The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1, Part 1

Author: Robson, Charles. 4n; Galaxy Publishing Company. 4n
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Philadelphia : Galaxy Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 908

USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 1

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Gc 974.8 B51r pt.1 1957662

REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01177 3071

223

97. B5 pt 19:

4496

THE

BIOGRAPHICAL

ENCYCLOPÆDIA

PENNSYLVANIA Pa.

19 th Cent.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. pt.1

PRINTERS

OFYPERSELE

PHILADELPHIA: GALAXY PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1 874.

ENICA

1957662

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by McNAIR & ROBSON, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

1213

Fecal July 27-1977

SAUTERF

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015

https://archive.org/details/biographicalency01robs

PREFACE.

ISTORY is at the best difficult and slow of compilation. So much research is needed, so much time and care have to be expended on the examination, comparison and weighing of various statements, that the historian can only progress painfully and slowly if he would avoid error. And if this be true of history, it is peculiarly so of biography, which lies at the foundation of all history. The difficulties encountered by the historian are few in comparison with those experienced by the biographer. If he would well and truly present the history of an epoch in the biography of its prominent men, he undertakes an onerous task indeed. Obstacles meet him on every hand, especially should he essay contemporary biography. Prejudices, indifference, inaccuracy and imperfect records have to be contended against. Much material it is exceedingly difficult to obtain ; some is only found impossible of obtainment when considerable time and labor have been wasted upon the endeavor. This will explain the apparent delay in the issue of "The Biographical Encyclopædia of Pennsylvania of the Nineteenth Century." A great task was assumed in the announcement of such a work. The publishers have earnestly striven to perform it satisfactorily. To make the book complete has been their especial aim. That it is absolutely so, they do not profess. But as far as the limits within which the book had to be confined would allow, they have spared no effort to render it complete. Fully conscious that the Encyclopædia is not perfect, they present it in the confident anticipation that the public will recognize in it an earnest and honest endeavor to supply reliable biography of the men who have contributed most largely to the progress of Pennsylvania during the present century.

PHILADELPHIA,

October, 1874.

Paluxy Pul " :. Chlad?

MA DeWolfe Howe.

THE

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA

PENNSYLVANIA.

OWE, RT. REV. MARK ANTONY DE WOLFE, first Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, was the only child of John and Louisa (Smith) Howe. John Howe, whose mother was of the De Wolfe family, long known in Rhode Island, was a graduate of Brown University in 1805. He studied law with Judge Bourne, and soon after established himself in Bristol, Rhode Island. Mrs. Howe was a daughter of Stephen Smith, Esq., and sister to Bishop Smith, of Kentucky, now Presiding Bishop of the American Church. Mark Antony de Wolfe was born in Bristol, on the 5th of April, 1809. John Howe was a member of the congregation of St. Michael's Church, Bristol, and his son was there bap- tized by Bishop Griswold, then Rector of that church as well as Bishop of the Eastern Diocese. Mr. Howe was able to give his son the best educational advantages that the country then afforded, and the lad was sent, when eleven years old, to the celebrated Phillips Academy, at Andover, Massachusetts. He entered college in 1824, at Middlebury, Vermont, where his uncle (afterwards. Bishop) Smith was at that period Rector of a church. He re- mained at Middlebury only during the Freshman and Sophomore years, and was then transferred to Brown University. Ile matriculated at Brown at the same time that the Presidency of that Institution was assumed by the Rev. Dr. Wayland, and two years later graduated with high distinction, becoming by virtue of his rank in his class a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and by virtue of his scholarship, a successful candidate subse- quently for a classical tutorship in Brown. Meantime he began the study of law in the office of his father. But another career was awaiting him of still greater usefulness

