USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 25
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- EVI G. JAMES, a well known resident of Chester, and who has been success- fully engaged in various lines of business for nearly fifty years, is a son of Eber and Sarah Garrett) James, and was born at Downing-
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town, Chester county, Pennsylvania, Septem- ber 5, 1827. The immigrant ancestor of the James family was Aaron James, a native of England, who came over with William Penn in his second visit to his new planted colony on the banks of the Delaware. Aaron James settled in Westtown township, in Chester county, where he gave his time to farming and owned a tract of six hundred acres of land, which he had purchased from Penn. He was a Quaker in religion and brought with him to this country a family of thirteen children, twelve sons and one daughter. One of his sons went to Vermont, two to North Carolina, while some removed to other States and sev- eral remained in Chester county. The home- stead remained in the hands of his descend- ants for many years, and one of his grand- sons was Caleb James, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Caleb James was born and reared on the old homestead. He was a whig and Quaker, and lived on the farm until his death in 1835, at the remarkable age of one hundred years. He married and reared a family of four children, three sons and one daughter: Caleb, jr., Joseph, Lydia and Aaron. Of these children, Lydia never married, and Caleb, jr. (grandfather), always remained on the home farm. He was a whig, a farmer and a Quaker, and died in 1816, aged forty years. He wedded Mary Yearsley, and to their union were born six children, two sons and four daughters : Susanna, who never married ; Eben (father); Esther, who died un- married ; Asenath, wife of Sharpless Lewis ; and Mary, who never married. Eben James (father) was reared on his father's farm and learned his trade at Westtown, Chester county, the trade of potter, which he followed in his own section until April, 1830, when he re- moved to Radnor township, Delaware county. He there continued to follow his trade up to his death, which occurred in 1846, when he was in the forty-sixth year of his age. He was a whig politically, had held a number of township offices and always took active inter-
est in political affairs. He was a Quaker in religion, and married Sarah Garrett, a daugh- ter of Levi Garrett, of Willistown, Chester county. Mrs. Sarah James lived to be sixty- six years of age, dying in 1871. To Mr. and Mrs. James were born eleven children : Caleb, Garrett, Levi G., Emeline, Mary A. Baldwin, Edwin, Elizabeth Hughes, Eber, jr., Wilmer, Sarah Lear and Marshall.
Levi G. James, although a native of Ches- ter, yet grew to manhood in Delaware county, and received his education in the common schools and the well known Castleton academy. of Vermont. Leaving the academy he en- gaged in the pottery business in Radnor town- ship, but soon left that line of work to embark in merchandising, which he followed success- fully in various parts of the State for nineteen years. At the end of that time (in 1871) he came to Chester, where he purchased a lot and erected the present postoffice building. He also erected large livery stables, and has done ever since a large sale and exchange business in horses. Mr. James owns a fine and fertile farm of sixty acres in the rich and beautiful Cumberland valley. He is a repub- lican in politics, has held numerous local offices, and is now serving on his seventeenth consecutive year as school director.
In 1848 Mr. James wedded Sarah Worrall, daughter of Elisha and Mary Marshall Wor- rall, of Delaware county. To their union have been born five children : Anna Delia Tritt, who now resides in the city of Brooklyn, New York; Calista Sharp, a resident of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania ; Emerett, whose husband, W. H. Farley, is engaged in the drug business in Chester ; Carleton, who married Laura Larkin, a granddaughter of ex-Mayor Larkin, and resides in the city of Chester ; and Razell, who married Nellie Birt- well. a daughter of H. B. Birtwell, proprietor of Ridley Creek iron works, and is engaged in business with his father, under the firm name of L. G. James & Son. Mr. James' wife died in 1883, and he was again married
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in 1886 to Mary Cobourn, of Chester, Penn- sylvania.
For nearly half a century Levi G. James has maintained the character of an upright and intelligent business man. In his exten- sive dealings and present enterprise he has always been and is noted for judgment, pru- dence, honesty and foresight.
