USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > A history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and its people; Volume III > Part 24
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Mr. Frigar married, October 24, 1874, Martha A. Corbett, of Philadel- phia, born April 6, 1856, daughter of Captain John Corbett, born in Marcus Hook, a sea-faring man and captain of sailing vessels, died in Philadelphia in 1898. He married Elizabeth Morris, who died aged ninety-seven years. Chil- dren of John and Martha A. Frigar: 1. John Emery, born August 5, 1875; a graduate in seamanship and navigation from the state and national school ship "Saratoga." After leaving school he became the first assistant engineer of the Drexel building, Philadelphia. He married, in 1897, Dora Gray, and they reside in West Philadelphia. 2. Joseph Harvey, born November 5, 1877 ; edu- cated as was his brother ; served during the Spanish-American war as electri- cian on the cruiser "St. Paul," commanded by Captain Sigsbee. He is presi- dent of the Pennsylvania Alumni of the Nautical School. He married, in 1901.
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Augusta Brudell. 3. Edward C. Corbett, born December 1, 1880; educated in the public schools, and is now superintendent and chief engineer of the Frank- lin building. 4. Joseph H., superintendent and chief engineer of the Perry building. Philadelphia. 5. May, born May 30. 1883 ; married Robert C. Stack- house. 6. Ella, born March 3. 1886: married, June 10, 1906, John J. Grady. 7. Louis Pusey, born August 7. 1887, died aged fourteen years. 8. Martha A., born April 11, 1891 ; married, March 21, 1909, Austin E. Sharpless. 9. Ellis D. W., born August 2. 1893, graduated in seamanship in navigation : is now in Tampico, Mexico, as mechanical engineer for the Standard Oil Company. 10. Mark H., died aged two years. 11. Helen Marie.
FULLERTON William B. Fullerton, an esteemed citizen of Essington. Delaware county, Pennsylvania, descends from good old Scotch-Irish stock. His parents, James and Anna ( Mlc- Caslan) Fullerton, were born, the former in Scotland, the latter in Ireland, and died when their son was quite small.
Mr. Fullerton was educated in Philadelphia, where he was born in 1868. Being an orphan and having to depend upon his own exertions for a living, at the tender age of eleven years he was taken from school and put to work in a brickyard. This was, indeed, hard work for a boy of that age, but young William was a sturdy lad, as well as a determined one, and he continued at brick making for two or three years. He was offered a place in a factory in Wilmington, Delaware, and having a mind to better his fortunes, he accepted it, and there remained several years. He next went with an uncle, from whom he learned harnessmaking, in his old home in Philadelphia. Tiring of this he tried farming in the northern part of Pennsylvania. Not having much incli- nation, by birth or breeding, for farming, he soon gave up agricultural pur- suits and returned to Wilmington, and from there went to Chester. Pennsyl- vania. He opened a cigar store in Chester after a residence there of some years. Selling out this business he was appointed to a position in the United States government treasury department in Philadelphia, which responsible post he held creditably for some years. An opportunity was offered him for the purchase of the Green Bottling Works, in Chester, which later he disposed of at a handsome profit. He was appointed factory inspector by Governor Pennypacker. of Pennsylvania, and served well and faithfully in this place. He was next offered, and accepted, the post of county detective by the district attorney. In this capacity he had many thrilling adventures, and some few escapes, and made one of the best detectives that the county ever had. Wishing to enter husiness for himself again, he established, in 1909. bottling works in Essington, Pennsylvania, and follows it to the present time (1913). He has made a great success of it, and it is to-day one of the chief and growing industries of Essington. He is a member of the Knights of the Golden Eagle, and the Loyal Order of Moose. In politics he is Progressive, and was once a candidate for council in Chester, and made a good campaign alone, without help from the organization. He is one of the progressive, up-to- date citizens of Essington, and takes an active interest in all local affairs that are for the welfare of the town. He married, October, 1893, Rebecca Parker. of English descent. Children: 1. William B. Jr. 2. Anna. 3. Clara. 4. Sarah. 5. Marie.
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Frank Gillespie, of Oak View, known to the residents of Del-
GILLESPIE aware county as one of the most enterprising and public- spirited citizens within her borders, is descended from an Irish ancestry, to which nation we owe so many of our most valued citizens, men who live up to the principles of their adopted country, and who are willing if necessary, to render up their lives in order to preserve its honor and integrity.
