USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > A history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and its people; Volume III > Part 25
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Dr. Swain married, September 22, 1885. in Knightstown, Indiana, Frances M., daughter of Charles D. Morgan.
KENT The Kent family of Delaware county are of an old English family. The American ancestor of this branch, Thomas Kent. came in 1839. although an elder sister, Sarah, wife of James Wilde, had pre- ceded him.
Josiah Kent. father of the immigrant ancestor, lived and died in Lanca- shire, England. He married Hannah Lightfoot, from Cheshire, a member of the Church of England. Josiah was a Dissenter.
Thomas Kent, son of Josiah and Hannah (Lightfoot) Kent, was born in Middleton, Lancashire, England. March 27, 1813, died at Clifton Heights, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, October 5. 1887. He had limited opportuni- ties to obtain an education, but such as he had were well improved, and at no period of his life was mental equipment a handicap to his success. He began business life as a weaver in a cotton mill, learning so rapidly and displaying such a superior quality of intelligence that at the age of sixteen years he was appointed a foreman. He served as foreman three years, then took service in a silk mill. continuing in that higher form of the weaver's art until his depart- ure for the United States in 1839. After the death of his mother in 1838, so broken was his health that physicians gave him but a year more of life. This led to his determination to come to the United States, where his sister was living, wife of James Wilde, who was then engaged in manufacturing on Darby creek, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. He sailed from Liverpool in August, 1839. arriving in Philadelphia, after a stormy voyage of six weeks, on Sun- day afternoon, September 30. His health had greatly improved during these six weeks at sea, and he at once sought employment. Believing himself unfit- ted for manual labor, he decided upon the profession of law, and his first win- ter was spent in law study in Philadelphia. He soon found that the confine- ment of student life was again undermining his health, and at once sought for other openings. At this time he found that a mill owned by Thomas Garrett,
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located on Darby creek, was for rent, and securing the property he began the manufacture of woolen yarns. He. thoroughly understood this business and was succeeding finely when the great freshet of August 5, 1843, historic in the annals of Delaware county, swept away all his possessions. This did not daunt him, but again seeking Thomas Garrett he rented, in 1844, and in 1845 purchased the mill property on the site of the present Rockbourne mill. Pros- perity again attended his efforts, and on November 16, 1846, he purchased of James Wilde a mill on the site of the present Union mill. This latter he leased to his brother-in-law until Mr. Wilde's death in 1867, when he remod- eled it and added it to his other plant. These mills did a very large business, but at the outbreak of the civil war he gave them over to the manufacture of cloth to be used in the making of uniforms for the United States army. The service thus rendered through patriotism and a desire to serve his adopted country was greatly appreciated by the government, and from that time until the present government cloth has been a large item in the mill's output.
Although feeble physically, during the latter years of his life, Mr. Kent continued in active supervision of the business until the day of his death in 1887. He was a successful business man and built up a manufacturing plant that under his management and that of his son, Henry Thomas Kent, can show a longer record of unbroken prosperity than perhaps any mills in the country. He was not a mere money maker, but enjoyed his business for the power it gave him to do good. He had strong will power and great faith in the future, these qualities supporting him when he saw his possessions sweeping away on the turbulent flood, and in every other crisis of life. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1845, and loyally adopted the institutions of his new country. Too delicate. in health and also past the age limit for army service, he nevertheless rendered valuable assistance to the Union cause with purse and influence. He always took a great interest in state and national affairs, but never accepted public office. Early in life he came under the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg, whose writings were published in Latin during the latter part of the eighteenth century and were translated by the Rev. John Clowes, of St. John's Church, Manchester, who preached and taught for over sixty years in the parish in which Mr. Kent spent his English life. He early was led into religious paths, and when a young man was a class leader in the village chapel. After becoming interested in the New Church teachings he walked twenty miles each Sunday to attend three services conducted by Rev. Dr. Bayley, a talented writer and eloquent preacher. At these services Mr. Kent sang in the choir, having in his younger days, a rich tenor voice. "That all religion has relation to life and that the life of religion is to do good," was one of the truths he endeavored to carry out in all relations of life. He was ever upborne by an absolute trust in a Divine Providence, and from such unseen sources was his frail body filled with a courage that never faltered in any crisis or trial of his long life of continuous activity.
