USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 26
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hand on the clock of human progress in a greater advance than it had hitherto marked in five centuries.
H ENRY L. DONALDSON, a prom- inent real estate dealer of Chester, and a notary public of the city for twenty years, is a son of John and Eleanor ( Shearer) Don- aldson, and was born in the city of Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1827. John Donaldson (father) was a native of County Donegal, Ireland, which he left about 1820 to emigrate to America. After his arrival in this country he located in Philadelphia, where he remained until 1832, when he came to Dela- ware county, settling in Ridley township, at what is now Crumlynn. There he resided until his death, in 1855, when in the sixty- fifth year of his age. By occupation he was a stone mason, and one of the best and most skillful workers in stone then in the county. He was a member of the Episcopal church, and a democrat in politics. He married Eleanor Shearer, a daughter of Capt. John Shearer, and a native of the city of Chester. She was a member of the Presbyterian church, and died in 1866, after an active and useful life, spanning three quarters of a century. To their union was born a family consisting of two sons and one daughter : George B., Henry L, and Anna S. Capt. John Shearer ( ma- ternal grandfather) commanded one of the larger sailing vessels on the Delaware river for many years, and was among the best known and most popular river men in his day.
Henry L. Donaldson was principally reared in Delaware connty, to which his parents re- moved when he was about five years of age, and received an excellent English education in the public schools here. After leaving school he engaged in teaching, which occupa- tion he followed in this county for a period of thirteen years, becoming very popular as a teacher, and widely known on account of his earnest educational work. In 1861 he became
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book-keeper in the Delaware National bank of Chester, and was connected with that well- known financial institution for more than seven years, after which he embarked in the real estate business in this city. In this latter en- terprise he is still largely engaged, having been very successful in handling real property, and made a number of important deals. For twenty years Mr. Donaldson has held the position of notary public in this city, and during that time has transacted a large amount of business directly or indirectly connected with that office, while for more than a quarter of a century he has served as secretary of various building and loan associations. He now occupies that position in three different building associations, and is also secretary of the Chester Rural cemetery.
On June 21, 1855, Mr. Donaldson was united by marriage to Catharine A. Sample, a daugh- ter of Hugh C. Sample, of Ridley township, this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson was born a family of five children, two sons and three daughters: Sarah, who married George Compton, of this county, and now resides in Chester county ; Eleanor S., wed- ded William W. Dauman, of Chester county, who now lives at Erie, this State ; Henry, married Emma Walters, and resides in the city of Philadelphia, where he is engaged in the painting business ; Frank H., wedded Laura B., daughter of William H. Moore, of this city, and is engaged in business with his father ; and Bertha, who became the wife of William S. Riley, also of Chester, where they reside.
Politically Mr. Donaldson is a republican, and for many years took an active interest in lo- cal politics. He served as a member and secre- tary of the board of directors of the poor of this county from 1881 to 1887, and was only absent from one meeting during his entire term of service. Retaining much of his early interest in educational matters, he has been an active and useful member of the board of education in this city for many years. He is identified
with the First Presbyterian church of Chester, and commands the confidence and highest re- gard of all who know him. Among the pleasant memories of his life, Mr. Donaldson places his recollections of his early labors in the school room. Among his pupils then were a number of boys who, since reaching manhood, have distinguished themselves in various lines of endeavor, and now rank with the leading men of Delaware county. Their struggles and triumphs have been syn :- pathetically watched by their former teacher, who still takes a pardonable pride in the fact that he had something to do with the forma- tion of their character in that early training, when they were just starting on life's rugged pathway, and no less pride in the later success which many of them have achieved.
