USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
p ETER HUNTER, the able and popular general superintendent of the Eddystone Calico Printing works, at Eddystone, this county, who is a graduate of the Andersonian
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
AST P. LANOY AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS P.
L
199
OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
college of Glasgow, and a prominent local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church, is a son of James and Janet ( Reid) Hunter, and was born in the famous ship-building city of Glasgow, Scotland, January 19, 1851. On both sides Rev. Mr. Hunter is descended from ancient Scotch families, who were independent farmers and stock raisers, and were widely known and highly respected in their native land. James Hunter (father ) was born in County Ayr, Scotland, the birthplace of Rob- ert Burns, who sang Scotch scenery and Scotch peasantry into the sympathetic knowl- edge of the world, and transformed the rude dialect of his section into a classic language un- derstood by all educated people. Among the heather and thorns of Ayr James Hunter grew to manhood and received his education, but his tastes unfitted him for the life of a farmer, and soon after attaining his majority he en- gaged in the business of a traveling salesman -an occupation not so common then as now. After his marriage he settled in the city of Glasgow, which continued to be his home un- til called away by death in 1853, when his son, the subject of this sketch, was only two years of age. His wife, whose maiden name was Janet Reid, still survives, and is now living in a comfortable home in the village of Thornlie- bank, five miles from the city of Glasgow. She is a native of Renfrewshire, Scotland, and a member of the Presbyterian church.
Peter Hunter was reared at Thornliebank, Scotland, to which village his mother removed on her marriage to Walter McFarlane, head manager of the Thornliebank Calico Print works. He received a superior education in the high school of Glasgow and theAndersonian un- iversity, from the chemical department of which he was graduated in 1866. Soon after gradu- ation he accepted a position as chemist and colorist in the extensive print works of Messrs. WValter Crum & Co., Thornliebank, where he remained until 1880. In that year he came to the United States under an engagement with the Eddystone Manufacturing Company, pro-
prietors of the Eddystone Calico Printing works at Eddystone, Delaware county, Penn- sylvania. He at once assumed the duties of assistant superintendent of these large mills, and continued to act in that capacity until 1891, when he was made general superintend- ent of the works, with full charge of every- thing connected with this mammoth concern. This position he now holds, and in the ability and skill with which he conducts the enter- prise may be found ample vindication of the wisdom of that man who first "discovered " him in Scotland and induced him to come to this country. The Eddystone works give em- ployment to about seven hundred and fifty peo- ple, and their product takes rank with the best in the markets of the world. Upon coming to the United States, Mr. Hunter settled in the city of Chester, where he continued to reside until 1887, when he removed to the village of Moore, this county, which has ever since been his home.
On August 11, 1874, Mr. Hunter was mar- ried to Elizabeth McAdam, a daughter of John McAdam, then of Busby, near Glasgow, Scot- land. To their union have been born five sons and one daughter: Walter M., John M., George R., Robert E., Catharine E. and Arthur P. Of these the two older were born in Scotland, and the others in this country. All except John are now living at home with their parents. Mrs. Hunter is now in the forty- first year of her age.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Hunter are earnest and active members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Moore, of which denomination Mr. Hunter has been a successful and popular local preacher for several years, having been regularly ordained elder at conference held in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, March, 1889. Po- litically he is a stanch prohibitionist, and ex- erts a wide influence in behalf of law and order, and against the dangerous and damaging do- minion of the rum power in politics and in social life.