Thomas Kent married, May 13, 1852, Fanny Leonard, born March 19, 1821, on the tract of land originally granted to her ancestor, Solomon Leon- ard, who was one of the first proprietors of the town of Bridgewater, Massa- chusetts, with Miles Standish and fifty others.
The English history of the family of Leonard traces to William the Con- queror, 1066, and in America descent is traced from Fanny Leonard to five of the Pilgrims who came in the "Mayflower" in 1620, viz; Edward Winslow, Susanna Fuller, Isaac Allerton, Remember Allerton, and Francis Cooke. Re- lated families are the Sheppard, Parker, Stearns, Stone, Hosmer, and others distinguished in the service of church and state. Ancestors served in King
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Philip's war. 1675 ; in the French and Indian war at Lonisburg in 1745 : and at Lexington, Bunker Hill, and all through the Revolution.
The line of descent from Solomon and Mary Leonard, of Bridgewater, is through their son. John Leonard, who died in 1699, and his wife, Mary : their son, Joseph Leonard, who in 1712 married Hannah Jennings ; their son, Joseph Leonard, who married Mary D. Packard: their son, Simeon Leonard, who married, in 1817, Boadicea Thompson, and had issue, Boadicea, born 1818, Rachel Stone, born 1819, Fanny, of further mention, Eliza and Eloisa, born 1823. Sarah Louisa, born 1824.
Fanny, daughter of Simeon and Boadicea (Thompson) Leonard, was born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, March 19, 1821, died at her home in Clifton Heights, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, July 30, 1901. She was a graduate of the first class formed in the first normal school in this country, established and fostered by Horace Mann. Even in youth she evidenced unusual talent and intellectual ability and throughout her entire life she was active and earnest in her support of the cause of education. In her later years she wrote and la- bored with vigor, advocating a greater efficiency for our public school system and for the most intelligent training of children. She was brought up in the Christian faith of the New Church, of which her parents were members, and became a woman of very strong character, as capable as she was gentle and helpful.
Children of Thomas and Fanny ( Leonard) Kent, all born in Upper Darby township, Delaware county. Pennsylvania: 1. Hannah, born June 3. 1853: married. October 23. 1873, Frederick Schoff, of Massachusetts. They settled in Philadelphia in 1877, where Mr. Schoff has successfully engaged in business. MIrs. Schoff has been active in educational and progressive philanthropic move- ments and was a leader in the establishing of a juvenile court bill for Philadel- phia. Children : Wilfred Harvey, born November 27, 1874, married, June 20, 1899, Ethelwyn McGeorge, and has Muriel and Wilmot : Edith Gertrude, born May 15, 1877: Louise, born December 19, 1880: Leonard Hastings, born No- vember 7, 1884. 2. Henry Thomas, of further mention. 3. Louise, born April 13. 1856; married. November 23. 1887. Nathaniel Seaver Keay, of Bridge- water, Massachusetts. He was born in Springvale, Massachusetts, May 4, 1847. son of Nathaniel Washburn and Susan Woodworth ( Seaver) Keay. The Keay family are of English ancestry and the founders of this branch were early settlers in Maine, the "Keay Garrison." near Berwick being famous during the French and Indian war and during the Revolution. The Seavers came from England to Boston in 1630; the original homestead on Seaver street, Roxbury, is still in the possession of the family. A favored name in the family, Nathan- iel, has also been handed down through the generations. Dr. Nathaniel Seaver, grandfather of Nathaniel Seaver Keay, was an eminent physician of Maine, son of Captain Nathaniel Seaver. an officer of the revolution. Another an- cestor fought in King Philip's war. losing his life in the Sudbury fight. After the death of his wife Nathaniel Washburn Keay located in Bolivia, South America, where he was interested in irrigation, road-building, and agricultural enterprises, accomplishing more, it is said, for the real development of Bolivia than any other man. He died suddenly in Cocha Bamba, Bolivia, in 1881. Na- thaniel Seaver Keay located in Pennsylvania in 1889 and is secretary of the Thomas Kent Manufacturing Company. He is a member of the New England Society of the Sons of the Revolution. Louise ( Kent) Keay was elected re- gent of the Pennsylvania Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, in 1894. continuing in that office for some time, and was also vice-president and director of the national society for a number of years. She was chairman and treasurer of the Valley Forge memorial committee of the Daughters of the.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LFNOK AND TILD & FOUNDATIONS.
