in
Philadelphia. He was born in 1768 in that city, and married
January 14th, 1790, to Sarah May Potts. Their children were
Nathaniel Potts, Joanna, Robert E., Sarah P., Rebecca, Re-
becca the second, Mary B., Elizabeth, Samuel P., John Henry,
Elizabeth P. the second, and Ellen G. Of these twelve child-
ren but three grew up or had families: Nathaniel P. (the sub-
ject of this biography), Robert E., and John Henry.
After remaining in Philadelphia some years, Robert E. Ho-
bart removed with his family to Pottstown, Montgomery county,
where in 1824 and 1825 he was elected a representative to the
lower house of Assembly, and died at Harrisburg, while at-
tending the latter session, on the 17th of March, 1826. He is
interred at Pottstown.
The eldest of the children of Robert E. Hobart, Nathaniel
P., was born in Philadelphia on the 3d of October, 1790, and
educated there, being a graduate of the University. He studied
*The " Potts' Memorial," from which we have gathered some of the facts here re-
•corded, gives Captain Joshua Hobart as the great progenitor.
264 HON. NATHANIEL P. HOBART.
law, went to Pottstown in 181 1, and was appointed a Justice of
the Peace by Governor Snyder. About that time he was mar-
ried at Alexandria, Virginia, to Joanna H. Potts, of that place_
Shortly after he removed to Reading, Pennsylvania, opened an
office, and commenced the practice of his profession. The sec-
ond war with England was then going on, and the British ships
scouring our coasts kept the whole Atlantic seaboard in alarm.
A large militia force was raised for home defence. Nathaniel
P. Hobart enlisted in the Washington Blues of Reading, Cap-
tain Keim, was chosen Sergeant, and for some time did mili-
tary duty at Camp Dupont, near Wilmington, Delaware. At
the conclusion of this service he returned to Reading, Avhere
he practiced law for several years. While living there he also
filled the office of Clerk of the Orphans' Court and Quarter
Sessions, and was deputy prothonotary under General John
Adams, of that county. He was afterwards assistant clerk of
the House of Representatives at Harrisburg for several ses-
sions, during the chief clerkship of Francis R. Shunk.
He returned to Montgomery county, and was entered as an
attorney at our bar in August, 1830. While a citizen of our
county, in May, 1836, he was appointed Auditor General by
Governor Joseph Ritner, which he filled with great fidelity and
acceptance for three years.
Nathaniel P. Hobart left three sons and three daughters. Of
the sons, John P. is a lawyer in Pottsville, and formerly Sheriff
of Schuylkill county; Nathaniel P. is a civil engineer, and re-
sides in Pottstown; Robert H. is a lawyer, and also lives in
Pottstown, as do the sisters.
He had purchased of his grandfather, Samuel Potts, the right
to some coal lands in Schuylkill county, which afforded an in-
come, and he continued to reside at Pottstown in retirement
till the time of his death, July 3d, i860. His wife Joanna sur-
vived him till January, 1867.
It may be proper to add further an account of the two bro-
thers of Hon. N. P. Hobart, who have families. Robert E.,.
the elder of the two, married Henrietta, daughter of General
Rudolph Smith, of Philadelphia, and they had seven children:
William S., Sarah M., Eliza, Robert, John Henry, Henrietta,,
and Anna.
JOHN D. APPLE, ESQ. 265
The younger brother, General John Henry, the well known
lawyer of the Norristown bar, born in 1810, was admitted to
practice in May, 1S36. He was married to Mary J., daughter
of William Mintzer, of Pottstown, and they had six children
of whom all but three are deceased. Of these William M. v/as
married to Elizabeth W. Rutter, David P. to Caroline Nichols,
and John Henry to Laura Whitaker. General J. H. Hobart
was District Attorney of our county, being elected in 1855,
and is still practicing his profession in Norristown. His wife
died in 1858.
JOHN D. APPLE, Esq.
The gay will laugh
When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care
Plod on, and each one as before Tvill chase
His favorite phantom. — Bryant.
John D. Apple was born in the city of New York, in 180S.
He was the son of English emigrants to this country, and both
his father and mother died soon after their arrival in America.
Their son John D. came to Pennsylvania, and under the then
existing apprentice laws of the State was bound out to learn
the trade of a blacksmith, serving until he was twenty-one years
of age. Instead of following his trade he educated himself till
competent to teach school, after which he settled in the upper
end of Montgomery county, where he soon became a promi-
nent citizen and was elected a Justice of the Peace, holding
that office for many years. In 1834 he was married to Sarah
Bitting, and they had born to them five children, two sons and
three daughters, namely: J. Wright, Lewis C., Mary, Hannah,
and Jane.
John D. Apple, Esq., was for many years the most promi-
nent Democratic politician in that section of the county, and
the intimate and personal friend of Hon. John B. Sterigere,
whose active adherent he was till the latter's death in 1852.
Mr. Apple was a self-made man, a great reader, and by rea-
ls
266 JOHN D. APPLE, ESQ.
son of his wide information on nearly all subjects, wielded a
great influence among his neighbors and friends. Plis reading
was extensive and his memory so retentive that he rarely for-
got anything he had once mastered. He died April 9th, 1862,
aged 54 years. He was a large-hearted, popular, and useful
man.
We append a notice of his son,
J. WRIGHT APPLE, ESQ.,
who was born December 30th, 1845, in Marlborough town-
ship, Montgomery county. His mother was of German de-
scent. After receiving a good primary training in the public
schools of the locality, he was sent to Frederick Institute and
Freeland Seminary (now Ursinus College) to complete his edu-
cation. After this, in 1867, he commenced the study of law
in the office of George N. Corson, Esq., and was admitted to
the bar on the 17th of August, 1869. For a young man he
soon acquired a large practice, and on the ist of January, 1876,
was appointed Solicitor for the County Commissioners. At
the general election in 1877 he was chosen District Attorney
for three years. Very soon after entering upon the discharge
of the duties of this office it was his business to assist in the
second trial of Blasius Pistorius before the courts of Philadel-
phia, where the case was carried on a change of venue. He
assisted Henry S. Hagert, Esq., District Attorney of Philadel-
phia, and the case was managed so well as to secure a second
conviction of the prisoner.
Since Mr. Apple qualified as Commonwealth's attorney, he
has directed the prosecutions in the Quarter Sessions with great
industry and judgment, attending in the meantime to cases that
need his attention as they arise under the purview of the Coro-
ner. In the management of the Commonwealth's business he
is faithful to the State, courteous to his brethren of the bar,
and as he is talented, energetic, and industrious in his habits,
doubtless has a promising future before him.
His younger brother, Mr. L. C. Apple, has been reappointed
Qanuar}^, 1 879) Deputy Prothonotary of the county.
CHARLES FRONEFIELD, M. D. 267
CHARLES FRONEFIELD, M. D.
There is no death ! The stars go down
To rise upon some fairer shore ;
And brisbt in heareu's jeweled crown
They shine forevermore. — Lord Lytlon.
The Fronefields, like many others recorded in this volume,
are of that sturdy German stock which emigrated to eastern
Pennsylvania about the middle of the last century. The pro-
genitors of this family are traced to Germany or Switzerland,
and their descendants are widely scattered over our country.
The genealogy of Charles Fronefield is reckoned from his
grandfather, John Fronefield, who settled near Evansburg, in
Lower Providence township, Montgomery county, where he
married Mary Umstead, by whom he had the following named
children: Jacob, John, Elizabeth, Hannah, and Mary, who
married respectively Elizabeth Hallman, Edith Wolmer, Wil-
liam Ziegler, Philip Yahn, and John Heiser. The children
of the above named Jacob and Elizabeth Hallman Fronefield
were Rachel, Mary, William, Ann, Elizabeth, Harriet, and
Charles, the subject of this memoir. The children of John
and Edith Wolmer Fronefield were Jacob, Jesse, George, and
Joseph.
Charles Fronefield was born June 14th, 1809, i''^ Evansburg,
and while still a child was baptized by the rector of St. James',
of that place. When young he enjoyed only the benefit of a
common school education, but being of a studious turn of mind,
ambitious and persevering, he was sufficiently advanced at an
early age to enter upon the study of medicine, which was his
chosen profession, and graduated with high honors from the
University of Pennsylvania in March, 1829, being then in his
twenty-first year. Having worthily obtained a diploma, he set-
tled at Harleysville, Lower Salford township. He had in this
neighborhood several able competitors of long standing, but
his abilities soon being recognized, together with his energy
and public spirit, quickly brought him into prominence, and
for many years he enjoyed a lucrative practice. Dr. Frone-
iield was preceptor to a large number of students of medicine,
among whom may be mentioned Drs. Heist, Sloanaker, Smith,
268 CHARLES FRONEFIELD, M. D.
Spare, Royer, Heckel, Hough, Foley, Lambert, Moyer, Isett„
Geiger, Scholl, and others.
In 1837 he married Rosa Linda Riker, who bore him four
children, Isadore, Charles, Catharine M., and Rosa Linda. His
wife died in 1846, nine years after their marriage. In 1848 Dr.
Fronefield moved to Philadelphia and formed a copartnership
with Dr. Breinig to carry on the drug business, still devoting
a portion of his time to the practice of medicine. He sought
this change as a relief from the labors of a country practice,
and as necessary on account of a bronchial affection. In 1850,
four years after the death of his wife, he was married to Wil-
helmina C. Scholl, who now (1879) survives him. The child-
ren by this union were Mary S., Henry S., and Horace.
Dr. Fronefield was a man of great firmness and decision of
character, fixed and decided in his convictions on all matters of
duty, though at the same time always liberal and progressive
in his views. His disposition was social and genial towards
all with whom he came in contact. He was a kind husband
and father, a devoted friend, and a benefactor to the unfortu-
nate. Many instances could be related of his kindness of heart
and attention to the suffering poor where duty had called him^,
giving freely of his time and means to relieve their sickness
and destitution. His life was a busy and active one, constantly^
employed in what seemed present duties. He had a highly
cultivated mind, and was a writer of no mean order. He was
a frequent contributor of both poetic and prose compositions
to the Norristown Herald a?id Free Press and other periodicals,,
all his writings having that peculiar freshness, vigor and love
of freedom which characterize " live men." He was a promi-
nent Odd Fellow and Free Mason, and greatly respected in
both those orders. His death, which resulted from typhoid
fever, occurred August 6th, 1865, when he was 56 years old.
"He was not ashamed, if it should be God's will, to live; and
he was not afraid, if God should so order, to die." There were
many flattering tributes paid to his memory at the time of his
death.
" E. W. H.," in an obituary notice of him in the Philadel-
phia Z^-^i?? of August loth, 1865, says:
MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK. 269
•''He was a man cast in Nature's finest mould, Iiis very counte-
nance beaming with kindness. He was a good neighbor, an upright
•citizen, an ardent patriot, a sincere friend, a lover of the Bible, and
a believer in the doctrines of Jesus. In his honorable profession,
the thousands whom his skill and proficiency have benefited bear
testimony that by diligent study and investigation, and from the
ample store-house of his own extensive field of observation, he had
made himself deservedly eminent. He was withal modest and un-
obtrusive, always deeming others better than himself. He led a
'quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty' ; was gener-
ous to a fault; sorrowed with the sorrowing; rejoiced with the re-
joicing. He was, in the word's best and truest sense, a gentleman;
not a courtier with artificial mien, but gentle and manly — the en-
emy of nothing on earth save of wrong and wrong-doing, and the
friend always of all that was noble and right, and just and true.
Other forms and faces, and words and deeds, may fade from our
memory, but the recollection of the virtues and excellencies of Dr.
Charles Fronefield, the 'beloved physician,' will remain fresh and
green whilst life endures."
MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK.
War is a terrible remedy— nevertheless, a remedy.— KosstUh.
Cowards die many times before tlieir death ;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
*****
Now bid me run,
And I will strive with things impossible;
Yea, got the better of them. — Shakspeare.
Major General Winfield Scott Hancock, son of Benjamin Frank-
lin and Elizabeth Hancock, was born in Montgomery comity, Penn-
sylvania, February 14th, 1S24. His parents removed to Norris-
town, in that county, in 1S2S, where his father engaged in the study
■of the law, and subsequently commenced the practice of that pro-
fession at the Montgomery county bar. Our subject received his
•early education in Norristown, attending the academy there, which
was then conducted by Eliphalet Roberts, and subsequently pur-
sued his studies under Rev. Samuel Aaron. By appointment of
the Secretary of War, through Hon. Joseph Fornance, our member
of Congress, he entered the United States Military Academy at
West Point on the ist of July, 1S40, and was a cadet at the same
period with Grant, McCleilan, Franklin, John F. Reynolds, Burn-
side, Reno, and William F. Smith.
2/0 MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK.
He graduated June 30th, 1844, and the following day was ap-
pointed a brevet Second Lieutenant in the Sixth Infantry. He-
served on the Western frontier (Indian Territory) between two and
three years, and was promoted to Second Lieutenant in the Sixth
Infantry on the iSth of June, 1846.
During the Mexican war, from 1S44 to 1848, he served with his
regiment, being conspicuous for gallantry at the capture of San An-
tonio on the 20th of August, 1847, Churubusco on the same day,
Molino del Rey on the 8th of September, 1S47, and the assault and
capture of the City of Mexico on the 13th of September, 1847. He
was made a brevet First Lieutenant on the 20th of August, 18475-
" for gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras
and Churubusco, Mexico."
The following is an extract from the report of Captain William-
Hoffman, of the Sixth Infantry, who commanded a battalion of that-
regiment at Churubusco on the 20th of August, 1847:
Major: — I have the honor of making the following report of the
service of that part of the Sixth Infantry which came under my inl-
mediate command during the battle of to-day :
Our loss has been very severe, but I am unable to give the num-
ber.
^ ^ ■ >f; i|; if.
Among the officers who distinguished themselves I may be per-
mitted, to mention Captain Walker particularly, who was conspicu-
ous by his gallantry in the whole affair, and First Lieutenant Arm-
istead and Second Lieutenants Buckner and Hancock, who behaved-
in the handsomest manner. William Hoffman,
Commanding Sixth Infantry.
To Major B. L. E. Bonneville, Commanding Sixth Infantry.
Lieutenant Hancock served as Regimental Quartermaster in the
Sixth Infantry from June 30th, 1848, to October ist, 1849, ^'^^ ^^
Adjutant of the same regiment from October ist, 1849, to Novem-
ber 7th, 1855. On the 24th of January, 1850, he«was married to
Almira, daughter of Samuel Russell, Esq., a prominent merchant
of St. Louis, Missouri. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in'
the Sixth Infantry on the 27th of January, 1853, ^'^^ served as As-
sistant Adjutant General of the Department of the West, with head-
quarters at St. Louis, Missouri, from June to November, 1855. Om
the 7th of November, 1855, ^''^ ^^^^ promoted to Captain and As-
sistant Quartermaster, and was on duty at Fort Myers, on the Ca-
loosahatchee river, Florida, in 1856-7, during the hostilities of that
period against the Seminole Indians, and thence was ordered tO'
Kansas. In the spring of 1858 he marched with the Utah expedi-
MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK. 27 1
tion as Quartermaster on General Harney's staff, from Fort Leaven-
worth, Kansas, to Fort Bridger, Utah_ Territory. Later, during
the same summer, from August to November, he marched ^Yith the
Sixth Infantry from Fort Bridger to Cahfornia.
The outbreak of the rebellion in 1861 found him on duty in that
capacity at Los Angelos, Calilornia, where he exercised a powerful
influence to calm the storm of passion and fanaticism which threat-
ened to separate California from its allegiance to the tJnion. At
his own request he was relieved from duty in California, and has-
tening to Washington reported for active service in the field. He
was assigned as Chief Quartermaster on the staff of General Robert
Anderson, then commanding our forces in Kentucky, but before
entering on those duties he was, at the suggestion of General Mc-
Clellan, then General-in-Chief, appointed by President Lincoln a
Brigadier General of Volunteers on the 23d of September, 1861,.
and assigned to a brigade of Smith's division of the Army of the
Potomac. His brigade consisted of the Forty-ninth Pennsylvania,
Forty-third New York, Fifth Wisconsin, and Sixth Maine Volun-
teers, and was encamped at Lewinsville, Virginia, south of the Po-
tomac, during the fall and winter of 1S61-2. In March, 1862, he
embarked with his brigade at Alexandria, Virginia, accompanying
the Army of the Potomac to the peninsula, and was actively en-
gaged in the siege of Yorktown from Aprir5th until the evacuation
of that line by the enemy on the 4th of May, 1S62. The next day
he followed the retreating enemy towards Richmond, and the same
evening, with three regiments of his own brigade, two additional
regiments of infantry, and two batteries, fought a battle in front of
Williamsburg, Virginia. At its close he led the brilliant charge
which gained us the day, and caused the enemy to retreat during
the night. For his gallantry and splendid success on this battle-
field he was especially complimented in the dispatches of General
McClellan.
His conspicuous services in command of his brigade during the
seven days operations in June, 1S62, at Golding's Farm on the 2 7th^
Garrett's Hill on the 28th, Savage Station on the 29th, and White
Oak Swamp on the 30th, led the General-in-Chief to urge his pro-
motion to Major General of Volunteers. It was recommended by
General McClellan, for his services in the peninsula, that the bre-
vets of Major, Lieutenant Colonel and Colonel in the regular army
' should be conferred upon him — three grades at once. Vv'hen the
Army of the Potomac returned from the peninsula he took part in
272 MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK.
the movement on Centreville, Virginia, in August and September,
1862.
In the subsequent Maryland campaign of the same year he was
present in command of his brigade at Crampton's Pass, South
Mountain, Maryland, on the 14th of September, and on the battle-
field of Antietam, on the 17th, he was highly distinguished by Gen-
eral McClellan, who selected him to command the First Division,
Second Army Corps, General Richardson, the former gallant com-
mander, having received a mortal wound.
On the 10th of October he commanded an important reconnois-
sance from Harper's Ferry, Virginia, to Charlestown, in the same
State, during which he drove back the enemy's line after some sharp
fighting. The object of this movement being accomplis.hed he re-
turned with his forces to the lines at Harper's Ferry. On the 29th
of November he was promoted to Major General of Volunteers.
At the bloody battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, on the 13th of
December, Hancock's division took part in the assault on Marye's
Heights and the celebrated stone wall, which v/as a part of the de-
fences of that position. His troops pushed up so close to the wall
that some of his dead lay almost touching it. It was too strong,
however, to be overcome. Over^two thousand dead and wounded
from his division of a little more than six thousand men attested the
fighting qualities of his troops. During the entire day's murderous
combat. General Hancock, mounted, was conspicuous in the m.idst
of his troops, encouraging them to their best efforts. Fie narrowly
escaped death from a musket ball, which passed through his coat,
just grazing his person. He commanded his division afChancel-
lorsville from the ist to the 4th of May, 1863, taking an important
part in that battle, during which his horse was killed under him.
His troops were the last to leave that field.
On the loth of June, of the same year, he relieved Major General
Couch in command of the Second Army Corps, and while on the
march to Gettysburg, on the 25th of June, he was assigned by Presi-
dent Lincoln to the permanent command of that corps. On the
morning of July ist the Second Corps moved to Taneytown, Mary-
land, where General Meade, commanding the Army of the Poto-
mac, had fixed his headquarters. Shortly after General Hancock
arrived at that point, General Meade learned of the death or mor-
tal wounding of General Reynolds, who was in command of all our
forces then engaged with the enemy at Gettysburg. General Meade
at once ordered General Hancock to transfer the command of the
MAJOR GENERAL W, S. HANCOCK. 2/3
Second Corps, and proceed to the scene of battle at Gettysburg,
where, in the event of the death of General Reynolds or his disa-
bility, the former would assume command of our forces on that
field — the First, Third and Eleventh Corps, and the cavalry under
General Buford. General Hancock was also directed to report to
-General Meade whether or not, in his judgment, Gettysburg was a
proper place to fight the coming battle.
On his way from Taneytown to the battle-field General Hancock
met an ambulance containing the body of General Reynolds. He
arrived upon the field about three o'clock in the afternoon, and at
■once assumed command of all our forces there, checking the retreat
•of our troops, who were at that time falling back through the town
in great confusion. Passing to the rear beyond Cemetery Hill, he
made such dispositions as at once stayed the enemy's advance. He
planted our infantry and guns in the positions on Cemetery Hill
which they held during the entire battle, sent a division and some
artillery to the right to take possession of Gulp's Hill, and posted
Geary's division on the high ground towards Round Top. When
these dispositions were completed he sent word to General Meade
that he would hold the position until nightfall, and that in his opin-
ion that was the place to fight our battle. Later in the evening he
wrote a note to General Meade giving him more detailed informa-
tion concerning the position held by our troops, and upon these
representations from Hancock, General Meade decided to deliver
his battle at Gettysburg, and gave immediate orders for the move-
ment of his remaining forces to that point. On the 2d and 3d of
July General Hancock commanded the left centre of our army, and
on the 3d his troops repulsed the grand final assault of General Lee
upon our lines, and won the greatest and most important battle of
the war, inflicting enormous losses in killed and wounded upon the
enemy, capturing five thousand prisoners, thirty stand of colors, and
many thousand stand of small arms.
At the moment of victory. General Hancock, upon his line of
battle, fell desperately wounded, but did not quit the field until the
enemy were entirely dispersed. He sent word at once to General
Meade that the rebels were broken at all points, and we had gained
a great victory. This message from General Hancock to General
Meade, by one of his aids, was as follows :
"Tell General Meade that the troops under my command have
. repulsed the enemy's assault, and we have gained a great victory.
The enemy are now flying in all directions in my front."
2/4 ■ MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK.
To this General Meade sent the following reply:
"Say to General Hancock that I regret exceedingly that he is
wounded, and that I thank him for the country a-nd for myself for
the services he has rendered to-day."
It should be stated here, too, that by a joint resolution of Con-
gress, approved May 30th, 1866, General Hancock received the
thanks of that body for his "gallant, meritorious and conspicuous
share in that great and decisive victory."
Being disabled, he was borne from the line of battle to the field
hospital of the Second Corps, in the rear of the Taneytown road,
and thence to his father's house at Norristown, Pennsylvania, v/here
he lay for many weeks suffering great agony from the wound. The
ball was finally extracted, however, by a most skillful operation on
the part of Surgeon Lewis W. Read, United States Volunteers, of
Norristown, who was then at home on leave of absence, when he
began to recover. He, nevertheless, went on crutches for many
months, and was disabled from active duty until the following De-
ecmber.
In a lecture delivered by Surgeon A. R. Dougherty, late Medi-
cal Director of the Second Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, the
following extracts, narrating the wounding of General Hancock in
this famous battle, are appended. He says :
"It was when, on the morning of the 3d of July, he saw the en-
emy massing their artillery and directing it against the crest held
by the gallant Second Corps, which was to receive in a few hours
the shock of battle, that General Hancock ordered me, as Medical
Director of the corps, to remove our hospitals, till then stationed
near the Taneytown road, and just back of the crest, further to the
rear, where they would be out of range. While personally superin-
tending this operation, the terrible fire of guns (according to the Con-
federates, a hundred and fifteen, and according to our estimate at:
the time, a hundred and fifty) began, soon answered from our side by
as many more. Shells were flying thick through the yard of our Sec-
ond Division Hospital, and it was difficult to secure help enough to
load our wounded in the ambulances. When this had been kept
up about two hours, bringing us to about four o'clock in the after-
noon, I received a hasty summons to see General Hancock, whO'
was lying wounded on the further side of the slope. The enemy
had made his grand charge with Pickens' division, fifteen thousand
strong, the very flower of Virginia chivalry, just after the cessation
of the artillery fire, and had received that repulse which broke the
Confederate heart, and compelled the catastrophe at Appomattox
Court House as a corollary and necessary sequel. The enemy's ar-
tillery had reopened to cover the retreat of his broken legions, and
was sweeping the crest as with a besom of destruction, I at once.
MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK. 2/^
mounted, and taking an ambulance with me, galloped for the field
where lay the wounded hero. The road led directly over the crest,
through the reserve artillery park, and was marked with dead and
wounded men and horses.
*******
"I found General Hancock lying at the foot of a tree, with a
wound in the groin. Some one had tied a handkerchief about it
for the purpose of arresting hemorrhage. The wound was just in-
side of the femoral artery, which it narrowly missed, and was deep
and jagged, as well as wide enough to admit a thumb and finger,
with which I drew out, much to his surprise, bits of wood and a
ten-penny nail. He wondered if the enemy were filling their shells
with nails, for he did not entertain a doubt that his wound had been
the result of the explosion of a shell which had struck a neighbor-
ing fence rail, some portions of which had accompanied the nail
into the wound. This theory, mistaken as it turned out to be, I
accepted in the excitement of the hour, and not feeling anything
else in the wound concluded that all foreign bodies had been re-
moved. I withdrew the ligature, which seemed unnecessary, as-
hemorrhage had ceased, and applied the usual compresses and ban-
dages. When, after placing the General in the ambulance, I pro-
posed to mount and follow, he expressed a preference that I should
recline by his side in the vehicle, which I did accordingly.
"The maladroitness of the driver, or what seemed such to the
General, in directing his course over the very highest part of the
ridge, elicited from him a very natural remonstrance, until it was
remembered that this was the only exit for a wagon, the lower
ground being barricaded with extemporized breastworks. The
General, though suffering considerable pain, was in high spirits, his
exultant bearing suggesting that earlier hero of our history, whose
glory is England's boast — the dying Wolfe at Quebec.
* * * * *
"He directed me to halt when we should reach our hospital, in
order that he might dictate a dispatch to General Meade, announcing
the victory. Accordingly, when we reached the farm-yard used as
a hospital, where his summons found me, and where shells were
still flying as carelessly as in any part of the field, he exclaimed,
with an expletive, pardonable in a man already grievously wounded,
but not disposed to be killed after the battle was over, ' This is a
pretty hospital ! Drive on !' We at length got to a quieter neigh-
borhood, where •! wrote the dispatch he dictated.
*****
"It is a curious and tempting field of speculation opened by the
inquiry, AVhat would have happened had General Hancock not
been placed hors dii combat? Here was a man, the right hand of
the commanding General, who, in the first day's fight, was hurried
to the front as his locum tenens by that distinguished General, with
the information that Reynolds was killed, and the advance in dis-
276 MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK.
order, and with instructions to take command and rally the troops,
reporting at once on the suitableness of the Gettysburg position for
a great battle — instructions which called for that personal magnet-
ism characteristic of Hancock above all our officers excepting per-
haps Sheridan.
In the subsequent actions Hancock commanded the whole centre
and left centre, comprising the First, Second and Third Corps :
and, it was currently reported, exerted a preponderating influence
at the council of war held on the 2d, after the disaster to Sickle's
corps, which disaster he did more than any other man to repair by
his vigorous personal exertions in hurrying up reinforcements, and
moving troops from his ov/n and the First Corps, then under his
command into the awful gap that Longstreet had made. At that
•council the question was discussed whether the army should fall
back to the line of Piper creek — a line which had been contem-
plated as a suitable one on which to fight the battle had it not been
precipitated by the collision of the ist instant. The report went
that Hancock strenuously opposed this proposition, saying with em-
phasis, 'The Army of the Potomac has made its last retreat. It
must fight, and die, if that be its fate, on this ground.'
"This was the soldier who clung with such tenacity to the skirts
of the hill at Fredericksburg, when the rebels had us just as we had
them at Gettysburg. This was he who did the sole brilliant thing
in the v/hole bloody Wilderness campaign, in making, with his no-
ble Second Corps, the early morning attack of the 12th of May,
1864, at Spottsylvania, in which he scooped up Generals Johnson
and Stewart, with over three thousand rank and file and twenty-two
guns.
^ ^ 5(C JjC 3fC
"What might not such a soldier have done, hurling the gallant
Sixth Corps — only second in distinction, if not equal with our own
— against the enemy's broken ranks? And what, too, in the pursuit?
This question, it seems to me, admits of as easy a solution as the
other, if not easier. Would he not have imparted to the pursuit a
new vigor? Would he have taken the outer line of eighty miles in-
stead of the inner direct one of forty in following Lee? Would he
have given him three days in which to entrench himself at Falling
Waters, with the swollen Potomac behind him, and his bridge of
boats shattered by General French?
:(; :t: >K 5JC H^
"When at last I got the General down to the margin of the
creek, where our rear hospitals had been established, more suitable
■dressings were applied to his wound ; but, misled by the shell theory
which he had broached, I did not suspect the presence of still an-
other foreign body. He was sent away with many others in the
first train to Baltimore, and it was not till six weeks afterwards that
the surgeons, led by the persistence of purulent discharge to make very
careful and minute research, at length discovered with their probes,
MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK. 2J'J
at the depth of eight inches, and removed, a Minie ball. But at
corps headquarters we were prepared for this to some extent, as the
next morning al'ter the battle the ' McClellan saddle' (which General
Hancock used, as well as the horse he rode, both being borrowed from
Captain Brownson, our commissary of musters, a gallant officer sub-
sequently killed at t^e battle of Ream's Station) was found to have
a hole directly Ihrough the pommel. This solved the mystery.
The wood and the nail came from the saddle, and were carried into
the wound along with the ball, though we were naturally surprised
to ftnd so clumsy a nail used in the construction of a saddle."
During this enforced retirement from the field he visited West
Point, in New York, and St. Louis, in Missouri, and was every-
where received by the people with great enthusiasm.
In December, 1863, he reported at Washington for duty, though
he was still suffering from his wound. At this time he was promi-
nently talked of in official quarters for the command of the Army
of the Potomac, but with characteristic modesty and magnanimity
he disclaimed all desire for that position, and urged the retention
of General Meade.
In January, 1S64, he returned to the field, and resumed command
of the Second Corps. But as the army was then inactive, in win-
ter quarters, and as it was desirable to fill up the regiments before
the opening of the spring campaign. General Hancock was requested
by the authorities at Washington to repair to the North and recruit
for his corps, making his headquarters for the purpose at Harris-
burg, Pennsylvania. His high reputation and great popularity made
him very successful in this service, and while engaged in it he was
tendered by the City Council of Philadelphia the compliment of a
reception in Independence Hall on the iSth of February, 1864.
About this time he also received the hospitalities of New York, Al-
bany, Boston, and other cities. By his efforts under this appoint-
ment the Army of the Potomac received a large accession to its
strength.
In March, 1864, he rejoined the Army of the Potomac, and took
a most prominent part in the celebrated campaign of that year un-
der General Grant. At the battle of the Wilderness, Virginia, on
the 5th, 6th and 7th of May, he held the left of the army, and com-
manded the Second Army Corps and portions of the Fifth, Sixth
and Ninth Corps, amounting in all to more than fifty thousand men
under his command at one time. On the loth of the same month
he commanded the Second and Fifth Corps during the assault made
upon the enemy's works at Allsop's house (battle of the Po), in
2/8 MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK.
front of Spottsylvania Court House. On the 12th he led his corps
in its renowned assault at Spottsylvania, storming the enemy in their
•entrenched lines, capturing their earthworks and more than four
thousand prisoners, among which was nearly the whole of the cele-
brated Stonewall brigade, including twenty pieces of artillery, up-
wards of thirty colors, and many thousand stand of small arms.
This bloody assault stands apart as the most brilliant achievement
of the Army of the Potomac during the campaign of 1864. Owing
to the fact that at that time a battle was fought nearly everyday, and
further that the public mind was stunned, as it were, by a succession
of bloody contests, in which whole armies were engaged, this famous
feat of arms by Hancock's corps was never given that prominence
which its success and importance merited. It was in fact the hard-
est and best delivered blow Lee received during the whole campaign,
and had it been promptly supported and followed up he would
surely have been then ruined. It has transpired since the war, from
<;ionfederate sources, that Lee himself was compelled to lead the
troops which finally checked the Second Corps, and this only when
it had penetrated almost to the heart of his position. Even Lee's
strenuous and repeated efforts with his best troops could not wrest
from Hancock's men the works and guns they had stormed and car-
ried in their first attack in the morning.
On the 1 8th he made another stubborn assault upon the enemy's
lines in front of Spottsylvania, and on the 19th repelled a heavy
attack from Swell's corps, killing and capturing several hundred of
the enemy, and drawing him across the Ny river. His troops also
took a prominent part in the operations at the North Anna on the
23d and 24th, and had some severe fighting at the Tolopotamy from
the 29th to the 31st. He commanded his corps in the bloody as-
^saults at Cold Harbor from the 3d to the 12th of June, during which
his troops did some desperate fighting and met heavy losses.
From the 15th to the 17th of June he was engaged in the move-
ments which transferred the Army of the Potomac to the south side
of the James river, and in the assaults made upon the enemy's lines
in front of Petersburg.
On the evening of June 17th he was coinpelled to turn over the
■command of his troops on account of disability, caused by the wound
he had received at Gettysburg, which had not properly healed, and
from which he had suffered during the whole campaign. It was
constantly open and suppurating, and frequently on the march com-
pelled him to leave his saddle and ride in an ambulance until con-
MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK. 2/9
tact with the enemy called him to his horse again. Although he
was obliged to give up command of his troops on account of his
wound, he did not withdraw from the field or from the line of bat-
tle (the entrenchments in front of Petersburg).'*' At the end of ten
days, again feeling able to mount his horse, he resumed the com-
mand of his corps, and was engaged in the siege operations in front
of Petersburg until July 26th, 1S64.
On this latter date, in compliance with orders from headquarters
of the Army of the Potomac, he withdrew his corps from the Pe-
tersburg lines, and in conjunction with General Sheridan's cavalry,
crossed the Appomattox and James rivers. They, then attacked the
enemy's works on the north bank of the latter stream, at Deep Bot-
tom, and after some severe fighting, in several engagements, cap-
tured a portion of their entrenchments, four pieces of artillery, sev-
eral hundred prisoners, and three colors. Remaining on the north
side of the James until the evening of July 2yth, he was directed to
transfer his command to the south side of that river. The with-
drawal of his large force of cavalry and infantry, which was in close
contact with the enemy at several points, was a movement requir-
ing great care and skill, but was admirably executed. After a most
trying night march the Second Corps (or rather two divisions of it,
Mott's division having recrossed the James on the previous night)
arrived in front of Petersburg in time to witness the explosion of
the mine on the 30th of July.
This movement to Deep Bottom, under command of General-
Hancock, was intended to force General Lee to detach a portion of
his army from the Petersburg lines and send them to the north side
of the James to confront Hancock's demonstration there, thus weak-
ening him in front of the mine at the time of its explosion. The
expedition was perfectly successful in that respect, for a large por-
tion of Lee's army was sent to oppose him, and in addition severe
damage was inflicted by Hancock's assaults at Deep Bott'om, in which
Lee lost guns, prisoners and colors.
On the 12th of August, 1864, General Hancock was appointed a
Brigadier General in the regular army, and the same day received
orders from army headquarters to conduct another movement against
the enemy on the north bank of the James river. On this occasion
his command was composed of his own corps (the Second), the
Tenth Corps of the Army of the James, and Gregg's division of
*This is tlio most unmistak;ixl)le evidence tliat Hancock is no lioliday soldier, but al-
ways lit the post of duty and danjirer. He did not push his men into sanguinary lights
and remain out of danger himself.
280 MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK,
cavalry. Here he had a series of sharp conflicts with the enemy,
during which he assaulted and carried their entrenched lines at one-
point, captured four field howitzers, a number of prisoners, and
several colors. During this expedition Chambliss, the Confederate-
General, was killed in a charge by Gregg's cavalry at the crossing
of Deep creek. These operations continued until August 20th,
when he was recalled to his former position in front of Petersburg.
On the 25th of the same month General Hancock fought the bat-
tle of Ream's Station, on the Petersburg and Weldon railroad. His
forces consisted of two divisions of his own corps and Gregg's divi-
sion of cavalry. He was detached from the main army at this time,
and was engaged in cutting the railway, when the enemy withdrew
a large force from their entrenchments (outnumbering Hancock's
force three or four to one), and attacked him Avith great force and
vigor. His small command repelled several heavy assaults, but at
length his line was broken, and a number of prisoners and one bat-
tery v/ere lost. By desperate fighting, however, he held a portion
of his position until nightfall, when he rejoined the army in front
of Petersburg. Early in the day just mentioned General Hancock
had perceived that the enemy were concentrating an overwhelming-
force against him, and had sent a timely requisition to the com-
mander of the army for reinforcements, designating at the same-
time a short and direct road by which they could reach him. The
reinforcements were not sent, however, until too late in the da)%
and then by a roundabout road, on which they had to march many
needless miles. In consequence they were too long in reaching
even the vicinity of the field to take any part in the action.
On the 27th of October, 1864, General Hancock, in command
of two divisions of his own corps and Gregg's division of cavalry,
fought the battle of Boydton Road, Virginia. On this occasion he
was attacked by a superior force of the enemy, whom he drove from
the field with severe losses in killed and wounded, capturing one
piece of artillery, nearly one thousand prisoners, and two colors.
In November, 1864, the President directed General Hancock to
repair to Washington to recruit, organize, and command an army
corps to be composed of fifty thousand veterans who had served an
enlistment during the war and had been honorably discharged. He
remained in this service, in which his great reputation and popu-
MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK. 28 1
larity* made him very successful, until February c6th, 1865, when
he was assigned to the command of the Middle Military Division,
relieving General Sheridan, with headquarters at Winchester, Vir-
ginia. This command embraced the departments of AVashington,
West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and the Army of the Shenandoah,
consisting of about thirty-five thousand men of all arms. By the
opening of the spring of 1S65 this army had been brought to a high
state of discipline and efficiency by General Hancock, and it was
the intention of the authorities that he should either embark with
it and join Sherman on our South Atlantic coast, or make a move-
ment against the enemy in the direction of Lynchburg, Virginia.
But the surrender of the armies of Lee and Johnston made such
movements unnecessarv. He therefore remained in command of
the Middle division (changing his headquarters to Washington, D.
C, in April, 1865) until July of the same year, when he was as-
signed to the command of the Middle Military Department, with
headquarters at Baltimore, Maryland.
On the 13th of March, 1865, he was breveted Major General in
the United States armv "for gallant and meritorious services at the
battle of Spottsylvania," Virginia. On the 26th of July, 1866, he
was promoted to the full grade of Major General. f
He remained in command of the Middle department until August
6th, 1866, when he was transferred to the Department of the Mis-
souri, with his headquarters at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. While
in this command he was engaged during the spring and summer of
1867 in a campaign against hostile Indians in Kansas and Colorado.
Early in the spring of 1S67 he moved from Fort Riley, Kansas, with
a column composed of about fifteen hundred troops of all arms, to
a point about twenty-five miles from Fort Larned, on the Pawnee
Fork, a tributary of the Arkansas river, in Kansas, where was located
an Indian town of hostile Cheyennes and Sioux, whose warriors had
for several years been committing depredations, murdering settlers,
running off stock, and so on. Immediately after a conference, at
which these Indians had promised to commit no hostile acts in the
future, they treacherously killed some of General Hancock's scouts,
*-jays Mi-s. AVilliaiu II. Ilolsteiii, who spent three years as a volunteer nuree in the
Army of the Potomac : "(Teneral Hancock possessed in a reniarkal;.!e degree the power
of exciting enthusiasm among the miglity hosts lie so often k^d to victory." In ilhistra-
tion slie relates this incident : " A New York company was bemg led ni battle at Deep
Bottom by a Sergeant. A Corporal in the ranks, seeing the former lagging behind,
.stepped out to lead the men, us thougli he had always been accustomed to command.
Shortly after the Corporal was ordered to report to General Hancock's headquarters,
which he did, and left the General's tent with the rank of Captain as a reward for his
gallant conduct." — Tlirte Years in Field Hospitals, paije 88.
tAt this date General Hancock is the senior Major General of the army.
19
:2-82 MAJOR GENERAL Yv'. S. HANCOCK.
.attacked the laborers on the Kansas Pacific railroad (then under
■construction), and attacked and burned to death in their station
some of the employes of the Butterfield Overland Stage Company.
To punish this treachery General Hancock moved against the town
to which reference has been made, entirely destroyed it, and pur-
sued and drove the Indians entirely out of that section of country.
Later, during the sante summer, with a small body of troops, he
lYiade a second expedition to Denver, Colorado, and return, for the
purpose of opening the Butterfield stage route from Fort Harker to
that city, which had been closed by the attacks of hostile Indians.
He accomplished the service thoroughly, and established a system
•of stations, guards and escorts, which prevented that important route
from further interruption.
On the 12th of September, 1867, in obedience to orders from the
President, he relinquished the command of the Department of the
Missouri to Lieutenant General Sheridan, and on the 29th of No-
•vember following assumed command of the Fifth Military District
.and Department of the Gulf, comprising the States of Louisiana and
'Texas, with headquarters at New Orleans. General Hancock was
-averse to this change of command, and so informed the authorities
-at Washington, requesting them to leave him where he was, where
■his duties were purely military and entirely disconnected from po-
litical matters and reconstructive acts. But his request was not
fheeded.
Immediately upon his arrival at New Orleans, and entering upon
■ tiis command, he issued his celebrated General Order, No. 40, of
which the following is a copy :
Headquarters Fifth Military District, ]
New Orleans, La., Nov. 29th, 1867. j
General Orders No. 40.
I. In accordance with General Orders No. Si, Headquarters of
■the Army, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, D. C, August
c7th, 1S67, Major General W. S. Hancock hereby assumes com-
mand of the Fifth Military District and of the department composed
.of the States of Louisiana and Texas.
3. The General commanding is gratified to learn tliat peace and
■(.juiet reign in this department. It will be his purpose to preserve
this condition of things. As a means to this great end he regards
the maintenance of the civil authorities in the faithful execution of
the laws as the most efficient under existing circumstances. In war
it is indispensable to repel force by force and overthrow and destroy
opposition to lawful authority. But when insurrectionary force has
been overthrown and peace established, and the civil authorities are
ready and willing to .perform their duties, the military power should
MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK, 283
.cease to lead, and the civil administration resume its natural and
rightful dominion. Solemnly impressed with these views, the Gen-
eral announces that the great principles of American liberty arc still
the lawful inheritance of the people and ever should be. The right
of trial by jury, the habeas corpus, the liberty of the press, the free-
dom of speech, the natural rights of persons, and the rights of pro-
perty, must be preserved. Free institutions, while they are essen-
tial to the prosperity and happiness of the people, always furnish
the strongest inducements to peace and order. Crimes and offences
committed in this district must be referred to the consideration and
judgment of the regular civil tribunals, and these tribunals will be
supported in their lawful jurisdiction. While the General thus in-
dicates his purpose to resi)ect the liberties of the people, he wishes
all to understand that armed insurrection or forcible resistance to
the law will be instantly suppressed by arms.
By command of
Major General W. S. Hanxock.
General Hancock's course while in command of the Fifth Mili-
tary District was at all times entirely consistent with the lofty and
patriotic sentiments expressed in the above order, but finding that
such a course was not in harmony with the views of some of his
military superiors in Washington, he was, at his own request, re-
lieved from that command by order dated March 28th, 186S. The
President then transferred him to the important command of the
Military Division of the Atlantic, which embraced the Department
of the Lakes, the Department of the East, and Department of Wash-
ingto«i, with headquarters at Washington, District of Columbia,
where they remained until the following October, when they were
transferred to New York city.