13
200
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
H ANNAH JACKSON PRICE, M.D.,
a skilled physician of the city of Chester and a descendant of one of the oldest and most highly respected families of southeastern Pennsylvania, is a daughter of Caleb Sharp- less and Mary Ann (Gauze) Jackson, and was born at Kennett Square, Chester county, Penn- sylvania, February 14, 1842 .. The Jackson and Ganze families are of English and Welsh de- scent, and have long been resident in Chester county, this State, where their members have been largely of Quaker faith in religious belief. Dr. Price's paternal grandfather, Josiah Jack- son, was a man of intelligence, honesty and thrift. He was a prosperous farmer, an active whig, and held membership in the Hicksite branch of the Quaker church or Society of Friends. He married Mary Sharpless, and their children were : Caleb, James, Mary Way, Edith Graves, Ruhana Clayton, and William, who died at an early age. Caleb Sharpless Jackson (father), the eldest son, was born at Kennett Square, in Chester county, 1802, and died August 3, 1868, while on a visit to the subject of this sketch in Kansas. Mr. Jackson was a man of ability and activity, and ranked high in his section as a mathematician. He was a great anti-slavery man, read the story of "Uncle Tom's Cabin " to his children, and gave material support and considerable time to the interests of the "Underground Rail- road." He was reared to farming, which oc- cupation he left some years after attaining his majority to engage in coach making at Ken- nett Square. He was a Quaker and republi- can, and married Mary A. Gauze, who was a daughter of William and Mary Gauze, and was born in Kennett township, on April 15, 1804. To Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were born eight children, three sons and five daughters : Josiah, late professor of higher and applied mathematics in the Pennsylvania State col- lege ; Mary, wife of Franklin Darlington, of Oxford, Chester county ; Ruth Ann, who mar- ried Erastus M. Cravath, president of Fisk university, of Nashville, Tennessee ; William,
now president of El Paso County bank, at Col- orado Springs, Colorado, and formerly presi- dent of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad, married Helen Hunt, the well known writer ; Margaret, who is now caring for her mother at the homestead; Dr. Hannah J .; Caleb, treasurer of the United Electric Light Com- pany, of New York city ; Alice, wife of John Chambers of near Pittsburg, this State.
Hannah J. Price was reared at Kennett Square, where she received her education at Eaton academy, from which she was gradu- ated. Shortly after leaving the academy she volunteered her services for the instruction of the colored children at Kennett Square, and taught them successfully for three years. She afterward taught in a grammar school for some time.
On November 29, 1863, she married Capt. Joseph D. Price, who was at the time of mar- riage serving as second lieutenant of the 6th Pennsylvania cavalry. Captain Price served three years and three months in the late civil war, was at Chattanooga, and with Sherman in the "March to the Sea," and was detailed to exchange prisoners at Andersonville. He was once wounded, and after the late war went to Kansas, where he engaged extensively in stock raising, and where he died on July 29, 1872, at the early age of thirty-five years, from being gored by one of his cattle. To Captain and Mrs. Price were born four children, two sons and two daughters: Katharine, wife of the Rev. William N. Hubbell, pastor of the First Baptist church, Montclair, New Jersey ; Mary J., an architect, at Lansdown, Pennsyl- vania ; John C., who was graduated at twenty- two years of age from the University of Penn- sylvania in the class of 1893 ; and Joseph D., who died in childhood.
After her husband's untimely death Mrs. Price returned from Kansas, with her four small children, to Kennett Square, in Chester county, where she taught school for some length of time and then conceived the idea of studying medicine. She read assiduously for
201
OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
several years, and in 1888 entered the Woman's Medical college of Philadelphia, from which excellent medical institution she was gradu- ated in the class of 1881. Immediately after graduation Dr. Price became an assistant physician at the Woman's Hospital at Twen- ty-second street and North College avenue, then under charge of Dr. Anna E. Broomall, where she remained for two years and enjoyed excellent opportunies for the study and suc- cessful treatment of many intricate and diffi- cult cases. In 1882 she removed to Chester, where she has built up a first-class and re- munerative practice.
Dr. Price is so well qualified by nature, has given such careful and comprehensive study to her profession, and has enjoyed such good opportunities for practice, that success has but natnrally followed her intelligent and pains- taking efforts for the alleviation of human suf- sering and the restoration of health to the sick and afflicted. Dr. Price is a member of the Upland Baptist church, and ranks as a leading physician of the city of Chester.
E DWARD BLAINE, a veteran of the civil war, who served for nine consecutive years as recorder of deeds in this county, and is widely known as among the most substan- tial representative citizens of Chester, is the only son of Joseph and Margaret Jane ( Sand- ers) Blaine, and was born in the city of Phil- adelphia, April 13, 1839. His father was of German descent, and the name was originally spelled Blainz, but the present spelling has been in use for several generations. Joseph Blaine (father) was a native of Philadelphia, and in early life adopted a seafaring life, which he followed for many years, being captain of a ship and engaged in transporting merchan- dise to and from many foreign ports. He died in the city of Philadelphia in 1842, when the subject of this sketch was only three years of age. His wife, also a native of Philadel- phia, whose maiden name was Margaret Jane
Sanders, survived him only a short time, dying when their son was still quite young.