G EORGE BROOKE LINDSAY, one
of the leading members of the Delaware county bar, who is also prominent in local politics and in the business circles of the county, is a son of John C. and Catharine A. ( Black) Lindsay, and a native of Haverford township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, where he was born August 5, 1852. The Lind- says are of Scotch-Irish origin, and their resi- dence in Pennsylvania antedates the arrival of William Penn in the colony. Scon after land- ing in this country the first representative of the family settled at what is now known as Aston, this county, and for more than two hundred years members of the family have been residents of territory now included in the bounds of Delaware county. Hon. John Lindsay, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared at Haver- ford, this county, and was a prominent and prosperous farmer of that township for many years. In 1830 and again in 1831 he repre- sented Delaware county in the State legisla- ture. Politically he was an old line whig, and in religion a strict Presbyterian. He died at his home in Haverford in 1860, aged eighty-
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eight years. His wife's maiden name was Sarah Brooke, and they reared a family of seven children, one of whom was John C. Lindsay (father), who was born on the old homestead in Haverford township in 1817. Sarah Brooke was a daughter of Gen. William Brooke. of this county, who won distinction in the Revolutionary war. The Brooke family was transplanted from England to America early in the seventeenth century, and several of its members served as officers and soldiers in the war of 1812.
After attaining manhood John C. Lindsay engaged in farming, and resided in Nether Providence township from 1863 to 1885, when he removed to the city of Chester and retired from active business. During his active years his farming operations were conducted on an extensive scale and he became quite prosper- ous. He is a democrat in politics, and like his father a consistent member of the Pres- byterian church. He married Catharine A. Black, a daughter of William V. Black and a native of this county. To them was born a family of six children, four sons and two daughters : William R., John, George B., J. Walter, Laura and Maria B.
Mrs. Lindsay is a member of the same church as her husband, and is now in the seventieth year of her age. Her father. William V. Black (maternal grandfather), was a native of Dela- ware county, and a widely known and influ- ential citizen, who was engaged in agricultural pursuits for a time, and later became a mer- chant in Philadelphia and at Media, this county. He was one of the directors in the First National bank of Media, and died in 1883, aged eighty-two years.
George Brooke Lindsay was reared partly on the farm in Nether Providence township and partly in the city of Chester. His pre- liminary instruction was obtained in the pub- lic schools of this county, and later he studied for some time in a private school taught by Rev. James W. Dale, and finished lis educa- tion by a course in Professor Gilbert's academy
in this city: From early years he had felt an inclination toward the legal profession, and soon after completing his English education he began the study of law in the office of Ward & Broomall, that was afterward dissolved to seat one of its members on the bench and send the other to the halls of Congress. Hav- ing passed the usual examinations, Mr. Lind- say was duly admitted to the bar of Delaware county in 1874, being the first attorney to register under Judge T. J. Clayton. In 1878 he was admitted to practice in the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and in 1880 to all the courts of Philadelphia and of Chester county. His practice is principally in the civil courts, where he does an extensive business for cor- porations and on the law side of the calendar. He stands high among his professional asso- ciates, has a lucrative clientage, and enjoys in a marked degree the confidence and esteem of the general public. Mr. Lindsay has acted as trustee for many large estates, has held a number of offices of a fiduciary nature, and is attorney for several large corporations in other States. In 1886 he tried a case before a jury of expert mechanical engineers in Cincinnati, Ohio, in which he secured a verdict against that city for fifty thousand dollars.
Politically George Brooke Lindsay is an active and influential republican, has served as solicitor for the borough of North and South Chester, and as president of the Veteran Republican club of this city. Mr. Lindsay is one of the directors of the Chester National bank, and is connected in like manner with the Chester Union Railway Company and the Chester & Media Electric Railway Company. He is also secretary of the Chester free library and treasurer of the Law Library association of the Delaware county bar.