On the 5th of March, 1869, by orders from the President (Gen-
eral Grant), he was transferred to the command of the Department
of Dakota, with headquarters at St. Paul, Minnesota, where he re-
mained until the death of Major General Meade in the fall of 1872,
when he was again assigned, in orders dated November 25th, 1872,
to the command of the Military Division of the Atlantic, with head-
. quarters in New York city, where he is at present stationed.
In 1S69 he was urged by his friends to accept the nomination of
the Democratic party of Pennsylvania as their candidate for Gover-
nor of that State, which he at once positively declined; and al-
though not an aspirant for the honor, he was among the most
prominent named for the Democratic nomination for the Presi-
dency in their national conventions in 186S, 1873, and 1876.
It has been the good fortune of but few men to render to their
country such long continued and valuable services as the subject of
284 MAJOR GENERAL W. S. HANCOCK.
this sketch. As a soldier he stands among the nation's most able-
and illustrious, while his "civil record" has shown such capacity for-
administration, coupled with the highest respect for and obedience-
to the laws of the land, as to gain for himself the respect and confi-
dence of all classes of his countrymen.
The last active military service performed by him was superin-
tending the disposition of a small body of i-egular troops brought
to Maryland and Pennsylvania, on requisitions of the Governors
of those States upon the President, to suppress railroad riots which
broke out in the summer of 1877 within their jurisdiction, and in
General Hancock's military division. This delicate duty he per-
formed with such prudence and discretion that the regulars were:
not brought into actual collision with the people, but, nevertheless,,
exerted a powerful influence in restoring peace and order.
Of General Hancock's distinguishing characteristics as a soldier-
it is but justice to remark that he resembles Wayne of the Revolu-
tionary army and Sheridan of the rebellion, in dash and fearless;
bravery; and yet, in his brief command in the South, he exhibited-
the very opposite of assuming boldness, which does him credit as a.
military leader in time of peace. It is natural for men of his pro-
fession to hastily resort to force in emergencies, especially as there-
were so many inducements leading him to adopt those means in-
stead of the opposite. How far, or whether at all, political views in-
fluenced him, it is impossible to determine. But it must be adimit-
ted by even those who hold that the civil rights of the late rebellious;.
States had lapsed, that the famdus letter of the General to Gover-
nor Pease, dated March 9th, 1S68, in defence of General Order-
No. 40, is an able document and hard to refute. It is an open-,
question, Republicans generally maintaining that civil rights and!
constitutional guarantees existing at the South had gone down with-
the "lost cause"; that those States had no rights but such as the-
conqueror chose to reconvey; and that in those Commonwealths
all civil administration of law not in full conformity with the new
order of things was ipso facto, in the nature of war, to be suppressed
by Federal arms. Democrats denied all this theory, maintaining
that open resistance having ceased, all remedies were or should be
civil ones alone. Whichever be the true theory, General Hancock's
views were the safest for an American General to assume. They were
the opposite of those held by Caesar when he crossed the Rubicon,
or Cromwell when he ejected the long Parliament.
It only remains to add a few items concerning General Hancock's.
• SAMUEL B. IIELFFENSTEIN, ESQ. 285
family coiinections. He has but one surviving child, his son Rus-
•sell, who resides in St. Louis, Missouri. A beautiful and accom-
'plished daughter died in New York, in her i8th year.
General Hancock's father died in Norristown on the ist of Feb-
Tuary, 1867, in his 68th year, and his mother, at an advanced age,
still (1879) resides in the same place. Benjamin F. Hancock, Esq.,
during his early business life, was for many years a Justice of the
'Peace, and till the time of his death an eminent lawyer at our bar.
He was also, as his wife, during all their adult life, worthy members
•of the Baptist churches of Norristown and Bridgeport.
The General's twin brother, Hilary Hancock, Esq., is a lawyer
-residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His younger brother, John
Hancock, Esq., was some years a member of the Legislature from
•Philadelphia, and has a number of children living.
SAMUEL B. HELFFENSTEIN, Esq.
THE HELFFENSTEINS.
If death were the final dissoUition of being, the wicked would be great gainers by it,
"by being delivered at once from their bodies, their souls, and their vices ; but as the soul
is immortal, it has no other means of being freed from its evils, nor any safety for it.
but in becoming very good and very wise. — Socrates.
Samuel B. Helffenstein, Esq., editor and proprietor of the JVa-
.tional Deferider, Norristown, is the oldest son of Jonathan and Eme-
■ line Bush Helffenstein, and was born in Gwynedd township, Mont-
gomery county, November 24th, 1838. His father was the son of
Rev. Samuel Helffenstein, D. D.,* for many years pastor of the
'German Reformed congregation in Race street, Philadelphia, who
was the son of Rev. John Conrad Helffenstein. The latter emigrated
from the Palatinate, Germany, in 1772, where he was born February
i6th, 1748. He settled over the German Reformed church of Ger-
mantown, and labored there nearly all his life, preaching a short
time, however, during the Revolutionary war, at Lancaster, Penn-
sylvania. He soon returned to Germantown, where he died May
17th, 1790, aged 42 years, and is buried there.
His son. Rev. Samuel Helffenstein, D. D., first mentioned, and
the grandfather of the subject of this notice, was one of the most
♦For the facts of this record we are indebted to Harbach and Hoisler's " Fathers of
Uhe German Reformed Church."
286 SAMUEL B. HELFFENSTEIN, ESQ.
eminent ministers that the Reformed church in this country has-
ever produced, and deserves, in this connection, a more extended
notice. His mother's maiden name v/as Kircher, and she was a
resident of Philadelpliia. Though a feeble, weakly child, his mo-
ther, like Hannah of old, dedicated him to the Lord, giving him
in charge of the Synod to be educated. He was accordingly trained
carefully, and ordained in 1797, first having charge of Boshm's and
Wentz's congregations, in Montgomery county. In 1798 he was
settled over the Race street church, Philadelphia, laboring there
till 1832, when he removed to a rural home in Gwynedd township,
near North Wales, Montgomery county^ where he died October
17th, 1866, aged 91 years. He was married early in life to Anna
Christina Steitle, by whom he had twelve children, three of whom,
Samuel, Albert and Jacob, became eminent ministers of the gospel.
Dr. Helffenstein's life or career is a remarkable instance of a
man of delicate constitution marrying young (22), becoming the
father of a very large family, and dying in extreme old age, with
his mental force hardly abated. As late as 1846, when seventy-one,
he published a volume of didactic theology, and during his minis-
try of fifty years as many as twenty-seven young men studied the-
ology under him. His wife died in January, i860, six years before
him, at the age of 81, and they are both interred in the family
vault at North Wales Reformed church-yard.
The Helffenstein family is perhaps rather more noted in Pennsyl-
vania annals as connected with the ministry of the German Re-
formed church than the Muhlenbergs have been as prominent in that
relation in the Lutheran church. Three of the sons of the patri-
arch of the family (John Conrad Helffenstein), Rev. Samuel, of the
Race street church, Philadelphia, Charles, and Jonathan, were all
eminent ministers. In the next generation, Samuel, Albert, and
Jacob, sons of Samuel (the son of the emigrant), were equally dis-
tinguished clergymen in their day. It happened to the author to
sit for a short time under the occasional ministrations of Rev. Sam-
uel, Jr., and he bears testimony to the simple, earnest orthodoxy
of his preaching.
Dr. B. W. Helffenstein, of Norristown, is one of the sons of Rev.
Dr. Helffenstein. Pie graduated in medicine at the University'
of Pennsylvania, practiced a number of years, but later in life re-
moved to Norristown, where he has divided his time between at-
tendance upon an apothecary that he keeps and giving lessons on
the piano, of which art he is a professor. He is intermarried with
SAMUEL B. HELFFENSTEIN, ESQ. 28/
Elizabeth, daughter of Edward and Magdalen Updegrove. They
have had three children, Joseph U., Anna E., and Jacob H., the-
last of whom died in his iSth year. Dr. B. W. Helffensteinand family
have been decided adherents of the evangelical branch of the Re-
formed church, and were among the most active in organizing the-
Trinity Reformed Church of Norristown, which stands as a protest
against the anti-Protestant tendencies of many in the Reformed body.
We return to the subject proper of this notice. His brothers andt
sisters are the following: Albert, an experienced printer, who many-
years was associated with him in the publication of the Defender,.
and is married to Matilda Earl; they have three children, Emily,.
Mamie, and Kate. Annie is intermarried with Thomas B. Evans,*
now (1879) foreman of the above named office. They have one-
daughter, Addie. Emanuel and Emily now live with the widowed
mother in Norristown.
Samuel B. Helffenstein, Esq., when a boy at his home at Nortb
Wales, and at the age of fifteen, was seized with a white swelling in:
his leg, Avhich laid him aside as an invalid for three years. He still,,
however, so profited by his opportunities as to commence teaching:
school when in his twentieth year, though crippled for life.
In July, 1864, S. B. & A. Helffenstein purchased of General Wil-
liam Schall the paper which had previously been published by his
sons, Edwin and Edward. At that time the circulation was about
six hundred copies a week. Under the management of S. B. & A.
Helffenstein, and of Samuel B. alone, it has been run up to two
thousand, in the face of increasing competition all over the county.
In 1869 S. B. Helffenstein, Esq., was elected Clerk of tlie Courts,
which office he filled three years to public acceptance, and in 18 71
he bought his brother's interest in the Defender, since which time
he has published it alone. In 1873 '""^ "'as married to Hannah R.,
daughter of the late Peter Streeper, of Whitemarsh.
S. B. Helffenstein's father died in 1847, when his son wa^; but
nine years old, and the latter, after subsequently spending three-
years of excruciating suffering in a sick room, was at last permitted
to enter life as a teacher, which calliag he followed six years, lilt
taking charge of the Defender, niiis last enterprise he began with-
out experience in the calling or wealth to back him. The present:
stable position of the paper, with a wide and reliable patronage, is.
the best proof of his industry and capacity for business. As an edi-
tor, Mr. Helffenstein is courteous and spirited towards opponents,
or friends, and pointed and forcible when he takes hold of the peii
to excoriate a political enemy.
288 WILLIAM J. BUCK.
WILLIAM J. BUCK, Historian.
He lives with antiquity and with posterity : with antiquity, in the sweet commu-
nion of studious retirement; and with posterity, In the generous aspirings after future
Tenown. The solitude of such a mind is its state of highest enjoyment. It is then vis-
jted by those elevated meditations which are the proper aliment of noble souls. — W. Irv-
ing^s Boscoe.
The family is of German origin, dating back in Franconia
to the time of the Crusades, its coat of arms being a white or
silver springing buck on a vermilion field. " We may fairly
conclude," says Lower in his work on the source of family
names, "that sometimes such surnames which indicate cour-
age or agility have been borrowed from the shields and ban-
ners of war." This remark probably applies in this instance.
Several centuries later branches of the family are recorded as
settled in Alsace, Flanders, and Lorraine. In the latter the De
Bocks held the seignories of Olgrange, Petrange, Vance, and
Autel, down to their confiscation in the French revolution. The
most common christian names in the family for generations
have been Nicholas, Jacob, and John.
The name of the great-grandfather of the subject of this no-
tice was Nicholas Bock, or De Bock (the German or French
for Buck), who came from near Thionville, Lorraine, about
1753, and first resided in Berks county for a few years. From
there he removed to Spring^field township, Bucks county, where,
in 1758, he first took up one hundred and eighty-two acres of
land by patent from the proprietaries, on which he settled and
made the first improvements, and subsequently one hundred
and seventy-two acres more adjoining. He was a man of cul-
ture, and could speak German, French, Flemish, and English
v/ith fluency. A short time before his death in 1787, he di-
vided his real estate among his several sons. His third^ Nich-
olas, was born in Springfield in 1769, and in due time married
Mary, the daughter of John Eck, of Lower Salford township,
Montgomery county. In 1792 he purchased a tract of land
on the Durham road, in Nockamixon township, on which he
removed the following spring, and continued there, ma king
extensive improvements, thus becoming the founder of Bucks-'
ville. His descendants still hold most of the real estate there.
WILLIAM J. BUCK. 289
Here his second soiij Jacob E. Buck (the father of the subject
of this notice) was born in 1801, and subsequently brought up
to the storekeeping business. On the 24th of February, 1824,
he was married to Catharine, daughter of Joseph Afflerbach,
cousin of the late Major General Paul Applcbach.
His eldest son, William Joseph, whose career we are sketch-
ing, was born at Bucksville on the 4th of March, 1825. In
1 83 1 he purchased the property at "Stony Point" (the name he
gave it), and there entered into the mercantile business. After
'William J. had been sent to the neighboring schools till he
could read, at the early age of eight years he was sent from
home, under charge of an uncle, to Doylestown Academy,
where he continued at intervals down to the spring of 1842,
and where he received the greater part of his school education.
In the year just named his father purchased the Red Lion ho-
tel property, at Willow Grove, in Montgomery county, to which
he removed and there continued till 1870. Here also William
J. resided till the summer of 1866, teaching the public school
of the place from August, 1847, till the spring of 1849, when,
through ill health, he resigned the position.
In October, 1857, he was elected County Auditor, Avhich office
was held two terms, or till the beginning of 1 863, after which for
several years he was an occasional assistant in the United States
Revenue Collector's office, under David Newport. Previously,
however, so early as 1844, he became a member of the Hat-
boro Library Company, which gave him access to books, and
which association he served as a director from 1859 to 1862.
John S. Brown, proprietor of the Bucks conwiy hitelligenccr,
quite early became impressed with the literary tendencies of
]\Ir. Buck, and encouraged him to become a contributor to
his paper so early as 185 1. Mr. B. continued to furnish mat-
ter for that paper many years. In 1852 the Historical Society
of Pennsylvania published in their collections his "History of
Mooreland," and the following year his articles on "Local Su-
perstitions" and "Indian Relics." For the former article
he received a complimentary letter from Washington Irving,
encouraging him to continue his historical efforts. The paper
on "Indian Relics" is illustrated by eighteen lithograph im-
290 WILLIAM J. BUCK.
pressions from drawings furnished by him. In this article he
suggested a historical map, which the Historical Society after-
wards carried into effect and had published in 1875, and to
which he was a valued contributor.
From a boy he evinced a passion for Indian relics, having,
unaided by any one, gathered a considerable collection from
the vicinity of Stony Point before he was twelve years old, and
which he presented to the Hatboro Library' in 1856.
Observing the interest taken in the extracts from his " His-
tory of Mooreland," published in the Intelligencer, Mr. Brown*
prevailed on him to write a history of Bucks county for his
paper, which accordingly appeared in its columns weekly,
commencing with November 7th, 1854, and ending March
13th, 1855. The editor afterwards had the series printed in
pamphlet form, commending it in very complimentary terms.
Copies of this work have been recently sold at high prices, as
it is out of print, and only comes down to the close of the
eighteenth century. These facts are somewhat remarkable,
inasmuch as it was hastily written, for from the time he re-
ceived the first invitation to write it until the whole passed into
the publisher's hands was but seven months.
In 1859 appeared his "History of Montgomery County
within the Schuylkill Valley," a work of considerable labor
and merit, and in preparation to write which he traveled afoot
the previous August about three hundred miles, visiting all
objects of interest and making full notes by the way.
His " Contributions to the History of Bucks County" com-
menced in the Intelligencer April 19th, 1859, and continued
till the 20th of September following.
"The Cuttelossa and Its Historical Associations" appeared
in the same paper from April 8th to September 23d, 1873, the
subject being a romantic stream in Solebury, but little over
three miles in length, in the neighborhood of which he had
spent several weeks during the two previous autumns.
For many years Mr. Buck's mind has been drawn irresistibly
towards historical and antiquarian studies. Mr. Watson, the
annalist, who met him at such a meeting at Graeme Park in
1855, wrote of him shortly after as "the young historian" who
WILLIAM J. BUCK. 29I
he supposed "would devote himself to such work hereafter, as
he has the mind for it."
In the Home Weekly, of Philadelphia, appeared a series of
articles by' Mr. Buck between February, 1866, and January
23d, 1867, entitled "The Naturalist" and " Observations of a
Naturalist."
In September, 1870, he accepted a situation with the His-
torical Society of Pennsylvania, as his other business permitted,
till November, 1872, in making extracts for their use from
early original records, to accomplish which required about one
thousand miles of travel, and the manuscript filling upwards of
four thousand compact foolscap pages. Since that time he has
had charge of the manuscript department of the society, hav-
ing arranged and had bound nearly one hundred volumes, of
which thirty-nine are folios belonging to the Penn collection,
purchased in 1871 at a cost of nearly four thousand dollars.
He read a paper before the society on the 4th of January,
1875, on the early discovery of coal in Pennsylvania, which
was published by his permission in the tenth volume of the
"Transactions of the Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society."
A second paper was read March 13th, 1876, entitled "Early
Accounts of Petroleum in the United States," which was is-
sued in a pamphlet by Bloss & Cogswell, at Titusville, Penn-
sylvania, and, with additions, in the Engiiieeting and Mining
Jotirnal, of New York.
In the summer of 1876, availing himself of the opportunities
afforded by the Centennial exhibition, he made nearly four
hundred drawings, with descriptions, of the best specimens of
the various Indian relics exhibited bv the government and
others.
In the fall of that year he wrote a full " Plistory of Mont-
gomery County," which was published in the spring of 1877
in Scott's Atlas. It is a remarkable condensation of history
in a narrow space, first as a county, and again by townships
and boroughs. To the late publications of the Historical So-
ciety he has continued as an occasional contributor.
Since February, 1876, he has also arranged and indexed
thirty-three volumes of manuscripts belonging to the Pennsyl-
292 REV. JACOB K, REINER.
vania Abolition Society, which was founded by Franklin and
his compeers, and so satisfactorily was the work accomplished
that the society at its annual meeting on the 26th of Decem-
ber, 1878, decided to engage him to write a full hi^ory of that
famous association which has existed over one hundred years.
This work will embrace the record from its institution in 1775
to the Emancipation proclamation of President Lincoln. Mr.
Buck is now (1879) engaged on that publication.
Although Mr. Buck has proved himself a devoted student,
he is, what is equally commendable, an active business man
also, for in the summer of 1866 he purchased a farm of two
hundred and twenty-seven acres near Federalsburg, Caroline
county, Maryland, of which he has twenty-five acres planted
with trees now bearing fruit, and where he makes his chief
home when not at the Historical Society's rooms. He also
occasionally resides at Hatboro, Montgomery county, on a farm
received from his father in 1872, on which he has worked a
valuable stone quarry.
Judging by Mr. Buck's capacity, tastes, and his means of
gratifying them, it would not be surprising if his intimate rela-
tions with the Historical Society should continue in some
shape or another while he lives.
His family connections living are not numerous. He has
an only brother, James, residing in the West, and a sister, Isa-
bella, married to J. Frank Cottman, of Jenkintown.
REV. JACOB K. REINER.
I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of; and wherever I have seen the print of his
■shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot, too. — Bunyan.
The man whose name heads this sketch is a venerable min-
ister of the Dunker church at Indian creek, and was born in
Hatfield township, Montgomery county, March 22d, 1807. He
is the son of David and Mary Kulp Reiner, also of Montgomery
county. He received but a common school education in his
youth, such as was then common, embracing reading, writings
REV. JACOB K. REINER. 293
arithmetic, grammar, geography,, and some of the inferior
branches of mathematics. He early exhibited a fondness for
reading and study, having the opportunity to gratify his taste
by the aid of the Hilltown Library and that of Montgomery
Square. Fie also availed himself of the advantages of lyceums-
during long winter evenings, taking an active part in the de-
bates. Thus prospering in the pursuit of knowledge till his
twenty-seventh year, he was married to Lydia Harley on the
28th of November, 1833. There have been born to them five
children, Mary Catharine, Joel, Isaiah, Samuel, and Israel. The
eldest died at the age of four years, and Israel in his twentieth.
Joel is intermarried with Esther Bevinghouse, and Isaiah with
Eliza Markley. Being of a religious turn of mind, Jacob K.
Reiner early joined the German Baptist church. About 1841,
when thirty-four years old, he was, as is the custom among
them, elected a minister to preach the gospel at Indian creek,
and has been serving in that calling ever since.
The Reiner family of the United States, according to Grube's
tables, originate with Lawrence Reiner, a wealthy and educated
Protestant, who emigrated from Germany early in the last cen-
tury. He had traveled to England, and obtained from Queen
Anne's government four things as an outfit for a pilgrim to the
new world — an axe, scythe, sickle, and .a grant of land in the
province of New Jersey, upon which he settled. But happen-
ing once to be nearly drowned while crossing the Delaware to
mill (there being none in New Jersey then), he resolved to re-
move to Pennsylvania, which he did, and located on or near
the Perkiomen creek.
His offspring, of the second generation, were Lawrence and
Philip. The third generation is traced through the second son,.
Philip. They were as follows: lienry, a miller; Mrs. Reiff,
who moved to Virginia; David, a farmer; Abraham, a wheel-
wright and farmer, who married Christiana Wanner, and by
whom the descent is next traced.
294 R^-V. JACOB K. REINER.
This Christiana Wanner has a romantic and somewhat mel-
ancholy history, which is here narrated.*
The offspring of Abraham and Christiana Reiner were as
follows: Mary, intermarried with a man named Stong; David,
a turner and spinning-wheel maker, and the father of Rev.
Jacob K. Reiner, the subject of this biography. Their other
children were : Rebecca Hoffman, mother of Philip Hoffman,
born January 1st, 1792, and died November 5th, 1864; Beata
Stauffer, wife of Rudolph Stauffer; Elizabeth Switzer, of North
Coventry, Chester county; and Philip Reiner, who had twelve
children, and finally became afflicted with a mild type of in-
sanity.
Thus Christiana Wanner and sister, at once orphaned and
robbed of their patrimony, under God's ruling hand became,
notwithstanding, the mothers of an exalted line of descendants,
reminding one of the patriarch Isaac, Avho was almost slain on
the altar of sacrifice, a lesson to all future ages.
Rev. Jacob K. Reiner resides in the house where he was
born, in Hatfield township, and has passed his "threescore
years and ten" among the same people, universally loved and
esteemed. His christian humility and native modesty are such
that it was with difficulty his assent could be obtained to pre-
sent his name in our work. Of his preaching one of his con-
stant hearers says :
"His sermons are very logical and convincing, so that they gen-
erally carry conviction to the minds and hearts of his hearers. He
keeps so close to the subject matter of his text as almost to exhaust
it. He delivers more funeral sermons, perhaps, than any other
jDreacher of his vicinity, thus ministering often among other de-
nominations of christians, and being respected and loved by all
*Di-. M. Wanner, the father of Christiana Wanner, was of the gentry of Germany and
a man of fortune. He, with three children, left his fatherland for America either from
religions or civil troubles, and died on the ]>assage. He gave his treasure into the hands-
of the captain of the ship for his children, who, proving false to his trust, wickedly and
basely appropriated the money to his own use, and sold the children into servitude to
pay for their passage, as was customary among those who -were poor. The eldest of
these children was Christiana, wife of Abraham IJeiner, alcove mentioned. Catliarine,
another daughter of Dr. Wanner, married a man named Steitle, Avhose only cliild be-
came the wife of Sanmel Helfl'enstcin.M'ho were father and mother of the eminent men
of that name: Jacob, Samuel, and Albert (all lieformed clergymen), and their brothers,
Dr. Abraham, Knianuel (lawyer), Isaac, Dr. Benjamin, Jonathan, and Catharine, the
latter of whom is married to a man named INIiUer, of Philadelphia. For this anecdote,
and most of the facts of .Tacob K. Ileiner's history, we are indebted to Abraham II. Oas-
sel, of Harleysville.
ClIAKLKS KUGLER, ESQ. 295
v.'ho know him. He is indeed reverenced and respected by the ir-
religious equally as by the members of other sects."*
According to the custom of this plain and pious people, who
hold that preaching is a gift emanating from the Divine Spirit,
their ministers usually work at some secular employment. Mr.
Reiner, who had learned his father's trade, therefore took up
plowmaking, and is still engaged in making a very superior
kind, well known as the " Reiner Plow." He also works the
small patrimonial farm where he resides.
CHARLES KUGLER, Esq.
Mine eyes from tears by grace,
My feet from fulling-. Lord, keep for a space.
Till where none weep or fall I see thy face. — Mrs. M. J. Bi(tlc.
One of " the best preserved " citizens of Montgomery county,
now enjoying a green old age, is Charles Kugler, of Lower
Merion, now in his seventy-fifth year. His eye is as bright,
his countenance as animated and expressive of real life, as most
men at their meridian — a remarkable illustration of the advan-
tages of active, useful and sedate habits. He is the son of John
and Harriet Kugler, and was born, where he now lives, Feb-
)-uary 5th, 1S05. His grandfather was Paul Kugler, and his
great-grandfather was a German emigrant who settled in east-
ern Pennsylvania in the early part of the la-st century. There
are several branches of the family descended from this great
ancestor scattered over Pennsylvania and surrounding States.
John Kugler, whose wife's maiden name was Miller, died in
i8i5,w'hen his son Charles was but ten years old. His widow
lived till 1S60, and at her demise was in her eighty-fourth year.
Besides Charles, the subject of this notice, John Kugler left
two daughters, the clciest, Eliza, a maiden lady, who was buried
in 1875, at the age of seventy-five, and Sarah, intermarried with
*"0n several occasions I not iced at stores and shops, -where lively young peojile con-ie
together of evenings to chat and have fun, that the appearance of Mr. Keiner in the com-
pany would elicit from them marks of respect, not horn of Ibir, Imt of re\-ercnce, and
which would instantly check their hilarity. "—J. J{. Casscl.
296 CHARLES KUGLER, ESQ,
Daniel Gunkle, a miller, of East Whiteland, Chester county .-
They have had eight children, one of them, Dr. William H.
Gunkle, having been a surgeon in the Union army during the
rebellion, and since practicing in West Whiteland till his deatlx
in 1875. . • ;
In youth Charles Kugler had but the benefit of a common^
school education. He, however, so profited by his opportuni-
ties as to acquire the rudiments as well as a fair mathematical
training, sufficient to qualify him to practice surveying, and
likewise all the routine of commercial transactions. He per-
fected himself in surveying under Alan W. Corson.
In 1840 he was married to Eleanor, daughter of Abraham
and Catharine Levering, who died in 1845, leaving to his care
three daughters. Kate H., the only one now living, is inter-
married with Frederick Eckfeldt, of Washington, District of
Columbia. After remaining widowed a number of years, Mr.
Kugler was married to Harriet, daughter of Philip and Harriet
Sheaf, of Delaware county. There have been born to them six
children: Charles, who was educated at the Polytechnic Col-
lege, Philadelphia; Anna Sarah, who has been well educated,,
and is studying medicine; Paul J., engaged in commercial pur-
suits in Philadelphia; Eleanor L., who was educated in the
High School, Philadelphia ; Mary Florence, who also attends
school in Philadelphia; the youngest, Hattie S., attends the
free school of the locality.
Very early in life Mr. K. connected himself with the religi-
ous body now called "St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church,
of Lower Merion," and he, perhaps more than any other per-
son there, has labored many years to build it up to its present
state of prosperity. His quiet efforts have been so closely iden-
tified with this church that we condense from a historical ser-
mon delivered in i860 by the pastor. Rev. T. T. Titus, the fol-
lowing notes of its organization and development to the pres-
ent time:
"So early as 1765 German ministers occasionally preached here
and baptized the children of settlers in Lower Merion, but until 1767
no communion service was held there. In that year a record is ex-
tant that forty-three persons held a sacramental service. A Luthe-
ran church was soon after organized and land bought by William.
CHARLES KUGLER, ESQ. 29/
Stadelman, Frederick Grow, Stephen Goodman, Christopher Getz-
man, George Baasler, and Simon Litzenberg, on which to erect a
church and found a cemetery. In 1769 a small log-house of wor-
ship was built, and the first communion service in the new house
held May ist, 1774. From this time the church had a lingering
existence, its pulpit being supplied by ministers of different denomi-
nations. In 1800, however, the people erected a new house of wor-
ship of stone, which was occupied as above stated till' the English
language had supplanted the German ; but still it languished for
want of stated preaching and regular church ordinances.
"In 1828 Rev. B. Keller had become pastor at Germantown,.
when Mr. Kugler, who had joined the society, interested himself
to invite Mr. Keller to divide his ministrations with the church of
Lower Merion, which he accordingly did. Very soon the distinct-
ive interests of the congregation began to be looked after as never
before. A Sunday school began to flourish, and Mr. Kugler pro-
cured the building of a stone enclosure along the south line of the-
church lot. Shortly after Rev. Jeremiah Harpel became the stated
pastor, and at the first communion thereafter but eleven persons par-
ticipated, Mr. Kugler being the only male communicant. From
this time, however, under the energetic labors of Mr. Harpel, who
became pastor in 1831, the church began to increase, and by 1S33;
the people set about erecting a new house of worship, Mr. Kugler,
as before, taking the lead. The edifice, built of stone, was finished
and dedicated as 'St. Paul's' in November, and the congregation
continued to increase in numbers and influence till 1834, when Mr.
H. resigned. In 1835 -^^^- Charles Barnitz assumed the pastorate,
and took up his residence in the neighborhood. He ministered
also about four and a half years, till 1839, and added to it about
fifty persons.
"His successor was Rev. Edwin Town, who had charge two and
a half years, and left in 1842. The pulpit was then vacant until
the autumn of 1844, when Rev. Nathan Cornell was called, who
labored about the same length of time, adding some twenty-four to
the communion. In 185 1 Rev, William D. Roedel was settled
there, and the congregation built a parsonage. He labored four
years, adding seventeen to the membership.
"The church having grown strong and prosperous, with a mem-
bership of nearly seventy-five, a new edifice (the fourth since the
organization of the church) was decided upon, and erected in 1873
on a new site donated by Mr. Kugler. In design and convenience
it is fully up to the times. It was dedicated in December, 1875."
Mr. Kugler, at a very early day, also began to labor in the
Sabbath school, having now filled that honorable and useful
position over fifty years. For a long period, too, he was a
trustee and a member of the church council. For thirty years,
on behalf of the congregation, he has represented the Synod
of eastern Pennsylvania in the General Synod of the Lutheran
20
298 CHARLES KUGLER, ESQ.
Church, and for sixteen years also has been President of the
Lutheran Publication Society of Philadelphia.
In 1834 Mr. K. was elected a school director, re-elected con-
tinuously till 1870, nearly forty years, and during the incipient
period of the school law he earnestly defended the enactment
and its beneficent workings against the prejudices that opposed
its adoption. Pie might, therefore, with great justice and pro-
priety, be regarded as the putative father, or at least the early
and continued patron, of free school education in his neighbor-
hood. Charles Kugler is what might be denominated a born
Democrat, and acted with that party till 1861, when he thought
many of them gave aid and comfort to the rebellion. He was
accordingly nominated and elected to the Legislature by his
Democratic fellow-citizens, and served during the sessions of
1842-3 and 1843-4 with great credit to himself and acceptance
to his party. Being a surveyor and scrivener, accustomed to
transacting legal business, he was often elected either assessor
or assistant assessor, and has served his fellow-citizens in nu-
merous private trusts, such as executor, guardian, and the like.
During the closing years of the war he voluntarily and with-
out compensation, and simply as a patriotic and charitable
duty, came to Norristown, collected the bounty appropriated
by the county for the support of soldiers' families in his neigh-
borhood, and paid over the money, thus saving them the ex-
pense and trouble of coming for it themselves.
In 1 86 1, believing that the Democratic party, as a party,
was not as earnest in defence of the Union as the opposition,
he severed his connection with it, and has ever since acted
with the Republican, which he has often represented in county
^ conventions, and on one or more occasions has presided over
those bodies with great dignity and judgment. Mr. Kugler
was the President of the first Union county meeting called at
Odd Fellows' riall, Norristown, to sustain the war, just after
the fall of Fort Sumter, and doubtless was selected because of
his known Union sentiments as a ^Democrat. ]\Ir. K. lives in
an ancient mansion (the family homestead) on the Lancaster
turnpike, at Ardmore, and besides the property on which he
resides, owns a small farm of seventy-five acres near by.
THOMAS RUTTER. 299
Mr. Kugler is a man of widely extended information and
superior judgment; hence the use his brethren, fellow-citizens
and neighbors have made of his time and talents. Besides, he
is of that quiet temperament, unbending integrity, and abste-
mious habits, that give assurance of a life well spent.
THOMAS RUTTER.
THE RUTTER FAMILY.
Oh, all important time ! through every age
Though much and warm the wise have urged, the man
Is yet unborn who duly weighs an hour. — Night Thoughts.
'One of the most ancient, respectable and influential families
iin eastern Pennsylvania is that which we have placed at the head
■of this'page. The orthography would indicate a German ori-
gin, but Thomas Rutter, a Quaker, is recorded to have come
to the colony with Penn in 1682, He was, therefore, probably
English. He was married, by Friends' ceremony, to Rebecca
Staples, at Pennsburg, Bucks county, on the lOth of Eleventh-
month, 1685. For a time they settled in Bristol township, he
being a man of intelligence and energy, and a preacher among
them until the schism, headed by George Keith, which took
place in 1691, when he seems to have adopted Baptist views,
and was baptized (immersed) by Rev. Thomas Killingworth,
continuing afterwards to preach as a Baptist for some years.
In 1705 or 1706, when Pastorius resigned the office of Bur-
gomaster of Germantown, Thomas Rutter, who then lived
there, was chosen in his stead. Whether he entirely aban-
doned the ^"ministry of the word" about this time is uncer-
tain,; but it is recorded that in 17 17 he removed to the Mana-
tawny region, and commenced to mine and smelt iron ore, of
which business he must have had some knowledge in the old
country. The following is the record found in one of Jona-
than Dickinson's letters, in the Logan manuscripts, about that
time:
"This last summer one Thomas Rutter, a smith, wlio lived not
300 THOMAS RUTTER.
far from Germantown, hath removed farther up the country, and of
his own strength has set up making iron. Such it proves to be, as.
is highly set by all the smiths here, who say that the best Swedes'
iron doth not exceed it ; and we have heard of others that are go-
ing on with the iron works."
Manufactured iron was about that time sent to England
from Pennsylvania as a specimen of colonial skill and enter-
prise, exciting so much jealousy there that a bill was intro-
duced in Parliament two years later to prevent the erection of"
rolling and slitting-mills in the colonies. It did not become a.
law, however, till 1750, when it passed, only giving us permis-
sion to export pig metal to England free of duty.
»
The high honor, therefore, of being the first to manufacture
iron from the ore in Pennsylvania, and probably in America^
belongs to the Rutter family in their early head, Thomas Rut-
ter. He purchased a large tract of land lying now in Mont-
gomery and Berks counties, parts of which have since beea.
known as Colebrookdale, Amity, Douglassville, and Boyer-
town. There, associated with Samuel Savage and Thomas.
Potts, the infant iron business was founded. Samuel Savage-
had married Anna, granddaughter of old Thomas Rutter, but
died in 17 19, leaving four sons, Thomas, Samuel, Joseph, and
John, and two daughters, Ruth and Rebecca. These latter^
granddaughters of Thomas Rutter, Sr., were intermarried with
John Potts and Samuel Nutt, Jr., two names also famous in
the early history of the iron trade of Pennsylvania,
About 1728 a white man named John Winter, on the bor-
der, murdered an Indian and two squaws, which was retaliated
by the savages near Colebrookdale, and much alarm, inquiry,,
and disputation ensued for some time between settlers, Gover-
nor, and the Indians. After holding a council with the latter
in Philadelphia, the white man was hanged for the crime. Pend-
ing the settlement the famous Delaware chief, Sassoonan, in
his talk:, spoke kindly of Thomas Rutter, and said he would,
root and cut up every bush, and make the way wide to Phila-
delphia for his friend. The matter was finally healed by giv-
ing presents to the Indians, and they retired satisfied.
Thomas Rutter, the founder of the family, died in 1729 or
1730, leaving his lands, mines, forges and furnaces to his two-
THOMAS RUTTER. 3OI
•sons, Thomas and John, and to his sons-in-law, Thomas and
Samuel Savage, who had married his two granddaughters,
Anna and Rebecca. The paternal ancestry of the Rutters
then descended to the third generation in the original chris-
tian name of Thomas, all of them more or less concerned in
the iron business. Thomas Rutter, of the third generation,
was married to Martha Potts, and had the following children:
John, born in 1760, and died in 1794. Mary Catharine, born
in 1762, and piarried John C. Stocker in 1782, who died in
1792, leaving a number of children; she died in 18 13. The
third child was David, born in 1766, who ran Pine Forge, and
died in 1817. The fourth was Ruth Anna, born in 1768, and
intermarried with Jacob Lindley; she embraced Quaker views,
and was a noted preacher among them. The fifth was Clem-
ent, born in 1770, and died in 1771. John Rutter, above men-
tioned, owned and ran Pine Forge, as did also his son David,
of the fifth generation.
David Rutter, of the fifth generation, married Mary A. Potts.
They had born to them the following children: Margaretta,
intermarried with Dr. Samuel Hiester, of Chester county. She
died in 1820, leaving one son and one daughter, John R. and
Mary A., the latter intermarried with Devault Weber, of Nor-
ristown. David Rutter's second child was Ruth Anna, mar-
j-ied to Samuel Potts. The third, Thomas, married Catharine
Boyer, and afterwards Catharine Ovenshine. The next child
■was John P., who married Emily Potts, and also ran Pine
Forge; he died in 1870, and his widow in 1867. The next
child was Clement S., born in 1800, married Letitia Brown,
and afterv/ards Sarah McCollom. David was the next; he
-Studied medicine, married Isabella Crawford, located in Chi-
cago, and died in 1866. The next child was Mary Catharine,
!born in 1802, intermarried with Joseph Potts, and died in 1858.
-Martha was the next child, born in 1804, married Major W.
Brook, and died in 1878. The next, Lindley C, born in 1807,
was ordained a Presbyterian minister, first married Miss Mont-
gomery, afterwards Matilda P. Anderson, and then Louisa M.
Potts. The next child was Charles, born in 18 10, who married
302 THOMAS RUTTER.
Mary A. Ives. The youngest child was Samuel, born in 1815,.
and who married Jane K. Baxter.
The offspring of the foregoing children of David and Mary
A. Potts Rutter are partially enumerated below, as follows:
Samuel and Ruth Anna Rutter Potts had one daughter, inter-
married with Dr. Eagleton, of Philadelphia. John P. Rutter,
the eldest son, had six children born to him, William, Henry
P., John, Clement, Sarah, and Emily, the former daughter being
the wife of John Taylor, of Philadelphia. Clement had four
children; two deceased. The next child. Dr. 'David, who in-
termarried with Isabella Crawford, and located in Chicago, left
a number of children in influential positions in life. Joseph
and Mary Catharine Rutter Potts had one son and one daugh-
ter, Clement and Mary A. Major W. Brooke and Martha his
wife left one son. Brigadier General John R. Brook, elsewhere
commemorated, and two daughters, Caroline and Catharine.
The next child, Rev. Lindley C. Rutter, and his wives, have
had several children, one of the daughters being the wife of
Lyman Beecher, of Pottstown. Charles and Mary A. Ives
Rutter have six children: William, intermarried with Sarah
May Hobart; Elizabeth W., the wife of William M. Hobart,
son of General John H. Hobart; Samuel H., intermarried with
Miss Hopkins, and who is now (1879) paymaster on the Jer-
sey Central and Lehigh Valley railroads; the three younger
children are Mariell, John O., and Mary. The father, Charles
Rutter, has been for many years holding a very important po-
sition in the employ of the Reading railroad at Pottstown.
[Note. — For most of the foregoing facts we are indebted to
^'The Potts' Memorial."]
ALAN \V. CORSON. 303
ALAN W. CORSON.
L«t the mind be great and glorious, and all other things are despicable in compari-
son. — Seneca.
Without doubt the best known and most justly celebrated
scholar and scientist of Montgomery county is Alan W. Cor-
son,* of Whitemarsh township, now in his ninetieth year. We
have others whose general scholastic attainments extend over
a wider range of studies and more classical, but in mathematics,
botany, entomology, and some other natural sciences, he has
long been distinguished among the educated men of our county
Before giving a sketch of his very eminent career as a teacher,
surveyor, farmer, and naturalist, we turn aside to notice the
origin and peculiarities of the family so well and favorably-
known in our locality. The founder of the sept (as the Irish
term it) in our county was Joseph Corson, a merchant and
farmer, who in 1786 came from Bucks county and located near
Plymouth Meeting. The family trace their descent from the
Huguenots, who fled from France in 1675 on the revocation
of the edict of Nantes, which drove nearly all Protestants from
that kingdom. The historical fact is that two P>ench ships
sailed with families for Charleston, South Carolina, one of
them landing its exiles at the place of destination, and the other
being either cast away on the shore of Staten Island, or mak-
ing a harbor in distress and discharging its passengers there.
On this vessel, as history or tradition informs us, came the Cor-
sons, Kreusons, Lefferts, Larzaleres, Du Bois, and other French
families, who about 1726 pressed their way westward and set-
tled in Northampton township, Bucks county, where, to the
present day, their descendants are quite numerous. There is
documentary proof that Benjamin Corson, of Staten Island, on
the 19th of May, 1726, bought two hundred and fifty acres of
land half a mile below the present Addisville, Bucks county,
for i^350. This was the original home of the family in Bucks
county, and remained in its hands till 1823. This Benjamin
Corson was the great-grandfather of Joseph Corson, who moved
*This sketcli is written and publislied witlioiit consuUntion witli the suhjcct, or his
assent being obtained. It is a tribute justly chie a venerable and distinguished man,
whose modesty and religious scruples could hardly be overcome for the purpose.
304 ALAN W. CORSON.
into our county, as before stated, in 1786. The latter married
Hannah, daughter of Joseph Dickinson, whose ancestor, Wal-
ter Dickinson, of the Church of England, received a patent for
four hundred and twenty acres of land on the Patapsco river,
in Pvlaryland, in 1658.
From this ancestor descended William Dickinson, who be-
came a Friend, moved to Pennsylvania, and settled at Ply-
mouth Meeting shortly after Penn founded his colony in 1683.
He was the great-grandfather of Hannah .Dickinson, intermar-
ried with Joseph Corson, and the mother of the large family of
children described below. The mother of Joseph Corson was
a Dungan, a lineal descendant of Rev. Thomas Dungan, a Bap-
tist preacher, who came from Rhode Island, and settled at Cold
Spring, near Bristol, Bucks county, in 1684. This minister
"\vas the founder of the first Baptist church in Pennsylvania.
He had left England to escape the persecutions against his sect,
but finding New England no better came to Pennsylvania to
share the religious liberty of the Quakers. In the grave-yard
of this church lie buried the remains of Dr. Benjamin Rush,
■of Revolutionary fame.
The zeal of the Corson family for liberty of conscience, there-
fore, is derived from Huguenot, Baptist, and Quaker sources,
certainly forming a strong pedigree in that direction.
We return to the descendants of Joseph and Hannah Cor-
son.* The eldest, who is now approaching a centenarian, is
Alan W., the subject of this notice. He was born in White-
marsh township on the 2ist of February, 1788. When a small
boy he assisted his father on the farm, and afterwards, when he
kept a store at Hickorytown, he was store-boy. This afforded
bim opportunities to observe men and things, and some leisure
moments for reading, which he improved. Up to the age of
twelve years he had the benefit of day schooling, as other boys.