Luke Gillespie, the first member of this branch of the family of whom we have information, was a native of county Donegal, Ireland, and his death oc- curred there after he had attained a venerable age. He gave his entire atten- tion to agricultural pursuits. He was a man of sound judgment and strict integrity of character, and was a man of influence in the community. He mar- ried and among his children was Cornelius, of whom further.
Cornelius Gillespie, son of Luke Gillespie, was born in county Donegal, Ireland, where he was reared and educated. His first employment was as teacher in the schools in his native land, after which he was a heckler, one who prepares flax for spinning. In 1866 he emigrated to this country, accompanied by his wife, and they located in Clifton Heights, Delaware county, Pennsyl- vania, where they spent the remaining years of their lives, he having accumu- lated sufficient means to enable him to retire from active pursuits. He married Anne Hughes, daughter of James Hughes, who was a farmer of county Done- gal, Ireland. Children : I. Luke, of whom further. 2. Jennie, married Thom- as Mulligan ; resides in Canada. 3. Mary, married James Mullen ; resides in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania. 4. Margaret. married Barney McVeigh ; re- sided in Wilmington, Delaware; she died in 1909.
Luke Gillespie, son of Cornelius and Anne (Hughes) Gillespie, was born near the town of Kelleygordan, county Donegal, Ireland, in 1841, living at the present time (1913) in Oak View, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. He at- tained years of manhood in his native land, and obtained a practical education in the schools adjacent to his home. In 1864 he came to the United States, set- tling in Wilmington, Delaware, but shortly afterward he became engineer of the Caledonia Woolen Mills in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, serving in that position for five years. From that he gradually drifted into the contracting business, building the first macadam road in Delaware county, Greenwood ave- nue, Lansdowne. Subsequently his son, Frank, entered into partnership withı him, and they now operate two limestone quarries and conduct an extensive contracting business, their specialty being road building. Mr. Gillespie is also interested in the Colonial Manufacturing Company of Clifton Heights, one of the leading enterprises of that section. He is a member of St. Charles Catholic Church, and takes an active interest in the societies connected therewith. He is treasurer of the Temperance A. B. of Kellyville, and president of the I. C. B. U. He is a Democrat in politics. He married Mary (Quinn) McGowan, born in 1843, died in 1901, her birth occurring in county Donegal, Ireland. Her father was a railroad section foreman, and lived in Ireland and Scotland, his death occurring in Ireland; he and his wife were the parents of four children : Catherine, died in Scotland; William and James, who served in the British army ; Mary, who went to Scotland as a young girl and there married Thomas McGowan, who died in Scotland shortly after their marriage, leaving a son, Thomas Jr., who now lives in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania, and is president of .the Colonial Manufacturing Company of that place. Mrs. McGowan and her son came to this country, and she subsequently married Mr. Gillespie. Their children : 1. Cornelius, married -; resides in Collingdale, Pennsylvania. 2. Frank, of whom further. 3. Luke, in the employ of the Colonial Manu- facturing Company ; resides in Oak View ; married -. 4. William, died
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at the age of forty-one. 5. John, died at the age of thirty ; he was a black- smith. Three other children died in infancy.
(IV) Frank Gillespie, son of Luke and Mary (Quinn-McGowan) Gilles- pie, was born in Kellyville, Upper Darby township, Delaware county, Pennsyl- vania. May 10, 1874. He attended St. Charles Parochial School at Kellyville, and after finishing the course there spent two years in the study of telegraphy at Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania. During his early manhood he worked at various things, but finally entered into business relations with his father, who was suc- cessfully engaged in the contracting business, their main work being the con- struction of highways. They operate the Oak View Stone Quarry and the Old Geckler Quarry at Clifton, Pennsylvania. Since his partnership with his father began, Frank Gillespie has assumed the greater part of the management of the business, thus relieving his father of many of the arduous duties, and the busi- ness has increased in volume and importance each year, it being now recognized as one of the many industries which contribute to the growth of the section, they employing a large number of hands. Mr. Gillespie has invested his sav- ings in real estate, being the owner of considerable property in Oak View, where he resides. in Collingdale and Clifton Heights, which no doubt will greatly increase in value in the near future. He attends St. Charles Catholic Church, is a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus. Mr. Gillespie is a man whose genial nature attracts friends, and in all the relations of life he has borne himself as a true friend and an honest man of business.
