USA > Pennsylvania > A biographical album of prominent Pennsylvanians, v. 1 > Part 48
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About 1837 he came to the United States and, after a short stay in New York, established himself in Philadelphia as an importer of English and French stationery, and afterwards began the manufacture of envelopes and lead points. The business grew to large dimensions and he became the leading merchant in that line in the city of Philadelphia. In 1871, finding his health impaired by too close application to business, he sought relief in foreign travel, and on his return retired from active business, his eldest son becoming his successor. While abroad he visited the principal cities of Europe, paying special attention to the art galleries of France, Germany and Italy, and the letters that he wrote, giving his views and experiences, are remarkable for vigor and clearness of expression.
Mr. Cohen was a man of more than ordinary culture. He was a good French scholar, and a lifelong, diligent and discriminating student of English literature. He was an ardent admirer of Shakespeare, and many long winter evenings were shortened by Shakespearian readings at his home. The leisure obtained by his retirement from business he spent in reading, in travel and in devotion to chari- table and public duties. Hle ardently espoused the cause of the Union in the late war and took an active part in the formation of the Union League. An enthusiastic American citizen, he took great interest in the country's growth and the development of its industries, and was a zealous and tireless worker for the success of the great Centennial Exposition of 1876.
Mr. Cohen was also noted for his striet adherence to the Jewish faith. For many years he was a member of the old Portuguese Congregation of Israelites, and for three years before his death was its President. llow faithfully he dis- charged his duties is attested by his minister, Rev. Dr. Morias, whose eloquent funeral sermon has been published, in which he said :
"Three years ago we chose as our temporal leader this Hebrew man. What suggested his name spontaneously to every reflecting member of the congrega- tion ? His social standing, and a general knowledge of the views he entertained. For Henry Cohen did not hide his attachment to the ancestral observances,
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HENRY COHEN.
because he enjoyed the familiar intercourse of the cultured and respected among the professors of another creed. He reverenced his religion, and held tenaciously thereunto-as an inalienable birthright-in the presence of the world. Without seeking a controversy, the intelligent Hebrew keenly relished the opportunity which enabled him to explain the reason for continuing loyal to the Law and the Prophets. Nor had our chief, whose demise I deplore, been merely an occasional visitor in the Minor Sanctuary. All saw him, undeterred by distance, in his usual seat, an earnest worshipper, ready to signify his appreciation of the honors belonging to his tribe, as scions of the stock of Aaron, by generous donations. The selection had been therefore wisely designed and merited. Did it prove so ? Who puts that question ? Would I utter a strained lament before the dead; or lie to the living, if the late President of my congregation had, as such, inten- tionally fallen short of his duties; if he had been untrue to his trust; if he had deceived the confidence founded on a wide, established reputation, and, to truekle with a worldly policy, had rushed headlong after the errors of this age ? Never. Eagerness to promote the welfare of the synagogue he unequivocally showed on solemn days by deeds of liberality. An ardent desire to enhance the impressive- ness of our ancient service, he obviously evinced on winter nights, when despite a fatal malady stealing upon his body, the President travelled from afar to meet the Minister, and help in the effort of training the votaries that offered their voices to sing to God harmoniously."
But although an adherent of Jewish practices and a believer in the prophecies regarding the final destiny of the Hebrew race, he manifested a liberal spirit to- wards those of other creeds, and counted a large number of Christians among his staunch friends and visitors to his house, where a generous hospitality was extended to all.
In 1844 Mr. Cohen married Matilda, the daughter of Mr. Lewis Samuel, of Liverpool, England, by whom he had several children, five of whom, two sons and three daughters, lived to maturity. Charles J., the oldest son, succeeded to his father's business, which he has very successfully conducted, and John M. is a practicing lawyer and a member of the Philadelphia bar. His daughter Edith is the wife of Col. Alfred Cromelien. His daughter Mary is a writer of excep- tional ability on subjects of political economy, etc., and his other daughter, Katharine, is a rising artist with a decided talent for sculpture.