and dignity. His scholarship and literary abilities were to be employed in the sacred offices of the Gospel minis- try. Through the suggestion of a classmate he was invited to take the position of Usher in the Adams Grammar School, Boston. Here he continued for eleven months, and was then appointed Master of the Hawes Grammar School. While there he had under his charge two depart- ments, male and female, including two hundred scholars, and was without assistance, except that derived from the service of the elder pupils as monitors. So successful was he in maintaining discipline and in drilling the moni- tors in their duties that, on several occasions, when he was detained at home by illness, the routine of the school went on as usual. While Master of the Hawes Grammar School, Mr. Howe was a regular attendant on St. Matthew's Church, South Boston, and was there confirmed by Bishop Griswold. From that time he turned his attention to the Ministry, and began to prepare himself for its duties. He was admitted as a candidate for Holy Orders in 1830. After holding for fifteen months the position of Master in the above-named school, he was elected, through the in- fluence of Dr. Wayland, Classical Tutor in Brown Univer- sity. At this time he was in receipt of a salary of $1500 per annum, and the compensation offered him in Provi- dence did not exceed $400. But the opportunities for pursuing his studies over-balanced, in his judgment, other considerations, and he accepted the position. During his residence in Providence he was nominated (although but twenty-three years of age) for the Mastership of the Boston Latin School, and failed of an election by only one vote. In January, 1832, he was ordained Deacon by Bishop Griswold in St. Michael's, Bristol. He still con- tinued the duties of his Tutorship at Brown, but in July

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

of that year the students were dispersed by a sudden panic caused by the Cholera. He was not left, however, without employment. The pulpit of St. Matthew's Church, Boston, being vacant, he was invited to supply it. He was called soon after to the Rectorship, and entered upon his duties in the autumn of 1832. Remaining in that position only a short time, he became Rector of St. James' Church, Roxbury. The congregation was then worship- ping in a hall; but active measures were in progress for the erection of a church edifice. Under his ministry the congregation increased and the church was consecrated in 1834. The same year he resigned his Rectorship to accept the position of Associate Editor of The Christian Witness, his colleague being the Rev. Dr. Stone, Rector of St. Paul's Church, Boston. He continued to reside at Roxbury, and employed his Sundays in supplying vacant puipits. He was ordained to the Priesthood in February, 1833, in St. Paul's, Boston, by Bishop Griswold. In 1835, he was called to the Rectorship of Christ Church, Cam- bridge. He accepted the position, still retaining for some time the editorship of The Christian Witness. In 1836, he was recalled to St. James' Church, Roxbury, his former parish, under circumstances, indicating such unanimity and personal regard, that rendered him unwilling to decline. In a brief period the debt of the church was reduced from $24,000 to $3000, and, in 1839, a Missionary enterprise was begun at Jamaica Plain, which resulted in the formation of the parish now known as St. John's Church. During the period of his Rectorship at St. James' he was engaged in a discussion with the eminent Horace Mann. During his sojourn on the continent, Mr. Mann had made himself thoroughly acquainted with the Prussian school system, and, on his return to America, in 1845, he began to publish strictures on the schools of the United States in general and philippies against the Boston school- masters in particular. The Rector of St. James' had been a Boston schoolmaster, and was still editor of The Chris- tian Witness. IIe stood forth as the advocate of his former co-laborers, and the great champion discovered that he had called into motion a sling, from which the pebbies came smoothly and with an accuracy of aim and force of concussion less agreeable than striking. The

controversy was waged until the coup de grace came in the shape of a pamphlet from Mr. Howe, which silenced his adversaries and decided public opinion in favor of the American school system for America, and the thirty-one Boston schoolmasters for Boston. In the same year (1845) he was called to St. Paul's Church, Louisville, Kentucky, which invitation he declined. Early in the following year

he was elected Rector of St. Luke's, Philadelphia, and assumed the Rectorship in the spring. The church had been built in 1840, and the Rev. W. W. Spear, its first Rector, had held that position until September, 1845. In 1847, he was elected a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, and serv & that body for