Mr. Gillespie married Jennie M., born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. daughter of Charles H. and Mary ( Love) Hagerty, of Oak View, a sketch of whom appears in this work. They had one child. Frank, who died in infancy.
EDWARDS The Delaware county branch of the Edwards family in the United States, of which Edmund K. Edwards is the repre- sentative, descends from Jacob Edwards, an Englishman, who settled in Delaware county upon coming to this country. The family descends from the same Edwards ancestry as did Jonathan Edwards, the greatest of American divines, and an early president of Princeton College. Jacob Edwards married Margaret Stuart, and had issue: Margaret, married Joseph Fell, of Springfield township; Sarah, never married; Charles, was an expert wheelwright and carpenter, never married; William, never married; Edmund Kinsey, mentioned below.
( II) Edmund Kinsey, son of Jacob Edwards, was born in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1804, there died in 1887, aged eighty-three years. He obtained a good education in the public schools, in the institution main- tained in West Chester for many years by the well known Jonathan Gause, and by a continued course of self-study. For several years he taught in the public schools of Delaware county, but spent most of his life engaged in mechan- ical work. He learned the wheelwright's trade, becoming an expert workman and the inventor of several useful implements. His shop was located on the Edgmont road, at what was then Sneaths Corners, he owning and operating a farm there. He built many of the wagons and carriages used in the neigh- borhood during his day, and added to the list of useful inventions a washing- machine and several drills, some of which were patented. He was the edu- cated, resourceful mechanic as well as the interested, useful citizen, holding many offices of trust, serving with great zeal for many years as school direc- tor and collector of school taxes. He was a Whig in politics, later an ardent.
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Republican. He was a public-spirited, upright member of the community and. bore an honored name, leaving behind him the record of a well spent life.
He married Jane James, of Aston township, Delaware county, born in 1826, died in August, 1888, daughter of Thomas and Maria James; her father a blacksmith near Village Green. Children of Edmund K. Edwards : 1. Charles Stuart, born June 20, 1845, died November 11, 1848. 2. Jacob, born September 11, 1846, died the same day. 3. Lydianna, born October 3, 1847, died March 2, 1906; was a teacher in the public school; she married George Hall, a woolen manufacturer of Chester, he died in 1905, aged fifty- nine years. Children: Bertha, deceased; Edna, a teacher in Lansdowne. public schools; Morton, a steel inspector of Chester, married Anna Glenden- ning; Grace; Gertrude; Ethel; Greta; Maude, married George Saylor, of Philadelphia; Earl, and Natalie, a teacher in Lansdowne public schools. 4. Joseph F., born November 17, 1849, died August 27, 1881, married Frances Moffitt, and had a son, Elwood, who married May Hibbett and resides in "Shawnee-on-Delaware," Pennsylvania. 5. Hannah Maria, married Maris H. Taylor, of Fairview, Pennsylvania, whom she survives. Children: Jessie, Harry, Clarence, Eva, and Leroy. 6. Jessie J. 7. Margaret F., for several years a teacher in the public schools; married J. A. Jenkins, and resides in Media. 8. Mary Augusta, for many years a teacher in the Media schools, and always a resident on the old farm. 9. Elwood W., born August 15, 1859, died May 15, 1880. 10. Edmund K. (2), of whom further.
(III) Edmund Kinsey (2), son of Edmund Kinsey (I) and Jane (James) Edwards, was born October 16, 1861, in Chester township, Delaware county, at the home farm, where he now resides. He was educated in the public schools, finishing his studies at the Chester High School. He has been engaged in farming and stock-dealing from his youth, and has always lived on the farm in Chester township, formerly owned by his father, and the place of his birth. He has greatly improved it, and the rich soil produces bountifully. He is a Republican in politics, has served on the school board and is now a supervisor of the township. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and is fra- ternally connected with the Improved Order of Red Men and the Knights of the Golden Eagle. He is well known, universally liked and highly respected.