F REDERICK BALDT, the eminent steel caster, who is now manager of the Penn Steel Casting & Machine Company's plant in Chester, this county, and has won an international reputation by his skill and ability. is a son of William and Elizabeth ( Painter) Baldt, and was born in the city of Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, June 17, 1841. His par- ents were both natives of that city and died there, the father in 1883, aged eighty-two years, and the mother in 1864, of cholera, in her seventy-first year. The Baldt family was planted in this country by Frederick Baldt, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who was a native of Germany, where he was reared and educated. While yet a young man he left the Fatherland, and, cross- ing the broad Atlantic, settled in the city of Philadelphia, where he became a market gar- dener, and possessing a goodly share of the thrift and industry that characterize the Ger- man race, he succeeded well and accumulated considerable property. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and lived to be eighty- eight years of age, dying at his home in Phil- adelphia about 1857. He married Christian Wolfe, and reared a family of nine children. His son, William Baldt (father), learned the trade of house carpenter when a young man, and followed that occupation successfully nearly all his life. He was a democrat in politics, and by his marriage to Elizabeth Painter, had a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters : Christian, William, Henry, Mary, Anna, John and Frederick. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Baldt, Peter 124
Painter, was also a native of Germany, who came to the United States about the time that Frederick Baldt arrived, and, like the latter, settled in Philadelphia, engaged in market gardening, and served in the American army during the war of 1812.
In his native city of Philadelphia the sub- ject of this sketch grew to manhood, and to the excellent public schools of that city he is indebted for the superior English education he obtained. He early manifested a predilec- tion for machinery and work among the metals, and upon leaving school began an apprentice- ship to the molder's trade in the old Penn works of Reamy, Mafie & Levy, in the city of Philadelphia. Coming to his work with in- telligent enthusiasm and pursuing it with en- ergy and industry, it was not long till he be- came a successful molder, and he rapidly acquired large theoretical knowledge as well as great practical skill in handling iron and steel. In 1864, at the age of twenty-three, he came to Chester to assume the management of the foundry that had been started here by Reamy, Son & Archibald, and remained in charge of that foundry until 1870, when it was sold to the late John Roach, the well-known ship-builder. For a short time he managed the foundry for Mr. Roach, but in October, 1870, returned to Philadelphia to take charge of what was known as the People's foundry, which he managed until January, 1871, when he came back to this city and assumed charge of the Chester Steel Casting Company's works, which had until then been unable to make a success of steel casting. He soon had this plant turning out standard steel, and it scored a big financial success. Mr. Baldt remained with this company until 1875, when he organ- ized the Eureka Cast Steel Company, of this city, and, being elected its general manager, continued in charge of its operations up to March, 1886, during which time it did a large and prosperous business, becoming one of the most successful concerns of the kind in Penn- sylvania. The Standard Steel Casting Com-
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pany of Thurlow, this county, having failed to make a success of steel casting, its presi- dent, Mr. Robert Wetherill, engaged Mr. Baldt to take charge of its plant in March, 1886, and in a short time he succeeded in giv- ing these works a national reputation on ac- count of the superiority of the steel castings produced. While with this company Mr. Baldt made for the United States government the first six-inch high pressure rifled cannon that had ever stood the required test, and also made at that plant the castings for the govern- ment cruisers. Here were made the hull and engine castings for the steamships Baltimore, Philadelphia, Newark, Petrel, Vesuvius, Maine, Texas. Birmington and Concord, and part of the castings used on the New York. People came even from Europe to see these castings, which were admitted to be superior to any- thing of the kind then produced. Mr. Baldt continued to manage the plant of the Standard Steel Casting Company until January, 1891, when he retired to his farm in Maryland, and remained there one year. In 1892 he returned to Chester, Pennsylvania, and was instrumental in organizing the Penn Steel Casting & Ma- chine Company, of which M. H. Bickley is president, John T. Dickson is secretary, and H. B. Black is treasurer. Upon the organi- zation of this company Mr. Baldt was made general manager, and has ably filled that po- sition to the present time. The company pur- chased the old Chester Foundry & Machine Company's plant at the corner of Front and Penn streets, and enlarged and otherwise im- proved it until they now have one of the largest works of this character to be found in the Key- stone State. This plant has the capacity for producing the largest steel castings ever made or used in the world, and the superior excel- lence of its product is everywhere conceded. Its business has been a conspicuous success alnost from the start, and in its management Mr. Baldt has served his fourth professional and financial triumph, either one of which would have made the reputation and satisfied
the ambition of most men of affairs. By giv- ing his attention mainly to his special line, and doing everything he undertook in the best pos- sible manner, Mr. Baldt has won a place in the very front rank of practical steel workers, and his ability and skill is known and recog- nized, not only in this country, but in Europe and wherever fine machinery is made or used. He takes a pardonable pride in the fact that every steel casting plant with which he has ever been connected has proved a marked suc- cess, and no failure has ever thrown its sombre shadows across his career as a successful worker in iron and steel.