But he possessed such decided mathematical capacity that he
was able to master those studies nearly unaided by teachers,
relying upon printed assistance alone. By the time he was
*While perusing an old file of newspapers, printed between 1803 and 1812, we ob-
serve the name often spelled "Coursen." Whetheritis aeorruption by those who wrote
or printed by the pronunciation, or a slight change of orthography adopted by the fam-
ily, we do not know. In old records discovered at Staten Island, however, the name
was spelled " Corsen," though the family in that locality now use the same orthography
jirevailing here.
ALAN W. CORSON. 30$
grown, therefore, he was capable of teaching all the common
mathematical branches, as well as the other studies usual in
high schools. He was thus early a self-taught scholar, and
teacher also, a profession to which he devoted himself. For
several years he taught a day school belonging to Friends at
Plymouth Meeting, and afterwards, for many years, a boarding
and day school in his own house, in Whitemarsh, his reputa-
tion as a teacher being so high that he drew many students
from Norristown and other places. About middle life, how-
ever, he abandoned teaching as a profession, and having a large
farm and nursery of trees and shrubs, he divided his time be-
tween these and land surveying, an art in which he was regarded
as the most accomplished in the county. His reputation in
this department was so eminent that he was often called to
distant places, and employed wherever there were difficult lines
to run that required extra skill and accuracy to determine true
boundaries. In this calling he was not relieved from service
till infirmities and advanced age compelled him to decline. He
was also for very many years, because of accuracy in accounts,
excellence of judgment, and high character for integrity, em-
ployed by neighbors and acquaintances to write wills, deeds,
and draw agreements for them. He was frequently appointed
executor by testators or chosen administrator of those dying
intestate.
In early life Alan W. Corson was married to Mary, daugh-
ter of Laurence Egbert, of Plymouth, and they had born to
them the following children, seven of whom grew to adult age:
Hannah, intermarried with James Richie; Sarah, married to
Isaac Garretson; Martha, the wife of Isaac Styer; Elias Hicks,
whose life and family history appear elsewhere in this volume;
Laurence E., married to Mary, daughter of Dr. Benjamin John-
son; Dr. Joseph; and Luke, who is an extensive farmer living
in Nebraska.
The living children of the above grandchildren of Alan W.
Corsonare the following: James and Hannah Richie have two
daughters, Helen and Emily. Isaac and Sarah Garretson have
five children — Mary, intermarried with William Livezey; Joseph,
Alan, Anna, and Eliza. The children of Elias H. are given
306 ALAN W. CORSON.
elsewhere. Laurence E. Corson, who for many years was an
eminent surveyor, justice of the peace, and conveyancer in
Norristown, left three children — Alan (who is now justice, sur-
veyor, and conveyancer in Norristown, as his father was), Sal-
lie, and Norman. Dr. Joseph, who studied with his uncle,
Hiram, graduated at the University, and till the breaking out
of the rebellion practiced at Portsmouth, Ohio; was surgeon of
an Ohio regiment, and died soon after his return; was married
to Martha Cutler, and his widow and one son, Edward, live at
that place. Luke, who is the only son living, has one child,,
Alan.
Alan W. Corson's eldest daughter inherited her father's love
of natural science, and more than thirty years ago furnished
the Montgomery County Cabinet of Natural Science a valua-
ble herbarium. She stands very high as a botanist, and the
vast collection of rare specimens in that science she has gath-
ered and prepared, as also her museum of salt and fresh water
shells, have made her justly celebrated among her acquaint-
ances. She has two daughters, one the wife of Dr. John Gra-
ham, of Philadelphia, and the other married to a gentleman
named Perkins, of the same city.
A notice of Alan W. Corson would not be complete without
a further reference to his brothers and sisters, the other child-
ren of Joseph Corson (who left a large family), nearly all of
whom were well educated, and possessed commanding talents
and marked moral characteristics. The author will be par-
doned for saying that they exhibit family peculiarities remind-
ing him of some of the time-honored clans of Scotland. The
Corsons will arraign each other, sometimes sharply; but to-
the outside world they are a unit. This results from the very
commendable and warranted pride of family, or esprit du cotps^
as the French phrase it. Almost all the race possess a keen,
jocular> and sarcastic turn of mind, and some of them a talent
for mimicry and critical badinage peculiarly French. The
author may also add that he has no knowledge of any man of
the county from whom are descended so large a number of cul-
tivated and distinguished offspring, both in the male and female
branches, as are descended from Joseph Corson.
ALAN W. CORSON. 3O7
Joseph Corson's next eldest child to Alan W. was Mary, in-
termarried with Charles Adamson, of Schuylkill, Chester county,
who died recently at the age of 85. She was the mother of
Thomas Adamson, who for many years held the position of
United States Consul at Pernambuco, Brazil, and is now in a
similar position at Rio Janeiro. In these posts he has won an
enviable fame with American seamen navigating those waters.
A sister of Thomas, Dr. Sarah R. A. Dolly, studied medicine
— being one of the first women in the United States to gradu-
ate — and has, in connection with her husband. Dr. Lester A.
Dolly, a large practice in Rochester, New York. Another sis-
ter is married to Elijah F. Pennypacker, Esq., of Phoenixville.
The youngest son, Charles, also lives at Phoenixville.
The third child was Sarah, the wife of Thomas Read, late
of Norristown, whose family is mentioned in connection with
the sketch of Dr. L. W. Read, found on another page of this
book.
Joseph Corson's next child was Joseph, intermarried with
Ann Hagy, and by whom he had the following children: Hi-
ram, Hannah, Isabella, Humphrey, Clara, and Howard. Of
these the first named is a very distinguished and well known
scholar, having been at one time a professor in Girard College at
Philadelphia, St. John's College at Annapolis, and now of lan-
guage in Cornell University. He was recently invited by the
New Shaksperian Society of London, England, to deliver the
annual address before them, an honor never before tendered an
American. Isabella, a sister of Hiram, is the wife of George
A. Lenzi, a very gifted artist of Norristown. Clara, the young-
est sister, is intermarried with a son of Rev. Mr. Scholl, for-
merly of Norristown. Howard, the youngest child, is dead.
The next son of Joseph Corson, Sr., was Charles, who is
commemorated in the sketch of his son, George N. Corson,
Esq., elsewhere recorded in this book.
Next comes George Corson, Sr., who all his life lived at
Plymouth Meeting, first as a merchant, ai-jd afterwards as a
farmer and extensive manufacturer of lime. He was justly dis-
tinguished for high moral qualities, being a most untiring anti-
slavery and temperance reformer while he lived. He was mar-
08 ALAN W. CORSON.
ried to Martha, daughter of Samuel Maulsby, of Plymouth.
His eldest son, Samuel M., studied law, and practiced some
years in Philadelphia, but has resorted to teaching and litera-
ture as more congenial to his taste. A brother, Elwood, is
the well known physician of Norristown, who, to his reputa-
tion as a doctor, has added botany as a special study. A sis-
ter, Helen, who after years spent in the School of Design at
Philadelphia, and two years under private instructors in France
in the study of art, returned to Plymouth, but is now pursuing
her profession again in Paris. Another daughter of George is
Ida, who, after graduating at Vassar College, taught mathematics
in a popular school in Philadelphia, and is now residing with
her uncle. Surgeon George Maulsby, of the United States Navy,
in Washington, District of Columbia.
After George Corson, who died in i860, in his 58th year,
comes Hiram, without doubt the most celebrated physician in
the county. Reference is elsewhere made to him at length.
The youngest of Joseph Corson's family is William, who
studied medicine and graduated at the University of Pennsyl-
vania, and was admitted to practice in 1831. hie has long
been at the head of the profession in Norristown, having a very
large practice. He is an enthusiastic devotee to everything that
relates to it, besides being a man of enlarged public spirit. He
and his brother Hiram were mainly instrumental in organizing
the Montgomery County Medical Society, and are also mem-
bers of the State society.
During the late war Dr. William Corson was appointed by
Dr. PI. H. Smith, Surgeon General of the State of Pennsylva-
nia, in connection with Dr. Green, of Easton, and Dr. "Worth-
ington, of West Chester, members of his examining board con-
vened at Harrisburg. Subsequently he was appointed to fill
the position of examining surgeon, or medical officer, of the
Sixth district during the drafts. This was a post of great re-
sponsibility, demanding good judgment and high moral cour-
age. Since the conclusion of the war he was appointed exam-
ining surgeon under the pension laws of the United States. At
present he has the position of commissioner in the board ap-
pointed to superintend the building of the Warren Hospital for
MAJOR WILLIAM H. HOLSTEIN. 3O9
the Insane. Though naturally diffident, retiring, and not seek-
ing official responsibilities, he has frequently been chosen to
sit on public committees, and has contributed at different times
some valuable papers to the medical literature of the day.
With few exceptions the whole Corson race have been cul-
tivated in mind and notorious for their love of free thought.
True to their Huguenot origin, they have been outspoken for
freedom — the deadly foes of slavery; and most of them being
life-long teetotallers. As the phrenologists say, the moral in-
stincts have predominated over those strictly religious, Alan
W. being nearly the only one of the male members of the
family who has assumed the strict garb and life of Friends, al-
though most of them adhere to the society's teachings. Alan
is justly noted for his doctrinal unity with those who hold the
views of Elias Hicks, and for the conscientious fulfillment of
every precept of christian morals.
Alan W. Corson's mind received a strong religious bent at
a very early age, and his conscientiousness and truthfulness
have been controlling characteristics during his long life. He
has been all his days an ardent lover of nature. Many years
ago, with his cousin, John Evans, he used to make annual ex-
cursions to the lowlands of Delaware, Maryland, the sandy
pine woods of New Jersey, and even to the Adirondacks, for
specimens of botany, geology, mineralogy, and entomology,
and in search of other scientific matters.
MAJOR WILLIAM H. HOLSTEIN.
The time of life is short ;
To spend that shortness basely 'twere too long
^If life did ride upon a dial's point.
Still ending at the arrival of an hour. — Shakspeare.
William H. Holstein is the eldest surviving son of Colonel
George W. Holstein, of Upper Merion township, Montgomery
county, and was born February 17th, 1816. His brothers and
sisters, with their intermarriages and offspring, are the follow-
3IO MAJOR WILLIAM H. HOLSTEIN.
ing: Ann Sophia was married to Andrew Shainline, farmer,
of Upper Merion, both deceased; left four sons and three
daughters. Rachel M., the wife of Thomas J. Molony, farmer,
of Kingsessing, Philadelphia; also deceased, leaving no child-
ren. Elizabeth W., married to Dr. Joseph Brookfield, of Phil-
adelphia; died without children. Mary Atlee, intermarried
with William Amies, papermaker, of Darby, Delaware county,
now deceased; have two daughters. Emily Wilson, the wife
of General William B. Thomas, flour merchant, of Philadel-
phia; three daughters. Louisa B., the widow of George W.
Dewees, formerly of Chester county; has two daughters and
one son. Susan, the wife of William B. Roberts, Esq., farmer,
of Upper Merion; two daughters and six sons. Dr. George
W., intermarried with Abby T., daughter of Daniel R. and
Ann Brower, then of Phoenixville; one daughter and two sons,
Isaac Wayne, farmer, of Upper Merion, married to Alice H.
Hallowell; two daughters and one son.
William H. Holstein's father, with the late Major Matthias
and William Holstein, were the descendants in the third gen-
eration of Matts Holstein, who was born in Philadelphia (or
rather, where part of that city now stands) in 1644, of Swedish
parents, two years after the second immigration of Swedes to
the banks of the Delaware and Schuylkill. The family thus
antedates the Penn settlement in Pennsylvania by nearly half
a century. The immediate descendant of Matts Holstein, his
son Matthias, came to Upper Merion (then known as Amas-
land) during the year 1705, and purchased one thousand acres
of land running west from the Schuylkill, near Swedes' Ford,
and extending to Red Hill. In 17 14 he built a stone house on
Frog creek, near the centre of the tract, where his children and
grandchildren, four generations down, have been born. This
house is still standing, and in a good state of preservation.
The farm which Major William H. Holstein owns and occu-
pies is part of the original tract, and has always remained in
the possession and occupancy of the Holstein family. The
maternal ancestors of Mr. Holstein were Welsh or English,
his grandmother, Elizabeth Wayne, being a sister of Major
General Anthony Wayne, of Revolutionary fame.
MAJOR WILLIAM H. HOLSTEIN. 3II
The subject of our notice received his chief education in the
neighboring schools, excepting one year spent at the seminary
of C. Atherton and Rev. Samuel Aaron, at Burlington, New
Jersey, On the 26th of September, 1848, he was married to
Anna M., daughter of William Cox and Rebecca Ellis, of
Muncy, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania. He has been em-
ployed as a farmer all his life, having sought no public office,
nor held any beside that of Secretary of the Chester Valley
railroad corporation and the position of vestryman of Swedes'
Episcopal Church, the latter of which he has filled for the long
itime of thirty-five years.
During the late civil war he enlisted in the ranks of the
.Seventeenth Regiment of Pennsylvania militia ("emergency
men"),, and served till it was mustered out. Shortly after,
about the time of the battle of Antietam, in company with his
wife, he commenced a tour of hospital duty, which was con-
tinued without intermission until the end of the war, July 4th,
1865, when they returned again to their home. His brother,
Isaac W., occupies his father's homestead. Mr. Holstein re-
sides upon an adjoining farm which descended to him from his
uncle, William Holstein, who died many years ago without
children.
As the most important public service of Major Holstein's
life was performed in connection with that of his capable and
public-spirited lady, we give copious extracts from a small vol-
ume recently written and published by her, of their experience
in that benevolent work, under the title of " Three Years in
Field Hospitals." On visiting the terrible field of Antietam,
she says:
'•'As I passed through the first hospitals of wounded men I ever
saw, there flashed the thought, 'This is the work God has given me
to do in this war — to care for the wounded and sick, as sorrowing
wives and mothers at home would so gladly do were it in their
power.' "
Thus she and her husband, feeling themselves "called" to
the work, continued three years in it. The duty of nurses
■often placed Mr. and Mrs. Holstein in circumstances of great
trust and responsibility, and faithfully they discharged them:
"Near Union Mills our troops camped for the night in order of
312 MAJOR WILLIAM H. HOLSTEIN.
battle. * "^ Many officers and men came with the request that
we would take charge of money and valuables for them. It was a*
touching sight — upon the eve of -a battle, as we thought — to see
keepsakes from loved ones at home entrusted to comparative stran-
gers. I wore under my coat a belt, and carried the costly sword
belonging to it under my dress. A civilian, as my husband was,
could not do so without arrest, while I would pass unnoticed. The
large amount of money and valuables in our possession were brought
safely to Philadelphia, and the former soon restored to its owners.
The sword, with some other articles, were unclaimed till the end
of the war." — Pages ^6, 37.
Of Gettysburg, where they had a long and arduous tour of
duty, she says :
"For a few weeks the events daily occurring in the hospitals were
most painful. They might be summed up, briefly, to be: fearfully
wounded men; nurses watching for the hour when suffering would
cease, and the soldier be at rest ; parents and friends crowding to
the hospital, hoping for the best, yet fearing the worst; strong men
praying that they might live just long enough to see, but once more,
wife, or child, or mother. After this battle relief came promptly.
It v/as upon our own soil, and the great heart of the people was-
stirred to its very depths when they knew that among us thousands
of our countrymen lay with ghastly wounds — men who had stood
as a 'living wall' between us and the foe to save our homes from.,
rebel rule." — Page 40.
Other incidents are related :
"In the officers' row lay, for some weeks, a young Lieutenant,
from Schuylkill county, with both thighs .shattered, suffering fear-
fully. A few hours before his death, at his request, the holy com-
munion was administered to him. After joining in the solemn ser-
vices he remained perfectly still — unconsciously 'passing away,' as-
those present thought — until a glee club from Gettysburg, going
through the hospital, sang, as they walked, 'Rally 'Round the
Flag'.' The words and music seemed to call back the spirit to earth
again, and forgetting his crushed limbs and intense suffering, sprang
up, exclaiming, 'Yes, boys, we did rally 'round the flag; and you<
will rally oft again!' then sank back exhausted, and soon was at
rest." — Page 48.
"In another portion of the hospital was a man from western Penn-
sylvania, whom his friends mourned as dead, whose funeral sermon
had been preached, and his name on the rolls marked 'Killed in
battle.' His captain and comrades saw him fall in the midst of a.
desperate charge, and almost without a struggle life was gone — as
they thought, and so reported. But it was not so. The bullet, in
its course, went crashing through both eyes, though sparing life.
A few hours later, when the wounded were gathered up, he was
found, then taken with others to the hospital, where for weeks he
lay unconscious, his brain affected from the inflammation which en-
MAJOR WILLIAM 11. IIOLSTEIN. 3I3
sued. He could give no history of himself, but when hungry would
make it known by calling 'Mother!' and talk to her constantly —
first about his food, then of home concerns. I have heard him in
these sad wanderings when he would ask, ' What do the girls say
about me, now I have gone to the war? Does Jennie miss me?'
At length his parents heard of him, and from the description thought-
it might be the son they mourned as dead. I was in his tent when
his father came and recognized in the blind, deranged man, his
handsome, brave boy. Eventually his mind might be restored, but
his sight never. In this state he took him home to the mother he
talked of so much." — Page 49.
The experience of Major Holstein and wife, as detailed in
the pages of this little volume, are both pathetic and interest-
ing, sometimes amusing, of which the following are speci-
mens: On the march to Richmond under Grant, in 1864, the
hospital service passed an Episcopal church, and Mrs. Hol-
stein, opening the prayer-book on the desk, found the words
*' President of the United States" were cut out. Beside it lay a
manuscript copy of prayers for the rebel government. This
Mrs. H. and her husband, being Episcopalians, confiscated,
sending it to the Sanitary Fair, and substituted the prayers for
the Union armies as published by Bishop Potter, of Pennsyl-
vania. — Page 63. A motley crowd of men, women and child-
ren (contrabands) were constantly arriving. ]\Ir. H. met an
old woman of eighty carrying, as he supposed, a child in her
arms. Upon coming up to her, however, and questioning her
as to her burden, she said she had her " olc mudder," who was
over one hundred; that they were "going to the land of free-
dom, and could not leave her a slave in Virginia." — ^Page 64.
We make no apology for copying the following passage,
which has a local interest:
"On the 5th of June Mr. Reuben T. Schall came, bringing the
body of his brother. Colonel Edwin Schall, to be embalmed. He
fell at Cold Harbor on the 3d of June, shot through the neck.
Connected with this gallant officer's death is an incident so singu-
lar that it is worthy of record. On Sunday, the 7th of June, in the
officers' hospital in Georgetown, my niece* was sitting by her hus-
band's bedside, watching the passing away of a life now near its
close. As the things of earth receded, and another world dawned
upon his gaze, the lamp of life flickered and flashed in this its clos-
ing scene. Suddenly rousing up, his voice, which had previously
been faint and feeble, rang out in a clear, loud tone : ' Lieutenant !
*W;fe of Captiiiu Bisoins, who had Ijeen shot in the same battle as Colonel Scliall.
21
314 MAJOR WILLIAM H. HOLSTEIN.
Lieutenant!' A wounded Lieutenant lying near answered : 'What
is it, Captain?' He replied: 'I am not calling 3'ou; it is Lieuten-
ant Colonel Schall. I saw him fall, and thought the way he was
lying perhaps he was dead.' His wife soothed him, telling him,
'The Colonel is all right,' and he sank exhausted on his pillow.
But in a few moments he called in the same tone: 'Lieutenant!
Lieutenant!' repeating again the same words that he had seen him
fall. Again he was soothed to quietness. Fully conscious that
death was near, the brave soldier, in a few earnest, never to be for-
gotten words, sent home the message that he 'gave his life freely for
his country.' In Captain Bisbing's death, two homes were made
•desolate. He was an only child; to the home circle of wife and
children, an irreparable loss." — Page 69.
Mr. and Mrs. Holstein were occasionally subjected to the
usual homesickness, as appears by the following brief extract :
"Now sheltered from the scorching sun we are very comfortable
- — quite luxurious living; and certainly we should never complain
while sick and wounded lie upon the ground. But in contrast with
this dwelling, sometimes will come before us thoughts of a countiy
home in Pennsylvania, with cool, airy rooms, and pleasant surround-
ings of shade and fruit trees, gardens, and the like, until the long-
ings seem almost irresistible." — Page 81.
We close these narratives of hospital life by a description of
-our poor starved men from rebel prison-pens, as they were de-
livered from shipboard at Annapolis :
"On board a vessel which had just unloaded its miserable pas-
rsengers, came a young boy, who was carried on shore, and when
bathed and made comfortable with clean clothing was taken into
one of the tents of the naval school hospital. As he was laid upon
his nice clean mattress, he called to his comrades in suffering : ' Boys,
I'm ready to die, now that I have heard the music and seen the old
flag.' Some one said: 'Surely you don't want to die, now that we
are home again.' The boy replied : 'I prayed so earnestly that I
might live only long enough to die upon our own soil ; and now,
though I should like to see my own home, I am perfectly happy and
ready to go. I know I can't live.' He continued to talk cheer-
fully of death, repeating every few minutes ; 'I've heard the music,
and I've seen the old flag!' In three hours the feeble spark of life
was gone, and the next morning he was carried to the cemetery,
with sixty-five of his companions, -the most saddening funeral pro-
cession that perhaps was ever formed. Sixty-five starved men, who
lingered long enough to die upon our own soil, and under our dear
old flag!
" 'They died for me and you.'
"In one arrival of four hundred and sixty, only sixty were able
to walk ashore ; the four hundred were carried. Half of these died
within a few days: one-third of the whole number imbecile. They
GENERAL WILLIAM J. BOLTOX.
ji?
.appeared like a wretched bundle of bones, covered with a few filthy
.rags."-*" — Page 94.
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM J. BOLTON.
If it be aus'ht toward the 8:ener:il g'ood,
Set honor in one eye and death in the other.
And I will look on both indifferently. — Shukspeare.
William Jordan Bolton, second son of Janics and Mary Ann
Bolton, was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, October 22d,
1833. His father had lived a longtime in Norristown, having
been in his early years in partnership with the late Hon. Levi
Pawling in the milling business at the foot of Swede street.
James and Mary Ann Bolton were married when the former
vwas somewhat advanced in life. Their children were Rebecca,
Joseph K., William J., and John S.
The Bolton family are probably of French origin, though
the tradition is that they were English Quakers, and emigrated
with Penn's people in 16S3.
William was named after Rev. William Jordan, a Baptist
preacher, originally from South Carolina, who, in 1833, was
pastor of the Baptist church in this place, of which his mother
was a member. In his early years he had the benefit of our
^public schools, but afterwards received a fair academic cduca-.
tion under the tuition of Rev^ Samuel Aaron, at Treemount
Seminary.
When of proper age he was apprenticed to the trade of a
machinist or engineer, and previous to the breaking out of the
late rebellion had charge of the engine at the rolling-mill of
James Hooven & Sons. While holding this position, his first
*The author cannot holp reniarkins: hero that he has never contemplated this infer-
nal cruelty without liorror, nor witliout iudi<;:nation against all concerneil in it. First,
against Davis and others v/ho deliljeratcly starved th(!se men for a definite purpose, an<i
.for wliich they sliould have been handed; and a^ainbt our government, who, knowing
how our soldiers were being nuu-(lercd in rebel pens, were feeiling Confederate soldiers
in our hands on the best of the land, and handing tliem back in good condition toliglit
u.s again. Rulers who conduct a war upon any otlier i)rinciple t!mn tlie lex lalionis — law
of rigid retalillion — are not fit for Iheirtnist. Had rebel i)risoners been starved asini-lo
week, and Duvis notilied of it, our men would luivc been fed and treated as prisoner^of
war. We always thouglit the violent death of I.,incoln was the providential complement
of this needless mi.>scry, as doubtless the yoUow fever visit;ition lately scourging the South
IS part of the remainder of it.
3l6 GENERAL WILLIAM J. BOLTON.
noted act of courage and gallantry took place, which, as it
gives the key-note to his subsequent career, we will narrate in<
detail.
A company of volunteers called Wayne Artillerists had a
cannon housed under the care of the "cannon squad," and of
which First Lieutenant W. J. Bolton was the chief. The Sec-
ond Lieutenant of the same company was also captain of the
Norristown Wide Awakes, a Avell known Republican body.^
The recent election of Curtin as Governor and Davis to Con-
gress had just been announced, and their political friends de-
sired to fire a salute in honor of the victory. In order to do
this they had previously obtained the consent of the captain of
the artillerists to take out the piece, as also that of the cannoa-.
squad, upon condition of getting a substitute to fill the place,
of Lieutenant Bolton as engineer at the rolling-mill, while he
and the squad worked the gun. The further consideration of
five dollars was also promised to the squad (who were nearly all'
Bell and Everett men) as an inducement to celebrate another
party's victory. Compliance was not made with these latter
conditions, but the gun taken out to the commons for the sa-
lute without the knowledge of the cannoneers. Cartridges had
been provided, and the firing about to begin, when Lieutenant:
Bolton, Samuel Aaron, Jr., and two or three others, suddenly-
appeared on the scene, limbered the cannon, and brought if:
back to town on the double quick, leaving a large crowd of
lately jubilant Wide Awakes gaping at them and wondering,
how the thing was done. The capture was accomplished sg^>
coolly, and with such bold daring, that the party about to fire.
the salute, up to the moment they saw the squad running away
with the piece, supposed that the latter were going to work it..
The captain of the Wide Awakes, however, to his credit, dis-
suaded a recapture. Thus a riot was avoided, but the salute,
did not take place, of course. Without pretending to consider-
or decide on the rights or propriety of any of the incidents or
parties to this first victory or scrimmage of Lieutenant Bolton,
we only record it to show the stuff of v/hich he is made.
This was about the middle of October, i860, and he worked-
with his political friends till November, when Bell and Ever-
GENERAL WILLIAM J. BOLTON. 317
■ett, with all the other Presidential candidates, were beaten by
Abraham Lincoln, and the nation entered upon a new era.
We have shown in this incident that William J. Bolton was
almost born a soldier. So when the South threw down the
■gage of battle for disunion, and opened the ball at Sumter, our
military sprang to arms Avithout regard to party, and resolved
to save the Union or perish in the struggle.
As stated before, William J. Bolton had been chosen First
Lieutenant of the Wayne Artillerists, his commission bearing
■ date June 6th, 1859. On the i ith of the following July he was
commissioned Brigade Judge Advocate, with the rank of Ma-
jor. This was in the original organization of the Fourth Regi-
ment under Colonel Hartranft, before the breaking out of the
rebellion. On the first sounding of the tocsin of war at Fort
Sumter, April 12th, 1861, and the President's proclamation of
the 15th calling for seventy-five thousand men, our Fourth
Regiment, not quite full, offered its services at once, and was
ordered to Harrisburg to be filled up and mustered in. All
our Montgomery county companies, of which we had seven,
A, B, C, D, E, I, and K, the latter a new one recruited by
Captain Walter H. Cooke, with very few defections or resigna-
tions, offered their services, and left for Camp Curtin on the
1 8th. The Captain of the Wayne Artillerists, however, resigned
his position, and First Lieutenant Bolton succeeded to the com-
mand of the company, his place as Lieutenant being filled by
his brother, Joseph K. Bolton. Captain Bolton's commission
from Governor Curtin bears date April iSth, 1861. This was
.as commander of the Wayne Artillerists, or Company A, on
the full mustering in of the regiment.
As is known, Colonel Hartranft's regiment was one of the
■first that reported for the defence of Washington and the Union.
Owing to delays in ordering an advance, however, the army
did not come into conflict with the insurgents till just about
:the expiration of the enlistment of the Fourth Regiment, and
it did not therefore participate in the disastrous battle of the
first Bull Run. The regiment, nevertheless, did valuable work
while in service in guarding railroad connections and the Fed-
3l8 GENERAL WILLIAM J. BOLTON.
eral capital. General McDowell, on signing the mustering out
order, paid it a very high encomium.
Before Colonel Hartranft's men had been out two months,..
it began to be apparent that Uncle Sam had more than a three
months' job on hand. Accordingly those who had no stomach
for the fight were longing to quit the service and be at home,
while others were looking about and making arrangements to
help "Father Abraham" entirely out of his trouble. Of the
latter class Captain Bolton, Colonel Hartranft, and many others
of the old Fourth, announced themselves in advance as ready
to enlist for three years or the end of the war. We have be-
fore us a newspaper announcement from Captain B., in the be-
ginning of June, that he was ready to re-enlist, and wished to
recruit men for three years. Consequently, before he reached
home, he had many men booked on his new roll. No sooner
was the old regiment dissolved than several Captains, Bolton,.
AUebaugh, Taylor, and Edward Schall, opened a rendezvous
in Norristown, and soon had four companies ready for the
famous Fifty-first Pennsylvania. Captain B., being the first to ■
complete a roll and report at Harrisburg, received his second
commission from Governor Curtin (the third one he had re-
ceived) on the 1 6th of August, i86i, as Captain of Company
A. He reported unassigned at Camp Curtin on the lOth of
September, was mustered in under State regulations on the
nth, and on the I2th equipped and mustered into the United
States army. The regiment, however, was not fully organized
until November 28th.
The command which unanimously selected the gallant and
unassuming Hartranft as its leader was composed as follows :
Company A — Captain, William J. Bolton; First Lieutenant, Jo--
seph K. Bolton; Second Lieutenant, Abraham L. Ortlip.
Company B — Ferdinand W. Bell*; First Lieutenant, John H.
Genther; Second Lieutenant, Daniel L. Nichols.
Company C — Captain, William AUebaugh; First Lieutenant,
John J. Freedley : Second Lieutenant, Davis Hunsicker.
Company D — Captain, Edward Schall; First Lieutenant, Lewis
Hallman.
Company E, recruited in Mifflinsburg — Captain, G. H. Hassen-
*Killed at Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 13tli, 18'32. This company was re--
cruited in NorUiampton county.
GENERAL WILLIAM J, BOLTON. 3I9
plug; First Lieutenant, John A. Morris; Second Lieutenant, AVil-
liam R. Foster.
Company F — Captain, Robert E. Taylor; First Lieutenant, Lane
S. Hart; Second Lieutenant, William W. Owen.
Company G, recruited in Centre county — Captain, Austin B
Snyder; First Lieutenant, William H. Blair; Second Lieutenant;
Peter A. Gaulin.
Company H, recruited in Union, Lycoming, and Snyder coun-
ties — Captain, J. Merrill Linn; First Lieutenant, William F. Camp-
bell; Second Lieutenant, Jacob G. Beaver.
Company I, recruited in Bridgeport — Captain, George R. Pe-
chin; First Lieutenant, George W. Bisbing; Second Lieutenant,.
Thomas H. Parker.
Company K — Captain, John E. Titus; First Lieutenant, George
P. Carrahan.
The members of the regimental staff were the following :
Colonel, John F. Hartranft; Lieutenant Colonel, Thomas S.
Bell; Major, Edwin Schall ; Adjutant, Daniel P. Bible; Quar-
termaster, John J. Freedley; Surgeon, J. A. Livergood; As-
sistant Surgeon, John A, Hosack; Chaplain, Rev. Daniel G.
Mallery, Neither the roster of the companies nor that of the
regimental staff remained long without changes, as death, dis-
abling wounds, and resignations, soon made alterations that
we have no space to record. Our business will be with Com-
pany A and Captain Bolton, which of course h'ad the lead as
the right wing of the regiment.
In the winter of 186 1-2 the Fifty-first, under Burnside, par-
ticipated in the taking of Newbern and of Roanoke Island,
North Carolina. A short time after a detachment was sent to
South Mills, where it fought the battle of Camden, on which
occasion Captain Bolton showed his pluck and bravery, being
pushed forward in the advance till subjected to a terrible fire
from a masked battery. After remaining in North Carolina
until summer, the regiment was ordered with Burnside's force-
to the relief of Washington, then threatened by Lee, after Mc-
Clellan's disastrous retreat from Richmond.
About this time is recorded the following fact, showing Cap-
tain Bolton's pride in his company :
"The inspection on the 22d of June was attended with manifest
interest on account of Captain W'illiam J. Bolton offering three
prizes to Company A of $5, $2.50 and $1 respectively for the Sol-
320 GENERAL WILLIAM J. BOLTON.
diers having the cleanest arms and accoutrei^ents, and showing the
most soldierly appearance."*
This, says the historian, was the inauguration of a new im-
pulse in the res'iment in that direction.
On the 3d of July the Fifty-first took up its march north-
ward, and being still in the Second Brigade, Reno's Division,
was now placed in the famous Ninth Army Corps, and went
to the support of General Pope at the second battle of Bull
Run. The company, largely by the vigilance of Captain Bol-
ton and his brother. Lieutenant Bolton, saved Graham's Bat-
tery from capture during that disastrous fight.
Shortly after this demoralizing battle, wherein Pope was left
unsupported by a large portion of the army under Fitz John
Porter, and owing to the jealousies of McClellan's partisans,
there seemed to be a widespread distrust both in the army and
among the people as to the future of the war. Just before the
battle of Antietam Captain Bolton wrote a private letter to his
mother, without the slightest idea of its ever being published
in the papers. This the late editor of the Norristown Reptib-
lican read at the house of the Captain's mother, and begged
the privilege of inserting a short extract as a sample of camp
patriotism. The letter says :
"I am well and ready to march. I was surprised to hear it was
thought I had resigned. Never, never, never! I am in for the
war whether it lasts three years or as long as I live. I never will
desert my company, come what may. I hope we may be success-
ful, but we shall have to work. The Burnside boys do not know
what a reverse is. I shall do my duty. If I fall the name of Bolton
shall not be dishonored. * * j am well, happy, and contented.
No duty will be too hard for me. I love my country better than
anything on earth, and if needs be I will freely give my life for my
flag."
He little thought perhaps that within a few weeks he should
almost come to his anticipated offer of his life for his country,
for the next dangerous service to which Captain Bolton was
put was with his regiment and the Fifty-first New York to
take Antietam bridge, which nearly cost him his life. The
First Brigade had been thrice repulsed in the assault upon it,
when the two regiments above named, of the Second Brigade,
*History of the Fifty-first, p.^ige ISO.
GENERAL WILLIAM! J. BOLTON. 321
■were ordered to advance, which they did under a storm of shot,
led by Captains Bolton and Allebaugh, and Lieutenant Colo-
nel Bell. The latter fell dead, and Captain Bolton was shot in
the cheek by a musket ball, which struck the jaw bone, break-
ing it near the socket or process, carrying away several teeth,
and passing out of the other cheek. At first it was thought he
was killed, but though desperately wounded was in a few days
sent home, where, under gentle nursing in his mother's house,
he slowly recovered, and reported for duty again in about
three months.
The death of Bell promoted Major Schall to the position of
Lieutenant Colonel, and Captain Bolton to that of Major. His
commission dates from September 17th, the time of this des-
perate charge. During the subsequent operations of the Fifty-
first with Burnside before Fredericksburg, in the fall of 1862,
Major Bolton was at home recovering from his ghastly wound,
which nearly carried away his jaw, and deformed him for life.
Some time in January, as his regiment lay at Newport News,
'he rejoined it, and the division lay in winter quarters till near
April, when they were ordered West, passing through Cincin-
nati to Kentucky. Nothing of interest occurred here, and the
regiment was sent down the valley of the Mississippi to ope-
rate against Vicksburg. After assisting in the investment of
this rebel stronghold, and keeping General Johnston from
raising the siege, they were, after its fall, sent to operate against
Jackson, Mississippi. This place, after some fighting, and the
endurance of exhausting heat b}' the troops, was taken, and the
old flag planted on the State Capitol once more. In the be-
ginning of August the regiment returned to Kentucky and
Tennessee for a winter campaign. While laying at .Lenoir,
Kentucky, the Ladies' Loyal League of Norristown sent a
-congratulatory address to the regiment, and it fell to Major
Eolton's duty to reply, which he did in very handsome terms.
During the siege of Knoxville and subsequently, as well as
previously, the army suffered greatly by the need of stores and
provisions. Besides, some of the fighting was of the most des-
perate character. At this time Lieutenant Colonel Schall was
commanding the regiment. During this memorable siege, be-
322 GENERAL WILLIAM J. BOLTON.
ing ordered by Colonel Schall to take some rifle-pits by a night
assault, Major Bolton accomplished it in gallant style. Shortly
after this Longstreet abandoned the attempt to take Knoxville,
retired from East Tennessee, and the Fifty-first, whose term of
enlistment was drawing to a close, were ordered home on a
thirty days' furlough y^ re-enlist and recruit for three years
more service. We pass over the joyful reunion of the veterans
and their families on their temporary return to Montgomery
county.
Late in March, 1864, the regiment left Harrisburg for the
coming campaign of the Army of the Potomac, of which the
Ninth Army Corps was to form a part. Then commenced
those sanguinary battles down the peninsula that stained with
blood nearly every rod of ground between Washington and
Richmond. At Cold Harbor the lamented Colonel Schall was
killed, which placed Major Bolton at the head of the regiment,
Hartranft having already been commanding the brigade. His
sixth commission, that of Colonel, was received about this
time. The fighting was desperate, and the losses on both sides
very heavy. Finally they arrived before Petersburg, where
Colonel Bolton was entrusted by General Wilcox with the
very difficult duty of bringing two flanks of the broken line
into communication with each other by a night operation, which
he accomplished very efficiently while under the steady fire of
the enemy. The Fifty-first was put to this especial service on-
General Hartranft's assurance that it could be relied upon, and^
the event justified his confidence. To properly understand this
feat it is necessary to state that one part of the picket line or
rifle-pits was not straight, but bent inward towards our line as
a horse-shoe, subjecting our men to an enfilading fire. How
to straighten it in the face of the rebel storm of musketry was
the question. Colonel Bolton assured the officer in command
that he could secure the object under cover of darkness. This
he did unseen by digging a trench at right angles with the line
of advance, in the middle of the horse-shoe, and afterwards in
a lateral direction to meet the perpendicular line, all the time
maintaining a constant fire to conceal the noise of the pick and
shovel. In the morning the Confederates saw our picket line.
GENERAL WILLIAM J. BOLTON, 323
straight and our men under cover. Colonel Bolton reported
to General Wilcox each hour till he had finished the move-
ment. Other regiments had attempted the service and failed.
Shortly after this and the blowing up of the fort on the 3d
of July, as Colonel Bolton stood with his men, there exploded
some distance overhead a shell loaded^with bullets and other
missiles, one of which struck him on the cheek, almost on the
spot of the old wound, passed downward, and lodged in the
shoulder, where it yet remains. This wound of course relieved
him of active duty, and he was brought home. In two months,
however, he was again at the head of his command.
On the 3d of April, 1865, Colonel Bolton, suspecting that
Petersburg was being evacuated by the enemy, sent a spy into
the city, whose return fully coniirmed the conjecture, and soon
after he marched his regiment over the rebel works into the
city. This was virtually the end of the war, the Fifty-first
shortly after moving up to Alexandria, where Colonel Bolton
had the honor to be appointed military Governor for a brief
time. Here Lieutenant Colonel Allebaugh, who had been a
year before captured by the rebels, was restored to and joined
his command. On the 27th of July the regiment was mus-
tered out, and Colonel Bolton, now brevet Brigadier General,
returned to private life, his last commission being dated March
13th, 1865, and signed by President Johnson.
Shortly after his return from the army, General Bolton was
married to Miss Emma Rupert, of Bloomsburg, Columbia
county. They have had several children, but all are deceased
except one. About the same time as his marriage, in connec-
tion with his brother John, he established a store for paper
hangings, which he still continues. On the death of Sheriff"
Philip S. Gerhard he was appointed to that office by Governor
Geary, and filled it* till the next election. He also served
a term as a member of the borough council. At the spring
election in 1877 he was chosen Burgess, and filled the office:
in a very efficient manner. Before this he had been commis-
sioned by the Adjutant General of the State as Major General
of the Second Division, National Guards of Pennsylvania, con-
sisting of the Sixteenth and Fourth Regiments. During 1877,,
324 ABRAHAM H. CASSEL.
while holding this command, it was his duty to order out and
direct the movements of his division in suppressing the great
railroad riots. This was a service involving much responsi-
bility with little possibility of winning glory thereby. In ad-
dition to the seven military commissions already recorded, he
has one dated September 28th, 1869, from Governor Geary, as
Captain of the Bolton Guards, and another dated July 8th, 1861,
as Colonel of the Sixteenth Regiment, and finally one as Ma-
jor General of the Second Division, National Guards of Penn-
sylvania.
ABRAHAM H. CASSEL.
[Contributed by Samuel W. Pennypaoker.]
Thou, in our wonder and astonishment,
Hast built thyself a life-long monument. — Milton's Lines on Shakspeare.
This remarkable man, whose memory will be cherished as
long as the German race exists in Pennsylvania, is a descend-
-ant in the fifth generation of Hupert Kassel, who came to this
country about 1715. Johannes Kassel, who settled at Ger-
mantown in 1686, was probably an uncle of old Hupert. Among
.the earlier Kassels living at Krieshiem on the Rhine were some
who became noted as zealous preachers of the Mennonite faith,
and authors doing good service in the controversial literature
of their day. Confessions of faith and poems in the handwrit-
ing of these worthy forefathers, who lived and died over two
hundred years ago, are still preserved by their descendants.
On the maternal side Abraham H. Cassel is the great-grand-
son of Christopher Saur, the celebrated printer of Germantown,
ivhose glory it is, not so much that he stood at the head of the
men of his race, and wielded a potent influence in all the affairs
of the province, as tiiat he printed the Bible in German in Penn-
sylvania forty years before it was issued in English anywhere
in America. Those who believe in the permanence of inher-
ited characteristics may see in these facts a cause for the growth
ABRAHAM H. CASSEL. 32$
of literary tastes in Mr. Cassel. But however correct this the-
ory may be, it is certain that no germ ever struggled forward
into the light of day under more adverse circumstances than
in this instance.
He was born in Towamencin township, Montgomery county^
on the 2 1st of September, 1820, and reared in an interior Ger-
man settlement, at such a distance from the outside world that
only in very recent years has a railroad approached within five
miles of his residence; among a people whose highest ambition
is the accumulation of land, which they only acquire by hard
labor and rugged self-denial ; and whose sole literary food is-
the Bible or sermon of the Dunker or Mennonite preacher —
a farmer, like themselves. His immediate ancestors and pa-
rents were plain and worthy people, whose views of life were
limited to the sowing of the seed and the gathering in of the
harvest; and who felt in their consciences that to permit a
child to spend his time over books was to start him upon that
broad way which leads to destruction.