Henry J. Kent
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Revolution, who erected at Valley Forge the first monument to the memory of Washington and the army that immortalized the spot by their patient, heroic suffering. She is a member of various historical and colonial societies and is also an active worker in women's clubs. The Keay honie is on Baltimore ave- nue, Clifton Heights, the Kent homestead erected by Thomas Kent in 1860. Children : Alan Kent, born May 25, 1889; Gladys, April 19, 1891 ; Louise Na- talie, March 11, 1893; Carol Seaver, October 28, 1895; Louis Kent, December 19, 1897; Edythe Leonard, October 10, 1902. 4. Frances Leonard, born Au- gust 1, 1858, died March 1, 1859. 5. Samuel Leonard, born August 21, 1859. He disposed of his interest in the Kent estate in 1898, and has since resided in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Union League of Phila- delphia, Sons of the American Revolution, the Corinthian Yacht Club, and inany other organizations. He married, May 21, 1885, Annie Josephine Ahrens. Children: Frances, born March 7, 1886; Eleanor, January 16, 1888; Samuel Leonard, February 16, 1890 ; Donald, July 25, 1893 ; Margaret, March 26, 1898. 6. Mary Augusta, born June 22, 1861. She has been an officer of the Pennsyl- vania Society of the Daughters of the Revolution since its organization ; an of- ficer of the national society for many years, and holds membership in other pa- triotic societies. She resides in Clifton Heights, where she has erected a beau- tiful house on a portion of the family estate.
Henry Thomas Kent, eldest son and second child of Thomas and Fanny (Leonard) Kent, was born in Upper Darby township, Delaware county, Penn- sylvania, November 4, 1854. He was educated in private schools in Philadel- phia, and at Cornell University. After leaving college he entered his father's woolen mills and became second in management only to his father. After the death of the latter the son carried on the business for the estate until May 5, 1890, when the Thomas Kent Manufacturing Company was incorporated, the stock being equally divided between the five children of Thomas Kent. In 1898 Samuel Leonard Kent retired, his interest being taken by the other owners. Henry Thomas Kent was elected the first president and treasurer of the corporation and so continues at this date (1913). The business has greatly extended under his management and the size of the plant largely increased. In 1899 a tract at the junction of the Pennsylvania railroad and Darby creek, at Clifton Heights, was purchased and a large brick mill erected thereon for the manufacturing of fine worsted yarns, one of the finest and best equipped of the kind in the United States. It will be recalled that during the civil war the woolen mills of Thomas Kent made for the government immense quantities of uniform cloth for the soldiers' use. So during the Spanish-American war the various mills of the company were operated day and night to furnish cloth and goods necessary for the comfort of the army suddenly called to the colors. The raw materials used in the Kent mills are almost exclusively American-grown wool, the purchases amounting to many. millions of pounds annually. Mr. Kent is the capable head of this large busi- ness, and has proven a worthy successor of his honored father. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Clifton Heights in 1902, and was its president until his resignation in 1913. He is president of the Bed- ford Mills Company, of Bedford City, Virginia; and is interested in many minor enterprises. He is a member of the Historical Society of Pennsyl- vania; the Society of Mayflower Descendants; Pennsylvania Society. Sons of the Revolution; New England Society of Pennsylvania; and the Union League of Philadelphia. He is a Republican in politics, and both he and his wife are members of the Church of the New Jerusalem ( Twenty-second and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia ), which Mr. Kent serves as trustee.
He married, October 1, 1885, Louise, daughter of Captain Nahum and
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Phoebe Jane ( Cowing ) Leonard, of Massachusetts. Captain Leonard was an attorney at law and a veteran officer of the civil war, in which he commanded a company of the Fifty-eighth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Mrs. Kent is a direct descendant of John and Priscilla ( Mullins) Alden, of Pilgrim fame, her ancestry gaining her admission to the Society of Mayflower Descend- ants, and through the patriotic services of her forbears she has gained inember- ship in the Daughters of the American Revolution. Children of Henry Thoma- and Louise ( Leonard ) Kent, all born in Upper Darby township, Delaware county. Pennsylvania : 1. Henry Thomas Jr., born July 16, 1887: educated at Penn Charter School, graduated from Cornell University in 1908. 2. Ever- ett Leonard, born June 25, 1889; educated at Penn Charter School and Cor- nell University. 3. Russell Hathaway, born August 31, 1891: educated at Penn Charter School, graduated from Cornell University 1910. 4. Evelyn, born November 9, 1892: educated at Philadelphia private schools. 5. War- ren Thompson, born May 19. 1894; a student at Cornell University. 6. Rosamond Kingman, born March 29. 1901. The family home of the Kents is at Clifton Heights, where Mr. Kent maintains an estate appropriate to his means and standing.