F RANZ XAVER HASER, the pro- prietor of the Chester brewery, ice man- ufacturing plant and bottling establishment, and a wounded veteran of the Franco-Prussian
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war, is one of the successful business men and manufacturers of Chester. He was born in Baden, Germany, and received his education in the excellent and practical public schools of his native country. From boyhood to manhood he passed in his father's brewery at Baden. Attaining his majority, he went to Strasburg, the city made famous by its won- derful clock, where he followed brewing. While there he achieved a fine military record. serving in both the French and German ar- mies. As a citizen of Strasburg, a French city when he entered it, he did duty as a French soldier for a short time. During the Franco-German war he was a member of the 112th regiment, Fourteenth army corps, com- manded by that celebrated and brave German soldier, General Wether. He was, with his regiment, in six battles : Weisenburg, Stras- burg, Mobilliard, Bayfordt, Bijons and Freye, and passed through them all in safety, although several times wounded. He came to America in 1871, and located in Philadelphia. He was employed for eighteen years in Brewerytown, that city, and came to Chester in 1886, and started in business for himself. His brewery. ice plant and bottling house are situated in one long building on the northwest corner of Second and West streets. It was established in 1886, and occupies one hundred and eighty feet of ground. fronting on Second street, with a depth of two-hundred and seventy one feet, running back to Third street. There are six connecting buildings, all brick, facing on Sec- ond and on West streets, comprising a three- story office and store rooms, thirty-five by forty feet ; a three-story storage ice house, thirty- five by thirty-five feet ; a two-story engine and boiler house, twenty-eight by twenty-eight feet ; a two-story bottling house, twenty by twenfy feet ; a two-story stable, twenty by twenty feet. containing five stalls ; and a wagon house, twenty by twenty feet. Mr. Haser employs twenty men and keeps five horses and eight wagons in daily service. The capacity of the brewery is one hundred bar-
rels a day at one brewing, the place being provided with an hundred-barrel kettle. The ice manufactory comprises one of John Baisley & Sons' refrigerator ice machines, operated by an eighty horse power engine, and has a capa- city of ten tons per day ; also a fifty-ton ice machine of Sullivan & Ehlers, Buffalo. In this department snow-balling may be indulged in on the hottest summer day, as at any time it is possible to gather handsful of snow from the surface of the machine.
During his seven years' residence at Ches- ter Mr. Haser has made quite a reputation for his beer in the southeastern part of the State. It is pure in quality, pleasing to the taste and harmless in its effects, and has be- come a favorite beverage, and its use grows as it becomes better known. It is said that it leaves the individual with no headache, how- ever much may be used, and that it possesses many medicinal qualities, being recommended by a number of physicians as a stimulating beverage. Beer and porter are bottled here, and an extensive hotel and family trade is catered to. The Haser's is a distinctive fam- ily of brewers, the father, six sons and two daughters each owns and conducts breweries in Germany, and two sons are in business here.
At the western extremity of the grounds, fronting on Second street, is Mr. Haser's residence, a large, attractive and commodious brick structure, with front and side piazzas and an extensive and well ordered yard. The house is well shaded, and is one of the finest residences in that section. Between his dwell- ing and the brewery is a flower garden, one hundred by one hundred feet. In the center is a miniature lake, upon the placid bosom of which graceful swans disport themselves. Mr. Haser possesses a property which is an ornament to the locality, and of which he has just cause to be proud.
Mr. Haser is an honorary member of Post No. 21, Grand Army of the Republic, of West Philadelphia, and has belonged also to Tribe No. 21, Improved Order of Red Men, of the
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Quaker City, since 1874, and to the Inde- pendent Order of Mechanics, of the same city, for the past eight years. He is also connected with a number of German singing societies, among them the Harmonia, of Chester.
R OBERT P. MERCER, M. D., a grad- uate of the Homeopathic college of Penn- sylvania, who for nearly thirty years has been in successful practice in the city of Chester, where he ranks with the ablest men in his pro- fession, is a son of Pennock and .Annie Eliza ( Pyle) Mercer, and a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he was born February 13, 1838. The Mercers are of original French extraction, and family tradition states that at a very early day they settled in the north of Scotland, from which country they later re- moved to England, and finally, about 1682, came to America, when Thomas Mercer "took up a hundred acres of land on Chester creek. near Dutton's mills," becoming one of the ear- liest settlers of Aston township, then Chester, now Delaware county.