many years as Secretary. In 1848, he received from Brown University the degree of Doctor of Divinity. In 1850, he took his seat in the General Convention as a delegate, and was at once elected to the position of Secre- tary, which he filled with distinguished ability for the period of twelve years, when he declined a re-election. Under his Rectorship at St. Luke's various missionary and benevolent enterprises were inaugurated. Of these the first was the establishment of a night-school for young men. Soon after was founded St. Luke's Church Home for Aged Women. Then a Sunday-school for colored children. This was followed by the inauguration of a system of missionary work in the south-western part of the city. A hall was engaged, centrally situated in the neigh- borhood from which the congregation was to be gathered in. A Sunday-school, Sewing-school, Night-school, and the usual machinery of Mission work were put into active opera- tion, which resulted in the purchase of the neighboring Church of the Ascension, which for five years was con nected with St. Luke's as its Mission chapel, and after- wards became an independent church. On the election of Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania, in 1858, in conse- quence of the failing strength of Bishop Alonzo Potter, the name of Dr. Howe came prominently before the Con- vention. On the death of Bishop Bowman, a few years later, he was again placed in nomination, but withdrew in favor of the Rev. Dr. Stevens. In 1865, he was elected Missionary Bishop of Nevada, an ecclesiastical jurisdiction including Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. After long deliberation he felt it his duty to decline the responsibility. The House of Bishops was at once convened, and, on Dr. Howe's views of the state of affairs in the proposed Diocese being laid before them, they reversed and altered their entire plan, making a new division of the field of Episcopal Missionary labor. In May, 1870, the Conven- tion of the Diocese of Pennsylvania decided upon a division of the Diocese, subject to the approval of the General Convention. The Diocese, which it was proposed to erect in the Diocese of Pennsylvania, was to consist of that part of the Diocese outside of the counties of Philadelphia, Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, and Bucks. This division would leave thirty-seven counties in the new Diocese. This division was consented to and ratified by the General Convention in October, 1871. The primary Convention assembled at Harrisburg on the 8th of the next month, and at the first day's session the new Diocese was named The Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. At the second day's session the Rev. Dr. Howe was elected Bishop, by the following vote : Clerical, 30 to 27 for all others; Lay, 39 affirmative to 32 negative. The consecra- tion took place in St. Luke's Church, Philadelphia, on Thursday, December 28, 1871. The Bishop's first Epis- copal duty in his Diocese was performed in Trinity Church, Easton, on the 14th of January, 1872, and in the following June he took up his residence in the City of Reading

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

AYRE, ROBERT HEYSIIAM, General Super- | not only for his deep and thoughtful interest in the institu- intendent of Lehigh Valley Railroad, and Civil Engineer, second son of William II. and Eliza- beth K. Sayre, was born in Columbia county, Pa., October 13th, 1824. His father was born at Bor- dentown in 1794, and died in 1872, after forty years connection with the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Com- pany, at Bethlehem. His grandfather, Francis B., was a distinguished Philadelphia physician, born in 1766, and died a victim to overwork during an epidemic. He was one of the founders of the New Jersey Medical Society.

In 1829, William II. Sayre removed to Mauch Chunk, where Robert was educated by James Nowlin, an able mathematician. He was reared in the Episcopal Church, to which his parents belonged. After service under E. A. Douglas, civil engineer, in 1840-41, enlarging the Morris Canal and repairing the Lehigh Company's Works, he was employed by the latter, promoted rapidly, detailed to sur- vey and build the Back Track and the Panther Creek Val- ley Railroads, to open several mines, and finally to erect the works for preparing and transporting coal, and the wonder- ful machinery of the planes. Judge Packer, then contem- plating a railroad between Easton and Mauch Chunk, was led by his knowledge of Mr. Sayre to select him for Chief Engineer of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, when but twenty- eight years old, and after eleven years' service with the Navigation Company. In 1855, he became General Super- intendent in addition, and has retained both positions to this day.

The leading position Mr. Sayre had in locating and building this railroad, he has retained in its development and control. He became Chief Engineer of the Pennsyl- vania and New York Canal and Railroad Company as the Lehigh Valley progressed to the Susquehanna, and to a connection with the Erie, and was chosen President in 1870. Ile accepted the post of Chief Engineer of the Easton and Amboy Road when the Lehigh sought a port for its coal, and is now constructing this. He is also Presi- dent of the Schrader Mining and Manufacturing Company. He was one of the original founders, and is now a director of the Bethlehem Iron Company, and is a director of the Abbott Iron Company of Baltimore; of the Luzerne Coal and Iron Company; and the South Bethlehem Gas and Water Company. - IIe is a director in the Nescopeck Coal Company; Upper Lehigh Company; Northampton Iron Company ; Easton and Amboy Railroad Company. He is a trustee and member of the executive committee of Bishop Thorpe School for young ladies; and a trustee and member of the executive committee of the Lehigh University. To the value of his services to this latter institution, Bishop Stevens on university day, June 24th, 1869, made this valuable and graceful testimony :

" I must mention one name deserving on this occasion special commemoration. I mean Robert II. Sayre.

" Next to Judge Packer, the University is indebted to him,

tion, but for the gift to it of one of the essential elements of its instruction and success; the Astronomical Observa- tory. This building was erected at the sole expense of Mr. Sayre, and contains an Equatorial, a Zenith Sector, an Astronomical clock, a Meridian circle, a Prismatic Sextant, and other needed instruments constituting an important addition to the practical teaching of Astronomy and Geodesy The gift reflects special credit upon the large-minded and liberal donor, whose name it will bear as the ' Sayre Obser- vatory ' as long as the University itself shall stand, and of that we say, Esto perpetua."