Immediately after his father's death, Ed- ward Blaine was brought to Delaware county, and reared on a farm in Middletown township until he had attained his fourteenth year. His education was obtained in the public schools of that township, and at the age of fourteen he left the farm to work in a cotton factory at Middletown, where he remained for nearly three years and then started in to learn the plasterer's trade, finishing his apprenticeship in this city. He worked at his trade until 1861, at which time he was in charge of the plastering on the Pennsylvania Training school for feeble minded children, near Elwin, this county. When Fort Sumpter was fired upon and the trifarious wave of mingled consterna- tion, indignation and patriotism swept over the north, kindling into blazing enthusiasm that love of country which forms one of the corner stones of character among our people, young Blaine laid down his trowel, as Putnam left the plow, and without waiting to see what others would do, at once enlisted under the Federal standard. becoming a member of the first company in the first regiment of Penn- sylvania reserves. For three years he led the hard and hazardous life of a soldier, exposed to the privations incident to camp and campaign. and participating in all the principal battles of his regiment. At the battle of Antietam, Maryland, he was seriously injured by a minnie ball which passed through his left leg, inflicting a wound that compelled him to remain in the military hospital for three months. At the close of his term of service he was mustered out in the city of Philadel- phia, and returning to Delaware county, Mr. Blaine located in the city of Chester and en- gaged in plastering and building, which busi- ness he successfully conducted until 1880. In that year he was elected on the republican ticket to the office of recorder of deeds for Delaware county, and entering upon the dis- charge of his official duties January 1, 1881,
202
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
he served acceptably in that position for a period of nine years, being three time reelected to succeed himself. Retiring from office in 1890, with the well earned reputation of hav- ing been one of the most efficient and capable recorders the county has ever had, Mr. Blaine has since devoted his attention mainly to building a number of houses on his own lots in this city, which he rents, and in dealing in real estate. He is also a director in the Ex- celsior Saving and Loan association of this city.
On April 11, 1863, Mr. Blaine was united in marriage with Lizzie Duncan, youngest daugh- ter of Samuel and Jeannette V. Duncan, of Middletown, this county. To their union was born a family of four daughters : Nettie, Mae, Roselyn and Bessie, all excepting the eldest, who is married, living at home with their par- ents in their handsome residence on West Fourth street, this city.
As has been intimated, Mr. Blaine is a stanch republican, and he has taken an active interest in political affairs ever since the war. He has served as a delegate to State and county conventions many times, and exerts considerable influence in the local councils of his party, being now a member of the Repub- lican executive committee of Delaware county, and highly esteemed by all his party associates. On May 25, 1893, he received the republican nomination for county commissioner from the southern district of Delaware county. Mr. Blaine regularly attends and liberally contrib- utes to the Episcopal church, of which his wife is a member. He is a member of Chester Lodge, No. 236, Free and Accepted Masons : Wilde Post, No. 25, Grand Army of the Re- public, which he represented in the National encampment at Columbus, Ohio, in 1888; Larkin Lodge, No. 78, Knights of Pythias ; and of the Improved Order of Red Men. Left an orphan in tender years and reared among strangers, the subject of this sketch began life with nothing, and by his own industry, integrity of character and indomitable en-
ergy, has fairly conquered fate and accumul- lated a handsome competency. Better than this, he has won the esteem and confidence of the community, and ranks with the foremost men of his adopted city.