When Abraham was a few years old his grandfather used ta
take him on his knee and tell him of the days when the Revo-
lutionary army was encamped on the Perkiomen and Skippack,,
and it was the impression made by these incidents which first
awakened within him the desire to learn, and gave his mind
an antiquarian bent. His father, finding that his fondness for
books was increasing, and fearing that it would lead him entirely
away from useful labor, sternly endeavored to repress it. Fire,
money and light were denied him, and even the rod was not
spared in the effort to crush the supposed evil propensity. The
boy was therefore compelled to pursue his studies by stealth,
as he had opportunity — in the wagon-house, in the hay-mow,
"and late at night while others were asleep. About six weeks'
tuition at a country school-house was all the instruction he
ever received. In childhood he learned to speak the patois
called Pennsylvania Dutch, but has since taught himself Ger-
man and English, in both of which languages he is entirely
proficient. He has also some acquaintance with Dutch, Latin,
French, and Greek. He learned to write with a chicken feather,
whicha kind relative showed him howto splitatthepoint. When
326 ABRAHAM H. CASSEL.
.a young man he began to teach school, and in this occupation
•continued for eight years. While boarding around in the
farmers' houses, in lieu of salary, as was then the custom, he
found the opportunity of his life in learning the whereabouts
of those rare old tomes, long since neglected and forgotten,
which the religious enthusiasts who settled Pennsylvania
brought with them across the Atlantic, or reprinted here for
their spiritual delectation. In early youth he began to invest
his spare earnings in books, and now, at the age of fifty-eight,
he has a library of over ten thousand volumes, which is in some
respects one of the most remarkable in the world, and in its
•own particular specialties stands entirely alone. It would be
impossible within the limits of such a notice as this to give
an adequate idea of his valuable collection. It is in the main
a theological and historical library in English and German,
though not confined to those subjects or languages. In the
works of the fathers of the Church of the Reformed of the six-
teenth century, and in early printed Bibles, it is particularly
rich. The literature of the Dunker church, specimens of which
are difficult to find elsewhere, is here seen entire. It contains
much literary bric-a-brac^ such as a copy of the works of John
Bunyan in folio, 1736, having on its title-page the autograph
of George Whitefield; a ponderous folio Bible, which was
chained to the pulpit in the parish of South Cowden, England;
the marriage certificate of Henry Frey and Anna Catharine
Levering, dated Second-month (April) 26th, 1692; manuscripts
in the handwriting of Francis Daniel Pastorius, the " Pennsyl-
vania pilgrim"; and of Johannes Kelpins, the learned "Hermit
of the Wissahickon."
Here also is the celebrated proclamation of Washington, is-
sued in 1777, directing the farmers to thresh out their grain.
Its chief value to the scholar, however, and its principal inter-
est for the man of general culture, consists in the fact that it
is a substantially complete and almost the only collection of
the early German publications of this country — books, pam-
phlets, and ephemera. Here, and here alone, may be found
all of the rare imprints of Christopher Saur, of Germantown,
including the three quarto Bibles of 1743, 1763, and 1776, and
ABRAHAM IT. CASSEL. 32/
about one hundred and fifty other volumes and pamphlets:
the GcistlicJies Magazin, which was the first religious maga-
zine of the country; files of the newspaper which was also the
first of the country; and a complete set of German almanacs
beginning with 1738 and reaching down to the present elate:
Here is also the fullest collection in existence of the still more
rare Ephrata imprints, and among them an unusually fine copy
of Van Braght's Martyrcr Spiegel, the noblest specimen of
American colonial bibliography, and a lasting monument to
the religious zeal of the Mennonites. Franklin, Armbruster,
Miller, Leibert, Billmeyer, and all of the early Pennsylvania
printers, have alike contributed their abundant volumes and
pamphlets. In fact, it may be said with substantial truth that
to the patient research and unwearied enthusiasm of this un-
assuming man, we owe the preservation of the history of the
Germans of Pennsylvania.* Seidensticker, Rupp, Jones, Har-
baugh, Weiser, and others, have written meritoriously and ably,
but away back at a farm-house near Harleysville, in Montgom-
ery county, is the well from which the waters have been drawn.
It would be unjust to Mr. Cassel to call him technically a "col-
lector," a name generally given to a man who pays a large
price for the privilege of transferring a rare book from a shelf
where it is of no use to another where it is equally valueless.
His work has been largely creative, and his volumes have in
many instances been saved by him from destruction. From
garrets, in which they were lost; from spring-house lofts and
granaries, where they were the prey of the storm ; and from
the waste packages of the country grocer, his materials have
often been rescued. In the search for his treasures he has tra-
veled thousands of miles, and ofttimes a book has only been
made complete by putting together fragments found in widely
separated localities, and when secured they have not lain idle,
but became the subject of his deepest study and the source of
his greatest delight. To him the humble emigrant of the time
*TIie auUior makes no apology for here susgestinp: to the cnirious in litcrnry remains
that wherever in our locuhty rurc old books, pamphlets, or manuscripts are in the hands
of pei-sons who do not value them, or where such are likely to lie destroyed, that such
books or documents be i)resented to :Mr. Cassel, who will treasure and preserve them.
His collection will doubtless be handed down to i^osterity entire, as it should be. This
note is added without the knowledge ol' Mr. ('., and is dictated alone by a love of letters
ivs such.
328 ABRAHAM H. CASSEL.
of Penn, sallying from his log cabin to reclaim the forest while-
his thoughts were busied with the trials of that long journey
from the Rhine, the forgotten pastor who tended his little
flock a century and a half ago, are as familiar in the events of
their lives as is the present owner of the adjacent farm. To
him the past, like the sea of which we are told, has given up.
the dead which were in it, and with a generosity as unselfish-
as it is rare, his information is at the service of all who care to-
seek it.
Mr. Cassel's reputation has extended to all parts of the world ■.
wherever men are enlightened enough to take an interest in^
books. He has been a member of the Pennsylvania Histori-
cal Society since 1858, and has contributed valuable articles to-
its publications. On the ist of April, 1843, ^^ married Eliza-
beth, daughter of Issachar and Elizabeth Rhodes, and they
have had eight children. In addition to his library he owns a
farm of seventy-five acres, and by industry and frugality has-
accumulated what is considered a competence by the unpre-
tentious people among whom he lives.
His descent from the emigrant, Hupert Kassel, is traced^
thus*: From Hupert to Yellis, and from the latter to Hupert:
again, and from Hupert of the third generation back once more:
to Yellis of the fifth, who was the father of Abraham H. CasseU
of the sixth. Abraham H. and Elizabeth Cassel's eight children,,
of the seventh generation, are named as follows : Yellis, the
eldest, is married to Sarah Harley, and they have two children
living, Edwin and Elizabeth, they occupying the homestead
and farming the place; Henry, the second child, died whem
only seven years of age; Sarah, the third, is intermarried with.
Daniel Boorse, and now (1879) resides at Lanark, Illinois; the-
next, Mary Ellen, died in her fourth year; Priscilla, the fifth,
is the wife of Levi Stauffer, and they have five children, Abra-
ham, Yellis, Elizabeth, Clayton, and Laurence; the sixth, sev-
enth and eighth are Amanda, Hannah, and Rosalinda, respect-
ively. Hannah received a liberal education at a normal school..
*Tlie author adds this record of the offsprhig of Abraham H. and Elizabeth Cassel—
HOX. JOHN WOOD. 329,
HON. JOHN WOOD.
Civilization is symbolized by one word— Labor !
John Wood, son of James and Ann W. Wood, was born in
Philadelphia on the 6th of September, 1816. His parents be-
ing members of Friends' meeting, he received a moderate edu-
cation at their school in New street, after which, at the early
age of fourteen years, he entered his father's store as book-
keeper. He had, however, during this brief period, made such
good use of time as to be able to assume almost the entire
charge of the books of the concern — quite a responsibility for
a youth of that age. His father being at that time extensively
engaged in the manufacture of spades, shovels, agricultural im-
plements, and the like, the factory in Philadelphia proved in-
adequate to the rapidly increasing business. It was decided
therefore, to erect larger and more complete works at Cansho-
hocken, which were finished about 1832, with additional ma-
chinery for manufacturing sheet and boiler iron, a branch ot
the iron trade then in its infancy in this country. Under the
energetic direction of Mr. Wood, then a young man of twenty
years, the business was in a short time more than doubled..
He was also connected at that time with Lewis A, Lukens m
the manufacture of blooms at New Market Forge, Lebanon
county, Pennsylvania.
In 1840 he married Miss Elizabeth K. Wells, a highly ac-
complished and estimable young lady, daughter of James,
Wells, ex-Sheriff of the county, with whom he lived happil
until her death in 1 864.
In 1 841, in connection with his brother, William W. Wood,,
he leased the old Delaware Iron Works, on Red Clay creek,.
State of Delaware, at which place, however, he only remained
a few years, returning to Conshohocken in 1844 to superin-
tend the building of the new mill, the other having become,
old and dilapidated. By his able management it was entirely
built in a few months, and filled with new and improved ma-
chinery. This more than doubled its previous capacity, and
330 HON. JOHN WOOD.
also established a reputation for the manufacture of superior
sheet iron, which has ever since been maintained by the con-
cern. About this time he began to experiment upon the manu-
facture of " imitation Russia sheet iron." He finally succeeded,
after many disheartening failures, in producing an article equal
in finish to the genuine Russia manufacture, and for which he
obtained a patent. Many attempts had been previously made
by other manufacturers to imitate it, but without success. Mr.
Wood's plan was the only one to compete successfully with
the Russian article, and it is now known as "Wood's process."
During the Crimean war the firm of J. Wood & Brothers ran
four pairs of rolls upon it.
Upon the death of his father, James Wood, in 185 i, Mr. W.
became senior member of the firm of J. Wood & Brothers. He
then erected the large steam mills at Conshohocken, with a
capacity of five thousand tons per annum, which have been
running almost continuously ever since, employing from one
hundred and seventy-five to two hundred hands.
Mr. Wood possesses a large share of inventive genius. He
has always taken a great interest in mechanical pursuits, per-
forming in his younger days much of the machine v/ork about
his mills himself He has been all his life an eminently prac-
tical and working man, to which fact his successful career is
largely due.
In 1858 Mr. Wood reluctantly consented to become a can-
didate for Congress from the Fifth district, on the "People's
ticket," the nomination being almost forced upon him by his
friends. After one of the most exciting campaigns in the po-
litical history of Montgomery county, he was elected by a ma-
jority of two thousand five hundred and sixty-four votes over
Hon. Owen Jones, the then Democratic incumbent, who had
been elected in 1856 in the same district by over two thousand
majority. Mr. Wood's majority in Montgomery county was
nine hundred and thirty-eight. This exhibited a change of
forty-five hundred votes in the district in two years. This bril-
liant triumph exceeded the most sanguine expectations of his
party and friends, affording the most gratifying evidence of the
HON. JOHN WOOD. 33 1
high esteem with which he was regarded throughout the dis-
trict.*
On the assembhng of Congress, in December, 1859, neither
Repubhcans nor Democrats had a clear majority, there being
a few "Americans" from the North and South who chose to
act independently, thus having the balance of power. Accord-
ingly John \V. Forney, who was the clerk holding over, called
the roll from the first Monday in December till February 2d,
about fifty-eight days, the Republicans all the time supporting
the caucus nominee, John Sherman, of Ohio, and the opposi-
tion Mr. Bocock, of Virginia.
The district that elected Mr. Wood was partly composed of
■several very conservative wards of Philadelphia, the people of
which were too fearful of "abolition" and the "Southern trade"
to act squarely against slave propagandism as Republicans did,
but called themselves " Unionists," or " the people's party." A
large part of the former Whig element of Montgomery county
were also of the same sentiment. So when the bootless con-
test or dead-lock had begun to run into months, and every-
body became tired of the rule of faction, five members, Mor-
ris, Junken, Scranton, and Wood, of Pennsylvania, with Nixon,
of New Jersey, conceived the idea of breaking the dead-lock,
and began to vote for Smith (American), of North Carolina.
The Democrats or pro-slavery men, supposing they had the
■enemy at a disadvantage, and a " sure thing," filed in, and be-
gan to vote for Smith also, actually electing him. Mr. Wood
.and some others, suspecting Mr. Smith to be unsound on the
tariff, changed their votes before the result was announced.
This showed Republicans the danger they incurred in adher-
ing to an extreme nian; whereupon a Democrat from New
York and the Americans from the South agreed to support
Pennington, of New Jersey, a moderate Republican, instead of
5herman, and upon the next trial he was elected by one hun-
*\Vhile attending a mass meetins' (Uiringr tlie Oons;re.ssioiiiil c;uni>ai<irn in which lie
■was elected, he ohanoed to .stop with a few friends at a bhicksniith shop, and while watoh-
injj the workmen at their anvils, remarked, "I have worked a little at this business my-
self." The blacksmith, with an incredulous smile, reijuested him to exercise himself at
the forge a little. Mr. Wood, nothing loth, threw off his coat, and immediately accepted
the good-humored challenge, asking the blacksmitli to blow for him. In a few minutes
he produced a neatly turned horse-shoe, with nails enough to drive it, much to the sur-
prise of the blacksmith and bystanders, who had lumlly expected a Congressional can-
didate to prove such a practical workingman. This little episode made Mr. Wood more
votes that day than all the speeches of the occasion.
332 HON. JOHN WOOD.
dred and seventeen against one hundred and sixteen for the-
Democratic nominee.
Thus after nearly two months, the longest contest in our
history, the House was organized by the election of a Speaker,.
The Senate had already received the message while the House
was unorganized, an unknown thing up to that time. After-
both were in working order little or nothing was done in the
way of legislation while Mr. Wood's two sessions continued,,
from the conviction that with the Democratic party divided as-
it was, and the Republican looming up in mighty array, the.
hour had nearly come for the slaveholders to leave the Union,
Both houses were given up, therefore, to profitless wranglings,.
during which Southern men came into the chambers and made
their speeches with loaded pistols in their pockets. Mr. Wood
felt that such a bear garden was a very uncomfortable place,,
and when the next Congressional election came around he re-
fused utterly to consent to a re-election, though importuned tO'
do so. W. Morris Davis was taken up in his place, and elected
over Harry Ingersoll, the Democratic nominee. Mr. W. was-
also led to this decision by extensive business interests that
demanded his whole time and attention.
At the time of the contest for Speaker some of Mr. Wood's
extreme Republican constituents questioned the correctness of
his course, but the result justified his action. Besides, it is not
doubted that the break of the dead-lock met the approval of
the mass of those who elected him. During the remainder of
his term his votes were acceptable to all, and he left the posi-
tion with credit as a faithful representative.
Mrs. Elizabeth K. Wood having died five years previously,.
Mr. W. was married in January, 1 866, to Hettie, daughter of
Benjamin Peterman, paper manufacturer, of Elkton, Maryland,
The surviving children of John and Elizabeth K. Wood are
the following: Helen, intermarried with Major Mauch, United
States Army; James W., married to Josie Hoffman, of Allen-
town; Clara, wife of D. H. Merriman, of Williamsport; Wil-
liam W.; John, Jr., whose wife was Ada Slingluff, of Norris-
town; George W.; and Lizzie W., intermarried with William
H. Cresson, son of John Cresson, of Conshohocken. The off-
spring of the second marriage are Mary P. and Walter D.
MORGAN WRIGHT. 333
MORGAN WRIGHT.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrrow.
Is our destined end or way ;
But to act that each to-morrow
Finds us fartlier tlian to-day. — Longfelloiv.
Morgan Wright, of Norristown, is the fourth child of Mor-
'gan and Charlotte Wright, of what was then Lower Dublin,
in Philadelphia county, and was born December i6th, 1823.
•His brothers and sisters are all living. Their names are as
follows: Ellen, intermarried with William Walker, the latter
of whom has been many years deceased; Charles W., who re-
•sides in Norristown; George N., of Frankford, Philadelphia;
Comly, until recently in partnership with Morgan, and who is
intermarried with Hannah G., daughter of John Hunt, a pub-
lic Friend of New Jersey ; Harriet, wife of Rev. Joseph Sage-
beer, of Chester county; Lydia and Eliza, who reside in Nor-
ristown; and J. Jones, who was married to Hannah, daughter
•of John Cowden.
Morgan Wright, the subject of this notice, received in boy-
liood a good common school education, which was perfected
by a period of higher instruction at Treemount Seminary, un-
der Rev. Samuel Aaron.
About 1840, when a boy of seventeen, he came to Norris-
town, where he had an uncle (Thomas Scattergood) in the gro-
•cery business at Main and Strawberry streets, and for a time he
was store assistant with him, after which he held a like posi-
tion for a year in a grocery store on Market street, Philadel-
phia. Returning to Norristown in the spring of 1846, he ob-
tained a situation as salesman in the dry goods store of David
Sower, where he remained, enjoying the fullest confidence of
Jhis employer, till 1849, when he bought out a grocery then
carried on in part of the old Rising Sun building, near Main
and Swede streets, which he kept one year, and then sold it to
Charles G. Cauffman. In the spring of 1850 he purchased the
.stock and succeeded to the dry goods business of David Sower,
where he had been so long employed as assistant.
About this time he married Miss Cecilia Rinehart, who, be-
.ing in declining health, died within a year of her marriage. On
334 MORGAN WRIGHT,
the 2 1st of November, 1854, he was married to Rachel W.,.
daughter of Levi and Mary Wells Roberts, of Norristown, The
children born of this union were as follows : Walter, who died
in infancy; Emma, born in 1856 and died in 1864; Elwood
Roberts, born in 1858, and now assisting in the management:
of his father's business.
Mr. Wright continued to push the dry goods trade at the
old stand for sixteen years, having his cousin, D. Jones Mc-
Vaugh, afterwards William Neiman, and then his own brother,.
Comly, as assistants, being some part of the time in partnership
with the last named. In 1866 he bought of his uncle, Thomas-
Scattergood, the store-house, No. 14 East Main street, where -
he now is. This stand had been well established, first by
Thomas Scattergood & Son, afterwards by, D. J. McVaugh,.
and Tatem & Roberts. He has made extensive alterations.
and improvements to this building, vacating the dwelling at-
tached, and running the store room back one hundred feet to-
Middle alley. Here for twelve years he has kept one of the-
heaviest — if not the heaviest — stock of dry goods in the bor-
ough, and of course has enjoyed a very extensive trade.
Quite early after commencing business, Mr. Wright began^
to deal in real estate, handling some valuable properties, among;
which may be named the purchase of the Stinson farm at Jef-
fersonville in 1855, and the Shepherd property, part of which,
was bought by the East Pennsylvania Agricultural and Me-
chanical Society for a fair ground, and the remainder sold to-
others.
Mr. W. has also been for many years an extensive dealer ira
town lots, generally managing them with judgment and profit.
During a recent period he has been engaged in building the-
better sort of dwellings for sale. West Norristown is thus-
largely indebted to his enterprise and public spirit for exten-
sive improvements. In 1870 he erected for his own use a hand^-
some dwelling on DeKalb street near Oak, which he now oc-
cupies, and which is fitted up with most of the moderm imv-
provements.
Morgan Wright, while devoted to his own business, has beem
for years a man of genuine public spirit, entering, heartily into*
LUCRETIA MOTT. 335
all enterprises of a public nature calculated to build up and
improve the town or conserve the highest interests of the peo-
ple. In 1872 he was elected to the town council, and re-
elected in 1875 and 187S, which will conclude nine years of
service. Durine: all this time he has been on the chief com-
mittee, that of Ways and Means, most of the time being chair-
man of the same. He also holds at the hands of Council the
post of attorney-in-fact for the borough of Norristown of the
Bringhurst bequest for the poor of the town.
For many years he has been often selected to sit on arbitra-
tions, road juries, and chosen guardian for trust funds and the
like, and is fitted for such by reason of being a very quick and
ready accountant.
As a careful, accurate business man, of integrity and un-
blemished reputation, Mr. W. stands deservedly high. He is
a man of social, kindly habits, fond of "the juveniles," which
the latter have found out, of course, and appreciate.
Though not an inveterate partisan, Mr. Wright was origin-
ally a Whig, but more recently a decided Republican. He
was, however, never a seeker for public office.
LUCRETIA MOTT.
We liave lived and loved together
Through many changing years;
We have shared each other's gladness,
And wept each other's tears. — Old Song.
Beyond this vale of tears
There is a life above,
Unmeasured l>y the flight of ye.irs,
And all that life is love. — Montgomfvy.
Certainly no woman in the State of Pennsylvania has wielded
a wider influence upon the moral world for a period of nearly
fifty years than Mrs. Lucretia Mott,* who for a considerable
♦The title of our work is "The Eminent Men of Montgomery County." Wc have
the following high authority that "men" includes women also: " So (rod created niiin
in His own image ; in the image of God created He him : male and female created He
^lem." — Genesis I, 27. We may add here that the preparation and insertion of this sketch
IS without authority of the subject, the liberty being assumed on the groujid that our
book would be incomplete without a notice of this distinguished lady, who for several
years has been a resident of our county. Besides, her useful life and enunent example
are in an important sense public property.
. 336 LUCRETIA MOTT,
time has been a resident of Cheltenham township, Montgomery
-county. This exerted power has been greatly enhanced by
■the fact that while maintaining her hold and standing among
Friends, she has lent her countenance and aid to all the out-
■side reforms which, as reflexes of our common Christianity,
have been the outgrowth of all sects alike. It is but an easy
task to show that sects, as distinguished in America, where
thought and religion are comparatively free, are charged sever-
ally with missions which none so well as themselves can per-
form. The reforms, also, are but abstract Christianity strug-
■gling outside of the churches for recognition; but being out
■ijof the church, they are all liable to run into extremes and folly
rfor lack of the " institutes." So " truth and falsehood grapple,"
and the world moves forward.
Lucretia Mott* is a daughter of New England, inheriting in
a wonderful degree the rigid persistency and pluck of the old
Independents joined to the meek trust and simplicity of the
-early Quakers." She was born on the island of Nantucket in
1793, and is therefore now in her eighty-sixth year. Her fa-
ther was a Friend before her, and probably captain of a fishing
-vessel, as he was a seaman from that town, where whaling was
almost the universal business at that time. Her paternal an-
ccestors were of the Coffins and Macys, the former a distin-
guished name in New England histoty, and on the maternal
side, through the Folgers, claims a distant relationship^ with
the family of Benjamin Franklin.
Not being born to wealth, she was early inured to the hard-
•ships of life in assisting her mother, who, in the absence of the
father at sea, managed a small mercantile business for a liveli-
;hood. In her eleventh year her parents moved to Boston,
■where she had the best opportunities of instruction in the pub-
t[ic and private schools of that city. In her fourteenth year she
was placed in a Friends' boarding-school in Duchess county,
Kew York, and remained two years, at the close of which term,
;a vacancy occurring among the instructors that she was com-
petent to fill, she remained another year in the place, securing
also the education of a sister as part of the consideration for
♦For the material facts o^ this sketch we are indebted to "The Eminent Women of
(the Age," published by S. M. Betts & Co., Hartford, Connecticut, in 1868.
LUCRETIA MOTT. 337
3ier services. While here she formed the acquaintance of James
Mott, her future husband, and a year later, after she had re-
moved with her parents to Philadelphia, married him.
James Mott left New York State and engaged in business
with her father, but owing to the troubled state of the country
at that time (1811-12), and the impending war, their mercan-
tile ventures did not prosper, and shortly after her father died.
This threw an increased responsibility upon her mother, which
she and her husband shared, as the war troubles had made
them all poor. Finally, however, James Mott succeeded in
getting into profitable business, and in the course of years ac-
quired a comfortable substance.
As early as 18 18, when she had reached her twenty-fifth
year, she began to speak in the meetings of Friends, and soon
received an authorization from the select meeting as a "public
Friend." These gifts she improved till the division of the so-
ciety took place, which grew out of the Unitarian views of
Elias Hicks, when, as she expresses it, "My convictions led
me to adhere to the sufficiency of the light within us, resting
on truth as authority rather than 'taking authority for truth.' "
This, of course, took her with the side popularly known as the
" Hicksite," and she continued to be an eminent preacher in that
branch. About ten years after this the anti-slavery and tem-
perance reforms demanded attention, and Lucretia and James
Mott were in the very fore-front of battle. As the Hicksite
branch of Friends relaxed theological teaching, they became
more earnest for a higher standard of public morals, and the
reform hosts went through an excited discussion of some years
concerning the relative merits of "non-resistance," "power of
truth," "no voting," "fighting for liberty," and the like, till,
"made mad by the gods," slaveholders drew the sword in 1861,
and the problem, so far as chattel servitude in our country was
concerned, settled itself forever.
As a minister among Friends, or as a speaker, Lucretia Mott
is a model of elegance, purity, and force. She never indulges
in the sing-song tone addressed to the ear, but always in the
purest Saxon, and speaks to the heart and judgment of her
hearers. She also usually escapes the charge of mystifying,
33^ LUCRETIA MOTT.
often made against the ministers of her denomination, by spir-
itualizing the facts of revelation. She prefers rather to leave
out of sight doctrines that do not relate immediately to morals,
applying the sternest reasoning to the commonest facts of life.
Her biographer, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, quotes her,,
however, in this connection, as saying that "the popular doc-
trine of human depravity never commended itself to my reason
or conscience." On this declaration the author ventures the
comment that her life-long moral warfare against vice, oppres-
sion and injustice, has certainly been a pretty strong indica-
tion of depravity somewhere.
Her character, as read in her portrait, is a deep study. It is
a visual synonym of strength, indicating a mind assured of the
ground upon which it stands. To use phrenological language,
it shows will-power under control of the moral sentiments. It
tells also of strong social and domestic instincts, with an amount
of quiet, unused combativeness that might warn off anyone on
a proselyting mission. The large, prominent eye, and broad,,
high forehead, bear logic and rhetoric in every expression. In
morals she comes nearer the stoic than any modern public
character we can call to mind — that is, rigid, intellectual mo-
rals, without passion or feeling. Th& face looks as if nothing^
could excite the mind of its owner to an ebullition of abnormal
feeling; and then gentleness and benevolence beam from every
lineament. Yet there is a slight dash of sarcasm mingled with
pity and contempt stamped on those compressed lips. Still,,
using phrenological verbiage, she has enough secretiveness to
make a wise and prudent counsellor. Hence she must have
been the very Moses and Aaron combined to the woman move-
ment. She is just enough masculine in her mentality to feel
the wrongs of her sex, and has quite enough dogged courage
to fight on, not "all summer," but for a life-time. She has
lived, therefore, to see the cause of women — their right to equal
suffrage — adopted by one political party, and favorably con-
sidered by others.
Lucretia Mott has been a total abstainer from alcoholic
drinks for many years, and for a long time previous to eman-
cipation in the West Indies and our country, her family were
FRANK M. HOBSON, ESQ. 339
abstainers on principle from the products of unrequited slave
labor. As a Friend she has been an active laborer in the cause
of international peace, as well as woman's enfranchisement.
She and Mrs. Stanton, her biographer, while in England at-
tending the world's anti-slavery convention in 1840, arranged
to have a women's rights meeting at Seneca Falls, New York,,
which was held, and James Mott chosen President. This was
almost the commencement of the movement which has pressed
its way upon public attention in spite of the opposite sex and
the undesirable co-operation of Bloomerites and Free Lovers,
who obtruded their help where it was not wanted.
A few years ago Lucretia Mott had the sorrowful lot to be
parted from her consort by death, which was a sore affliction
and trial, as their union was one of early attachment and true
conjugal love.
FRANK M. HOBSON, Esq.
Wliile you live right, nothing goes wrong. — Jackson.
The ingenious bee constructs commodious cells, but never dreams of rearing tri-
umphal arches or obelisks to decorate her waxen city. Through ignorance of the future,
they pass from life to death with as much indiflerence as from watching to sleep, or front
labor to repose. — Dick's Future State.
This capable but unpretending citizen of Freeland was born
January 22d, 1830, in Limerick township, Montgomery county^
on a farm of two hundred and sixty-eight acres, which has
been held in the Hobson family four generations, or since 1743.
In a Quaker marriage certificate drawn by Thomas Pierson,
one of William Penn's surveyors (now in the writer's posses-
sion), of a wedding solemnized at Concord, then in Chester
county, the name of Francis Hobson is inscribed as a witness.
This is without doubt the great ancestor of the family, he be-
ing a Friend who emigrated from England with Pcnn, or in
some of the ships soon following. The tradition of the family
is that the original Francis first settled in New Garden town-
ship, Chester county, whence he removed and purchased the
340 FRANK M. HOBSON, ESQ.
Limerick tract above described. From him it descended to
Francis, his son, in 1748, thence to Moses Hobson in 1791,
and to Francis flobson again in 1831, who intermarried with
Mary Matilda Bringhurst. These last were father and mother
of the subject of this notice.
Frank M. Hobson received a good common school educa-
tion, and afterwards completed his studies at Washington Hall,
Trappe. He subsequently taught school in that village from
1849 to 1852. In 1856 he opened a store, in which he has
successfully prosecuted the general mercantile business, fitting
up also in the rear second story of his store-house a capacious
room, usually called " Hobson's Hall," for the use of public
meetings, societies, and the like. He has also for thirty years
been engaged in surveying and conveyancing, having attained
accuracy and aptness as a general business man, which, added
to his acknowledged industry, integrity and fidelity, secure him
increasing outside business.
Such being his qualifications, he has filled numerous public
trusts, having been six years a school director, three a town-
ship auditor, fifteen an officer of Trinity Christian Church at
Freeland, five a trustee, Secretary and Treasurer of Ursinus
College, nine a treasurer of a building association, two a director
of the Iron Bank of Phoenixville, three a manager of the Per-
kiomen and Reading Turnpike Road Company, on the resig-
nation of William W. Taylor a director in the First National
Bank of Norristown, and finally executor or trustee of the
estate of the late Wright A. Bringhurst, Esq., of Upper Provi-
dence township.
This last duty, involving the disposal of a very large estate
in charitable bequests, Mr. Hobson, in connection with Elijah
F. Pennypacker, Esq., a man equally conscientious and public
spirited, has been fulfilled to the letter of the will, wish of the
testator, and satisfaction of the public. It was a blessed act to
inake such a will, and a high honor to be the instrument of
carrying it into execution. The multiplication and continu-
ance of these various employments are the best possible war-
ranty of character.
In October, 1856, he was married to Lizzie Gotwalts. They
HON. JOHN THOMPSON. 34I
have two children, Freeland G., now in his twenty-first ycar^
and Mary Matilda, some years younger. The son has already
graduated at Ursinus College, and is now pursuing the study
of law; the daughter has completed her education at Pennsyl-
vania Female College near by. These two promising youth
are the only living representatives of the paternal branch o
the Hobson family.
HON. JOHN THOMPSON.
^yhat! Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall mc not receive evil? —
Job II, 10.
John Thompson, the son of William and Mary Thompson,
was born in Pottstown, Montgomery county, on the nth of
February, 1799, andMS now eighty years old, but robust for his
age. His paternal grandfather was James Thompson, who
came from Ireland previous to the Revolution, and settled in
Pottstown, where he died in 1792 at the age of 65 years. He
was a spinning-wheel maker by trade, and in religious profes-
sion an Episcopalian. The great-grandfather of John Thomp-
son on the maternal side was Christian Markel, a German, who
very early emigrated and settled in Berks. He was the owner
of what was called " Moselem," in that county, and it is related
of him that he made the first wagon ever built in that region
of country. Joseph Markel, who was run for Governor many
years ago by the Whig party, was a first cousin of the mother
of John Thompson. The name of his mother's father, like that
of his grandfather, was Christian, and he lived in Reading.
Young Thompson received the usual common school edu-
cation of the time, and at the proper age learned the trade of
a carpenter. After following that calling for a period, being
of a ready, intelligent turn of mind, he was commissioned a
Justice of the Peace by Governor Wolf in 1833, and reappointed
and elected five times to fill the same office, which was the full-
est proof of his capacity and integrity. In 1857 he served one
342 REV. JOSIAH PHILLIPS.
term in the lower house of Assembly, and the next year was
chosen for three years to the State Senate. John Thompson
was at first a Whig, but subsequently a Republican, and reached
the Legislature in both instances as the result of the new
county feeling so rife thirty years ago. He filled both places
very acceptably, proving himself a careful, conscientious law-
maker.
Mr. Thompson has lived in Pottstown all his life with the
exception of a short period at Philadelphia and Huntingdon
county while engaged in the transportation of merchandise.
For many years, in connection with his service as Justice of
the Peace, he has attended to a general scrivening and con-
veyancing business, enjoying in the highest degree the confi-
dence of the people of that borough and vicinity. He was for
several years a director of the Pottstown Bank. Till a very
recent period he had accumulated a competence, but owing to
forgeries and the perfidy of a friend to whom he had confided
most of his estate, it has been swept away. A short time ago
Mr. Thompson was elected President of the Mutual Fire In-
surance Company of Pottstown, vice Owen Stoever, deceased.
In religious profession Mr. T. is an Episcopalian. He is un-
married, and has one sister living.
REV. JOSIAH PHILLIPS.
God never created an independent man
To jar the concord of his general plan.
A man's heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth liis steps. — Proverbs XVI, 9.
Rev. Josiah Phillips, pastor of Gwynedd Baptist church, at
North Wales, is the son of Owen and Rachel Evans Phillips,
of East Nantmeal township, Chester county, and was born on
the loth of September, 1817.
The progenitor of this branch of the Phillips family is traced
back to Joseph Phillips, who emigrated from Wales in 175 5 »
and settled in Chester county. He built a log house, and fol-
REV. JOSIAH PHILLIPS. 343
lowed weaving and farming, assisted by several sons. One of
these, Josiah, settled on a farm near the present village of Lion-
ville, in Uwchlan township. Here Owen, his son, was born in
17S9, who, in 1 8 14, married Rachel Evans, and purchased of
his father-in-law a farm in East Nantmeal, where the following
seven brothers were born: Jesse, Josiah, Lewis, David, Joseph,
Thomas, and Abner. Our business is with Josiah, the second
of these, who remained at home till his seventeenth year, when
he left to learn the carpenter trade. He served an apprentice-
ship of three years with Isaac Miller, and with whom he also
worked two years afterward. Being invited to teach a public
school, he reluctantly accepted the offer, and spent the next
two years alternately teaching and going to school himself.
Although he enjoyed the former, he soon resolved to leave it,
under the conviction of duty, to prepare himself to teach in a
higher and more sacred calling.
Without making this purpose publicly known, he attended
the boarding-school of Jonathan Gause, at Unionville, and en-
tered a course of study preparatory to the gospel ministry.
Previously to going to the Hamilton Literary and Theologi-
cal Institution, New York, to pursue a scientific line of study,
he also spent three years in a preparatory course in the semi-
nary of Rev. Samuel Aaron, at Norristown. After some six
years of preparation he entered the work of the christian min-
istry, and was publicly set apart to this calling by ordination
as pastor of the Radnor Baptist church, in Delaware county,
on the 14th of February, 1850. Here he enjoyed a pleasant
and encouraging pastorate in that field of work for seven years.
At this time the subject of American slavery was at the
height of its agitation, and being one of the most decidedly
anti-slavery gospel ministers of the denomination, he was so-
licited to take an agency in behalf of the American Baptist
Free Mission Society, which was organized "free from the
avails of slave labor or fraternal co-operation with slavehold-
ers." He accordingly accepted the call, and spent two years
in missionary and agency work in behalf of home and foreign
missionaries, under the auspices of this society. This agency
344 REV. JOSIAH PHILLIPS.
labor was pursued principally in the States of Pennsylvania^
Ohio, New York, and Massachusetts.
After the expiration of this time, and a suspension of about
six months on account of sickness, he accepted a call from a
church at Euclid, a village on the shore of Lake Erie, near-
Cleveland, Ohio. Here he was permitted to see a favorable-
growth of the church under his care, and enjoyed there a pleas-
ant home and work for more than seven years.
Excessive labor and consequent failure of health, however,
made it necessary to withdraw for a season, on which account
he returned to his native State to rest. In this retired capacity^
he lived one year in West Chester and two in Norristown,
where he pleasantly renewed many old acquaintances. At the
close of this recess, with regained health and anxiety to resume*
his life-work, he entered an open door at Milestown, within
Philadelphia city limits, as pastor of the Baptist church of that
place. Here also the Master seemed to own the relation by
His constant blessing on the means of grace. After five years
he was called to his present charge, leaving many warm and
kind friends behind him. Accordingly, on the ist of April,
1875, he received a kindly welcome where he is laboring at
present, in the pretty borough of North Wales.
We return to record the domestic relations of Mr. Phillips..
Shortly after his entrance to the ministry, March 29th, 1853,
he married Mary Ann Davis, of Chester county. The only
issue of this marriage is a daughtiw, Clara R., who was born
July 23d, 1854. She has received a superior education, having"
attended a public school one year at West 'Chester, and two
years at Oak street, Norristown, where she -graduated. She
next spent a year at Jefferson Grammar School, Philadelphia,
thence to the girls' normal school, graduating again, and at the
next commencement was made one of the teachers or faculty.
On the 29th of April, 1877, she was married to Mr. Eugene H.
Austin, principal book-keeper of the Farmers' and Mechanics'
Bank, Philadelphia.
As a preacher, Mr. Phillips is characterized by great plain-
ness and boldness in " declaring the whole counsel of God,"
being a very outspoken opponent of intemperance and other
popular sins.
HARVEY SHAW. 345
HARVEY SHAW.
Silence to passion, preiiulicc and mockery, is tlie best answer, and often conquers
what resistance inflames. — William Pcnn.
Harvey Shaw, son of Aaron and Susanna B. Shaw, was born
in Plumstead township, near Doylestown, August 30th, 1812-
He remained on his father's farm until fourteen years of age^
when he was placed in the store of Yardley & Jones, at New-
town, and continued there four years. He then accepted a
situation in the counting-room of his co usin, Elias Shaw, who
was largely engaged in the flour and general commission busi-
ness in the city of Baltimore, and remained with him about
three years. He was then appointed to a clerkship in the
Union Bank of Maryland, continuing in that institution from
three to four years, when he resigned and entered the firm of
Elias Shaw & Co., and subsequently that of Gambrill & Shaw.
On his retiring from the bank, Cashier Mickle presented him
with a handsome testimonial letter for his fidelity and cour-
teous deportment during his engagement there.
In May, 1837, Mr. Shaw was united in marriage with Sarah
W. Ely, a sister of the late General John Ely. She died in
1839, and in 1845 he married Sophia, daughter of John Elliott,
formerly of King-of-Prussia, Montgomery county. After this
marriage he closed his business engagements in Baltimore, and
moved to Buckingham valley, Bucks county, where he pur-
chased the beautiful residence of the late Dr. John Wilson, and
for ten years was engaged in the business of farming. In the
spring of 1857 he was appointed Secretary and Treasurer of
the Barclay Coal Company, and removed with his wife and
children (Isabella and J. Elliott) to Norristown, of which bor-
ough he has since then been a resident, still filling the above
situation that he has held for the past twenty-one years.
Mr. Shaw is a member of the religious society of Friends,
and in politics a Republican. In the latter particular, however,
he cares more for the qualifications of the man to fill the office
than for party ties. He has never sought nor held any politi-
cal office, but has on many occasions been called upon to set-
tle estates and act as guardian, trustee, and the like.
23
346 HON. WILLIAM A. YEAKLE.
Mr, S. is a man of cultivation and advanced sentiments touch-
ing the public welfare. On occasions appealing to public
charity he contributes liberally, as may be instanced when pri-
vate funds were immediately wanted during the rebellion to
equip men for the common defence, Mr. Shaw, in a public
meeting, tendered his check for a hundred dollars, which ex-
ample others followed. He has shown equal munificence and
public spirit in taking the initiative and heading a list for the
procurement of an ornamental drinking-fountain for public use,
in front of the Norristown public square. He procured the
subscriptions, collected the money, purchased the fountain, in-
duced the parties erecting it to remit their profits, and handed
it over to the borough authorities with a detailed exhibit of
the contributions and disbursements for the same, which was
published for general information. In like manner, in conjunc-
tion with Mr. Charles D. Phillips, he procured in the same way
a large number of iron settees for the square, as also assisting
in the procurement of boxes for the birds in the square and in
Friends' meeting yard.
Now, in the closing years of his life, Mr. Shaw enjoys the
comforts of a home and a competency which early industry
and habits of temperance have acquired and saved.
HON. WILLIAM A. YEAKLE.
The life of nations is much longer than that of persons, but their health depends on
their observance of the laws of health notwithstanding. The law of right is their law of
health aiso.— John H. Hunt.
William Anders Yeakle, son of Samuel and Lydia Anders
Yeakle, of Norristown, was born in Whitemarsh township,
Montgomery county, on the 20th of October, 1824. His an-
cestors on both sides from the era of the Reformation have be-
longed to that humble and evangelical people called Schwenk-
felders. They are the followers of Casper Schwenkfeld, of
Silesia, Germany, who was cotemporary with Luther. The
Yeakles, Anders, and other families of this plain and pious
HON. WILLIAM A. YEAKLE. 347
people, are settled on a belt of country extending from Ger-
mantown to Hereford, Berks county. The ancestors of Mr.
Yeakle are known to have settled in the middle townships of
what is now Montgomery county subsequent to 1734.
The father of Mr. Yeakle, as himself, was a farmer, and gave
"his son a good common sthool education, such as was usual
forty years ago, consisting mainly of the rudimentary branches,
to which he has since added by constant reading and study.
On the 17th of January, 1849, he was married to Caroline,
daughter of the late John and Elizabeth Hocker, of White-
marsh, and in the spring following commenced farming for
himself on the beautiful plantation (the old family homestead)
where he still resides. His land has a frontage nearly to the
Bethlehem turnpike road, with the Wissahickon crossing its
eastern end, and extending back a mile, covering as handsome
a plateau as can be found in that township of beautiful farms.
In 1850 his neighbors elected him a member of the school
board of the township, and by their partiality he was continued
in the position during eighteen years of continuous service.
He then declined a re-election, though he remains one of the
auditors of the board, being now over twenty years since he
assumed the duties connected with it.
In the summer of 1870, at the solicitation of friends, he con-
sented to be a candidate for State Senator before the Republi-
<can convention of the county, and was nominated in Septem-
ber, The district, however, being composed of Montgomery
Delaware and Chester, the conferees of the two latter finally
voted for Henry S. Evans, of Chester, when Mr. Yeakle mag-
nanimously withdrew from the contest in favor of the former,
'who was put on the ticket and elected. Three years later Mr.
Yeakle's claims were again presented. In the meantime Mont-
.gomery county had become a Senatorial district by itself. He
was nominated again on the Republican ticket to take his
chance of success in a Democratic county. At the election in
the following October he was chosen by a majority of thirty
votes over Dr. John G. Hillegass, his Democratic competitor.
This was a most satisfactory proof of Mr. Yeakle's worth and
great popularity. Mr. Y. served his term of three years, but
348 HON. WILLIAM A. YEAKLE.
declined a renomination, and the place was filled by the Demo-
crats electing Jones Detwiler over S. Powell Childs at the next
election.
For a long time Mr. Yeakle has taken a deep interest in
everything that concerns agriculture, and has been for many
years a member of the Montgomery* County Agricultural So-
ciety. In January, 1877, it chose him on its behalf a member
of the State Board of Agriculture, and on taking his seat he
drew the one-year term. Upon its expiration he was chosen
again in January, 1878, for the full term of three years.
Mr. Yeakle enjoys in the largest degree the confidence and
favor of his neighbors and fellow-citizens, having frequently
represented them in the county conventions of the Republican
party, and on one or more occasions has presided over the an-
nual gathering.