Mr. Cohen died on June 20, 1879, mourned not only by his immediate family, to whom he was a kind husband and father, but by many of the best people of Philadelphia, of which lie was a most estimable and respected citizen.
E. T. F.
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CHARLES G. SOWER.
CHARLES GILBERT SOWER.
GOWER, or Saur as it was originally written in German, is a historic name in Pennsylvania. Several generations of men bearing this name have been notable for their learning, originality and business enterprise, displayed principally in manufacturing and publishing books and newspapers. They are descendants of Christopher Sower, who in the fall of 1724 emigrated from the town of Laasphe in Witgenstein, Germany, and in 1731 built a large mansion for his residence in Germantown, now a part of Philadelphia. He was a graduate of the University of Marberg, and afterwards spent five years in a medical institution at Halle, where he obtained a knowledge of medicine, which he practiced in con- nection with his other pursuits. Although not a printer his German friends persuaded him to engage in printing, and his first publication in America was an almanac in the German language, begun in 1738 and continued annually during his life. Simpson in his "Lives of Eminent Philadelphians" describes it as a quarto in the usual form with twenty-four pages, and the matter consisted of twelve pages of calculations (one for each month); a calculation of eclipses for the coming year ; a record of the provincial courts and fairs ; chronology of im- portant events ; interest tables ; a quantity of interesting and useful matter, chiefly of a physiological and hygienie character, in plain and simple language ; a list of books consigned to him from Germany and their prices, and one or two adver- tisements.
The publication of this almanac stimulated a desire for more reading matter, and he was urgently solicited to issue a periodical that would contain news and such other matter as he thought proper and useful. Though loath at first to undertake such a publication, he yielded to the importunities of the people, and on August 20, 1739, issued the first number of a religious and secular journal entitled " Der Hoch-Deutsch Pennsylvanische Geschicht-Schreiber oder Samm- lung Wichtiger Nachrichten aus dem Natür-und Kirchen-Reich," which, not- withstanding its formidable name, soon reached a circulation of eight to ten thousand weekly. It was sent to all parts of the British Colonies and wielded an unbounded influence over the whole German population.
In the meanwhile he was engaged in setting up a quarto edition of the Bible in the German language, which, after three years of toil amid many perplexities, he issued in 1743, and which " in completeness and execution has never been excelled in this country." This was the first quarto Bible printed in America. No copy of the Bible in the English language was printed in America until nearly forty years afterward. The first edition of the Sower Bible consisted of twelve hundred copies, and at this day a copy is so highly prized by the descendants of the original subscribers that they can scarcely be induced to part with it for any consideration. In addition to those mentioned he published
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CHARLES G. SOWER.
about one hundred and eighty other works, many of large size and all esteemed of great value.
To carry on his printing operations he found it necessary to manufacture the paper and ink he used, and to establish a bindery and type-foundry. He made not only the type necessary for his own use but supplied other printers. His was the first type-foundry in America, and the Johnson foundry of Philadelphia, now owned by MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan (one of the largest in the world), has gradually grown out of it. 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 died September, 1758, at the age of sixty-five, leaving an only son, born in 1721, before he left Germany, and also named Christopher, who succeeded to his business and greatly enlarged it.
Christopher, 2d, published several editions of the Bible, and as stereotyping had not been invented the type had to be reset for cach succeeding edition. Besides the Bible, newspapers and almanacs, he published about one hundred and fifty other works in either the English or German language, most of them large books. He employed two or more mills in manufacturing paper, cast his own type, made his own printer's ink, engraved wood-cuts and bound his own publi- cations. He was also a minister and bishop among the Dunkers (originally called "Tunkers" or "Dippers," from their mode of baptism), whose distin- guishing tenet is their non-resistant or peace principles carried to the extent of refusing to prosecute or defend a suit in court, and submitting to almost any indignity without resistance. During the whole course of his life he advocated the doctrines of universal peace, and condemned as unchristian the use of weapons of war for any offensive purpose whatever. When the war of the revolu- tion broke out, faithful to his peace convictions, which were inseparable from his religious professions, although he did not espouse the cause of Great Britain, he was compelled to oppose the recourse to violent resistance on the part of the patriots. In this he was in entire accord with the Dunkers, Mennonites, Schwenckfelders, Moravians and Quakers, but he was singled out for persecution, and " without a hearing or trial" he was declared a traitor, his property was confiscated even to the last penny, and the remainder of his life was spent in poverty and obloquy. "Strange " says Professor Seidensticker, " that it should befall him, the sage, the philosopher and above all the defender of the supremacy of Love and Sympathy for all men, to endure the whole weight of a wicked, malevolent persecution as though he were a convict, proven guilty of crime." On August 26, 1784, he died in his sixty-fourth year, and was buried in the Mennonite ground near Methatchen. He left a family of eight children, several of whom became notable as printers and publishers, and among them David Sower, Sr.