JOHN C. PRICE, secretary and general manager of the Consumers' Ice Manufac- turing Company of Chester, and for thirty- four years a well known brick manufacturer of this city, is a son of Major Samuel A. and Sarah ( Bickham) Price, and was born January 19. 1833, in the city of Chester, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. The family whose his- tory is briefly outlined in this sketch, is de- scended from ancient Swedish stock, was planted in America about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and some of its members were residents of the old county of Chester in Pennsylvania long prior to the Revolutionary war. Samuel Price, paternal grandfather of John (. Price, was born in what is now Lower Chichester township, Delaware county, about I750. He was an extensive farmer in that section, was a member of the "Committee of Observation of the Chester County Associa- tion," 1774, and served as a soldier in the Continental army during the war of the Revo- lution, and died at his home in this county in 1801, aged about fifty years. In religion he was an Episcopalian, married Ann Richards, and reared a large family of children. His son, Samuel A. Price (father), was a native of Lower Chichester township, this county, born in 1796, reared on the farm, and educated in the subscription schools of that early day. After leaving school he learned the trade of hatter, and at the age of twenty-eight removed to Chester, where he continued to reside until his death in 1861, when in the sixty-fifth year of his age. After coming to this city he was engaged in the manufacture of hats, which he followed successfully until his retirement sev- eral years prior to his decease. Politically he was a whig and republican, and for many years
203
OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
took an active part in local politics. He held a number of official positions and served as sheriff of Delaware county in 1837. There was a strong military bent to his character, and for years he was connected with the old State militia, in which he served as major of a regi- ment in this county, and was everywhere known and addressed as Major Price. In 1818 he married Sarah Bickham, a member of an old Philadelphia family that had come over from England during the days of early Quaker settlement in Pennsylvania. She was born in the "city of brotherly love " about 1797, and died at her home in Chester, January 21, 1870, in the seventy-third year of her age. They were the parents of ten children, seven sons and three daughters : John C., the subject of this sketch ; William Gray, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume: Sarah B., Samuel N., Anna R., Thomas B., Henry C., Edward N., J. Wade and Clementina L.
John C. Price was reared in his native city of Chester, where he has continued to reside, and obtained a superior English education in the public schools. After leaving school, in the spring of 1854, he engaged in the manufacture of building bricks in this city, which business he successfully conducted until 1888-a period covering more than the third of a century. During that time he made and furnished the material for many of the largest and finest brick structures now standing in this city and its suburbs, both public and private, beside shipping vast quantities to other markets. In 1890 Mr. Price became interested in the manu- facture of artificial ice in this city, as a mem- ber of the joint stock company known as the Consumers' Ice Manufacturing Company, of which he was made secretary and general manager. To this business he has ever since devoted his time and attention. The plant is located on Front street, between Market street and Edgmont avenue, and has a daily capacity of thirty tons of the purest ice, manufactured from distilled water, and absolutely free from all deleterious substances.
On the 17th of January, 1861, Mr. Price married Louisa R. Wallace, a daughter of David Wallace, of Tioga county, New York, who was a direct descendant of Lord Howe. To Mr. and Mrs. Price were born two children, one son and a daughter : Samuel A., was born January 16, 1863, at Owego, Tioga county, New York, graduated from the Chester High school in 1882, after which he took the law course at the university of Pennsylvania, was adınitted to the Delaware county bar in March, 1887, after admission was associated with the district attorney for four years, and is now en- gaged in the practice of law with Hon. William Ward. He enlisted as a private in Co. B, 6th regiment National guard, of Pennsylvania, on March 11, 1881, was promoted from time to time until September 19, 1887, when he was elected second lieutenant, which office he held until April 13, 1891, when he was commis- sioned by the governor of the State captain of the company, which in efficiency ranks among the first in the State; and Fannie W., born February 4, 1868, at Chester, Pennsylvania, now the wife of R. Somers Rhodes, a prosper- ous manufacturer and member of the firm of Aston Mills, this county. She is a member of the Society of Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Louisa R. Price is also a member of the same society ; her mother, whose maiden name was Rachel Ransom, was a direct descendant of Capt. Samuel Ransom, who won distinction by his brilliant services during the Revolutionary war, and was killed at the massacre of Wyoming, July 3, 1778. Captain Ransom was the first officer commis- sioned by Congress, and was attached to the Connecticut line.
In his political affiliations John C. Price is a republican, and has taken a prominent part in local politics. He served for two years, from 1864 to 1866, as a member of the city council, during which time he introduced and aided in passing a number of important measures, and since 1868 has been a member of the school board of this city, and treasurer of the board
134
201
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
since 1886. Mr. Price is also a director in the Delaware County Trust, Safe Deposit & Title Insurance Company, of Chester, which is one of the largest banking institutions in the county. He is a regular attendant and liberal contributor to St. Paul's Episcopal church, with which his ancestors for several genera- tions have been prominently connected.