As a legislator Mr. Yeakle represented the most elevated
sentiment and feeling of the Republican party, and his votes
show that he carried with him to the State Capital the high
moral principles of the religious society of which most of his
family are members. If men of his stamp were oftener sent to
legislative bodies there would be fewer charges of peculation,
and corruption alleged against officers and representatives.
We close this sketch with a brief notice of the family at
large, including the record of its emigration and settlement in
Pennsylvania. It is known that the great progenitor was named
Christopher Yeakle, who died in Silesia, Germany. His son.
Christopher, being then but seventeen years of age, came to
our State in 1734 with his widowed mother, Regina, and after
serving an apprenticeship to a cooper in Germantown, married
and settled at Creisheim, on the south side of Chestnut Hill,
in Philadelphia county, at which place he built a log-house'
about 1743 or 1744. This house is still (1879) standing. A
short time previous to the Revolution he purchased a property
on the summit of Chestnut Hill, where he died in 18 10 at about
the age of ninety-three years. He left three daughters and two
sons, Abraham and Christopher. The latter of the two married
Susannah Krieble, and remained on the homestead till 1844,
when he died, aged eighty-six years. Christopher and Susan-
SAMUEL F. JARRETT. 349
nah Yeakle had six children, of whom Samuel Yeakle, of Nor-
ristown, the father of the subject of this notice, is the young-
■ est, Samuel Yeakle and wife have three sons, William A.,
Charles A., and Abraham A., the last intermarried with Anna
Eliza, daughter of Jesse and Harriet Shepherd, of Hickory-
town, and they have three children, Frank S., John Morris, and
Hattie May. Abraham A. is the well known merchant of
Norristown, long in partnership with James W. Schrack, de-
ceased. He is an active member of the First Presbyterian
Church. The children of William A. Yeakle and wife are
Annie H. and Samuel. Charles A. resides on a part of the
old homestead in Whitemarsh.
SAMUEL F. JARRETT.
"' It is better to be born lucky than rich," says the adage.
But better still than either is it to be trained affable, courteous,
obliging, and trustworthy. While we know there cannot be
•such a thing as " luck," for nothing comes by chance, still
some circumstances in the notice we are about to write would
seem to confirm that popular notion.
The Jarrett family are supposed to have come from the high-
lands of Scotland early in the past century, for Buck in his his-
'tory of Montgomery county refers to Thomas and Levi Jarrett
;as living in Upper Dublin township, and John Jarrett's name
appears as one of the first or original officers of the Hatboro
Library Company in 1755.
Mr. Jarrett's maternal ancestors on his father's side were
Palmers, a numerous family settled in Delaware county, as also
in our own. These were all Encrlish Quakers. His maternal
: grandmother, of the elder generation, was a Rhodes, and his
iimmediate maternal grandparent a Farra, who was of Welsh
^origin.
Samuel F. Jarrett, farmer, and late County Treasurer, is the
3 so SAMUEL F. JARRETT.
second son of David and Rebecca Jarrett, formerly of Upper
Providence, but later of Norriton and Lower Providence town-
ships, Montgomery county. He was born in the first named
township on the 19th of November, 1825. His father, aged
eighty, is living in Lower Providence. His mother died in;
1876 at the age of seventy-eight, and is buried at Plymouth
Meeting. His brothers and sisters are Jesse, Charles P. (killed
at the battle of Shiloh), Atkinson F., Elizabeth, John, Lucre-
tia, and Chalkley.
Up to his twenty-fourth year Samuel F. lived with his pa-
rents and assisted on the farm, receiving with aptness and dili-
gence a good common school education, which has since en-
abled him to fill with credit important public trusts. At the
time to which reference has just been made he was married to
Amanda, daughter of Joseph and Rebecca Crawford, of Lower
Providence township, and went to farming for himself The
offspring of this union have been Emma (deceased) and Annie
Rebecca, who lives with her parents near Jeffersonville.
In July, 1863, Lee invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania, and
Governor Curtin called for "emergency men" to meet the in-
vaders and defend our homes. Very soon the patriotic farm-
ers of our vicinity mustered a company of cavalry and marched
it to the front with their own horses, Mr. Jarrett being among
the first to enlist. This company, called the " Norris Cavalry,''^
commanded by Captain Frederick Haws, of Jeffersonville, did
valuable service in Washington county, Maryland, in picket-
ing the Potomac and protecting the loyal from roving rebels,
as also in catching skulkers from both armies. The company
were on this patriotic service nearly two months, Jarrett being
one of the numerous "fighting Quakers" who broke over the
rules of the society "just for the emergency," as Governor
Curtin termed it.
It only remains to record the services of Mr. Jarrett while
County Treasurer, to which office he was elected in October,.
1872, by the close vote of 8461 against 8449, a majority of but
twelve over his Democratic opponent. This result was won
against a considerable opposition majority, but the still more
curious fact was that at first he felt inclined to resist the solici-
SAMUEL F. JARRETT. 351
tations of his frienda to "run," as another prominent gentle-
man residing in Norristown did with subsequent regret, and
further was the last named on the list of informal nominations,
and only placed on the ticket on the second ballot. Ilis op-
ponent in the Democratic party was George C. Reiff
Having been found so popular with the electors, and having
rendered such full satisfaction in the office, he was nominated
the next year by acclamation, beating his new Democratic op-
ponent, Henry Herman, by a vote of 7026 against 6868, leav-
ing his majority 158. Serving out his second term under the
old Constitution, he was brought forward in 1874 as the most
available man for the period of three years, the term according
to the new law. This time he had several spirited competitors
in the convention, and was only chosen on the sixth ballot by
five majority. But true to his record as a " lucky horse," he
went over the track again, this time against Zachariah Prutz-
man, of Limerick, having a vote of 7628 to 7616 for the latter,
a majority of twelve. As there was a Prohibition ticket in the
field, he was only chosen by a plurality, drawing the votes that
elected him partly from George Wright, who was the candi-
date of the third party. He closed his official term on the ist
of January, 1878.
He was characterized while in office by uniform courtesy
and fidelity, keeping the funds so well in hand that perhaps no
one ever filled it with more perfect acceptance to officials and
the people. On the conclusion of his third official term he re-
turned to his farm and former vocation, on the Egypt road,
near Jefifersonville, where he resides.
352 HIRAM CORSON, M. D.
HIRAM CORSON, M. D.
He reads much ;
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men. — Shakspeare.
Hiram Corson* was born in Plymouth township, Montgomery
county, on the 8th of October, 1804, and has lived to his seventy-
fifth year within a mile of his birth-place. He is the fifth son of
Joseph and Hannah Corson, whose marriage and offspring are re-
corded in the life of Alan W. Corson elsewhere in this work. His
mother dying at the age of forty, of consumption, left him a small
boy, as also his brother William but a child of four years, to the
care of a father immersed in business, but mainly to two elder sisters,
Mary and Sarah, the former of whom afterwards married Thomas
Adamson and the latter Thomas Read. These two sisters were
then cultivated and refined young women for their opportunities,
and the brothers in their closing years look back with a sense of deep
gratitude toward these two, who assisted a father and stepmother in
guiding their childish feet in right ways. They refer to this recol-
lection as one of the brightest of their early life.
Having a much older brother (Alan) soon after engaged in teach-
ing, these younger ones had the best opportunity short of a colle-
giate course of receiving a good academic education. But Hiram
Corson is one whom phrenologists characterize as a natural scholar
— a person measurably independent of schools. Such men do not
so much reason, after the manner of mathematicians, as grasp by
perceptive analysis or intuition whatever comes within the purview
of their minds. This is perhaps the happiest of all faculties for a
physician to possess, inasmuch as he must often act on the spur of
the moment, with hardly time for reflection at all.
With the quick, critical gifts we have described, it was natural
that our subject's attention should be drawn to medicine as a pro-
fession. Accordingly, when twenty-two years old, he entered the
office of Dr. Richard D. Corson, of New Hope, Bucks county, in
1826, and in March, 1828, just fifty-one years ago, graduated at the
♦Till within a recent period the subject of this notice supposed that his own christian
name was a fancy gift of his father's, and tliat lie was the first of the family w^ho bore it.
But he learns tlirough Rev. Thomas S. Yoeom that while the latter officiated on Staten
Island, he ^vas called upon to bury Cne wife of a Hiram Corson of that place. So the
name appears an original family one, possibly dating back to near 1680, when Cornelius
Corsen is recorded as tlie purchaser of land on that island. Of the origin of the surnanae
and family, Weiss, in his sketches of Staten Island, says: "This (the Corsons) is one of
the oldest and at one time among the most influential families on the island. The first
mentioned of the name ■was Cornelius Corsen, Avho there obtained a patent for one hun-
dred and eighty acres of land on the 30th of December, 1680."
HIRAM CORSON, M. D. 353
University of Pennsylvania. Shortly after he built himself a house
on a handsome elevation midway between the Ridge and German-
town turnpike roads, now called Maple Hill, and within half a mile
of Plymouth Friends' Meeting. Here for nearly half a century he
has resided, enjoying a very large practice extending over a terri-
tory many miles in area.
The life of Dr. Hiram Corson has been so busy, and his contri-
Ibutions to medical science and social progress so varied, that it is
'difficult to characterize his career. Soon after commencing prac-
tice he was married to Ann Jones, daughter of Edward and Tacy
iFoulke, from which union a large family of children have sprung,
Avho are particularized below. It is proper to add here that Dr.
Corson and his wife early felt the responsibility of properly and
thoroughly educating their children. They therefore had erected
■on their property at Maple Hill a small school building, and em-
iployed a teacher for a select school for the education of their own
-children, which was also open to their neighbors.
No sooner had he commenced professional routine than he per-
■ceived the terrible devastation produced by alcoholic liquors, so
universally used as a beverage, and so greatly aggravated by the
then common prescription of them by physicians in their practice.
With the bold decision of a quick mind and cool intrepidity of a
hero, he threw himself against the whole system. He soon discov-
•ered also, in his own experience, that in most cases patients recov-
•ered more rapidly without their use, and he thenceforth almost ban-
ished them from his materia medica. Not only did he boldly take this
ground in the face of the pecuniary gains to the fraternity by their
use, but threw himself into the moral discussion which arose a few
years later, and on all proper occasions made vehement speeches
against the practice of drinking those liquors. He was among the
very first to detect and denounce the insidious nature and danger-
ous use of root beer and other weak fermented drinks to reformed
inebriates, during the Washingtonian movement. He not only was
the champion of temperance at home, but frequently brought the
topic before the assembled profession in meetings of the National
and State medical societies. It is proper to add here, however,
that without changing his views as to those liquors, or his personal
opposition to their use, he has not co-operated so actively in any of
the late efforts in the temperance movement. He has given the
work into younger hands.
Dr. Corson not only ranks as an early reformer on the alcoholic
354 HIRAM CORSON, M. D.
question, but observation soon convinced him that the custom then
widely prevalent of employing hot drinks alone in eruptive diseases,
and denying patients the cooling draught of water so much craved,
was not justified by experience. Accordingly he conformed his
practice to these views, and without pretending to found a new
school, has nevertheless effected a widely extended reform in such
cases, his brethren generally yielding to the correctness of his ob-
servations and theory. In the meantime there have been few if any
additions to medical science or discussions growing out of its theory
or practice in which he has not participated. There are no medi-
cal men in the country better known by their occasional writings
than Dr. Hiram Corson, and all his papers have been characterized
by keen, intuitive perception of truth rather than loading the pro-
fession by far-fetched theories, which flourish for a brief season and
then disappear forever. Close observation and common sense, en-
lightened by professional experience added to science, have been
Dr. C.'s striking characteristics in all his labors. He was active in
the organization of the Montgomery County Medical Society, and
has read before it a number of valuable papers. He and his brother
William were also active in forming the State society, and the for-
mer was its President in 1852.
But zeal in the pursuit of his profession, together with a large
practice and the care of a numerous family of children, did not so
far absorb his mind as to prevent his also having great interest in
State and National affairs. Without being an active politician, he
has been all his life a Whig and Republican, taking an especial in-
terest in the cause of the down-trodden slave. As in the case of
temperance, he was outspoken from the first against the iniquity and
unwise policy of maintaining the slave-holding system. In matters
of humanity, public charities, or social abuses, his keen, critical and
trenchant pen is frequently employed, nearly always enlightening
the public mind upon some matter unobserved by others.
Dr. Corson, notwithstanding his radical views upon almost all re-
form subjects, has been frequently honored by medical societies and
the profession at large. He was among the very first physicians in
the country in favor of opening the profession to the female sex^
putting forward his niece. Miss Adamson, and giving her the bene-
fit of his name and reputation to secure an education.
He has been a member of the American Medical Association for
a long time. A few years since, for his various contributions to
medical literature, the Meigs and Mason Academy of Medicine,
HIRAM CORSON, M. D. 355
Ohio, made him an associate member. In 1S74 the Obstetrical
Society of Philadelphia also elected him to that position, and one
year later the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the oldest
medical organization in the United States, elected him "Associate
Fellow" of that honored society, now one hundred and forty years
old. The value of this last compliment is best understood when it
is stated that by the laws of the college it is restricted to a member-
ship of thirty associates in the United States and but twenty in for-
eign countries.
Dr. Corson is the author of many valuable papers on scarlet fever
and diphtheria, and is the originator of the ice treatment which has
proved so efficient in those diseases, and which has come to be much
used in nearly all the States of the Union. His writings in the
medical journals of the country have been numerous and even volu-
minous, though he has written no large medical books, so called,
having had no time for such labors. What he has written, indeed,
has often been done in the time snatched from hours of rest, in or-
der that his brethren might have the benefit of his experience and
observation.
Some years ago. Governor Hartranft, knowing Dr. Corson's fa-
miliarity with the advanced knowledge of the profession in the treat-
ment of lunatics, appointed him a trustee of the State Hospital for
the Insane, at Harrisburg. The State Board of Public Charities
'also appointed him one of the visitors to the Montgomery county
prison and alms-house. Without any official connection with the
eastern asylum for the insane now building, he has nevertheless been
influential by his writings and oral advice in securing the wise ar-
rangements for the humane safe-keeping of the unfortunates who are
to inhabit it. Dr. Corson has kept abreast of the most enlightened
views prevailing in England and on the Continent, and for a long
time has been deprecating the prison feature in treating the insane.
Some years ago he uncovered to the public eye the gross neglect of
the demented poor in our alms-house, securing a reform of the same.
But we must close this review by giving a sketch of the personnel
of the Doctor's family.
Their eldest son, Edward Foulke, born October 14th, 1834, after
receiving a good education, studied medicine with his father, gradu-
ated at the University, and opened an office at Conshohocken, con-
tinuing there for a time, till, feeling a desire to see the world, he
obtained the post of Assistant Surgeon on board the United States
ship Hartford, and spent three years on a cruise in Asiatic waters.
2^6 HIRAM CORSON, M. D,
Returning home the first year of the rebellion, he was made full
Surgeon and stationed at the Marine Hospital, Philadelphia. After
a short stay there, however, he applied for some more active duty
or participation in the war. He was assigned to the ship Mohican,
which for eighteen months scoured the seas for the rebel vessel Ala-
bama, and came back without having lost a single man by sickness.
But in caring for the ship's crew he had forgotten himself, being
quite worn down in health. His ailment soon developed into fever,
and he died, after an illness of a few weeks, on the 2 2d of June,
1864, in his 30th year. He was a young man of great promise, and
^his death was a sore affliction to his parents.
The second son is Joseph K. Corson, who was born on the 2 2d
-of November, 1836. At the age of seventeen he was entered as an
•apprentice to the drug business with the firm of John & William Sav-
age, of Philadelphia. After graduating in the College of Phar-
macy, and completing his term of apprenticeship, he returned home.
Shortly after, on the breaking out of the war, he enlisted as a pri-
vate in Captain Walter H. Cooke's company. Colonel Hartranft's
IFourth Regiment, and served till the company was ordered to the
-rear to be mustered out on the eve of the first battle of Bull Run.
He was one of a few of the company who offered to remain in ser-
vice and go into that disastrous battle as volunteers, notwithstand-
ing their term of service had expired. On his return home, having
a knowledge of pharmacy, he commenced the study of medicine
with his father, and in company with his cousin, Elwood M. Corson,
attended lectures at the medical school, at the same time entering
the military hospital at Broad and Cherry streets, Philadelphia, as
assistants to the surgeons. They thus heard lectures during the day
and attended sick soldiers at night, stealing hours from sleep for
:study. This round of duty was pursued till the next year, when they
graduated, and were both sent to the seat of war, Joseph as surgeon's
assistant in one of the regiments of the Pennsylvania Reserves. He
was at the battle of Gettysburg, and from there through most of the
battles of the Wilderness, ending at Cold Harbor, where he was re-
lieved, and returned home just in time to see his elder brother die.
About the date Joseph returned, Elwood, who so long had been his
companion, was transferred to New York, and thence on board of
■one of the Monitors ordered to Charleston harbor. Here he re-
mained, exposed to a terrible cannonading, until the rebels aban-
doned the city and it fell into our hands. For a short time Joseph
remained at home assisting his father in his practice, but tiring of
HIRAM CORSON, M. D. 35/
the monotony of home work while such stirring events were trans-
piring in the field, he again applied for a position in the army. He
passed an examination, and was assigned to duty on the lines be-
tween Omaha and Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory, and other
posts in the far West. While on the plains in Wyoming he made
long journeys from the post, as he had leisure, in search of fossils,
and was fortunate in discovering the remains of many extinct ani-
mals, which he sent to Professor Leidy, and which are now in the
Cabinet of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. He is still pursuing
these scientific explorations. He has been married at his Western
home to Ada, daughter of Judge William Carter, of that Territory.
The third child was Caroline, born April 2d, 1839, and who died
of consumption after having received a superior education.
The fourth is Tacie Foulke, intermarried with William L. Cres-
son, of Norristown. They have four children, Carrie, James, Nancy
Corson, and Mary Leedom.
Charles Follen, the fifth child, was entered and graduated at the
University of Pennsylvania, after which he studied law under Wil-
liam Henry Rawle, of Philadelphia, and since that time has been
actively engaged in his profession in that city. For some years he
has been a member of the law firm of Goforth & Corson. He was
married in 1876 to Mary, daughter of Lewis A. Lukens, of Consho-
hocken.
The sixth child is Susan F,, married to Jawood Lukens, of the
firm of Alan Wood & Co., iron manufacturers, Conshohocken.
The seventh is Bertha, married to James Yocom, of Philadelphia.
They have four children, Fannie, Thomas, Bertha, and Georgianna.
The eighth is Frances Stockton, married to Richard Day, of the
firm of Day Brothers, Philadelphia. They have one child, Bertha
Corson.
The youngest child is Mary, who resides with her parents at
Maple Hill.
Dr. Hiram Corson's long life and prosperous career teach this
lesson above all others that a bold and fearless advocacy of truth,
and an adherence to it in the face of opposition and dissent, will air-
ways pay, morally and pecuniarily.
35^ WILLIAM W. TAYLOR.
WILLIAM W. TAYLOR.
The man is thought a knave or fool,
Or zealot plotting crimes,
Who for the welfare of his race
Is bluntly 'gainst his times.
For him the hemlock shall distill.
For him the axe be bared. — Anonymous.
And if the person who assumes the role of reformer happens to be
himself somewhat impulsive, self-willed, and bluntly outspoken, just
because he cannot help it, he is sure to encounter the dissent, if not
the maledictions of quiet, serene-minded people, who "attend to
their own affairs' ' and let the world wag as it pleases, even if a fourth
of mankind should turn cannibals and commence eating the rest of
us — providing always that they are not in the class to be devoured.
Such is life, and such ordinary human nature. "But wisdom,"
says the great Book, "is justified of her children." Hot-blooded,
earnest, outspoken people, are always misunderstood by the oppo-
site class. Hence the former, who see the world upside down, and
often perceive reputable christian people sustaining by their voice
and example such hoary abuses as slavery and intemperance, or
wasting health and money upon hurtful practices like using tobacco
or buying chances, thus falling into dangerous ways that more reso-
lute people contemn, resist and overcome; if such contemners are
bold, outspoken, and perhaps a little hasty and intemperate in speech,
there is always a disturbance following somewhere, and the caviler
and fault-finder must look well to his glass house, if he live in one.
Milton said, "Let truth and falsehood grapple. Whoever knew
the right put to the worse in a fair and open encounter?"
A world without these two needful classes would not be in a health-
ful condition, for the God-man who dispensed the new law says: "I
came not to bring peace, but a sword." The headstrong, positive
man, who assumes the role of reformer, must expect to be dead at
least a decade before his neighbors will understand him or do him
justice. His efforts must be weighed at their true value, his own
imperfections and over-zeal forgotten, and then he has his reward.
Then it is seen, as the phrenologist and philosopher always per-
ceive, that being so constituted he could not well have been other
than he was.
William Windle Taylor, of Freeland, the son of Levi and Sarah
Taylor, was born in East Marlborough township, Chester county.
WILLIAM \V. TAYLOR. 359
on the loth of May, i8i i. The Taylor family is doubtless of Eng-
lish origin, and Quakers, who came over with Penn or shortly after
he commenced the settlement of our State, as early records inform
us that John Taylor was a surveyor and very influential man, and
one or two of that name were members of the colonial Assembly.
The usual christian names of the family are John, Stephen, Moses,
and Caleb. Our subject's paternal grandparents were John and Di-
nah Taylor, of Chester county. Probably Moses Taylor, the great
shipping merchant of New York, and the Southern family from
whom General Zachary Taylor sprang, are descended from the same
family head.
His mother was a daughter of William Windle, a family distin-
guished for great energy and positiveness. This Windle was a
grandson of Isaac Jackson, who came from Wales and settled in
West Grove, Chester county, on the 25th of August, 1725, from
whom are sprung the numerous and respectable family of that name
in Chester county, and from whom also possibly came the Southern
family who are the ancestors of "Stonewall" Jackson of rebel fame.
In 1875 ^^i"- Taylor and family received an invitation to attend a
picnic in commemoration of the sesqui-centennial settlement of
Isaac Jackson at the old homestead, at Harmony Grove, now owned
by Everard and Mary Jackson Conard, who are descendants.
In 1 816 the parents of Mr. Taylor moved to Hokesson, Delaware,
where he obtained about three months' schooling in a year, till 182S,
when he was apprenticed to William Moore, of New Garden, to
learn the trade of a carpenter, with whom he served three and a
half years, receiving annually a month's additional schooling. In
the fall of 1 83 1 he went to West Chester to work at his trade, and
while there, in 1832, met, with the writer, a number of others in
the court house, and formed one of the earliest temperance societies
of that locality. From that time to the present he has been an
earnest and active advocate of temperance and prohibition. In the
autumn of 1832 he went to Philadelphia to work, and in the spring
of 1S33 to Doylestown, helping to build the bank and other im-
provements there. In the fall of 1834 he left there to teach a school
at Goshen Meeting, in Goshen township, Chester county. In the
spring of 1S35 he removed to Lumberville, now called Port Provi-
dence, to work at his trade again, and on the 24th of December
following was married to Sarah, daughter of the elder Benjamin and
Tvlary Cox, of Upper Providence. In the spring of 1836 he set up
the business of a master carpenter, and commenced housekeeping
360 WILLIAM W. TAYLOR.
in Phoenixville. There he built the old railroad depot, and coal-
houses for the first smelting fiarnace, as also an addition to Kimber-
ton boarding school.
While yet working in Phoenixville he made the acquaintance of
Isaac Price, Elijah F. Pennypacker, and others of like spirit, and
at Friends' meeting house formed the Schuylkill Anti-Slavery So-
ciety. Ever since, till slavery was abolished by proclamation, he-
has been an unsleeping Abolitionist, loving and advocating the
cause of the slave when it could only bring him reproach and con-
tumely. Being in the line of the famous "underground railroad,"
he helped many a fleeing fugitive to Canada. This was subsequent
to 1840, when he had moved to a farm originally owned by his
father-in-law, a mile east of Providence Friends' meeting house, on
which place he continued to farm and attend Philadelphia markets
till 1 8 70, when he rented the place and quit business. Finally^
owing to ill health of himself and wife, he sold the farm and removed
to Freeland, where he now resides.
He gives the following among many incidents connected with his.
obedience to the higher instead of the lower law while he was a con-
ductor on the ''underground" : Once a young slave and his wife,
who had fled the "patriarchal institution" down South, were sent
to his care. Seeing at a glance that it was a case that required
prompt action, he conveyed them without delay to the next station,
and they to a third, when the woman declared her inability to go-
further. Here she was provided with a bed and other comforts in
the loft of a spring-house, where a male child was born, and which
the parents insisted on naming for their benefactor. After a short
stay they passed on to Canada. "Another party I parted with at
break of day," said he, "after a long drive, when the poor slave
grasped me with his horny hand, and while tears ran down his fur-
rowed cheeks, exclaimed, 'God bless you, massa!' At a moment
like this," he adds, "gold and silver seem but dross compared with,
such gratitude."
William W. and Sarah Taylor have had three children, Mary,.
Harriet, and Clarkson. The first and last died in childhood. Har-
riet is intermarried with Marcellus Rambo, and lives in Schuylkill,.
Chester county.
Mr. Taylor was bred among Friends, but recently joined the
Mennonite or Trinity Christian Church of Freeland, of which Mr.
Hendricks is pastor. He has been a life-long abstainer from to-
bacco, and also regarded as a man of public spirit and good business
REV. SAMUEL M. GOULD. 361
qualifications. Accordingly he was actively instrumental in found-
ing the Phoenixville Bank, and was a director therein for one term.
On the organization of the First National Bank of Norristown, in
which he assisted, he was made one of its first directors, and so con-
tinued till his resignation in 1878 on account of ill health.
Of William W. Taylor as a business man it is proper to remark
further that he drove with indomitable will and sound judgment
whatever he undertook. He has no patience with careless, moping
people, who live in idleness, filth, and disorder. He was eminently
an improvement man while in active business. When he took pos-
session of the farm of his father-in-law the buildings were those of
the first settlers. These he replaced by both dwelling and barn of
the largest size, with all the improvements. He further renovated
by the removal of all trashy vegetation, and after liming heavily
left it one of the best improved farms in the county. He also built
the cottage he occupies at Freeland, and upon a half acre of land
attached has planted some small fruits, which are very productive.
He inherited not beyond the merest pittance, yet he has retired on
a fair competence.
REV. SAMUEL M. GOULD.
He which converteth the sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from
death and hide a multitude of sins. — James F, 20.
Samuel McLellan Gould, who for more than thirteen years, or
from January, 1838, to April, 185 1, preached successfully as pastor
of the First Presbyterian Church, Norristown, deserves a place
among the eminent men who have lived and labored in Montgom-
ery county. Mr. Gould was born in the town of Gorham, Maine,
on the 24th of January, 1809, of Scotch-Irish and Puritanic stock.
His father, Nathaniel Gould, was desceiaded from an English family
of that surname Avho settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, about the
commencement of the last centurv. His mother, Elizabeth Mc-
Lellan, was descended from Bryce McLellan, a strict Presbyterian
from the north of Ireland, who settled in Portland, ]\Iaine, in the
year 1730.
Mr. Gould's patronymic and maternal grandfather was Samuel
McLellan, a sea captain, who was taken prisoner by the British, and
24
362 REV. SAMUEL M. GOULD.
died on board the prison ship Jersey, in New York harbor, in 1778,
at the age of thirty. He had also an uncle Samuel McLellan, who
was likewise a sea captain, and with whom the subject of our notice
had some experience of seafaring life in his early years. From this
knowledge of the ocean many of the most forcible illustrations and
imagery of his sermons were drawn.
While attending store in Portland, during his eighteenth year,
his mind was especially drawn to the subject of religion. He joined
one of the Congregational churches of that city, and in the spring
of 1828 began to prepare himself for college with a view to the min-
istry. In 1830 he entered Bowdoin College in an advanced class,
but not long after, being obliged to leave it from decline of health,
he spent a year or two in teaching. In 1833 ^'^^ was entered a stu-
dent of theology under Drs. Beman and Kirk, at Troy and Albany
Seminary, and graduated with honor. In the fall of 1835 he went
to Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where he was licensed to preach
the gospel by the Congregational Association. After this, for the
period of two years, he preached as an evangelist or supply at Spen-
certown and Stephentown in New York, Hartford, Connecticut, and
finally at the Central Presbyterian Church, Coates street, Philadel-
phia, where he was elected pastor in October, 1837. At the close of
this year, while preaching there, the Rev. Robert Adair having re-
signed his charge of the Norristown Presbyterian church, Mr. Gould
was invited to preach before the people, which he did the last Sab-
bath in December, and continued to labor with them a few weeks.
In January, 1838, he was tendered a unanimous call by the congre-
gation to settle among them.
At this time the question of "new school" and "old school"
began to be a serious matter in the Presbyterian church, growing
out of the recent trial of Rev. Albert Barnes for "dej^arture from the
standards," and every man who came from New York and New
England was suspected of heresy. The Norristown church at this
time belonged to the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, which was
very strongly old school, or of the Scotch type, while the Third
Presbytery of Philadelphia, of which Rev. Albert Barnes was a dis-
tinguished member, was as decidedly new school. This being the
state of parties and things when the Norristown church made appli-
cation for the reception and installation of Mr. Gould, the Second
Presbytery rejected him on the ground of "unsoundness in chris-
tian doctrine." The Norristown church, however, having full con-
fidence in his orthodoxy, and believing that his rejection was owing
REV. SAMUEL M. GOULD. 363
•to the party spirit before mentioned, at once took measures to with-
;draw from the Second Presbytery and join itself to the Third. This
it did after the great division in the church at large had taken j)lace,
which occurred in the month of May of that year. In July follow-
ing, the church having been transferred by Synod, according to the
discipline, from the Second Presbytery to the Third, Mr. Gould
was examined before the latter body, now connected with the Synod
of Pennsylvania, and admitted a member. On the 25th of Sep-
tember he was ordained and installed pastor of the Norristown
.church, which was united and harmonious, there being but one man
who withdrew from it because of the change of Presbyterial rela-
'tion. Mr. G. continued to preach to increasing congregations till
February, 1839, when an unusual interest began to manifest itself,
and a very sudden and powerful revival sprang up, multitudes seek-
ing religioji as for their lives. The work went on by occasional
help of other ministers till the loth of March, when sixty or more
persons were added to the church, most of them on profession of
faith, and a goodly number at the following communion.
During the remainder of this year he continued to preach earn-
estly to full houses. Becoming straitened for room and Sabbath
school accommodations, measures were taken the following spring
to enlarge and improve the house of worship, which up to that time
had stood many feet above the street upon a high bank. An addi-
tion of twenty-five feet to the front was made, a basement story or
ilecture-room added, and everything modernized and made conve-
nient.
During the years 1840-41 seventy-five persons were added to the
.communion, mostly on profession of faith. The year 1S42 Mr. G.
notes in his diary "a great deal of temperance, but no special in-
terest in religion." The next year was noted for the most power-
ful ingathering ever known in that church, there being in the month
of March a hundred and ten persons, most of them new converts,
■standing about the pulpit and aisles at one time in order to make a
profession of religion. Forty of them were baptized.
From this time till 1S4S, Mr. Gould preached faithfully on gen-
eral subjects, but with no special results in the way of conversions,
though the congregation was large, flourishing, and harmonious.
In February of the latter year he added about forty persons at one
time, and additions continued till early in 1S49, ^vhcn troubles and
divisions began to arise in the church, which tlie pastor attributed
to "Satanic influence." At this point the author, as cognizant of
364 REV. SAMUEL M. GOULD,
all the circumstances of the church, ventures to quote the fifteenth':
verse of the twenty-second chapter of Deuteronomy as applicable ta
both pastor and people at that time: ''But Jeshurun waxed fat and-
kicked ; thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered
with fatness ; then he forsook God who made him, and lightly es-
teemed the Rock of his salvation."
Mr. Gould, however, continued to minister the word as usual till
January, 1S51, when he gave a written notice to the congregation^
that he intended to resign the charge after the first of April, stating
fully his reasons for the step he proposed to take. The congrega-
tion was much divided in sentiment, and though a large majority of
the church protested against his withdrawal in a written communi-
cation signed by them, it had no effect in changing the result. This^-
was an unfortunate event for both pastor and people, and in due-
time both parties repented it bitterly. »>
For some weeks before his resignation was to take effect, owing-
to failing health, nervous prostration, and mental suffering, he was>
altogether unfitted for any public service, and left soon after to visit
among friends in Maine, where he remained most of the summer.
By the month of October he had so far regained health and spirits-
as to accept an engagement to minister six months to a small con-
gregation worshiping in a hall on Parrish street, Philadelphia,,
where quite a number of conversions occurred. The following',
spring he spent some time with the church of Marple, in Delaware-
county, and was cordially invited to settle there. But leaving-
Philadelphia for the East, he preached his first sermon on the 15th?
of August, 1852, before the Second Congregational Church of Bid-
deford, Maine, and shortly after was called to the pastorate of the-
sanie. He entered upon his labors here in October, and was in-
stalled on the 6th of January, 1853, over a congregation worship-
ing in a large, commodious church building — a scattered thought
united congregation, where, as the phrase is, "religion was greatly-
run down." Worldliness and vanity, according to the new pastor's-
view, prevailed to an alarming extent. He continued preaching:
in his plain, pointed way, the necessity of conversion and salvation
through Christ, when "light broke in." The result was a great
awakening, and more than one hundred persons professed to have-
experienced a change of heart. The house of God at once became
filled with attentive hearers. Nor did the work cease with this be-
ginning, but continued for three successive years, during which the:
REV. SAMUEL M. GOULD. 3^5
-membership was quadrupled and the moral condition of the city
rgreatly elevated.
In the autumn of 1855 politics began to run high^ and for a time
seemed to override religion and everything else. Dissensions of
that nature crept into the church, and difficulties grew to such pro-
portions that a council of ministers was called to settle the trouble.
But although there was a unanimous decision that Mr. Gould should
remain, nothing appearing against him, we find him on the follow-
>ing 4th of March taking leave of the church, and with forty fami-
lies, part of the Second church, organizing a new congregation con-
-nected with the factories of the place. The hall in which these
meetings were held soon became crowded, and on the 20th of Oc-
-tober following a council organized a new church there, consisting
of forty-two members, and by the spring of 1858 it had doubled its
•original number. During that summer, however, Mr. G., finding
his labors burdensome and wearying, accepted a call which had
previously been tendered him to take charge of the Congregational
-church at Ovvego, New York. But no sooner was he installed in
■his new charge than he regretted the change of location, for under
a new minister the Biddeford church progressed, while the Owego
people and the new pastor were not congenial to each other. Con-
-sequently he left within six months, and passed westward to Paines-
ville, Ohio, to supply a Presbyterian church during the illness of
the preacher.
In the summer of 1859 we again find him in Philadelphia, whence
he shortly after journeyed by invitation to Thomaston, Maine.
After supplying a church for six months he traveled to Waldbor-
ough, Winslow, and other places, doing the work of an evangelist.
Soon after this he acted as a stated supply preacher to the Presby-
terian church of Southwark, on German street, Philadelphia, where
he remained till December, 1862. From here he went to Allen-
town, Pennsylvania, remaining there some fifteen months, and was
instrumental in lifting a five-thousand-dollar mortgage from the
house of worship, leaving the congregation greatly strengthened.
INIr. Gould next began to preach for the people of Port Penn, Dela-
ware, but the locality not agreeing with his health, he left. After
■laboring a short time for the Sixth Presbyterian Church of Phila-
delphia, he went to Emporium, in Cameron county, Pennsylvania,
where he labored with special profit to the place and people, re-
maining there about two and a half years, building up the church,
■getting it out of debt, and feeling that he. had done much good.
366 REV. SAMUEL M. GOULD.
True to his record, however, he left just when he had placed a goods
foundation upon which another minister could build. Since that'
time (1875) he has preached for short terms at Scarborough, near"
Biddeford, Maine, and various other places, making his home ini
Philadelphia in the meantime, where he now resides.
Of Mr. Gould as a preacher and minister, Rev. Dr. Ralston, in^
his centennial history of the church, says : "In the removal of Mr.
Gould from Norristown the church lost an able, laborious, and^
faithful pastor; the working class, a considerate and sympathizing
friend; and the town a valuable citizen. He was a close observer"
of events, shrewd in business, exact in accounts, and sincere ini
friendships, though blunt in manner." Mr. G. retains his vigor
of mind and activity, though nearly threescore years and ten, and^
delivers a sermon with nearly all the earnestness of his early years,
Mr. Gould has never been married, and doubtless to this circum--
stance and slight eccentricities is due the fact that he has been an
evangelist most of his life rather than a pastor. In all his changes-
he has retained his reputation as a religious man and his standing as-
a sermonizer. It only remains to refer to him as a gospel preacher,,
in which character he had few superiors. Lacking social and personal
qualities, he was never successful as a pastor. The author's earliest
recollection of him as a preacher was in noting his deep grasp of
what are usually called the ' ' doctrines of grace. ' ' During seasons of
special religious interest he preached constantly at the unconverted,,
laboring to make them feel that their present moral condition was-
at variance with divine truth and their highest good. The whole
drift of his sermons at such times was to convince non-professors
that religious people had precious gifts and enjoyed comforts or
which without conversion his hearers could know nothing. Hb was-
a strong believer in the agency of the Spirit in securing revivals,,
and at times had himself, very deep convictions and experiences of
human depravity. Hence it was no unusual thing to impress his-
unconverted hearers with the idea that while alienated from Godi
they were really as irrational as the inmates of a lunatic asylum, or,,
in the natural state, as depraved at heart as the tenants of the worldi
of woe.
These were but logical postulates from the Scriptures he quoted,,
and the conclusions drawn from them. Then when he came tO'
urge motives drawn from the cross and its august sufferer, there was-
often in his manner of urging it a depth of pathos that at times sub-
dued the proudest hearts. He had a happy gift also of using oceans
CHARLES CHKISTMAN. 367
imagery and quoting the metaphors of the Bible with wonderful
aptness and force. He was a Calvinist of the New England, but
not of the Scotch type ; consequently his expositions of Scripture-
were at times not thought to be in accordance with the "stand-
ards," but the resultant conversions that waited on his ministry were
a much better warranty than they.
CHARLES CHRISTMAN.
Thou go not like the quarry -slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him and lies down to pleasant dreams. — Bryant.
Among the mechanics who settled in modern Norristown, he
whose name stands at the head of this notice is one of the most
prominent. He is the son of George and Mary Christman, of Lim-
erick township, Montgomery county, where he was born December
28th, 1814. After enjoying the benefit of the common schools of
the locality till about his seventeenth year, he was apprenticed to
John Shellic, of East Vincent, Chester county, to learn the trade of
a carpenter. Very soon after he had finished his trade he came to
Norristown, working as a journeyman for John Bolton and Philip
Koplin until January, 1837, when he formed a partnership with
Mahlon Bolton under the firm name of Christman & Bolton,
and which existed one year. In May, 1838, having dissolved, he
started for the West, stopping a year at Picaway, Ohio, after which
he returned to Norristown and worked at his trade for Jacob Bodey
from March, 1839, to February, 1841. About this time he renewed
the partnership with Mr. Bolton under the firm name of Bolton &
Christman, which continued uninterruptedly for ten years, till 1851.
At that time, finding the business enlarged, they took in Francis G.
Stinson, and the firm name was changed to Bolton, Christman &
Co. This continued till May 29th, 1871, when Mr. Christman with-
drew, and in part payment of his interest took shares in the Key-
stone Lumber and Salt Manufacturing Company, owned by the firm,
at Bangor, Michigan, now West Bay City.
368 CHARLES CHRISTMAN.
In 1837, very soon after starting business in Norristown, the mem-
bers of the original firm erected two stone houses for their own oc-
cupancy at the corner of Swede and Marshall streets. At that time
there were but two or three buildings beside theirs north of the
Baptist church. In February or March, 1838, a frame work-shop
occupied by the firm, located near Penn and Green streets, took
fire, and was burned to the ground. About 1846 the firm erected
a steam planing-mill and opened a board yard on Marshall street
between Swede and DeKalb, at which a large business was done for
several years. Trade continuing to increase, costly dwellings gath-
ered about the works, and the necessity of having facilities for saw-
ing much of their own lumber, drove the firm to the river front,
where they began the erection of the extensive lumber mill now oc-
cupying the grounds at the mouth of Stony creek.
During all these years Mr. Christman was the outside business
manager, doing all the buying of lumber on the Susquehanna and
other lumber marts, and attending to most of the settlements and
financial duties of the firm, while the other partner looked after the
workmen and forwarded contracts at the mill. This was one of
the most prosperous and long continued firms ever established in
Norristown, Mr. Christman's connection with it lasting thirty-one
years.
As has been stated, Mr. Christman had invested considerable
money in the lumber and salt manufacturing company of v/hich he
was elected President in' 1870, which post he held two years, and
then retired. He was re-elected in 1875, ^^'^ still holds the posi-
tion, •
In April, 1839, very soon after settling in Norristown, he mar-
ried Mary T., daughter of John and Sarah T. Miller, of Limerick
township. Their three eldest children, Sarah Ann, Elizabeth, and
Anna Cecilia, died of scarlet fever in infancy, as also an infant son.
Their living children are Mary Emma, Minard L., Charles, Ira, and
William Henry, all now residing in Norristown.
Though not in any proper sense following the business of a car-
penter himself, he apprenticed Minard and Charles to learn that
trade, having in the meantime given them the best education af-
forded by our free schools. Minard graduated in the Polytechnic
College, and turned his attention to architecture as a specialty.
He was employed to draught and plan the Presbyterian churches of
Bridgeport and Jeffersonville, and also the Lower Providence Bap^
tist church, which have given satisfaction to all concerned and done
CHARLES CHRISTMAN. 369
Ilim much credit as an architect and builder. Charles Christman
has held no public positions except three or four terms of service in
the Town Council, several years ago, during which period, how-
ever, many of the most important town improvements were pro-
jected and executed. Since 1843 ^^- ^- ^"^ ^^^^^ have been mem-
'bers of the Central Presbyterian Church, they having joined the
First Presbyterian Church under Mr. Gould's pastorate, and before
the division. He has also been for many years a trustee in said
church.
In 1872, being retired from active business in Norristown, he
built himself a two-story stone mansion, with Mansard roof, at the
■corner of DeKalb and Jacoby streets, which is perhaps the most
elegant building of the kind in the borough, the sidewalks and rear
avenues being paved with artificial stone, and having terraces and
other elaborate ornamentations of the most recent invention. This
building, drafted by Minard, thus planned, finished, and furnished
within in the best style, is a very good illustration of the resultant
industry and life-labors of an American mechanic.
We may remark by way of conclusion that Mr. and Mrs. Christ-
man enjoy the rare satisfaction in their old days of seeing their sons
take to business at the bottom of the ladder, as they had themselves
done, instead of seeking to begin, as too many children do, with
their father's acquired capital, on his plane, and after a brief strug-
gle for a still higher position, land finally where the latter began.
Shakspeare, one of the shrewdest observers of Iniman life that ever
existed, wrote this moral :
'Tis bettor to be lowly lx)rn,
And dwell with humble livere in content.
Than be perked up a glistering grief
And wear a golden sorrow.
370 JOHN WEBER.
JOHN WEBER.
THE WEBER FAMILY.
Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth ? Are not his days also like th«-
days of a hireling?— Jo6 VII, 1.