DREWES There are turning points in every man's life called opportunity. Taken advantage of they mean ultimate success. The career of George S. Drewes is a striking illustration of the latter state- ment. Diligent and ever alert for his chance of advancement, he has progressed steadily until he is recognized today as one of the foremost business men of Colwyn, where he holds a splendid position as buyer of angora goat hair and wool for the Griswold Worsted Mills. He is held in high esteem by his fellow citizens, who honor him for his native ability and for his fair and straightfor- ward career. As a Republican he has served his community in various import- ant offices of trust and responsibility, having been councilman and burgess of Darby and of Colwyn, of which latter place he was one of the incorporators.
The ancestry of George S. Drewes is of staunch English stock, his grand- parents having been natives of England, where they passed their entire lives. The paternal grandfather. Bernard Drewes, was a tailor in London, where he died at the age of eighty years. His wife's maiden name is not given but they were both members of the Church of England, in whose faith they reared their ' children.
Henry Bernard Drewes, father, was born in the city of London, England. where he grew to maturity and where he received an excellent education, both in English and German. He early entered upon an apprenticeship to learn the trade of baker and was identified with that line of enterprise during practically the entire period of his active career. He came to America as a young man and after brief sojourns in the cities of Albany and Schenectady, New York, came to Pennsylvania, and located for a time in Philadelphia. In the latter city he worked in various bakeries and eventually opened a bake shop for himself at Lenni, in Delaware county. Subsequently he was engaged in busi- ness at Chester and thence removed to Darby. in 1865. there building up a splendid trade as a baker. He retired from business in 1885, but his estab- lishment was purchased by two of his sons and was conducted under the name of Drewes for years after. He was a Republican in his political proclivities, but never held office of any description. For two and a half years he served in the Union ranks of the civil war. and he died at the home of his son, Charles E. Drewes. in Darby. in 1905, at the venerable age of eighty-four years. The maiden name of his wife was Ann Rhodes, a native of England and a
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daughter of Rhodes, a farmer in the vicinity of London, England, where he died. Mrs. Drewes had two brothers, Thomas and Samuel, both of whom immigrated to America, and several other brothers and sisters who. passed their lives in England. All of the Rhodes children are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bernard Drewes had five children, as follows: Thomas, mar- ried Mary Fryburg; Henry, married Alice Rhodes : George S., of whom for- ward; Charles E., of whom further; William, died at the age of six years ; Ellen, married William H. Whitney. Charles E., George S. and Henry are the only survivors of the above children, and the former is mentioned else- where in this work. Mrs. Drewes passed to. eternal rest in 1904, on Fourth street, in Colwyn. She and her husband were members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
A native of Lansingburg, New York, now Troy, New York, George S. Drewes was born November 1, 1855. He spent the early years of his life at Lenni, Pennsylvania, and there attended the Parkmount school. Owing to the strenuous period of the civil war during his youth he was unable to secure the best of educational advantages. Upon leaving school he entered the bake shop- of his father in Darby and began to learn the trade of baker. This line of work was not to his liking, however, and after a short time he entered upon an ap- prenticeship in the Griswold Woolen Mill in Darby, commencing in the wool sorting room. He gradually advanced and in due time became buyer of angora goat hair and wool, making numerous trips across the country and visiting towns and cities in Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, where he purchases material for the mill's uses. He is an energetic business man and a very shrewd buyer, his services being invaluable to the concern by which he is employed.
In his political convictions Mr. Drewes is an unswerving Republican. He served for thirty-two years as a member of the town councils of Darby and Colwyn, ten years in the former and twenty-two years in the latter, and for some years was burgess of the former borough. In 1892 he became one of the incorporators of Colwyn and he served that community as president of the board of councilmen for seventeen years and for five years as burgess. He has been very influential in bringing about important improvements in both Darby and Colwyn, and his fellow citizens regard him as an authority in all matters af- fecting the good of the general welfare. He fraternizes with Fernwood Lodge, No. 543, Free and Accepted Masons, of Philadelphia : with Orphans Rest Lodge, No. 132, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Darby.