The paternal grandfather of Dr. Mercer was born and reared near the village of Kennett Square, Chester county, where he passed his life engaged in agricultural pursuits, and died about 1863, in his eighty-fourth year. He owned a large farm, conducted his operations on an extensive scale, and became very pros- perous. Politically he was a whig and repub- lican, while in religion he was always a strict member of the Society of Friends. He mar- ried Ann Pennock, a descendant of Christopher Penno k, who came over from the north of Ireland about 1680, thus antedating the arrival of William Penn by nearly two years. By this marriage he had a family of children, the eldest of whom was Pennock Mercer (father), who was born on the old homestead near Ken- nett Square, Chester county, this State, in 1813. He was reared on the farm, and after attaining manhood engaged in that occupa- tion for himself, and followed it successfully
in his native county until 1873, when he dis- posed of his farm property, removed to the city of Chester, Delaware county, and engaged in the grocery business. This latter enterprise he conducted until 1887, when he retired from all active business, and passed his few remain- ing years in quiet comfort at his home in this city, where he died May 3, 1891, aged seventy- eight. He was an active and influential mem- ber of the Society of Friends, in whose faith he had been reared, and politically was first a whig and later a republican, taking an active part in politics during his earlier years. He married Ann Eliza Pyle, a daughter ol Robert and A. Pyle, of Chester county, by whom he had a family of three children : Robert, Caleb and Charles. Mrs. Mercer was born in Lon- don Grove township, Chester county, and now resides with her son, Dr. Mercer, in this city, being well advanced in her seventy-eighthyear, but still quite active for a woman of her age. She belongs to a long lived family and has two sisters living in West Chester, one of whom is now ninety-one and the other ninety- three years of age. She has been a life-long mem- ber of the Society of Friends, and is descended from one of the early settled families of Ches- ter county.
Robert P. Mercer grew to manhood on his father's farm near Kennett Square, Chester county, this State, and received an academic education, after which he read medicine with Dr. 1. D. Johnson, of Kennett Square, and later matriculated at the Homeopathic Medical col- lege of Pennsylvania-now known as the Hahnemann Medical college- in the city of Philadelphia, from which institution he was graduated in the spring of 1861, with the de- gree of M.D. Dr. Mercer soon after located at Marshallton, in his native county, where he had medical charge of the Chester county home for two years. He remained in active practice at that place until the autumn of 1864, when he removed to Wilmington, Delaware, where he was engaged in practice for one year, and then, on the personal solicitation and ad-
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vice of Dr. Coates Preston, of this city, he came to Chester and opened an office here for the practice of his profession. Possessing many of the characteristics that distinguish the born physician, and having carefully pre- pared himself for the duties of the honorable profession to which he proposed to devote his life, Dr. Mercer soon became popular. and for a number of years has conducted a large and lucrative practice, possessing an enviable rep- utation for skill and success in the treatment of all ordinary diseases, and most highly es- teemed as a man and citizen. His offce is still in the block on the street where he first began practice in this city more than a quar- ter of a century ago.
On March 16, 1865, Dr. Mercer was united by marriage to Emma Merrihew, eldest daugh- ter of Stephen Merrihew, of the well-known publishing firm of Merrihew & Thompson, of Philadelphia. Mr. Merrihew was a native of Delaware county, and was one of the original abolitionists of southeastern Pennsylvania, taking an active part in the early transactions of that organization, including the engineering of the famous "underground railway" by which escaping slaves were safely transferred to Canadian soil. By his marriage to Miss Merrihew Dr. Mercer had one child, a daugh- ter, named Sarah, now living at home with her parents.
It may truthfully be said that Dr. Mercer's study of medicine did not cease with his grad- uation, but that during the many years of his active practice he has endeavored to keep abreast of all active progress made in his pro- fession. He is a member of the American In- stitute of Homeopathy, the Homeopathic State Medical society of Pennsylvania, and the Chester and Delaware county Homeopathic Medical society, of which latter he has served as president. He is also a member of the Organon Medical society of Chester, of which he is now president, and is a regular reader and occasional contributor to some of the best medical journals in this country.
In his political affiliations Dr. Mercer is a republican, and has served in both branches of the Chester city council. His combined service in the council aggregates some fifteen years, and he is now president of the select council. In religion he is a member of the Swedenborg church, and is also a member of L. H. Scott Lodge, No. 352, Free and Ac- cepted Masons ; Chester Chapter, No. 258, Royal Arch Masons ; and Chester Command- ery, No. 66, Knights Templar, and has passed through all the chairs in these branches, hav- ing been a Master Mason since 1862.