On January 29, 1860, in the city of Phila- delphia, Mr. Baldt was united in marriage to Susan MacKinley, a daughter ef Archibald MacKinley, of that city. To Mr. and Mrs. Baldt was born a family of seven children, three sons and four daughters: Anna A., George W., Elizabeth, Frederick, jr., Kate H., John Mack and Flora M. In his political affiliations Mr. Baldt has been a life-long democrat, and for a number of years has been a member of Chester Lodge, No. 236, Free and Accepted Masons.
WILLIAM P. LADOMUS, the well- known jeweler of Chester city and Ocean Grove, and one of the prominent democratic leaders and politicians of Delaware county, is a son of Joseph and Henrietta ( Powell ) Lad- omus, and was born July 27, 1852, in the city of Chester, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. The Ladomus family trace their transatlantic origin to France, where Charles A. Ladomus, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and a scion of French nobility, was born. He happened on perilous times, and in the confusion attending one of the French revolutions, his mother, who had been left a widow, fled with her son to Germany, where he was reared. After attaining his majority, being tall of stature and a fine specimen of perfect physical manhood, he enlisted in the
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grand army of the first Napoleon, and was soon elected to act as interpreter for that mighty man of genius. He became a great admirer of Napoleon, participated in a number of his famous battles, and followed his fortunes for several years. Of his two brothers, one was an officer under Napoleon 1., and the other an eminent educator, who founded an educational institution in the city of Carlsruhe, Germany. Charles A. Ladomus was highly educated, spoke a number of languages, understood mathematics, astronomy and music, and was aptly described as a "walking cyclopedia." In youth he had learned the business of silver- smith, and, after leaving the French army, became one of the first watchmakers in Eu- rope. He came to the United States in 1822, and in 1824 located at Chester, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the jewelry business, and carried on that trade here until he was succeeded by his son, Joseph Ladomus, who still conducts the business in this city.
Joseph Ladomus ( father) was born at Ches- ter, this county, in 1828, and has all his life been a resident of this city. He engaged in the jewelry business with his father, and has devoted nearly all his life to that trade. For fifty-one years he has occupied his present stand at No. 320 Market street, and is known by reputation at least to every man, woman and child in Delaware county. His jewelry store is one of the old landmarks of the city, and few indeed remain of the men who were active here when Mr. Ladomus began his busi- ness career. He not only has the oldest but also the largest jewelry store in the city of Chester, and carries a fine selected stock. In 1863 he served for three months with the emergency men called out by the governor to protect Pennsylvania interests against the threatened invasion of Confederate forces. In 1850 he married Henrietta Powell, a daugh- ter of Henry L. Powell, of this city, and by that union had a family of four children, all sons : Charles H., who is now city engineer of
Chester ; Bonsall, first assistant in the city en- gineer's office, also borough surveyor of South Chester and superintendent of Ridley park ; William P., the subject of this sketch ; and Jos- eph H., watchmaker. Mrs. Henrietta Ladomus was born in the city of Chester, is a member of the Episcopal church, and is now in the sixtieth year of her age. Her father, Henry L. Powell (maternal grandfather), is a native of Delaware State, who settled in this city when a young man, and has resided here ever since. He is now in his eighty-fourth year.
William P. Ladomus was educated in the public schools and at Professor Gilbert's fam- ous academy. Leaving school he entered his father's jewelry store and learned the jeweler's trade, and has continued in business with his father to the present time. During the sum- mer months Mr. Ladomus runs a jewelry store on his own account at Ocean Grove, New Jersey, where he has become well known and extremely popular. Reared in a democratic atmosphere and imbibing its doctrines from his earliest years, he has always adhered to that political party. In 1864 he ran away from home and proceeded to Philadelphia to enter the army as a drummer boy, but upon reach- ing headquarters was refused on account of his extreme youth. In the summer of that year and in 1865 he served as a volunteer nurse in the Chester hospital, attending the sick and wounded soldiers therein for several months without pay. The first public office held by Mr. Ladomus was that of judge of elections in 1878, although as a lad he had frequently made out the window books for the elections. In 1882 he was elected city treasurer here, and reelected in 1884. He received the democratic nomination for city assessor in 1879 and was elected at the polls. In 1880 he was again nominated for city treasurer and defeated. In 1882 he was elected city treasurer, and in 1884 reëlected. He was elected a member of the city council for three years in 1888, and in 1889 received the nomination for city treas- urer, but was defeated by Henry Hinkson, the
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present incumbent. In February, 1891, Mr. Ladomus was again elected as a member of the city council, and upon the expiration of his term in 1893 was reëlected to that position for another term of three years.