Mr. Drewes married Harriet E. Heap, whose birth occurred in Phoenix- ville, Pennsylvania, and who is a daughter of Joshua Heap, a native of Eng- land. Mr. Heap immigrated to the United States in an early day and during the civil war gave patriotic service to the land of his adoption as bugler. He was an engineer by profession and was prominent in the milling business of Delaware county for many years. He died in Darby at the age of sixty-eight years, and his cherished and devoted wife, who was Elizabeth Verlinden in her girlhood, died aged ninety-one years. Mr. Heap was exceedingly fond of mu- sic and was one of the foremost members of the Darby band. To Mr. and Mrs. Drewes were born four children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth: William Y., Charles H., Ann R., and George S. Jr. On other pages of this work will be found a brief sketch of the career of Charles H. Drewes, second in order of birth of the above children. Mr. and Mrs. Drewes are zealous members of the Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Church at Darby, of which Mr. Drewes is a member of the board of stewards, and there all their children have been baptized. Mrs. Drewes is a woman of most gracious re- finement and she and her husband are highly thought of by their fellow citi- zens, their lives having been exemplary in all respects.
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Charles Edward Drewes was born in Lansingburg. New York, DREWES in 1858. He was eight years of age when his parents came to Delaware county, his early life being spent in Rockdale, and his education obtained in the public schools of Lima and Darby. His life has been spent in the baking business, which he learned with his father. He established a bakery in Darby, a quarter of a cen- tury ago: which he has successfully conducted until the present date, 1913. He has a large business carefully conducted with scrupulous regard for cleanli- ness and sanitary law. He has taken an active part in borough affairs, was twelve years a member of council and is now serving his third year as borouglı treasurer. He is a member of Fernwood Lodge, No. 543, Free and Accepted Masons ; belongs to Fire Companies No. 1 and 2, and attends the Methodist Episcopal church. In political faith he is a Republican. He married, in No- vember, 1887, Eliza Browne, born in Philadelphia, daughter of John Trites Browne, born in Delaware county in 1839, a car inspector for the Pennsylvania railroad, later and for thirty years manager of Fernwood cemetery, retiring in 1913, now living at Drexel Hill. He married Anna Louise Freyburg, born in Delaware county, died in 1898, aged fifty-seven years. John Trites Browne was a son of Henry Browne, great-nephew of Daniel Boone, the mighty hunter and brave pioneer. Henry Browne married Ann Eliza Trites, born in Dela- ware county, died in 1892. Anna Louise Freyburg, wife of John Trites Browne, was a daughter of John L. Freyburg, born in Delaware county, in 1799 died in 1872, and Eliza Phillips, his wife, born in Philadelphia, in 1803. died in 1894. Ella, the only child of Charles Edward and Eliza (Browne) Drewes, resides in Darby with her parents.
DREWES Among the progressive and influential citizens of the younger generation in Darby, Charles Heap Drewes holds prestige as a business man of distinctive note. Here he is conducting an up- to-date undertaking establishment and he is a director in the Darby Build- ing and Loan Association. He has given efficient service as deputy coroner of Delaware county, as state registrar and as secretary of the Darby board of health.
Charles Heap Drewes, son of George S. Drewes (q. v.). was born at Darby, Pennsylvania, September 25. 1880. He received a good preliminary education in the public schools of his native place, and like many boys of his community initiated his active career as a millhand in the local woolen mills. After being employed there for twelve years, part of the time as combmaker, he purchased the undertaking establishment of W. W. James, and has con- ducted the same on strictly sanitary principles and in a high-class manner for a number of years. His undertaking parlors and equipment are up-to-date in every particular, and his place ranks as one of the best of its kind in Delaware county. Politically, Mr. Drewes is a Republican. For five years he was deputy corner of Delaware county, for four years served as state registrar, and at the present time is secretary of the board of health of Darby. He never neglects his duty, and his capable service puts him in line for more important official positions in the future. He has considerable money invested in the Darby Building and Loan Association, of which he is a director.
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