S TEPHEN L. ARMOUR, one of the leading furniture dealers and upholsterers of the city of Chester, and one of her most en- terprising, energetic and successful business men, is a son of John and Ruth A. (Jenkins) Armour, and a native of Cecil county, Mary- land, where he was born December 19, 1839. The family is of Celtic origin, and was planted in America by Samuel Armour, paternal grand- father of the subject of this sketch, who was born in County Armaugh, Ireland, but when twelve years of age left his native land, and, crossing the broad Atlantic, located in Cecil county, Maryland, where he afterward married and reared a large family. He lived to be eighty-four years of age, and his wife, whose maiden name was Ann Mahoney, died at the age of eighty-seven. One of their sons was John Armour (father), who was born at the old homestead in Cecil county, Maryland, in 1813, and died in 1879, aged sixty-six, at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he had resided for upward of twenty years. He was a stonemason by occupation, and an ex- cellent workman. Many substantial stone walls yet stand along the Brandywine as mon- uments to his superior workmanship. For several years he was foreman on the fishing shore of the Chesapeake & Potomac, and oc- cupied a similar position for some time on the Albermarle sound. He was a large, stout
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man, over six feet in height, was always called Big John Armour by the fishermen, and was widely known and everywhere greatly re- spected. Politically he was an old line whig and later became a republican. In 1839 he married Ruth A. Jenkins, a native of Cecil county, Maryland, who died December 24, 1890, at the advanced age of seventy-six years. They had a family of six sons and one daughter.
Stephen L. Armour grew to manhood in his native county, obtaining his education in the common schools and at the academy in West Nottingham. Leaving school he learned the trade of blacksmith, at which he worked until 1864, when he enlisted in Co. 1, 7th Delaware militia, on an emergency call, and reënlisted in Co. B, 40th New Jersey infantry, in October of the same year. With that organization he served until the close of the war, and after being mustered out of service returned to Wilmington, Delaware, where he carried on blacksmithing one year, and then removed to Crossville, Cumberland county, Tennessee. At the latter place he established himself in the wheelwrighting and blacksmithing busi- ness, and also eagaged to some extent in stock- raising. He remained there four years, serv- ing as deputy sheriff of the county during the last year of his stay, and then returned to Wilmington, Delaware, which he again left in 1871 to settle permanently at Chester, Dela- ware county, Pennsylvania. For three years after coming to this city he was employed with the Bradley Brothers in their ice and feed business, and after they sold out remained an- other three years with their successors. In 1878 Mr. Armour embarked in the flour, feed and commission business on his own account at No. 229 Penn street. On June 16, 1879, he purchased an Adams steam feather renovator and began renovating feathers at No. 229 Penn street. In the spring of 1882 he bought the old Thatcher property, at the corner of Con- cord avenue and Miner street, and removed his business to that point, where he has ever since successfully conducted the combined
business of mattress making, feather renova- ting and upholstering. In October, 1889, he rented the store room at No. 138 West Third street, and in addition to his other business engaged in the furniture trade, which has proved very successful under his careful and energetic management. He now has a large and remunerative business, but it has not come by chance or accident. It is the result of steady, persistent effort, backed up by a determination to succeed in defiance of all ad- verse circumstances.
On the 26th of December, 1866, Mr. Armour was married to Emma Veasey, a daughter of John T. Veasey, of Northeast, Maryland. To them was born one child, a son, named Frank, who married and is now time clerk at the Penn Steel Casting Company.
From the time of its first organization in Pennsylvania Mr. Armour has been an active member of the Republican party. He served six years as alderman from the old South ward, and at the end of his present term as school director will have served a like period in the latter office. He was editor and publisher of the Brotherhood, the official paper of the B. U., (H.F., ) for four years, from 1880 to the present. Both Mr. and Mrs. Armour are earnest, devo- ted members of the Trinity Methodist Episco- pal church of this city, in which Mr. Armour is serving as steward and recording secretary, and Mrs. Armour is known as among the most active workers of her church. Mr. Armour is also a member of Leiperville Lodge, No. 263, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Wilde Post, No. 25, Grand Army of the Republic ; and of the Brotherhood Union, ( H. F., ) of which latter society he has passed through all the chairs. Is also a member of the Penn Conclave of Improved Order of Heptosophs.
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