The early years of David Sower, Sr., were spent in the printing-office, type- foundry and book-bindery of his father, and after his marriage he established
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himself in Philadelphia, first as a wholesale and retail grocer (being quite suc- cessful until the yellow fever of 1793 broke out), and then as bookseller and stationer on Third street above Arch. In the spring of 1799 he removed to Norristown, where, on the 13th of June, he commenced the publication of the paper now known as the Herald and Free Press. During the first year of its existence it was called the Norristown Gasette and comprised four pages, ten by eight inches, with three columns on a page. A number now before us, issued October 11, 1799, contains four advertisements, three of them in reference to stray cattle, and one advertising several tons of sheet iron and nail rods for sale at the Valley Works. In this number of the Gasette the following story is related: "An Indian chief being asked his opinion of a cask of Madeira wine presented to him by an officer, said he thought it a juice extracted from women's tongues and lions' hearts, for after he had drank a bottle of it he said he could talk forever and fight the devil." The last number of the Gasette was issued June 6, 1800, and shortly afterward the Norristown Herald and Weekly Advertiser, printed on a folio demi-sheet, three broad columns on a page, appeared. This he continued to publish until December, 1808, when he transferred it to his oldest son, Charles, and engaged in general merchandising, for which his early business experience in Philadelphia had fitted him. After several years of varying suc- cess he relinquished business and on October 19, 1835, passed away, his remains now reposing by the side of his father, mother and wife in the Mennonist bury- ing ground at Methatchen, in Worcester township.
Of his sons, David, Jr., is probably the best known by reason of his long con- nection with the Herald, which he purchased in June, 1816, and so greatly im- proved that when he disposed of it in 1834, it was one of the largest and best patronized county papers in the State. During his administration of the Herald he also published several books, among them the " Pocket Lawyer," which had a large sale, and an abridged digest of the laws of Pennsylvania by Benjamin F. Hancock, the father of Major-General Hancock, and a music book with notes in seven different forms, being, it is believed, the first attempt to give a different form for each of the seven notes of the diatonic scale. After disposing of his printing and publishing establishment in 1834, he remained out of business about two years, and then opened a book and stationery store, which was the first attempt in Norristown to conduct a store devoted to certain special articles, with goods displayed in glass cases and show windows, and consequently " the open- ing attracted crowds of people for many days." Two years later, in 1838, he opened a handsome dry-goods establishment in a storehouse built by him for that purpose, adjoining the book store, and in this was again the pioneer in the county, in classifying business by separating dry-goods from other wares. In 1842, he disposed of the book store to his son, Charles G., who in that year had become of age, and in 1850, he sold the dry-goods store to Mr. Morgan Wright and retired altogether from active business.
"Although while editing a paper," says Mr. Auge in his " Men of Montgomery
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County," " Mr. Sower was thrown much among public men, he was always diffident, quiet and unobtrusive. His judgment was remarkably clear on most subjects, exceedingly careful and prudent in financial matters, and inviolate 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 exceedingly. He was ever devoted to his family, a kind husband and father, generous and considerate, but not foolishly indulgent." 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, leaving five children living, namely : John Randolph, many years a whole- sale dry-goods merchant in Philadelphia, and more recently President of the Shafton Gas Coal Company ; Charles G., publisher and bookseller, of Philadel- phia ; Franklin D., bookseller, now of Norristown ; Mary M., wife of Mathew H. Crawford, late of Norristown, but now residing in Philadelphia ; and Adaline A., wife of Daniel H. Stein, watchmaker and jeweler, of Norristown.