Among our self-made public men, John Weber stood con-
spicuous in an age when place and prominence were not pur-
chased with money nor obtained by great family influences.
He was the grandson of Christian and Applonia Weber, who
in company with some four hundred Protestant Germans came
over in the ship Good Will, and landed at Philadelphia on the
27th of September, 1727. The following year he took up fifty
acres of land in Towamencin township, purchased of Jacob
Hill, on which he built a house that is standing at the present
time. They had among other children a son Christian, through
whom we trace the posterity of the family. Christian and Ap-
plonia Weber, the emigrants, died, the former in 1778, aged
eighty-two, and the latter five years before, in her seventieth.
As nearly all the German emigrants of that period to Penn-
sylvania, they were without doubt pious members of the Re-
formed church, for many of the Webers are buried in the ceme-
tery of Wentz's church, Worcester. Their son, Christian We-
ber, of the second generation, was born in 1743, and about
1765, after arriving at man's estate, he married Elizabeth Weid-
ner, who lived till 1803, bearing him several children, one of
whom, John, described below, became very distinguished. This
Christian Weber moved to Millerstown, in Lehigh county,
married a second wife, died in 1 8 1 5 , and was buried there. He
was a man of marked ability and patriotism, and at a harvest
home in 1778 recruited nearly a hundred men for the Conti-
nental forces, was elected their Captain, and with them served
in the army. They were enrolled under Colonel Leech. We
have no further record of their military service, but it must
have been honorable, for after the war he was appointed by
Governor Mifflin a Justice of the Peace. He was also County
Commissioner, for Christian Weber's name appears with others
on the Manatawny bridge at Pottstown, which was built abou?
JOHN WEBER. 371
1800. He appears to have removed to Millerstown late in life,
as his son John, the proper subject of this sketch, who was born
October 8th, 1768, remained in our county, and by his fortieth
year had become such a very influential politician that in 1807
he was taken up and elected to the lower house of Assembly,
and thrice re-elected (a term of four years), serving through the
last two sessions as Speaker,
John Weber was originally raised to farming, but having
purchased what in late years has been called Reiff's or Detwi-
ler's mill, on the Wissahickon, he employed a first-class miller,
and, it is said, acquired the art himself in three months. After
remaining there a number of years, he removed to the more
extensive one at the place now known as Collegeville, and
while residing there was sent to the Legislature. When his
first son was old enough to carry on that concern he purchased
the mill below Evansburg, on the Skippack, and moved there
himself, leaving George at the Perkiomen mill.
Christian Weber, of the second generation, also had a son
Jesse, who left issue'. Jesse was probably much younger than
his brother John. He was a military officer during the second
war with England, serving for a time at Camp Dupont, near
Wilmington, Delaware, and subsequently elected to the lower
house of Assembly during the session of 1844-5. He died at
the age of seventy-two. This Jesse Weber had a son Thomas,
who is well known in our locality, having been a worthy school
teacher for many years in Montgomery, Berks, and Schuylkill
counties. Thomas Weber had only two children. Rev. J. Stroud
and John Hermon, who were accidentally drowned together at
Absecom, New Jersey, on the 27th of July, i860. The Rev. J.
Stroud Weber, previous to studying for the ministry, had mar-
ried Mary A., only daughter of Matthias and Eliza Yost, of
Evansburg, and they had two children, Matthias and Lizzie,
who survive, the former being a professional teacher, as were
his father and grandfather. J. Stroud Weber was at the time
of his death keeping a select seminary at Evansburg, and was
a very promising young man.
John Weber, the proper subject of this memorial, married
Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob and Catharine Reiff, and had five
372 JOHN WEBER.
children, George, Christian, Mary, John, and Joseph. After
becoming very noted as a business man and poHtician for sev-
eral years, he took a fever, and died comparatively young, on
the 24th of August, 181 5, in his forty-seventh year, and in the
same month and year as his father, who had moved to Lehigh
county. His wife survived till 1825, and died in her fifty-sixth
year.
John Weber's oldest son, George, who was born in 1786,
married Sarah Beaver, of Chester county, and after following
his father's trade and occupying his mill at Perkiomen until
about 1 8 19, removed first to Philadelphia and' afterwards to
Allen township, Northampton county, where he established
himself in like business, and also in storekeeping. While there
he became Captain of a company of volunteers, and was after-
wards elected Colonel of a regiment.
We here insert a testimonial to the high character of Colo-
nel George Weber, written by Mr. Snyder, of Northampton
county, who still lives there at an advanced age:
"George Weber came to Northampton county about 181 9, and
commenced business as a merchant miller in Saucon township. In
1823, or about three years thereafter, he purchased a mill and farm
in Allen township, near Kridersville, which he occupied about eight
years, when he bought a mill and store property in Kridersville, where
he continued till 1848. He then sold out and moved to ('orao, in
Whitesides county, Illinois. The business in which he was engaged
in Northampton county during his residence there was that of mer-
chant milling, storekeeping and farming combined. His compli-
cated affairs were conducted during almost the whole time in the
absence of canal and railroad facilities. It was therefore very in-
convenient and laborious to transact such a multiplicity of work,
and none but an energetic mind like his could have carried out the
regularly systematic management with the strict honesty and integ-
rity which he did. Notwithstanding the laborious management
resting upon him, he did not neglect the higher duties of religion
as a christian. The records of the church, school, and Sunday school
bear evidence of the interest he manifested in all proceedings rela-
tive to church building, contributions, schools, and any matter pro-
moting the sacred cause. It may not be amiss for the writer, who
was an intimate friend and near neighbor, and who had financial
■and other business with him, to bear this testimony in his behalf in
reiteration of what the community yet living would willingly verify."
He died at his Western home in 185 1, at the age of sixty-
one 3^eai-s.
JOHN WEBER. 373
The oldest child of George and Sarah Weber is Devault^
who was born in 1813, and married Mary A., daughter of Dr.
Hiester, of Chester county, in 1840. They have had one son^
John H., who died in childhood. Devault Weber learned the
family business of milling. He was well educated, first attend-
ing a primary school at Easton, and later entering Lafayette
College.* On account of health, however, he did not graduate,
but studied there, as specialties, hydraulics and civil engineer-
ing, subjects to which he has given much attention for many
years. He has acquired such a proficiency in hydraulics that
he is often employed as an expert in determining water-right
disputes. From 1851 to 1854 he operated the flour mill of his
uncle, John Weber, near Jeffersonville, and then converted the
building into a cloth manufactory, continuing it as such three
years longer. He and his wife are now (1879) living retired
in Norristown.
The next child, Elizabeth, was born in 181 5, and married
Enos L. Reiff; offspring, Joseph, Sarah, and Enos.
Margaret, the third child, was born in 18 16, and married
Rev. Charles Becker; offspring, George and John.
Sarah, the fourth, was born in 18 17, and became the wife of
John Addams, a prominent citizen of Cedarville, Illinois; off^
spring, Mary Catharine, Martha, John W., Laura Jane, and
Sarah Alice.
The next child was George, born in 1819, who became a
Reformed minister, and married Miss Hoffenditz; offspring,.
Samuel, Mary, Joseph, George, and Grace. They live in Iowa.
The youngest son, John Harrison, born in 1826, married
Miss Houck, of Mercersburg, and is now a merchant of New
York ; offspring, George, John, and Edward.
John Weber's second son received the family name. Chris-
tian, and married Charlotte, daughter of William and Catha-
,rine Casselberry, of Evansburg. He located as a farmer near
Jeffersonville, and there were born to them eight children, as
follows: Ann Eliza, first married to William Flintham, by
whom she had two children, John W. and Anna E., and after-
*I)evuiiU 'Weber's father was oucof the trustees of lynfayette ("oIU'k'p, and ]\[r. W. re-
ceives yearly the invitation to tliciuimial reunion and dinner of the I'hiladelphia Alunui;i
Assoeiation of Lafayette College.
374 JOHN WEBER.
wards to Captain Stephen M. Whitney, the latter having four
children, Charles, Ada L., Flora, and Edward E. The next
child of Christian and Charlotte Weber is Catharine, intermar-
ried with Thomas Atwood, the latter now deceased; they had
three children, Albert, Ida B., and Mary B. The third child,
Rebecca, was the wife of William Carr, who was overcome and
died from the effects of the great snow blockade on the Nor-
ristown railroad which also caused the death of Rev. Dr. Stem
and others; the Carr children were four, Ella, George, Anna
B., and John W. Elmina, the next daughter, is the wife of
David Schrack, of Norriton; they have two children, Kate and
Elmina. We continue the record of Christian and Charlotte
Weber's children. William C, the elder son, is intermarried
with Hannah, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Walker. They
live in Great Valley, and have ten living children, as follows :
W. Harry, Lottie, John, Winfield, Elmina S., Mary F., Ella,
Charles C, G. Norwood, and Emma. The younger son, John
C, married Anna M., daughter of Isaac and Margaret Cassel-
berry; they had four children, Mary Ellen, Charles Z., Isaac
C, and Anna C. John C. Weber's first wife died, and he after-
wards married Miss Sarah B. Heebner. Emma, the youngest
daughter, is intermarried with Thomas P. Walker, and they
have eight children, Charles C, Howard, Lottie, I. Newton,
William, Emma May, T. Herbert, and Edith. Mary B. ends
"the list of the children of Christian Weber> and now resides
with her ag-ed mother in Norristov.ai. Christian Weber died
November i6th, 1865, aged seventy-one years. He was for
many years a worthy member, as also an elder, first of the
Presbyterian church in Lower Providence and afterwards of
that at Jeffersonville. He was a man of deep humility and
great simplicity of character.
Having given the intermarriages and offspring of the two
elder sons of John Weber, the proper subject of this memorial,
we come to the third child, Mary, intermarried with William
Bean, son of Jesse Bean, Esq., of Lower Providence. They
had the following children: Jesse, the eldest, is married to
Elizabeth, daughter of Captain John Matheys, of Norriton,
and they have two surviving children, David and Howell. The
JOHN WEBEK. 375
next child is William, who is intermarried with Emily Owen,
and they have two children, T. Howard and Hannah ; he is
a merchant, and with his family resides in Norristown. The
next of the Bean family is Hannah, the wife of James PI. Owen,
of Cape May; they have one surviving child, Mary, united in
marriage to Dr. M. W. Reeves, of New Jersey. The next
child is Edwin A., who is married to Elizabeth Hood; they
have one child, Wilmer M. The next is Colonel Theodore W.,
who is intermarried with Hannah, daughter of John Heebner;
they have three children, William H., Mary L., and Lane S.
Colonel Bean won his military title by gallant service in the
cavalry during the late rebellion. Since then his patriotism and
public spirit have been conspicuous in active co-operation in the
movement to set apart Valley Forge as one of our national
shrines. He delivered the historical address at the late centen-
nial celebration held there. He has also written and published
a " History of Valley Forge." The youngest of the Weber-
Bean family is Anna L., who is the wife of Dr. Nathaniel Rit-
ter, of Lehigh county; they have children, Ada, Effie, Ervin,
Bertha, and Horace.
William Bean, whose family are above recorded, was a very
prominent and influential citizen in his day. He was elected*
in 1841 by Democratic suffrage to the lower house of Assem-
bly, and, according to usage, twice re-elected. He was born
in 1788, and died January 29th, 1855, in his sixty-sixth year.
The fourth child of John Weber, the subject of this notice,
bore the same name as his father. He was a prominent mer-
chant of Philadelphia for several years, and owned a handsome
farm near Jeffersonville, on which he erected a mill propelled
by steam, which was afterwards changed to a cloth mill, and
is now (1879) owned and operated by J. and J. Shaw & Co.
John C. Weber died, a bachelor, on the 19th of September,
i860, aged sixty-one.
The youngest of John Weber's children was Joseph. He
was a printer, and lived some years in Boston, Massachusetts,
where he married. Subsequently he removed to Clermont,
New Hampshire, where he publishes the Northern Advocate.
He and his wife have two children, Joseph and Susan.
37^ CHRISTOPHER RITTENHOUSE.
CHRISTOPHER RITTENHOUSE.
Love ) abor ; for if thou dost not want it for food, thou mayst for physic. It is whole-
some for thy body and good for thy mind. — William Penn.
The man who conducts an increasing business for nearly fifty
years with quiet industry and steady perseverance, neither grow-
ing immensely rich nor becoming poor through time's vicissi-
tudes, must possess qualities to attract at least the attention of
the village biographer. Thus, reluctantly on the part of the
subject of our notice, we have placed the above name among
the noted business men.
Christopher Rittenhouse, son of David and Rachel Ritten-
house, was born in Norriton township, near Norristown, in 1806.-
His maternal grandfather was William Zimmerman, of the same
township. When young he obtained a very limited school
education, and at the proper age Avas apprenticed to Samuel.
Sloan to learn the wheelwrighting trade. On reaching his
twenty-second year he set up business in Roxborough, Phila-
delphia county, where he remained till 1836, and then removed"
to Norristown. About this time he was married to Catharine
Markle, and soon after began business at Main and Arch streets^
where he now has his works. For a number of years he pur-
sued his calling in connection with his brother Henry, who-
was a blacksmith. A few years later, about 1850, he aban-
doned the old business, associated with Frederick Gilbert, en-
larged the buildings, and went extensively into the manufac-
ture of agricultural machinery. This trade was driven with
energy and success till about i860, when the firm was dis-
solved, but the business continued by him and his sons. In
1868 another enlargement of the works took place by adding
the foundry business, which was only an increased facility to
the agricultural branch. By aid of his sons, who have alsO'
learned the latter art, he is now engaged in all the lighter de-
scriptions of the foundry business, and doing a large machinery
trade generally. Mr. Rittenhouse's horse-powers, threshers,
and winnowing machines have been famous for several years,
past. The concern is one of the oldest in Norristown.
HON. IIENKY P. ROSS, A. B. 377'
Christopher and Catharine Rittenhousc have had six childr^
ren: Mary, intermarried with John C. Snyder, Esq., of Norris-
town; Charles, George, William, Ella, and Frank. They all
reside or work at home except William, who has a family, and
is employed as a machinist at the Pennsylvania Tack Works.
The business establishment we have described, as built up by
nearly fifty years of patient toil, may possibly descend as a
family inheritance to the next generation.
The father of the subject of our notice'was probably a cou-
sin of David Rittenhouse, the astronomer and philosopher,,
though the relationship is not claimed by Mr. R. The family
was German, and the name was originally spelled Rittenhaus,.
Nearly all the grave-yards in our locality, connected with Ger-
man sects, contain tomb-stones with this name chiseled upom
them.
HON. HENRY P. ROSS, A. B.
Zeno says that a speaker should never let a word come out of his luouth that is noff
strongly tinctured with sense ; so Phocion's oratory contained the most sense in the-
fewest words. — PIntarch's Life of Phocion.
There are very few, if any, mere civilians in Pennsylvania
who have achieved so early in life as distinguished and endur-
ing a reputation as Hon. Henry Pawling Ross, now JudgTS of
the Montgomery county courts. He is the son of Hon. Thomas
and Elizabeth Pawling Ross, of Doylestown, Bucks county,
where he was born on the i6th of December, 1836. His father
was a distinguished lawyer of that county and his mother the-
daughter of the late Hon. Levi Pawling, of Norristown, whose
wife (Judge Ross' grandmother) was the daughter of Hon.
Joseph Hiester, of Reading, formerly Governor of the State.
From the particular sketch in hand we turn aside to give a
short history of the Ross family and its affiliations.
Its paternal head in this locality was Scotch-Irish, and early
settled in eastern Pennsylvania. The first noted ancestor v.-as
Thomas Ross, an approved preacher among Friends in Sole-
3/8 HON. HENRY P. ROSS, A. B.
bury, Bucks county, where his son John, who became an emi-
nent lawyer and Judge, was born in 1770. The latter studied
law with his cousin, Thomas Ross, of West Chester, and after
becoming a member of Congress was in 1818 appointed Presi-
dent Judge of the courts of Chester, Delaware, Montgomery,
and Bucks counties. In 1830, because of his eminent ability,
he was transferred by Governor Wolf to the bench of the Su-
preme Court, which position he held till the time of his death
in January, 1834. He had married Mary Jenkins, of Jenkin-
town, Montgomery county, in 1795, and they had several child-
ren, Thomas Ross, the father of Henry P. Ross, being among
the number. Thomas Ross, named doubtless after his pater-
nal grandfather, the Quaker preacher, was born in Easton on
the 3d of December, 1806. After receiving a good primary
education he entered Princeton College, where he graduated
with honor in 1825, and soon commenced the study of law
under the tuition of his father, then Judge of the counties be-
fore stated. In 1829 he was admitted to the bar of Northamp-
ton county, but soon after removed to Doylestown, where in
1830 he was commissioned commonwealth's attorney by Hon.
Philip S. Markley, then Attorney General of the State. While
he held that post it was his duty to prosecute the Chapman-
Mina murder case, securing the conviction and execution of
the Spaniard. The notoriety of that trial, and other law pro-
ceedings in which he soon engaged, gave him a high reputa-
tion as a lawyer, and he was put forward in 1848 as the Demo-
cratic candidate for Congress in the Sixth district, was elected,
and returned the next term (1850-52). He died July ist, 1865,
in his fifty-ninth year.
Plenry P. Ross' maternal ancestors are of English and Ger-
man descent, and he derives his given name from his distin-
guished uncle, Dr. Henry D. W. Pawling, of King-of-Prussia.
After receiving the usual elementary training, he entered Prince-
ton College in 1853, and graduated in 1857, receiving the de-
gree of Bachelor of Arts. Soon after completing a college
course, having doubtless an aptitude for legal studies, inherited
through two generations, he entered the office of his father to
read law and enter upon the now family profession. He was
HON. HENRY P. ROSS, A. B. 3/9
-admitted December i6th, 1859. In 1862 he was taken up by
the Democracy of his native county for District Attorney and
elected, serving three years with great fidehty and efficiency.
In 1864 and 1866 he was brought forward for Congress in hke
manner by his poHtical friends in Bucks county, but not elected.
In June, 1865, he was married to Mary Clifton, an accom-
plished young lady of Princeton, New Jersey. She died Novem-
ber 26th, 1873, leaving one surviving daughter. In 1864 and
1868 he represented in part the Democrats of the Sixth dis-
trict in the national Presidential convention. In 1865 he was
-appointed Deputy Escheator General for Bucks county, and
in 1869 elected Additional Law Judge for the Seventh district,
composed of Bucks and Montgomery. Shortly after, the two
counties being erected into separate districts. Judge Ross re-
signed the joint position in 1871, and was elected President
Judge of the courts of Montgomery alone, which post he now
fills. In 1875 he was married to Emily Genung, of Brooklyn,
New York.
Plis eminent qualities as a Judge early drew public attention
to him as a suitable incumbent for the bench of the Supreme
•Court, and at the Democratic convention in 1874 he was next
to the highest candidate before it for that office. At the State
•convention at Erie in 1876 he was a very prominent candidate
for Governor, coming very near a nomination. In 1878 public
sentiment early began to manifest itself through the Demo-
cratic press of the State in favor of Judge Ross for the vacant
seat on the Supreme bench. Accordingly the convention that
met at Pittsburg in May nominated him for the place on the
first ballot, and although he was not elected, owing to the di-
vided state of parties, his vote in Bucks and Montgomery, where
he is personally well known, was very complimentary, as the
following figures show: In Montgomery — Dill, for Governor,
9164; Ross, for Supreme Judge, 9441 ; Ross ahead of Dill,
277 votes. So in Bucks county: Dill, 7552; Ross, 7827; the
latter in advance of the former 275 votes. He thus led his
ticket in the two home counties by five hundred and fifty-two
votes.
He is claimed as one of the founders of the English and clas-
380 HON. HENRY P. ROSS, A. B.
sical seminary at Doylestown. Being selected by his Alma
Mater to deliver the oration before the literary societies of"
Princeton College in 1873, he did so with marked credit oni
the topic, "The duty of the American scholar to become an'
active agent in American politics." He has in like manner
been invited to deliver addresses to the graduates of our high
schools at their annual commencements, and performed the-
duty with great acceptance.
It only remains to speak of Judge Ross as a man and a jur-
ist. He is affable, courteous and social in an eminent degree,,
with an utter absence of that hauteur so common to men in his.
position. He takes a deep interest in all political questions as--
they arise, and the necessary retiracy of his high position is^
rather enforced than voluntary. His mental and physical en-
dowments indicate a predominance of nerve, giving quickness,,,
intrepidity, and decisiveness to every action. As a writer andi
speaker he uses language always concise, direct and forcible,.
and never confuses the hearer with mere verbiage. As an elo-
cutionist he has learned what very few public speakers have,,
that syllables, words and sentences are ideal pictures addressed^
as such to the understanding of the hearer, and which, fromi
rapidity and indistinctivencss of utterance by many are misap--
prehended or lost. Judge Ross' deliverances from the bench,,,
therefore, sound to the unlearned listener very like a carefully-
delivered lav/ lecture. The perspicuity of his charges, also,,
rarely if ever fail to give juries a clear idea of the cause in hand,,
and his quick and analytic mind seldom errs in a ruling. Con-
sequently his decisions do not often come back from the Su-
preme Court for another trial. Few county Judges in a short-
period have presided over so many important cases as he, suchv.
as the murder trials of Curley, Pistorius, Whalen, and Sutton.
In his intercourse with the bar and the public he has escaped
the imputation of favoritism and partiality, and his integrity and'
uniform inflexibility command the confidence of all. If the
Judge's health and life are spared, he has a distinguished and
useful career before him. Though not a member of any church,,
his affiliations and attachments are towards the Episcopalian,.
JONAS M. IIARLEY. 38 1
JONAS M. HARLEY.
"It is a serious thing to die ; it is a more serious tiling to live. — Schiller.
The modest, unpretending citizen whose name stands above,
"is recorded because, from considerations of patriotism and pub-
lic spirit, he inscribed himself a patron of our book, which aims
"to rescue from forgetfuhiess departed pubhc men of the county.
He makes no pretensions, wants or needs no eulogies. He has
a family record, however, which is here given.
Among the pious Germans who left the fatherland with Pas-
lorius and settled at "ye Garmantown" was Rudolph Harley,
■who had a son, also named Rudolph, born to him in the old
country in 1719, and a daughter married to a man called Graef,
who moved West. This Rudolph of the second generation
married Mary Becker, daughter of Peter Becker, of German-
-town, and had thirteen children, born as follows : Johannes (or
John) in 1741, Johanna in 1743, Lena in 1745, Maria in 1747,
Rudolph in 1749, Elizabeth in 1750, Jacob in 1752, Henry in
1754, Sarah in 1756, Samuel in 1758, Joseph in 1760, Maria
Margreta in 1762, and Abraham in 1765. These numerous
;sons and daughters were thus intermarried : Maria with Freder-
ick Diehl, Rudolph with Barbara Bach, Elizabeth with Chris-
tian Dettra, Henry with P.lizabeth Groff, Sarah with George
Price, Samuel with Catharine (daughter of Christopher Saur,
■of Germantown), Joseph with Catharine Reiff, Maria Margreta
■with Jacob Detwiler, and Abraham with Christiana Geisz.
We continue the genealogy in the fourth generation through
Samuel, the fifth son of Rudolph. This Samuel had ten child-
Ten, born as follows: Daniel in 1787, Samuel in 1788, Mary
((the mother of Abraham H. Cassel, the antiquarian) in 1789,
•Sarah in 1791, John in 1792, Catharine in 1793, Joseph in 1795,
Elizabeth in 1797, Jacob, and Abraham. The above named
Joseph Harley married Sarah Markley, and they became the
parents often children, as follows: Samuel, Ann, Philip, Joseph,
Edwin, Deborah, Jonas M. (the proper subject of this notice),
John, Sarah, and Daniel, all now (1879) living but Joseph.
Jonas M. Harley was born in Gwynedd township, Mont-
.gomery country, on the i8th of September, 1831, and received
382 REV. HENRY A. HUNSICKER,
a good common school education, partly under the instructiom
of his cousin, Abraham H. Cassel, At the age of fifteen years-
he was apprenticed to the cabinetmaking business with his^
uncle, which he learned and successfully followed for a period
of ten years in Juniata county, where he continued (including
his apprenticeship) thirteen years. About 1859 he returned to>
the East and located at Line Lexington, Bucks county, in the
mercantile business, continuing there eleven years, when he
removed to North Wales, where he has since been prominently-
engaged in the general storekeeping business.
In 1865 Jonas M. Harley was united in marriage to Eme-
line, daughter of Robert Stonebach, and there were born to-
them two children, Walter S. and Laura Amanda. Having
lost his first wife by death some years ago, he was afterwards
married to Hannah Cassel. Mr. Harley for a long time has-
been a member of the Baptist church of North Wales, and
justly stands very high in that growing young borough as a:
business man and useful citizen.
REV. HENRY A. HUNSICKER.
Mountains and hills may move,
But naught can set aside His power eternal
Nor change His truth and love.
O, soul afflicted, tempest-tossed, uncared-for!
Whilst His face can see
Thou needst not fear, for terror and oppression
Can never come near thee. — Mrs. M. J. BilUe.
Henry A. Hunsicker, of Freeland, Montgomery county, son?
of Rev. Abraham and Elizabeth Hunsicker, of that place, was^
born November loth, 1825. His father was a farmer, and as-
usual with such the son had at first but the ordinary opportu-
nities of common schools till well grown, when he was sent:
first to Washington Hall boarding-school, then under the care-
of Rev. Henry S. Rodenbough, and for a short time to Tree-
mount Seminary, Norristown, then presided over by the Rev-
Samuel Aaron. These limited advantages, however, were so»
REV. HENRY A. HUNSICKER. 383
well improved by close application to hard study, rigid schol-
astic discipline, and a naturally inquiring turn of mind, added
to great administrative abilities, that he was enabled in his
twenty-second year, with the assistance of his father and friends,
to erect buildings and open Freeland Seminary for the education
of young men. This school, under his management, became
eminent and very prosperous for a period of eighteen years, or
from 1847 to 1865, when he sold it to Professor Fetterolf.
During this long time about twenty-three hundred pupils were
under his instruction. It is proper here to remark that Mr.
Hunsicker was remarkable as a Principal for rigid yet mild,
kindly management of the young, and pupils always left his
school with pleasant recollections of their school-boy days.
In 1848, Mr. H., at the age of twenty-three, united with the
Reformed Mennonites, of which his father, Rev. Abraham Hun
sicker, was a Bishop and prominent leader. The son was very
active with his father and others in organizing the present
Trinity Church of Freeland about 1851, where he assisted in
ministerial labors for some years afterwards. This church was
the result of a schism which occurred in the Mennonite de-
nomination growing out of the distrust of the latter body of a
liberal training of the young and their opposition to secret so-
cieties. In 1849, shortly after joining the church, Mr. Hun-
sicker was married to Mary S. Weinberger, and there were
born to them five children, Clement W., Joseph H., Abraham
Lincoln, Flora G., and Howard Alvin. The first of the sons
resides in Philadelphia. Abraham L. was accidentally shot,
and died" in 1872. The other children reside in Montgomer>'
county. Mrs. Mary S. Hunsicker died May 7th, 1874, and on
the nth of May, 1876, Mr. Hunsicker married Annie C. Got-
wals.
Mr. H. has been strongly anti-slavery and temperance in his
moral and political views for a long time, acting first with the
Free Soilers, and later with the Prohibitionists, In 1852 he
supported Hale, Fremont in 1856, Lincoln in i860 and 1864,
and Grant in 1868. Since that time he has uniformly voted
the Prohibition ticket. He never had any taste for politics,
however, nor sought office, though he suffered his friends to
384 JOHN W. LOCH, A. M., PH. D.
ffun him for Congress in 1874, as previously for State Senate
-and the Constitutional convention.
Although he was chosen by his christian brethren a minis-
ter and ordained as such, he never regarded himself a settled
-sor a stated clergyman, and never received any pecuniary com-
pensation for such service.
After closing a round of duty for twenty years as an in-
structor of youth, he spent nearly ten in mercantile pursuits,
■mainly in the lumber business in Philadelphia, from which he
^was obliged to retire by the commercial revulsion of 1873.
Being of an active, industrious turn, his life has been a busy
■one. He made money in both of his leading pursuits, but be-
ing of a kindly, generous and sympathetic nature, has ever
"been willing to assist to the extent of his means in carrying
forward schemes of public improvement or moral and religious
Teform. Accordingly his attainments in life are what he has
accomplished for others rather than what he has secured for
'himself During the life-time of his father he attended to his
•correspondence, being his constant amanuensis for several years
ibefore his death.
Mr. Hunsicker has been more recently employed in several
-valuable agencies of a public nature, especially in assisting emi-
grants from the East to secure good localities for settlement in
Kansas and other Western States, He is in the prime of life,
and doubtless has a future in prospect as real as his past.
JOHN W. LOCH, A. M., Ph. D.
Sow seed for flowers eternal. — Apocrisis.
The career of the proprietor and Principal of Treemount
Seminary, Norristown, is a remarkable instance of a young
'.man by mere force of mental endowment, aspiring aims, and cor-
rect moral deportment, passing upward to a first-class social and
.business position without the advantages that wealth or family
influence give at starting, or in fact without any adventitious
JOHN W. LOCH, A. M., PH. D. 385
.aid whatever. In America every walk of life is open to the
humblest, and nearly every man is really the artificer of his
own fortune. That Mr. Loch has reached this position — be-
ing the Principal and owner of one of the finest seminaries in
the State or Union in less than twenty years of immediate labor
— is certainly evidence of talent and high financial and business
■capacity.
The subject of our notice was born in Worcester township,
Montgomery county, on the 12th of December, 1830, and has
.now just reached the meridian of life. He is the only son of
George Loch, who married Hannah, daughter of Devault Wan-
ner. Both his parents have been dead some years. His mo-
ther was a member of the Presbyterian church, and brought
up her son in his early years to "seek good and avoid evil."
At an early day he exhibited an aptness at learning, for which
lie had the best facilities in the Norristown public schools, hav-
ing been a resident of the town since his eighth year.
When, in 1844, Treemount Seminary was established by
E.ev. Samuel Aaron, Mr. Loch, then a well grown boy, was
■entered as a student, and, with a brief intermission of a few
months as a store assistant, continued till he graduated. He
therefore claims the institution over which he now presides as
his Alma Mater.
Having graduated about 1849, when reaching his twentieth
year, he took charge during the winter of 1850-51 of a public
school in Lower Providence township for a period of seven
months, and in September of the latter year of a similar school
in Plymouth, where he remained only two months, being called
to fill a vacancy as instructor in Treemount. From this time
he continued as tutor or Vice Principal until 1858.
During this period, on the 5th of September, 1854, he was
married to Hannah, daughter of Joseph and Mary McCrea,
and niece of the late John McCrea, of Norristown. The child-
ren of this union have been five daughters, Ella R., Ida F.,
Flora M., Linda, and Mary.
Continuing at Treemount several years, in company with
Charles E. Aaron, Lewis H. Cause, Robert Hamer, Thomas
Burnside, Morris Pantoleon, and other tutors, under the super-
386 JOHN W. LOCH, A. M., PH. D.
vision of Samuel Aaron, Mr. Loch gained large experience and
proficiency as a teacher in the preparation of great numbers of
boys and young men for college or the business of life.
In September, 1858, Mr. L. having left Treemount, founded
a select school for day pupils in the hall of the Humane fire
engine building, on Airy street, limiting by advertisement the
number to forty pupils. Mr. L.'s well made reputation as an
industrious, kindly and successful instructor at Treemount
brought him over the complement of pupils the first day. A
year later he established the DeKalb Institute, a boarding and
day school for young men and boys in the large building pre-
viously used as a female seminary, and known as the Adel-
phian and later as the Keswick Institute, on DeKalb street.
After continuing here eighteen months, the school increased
to eighty pupils. At this time the terrible revulsion of busi-
ness in 1857-8-9 and consequent hard times, together with
endorsements for friends bv Rev. Mr. Aaron, had so involved
Mr. A. and undermined the prosperity of Treemount that he re-
solved to remove from Norristown, and his property passed
into the hands of the late David Sower, one of the creditors.
This afforded a choice opportunity for Mr. Loch, Avho was well
known to pupils and parents, and he therefore closed DeKalb
Institute in April, 1861, transferring his school to the classic
shades of Treemount. He took the property on a lease of five
years, with the privilege of purchase at a fixed price at the end
of his term, which latter he was prepared to accept according
to agreement.
As soon as the gloom and uncertainty of the war upon which
we were then entering had measurably passed, Mr. L. brought
up the school to its former scale of prosperity. In 1873 he
greatly improved the buildings by pulling down a frame con-
necting structure in the centre and erecting instead a solid one
of brick, rough cast, seventy feet in length, five stories high,
and surmounted with a cupola. The school buildings now
consist of an ornamental centre and two wings, extending in
the whole two hundred feet. The wings were erected by Mr.
Aaron, one in 1844 and the other in 1854. The location of
this seminary is one of the finest in Pennsylvania, being situ-
JOHN W. LOCH, A. M., PH. D. 387
ated on an eminence overlooking the town and the Schuylkill^
and is surrounded with shade and fruit trees. About twelve
acres of land are attached to it. The grade of the seminary is
only inferior in rank to our leading colleges, and the annual
catalogue usually numbers over a hundred pupils from all parts
of the Union, with foreign patronage from the Canadas, West
Indies, and South America.
In 1 868 the University of Pennsylvania conferred on Mr.
Loch the honorary degree of Master of Arts, and Lafayette
College in 1877 conferred that of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.),
In 1866 Dr. L. became a member of the Central Presbyterian
Church, and very soon thereafter was ordained a ruling elder
in the same.
Dr. Loch's distinguishing characteristic is his rare gift of
combined affability, gentleness and firmness, with an intuitive
penetration or perception of character, joined to an invincible
self-control, which eminently fit him to impress and manage
young men while pursuing their studies. The marked feature
of the course in his seminary is thoroughness, every effort be-
ing directed to give the pupil a full training in solid and en-
during instruction rather than that which is superficial and
showy.
In his early scholastic days Dr. L. devoted himself largely
to mathematics, but later has given more attention to belles-
lettres. He is a fine public reader — a very rare accomplish-
ment — and his literary tastes are in an eminent degree acute
and refined.
388 DAVID SOWER.
DAVID SOWER.
THE SOWER FAMILY.
Yet a few days, and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course ; nor yet in the cold ground,
"\Vhei"e thy pale form was laid, with many tears ;
Nor in the embrace of ocean shall exist
Thy image. — Thanatopsis.
One of the most justly celebrated names of our State is
Christopher Saur, of Germantown, whose whole career and
that of his son Christopher is briefly narrated below. The
one that heads this page, his great-grandson, who lived in our
times, was nearly as celebrated. As he was born, lived, and
died in our county, his name is placed above as the personal
head of this whole sketch. But before entering upon the life
of David Sower of our day, we insert at large the following
brief memoir of the great ancestors of the family just men-
tioned. It is taken principally from " Simpson's Lives of Emi-
nent Philadelphians" :
"Christopher Saur (ist) ('Sower,' as he wrote it in English) was
born in 1693, came to America from the town of Baasphe, in Wit-
genstein, Germany, in the fall of 1724, and proceeded to German-
town, now part of Philadelphia, where he remained until the fol-
lowing spring. About the same time Alexander Mack, under
whom a religious denomination, commonly known as 'Dunkers' or
'German Baptists,' had originated, emigrated with the main body
of the church to Pennsylvania, and settled mainly in Germantown.
Adopting to the full extent the peace principles of their Divine
Master, the Dunkers not only declared against war and fighting, but
were thorough non-resistants in every way — refusing even to prose-
cute or to defend a suit in the courts, and submitting to any indig-
nity without resistance. The winter of 1724-25 he (Saur) spent in
obtaining a knowledge of the country, especially of the German
settlements, and in fixing upon a residence and occupation. He
was a man of superior education and ability, having a mind thor-
oughly practical, ready and abounding in resources, as also of a de-
cidedly inventive turn. During the spring following he removed
to Lancaster county, where he devoted himself principally to farm-
ing. He returned to Germantown in 1731, where he also occupied
himself in agricultural pursuits partly and partly in the practice and
dispensing of medicine, for which he was well qualified by his pre-
vious liberal education. He kept up an extensive correspondence
with his friends in Germany, in which he frequently dwelt upon
the destitute condition of his fellow-countrymen in respect to books,
DAVID SOWER. 389
and especially the Bible. Moved by these appeals numbers of Bi-
bles were consigned to him to be sold at cost to those able to buy,
or given to those too poor to obtain them otherwise.
''At length a printing press and some materials were obtained, and
as an almanac in German seemed to be a most pressing need, he
commenced the publication of one, the first of which was issued in
August, 1 73S. It was of the usual quarto form still adopted in Penn-
sylvania and other States, containing twenty-four pages, consisting
of twelve of time and phases for the months, a calculation of eclipses
for the coming year, a record of the provincial courts and fairs,
chronology of important events, tables of high roads and distances,
interest tables, and a variety of useful and interesting matter, chiefly
of a physiological and hygienic character, in plain and simple lan-
guage. A list of books received from Germany and their prices,
and one or two advertisements, were included. The publication
of the almanac was continued annually during his life, and by his
son and successor (also named Christopher) until 1777, during
which time it was enlarged and improved in various ways. It ob-
tained a high character for its usefulness, and many thousands were
circulated annually, reaching as far south as Georgia, and wherever
there were German settlements in the colonies.
"Upon issuing the almanac he was immediately besieged from all
quarters to commence a paper or periodical containing news and
such other matter as he might think proper and useful. At first he
resisted these applications upon conscientious grounds, but would
publish instead an occasional sheet printed on one side only, and
resembling ,a newspaper extra of the present day, containing import-
ant intelligence and other matter. These he circulated gratuitously
in the market places, churches, and other public resorts. At length,
however, his views were somewhat modified, and yielding to the
importunities of the people, he issued on the 20th of August, 1739,
the first number of a religious and secular journal entitled 'Der
Hoch-Deutsch Pennsylvanische Geschicht-Schreiber oder Sammlung
wichtiger Nachrichten aus dem Natur und Kirchen-Reich,' a copy
of which has reached our time. It contains a brief account of va-
rious European wars then raging, followed by some serious remarks
upon the subject viewed in a religious aspect. It also contains *A
Proclamation of the Royal Governor of Pennsylvania, by authority
of the King of England,' and an original poetical effusion expos-
ing the inconsistency of war with christianty, and so on. After a
time the title of the paper was changed somewhat, but under both
titles religion and morality are found to perv-ade every page.
"On the 1 6th of October, 1745, he issued proposals for the pub-
lication of a religious quarterly in German, usual octavo size. The
first number appeared in February, 1746.
"The circulation of the weekly reached eight to ten thousand of
each number. It was sent to all parts of the British colonies, and
wielded an unbounded influence over the German population. The
strong religious tendency of its contents harmonized with the spirit
390 DAVID SOWER.
of religious investigation occupying the minds of the German set-
tlers at that time, most of whom had left the fatherland on account
• of their dissent from the established religion and the independence
■with which they promulgated their own views and practiced their
religious rites.
"In the year 1743, after three years of toil, Christopher Sower
projected and completed a magnificent quarto edition of the Bible
in the German language, which in completeness and execution has
never been excelled in this country. No copy of the Bible in the
English language was printed in America until nearly forty years
afterward. This first edition of Sower consisted of twelve hundred
copies, and was printed from the thirty-fourth edition of the Con-
stine Bible Society of Halle, which is still considered as the stand-
ard by which all others are corrected. Besides the text of the
'Halle Bible,' which includes the Apocrypha as usually printed,
it contained the third and fourth books of Ezra and the third book
of Maccabees, which were inserted in the Halle edition of 1708,
but subsequently omitted. He also inserted the seventh chapter of
the fourth book of Ezra, which it is believed appears in no other
edition. Short summaries preceded each chapter, numerous refer-
ences to parallel passages were inserted in the text, and the work
was commenced with a preface of one page and concluded by an
addenda of four pages, all of solid matter and written by himself.
The latter contained an account of the various translations which
had been made at different times and by different authors. The
whole work covered twelve hundred and eighty-four pages, and the
title-pages were printed in two colors, red and black. The price
was eighteen shillings (about two and a half dollars), bound substan-
tially in strong leather, flexible backs, with bevelled boards and
•clasps.
"It would be impossible within the limits of this sketch to give
an idea of the difficulties encountered by Christopher Sower in the
prosecution of this great undertaking. Besides those necessarily at-
tending the mechanical execution of the work, selfish and sectarian
motives were freely ascribed to him. And so far was this hostility
carried that clergymen ^yere found who denounced it from their
pulpits even before it was completed, thus forestalling impartial
judgment, and at the same time warning their congregations to have
nothing to do with it, as it would be a false translation, made to
suit the peculiar theological views of the publisher. To these un-
just attacks he made no present defence, but simply offered to those
who had subscribed and afterwards became dissatisfied the privilege
of Avithdrawing their subscriptions and receiving back the money
they had paid for them. After the work was completed, however,
he triumphantly referred to it as a sufficient reply to all the calum-
nies which had been heaped upon him, adding the simple but severe
rebuke that 'instead of his Bible being false, it proved them to be
falsifiers.' To this day his edition is so highly prized by the de-
scendants of the original purchasers that those who own a copy can
scarcely be induced to part with it.
DAVID SOWER. 39 1
"In carrying on such extensive printing operations he found him-
self obliged to make arrangements to manufacture his own paper
and ink and to bind his own books. Accordingly he was soon ex-
tensively engaged in all these avocations, as the number of his pub-
lications rapidly increased after the completion of the Bible. But
his greatest perplexity, perhaps, arose from the want of type. To
overcome this he established a type foundry, having the matrices
made under his own superintendence, and teaching his workmen
how to cast and finish type. He made not only the type necessary
for his own use, but supplied others in the business. This was the
first type foundry in America, and the extensive establishment of
L. Johnson & Co., of Philadelphia (the largest in the country, and,
it is said, in the world), has gradually grown out of it. This alone
would entitle Christopher Sower to an honorable position among
the founders of our varied industry and the benefactors of the na-
tion. His mind was continually active in devising improvements,
and the neighborhood in which he lived is full of traditions of the
ingenuity and practical utility of many of his inventions.
"He was a man of commanding appearance, wearing a long,
flowing beard, and with a countenance expressive at once of intel-
lect and meekness. In September, 175S, he died, aged sixty-five
years, leaving an only child, a son also named Christopher, born
in April, 1721, who succeeded in his extensive business, and also
enlarged it to an extent which for that period would seem almost
incredible. In 1763 this son completed a second edition, consist-
ing of two thousand copies of the Bible, and in 1 776 a third of three
thousand copies. As all these editions were published before the
invention of stereotyping, the type had to be reset for each succeed-
ing edition. Besides the Bible, newspapers, and almanacs, the
younger Christopher published about two hundred other works in
either the English or German language, most of them large books.
Several of them passed tluough from five to seven editions. He
employed two or more mills in manufacturing paper, cast his own
type, made his own printers' ink, engraved his own wood-cuts, and
bound his own publications. He also did an extensive business in
putting up and supplying medicines, having a store-room devoted
to this business entirely.