Mr. Edwards married, April 27, 1882, Mary L., daughter of Reuben F. and Elizabeth Bonsall, of Upper Darby township. Children: I. J. Carlton, educated in the Media High School; learned the plumber's trade, which he followed for several years, now traveling salesman for the J. L. Mott Company. of Philadelphia; is a Republican in politics, has served as school director of Chester township, and is a member of L. H. Scott Lodge, No. 352. Free and Accepted Masons. 2. Herman B., educated in Media schools; took a business course in Chester Commercial College, at Chester, and is now overseer for the Chessauqua Silk Company of Upland. 3. Edmund K. (3), educated in the Chester High School and Pierce Business College of Philadelphia; now a clerk in the employ of the Harbison Walker Refactories Company, of Ches- ter; married, September 6, to Nellie Whiteley Webster, daughter of Dr. George Webster, of Chester, Pennsylvania.
SIPLER An essentially representative and energetic citizen in Darby, Pennsylvania, is Phillip Henry Sipler, who is here most success- fully engaged in the hardware business. He is well known as a man of sterling character and one who has ever been fair and honorable in his business dealings. Mr. Sipler is descended from a very old Pennsylvania fam- ily and he traces his origin back to staunch Dutch descent. His great-great-
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grandfather was Phillip Sipler, who was a farmer in Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania, in the early pioneer days of that section. His son, Simon, conducted a tavern at Dunks Ferry, now Croydon, near Bristol, Pennsylvania. Simon Sipler had seven sons, all of whom grew to maturity, and one of whom was Phillip Sipler, grandfather of the subject of this review. A native of Bucks county, this state, Phillip Sipler was born April 1, 1810. He opened a har- ness shop in Darby in 1837, and conducted the same with considerable suc- cess during the remainder of his lifetime. He passed to the great beyond Sep- tember 6, 1901, at the patriarchal age of ninety-one years. He was an old- style Democrat until the emancipation of the slaves when he ceased to vote. He married Margaret Egee, and to them were born the following children: Mary G., was a popular and successful teacher in the public schools of Del- aware county for nearly half a century, she died in 1903; Edward D., is mentioned in the following paragraph; Rebecca, died as the wife of Dwight Ferris, who died in Missouri: Emma, married J. W. Thorley, and they reside in Ohio; Theodosia, was the wife of Frank Miller at the time of her demise, he lives in Paulsboro, New Jersey ; George S., married Kate Jordon and they lived in Darby until 1898, when they removed to Philadelphia where he died one year later. The mother of the above children died in Darby, July 4, 1850.
Edward D. Sipler, father of Philip H. Sipler, was born at Darby, Dela- ware county, Pennsylvania, in 1840. As a boy he attended the public schools in his native place and subsequently engaged in the harness business with his father, eventually succeeding him when the latter died in 1901. He is seventy- three years of age at the present time ( 1913), but is still active and is carrying on a fine business to-day. He had just reached manhood at the time of the inception of the civil war and immediately responded to Lincoln's call for vol- unteers by enlisting for service in the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Penn- sylvania Volunteer Infantry, Colonel J. W. Hawley commanding. He served as a gallant and faithful soldier in that regiment until it was mustered out of service in 1863, when he re-enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Ninety- seventh Pennsylvania Regiment. He participated in many of the most important engagements of the war, and at its close was honorably discharged from service. He attended the great reunion at Gettysburg, July 4, 1913. and had a very interesting time exchanging anecdotes with the old veterans gath- ered together in patriotic friendship from the North and the South. He is a stalwart Republican in his political proclivities and was a school director at the time when the big school building was erected at Darby. He has also given efficient service as a member of the town council of Darby. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Dailey, was born in Ireland, and when a mere child came to live in the home of Christian Gaul, in Philadelphia. She was very young when she came to America and remembered nothing of her parentage. She bore her husband four children: Phillip Henry, of this notice; Mary G., is the wife of Joseph Smith, of Darby; Edward D. Jr., is in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in Philadelphia; Horace T .. is engaged in the harness business with his father. Mrs. Sipler is still living at the age of seventy-two years, and she and her husband are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was a trustee for many years. They are both deeply beloved by all with whom they have come in contact, their geniality and generous hospitality winning them friends all over the county.