On October 14, 1882, Mr. Ladomus was united in marriage with Mary S. Hoffman, a daughter of Samuel V. Hoffman, of the city of Chester. Their union has been blessed by the birth of two children, one son and a daugh- ter : Baxter M. and Marion H. Mr. Ladomus is a member of Scott Lodge. No. 352. Free and Accepted Masons, and also of the Royal Arcanum and Patriotic Order Sons of America.
G EORGE WIEGAND, one of the lead- ing contractors and builders of this part of Pennsylvania, who served for nearly four years during the civil war and is now a mem- ber of the select council of Chester, is a native of Germany, born January 9, 1843. He came to the United States with his elder brother, John Wiegand, in 1852, when only nine years of age. His parents, Christian and Martha C. Wiegand, were both natives of Germany, where the former died in 1854, and where the latter is still living, being now in the seventy- second year of her age. The subject of this sketch has resided in Delaware county ever since his arrival in America, and in the public schools here he acquired an excellent English education. His boyhood was spent on a farm, where he was early inured to labor, and in 1860, at the age of seventeen, he started in to learn the trade of bricklaying. In April, 1861, lie enlisted for three months in Co. 1, 9th Pennsylvania infantry, and at the expiration of his term of service reënlisted in the 3d Pennsylvania cavalry, with which he served for three years and six months. He partici- pated in all the leading battles in which his regiment was engaged, being taken prisoner at Bristow station, near Culpeper Courthouse, Virginia, on the 6th of October, 1863. For a period of fourteen months and thirteen days
he remained in the hands of the Confederates. spending part of that time in the notorious Libby and Andersonville prisons. After the war ended he returned to Pennsylvania and finished learning his trade, at which he worked for a number of years. In 1870 he engaged in contracting and building on his own account at Chester, this county, and has ever since successfully conducted that business in this city. He now has a large and prosperous trade, including many of the largest contracts let in recent years, and owing to his energy, ability, and careful supervision of all work undertaken by him. has become one of the most popular and largest contractors in the city of Chester or in Delaware county. In addition to his immense building business he is also a large stockholder and director in the Keystone Brick Company of Chester, and for a period of two years served as its general manager, in connection with his other busi- ness. He also owns considerable real estate in this city.
In 1865 Mr. Wiegand was united in marriage to Mary Gibbons. a daughter of John Gibbons, of Northumberland county, this State. To Mr. and Mrs. Wiegand was born a family of four children, two sons and two daughters : May, Gertrude, Lawrence and Curtis.
Politically George Wiegand is a stanch re- publican, and in 1870 was elected a member of the city council, in which he served three terms in succession. In 1890 he was elected to the select council, and after serving one term was reëlected in 1892 for a term of four years. He is now discharging the duties of this important office in a manner at once ac- ceptable to the people and highly creditable to himself. For a number of years Mr. Wie- gand has taken an active interest in politics, and is reckoned among the most trusted local leaders of his party. He is a member of Wilde Post, No. 25, Grand Army of the Republic, and is also connected with the Improved Order of Red Men. The career of this gentleman shows what energy, perseverance, and well
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directed effort may accomplish in this country. When he landed in America he was a poor boy without a dollar or an influential friend on this continent. To-day he occupies a prominent position among the business men and citizens of one of the finest counties in the great Keystone State, is independent in financial matters, and can be said to be emi- nently a self-made man. His brother, John Wiegand, with whom he came from the Fath- erland, is now general manager of Cox Broth- ers' coal mines in Luzerne county, Pennsyl- vania. Both are fine representatives of the thrifty German race, which has furnished so many useful and honored citizens to this country.