"Like his father, he was a man of strong mind, an independent
thinker, and a ready and fluent speaker and writer. Many of the
works he published were translated by himself, and it is believed he
edited his papers and periodicals unassisted. At an early age he
joined the society of German Baptists, generally known as Dunkers
(in English, 'Dippers'), and became a minister and bishop among
them. In this calling and connection he was beloved by all who
knew him, which included a large proportion of the German popu-
lation throughout the colonies. He died August 26th, 17S4, aged
sixty-three years and four months, leaving a large family of child-
ren, many of whose descendants continue to devote themselves to
the useful occupation of their ancestor. His remains were interred
in Methatchen burying ground, near Fairviewand Norristown. Of
392 DAVID SOWER.
his children, Christopher (3d), Daniel, David, Samuel, Catharine;,
and Esther, left descendants. David, Sr., and his son, David, Jr.^
are the subjects of the memorial to which this is an introduction."
We now take up the line of descent from Christopher Sower^
the first and second generations, to the subject-proper of this
biography.
David Sower, Sr,, was the seventh of eight children of Chris-
topher Sower (2d), of Germantown, who were born as follows :
Christiana in 1752, Christopher (3d) in 1754, Daniel in 175 5>,
Peter in 1759, Catharine in 1761, Esther in 1762, David in
1764, and Samuel in 1767. David v/as born in Germantown,,
where he resided with his parents until 1777, receiving the-
elements of a good English education. He was also familiar
with the German language, and as through life he continued^
to be a diligent student, he became a man of considerable at-
tainments in general knowledge and literature, being especially-
well informed in the German theology of that period. While
still quite young he was sent to reside with his uncle Sharp-
nack, brother of his mother, with whom he learned the busi-
ness of making saddle-trees. The earlier years of his child-
hood had been spent in the type foundry, printing office, and'
book bindery of his father, which had made him familiar with
the details of both printing and binding, and he was an expert:
and practical workman at either of those trades duTing his act-
ive life. He continued to follow the business of saddle-tree
making several years after attaining his majority, having an
establishment in what is now Montgomery county.
He was married in the year 1786, and three or four years
thereafter sold out his business, removing to Race street above
Second, Philadelphia, where he established himself in the busi-
ness of a wholesale and retail grocer. In this he was quite
successful until the yellow fever of 1793 broke out. He then
sent his family into the country, but soon after contracted the
disease himself, and was obliged to follow them. After a severe
struggle for life he recovered, and upon returning to Philadel-
phia found his business greatly involved, soon meeting with
many heavy losses. He finally sold out his stock, paid all his
debts and liabilities, including many notes on which his name
appeared as endorser, and closed up the business. In 1794,.
DAVID SOWER. 393
in partnership with William Jones, he commenced a book and
stationery store with a bindery attached, at No. 66 North Third
street, west side, above Arch, where he continued in business
with moderate success until 1798 or 1799-
In the spring of 1799 he removed to Norristown, where, on
the ist of June, he commenced the publication of the paper
now called the Noiristoivn Herald. It was called the Nonis-
totvn Gazette during the first year of its publication, the name
being afterwards changed to the present title. The files of the
Gazette are still in existence, and as 1799 was the year in which
Washington died and other important events occurred, his pa-
per is full of interesting accounts of the funeral ceremonies in
various parts of the country, with much other matter that even
now, if space permitted, would be worth inserting entire. We
copy a few of them. In the issue of December 20th, 1799, ap-
pears the announcement of the death of Washington in the
following simple and affecting paragraph :
''We have the painful task of announcing to our readers that the
Father, the Deliverer of our country, George Washington, is no
more. Panegyric and eulogy cease here to be eloquent — the inex-
pressible sensations of the heart of a true American can alone do
the melancholy event justice. The mournful scene took place on
the 14th instant, at eleven o'clock in the evening. It was occa-
sioned by an inflammatory affection of the throat, which did not
last twenty-four hours."
The next number of the paper contains the letter to Presi-
dent Adams, of Tobias Lear, private secretary to General Wash-
ington, announcing his death; the message of the President to
Congress, at that time sitting in Philadelphia; the proceedings
in Congress upon the reception of the message; and also an
account of the funeral ceremonies at Mount Vernon.
The next number of the paper contains an address of the
United States Senate to President Adams, and his reply; a
message from Governor McKean to the Legislature, dated at
Lancaster, where that body was then sitting; the orders of the
Secretaries of War and Navy directing crape to be worn by
the officers on the left arm for six months; an account of the
funeral procession in Philadelphia from the State House to
Zion church at the corner of Fourth and Cherry streets, where
after prayers by Rt. Rev. Bishop White, an eloquent oration
26
394 DAVID SOWER.
was delivered by Major General Henry Lee, of Virginia, in
the presence of a congregation computed to number four thou-
sand persons; and a proclamation by the President requesting
the people to wear crape on the left arm as mourning, for thirty
days, in accordance with the recommendation of Congress.
The paper continued to be dressed in mourning a month,
and every number contains messages and resolutions, accounts
of funeral processions and addresses from various cities of the
Union, and other articles exhibiting the universal grief exist-
ing among the people. Many further extracts might be made
from these files which would be of general interest and mat-
ters incidentally connected with persons whose descendants
still reside in the county, but want of space forbids.
In connection with the printing office, Mr. Sower established
a book bindery and book and stationery establishment in Nor-
ristown, where an assortment of school and blank books, sta-
tionery, magistrates' blanks, and German and English almanacs
could be obtained. He also published a novel entitled " The
History of Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded." "The Psalms," Dr.
Watts' version, "An Account of the Awful Death of an Irre-
ligious Youth," and the like, were also issued by him. Soon
after, he published another novel, called "The Storm," two vol-
umes in one, two hundred and forty pages duodecimo, costing
seventy-five cents; and an eulogium on the death of General
George Washington, by a member of the Senate of the United
States. ^
The last number of the Gazette v/as issued June 6th, 1800.
It was a large quarto, containing three wide columns on a page.
Each page was numbered consecutively through the volume,
and at the end a complete index was furnished. Immediately
after its publication under that name ceased, the Nor^istown
Herald vf3.s commenced on a folio demi sheet, having three broad
columns on a page. Its motto was " Nothing extenuate — nor
set down aught in malice." The location of the publication
office was on Egypt or Main street, above Swede. Many items
of great interest to the present generation might also be culled
from its columns.
In November, 1802, David Sower, Sr., issued proposals for
DAVID SOWER, 395
a weekly German paper called the Nojristotvfi Messenger and
Montgomery County Advertiser. It was the same size as the
Heiald, but continued in existence only a few months.
On the 15th of June, 1804, the proceedings of a meeting of
'trustees of the Norristown Academy are given. Those present
-were William Tennant (President), Francis Swayne, Andrew
Porter, Levi Pawling, John Markley, Isaac Pluddleson, Robert
Hamill, and Seth Chapman (Secretary). The academy was
organized, but the building known by that name was not in ex-
istence, being erected afterwards.
On the 20th of July, 1804, the paper was in mourning for
•the death of Hamilton, murdered by Aaron Burr in a duel.
Full accounts of the fight are given; also a lengthy statement
/of Rev. Benjamin Moore, in which Hamilton, after he was shot,
expressed his prior determination to do Burr no harm, his for-
giveness of him, his sincere repentance and belief in Christ's
atonement, and his desire to partake of the sacrament as a tes-
timony thereof.
On the 9th of August, 1808, two patent washing machines
are advertised; one by Isaac Huddleson is said to rinse and
wring the clothes as well as wash them.
On the 7th of October, 1808, the drawn numbers of the Sum-
aieytown School House Lottery are given.
In December, 1808, he transferred the paper and printing
•establishment to his eldest son, Charles Sower, and soon after
opened a general store in Norristown, including dry goods,
groceries, queensware, china, glass, hardware, and so on, for
which his early business experience in Philadelphia had fitted
him. About this time he advertised for sale his plantation of
one hundred and sixty acres in Lower Providence township,
the house and lot in Norristown (fifty by two hundred and fifty
feet) lately occupied by him, and about seventeen acres below
Norristown, adjoining Samuel Markley's tan-yard. In Sep-
tember, 1 8 10, he removed to his new store-house in Norris-
town, where he continued in the business several years. Thence
ilie removed to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he
united farming with merchandising, remaining there a number
^f years. This last venture did not prove to be successful, and
39^ DAVID SOWER..
in 1824 he returned to Norristown, resuming the business of
bookbinding on the south side of Main street near DeKalb.
While here, on the 7th of May, 1828, his wife died after a long
illness. Soon after, he relinquished his business, which was;
continued by his youngest son Edwin. The infirmities of age
creeping upon him, he peacefully passed away on the 19th of
October, 1835, and his remains were interred beside those of
his father, mother and wife, in the burying ground attached to
the Mennonist church at Methatchen, in Worcester township.
Charles Sower, son of David Sower, Sr., succeeded his father
as publisher of the Norristoivn Herald in December, 1808-^
He was a genial man, social in his habits, and of a tempera-
ment that made warm friends and bitter enemies. As an edi-
tor he was a strong partisan. The tremendous struggle going
on in Europe, v/hich resulted in the downfall of Napoleon, was
in progress, producing intense feeling and excitement in this
country also, and which could not fail to tincture politics in the
United States with great bitterness. In July, 18 12, an article
appeared commenting upon a non-uniformed militia muster ia
Philadelphia, describing their ignorance of the art of war as
shown by the Irish officers, which so excited their ire that d,
mob of ruffians from Philadelphia attacked the office and par-
tially destroyed it. The remaining printing materials were sold
to Samuel Ladd, and the Herald passed for a few years out of
the hands of the Sower family. Charles Sower removed ta
Maryland, where he published a paper a few years, and died
there. He was never married.
David Sower, Jr., the proper subject of this memorial, son:
of David, Sr.,was born in Philadelphia on the nth of Febru-
ary, 1794.* He received a plain English education, and as he
grew up assisted his father in whatever business he was en-
gaged, obtaining, of course, a thorough training in that of
printing, as well as a general knowledge of merchandising.
After the Herald passed into the hands of his brother Charles/
David remained with him, assisting in the mechanical depart-
ment as long as he continued to publish it. When the office
was attacked by the mob, David was a little more than seven-
*In the opening of this sketch it is erroneously stated that Da\-id ' So-\ver, Jr., was.
born in Montgomery county.
DAVID SOWER. 397
teen years oFage. Thrown at this time upon his own resources*
he went first to Baltimore, and then to Washington, where he
obtained employment in one of the great printing establish-
ments of that city, and remained a year or more.
In June, 1816, having attained to twenty-one years of age,
he returned to Norristown, purchased the Herald from the
then proprietor, who had failed in business, and in July of the
'same year issued the first number under his charge. He soon
■obtained the assistance of an able corps of writers, and the pa-
per teemed with articles of extraordinary literary merit. The
circulation increased, and along with it the advertising patron-
^age, so that it soon became necessary to enlarge the paper.
Tn 18 1 8 the printing office was removed to a building erected
for the purpose on the site now occupied by F. D. Sower's
book-store. This building remained until June, 1853. During
■the eighteen years he continued to be its publisher enlarged
:ifaciLities from time to time became necessary, so that when in
July, 1834, he sold the establishment to John Hodgson, Esq.*
s"t was one of the largest and best patronized county papers in
the State.
In 1 8 19 he married Miss Cecilia, daughter of Jean Baptiste
Chollet, a French political refugee who came to this country
during the troubles following the revolution of 1 791 in France.
The ceremony was performed by Rev. Alexander May, who
was afterwards one of the professors in the Protestant Episco-
pal Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Virginia.
©ijring David Sower's administration of the Herald he did
i<aot eEtirely lose sight of the book-publishing business. In
18 1 8 he issiued a little work entitled "The Pocket-Lawyer,"
.containing a collection of legal forms, which proved to be a
success, and in other hands subsequently passed through many
editions. His next venture was a collection of stones entitled
-"Tales of Somerville," written in a simple, beautiful style. In
aCOfAnection with his business he continued to keep for sale a
■ stock ,. of books and stationery, as did his ancestors in the same
^'business.. In 1830 he published an abridged digest of the laws
. of Peitirisylvania, containing those acts of general interest to
...Qrrmers and property holders, and intended for their use. It
398 DAVID SOWER.
was compiled by B. F. Hancock, Esq., and had a large sale,,
passing through two or more editions. In 1832 he published
a collection of sacred music, combining a system of instruction*
in written music. The notes were in seven different forms or
characters, each representing a note of the diatonic scale. This
at that time was entirely new, being the first attempt to give a
different form for each of the seven notes. Music written in
notes of four characters was very common. The types for these
notes were originated and cast for the work, and were a heavy
item in the expense. Many years after a teacher named Aiken;*
attempted to patent the sam^ idea, using characters of differ-
ent forms, and his work had an extended circulation.
After disposing of the printing and publishing establishment
in 1834, he remained out of business about two years, devoting;
his time to collections, building and improving his 'real estate,
of which he had become possessed of considerable. In 1836
he opened a book and stationery store, in which was included
a variety of fancy articles. As it was the first attempt in Nor-
ristown to conduct a store devoted to certain special articles,,
as also varieties, and to make a display of goods m show v/in-
dows and glass cases, the opening created . considerable inter-
est and attracted crowds of people for many days. This was-
the beginning of a series of improvements in stores and shops-
which marked the advance of Norristown from a country vil-
lage to a business town or city, now rivalling in beauty and
enterprise any county seat in the State outside of two or three
great cities.
In 1838 he entered into business partnership with his youngerr
brother Edwin, and opened a handsome dry goods establish-
ment in a store-house built by him for the purpose, adjoining
the book-store. This also proved to be eminently sruccessful,,
and was another step in classifying business, for he was the-
first to separate dry goods from other wares. But soon after,,
or early in 1839, Edwin died of scarlet fever. He was mar-
ried to Mary, daughter of Thomas Stroud, of Norristown, who-
still ( 1 879) survives. About the time of his death three children
also died; consequently Edwin left no posterity. John WiilartJ
took Edwin Sower's place in the firm, but he also being in ill:
DAVID SOWER. 399
health at the time, soon passed away. J\Ir. Sower then con-
tinued the business alone, together with the book and stationery
concern in the store adjoining. His son Charles G. having
become of age in 1S42, he disposed of the book-store to him,
continuing in the dry goods business till 1850, when he sold
it to Morgan Wright, and retired from active business alto-
gether.
Soon after the infirmities of age began to show their effects
upon him. In his prime he was a man of portly build and ot
medium height; growing older, however, he lost his round-
ness of figure, and during the last two }-ears became thin and
shrunken.
Though not a member of church until a short time before
he died, he had been through life religiously inclined, always
moral, and for over twenty-five years a regular attendant at
divine service, usually worshiping with the Baptists. A pas-
sage in his diary, dated April 14th, 1858, says:
"The first temperance meeting in Norristown was held in the
court-house on Saturday, iNIay 4th, 1833. Robert Hamill was the
chairman, and David Sower and John S. McFarland, Esq., Secre-
taries. About fifteen to eighteen persons signed the pledge to ab-
stain from the use of ardent spirits as a beverage. My signature
was among them, and from that day to this that pledge has never
been broken, and I trust never will be. Some years after I signed
another pledge to abstain from the use of all intoxicating drinks,
which also remains inviolate."
Although while editing a paper Mr. Sower was thrown much
among public men, he was always diffident, quiet, and unob-
trusive. His judgment was remarkably clear on most subjects,
exceedingly careful and prudent in financial matters, and in-
violate in his pledges. Generally sedate and serious, he had
nevertheless a vein of humor in his composition that manifested
itself in quiet little surprises, and which he enjoyed exceed-
ingly. He was ever devoted to his family, a kind husband
and father, generous and considerate, but not foolishly indul-
gent. In 1862 his debility rapidly increased, and in April he
became too weak to leave his home. From this he gradually
declined until June 19th, when he quietly gave up his life.
His remains were taken to Montgomery Cemetery, attended
400 DAVID SOWER.
by a large concourse of friends.* David Sower had also a sis-
ter Eliza, some years his junior, who was married late in life,
and died some years after, leaving one or two children.
David Sower left five children, namely: John Randolph,
-many years a wholesale dry goods merchant in Philadelphia,
and more recently President of the Shafton Gas Coal Com-
pany; Charles G., publisher and bookseller, of Philadelphia;
Franklin D., bookseller, now of Norristown; Mary M., wife of
Matthew H. Crawford, late of Norristown, but now residing in
Philadelphia; and Adeline A., wife of Daniel H. Stein, watch-
maker and jeweler, of Norristown.
A further brief account of the personal and business lives of
David Sower's family is given. His widow, Cecilia Sower,
at an advanced age, now (1879) resides with her youngest son
in Norristown. Charles G. Sower, born in 1 821, worked in his
father's printing office when a boy, in 1833 and 1834, and was
educated at the Norristown Academy. He assisted from 1836
to 1842 in his father's book-store, and assumed control of that
business in the latter year, removing to Philadelphia and en-
tering the bookselling trade in 1844. The next year he com-
menced publishing books, generally school publications. He
tmarried Caroline A., daughter of Nathan R. Potts, Esq., in
1849. Ii"^ 1850 he surrendered the Norristown book-store to
his brother, Franklin D.; in 185 1 took William H. Barnes as
partner, and continued business as Sower & Barnes; in 1858
added F. C. Potts as partner, and continued as Sower, Barnes
& Co.; and in 1865 changed the firm title to Sower Barnes &
Potts. William H. Barnes left the firm in 1870 on account of
all health, and the business and firm are still continued under
the title of Sower, Potts & Co.
The publication house of Sower, Potts & Co. has been quite
famous in the book trade for a number of years. The firm
made a fine exhibit at the Centennial in 1876, receiving several
medals for their school publications. At the Paris exposition
i X 1878 like testimonials were received. Among their notable
•*Hi3 life is aptly illustrated in the following- quotation :
•" I would express him simple, grave, sincere ;
In morals, uncorrupt; in language, plain;
And plain in manner ; decent, solemn, chaste,
And natural."
BENJAMIN E. CHAIN, ESQ. 4OI
publications is Dr. Emmon's work on Geology, the first pub-
lished for schools illustrated by American fossils. They also
issued Colonel Gilpin's "Central Gold Fields of America," which
announced the existence of the precious metals in mass in Colo-
rado and the Rocky Mountain region long before they were dis-
covered there.
Besides the descendants of David Sower, a number of other
collateral members of the family of different generations have
been extensively engaged in the printing business, and several
still continue such. Samuel Sower, a brother of the elder
David, after commencing the business at Chestnut Hill, re-
moved to Baltimore about the year 1794, where he became
well known as an extensive type founder and printer. Some
of the grandsons of Christopher (3d) were and perhaps still are
engaged in publishing newspapers in Virginia.
BENJAMIN E. CHAIN, Esq.
Then welcome business, -welcome strife.
Welcome tlic cares and thorns of life;
The visage wan, the purblind sight,
The toil by day, the lamp at night.
The tedious forms, the solemn prate,
The pert dispute, the dull debate.
— IHacksto7ie^ s Farewell to His Muse.
Benjamin E. Chain, of the Norristown bar, is the son of John
and Ann Chain, of Norristown, and was born October 15th,
1823. He is the grandson of Matthev/ Chain, who owned a
large farm in what was then Norriton township (now West
Norristown), which has descended in the family for several
generations down to the present. A fine mansion was erected
by Mr. Chain's brother a few years ago nearly on the site of
the old homestead which for over a century stood on the de-
clivity west of Stony creek. This remnant of the old home is
still retained in the name by his brother, James Chain, and oc-
cupied by him and wife, together with another brother, Mark.
Benjamin E. Chain's mother was an Evans,^ one of the repy-^
402 BENJAMIN E. CHAIN, ESQ.
table family of Lower Providence that gave name to Evans-
burg. She was a sister of Benjamin Evans, Esq., who many
years ago Vv^as a very eminent and successful lawyer in our
county, being admitted to the bar in 1810, and after whom the
subject of our notice is named. As we perceive by an old
newspaper file, John Chain and Ann Evans were married Octo-
ber 24th, 1808, by Rev. Mr. Clay. The tradition is that in
early times the elder Chain (John Chain's father), though not
a professional man, was of great ingenuity and wide informa-
tion, serving his neighbors as dentist, doctor, law-adviser, and
the like. B. E. Chain, Esq., had one sister, who was married
to John McFarland, Esq., also of our bar, but both she and her
husband have been dead many years.
After receiving a full academic training under Eliphalet Rob-
erts, who then taught our Norristown Academy, he was fur-
ther sent to the seminary of the Messrs. Hamill, at Lawrence-
ville. New Jersey, where he was prepared to enter the Sopho-
more class in Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania,
in 1839. After studying three years he graduated, and at once
commenced the study of law in the office of G. Rodman Fox,
Esq., of Norristown. Reading law one year here, he went to
Easton early in 1S44, entering the office of Hon. James M.
Porter, where he graduated, and was admitted in November of
that year. He returned to Norristown and opened an office^
and soon attained a considerable practice. Shortly after, in
1850, he was elected District Attorney, being the first to fill
that post by the vote of the people.
The second year of his service as attorney of the Common-
wealth, in August, 1852, it became his duty to prosecute Miss
Emily Higgs for the alleged murder of her child.* Mr. Chain^
*The history of the case was this: Enaily Higgs, the accused, who resided at Hat-
boro, ill Mooreland townsliip, became tlie mother ofau illegitimate child. She had been
living with an old gentleman named Miller, who had died very suddenly some months
"ocfore, and had inherited niost of his estate. Subsequently she gave birth to the child,
which also died suddenly, and with violent sj'mptoms indicatmg poisoning by the use
of arsenic. About the time of its death it transpired that a girl of twelve years, in Miss
Higgs' employ, had been sent by her to the store for arsenic, which she placed upon the
young mother's bureau, at which time, by the testimony of the girl and the nui-se, the
child was well. Shortly after violent symptoms set in, and it died in two or thi-ee days
in great agony. The girl also testified that at aboint the time it expired Miss Higgs or-
dered her to return the arsenic, which the dealer refused to take back, but subsequently
weighed and found deficient in the original quantity. Before burial the contents of the
child's stomach were tested, and showed traces of arsenic. It was in evidence also that
previous to the violent sickness the child had shown symptoms of opium poisoning by
sleeping two or three days in succession. The strong grounds of suspicion in the ease
of the child, and the bold manner in which it appeared to have been done, led many to
eblieve that the old gentleman had also been put outof Uie way by poison. Miss Higgs-
BENJAMIN E. CHAIN, ESQ. 4O3:
who was then a young lawyer himself, was associated with an-
other still younger. The case was ably handled, nevertheless,.
Mr. Chain addressing the jury in a closing speech of nearly
four hours in length, making an address of impassioned elo-
quence, which surprised his friends, who had never seen him.
in a great cause. Great effort was necessary, for Mr. Brown,
who was one of the defendant's counsel, had exhausted all his^
arts of oratory learned in a long life of criminal practice. We
shall never forget that scene of a hot August day, with ]\Ir.
Brown's double-breastad coat buttoned tightly to his neck,,
pouring his lightning and thunder appeals to the jury to spare
the young woman's life. Mr. Chain's effort was able, but too
much oratory had preceded him. He lost his case, but gained
a reputation as an energetic, impassioned speaker, that has
placed him high on the roll of the Montgomery county bar.
Mr. C. has been a life-long Democrat, but has never pressed
his claims for political preferment. During the continuance of
the rebellion he had no sympathy with those who manifested
opposition to measures for the vigorous prosecution of the war,,
and was active in their support himself Once, when the State
was invaded, he shouldered the musket to repel the enemy.
Shortly after commencing practice he was married to Miss
Louisa, daughter of John Bean, of Norristown, then recently
deceased. They have two surviving children: Mary, married
to F. D. Farnum, of the manufacturing firm of F. D. Farnum
& Co., Norristown; and B. Percy. A few years ago Mr. Chain
purchased a handsome mansion, erected in cottage style, in the
eastern part of the borough, which combines the features of
both town and country, where he resides.
•was well educated, had been respectably raised, wa.s rather comely in person, and, hav
ing the means, had retained David I'aul Brown and James Boyd, Esqs., as her eoun.sel-
Mr. Chain was a.ssisted by O. II. Stinson, Esq. A case so stated and circumstanced ex-
cited great interest in the community, as may be sujiposed. The ciui.se came to trial at
the August term in 1852, and after several days of labor a verdict of acquittal v.-as ren-
dered. The i)0])iilar judgment, however, was that she escaped just because of tho ujv-
willingness of the jury to make a return tliat would bring a woimui to the gallows.
-404 'RE3CC. |. H. A. BOMBERGER, D. D.
REV. I H, A. BOMBERGER, D. D.
Super omnia quidem Pater est, et Ipse est caput Christi ; per omnia autem Verbum ,
> st Ipse est caput Ecclesise; in omnibus Spiritus, et Ipse est aqua viva, quam prsestat Do-
minus in se recte oredentibus. — Irenseus.
Rev. Dr. J. H, A. Bomberger, a very prominent minister of the
Reformed church, v/as born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the 13th
■of January, 1817. His parents were George H. and Mary Hoff-
meier Bomberger. His mother was a daughter of Rev. John H.
Hoffmeier, for nearly thirty years pastor of the Reformed church in
Lancaster. His ancestors on both sides were of German origin,
-and in their ecclesiastical relations, as far back as is known, con-
nected with the Reformed church.
After providing a preliminary training in the elementary branches,
". his parents resolved to give him, as their only child at that time,
■ 'the advantages of a high school education. The old Franklin Col-
lege had been suspended for many years. But about 1827 or 1828
■ a number of gentlemen, feeling the need of a classical school for
• the locality, organized and founded Lancaster Academy. The sub-
ject of this sketch was one of fifteen or sixteen (including Rev. Dr.
- F. A. Muhlenberg, now a professor in the University of Pennsyl-
"'vania) with whom as pupils the academy was opened under James
-P. Wilson, then a young man of Philadelphia, son of Rev. Dr. Wil-
son, of the Presbyterian church at Seventh and Walnut streets, in
that city. Wilson remained in charge of the academy, however,
only a short time, and during the three years in which our subject
was a pupil in it was succeeded first by a Mr. Harvey Birch and
then by a Mr. Patterson. During this period of Dr. B.' s pupilage,
:parental solicitude added christian nurture to scholastic training,
Tvvith a loving fidelity to which he ever refers with grateful remem-
brance.
On the 2d of January, 1832, he was taken by his father from Lan-
caster to the high school of the Reformed church, which had then
been recently opened in York, Pennsylvania, and which stood in
immediate connection with the theological seminary of the church,
also located there. The school was under the management of Rev.
Dr. F. A. Ranch, of christian memory, as Principal. In several
important respects, as Dr. B. has always insisted, this man was the
first real teacher whose tuition he had ever enjoyed. Others had
assigned lessons and exacted j.-oeltatiousi Dr. Rauch taught his pupils
REV. J. H. A. BOMBERGER,. D; D. 4O5;
how to Study, and instilled into their minds a love of knowledge.
At the early age of fifteen years his mind was already turned to-
ward the gospel ministry as the proper work of his life, subject,
however, to further consideration and final decision. According
to the prescribed course of academical study he had in due time
prepared enough in Latin, Greek, and mathematics, to admit him
into the Sophomore class at college. But the high school had no
such division of the curriculum, and in accommodation to the ex-
isting arrangements his place was otherwise assigned. It was not
the intention that he should take a full collegiate course, but after
the expiration of two years should enter the theological seminary,
if convictions still led that way. Accordingly, at the end of two
years, he was admitted to the theological seminary, in which Dr.
Mayer was then Professor of Theology — a professor of Biblical
Literature being associated with him. But in the autumn of 1835
the institutions were removed to Mercersburg, the high school be-
ing first transferred and raised to a college. Then he was induced
to take a full college course, meanwhile suspending theological stu-
dies. He graduated in 1837, and afterward spent a year in com-
pleting the theological course under such aid and direction as Dr.
Rauch could furnish him, the theological seminary not yet having
been removed from York. During the last two years of his course
he was employed as tutor in the preparatory department of the col-
lege.
In October, 1838, the Synod of Lancaster licensed him to preach
the gospel, and in the latter part of November, in compliance with
a call, he settled in Lewistown, on the Juniata, the charge being-
composed of the town congregation, another in the east end of the
Kiselierquillas valley, and a third preaching point eight miles east
of Lewistown. Here he was ordained on the 27th of December,
1838. For the Reformed church it was a difficult and discouraging
mission, ground which had run down through neglect, but a good
school for a young minister. He reniained there twenty months,
and during part of the time (the sunnmer of 1839) supplied the Wa-
ter street charge, preaching there once in four weeks. His salary
at Lewistown was to have been from four to five hundred dollars a
year. But this was far in excess of Avhat they had ever paid, and
time soon proved that two hundred and twenty-five dollars taxed
the few members to the extent of their ability. Says Dr. B., "I
preached three or four times every Sunday in English and in some
sort of German, with which, however,, the people professed to be
406 REV. J. H. A. BOMBERGER, D. D.
well satisfied. To aid in my support I obtained the academy (clas-
sical school) of the place, which had run down to three pupils, and
by special efforts gathered ten, thus adding two hundred dollars to
my income and five and a half days a week teaching to my other
work."
On the nth of April, 1839, he was married to Marion Elizabeth
Huston, of Mercersburg. In July, 1840, a call from the Waynes-
boro church, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, just vacated by Rev.
G. W. Glessner, D. D., was extended and accepted. The change
of field was very cheering. The charge then consisted of four or-
ganized congregations, Waynesboro and Salem in Pennsylvania,
and Cavetown and Leitersburg in Maryland. Here he remained
until April, 1845, when a call as English pastor of the Easton con-
gregation, as successor to Rev. B. C. Wolff, D. D., was accepted.
He removed to that place, and was associated with Rev. Thomas
Pomp, who was the German pastor. Waynesboro was left with
many regrets, but a cordial welcome at Easton made amends for the
change. In August, 1S52, against Dr. B.'s earnest entreaty, a call
was extended by the Race Street Reformed Church, Philadelphia.
The consistory in Easton having unanimously and strongly opposed
it, the invitation was declined. Two years later the call to Phila-
delphia was renewed, and under special pressure reluctantly (as far
as personal preferences were concerned) accepted. The Race street
congregation was reduced to about one hundred communicants, and
much discouraged. But against many difficulties the Lord pros-
pered the work, and the congregation quietly and gradually grew.
A second flock (Church of the Apostles) had been organized shortly
before Dr. B.'s settlement, and though by great effort it was kept
alive for three or four years, was unable to maintain itself and dis-
banded. In i860 Christ Church, Green street, was founded. Race
Street was not yet strong enough to justify sending off a branch,
but the wants of the church in the northwestern part of the city de-
manded it. About three years later another interest was started,
also under the auspices of the Race street church, in the vicinity of
Fourth street and Girard avenue, which afterward grew into Trinity
Reformed Church, now at Seventh and Oxford streets. Still an-
other enterprise was commenced, now St. John's Church, in West
Philadelphia. In the light of these facts, the ministerial work of
Dr. B. in Philadelphia was in a high degree successful.
Through his varied experience and natural endowments. Dr. B.
has accomplished in his ministerial services an amount of work
REV. J. H. A. BOMBERGEK, D. D. 4O7
which few men would have undertaken and which fewer still could
have carried to a successful issue. As a pulpit orator he possesses
great power, and has acquired to perfection the art (or inherited
the gift) of enchaining the attention of an audience. Of a graceful
form and dignified bearing, with a voice full, rotund, and well
modulated, and with a diction at once pure and elegant, he wields
all the advantages of a ready and fluent extempore speaker. His
style tends to the diffuse, his manner is somewhat impassioned, and
his imagery brilliant and captivating — essential qualities in a public
speaker. Possessing these advantages, it is quite natural tliat he
should be unusually successful in the active duties of the ministry
and enjoy a reputation far beyond the limits of his own denomina-
tion.
In addition to his pastoral work, Dr. B. occupies a prominent
position as a writer on theological topics and as a defender of the
historical faith of the Reformed Church. About the year 1S52 the
degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Marshall
College. His first literary attempt of note was a series of articles in
X\\Q Aferce?-sbit-rg Review, 1S53, on "Dr. Nevin and His Antagonists."
The main object of these articles was: first, a vindication of the Re-
formed church against the charge of endorsing the errors of which
Dr. Nevin was accused; second, that upon Dr. Nevin's own em-
phatic repudiation of those errors and a susceptible interpretration
of his language, he did not hold them ; and third, to bind, as it
were, Dr. N. by regard for the confidence of the church and per-
sonal friends to an earnest and faithful maintenance of doctrinal in-
tegrity. Since the above date, or during the last twenty-five years.
Dr. B. has attained honorable distinction as a controversialist, and
in addition to occasional published sermons and addresses has per-
formed literary work as follows: In 1857 appeared his "Five Years
in Race Street," with a full statistical and general appendix relating
to the origin and condition of the Reformed church. In i860 he
edited and in large part retranslated "Kurtz's Hand-Book of Church
History," now extensively used as a text-book in the theological
seminaries of many denominations. "Infant Baptism and Salva-
tion" appeared in 1S61. In this year also Dr. B. began to edit a
translation of "Herzog's Encyclopedia," himself preparing one-
half of the translations, and carried it through nearly six volumes of
the original. But the German original having far exceeded the
limits proposed for it, the publishers were not prepared to complete
the work, and it was suspended. It is regretted that in view of the
408 REV. J. H, A. BOMBERGEE.,. Di Di.
absence of any precisely similar work in English, this admirable-
undertaking was not carried to completion. In iS66 appeared the
" Revised Liturgy," a history and criticism, of the ritualistic move-
ment in the Reformed church. "Reformed., not Ritualistic," a.
reply to Dr. Nevin's "Vindication," was published in 1867, and
by its vigorous and well nigh exhaustive treatment of the subject,
at once designated its author as the natural champion of the Re-
formed faith in its historical sense. In 186.8 "The Reformed Churclx
Monthly," a popular religious and theological journal, was founded
and continued for nine years, during which Dr. B. served as editor
and furnished more than three-fourths of the articles.
As early as the Synod of Norristown, in 1849,, I^^- Bombergerwas
appointed one of a committee entrusted with the task of preparing
a Reformed Liturgy on the basis of the various liturgies of the Re-
formed churches, and especially of the old Palatinate Liturgy used
by the early ministers of the Reformed church in this country. It.
was not long, however, until a majority of the committee were of
the opinion that the old Reformed Liturgy would not admit of such
modifications as the wants of the times demanded.. Such an ex-
pression seemed to imply that what was required was not merely a
development of the old liturgies, but something different from the
past, and to a great extent from the present life of the church. The
committee nevertheless recommended a translation of the Palatinate
Liturgy as the best result then attainable. The opponents of an.
elaborate ritual approved of the project, though perhaps not of the
motive, which did not yet clearly reveal the future antagonism, and
of which in its deepest import the leaders themselves may not have
been conscious. But the Synod refused to enter upon this plan,,
and instructed the committee to proceed with the preparation of a
liturgy. The Synod of Baltimore in 1852. provided that the work
should proceed on the basis of the liturgical worship of the primi-
tive church, while special reference should be made to the Palatinate
and other Reformed liturgies of the sixteenth century. In 1857 a
"Provisional Liturgy," submitted by the members of the commit-
tee, was allowed, but received no formal sanction. It was at once
seen that there were in it two different systems of worship, the one
containing a set of forms in the old Reformed; style, and the other
ai;! altar liturgy with responses and elements of a Ritualistic* char-
acter. Meanwhile Dr. J. W. Nevin was writing articles attracting
*The word "Ritualistic," as used in modern; controversy' in the Eeformed church,,
has often nearly the ijopular signification of " Komanistic" or " Papal."
REV. J. H. A. BOMBERGER, D. D. 4O9.
by their ability and contents widespread attention, and was mould-
ing his theology in a form involving a departure from the old lit-
urgy as well as the old theological tenets, while the literary and theo-
logical institutions at Lancaster and Mercersburg were largely under
the influence of his views.
The diverse liturgical systems of the "Provisional Liturgy" hav-
ing frustrated its purpose, and the desire for a liturgy cast in one
mould having increased, the Synod of Easton in 1861 resolved upon
a revision. The former committee having been entrusted with the
task, was instructed to proceed "in a way that shall not be incon-
sistent with established liturgical principles and usages, or with the
devotional and doctrinal genius of the Reformed church." What
these "established liturgical principles" were was not defined, but
the presumption is that the Synod meant the old Reformed stand-
point and usages, though the majority of the committee understood
by them, in the language of Dr. Nevin, "the churchly, sacramental;,
and in a proper sense, priestly character." At all events, upon the
reassembling of the committee, a prolonged controversy regarding
the principles of revision having arisen. Dr. Bomberger emphatically
opposed the views of Dr. Nevin and defended Reformed customs-
and traditions. The question of the liturgical tendencies was at
length referred for decision to the Synod of Chambersburg in 1S62.
The majority report of the committee, prepared by Dr. Nevin, con-
tained, first, a violent attack on free prayer; second, an emphatic
condemnation of such directories of public worship as the old Pala-
tinate Liturgy; and third, a strong vindication of an extremely re-
sponsive order of ritualism. In the minority report Dr. Bomberger
set forth four objections to that presented by the majority : First, as
being a virtual evasion of the duty assigned to the committee by the
Synod of Easton, and an actual frustration for the time being of the
wishes of the church to have the Provisional Liturgy revised with-
out delay; second, as not being a fair and impartial exhibition of
the points at issue between the majority and the minority; third, as
an attempt to perform a service antagonistic to the purpose and de-
sires of the Synod and the church by endeavoring to persuade them to
repudiate the past culture of the church and to adopt one essentially
at variance with her established principles and usages; fourth, be-
cause it resists all modifications of the Provisional Liturgy, such as.
the Synod ever reserved to itself the right of applying to any work
the committee might present, and such as all church judicatories
'ustly claim the prerogative of making in the case of any committee's
27
410 REV. J. H. A. BOMBERGER, D. D.
report, while on the other hand it arrogantly requires that the Synod
shall a(|pept the work as done by the committee or not at all.
Nevertheless the majority of the committee, no longer consider-
ing themselves bound by the earlier rules of the Synod, pursued
their work in full accordance with their own liturgical views and
t^ithout regard to the sentiments of the minority, and finally sub-
mitted the whole work to the Synod of York in October, 1866, and a
few weeks later to the General Synod of Dayton. The latter body by
a. small majority allowed the use of this "Revised Liturgy," thereby
sanctioning, at least indirectly, forms of worship and doctrine which
by many were deemed unevangelical and Romanizing. In Dr. Bom-
berger's tract, "The Revised Liturgy," the seriousness of the situ-
ation is delineated. He averred that he had not been and was not
then opposed to a liturgy in the proper sense, though he was un-
willing that extreme measures should be employed to attain the de-
sired end. In his judgment two-thirds of the clergy and most of
the congregations had not accepted the ritualistic principles, but
resisted the encroachments. They had not dreamed of such changes
as were proposed, while the extremes would produce a reaction of
the old affections of the church. Referring to the fact that the re-
vised liturgy had not yet been formally adopted, he hoped that
-after its ritualistic principle had been fully developed, and its con-
sequences revealed, even its friends would not press it upon the
congregations. He proposed as a remedy to modify the Provisional
Liturgy, which contained all needful material, and to allow an altar
service in an evangelical sense, the confession of sin, the Lord's
Supper, baptism. Apostle's creed, a few simple responses, and pray-
ers for the leading festivals. But all phrases of doubtful import or
•contrary to pure doctrine should be changed. This done, many
who had been unfavorable to modern liturgical changes would yield,
while the friends of extremes would only concede what was justly
required for the peace of the church.
Notwithstanding these evidently just and temperate declarations,
the extreme liturgical party were in no mood to grant any conces-
sions, but on the contrary seemed determined to inflict upon the
■church extreme ritualistic practices. Dr. Ncvin in his tract, "Vin-
dication of Revised Liturgy," violently assailed the position of Dr.
Bomberger and sought to fasten the stigma of schismatics upon the
adherents of Reformed doctrine in its purity. This called forth Dr.
Bomberger's "Reformed, not Ritualistic," in which the whole mat-
ter in dispute was succinctly stated and an elaborate defence of Re-
REV. J. H. A. BOMBERGER, D. D. 4II
formed doctrine and custom presented. For the calm and dignified
manner in which the nature and extent of the innovations were dis-
cussed, and for the wealth of historical and doctrinal matter brought
"to light, Dr. Bomberger merits the lasting gratitude of the Reformed
church.
From this time forward Dr. Bomberger applied himself with ad-
(Sitional zeal to the defence of what he regarded Reformed usage
and doctrine. The antagonism between the two parties seemed
irreconcilable, and had grown to such an extent that in the eastern
part of the church the periodicals, which had fallen into the hands
of the ritualists, were practically closed to all writers of anti-ritual-
istic views. Under these circumstances "The Reformed Church
Monthly," with Dr. Bomberger as editor and principal writer, was
established in January, 1868, and was supported as the theological
•exponent of the evangelical wing of the church. This periodical
clearly had a mission to perform, and rendered incalculable service
to the Reformed church by its exposure of the aim and tendency of
the new theology. Every phase of the new doctrine and worship
was examined in the light of history and of revealed truth, and was
subjected to a rigid analysis and searching criticism. Under the
facile pen and remorseless logic of Dr. Bomberger, the church be-
came thoroughly acquainted with the real nature of the conflict and
ascertained the utterly impracticable character of the new liturgy
and the more than doubtful tenor of the new theological specula-
tions.
Early in 1869 pr. Bomberger was called to the Presidency of
Ursinus College, located at Freeland (Collegeville), Montgomery
■county, an institution founded by members and friends of the Re-
formed church. At this institution, which imparts instruction on
the basis of Christianity and with chief regard to religious ends, he
has found ample opportunity for a wide field of usefulness and for
rendering his influence as a scholar and educator widely and per-
manently felt. Believing that the higher branches of education in
.particular should be pursued in hill harmony with evangelical Pro-
testant principles, he has been heartily supported by the friends
of education in general and by the evangelical or anti-ritualistic
(sometimes inaccurately called Low Church) portion of the Re-
formed church. Under his Presidency of Ursinus College, as also
of Ursinus Theological Seminary, not a few young men have come
under his educational influence, while a reasonable number of these
have entered the ministry. In addition to his duties as President,
412 JAMES WINNARD, ESQ.
and Professor of Ethics and Intellectual Science, he has served since-
his connection with the college as pastor of St. Luke's Reformed!
Church, at Trappe, Montgomery county.
Dr. Bomberger has been twice married. By his first wife he has-
four daughters and one son, as follows: Mary, married to Dr. B^
N. Bethel, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Clara, the wife of Dr. J.
E. Brecht, of Carrollton, Illinois; Marion, married to Rev. Henry
T. Spangler, of Columbiana, Ohio; Elizabeth, wife of Rev. Fran-
cis C. Yost, of Thornville, Ohio; and John Huston Bomberger^
A. B., student of theology in Ursinus College.
In 1863, Dr. B., having been widowed some time, married Miss.
Julia Aymer Wight, of Philadelphia, by whom there have been borm
three sons, Augustus W., Henry A., and Walter.
JAMES WINNARD, Esq.
Here shall the Press the people's right maintain,
Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain ;
Here patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw,
Pledged to Keligion, Liberty, and Law. — Judge Story.