Mr. Sayre's reputation is closely connected with the his- tory of the improvement and development of the Lehigh Valley, with which he has had the closest relations since 1853. Working in concert with Judge Packer, modern inventions and the last practical discoveries in science have been employed, and so sagaciously employed, as to advance the coal and iron interests of that rich section beyond the dreams of the most sanguine. The pioneers Hauto, White and Hazard had no visions when they opened the valley in 1822, of any such accomplishment as is now made annually. Nor could this have been reached had Mr. Sayre not enjoyed a long and special training ; been en- dowed with the peculiar combination of qualities needed, and aided by men of equal knowledge, energy and wealth. He has always been fortunate in the assistance rendered by those whom he employed, on account of his genial man ners and care for their success. Ilis great skill as an engi- neer is shown in his works. His government of men is evidenced in the sympathy and achievements of those whom he employs, and in their great interest in the works on which they are engaged, as well as in their personal attachment to their chief. His own conscientious devotion to duty, and determination to succeed, infuse all coming within his magnetic range, and they have maintained him not only in the confidence of great corporations, but as well in that of the greater public, who make and unmake corporations. Mr. Sayre's manners and character have en- deared him among those who cannot appreciate his techni- cal abilities, and the whole have in a brief period placed him in the front rank of those who have made and are making Eastern Pennsylvania a great fact in all the great- ness to which it belongs. In the very meridian of life ; imiversally trusted, as much for capacity as for conduct, the community and his friends have a right to expect still greater performances from Mr. Sayre; and they are not likely to be disappointed.

Mr. Sayre was married in April, 1846, to Miss Mary E. Smith, by whom he had nine children, five of whom-one son and four daughters-are living. The son, R. II. Sayre, Jr., is now in the employ of the Bethlehem Iron Company. His second wife was Mrs. Mary B., widow of Senator Broadhead, who brought him two sons, children by her first marriage.

الاسلام

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

HORTRIDGE, NATHAN PARKER, Merchant, of Philadelphia, was born in Portsmouth, New ' Hampshire, November 28, 1829. His father,

John H. Shortridge, and his mother, Margaret (Tredick), had long lived in that city, where the former was engaged in mercantile pursuits. Their son was educated at Dover Academy, where he ranked high as an apt scholar. When sixteen years of age, he came to Philadelphia and entered the Dry Goods Commission House of D. S. Brown & Co., at first as an office and errand boy. Ambitious of success, and clearly recognizing that the right road to it is in unceasing labor and undeviating integrity, he rose from his humble position to the responsible one of head salesman to the house. Twelve years of service had been required to accomplish this, and he had reasonable hopes that the next change would place him a partner in the firm. The house, how- ever, dissolved, and he became associated with one of its members, G. F. Peabody, who conducted the same busi- ness under a new style (1858). They were eminently successful, so much so, that the senior partner was enabled to retire in 1863, leaving the concern in the hands of his junior. The latter continued with his wonted energy, at first as the firm of Harris, Shortridge & Co., later as Short- ridge, Borden & Co., under which style it is now conducted. Beyond the limits of his special business he has an estab- lished reputation as a gentleman of uncommon financial insight, and integrity .. He has been for years a Director of the Philadelphia Bank; is a Director of the American Steamship Company .; and is a member of the Finance Committee of the Centennial Celebration. In 1853, he married Elizabeth J. Rundlett, of Philadelphia.

MITH, J. WHEATON, D. D., Clergyman, was born June 26, 1823, in Providence, Rhode Island. His maternal grandfather was James Wheaton, a near relative of the celebrated author of Wheaton on International Law, and The History of the North Men. Hon. Noah Smith, his father, passed most of his life in Maine, where he served the State in both branches of the Legislature; as a member of the Governor's Council; and as State Secretary. He closed his life as Chief Legislative Clerk of the United States Senate (1867). While in Maine, he lived at Calais, and there it was his son passed his boyhood and early years, aiding his father in the lumber business, and passing much of his time in the primeval forests superintending the workmen. The love of wild nature, and the pleasures it offers implanted thus early, have re- mamed with him ever since, and with his rod and gun he has explored almost every hunting and fishing ground from the Rocky Mountains to the coasts of Nova Scotia. The family attended the Baptist Church, and early in life the