RICHARD WETHERILL, son of Rob- ert, sr., and Phœbe A. ( Delany) Weth- erill, and a brother and business partner of Robert Wetherill, jr., whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume- which see for an- cestral history of the family. Richard Weth- erill was born September 28, 1850, in Lower Merion township, Montgomery county, Penn- sylvania, and was educated in the public schools of Philadelphia and at Chester acad- emy. After leaving school he was engaged for a time as clerk in the drug store of M. H. Bickley, in the city of Chester, and later oc- cupied a like position with the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad Company. At the age of twenty-one years, January 1, 1872, he formed a partnership with his elder brother, Robert Wetherill, under the style of Robert Wetherill & Co., for the manufacture of Corliss engines, boilers and power-trans- mitting machinery, at Chester, this county. The financial management of this enterprise was in Richard Wetherill's hands from the first, and he may justly be said to be the finan- cial head of the concern. This firm has achieved a world-wide reputation as manufac- turers of the finest type of Corliss engines in the market, and are the pioneers and leaders in designing and producing cable railroad and power transmitting machinery generally. Their engine works and shops are among the largest and best equipped establishments of the kind in America, and they are the largest cable rail- road engine builders in the world. The works cover fully two squares of ground, the build- ings being large and spacious and thoroughly
fitted up in the most approved manner and with the best machinery. The different de- partments embrace foundry, machine shops, boiler shops and yard, pattern shops, draught- ing floors, and other adjuncts, and the motive power is supplied by a one-hundred horse power engine. A Pennsylvania railroad sid- ing connects with the works, and every facility and convenience for prompt shipment are at command. An average force of three hundred and fifty hands are here employed, and among the work turned out have been Corliss engines of the largest size, one thousand horse power and upward, all of which are noted for elab- orate and accurate workmanship, embodying all improvements and rendering the most effi- cient service. The patrons of the firm reside in all parts of the United States and Canada, and many of their engines have been shipped to the West Indies, South America, and other foreign countries.
On December 3, 1878, Mr. Wetherill mar- ried Ella Larkin, a daughter of Hon. John Larkin, of the city of Chester. To Mr. and Mrs. Wetherill have been born a family of four children, two sons and two daughters : Robert. John Larkin, Florence D. and Ella L. Mrs. Wetherill's father, Hon. John Larkin, served as the first mayor of the city of Ches- ter, and is still an active, prominent and influ- ential citizen of Delaware county. He is a leading member of the Episcopal church ; a director in the Chester National bank, Union Railway Company of Chester, and the Chester & Media Railway Company ; and treasurer of the Standard Steel Casting Company of Thur- low, this county. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Pennsylvania military college at Chester.
In his political affiliations Mr. Wetlterill is a republican, and in church membership an Episcopalian, being connected with St. Paul's Episcopal church of Chester. He is also a member of Phænix Lodge, No. 130, Free and Accepted Masons, of Philadelphia ; Chester Chapter, No. 258, Royal Arch Masons ; and
205
OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Chester Commandery, No. 66, Knights Tem- plar. He resides in one of the finest resi- dences in Delaware county, located at the northeast corner of Fourteenth and Potter streets, which he completed and first occupied in 1890. This handsome edifice is built en- tirely of stone, is fashioned after the Gothic style, and in its arrangements and adornments is well calculated to embody the ideal Ameri- can home. It may here be mentioned that in 1885 Mr. Wetherill and his brother Robert, erected the Cambridge hotel, which is a large five-story brick building of modern design, and is conceded to be an architectural orna- ment to the city. Mr. Wetherill is always in- terested in every public enterprise, and active in matters calculated to advance the growthi and prosperity of the city in which he resides. He is recognized in business circles as an able financier, and is a man of fine presence, urbane and affable in manner. He began life as a poor boy, and takes much satisfaction in the conspicuous success he has attained, which he attributes mainly to hard work and a deter- mination to overcome every difficulty.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.