Charles G. Sower may now be called the leading representative of this historic family. Ile inherits the talents, enterprise and literary tastes of his ancestors and occupies a highly respectable position in the mercantile circles of Philadelphia. He was born at Norristown, November 21, 1821, and spent his youth in his father's printing-office, and attending school at the Norristown Academy. In 1836, he entered his father's book store and assisted as clerk until 1842, when he became sole proprietor. In 1844, he removed to Philadelphia and embarked in bookselling and publishing, principally educational publications. In 1850, he surrendered the book store in Norristown to his brother Franklin, who still conducts it, and in the subsequent year he took William 11. Barnes as partner in the business in Philadelphia, establishing the firm of Sower & Barnes. In 1858, F. C. Potts was admitted into the firm under the style of Sower, Barnes & Co., which in 1865, was changed to Sower, Barnes & Potts. Mr. Barnes retired from the firm in 1870, on account of ill health, and after that time the business was conducted until recently under the firm-style of Sower, Potts & Co. Mr. Potts died in 1882, when Mr. Sower became sole proprietor. In 1888, just one hun- dred and fifty years after Christopher Sower issued his first publication, the busi- ness was merged into a corporation under the title of the "Christopher Sower Company," of which Mr. Sower continues President.
The educational publications of this firm include Dr. Brooks's Normal series of arithmetics and higher mathematics -- which are in use extensively in the public schools of the United States, and of which millions of copies have been sold -Roberts's History of the United States, Bouvier's Familiar Astronomy, Dr. Emmons's Geology, the first published for schools illustrated by American fossils, a number of works on Grammar, Book-keeping, English Literature, Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, and Pelton's series of Outline Maps, which originated the method of teaching Geography by exhibiting on a large scale the main features of Physical in connection with those of Political and Local Geography.
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CHARLES G. SOWER.
The exhibit made by the firm at the Centennial in Philadelphia in 1876, attracted great attention and received a medal, and a like testimonial was awarded at the I'aris Exposition of 1878. Besides their educational publications the house has issued a number of valuable miscellaneous works, the titles of which are too numerous to insert here. Perhaps the most notable is Governor Gilpin's Gold Regions of America, published while the whole Rocky Mountain region was a wilderness, and before the precious metals had been discovered therein.
Mr. Sower like his ancestors is of a retiring disposition, averse to thrusting him- self into prominence, but nevertheless has taken active part in the religious, be- nevolent and other movements of his day. He is well informed in affairs and uses what influence he may have always on the side of morality, temperance and good work generally. In the conduct of his very extensive business he has established a reputation for good faith, honor and uprightness, that has won the respect of the publishing trade throughout the country. In deciding upon the publications of the establishment, he has always been guided by principles of benefiting the youth of his country and his fellow-citizens generally.
Many of the publications have been so highly valued in other countries that copies have been solicited for introduction and circulation therein. This was especially the case in Hindostan, Japan, and Brazil. One work was so highly appreciated in England that it was republished there as an English work, the publisher first eliminating from the title page and in the body of the work every evidence that it was of an American origin.
Mr. Sower has a splendid private library of about three thousand volumes, and rich in rare old books and Incinabula, of which he has been a diligent collector. Among his manuscript works are several of the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. His latest undertaking has been the compilation of a genealogical chart of the descendants of Christopher Sower, which includes over nine hundred names of persons resident in all parts of this country, and the British Provinces. The chart also contains a biographical sketch of Christopher Sower 1 and 2, and lists of their numerous publications. The work required an extensive and systematic correspondence of many years. It was published for private circula- tion only, entirely at the expense of the author, less than two hundred having been printed and none sold. E. T. F.
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SAMUEL K. MURDOCH.
SAMUEL KEEL MURDOCH.