convictions of religious truth took such firm hold of lis mind that at the age of twenty he determined to devote himself to the ministry. He passed through Brown Uni- versity with signal distinction (1844-48), and entered the Newton Theological Seminary, where he completed his studies in 1851. His first pastorate was that of the North- ern Street Church, Lowell, Massachusetts, which he entered upon before his graduation, and where he continued until 1853. Early in that year he received a call to the Spruce Street Baptist Church, Philadelphia. After some hesita- tion, he accepted. He found a feeble community of one hundred and thirty members, a debt of $12,000, a pew rental of $1400, and a languishing attendance. In a few years the fruits of his labors were seen in a membership of over five hundred souls, a complete freedom from debt, a pew rental of $5500, and such a demand for larger church accommodations that the spacious and handsome edifice at the corner of Broad and Spruce streets was erected. In this new location he continues with sustained zeal the important work to which he has devoted his life. Besides the special labors of his pastorate he has held the posts of member of the Executive Committee of the Bible and Publication Society ; member of the Board of Foreign Missions, of the Boards of Trustees of the Crozer Theo- logical Seminary, and of the. Lewisburg University, and Corresponding Secretary of the Pennsylvania General Baptist Association. He has been active in the estab- lishment and extension of the Young Men's Christian Association, and was largely instrumental in the founding upon a sure basis of the famous noon-day prayer meeting. On the outbreak of the war he was among the first clergy- men in the city to take decided ground in favor of the Union. Sympathy with the South was the dominant feel- ing among his congregation, and indeed in the convention of which he was a member. His stand at once decided matters in the church, and his efforts contributed materially to a similar result in the convention. During the whole course of the conflict he was a leading spirit in the Christian Commission, a thorough going Union man in word and act, and personally aided the wounded in the field during the battle of the Wilderness. As an author he has published the Life of John P. Crozer, of Upland, and a reply to the Rev. Dr. Barnes' essay, Exclusiveism, which was directed against the close communion of the Baptist denomination. His love of travel and primitive nature have led him to visit the. Far West, where among other feats of mountain climbing he ascended alone and unaided Gray's Peak ( 14,251 feet in height); to follow the mountain streams of the Adirondac regions, St. Croix, and Nova Scotia; and to visit Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Doubtless he has felt the truth of the German poet's words :

" And this undetermined roving, Brings delight, and brings good heed That our Striving be with Living, And our Living be in Deed."

Galaxy Pub. Co Pnilad a.

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

INGHAM, HENRY II., General, Soldier, and Politician, was born in the Ninth Ward of the City of Philadelphia, in 1841, his father being Mr. James Bingham, of the well-known forwarding firm of Bingham & Dock. In 1858, he entered Jefferson College at Cannonsburg, where he re- mained four years, graduating with high honors in August, 1862, and receiving the degree of Master of Arts a few years subsequent. At the era of his graduation the country was in the throes of civil war, and a company of infantry was enrol . ling in and around the College. A first lieutenancy in this was offered Mr. Bingham, which he accepted. Next month he was chosen captain, and his company was attached to the 140 Reg. Pa. Vol. Inf. On the 26th April, 1863, he was re- lieved from duty with his company, and appointed Judge Advocate of the First Division, 2nd Army Corps, then at Falmouth, Va., and on the 11th of the following June he was chosen Judge Advocate of the Corps. In September 1864, General Hancock, to whose staff he was attached, asked that he should be appointed Judge Advocate with the rank of Major, which was granted, this being one of only twenty-two commissions in all conferred during the war on officers in that department. The reasons assigned in this instance are highly creditable to the subject of this sketch. They were "for good conduct and conspicuous gallantry, es- pecially at the Wilderness, May 6th, 1864, where he col- lected a considerable party of stragglers, and led them against the enemy with marked bravery ; and at Spottsylvania, May 12th, where he voluntarily took part with his regiment in the assault and was wounded. He was also wounded at Get- tysburg." His abilities and skill were so well displayed in

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The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1, Part 1

Author: Robson, Charles. 4n; Galaxy Publishing Company. 4n Publication date: 1874 Publisher: Philadelphia : Galaxy Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 908

Author: Robson, Charles. 4n; Galaxy Publishing Company. 4n
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Philadelphia : Galaxy Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 908