Phillip Henry Sipler, first born in a family of four children, is a native of Darby. Pennsylvania, where his birth occurred August 29. 1865. After a thorough public school training he worked for a number of different business concerns until he entered his grandfather's harness shop, in which he was employed for eighteen years, at the expiration of which he engaged in the
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hardware business at Darby, opening a well stocked store under the mime of P. H. Sipler. He is now the owner of a fine, modern establishment and con- trols a splendid patronage in Darby and the territory normally tributary thereto. He has money invested in a number of business enterprises in Darby and is a member of the board of directors in the Building and Loan Asso- ciation of Darby. In politics he maintains an independent attitude, preferring. to give his support to men and measures meeting with the approval of his. judgment rather than to vote along strictly partisan lines. His fraternal affil -- iations are with Prospect Lodge, No. 578, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,. of Moores, Pennsylvania; and with Orphans Rest Lodge, No. 132, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of Darby, having passed through all the official chairs of the latter organization. He and the members of his family attend the Presbyterian church.
November 24, 1901, Mr. Sipler married Esther J. Boyer, a native of Riegelsville, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Abram Boyer, who followed the industry of farming in the same county during his active career. He is now living retired at Darby, in the home of Mr. Sipler. He and his wife, who was Catherine Long in her girlhood days, had two children: Esther J. and Edith. Mrs. Boyer was born in Durham, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and died in 1911, aged seventy-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Sipler have three children : Phillip Jr., born in 1902; Edward D. Jr., born in 1905; Howard Dwight, born in 1911.
Mr. Sipler is a shrewd business man, a public-spirited citizen, and a loyal and sincere friend. He is very generous hearted, his charity being only cur- tailed by the length of his purse and by the opportunities offered. No one in Darby is held in higher esteem than he, and his exemplary life serves as an incentive to the younger generation.
SWAIN The career of Dr. Swain, as an educator, illustrates once again the great possibilities open to the ambitious, resolute, clean-living American boy, be he on the farm, in the shop, or a dweller in the city. While Dr. Swain's rise was rapid, his own efforts and ability were the contributing factors, neither family, wealth nor influence compelling his eleva- tion to a foremost position among modern educators.
Joseph Swain was born in Pendleton, Indiana, June 16, 1857, son of Wool- ston and Mary A. (Thomas) Swain. His father, a farmer, gave his son the benefit of the educational advantages of that section, and his early life was spent on the farm. Being ambitious to obtain a college education, after a pre- paratory course at the academy in Pendleton the young man entered the Uni- versity of Indiana, whence he was graduated B. L. in 1883 and received the degree of M. S. in 1885. Immediately after his graduation in 1883, he was elected assistant in mathematics in his alma mater, continuing until 1885 when he was elected associate professor of mathematics, with a year's leave of ab- sence, which he spent in study at Edinburgh University, Scotland.
During his college life he won the personal friendship of David Starr Jor- dan, and the names Jordan and Swain are found associated in the publication of numerous scientific papers printed by the National Museum. During his year in Edinburgh he obtained entrance to the Royal Observatory, his experi- ence with Piazzi Smyth, being described in a paper entitled "An Experience with the Astronomer Royal of Scotland." In 1888 Professor Swain occupied the chair of mathematics at his alma mater, but in 1891 transferred his alle- giance to Leland Stanford University, being called there by Dr. Jordan to be- come head of the department of mathematics. In 1893 Wabash College con-
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ferred the degree of LL. D. and the same year Dr. Swain was called to the presidency of Indiana University, already the scene of many of his successes. He continued at the head of the University until 1902, bringing to that institu- tion the greatest success of its history. The enrollment was increased to 772 students, this, and the marked advance in educational standards, during his ad- ministration, indicate clearly the character and methods of President Swain. In 1902 he was called to the presidency of Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where his efficiency, adaptability, liberal ideas, broad sympathies and general knowledge, have accomplished like results. President Swain is a member of the National Council of Education : National Educational Associa- . tion : National Council of Religious Education : the American Association for Advancement of Science : president of the Higher Educational Section of the National Educational Association ; president of the National Council of the same association : member of the Contemporary Club of Philadelphia and for nine years was a member of the Indiana State Board of Education. He was ·elected president of the National Educational Association in July, 1913. Dr. Swain's work for the cause of higher education is carried on, not only at the institution of which he is the honored head but through the societies noted, through the medium of the educational press and from the platform. He is virile and forceful as a writer and speaker and fired by an almost holy zeal, ac- complishes much that benefits the cause he advocates. He is a member of the Society of Friends (Hicksite), connected with the Swarthmore Meeting.
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