SAMUEL K. MURDOCH, who has been a physician, soldier, actor and is now a professor of elocution in Philadelphia, has had an adventurous life. Born in Philadelphia of American parents of Scotch-German ancestry, he was set to work at an early age to learn the trade of blank-book binding, in which his father was engaged. During his apprenticeship he began the study of medicine, encouraged therein by the celebrated Dr. Joseph Parrish, and paid for his lectures by overwork at night and by furnishing books and stationery.
Descended from revolutionary stock, he may be said to have inherited a taste for military affairs. His great-grandfather, on his mother's side, had been an officer in General Washington's army, and was severely wounded and taken prisoner at the battle of Germantown. His father served as captain of artillery in the war of 1812. In 1844 young Murdoch was elected Captain of the Wayne Artillery, Third Brigade, P. V., and participated in suppressing the riots which took place in Philadelphia during that year. By order of General Cadwallader, he and his company garrisoned Moyamensing prison for two weeks, to guard it against a threatened attack by the mob for the release of the rioters confined therein. In 1845, upon the occasion of the reinterment of the remains of Com- modore Stephen Decatur, he was complimented by being given the command of the battalion that fired the salute over the grave. In 1847 he was named by George M. Dallas and James Buchanan for the position of Major in one of the ten regiments that were then being raised to reinforce the army in Mexico, but which were not needed on account of the capture of the city of Mexico and the termination of the war. In 1849 he was elected Brigadier-General of the Third Brigade, First Division, P. V., but relinquished it to prepare for a voyage to Cali- fornia. Dr. Murdoch was one of the original "forty-niners" who sought fortune in what was then the Mecca of enterprising and adventurous spirits. He sailed from New York on the steamship " State of Georgia," commanded by David D. Porter, now admiral in the United States Navy, and after a long and perilous voyage reached San Francisco, then a mere village. While at Panama he practised medicine and was very successful in treating Chagres fever and dysentery, having received valuable advice from Dr. Castro, an old Spanish physician of that place, and accepted an offer made by the owners of the sailing vessel ' T. P. llart" to serve as surgeon in the voyage to San Francisco, and with such success that out of one hundred and forty passengers, many of whom were sick at the time of starting, but one died, while no other vessel that arrived with the same number lost less than twelve.
Dr. Murdoch remained in California for nearly five years, and during that time was a physician, merchant, farmer, soldier, miner and actor. He was quite successful as a physician, particularly in cases of dysentery, and for curing Don
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SAMUEL K. MURDOCH.
Guilhermo Castro, of Contra Costa, of that disease, received a fee of five hundred dollars, When the smallpox broke out in 1851 he was the only vaccinator in the State, having brought vaccine matter with him from the East. He purchased merchandise at auction in San Francisco and sold it at a large profit in Sacra- mento, but having been a heavy loser in two fires he relinquished trade and engaged in farming. In San Francisco, at Warren & Sons' fair, in 1853, he re- ceived a prize medal for raising twelve bushels of potatoes from three seed pota- toes. Ilis experience as a soldier while in California was limited to aiding in the suppression of the squatter rebellion which broke out in Sacramento, when he raised in twenty-four hours a company of forty muskets under order of General Geary, the first Alcalde of San Francisco. In 1853, having purchased a mining claim, he with eight others flumed the North Fork of the Yuba river, at a place called Kanacer Canon, and while prospecting in the mountains was captured by a party of Indians, one of whose warriors had recently been killed and whose death they had determined to avenge. Fortunately Mr. Pren- tiss, an Indian trader well known and liked by the whole tribe, was one of the mining company, and by claiming him as their " companero " their lives were spared.
During his stay in California he played an engagement in Hart & Maguire's Theatre, receiving five hundred dollars for six nights' performances, it being his first appearance on any stage. He also supported Madam Anna Bishop at the Metropolitan Theatre in San Francisco, playing the part of Zamiel in Der Freishutz, for six nights, three of the performances being in English and three in German. After his return to the East he played a star engagement in Phila- delphia in 1856, and then supported his brother James in the principal cities.
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