Perhaps no man ever lived in Montgomery county who wielded ar.
more decided influence in moulding our people into the doctrines'-
of Jefferson and the earnest Republicans who fqunded our govern-
ment, than he whose name stands at the head of this sketch. He-
belonged to that sterling Republican stock of our early history, the-
Irish Protestants. He was born in Ireland, and probably belonged-
to the Irish schoolmaster class who thronged our country late im
the last century. He came to Norristown and purchased the J^eg-
ister, and began its publication about the ist of September, 1802, it
having been started in 1800 by a man named Wilson. Mr. Win-
nard was a man of high moral character, and in full sympathy witlis
Jefferson, Madison, and others, and opposed to the views of the
Federalists, who distrusted the people and favored "strong govern-
ment." At the commencement of the present century Montgom-
ery county was represented in Congress by the Muhlenbergs and by-
Frederick Conrad, who were all earnest Federalists. Very soon,
however, under the efficient labors of James Winnard, Nathaniel B.
Boileau, Jonathan Roberts, and others, the county became strongly-
JAMES WINNARD, ESQ. 4^3
democratic. During the progress of the famous struggle between
ithe French and English for supremacy in Europe, Mr. Winnard's
(paper was always favorable to the French and strongly opposed to
ithe English. When our second war with Great Britain broke out,
party spirit ran still higher and higher.
A perusal of the old files of the Register and the Herald will give
the reader a very clear idea of the political issues of the time, which
did not so much grow out of the administrative policy of those in
power as the principles that underlie our American system of gov-
ernment. Republicans, or Democrats (nearly interchangeable terms
then), were for home development by. State action, while their op-
ponents favored foreign commerce and British notions generally.
The former were always on the lookout for English aggression, and
Tthe latter for French spoliation. Unfortunately there was much
•ground for the complaint of both.
James Winnard printed a paper whose principles were sharply de-
fined, and he and his contributors generally had the best of the ar-
gument. He continued to publish the paper till near the time of
his death, which occurred April 13th, 1837, having sold it some
years previously to Powell and Patterson, who had learned their
trade in the office.
His first wife, whose maiden name Avas Rachel Griffith, died July,
1820, in her forty-sixth year, and his second wife, whose name had
'.been Hannah Schrack, died in 1857, in her seventy-seventh year,
.thus surviving him twenty years.
Mr. Winnard, though twice married, had no children by either
wife. His remains and those of his two wives are interred in the
■cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church, Norristown, of which
Mr. W. was a worthy member.
Mr. W. lived to the age of sixty-seven, and at the time he re-
hired had acquired considerable means, which he invested in a house
that he built for himself on a few acres of land situated at the corner
formed by the avenue that now passes from Main street to Watts'
mill, in the First ward. Here he died, and here his widow resided
3ome time afterwards.
It is worthy of remark of both the political journals printed in
I^orristown during the first quarter of the present century that while
.they gave far less attention to churches and religious doings among
'the people, yet their religious tone was much higher than the jour-
;nalism of the present day. The partisan violence and bitterness,
Ihowever, were quite as great.
414 SETH LUKENS.
SETH LUKENS.
One of the purest and most refined pleasures in this world is that of doing good. —
Henry.
A heart that can feel for another's woe,
, And share its joys with a genial glow,
With sympathies large enough to enfold
All men lis brothers, is better than gold. — Catholic Herald.
Before writing a notice of this well known citizen, we turrr
aside to give the origin and pedigree of the family, which is
one of the oldest and most respectable in the county. The
progenitor of all the name in this county Avas Jan (John)
Lucken, who came from Holland to America with Penn's Qua-
kers, and landed at Chester on the 3d of October, 1688. The
family afterwards settled at Germantown with other Germans.
This Jan Lucken, who must have been a man of means and
cultivation, brought with him a large Dutch Bible, printed in
Holland in 1598 by Peter Sebastien, which has ever since beery
preserved in the family, and is now in the possession of Abel
Lukens, of North Wales. In this old volume and heir-loon®
Jan Lucken's descendants are recorded. He had seven sons
and four daughters, as follows : Elizabeth, born July 28th, 1684;
Elias, in 1686; William, in 1687; Sarah, in 1689; John, in
1691; Mary, in 1693; Peter, in 1696; Hannah, in 1698; Mat-
thias, in 1700; Abraham, in 1703; and Joseph, in 1705. As
will be perceived, the name, like multitudes of others, has been
modified or Anglicised into Lukens.
The first settlers of this country, like the Hebrews of old,
seem to have considered offspring their chief glory, as it really
was. It is recorded of Mary Lucken, the mother of this large
family, that she lived for thirty- seven years after the birth of"
her youngest child, dying in 1742, at about eighty-two years,
of age. We trace the descent through Abraham, the next to*
the youngest son. About 1729 he bought one thousand acres
of land in Towamencin township, on which he lived till the
time of his death in Sixth-month, 1776. John Lukens, the
second child of Abraham, was born on the 17th of Tenth-
month, 1729, and when grown up bought one hundred acres
of land of his father, living thereon till 18 14. He sold it to*
SETH LUKENS. 415
his son George, however, in 1805, who lived on it till 1849.
This George married Esther Jeanes, a sister of William Jeanes,
late of Whitemarsh township, on the 12th of Twelfth-month,
1805, and the children of that union are as follows: Abel, 01
North Wales, born in 1807, who was married to Naomi Jen-
kins, now deceased; Edith, born in 1S09, intermarried with
William Lukens, a distant relative, and is now a widow; Maiy,
the widow of Samuel Rhoads, born in 181 1 ; Seth, the subject
of this notice, born on the 20th of Third-month, 18 14; Sarah,
the wife of C. Todd Jenkins ; Hannah, the wife of Aram Drake ;
Eliam, living at Lyons, Iowa; Comly, the youngest, residing
at Decatur, Illinois.
Seth Lukens is married to Mary, daughter of Dr. James Ha-
mer, deceased, of Skippackville, and they have five children
living, as follows: Fannie, intermarried with Edmund P. Zim-
merman, who have two daughters; Esther, the second daugh-
ter, is the wife of George W. Bockius, and they have two sons
and a daughter; Annie M., David H. and Carrie A. complete
the list. Three children, one son and two daughters, are de-
ceased. The now widely scattered Lukens family have gen-
erally been people of high moral excellence, some of theni
having been quite noted in our local history. One of them,.
John Lukens, of Horsham, a government surveyor late in colo-
nial times, "was appointed by the philosophical society to as-
sist Rittenhouse in observing the transit of Venus in 1769 and
of Mercury in 1776." Isaiah Lukens, about the commence-
ment of the present century, was a famous clockmaker, erect-
ing the clock for the State House in Philadelphia, and that on
Loller Academy. He died in 1846. A lady belonging to a
collateral branch of the family, a granddaughter of Surveyor-
General Lukens, founded the Sarah-Lukens-Keene Home at
Bristol, Bucks county, leaving the "pavilion," with its furni-
ture and several thousand dollars in trust, to maintain five or
six aged gentlewomen who are widows or unmarried.*
Most of the Lukens family in their generations have been
Friends, or in sympathy with the societ)-. Seth Lukens anc5
family, without wearing the distinctive garb of former times.
♦Davis' "History of Bucks County," page 351.
4l6 SETH LUKENS.
Iiave been zealous members, but like Lucretia Mott, Isaac T.
Hopper, and others of the branch adhering to the views of
Elias Hicks, they have been more earnest in promoting morals
than the distinctive theology of the church. Accordingly
Seth Lukens has been noted for years as the fast friend of the
•slave, attending the first political anti-slavery convention ever
lield in Pennsylvania, at Harrisburg, on the 4th of June, 185 1, at
"^vhich there were but fifty-four delegates, who then and there
resolved never to vote for any man who was not avowedly op-
posed to the extension of slavery. Mr. Lukens came home,
and during the years 185 1, 1852 and 1853, cast the smg/e Free
Soil vote of Towamencin township, having ever since been con-
sistent in his moral and political opposition to slavery.* About
the same time also he took bold ground against the custom of
■drinking intoxicating liquors and the traffic in the same. He
3iad early inherited a repugnance to alcoholic liquors, and
never tasted the drug till his sixteenth year, after which, as
others, he occasionally imbibed in moderation till 1852. Since
then he has been an earnest and strenuous teetotaller.
He gives the following anecdote of his grandfather, which
iias descended by a tradition in the family, as related by his
father, George Lukens: "In the summer of 1778, when I was
not ten years old, I went to the field where my father was plow-
ing, and I said to him, 'Mother cannot do her baking.' My
father said, 'How can I help it?' 'Put that stuff away,' (the
whiskey,) I replied, 'and she can do her work as well as other
Avomen.' " The little fellow's advice was followed as soon as
liis father came from the field, "for he rolled the barrel of whis-
key out of the cellar," said the narrator, "and the liquor was
•emptied upon the sod. From that time till 1850 there was no
liquor used on that farm."
Seth Lukens, in his declining years, testifies to the faithful-
ness with which his father inculcated in his children the avoid-
ance of both liquor and tobacco. Friend Lukens relates an-
other anecdote of the progress of the temperance reform. As
as known, during the yearly meeting of Friends, they send
*Mr. L. seems to have acted on the foDowing precept: "There is as much wisdom
in voting: with a view to future results as tliere is in sowing seed or setting plants in the
earth. The man who argues that no ballot sliould be cast except for candidates likely to
he successful, simply sets himself up in opposition to all political progress."
SETH LUKENS. 41/
-down inquiries to the monthly meeting, or address them to the
committees present, as to the "clearness" of Friends towards
certain scandalous sins and abuses among members. So when
the question came up, "Are Friends careful not to encourage
the use of intoxicating liquors?" a member arose and said:
"Friends, I suppose there are not many in the house who
know that they arc considering the question of the use of alco-
holic beverages over one or two hundred hogsheads of porter
and ale?" This scene occurred about 1843, when it was quite
customary to use the empty cellars of all kinds of churches to
store liquor, and before christian people began to consider
their responsibility for the evil. In the case above mentioned,
one of the clerks acknowledged the truth of the implied charge,
and promised that it should be at once removed. So Friends
could at least say that their yearly meeting-house was "clear"
of the evil.
Living on the line of the underground railroad, on which, be-
fore the abolition of slavery, the " contented " bondmen used
to travel to Canada, Mr. and Mrs. Lukens often entertained
the fugitives and helped them on their way to freedom, not
doubting for a moment but that they were thereby doing God
service.
It is only necessary to add that for over twenty-five years at
least, Mr. Lukens has labored in season and out of season to
further the temperance reform. He has probably given more
time and money to the cause during this period than any other
person in Montgomery county. For many years he followed
farming near Kulpsville, and attended the markets, but recently
has retired on a lot in Gwynedd. Being radical, and in ad-
vance of public sentiment on moral and political questions, he
has held no public office in the gift of the people, except as a
director of our oldest Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and a
like post in the agricultural society.
4l8 GENERAL JOHN R. BROOKE.
MAJOR GENERAL JOHN R. BROOKE.
Homer spoke with judgment and knowledge when he represented valor as the onlj-
virtue which discovers a divine energy and those enthusiastic transports which raise a
man abo've himself. — Plutarch's Life of Pyrrhtis.
General John Rutter Brooke was born in Pottsgrove town-
ship, Montgomery county, July 21st, 1838. His father. Major
William Brooke, was a Captain of the American army in the
war of 1812, and his mother a daughter of David Rutter, one
of the early iron manufacturers in the State, residing near Potts-
town.
We pause here to give a brief history of the origin of the
Brooke family, which is one of the most reputable and influ-
ential in eastern Pennsylvania, some branches of it having been
large iron-masters for nearly a century. It is as follows: In
the year 1692, John Brooke and Frances his wife, with two
sons, James and Matthew, came to this country from York-
shire, England. Before sailing the father had purchased of
William Penn fifteen hundred acres of land, to be taken up
anywhere between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers where
vacant plantations could be found. The parents died soon
after landing, and the sons took up the tract in Limerick town-
ship, now Montgomery county, where they settled.
One of these brothers, Matthew Brooke, had four sons, one
of whom, named Matthew, was the father of Thomas Rees
Brooke, whose son William married Miss Martha Rutter, of
the locality, he residing on a fine farm that was part of the
original purchase. These last named were the parents of Gen-
eral John R. Brooke, and here he was born. Major William
Brooke, as above stated, was a soldier in the second war with
England, serving in a Reading company. He was always the
owner of several farms, and lived a quiet, rural life till he died,
which occurred October 7th, 1872, in his eighty-first year. His
wife, the mother of General Brooke, died November 22d, 1878,
in her seventy-fifth year. Edward and George Brooke, large
iron manufacturers of Birdsboro, Berks county (one of them re-
cently deceased), were cousins to General Brooke's father, and
through them the foregoing genealogy of the Brooke family has
been obtained.
GENERAL JOHN R. BROOKE, 4I9
General John R. Brooke's private history is that after receiv-
ing a good common school training, he attended Mr. Bolmar's
famous seminary, at West Chester, where he received a full
English course. Very soon after completing his education, in
his twenty-third year, the war of the rebellion broke out, and
with all the enthusiasm and patriotism of youth he sprang to
the rescue of the Union, as described further on. He has been
twice married; first, on the 24th of December, 1863, to Miss
Louisa H., daughter of Leonard F. Roberts, of Warwick, Ches-
ter county. She died October 22d, 1867, leaving two sons,
William and Louis Roberts. Since his transfer to the regular
army, Mr. B. was married again on the 19th of September, 1877,
to Miss Mary L., daughter of Hon. Onslow Stearns, of Con-
cord, New Hampshire, ex-Governor of that State.
When President Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand
volunteers, in April, 1861, Mr. Brooke at once recruited a
company for the three months' service, first called the " Madi-
son Guards." They rendezvoused at Harrisburg, and were
attached to Colonel Hartranft's Fourth Regiment, Mr. B. being
Captain of Company C, his commission bearing date April 20th,
1861. At the expiration of their term of enlistment Captain B.
returned to Pennsylvania, was mustered out July 27th, 1861,
and at once commenced to recruit a regiment for the three
years' service. On the 17th of August, 1 861, he was commis-
sioned Colonel of the Fifty-Third Regiment Pennsylvania Vol-
unteers, his corps being subsequently mustered into the United
States service on the 7th of November following. On that day
Colonel Brooke with his regiment arrived in Washington, and
became a part of the Army of the Potomac. In the peninsular
campaign, under General McClellan, Colonel B. was engaged
in nearly all the battles of that famous advance and retreat.
During the march of the army towards Richmond, Colonel
Brooke with his regiment was detailed on several important
expeditions, in which he earned hearty encomiums from his
superior officers. On Sunday, June 1st, 1862, his command
participated in their first general engagement. The army had
now been formed into divisions and corps, and General Sumner
appointed to the command of one of the latter and General L
420 GENERAL JOHN R. BROOKE.
B. Richardson to a division, Brooke serving under General R.
On the evening of May 31st heavy firing was heard in front,
and at about four o'clock Richardson's division, which was
lying about five miles from Fair Oaks, was ordered forward.
They crossed the Chickahominy river* on Sumner's famous
■"grape-vine bridge," and marched quickly forward, arriving on
the field about dark. Early next morning Colonel Brooke's
command became engaged with the enemy, and for more than
four hours were under fire. At one time they were surrounded
by six times their number, but fought their way out. Colonel
B., while gallantly leading his regiment, had his horse shot
under him. From the opening until the close of the engage-
ment he, with his command, fought against terrible odds, hav-
ing pitted against them some of the best troops in the Confed-
eracy. After the battle Colonel B. was complimented person-
ally by Generals Sumner, Richardson and French, and in his
official report the latter says: "For some time the most des-
perate efforts were made to break our lines. The Fifty-third
Pennsylvania, led by the gallant Colonel Brooke, repulsed
them again and again." In another place he adds: "Joining
the Sixty-first New York, Colonel Brooke, of the Fifty-third
Pennsylvania, instead of retiring to the second line, continued
to charge the enemy." Again he says : " Upon the Fifty-second
New York, Colonel Paul Frank, and the Fifty-third Pennsyl-
vania, Colonel John R. Brooke, devolved the honor of holding
that position of my line most seriously attacked under fearful
odds, against the best troops of the enemy directed by their
ablest commanders." In this battle of Fair Oaks, Colonel B.'s
command lost ninety-seven killed, wounded and missing.
His regiment remained at Fair Oaks with the Army of the
Potomac, doing picket and other duty, but were not engaged
with the enemy again until June 26th, when they were ordered
to the support of the Pennsylvania Reserves at Gaines' Mill,
to reinforce General Fitz John Porter. Of this expedition a
writer in the Irish-American says : " The timely arrival of these
two brigades (French's and Meagher's), and the bold manner
in which they checked the hot pursuit of the enemy, saved the
GENERAL JOHN R. BROOKE. 421
rightwingof the Army of the Potomac from being thrown into
the Chickahominy river."
On the 27th of June Colonel Brooke received orders that
Fair Oaks would be evacuated, and the whole Army of the
Potomac fall back to the James river. At the same time his
command, together with the Fifty-second New York, was de-
tailed as part of the rear guard of the army. A writer in one
of the newspapers of that day says :
"Brooke's command marched to the battery in the entrench-
ments on their front, and took position. The retreat commenced.
First, long train of wagons, loaded with stores. The heavy guns
had all been removed previously. A little after dusk the last file of
the last brigade passed out, and they — Pettit's Battery B, First New
York Field Artillery — were left alone. Their soldier friends were
miles in their rear, but at their post of duty they stood, few in num-
bers, resolved to do or die. His command left Fair Oaks shortly
after midnight, and came upon the main body of the army near
what is called Allen's Farm, or Allendale. Brooke's regiment ad-
vanced about half a mile beyond the main line of battle. A heavy
artillery and musketry fire was kept up for some time, lasting from
nine o'clock to half-past ten in the morning. Meanwhile the army
was passing on, and in a short time they again took up their posi-
tions as rear guard. Proceeding several miles they found the whole
army in line of battle at Savage Station.
''French's brigade was formed along the edge of wood, and the
command of Brooke's joined them. While waiting for the enemy
to appear, a fearful battle was going on in their front. They lay
quiet and undisturbed until about six o'clock, although they were
continually under the fire of the enemy's artillery, when the army
commenced moving. 'J'hey now found that they were to have the
post of honor again — rear guard. It was after midnight when Colo-
nel Brooke's men left Savage Station. Quickly they went through
black and ominous-looking woods and over muddy roads, not know-
ing what moment the rebels would pour a murderous fire upon their
little band. Day was just breaking when they came within sight of
the Chickahominy river. After waiting an hour or more, Colonel
Brooke was ordered to cut away and destroy the bridge, which was
speedily done by the Fifty-third Regiment. The advance guard of
the rebels soon after appeared on the hill oi)posite, and a sharp ar-
tillery fight was commenced. Several members of his regiment
were wounded and two killed. As it began to grow dark, General
French was informed that the enemy were attempting to rebuild the
bridge. Colonel Brooke was ordered to harass them and prevent
their doing so at whatever cost. At about midnight they were with-
drawn, and silently took up their position beside Martin's Battery.
The artillery with this exception had all been taken away, and the
whole army had retired. They started forward on their perilous
422 GENERAL JOHN R. BROOKE.
march, and at about seven o'clock in the morning arrived in the
general camp on the James river,"
At the battle of Malvern Hill, fought the same day. Colonel
Brooke's command was in the reserve, and did not become
actively engaged. After this battle they retired to the James
river and went into camp, nothing of interest transpiring. Colo-
nel B. now commanded French's brigade during the time that
General was in command of the division. His command left
Harrison's Landing for Newport News when the Army of the
Potomac retired from that place. Here they took transports
for Alexandria, and were immediately marched to the front,
participating in the second battle of Bull Run. From there he
went on the Antietam campaign, and in that battle was in the
thickest of the fight on the right, in command of a brigade.
In his official report General McClellan particularly mentions
Colonel Brooke and his brigade for the efficient services they
rendered. Colonel B. remained with the Army of the Poto-
mac, and while at Harper's Ferry was sent out on a reconnois-
sance with a large command, finding the enemy at Charles-
town, where he became engaged with them. Having accom-
plished his object he returned to Harper's Ferry.
In the battle of Fredericksburg, Colonel Brooke's command
lost heavily, going into the fight with sixteen officers and three
hundred men, and coming out of it with six of the former and
one hundred and thirteen of the latter, being part of the force
sent to assault the enemy and drive them from Marye's Heights
and from behind the famous stone wall. He remained with the
army during the winter, and took part in Hooker's mud march,
as also in the battle of Chancellorsville, which occurred early in
May, Colonel Brooke had been assigned to the command of the
Fourth Brigade, First Division, Second Army Corps, in April,
1863. Without enjoying the honor and rank he deserved and
had won by desperate fighting as only a Colonel, he handled
this brieade at Chancellorsville and on the march from in front
of Fredericksburg to Gettysburg, where he arrived with the
troops on the evening of July ist. Early the next day his
force was under arms, and in the afternoon he was ordered to
move to the left of the line near Round Top, to assist in de-
feating Longstreet in his attempt to capture that position. He
GENERAL JOHN R. BROOKE. 423
led his brigade on a charge through that terrible fight in the
wheat field, driving the enemy nearly a mile. In this fearfiil
assault Colonel Brooke was wounded, but did not leave the
field. His command was also engaged in the third day's bat-
tle at Gettysburg.
After the battle he followed in the pursuit of Lee until he
passed beyond the Rapidan. In the fall of 1863, while a large
number of the Army of the Potomac were in New York on
duty in suppressing the draft riots, Lee^made an attempt on
the right of Meade's line, which resulted in various combats
and compelling Meade to retire to Cartersville to more thor-
oughly secure Washington. In this movement Brooke was
actively engaged in several engagements with the enemy. The
manoeuvering of the armies resulted^in the occupation of the
ground held by each before it commenced. Then followed
the Mine Run campaign, in which his command took a promi-
nent part. This military movement closed active operations
in the field until the following spring, which found him still
commanding the Fourth Brigade.
When General Grant reorganized the Army of the Potomac
in April, 1864, Colonel Brooke, who for a year had com-
manded the brigade above mentioned, was now with his force
placed in the First Division of the Second Army Corps, under
General Hancock. Colonel Brooke (or rather General Brooke,
as it should have been) at once took an active part in the bat-
tles of the Wilderness and Po River. On the 1 2th of May, at
Spottsylvania Court House, his brigade was in the advance in
Hancock's famous charge on the enemy. In this, the grand-
est charge of the war, Brooke distinguished himself again for
his bravery and skill. His command captured several pieces
of artillery, and immediately turned the guns of the enemy
upon them, doing good execution. An entire rebel division,
with its commander. General Johnson, were taken prisoners.
Speaking of this fight a correspondent in one of the daily pa-
pers, writing under date of May 20th, says:
"It is understood, on good authority, that Colonel John R.
Brooke, commanding the Fourth Brigade, and Colonel Nelson A.
Miles, commanding the First Brigade, Barlow's division, will be
-appointed to the rank of Brigadier General. These promotions are
424 GENERAL JOHN R. BROOKE.
the reward of a long series of gallant services culminating in the
brilliant assault of the rebel entrenchments on the 12th instant."
This brilliant affair the Government could not fail to recog-
nize in the corps commander and his subordinates. Accord-
ingly Colonel Brooke was made a Brigadier General, to date
from this famous battle of May 12th, 1864. It was a promo-
tion earned long before.
General Brooke remained in command of this brigade, and
participated in all the battles and skirmishes in which the
Second Corps was engaged. On the 3d of June, while lead-
ing his brigade at Cold Harbor in a charge against the rebels,
who were in a fortified position, he was struck in the side by a
grape-shot and so severely wounded in two places that for some
time his recovery was considered very doubtful, and which re-
tired him from active service for a time.
While still suffering from the wound, however, he reported
at Washington for duty, and was assigned as President of a
general court martial sitting at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and af-
terwards detailed at Washington, District of Columbia, to ex-
amine officers for a veteran corps that General Hancock had
been authorized to raise. After Brooke had received his com-
mission of Major General, dated August 1st, 1864, and Han-
cock had organized the Army of the Shenandoah, General B.
" commanded the Second Division under him, being assigned to
this position in March, 1865. The records of the War depart-
ment will show many letters from his superiors, commending
the services of General Brooke during the war of the rebellion.
His eminent services, courage and fidelity are indicated by the
following appointments and promotions in their order:
April 20th, 1861. Commissioned Captain of Company C, Fourth
Regiment of volunteers, and was honorably mustered out at the end
of the three months' service.
August 17th, 1 86 1. Commissioned Colonel of Fifty-third Regi-
ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, at Harrisburg, and mustered into the
service of the United States, at Washington, on the 7th of Novem-
ber following.
May 1 2th, 1864. Promoted Brigadier General of United States
Volunteers.
August ist, 1864. Promoted Major General of United States
Volunteers.
GENERAL JOHN R. BROOKE. 42$
Since the war his record stands:
February 2Sth, 1866. Appointed Lieutenant Colonel of Thirty-
seventh United States Infontry.
March 2d, 1869. Promoted to brevet Colonel and Brigadier
General in the United States army.
March 15th, 1869. Transferred to the Third United States In-
fantry.
General J. R. Brooke, with his division, was mustered out^
and resigned his commission at the end of the war, on the ist
of February, 1866, returning to civil life again.
At the time of resigning, or shortly after, General Brooke
was tendered a command in the regular army, which he then
declined. He returned home, and for a very brief period en-
gaged again in the iron business, at Thorndale, Chester county.
While there, and unsolicited on his part, the War department
again tendered him a Lieutenant Colonel's commission in the
Thirty-seventh United States Infantry. The offer of the com-
mand at the time was a surprise to General B., but as he had
a taste for the profession of arms he concluded to accept. His
commission, as before stated, is dated February 28th, 1866.
On taking this command Colonel Brooke was first stationed at
Fort Union, New Mexico, and afterwards at Fort Stanton, in
the same territory. On the 2d of March, 1867, about a year
afterwards, he was breveted Colonel and Brigadier General in
the United States army, which position he now holds.* On
the 15th of March, 1 869, he was transferred to the Third United
States Infantry. General Brooke is now in command of the
regiment just stated, at Fort Shaw, in the middle district of
Montana Territory.
In concluding, it is impossible in the space afforded us to do
full justice to so meritorious an officer as General John R.
Brooke. The fact that the Secretary of War, on the recom-
mendation of the General in chief, or a board of officers, nomi-
nated him for appointment in the regular army at a time when
there was such a superfluity of volunteer officers waiting for
like positions, is the very highest commendation, placing him
on the roll of merit beside the most distinguished Generals of
the army. He seems never to have been engaged in a battle
*He was one of the youngest officers in the army holding the rank he did.
28
426 PETER F. ROTHERMEL.
in which his courage or gallantry did not attract the special
notice of his commanding officer. In that desperate field day
at Gettysburg, where he was wounded in repelling the enemy
from a key-position, General Meade said to a gentleman of that
place, when conversing of this part of the great battle: "Penn-
sylvanians do not know what a debt of gratitude they owe this
j'-outhful and gallant officer."
The fact also that he was twice seriously wounded is the
best of proof that he did not send his men where he was not
willing to lead. It is plain, therefore, that General Brooke has
a born aptitude for the profession of arms, and it is highly
probable that if his country should ever again be engaged in
another war, which heaven forbid, he will doubtless still fur-
ther distinguish himself
PETER F. ROTHERMEL.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing. — Dicl:'s Future State.
The distinguished artist and painter of the " Battle of Get-
tysburg," now residing in Limerick township, Montgomery
county, was born July 8th, 1817, near the Susquehanna, in
Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. His father gave him a good
education, with a view of his following surveying as a busi-
ness, but taste and inclination soon attracted his mind to draw-
ing and portrait painting. He took lessons with Mr. Otis, a
famous name in art, and soon gained such a proficiency in
sketching and color that he opened a studio in Philadelphia
and began to use the pencil so successfully that public atten-
tion was very soon drawn to him as a promising artist. After
working a time at portraits and small pieces, he was encour-
aged to undertake historical subjects. His first attempt at a
large painting was " Columbus Before the Queen," and after-
wards "De Soto Crossing the Mississippi." Still confining his
pencil to Spanish-American subjects, he brought out " Cortez
Haranguing His Troops in Sight of Mexico." In all these
PETER F. ROTHERMEL. 42/
works he seems to have conceived the grandeur of high civili-
sation as contrasted with barbarism and the passions that the
finding of a new world was calculated to inspire in the minds
of the discoverers.
These paintings laid the foundation of his present high repu-
tation, and he soon commenced other historical subjects, among
them being "Cromwell Ordering Hitch out of the Pulpit,"
"Ruth and Naomi," "Shylockand Portia," " Labor's Vision of
the Future." By these works he has proved himself a his-
torical painter only second to Benjamin West, another Penn-
sylvania artist, whom he resembles more than any other limner
of America. The fame of these productions had so well es-
tablished his reputation that when the State Legislature re-
solved to commemorate the greatest victory of the late rebel-
lion by a painting of national importance, it had no hesitation
in employing Rothermel, a Pennsylvania artist, to represent
the battle of Gettysburg (won by a Pennsylvania General) on
canvas for the admiration of all time. It is said to be the
largest battle picture in the world with one exception, show-
ing some of the combatants as large as life, and many of them
remarkably good likenesses of those who figured in the scene
that memorable day — the third of the fight. Those acquainted
with the locality say also that the landscape part of it is cor-
rectly drawn.
For this picture, which is sixteen by thirty-two feet, the
State paid him twenty-five thousand dollars, certainly a munifi-
cent price, and nearly enough to expunge the famous proverb
that "Republics are ungrateful." The department of art to
which Mr. Rothermel has devoted his life requires the highest
class of talent, as each picture is a tragedy and epic combined
for the scene — at least the visual part of it — must be purely
the ideal conception of the author. In this respect his work is
exactly like those of Milton and Dante in describing the won-
ders of heaven and hell, which they had never seen.
428 MAJOR JAMES G. m'QUAIDE.
MAJOR JAMES G. McQUAIDE.
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried.
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice ;
Take every man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. — Shakspearc.
Major James G. McQuaide was born in Westmoreland county ,.
Pennsylvania, on the 3d of January, 1819. His ancestry were-
Scotch Irish on the father's side, and English on the mother's.
When eight years old he lost his father by death, but received a.
good commercial school education, having for his tutor Professor
Geary, father of the late Governor Geary, of Pennsylvania, and was.
able to engage in mercantile pursuits at the early age of sixteen. He:
soon became the principal owner of a large forwarding and com-
mission business at Saltsburg, on the line of the Pennsylvania canal,,
about forty miles east of Pittsburg. Although only twenty-one-
years old when the famous "log cabin and hard cider" Presidential?
campaign of 1840 began, he took a warm interest in politics andl
was an active supporter of Harrison, the Whig candidate. In the-
following year the Whig convention of Indiana county gave him a.
unanimous nomination for the Legislature; but, although the county-
gave a large majority for his party, he declined the honor, prefer-
ring a prosperous business to any political office.
When twenty-eight years of age he married the daughter of a,
wealthy merchant. She died two years later, and soon after her
death he closed out his business at Saltsburg and removed to Phil-
adelphia, where he became a wholesale dry goods merchant. After
continuing the latter business until 1854 or 1855, he entered the-
wholesale grocery trade, and soon afterwards established a wholesale,
and retail trade in every mercantile branch at Indiana, Pennsylva-
nia, which proved a great success.
In 1861 he was appointed, at a Cabinet meeting in Washington,.
First Assistant Appraiser of the port of Philadelphia, a position
which he resigned in 1863. During the exciting period of the civil'
war he was commissioned to organize the Union sentiment of the
State under the title of the "Union League of America." The-
late Hon. Morton McMichael became President of the organization^
in this State, while Major McQuaide was Treasurer, and the ex-
penses were in a great part paid out of his private funds. Within
six months from the date of appointment every considerable town,,
and almost every township in the State, had been visited and en-
rolled by him in the organization, which embraced over one hun-
MAJOR JAMES G. m'QUAIDE. 429
--dred and seventy thousand citizens. The number of troops which
the League contributed from its ranks to the Union army was more
than one hundred thousand.
In May, 1S67, Major McQuaide removed from Philadelphia to
•Upper Merion township, Montgomery county. His antecedents
•as a worker in the Republican party became known, and, in 1871,
-a Republican convention nominated him, by a nearly unanimous
vote, as a candidate for the Legislature. He had but two weeks in
•which to canvass the county, but the usual Democratic majority
was reduced about six hundred. In 1872 the Republicans of the
county gave him charge of their campaign. An established Dem-
ocratic majority varying from six hundred to fifteen hundred was
swept away and all the Republican candidates but one elected.
.From that time until now (1S79) Major McQuaide has been chair-
.man of the Republican county committee, except during two years.
In each campaign he has secured the election of some part of the
ticket, and in every close contest has snatched victory from his
.Democratic opponents.
When quite young. Major McQuaide was made a member of the
staff of Governor William F. Johnston with the rank of Colonel.
In 187 1 he was appointed by Governor Geary Master Warden of
the port of Philadelphia, and was re-appointed by Governor Hart-
sranft. He has been President of various corporations and mining
• companies, and has repeatedly held the office of bank director and
:similar positions. He is now President of the Norristown school
iboard, and the schools of the borough have greatly improved under
ihis' management.
The Greensburg Tribune and Herald, of Westmoreland county,
Pennsylvania, bearing date July 30th, 1878, says: "Major James
•G. McQuaide, a Westmorelander, has made his mark as a business
man in Philadelphia, and has also established his reputation all
.over the State as a prominent and active Republican politician."
He is the oldest member of the State Central Committee in con-
•secutive service, and has been consulted as to the management and
•details of Republican campaigns by every Republican chairman
•since i860.
Major McQuaide had one daughter by his first wife, Isabella R.,
-who manri^ed William H, Lehman, of Norristown. The latter died
•recently, leaving one child. In 1858 Major McQuaide married
^lis second wife, Elizabeth H. Sparks, of New Jersey. Their child-
ren arc Quindora, James P., Earl G., Walter S., and J. Halsey.
430 ISAIAH B. HOUPT.
ISAIAH B. HOUPT.
A span is all that we can boast,
An inch or two of time. — Watts.
The "Haupt" family, as the name was originally spelled, is un-
doubtedly of German origin, the earliest known progenitor being
Henry Haupt, who settled near Jarrettown, in Upper Dublin town-
ship, Montgomery county, sometime late in the past century. The
father of Isaiah B. was John, the son of Henry just named, and his
mother's name was Rebecca, daughter of John Brandt, of Plymouth
township. Isaiah B. was born in the locality first above named on
the i2th of June, 1817, and received in his youth an ordinary com-
mon school education, till old enough to learn a trade. His father^
as his uncles, Samuel and Henry, were stone masons by trade,,
and at the proper age Isaiah was placed with his uncle Henry tO'
learn what had become the family calling, as his older brother^
Ezekiel, had already acquired the same handicraft.
About 1S38, as soon as out of his apprenticeship, he took an en-
gagement with Thomas M. Jolly, Esq., Patrick Flynn and James
Webb, who had just contracted to build a section of the Georgia
State railroad, in the Empire State of the South, where he remained
about a year. Then coming North, he found work in building
locks at Cumberland, Maryland, on the Baltimore and Ohio canal,,
where he stopped six months. From thence he went to Hollidays-
burg, in (now) Blair county, where he assisted to set two of the
heavy stationary lifting engines of the inclined plane on the top of"
the Allegheny mountains.
He also worked at or built an aqueduct at Huntington and
another at Newton-Hamilton. Finishing there he went to Pitts-
burg, and taking a flat-boat descended the river to New Orleans,,
where he got work at erecting a prison for the confinement of the-
chain-gang of that city. Here he stayed one year and six months,.
and shifted his job to the repairs of Fort Wood, some distance from'
the city, where he remained eleven months; after which he took
passage on the ship Gaskill, for New York, where he arrived after
a twenty-seven days voyage, the ship having bad weather and sail-
ing over the outside passage.
Soon after arrival at home, he commenced work again at his
trade, and very soon in 1843 ^^^^ married to Elizabeth Nyket, of
Unionville, Berks county. Not long after, in connection with his
brother Ezekiel, he began to contract to do mason work, handling
ISAIAH B. HOUPT. 431
some very heavy contracts. They took the building of the Crane
Iron Works near Allentown, in Lehigh county; the two furnaces
at Spring Mill, and two at Conshohocken, besides a large number
of bridges, including one over Perkiomen, at Tyson's Ford, and
another at Alderfer's mill, as also other smaller contracts in differ-
ent parts of the county. Previous to these, however, he served an
appointment as wood-inspector on the Philadelphia and Columbia
railroad, when that great avenue was under State management ; and
shortly after was appointed Supervisor of the Eastern Division of
the Pennsylvania Canal, residing at Harrisburg three years while
holding that position.
In 1S63 his claims as a life-long Democrat were recognized by a
nomination for Register of Wills, which ofiice he held for the term
of three years. In 1870 he was appointed by the Court Prison
Inspector, which position he filled eight years. He also served in
the borough Council six years.
Having a claim against the Norristown Register establishment
for money loaned to the proprietor, Mr. Houpt, in July, 1877,
bought the concern at public sale to secure his claim. This,
journal he published one year, and in connection with it a daily
penny paper, called the Watchman, nearly as long. While he con-
tinued these publications he procured large additions to their patron-
age, both papers being edited with considerable ability by his son-
in-law, H. U. Brunner, Esq. About one year after making this
purchase he sold the paper and good-will to A. Kneule, Esq., of the
Pennsburg Bauern Freund, and retired from journalism. Mr. Houpt
is a man of pleasant and courteous demeanor, and is generally held
in high regard by his friends.
Isaiah B. and Elizabeth Houpt have two children, ISIary Ann,
intermarried with H. U. Brunner, Esq., attorney-at-law, late Dis-
trict Attorney, and Dr. Charles N. Houpt, whose wife is Laura,
daughter of Gabriel Kohn, of Norristown. Isaiah B. and Elizabeth
Houpt have three grandchildren, Gabriella, daughter of Dr. Charles
N. and Laura Houpt; Blanche and Charles, children of H. U. and
Mary A. Brunner.
In friendly, social qualities, Mr. Houpt stands in great personal
estimation with his fellow citizens; and after a life of industry and
care, has accumulated a comfortable sufficiency for the down hill
of life.
432 HON. GEORGE N. CORSON.
HON. GEORGE N. CORSON.
Abou Ben Adhem — may his tribe increase. — Leigh Hunt.
George Norman Corson, attorney-at-law and member of the
late Constitutional convention of Pennsylvania, is the third son
of Charles and Sarah Corson, of Lower Providence township,
Montgomery county. The maiden name of his maternal grand-
mother was Norman, and she became the wife of Laurence
Egbert. Mr. C.'s mother was a sister to the wife of his uncle,
Alan W. Corson, elsewhere commemorated in this book. His
father, Charles Corson, an elder son of Joseph Corson (the first
of the name in Montgomery county), was a farmer, and located,
soon after his marriage, in Lower Providence, where he raised a
large family, dying there in May, 1 878, aged seventy-eight years.
He was a man of great moral and mental force. The brothers
and sisters of the subject of our notice are the following: Rich-
ard R., long known as a real estate broker in Norristown, who
is intermarried with Louisa C. Williams ; William E., intermar-
ried with Hannah Highley, the latter of whom is deceased;
John J., also in the scrivening and real estate line, who is mar-
ried to Rebecca, daughter of Henry Freedley, Esq. ; Laurence
E., who lives in Lower Providence; Adelaide, the wife of Al-
bert Crawford, also of that township; Susan R., married to
Felix Highley, of Norriton ; and Mary,
George N. Corson was born March i ith, 1834, and his early
years were spent at the farm on the banks of the beautiful Per-
kiomen, a name sufficiently musical and romantic to turn our
subject's young mind to smooth-sounding numbers, as shall be
narrated hereafter. His youthful foster-mother was a country
school-house on the hills, between the Ridge turnpike road
and the Perkiomen. Here he obtained the rudiments which
inspired him with a desire to secure a better education. This
lie soon attained, first at Treemount Seminary, Norristown,
then under the care of Rev. Samuel Aaron, and afterwards at
Freeland Seminary, conducted by Rev. H. A. Hunsicker. Be-
ing an apt scholar he soon acquired good academic training,
HON. GEORGE N. CORSON. 433
and like thousands of the now distinguished of our country,
commenced instructing others, thereby teaching himself, or
further perfecting his own education. He began teaching when
seventeen years of age, and in 1853, by the time he had at-
tained his nineteenth year, was enabled to begin the study of
law in the office of James Boyd, Esq., of the Norristown bar.
In 1856, in his twenty-second year, he was admitted, and at
once secured a considerable practice. He very early brought
himself into notice by the ingenuity with which he managed
criminal cases. One instance occurs to the writer, which is
this: A weak-minded culprit was arraigned for some petty
crime, and Mr. Corson so adroitly handled the witnesses on
his behalf as to befog both jury and court as to the sanity or
amenability of the defendant, who was thus acquitted of the
charge in the indictment. The client thereupon seemed bound
for the lunatic asylum, when his counsel again came to the
rescue by getting such modifying testimony introduced, or so
practicing on his Honor's good nature, as to convince him
that this was not a case that required the man's detention, who
was therefore permitted to go free. He handles a strong case
with such preparation and bold assurance as to take the inside
track from the start, and in managing weak causes is an adept
at filibustering and befogging a jury, which may be regarded
as the refined strategy of the profession. Mr. Corson is a fluent
speaker, with a full, manly voice. His practice has grown to
be quite large. His most noted and latest achievements in the
line of his profession were the able assistance he rendered the
District Attorney in the prosecution of Joseph Haddop, a Ger-
man, for the murder of Julius Wochele, a Jew peddler, and his
defence, in 1S77, of Heinrich Wahlen, the murderer of Max
Hugo Hoehne. These cases were striking parallels in nearly
all their circumstances. In the first instance a conviction was
reached and the man hanged, and in the latter the man hung
liimself to ej.cape the gallows.
Belonging to a notoriously anti-slavery family, Mr. C. en-
tered with great spirit into the issues characterizing politics
since 1856, the time of his entrance into public life, and he was
prepared to argue them with great earnestness. Being thus an
434 HON. GEORGE N. CORSON.
active, ingrain Republican, he obtained an appointment as No-
tary Public from Governor Curtin in 1862, and shortly after,
through the favor of Hon. Simon Cameron, and by recom-
mendation of Judge Chapman, was appointed Register in Bank-
ruptcy, an office of considerable emoluments. Previous to this,
however, on the breaking out of the rebellion, he enlisted in
Colonel Hartranft's Fourth Regiment, and served as a private
for three months, till discharged by the terms of enlistment.
In 1870 Mr. Corson made a hasty voyage to Europe,, tour-
ing rapidly through Scotland, England, and Ireland. His let-
ters in the meantime were published in the Norristown Herald,
and attracted much attention. In 1872 he was on the Repub-
lican ticket as delegate to the Constitutional convention and
was elected. For a young man, he took a very active part in the
doings of that body, being on several important committees.
The following curious coincidence in history may be re-
corded in this connection: It is well known that Hon. John B.
Sterigere, who was an active member of the previous conven-
tion, held in 1838, was m 