SAMUEL STARR, M. D., a graduate from the Hahnemann Medical college of Philadelphia, who has been in successful prac- tice since 1869, and now ranks with the prom- inent physicians of Delaware county, is. a son of Jeremiah and Mary ( Thompson) Starr, and was born July 22, 1840, in the township of New Garden, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He was reared in his native county, attending the public schools in boyhood and later re- ceiving a good academic education. On Aug- ust 12, 1862, at the age of twenty-two, he en- listed in the United States Marine corps, and served for four years, being discharged in California on the 12th of Angust, 1866. Dur- ing these four years of active service he was sick only three days, and soon after his enlist- ment was promoted from a private to the rank of first sergeant. He remained in California until April 1, 1867, when he returned to Penn- sylvania and became a member of an engineer- ing corps, but only for a short time. In the autumn of that year he began reading medi- cine with Dr. J. B. Wood, at West Chester, this State, and later matriculated at the Hahne- mann Medical college of Philadelphia, from which well-known institution he was gradua- ted March 3, 1869, with the degree of M. D. On the next day, March 4, he opened an office
at Ashland, Schuylkill county, this State, for the practice of his profession, and remained there one year. He then removed to Phila- delphia, where he engaged in practice at the corner of Eleventh and Green streets, and soon had a nice business established. In that city he remained until September, 1873, when he came to Chester and opened an office, where he has ever since been successfully engaged in general practice. For the last four years he has been a member of the pension board of examining surgeons, having begun his term of service June 18, 1889. He is also medical ex- aminer for a number of leading life insurance companies in this city. Dr. Starr is a mem- ber of the American Institute of Homeopathy, the Delaware, Chester and Montgomery Coun- ties Medical society, and of the Organon society of the city of Chester.
On January 6, 1876, Dr. Starr was wedded to Mary C. Dyer, youngest daughter of John G. and Arabella Dyer, of this city. To the Doctor and Mrs. Starr has been born a family of four children, three sons and a daughter : Belle D., Clarence T., Frank C. and Charles H.
In his political affiliations the subject of this sketch is a republican, and is now serving his eleventh year as a member of the school board. In religious faith he is a Presbyterian, and he and Mrs. Starr are members of the First Pres- byterian church of this city. Dr. Starr is a member of Wilde Post. No. 25, Grand Army of the Republic, of Chester, and is also med- ical director of the Grand Army for the State of Pennsylvania. He is likewise connected with the Patriotic Order Sons of America, and both as a physician and a citizen occupies an exalted position in public esteem. P
Dr. Starr traces his ancestry back to Major John Starr, an Irish officer in the British army, and the family has been settled in Pennsyl- vania since the time of the Penns. Thomas Starr, the original immigrant to this country, came over with the first Quaker settlers, and a part of the log house which he built near Avondale, in Chester county, is still standing.
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Jeremiah Starr, paternal grandfather of Dr. Starr, was a native of Chester county, born September 10, 1762. He was a farmer all his life, became quite prosperous, and died March 12, 1816. He married Anna Whitson, who was born September 5, 1763, and was a daugh- ter of Thomas and Elizabeth Whitson. They reared a family of six children, one of their sons being Jeremiah Starr ( father), who was born in the closing year of the last century, in New Garden township, Chester county. this State, where he passed his entire life, dying there April 17, 1876, at the advanced age of seventy- seven years and nine months. He was a strict member of the Society of Friends, and a re- publican in politics. His vocation was that of a coach maker, and he carried on that busi- ness successfully for many years, though he retired some time previous to his death and devoted his last years to agriculture. He se- cured a wide reputation for skill and ability as a coach maker, and some of the finest coaches ever driven in this State were the product of his shops. In 1827 he married Mary Thomp- son, a daughter of Eli Thompson, of New Castle county, Delaware, and by that union had a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters: Sarah, Jeremiah, Eli T., Anna, Samuel, Marianna and Charles T. Starr. Mrs. Mary Starr was a native of New Castle county. Delaware, born May 15. 1810, and died September 3, 1883, aged seventy-eight years. Her father, Eli Thompson ( maternal grandfather), was also a native of that county, and was born October 14, 1770. He was a son of Daniel and Elizabeth Thompson, and died April 19, 1840. His wife, Sarah Thomp- son, was born the same year as her husband. She was a daughter of John and Mary Scarlet, who lived near Kennett Square at the time of the Revolution, and who underwent many of the hardships and privations incident to those "times that tried men's souls," when the free- dom of a whole people was won in a bloody contest that lasted nearly seven years, but which resulted in moving forward the dial
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