USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 28
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HON JON. ROBERT CHADWICK, the
present popular postmaster of Chester, who served with distinction for eight years in the State legislature, and has occupied many other positions of honor and trust, is a son of Thomas and Sarah (Crabtree) Chadwick, and was born November 23, 1833, at Rochdale, England. His parents were both natives of that country, but came to the United States in 1847, and settled in Upland, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, where they passed the remain- der of their lives. The mother died August 8, 1852, and eight days later the father and husband was accidentally drowned in Chester creek, when in the forty-seventh year of his age. He was a whig in politics, and by his marriage to Sarah Crabtree had a family of four children.
Hon. Robert Chadwick spent his boyhood
in Upland, where he attended the public schools until his seventeenth year, and then went to Frankford, Philadelphia county, where he learned the trade of wheelwright. In 1866 he came to Chester and started a wagon fac- tory and blacksmith shop at the corner of Third and Fulton streets, this city, where he has successfully conducted that enterprise ever since, and for a number of years has done an extensive and lucrative business.
Politically Mr. Chadwick has been a stanch republican from the birth of that party, and by his wise counsels and earnest labors has done much for its success in Pennsylvania. He has been twice elected to the city council, serving six years as a member of that body. In 1880 he was elected to the State assembly, and by successive reëlections held that posi- tion for eight years, serving on a number of important committees and ably representing Delaware county in the halls of legislation un- til 1888. Mr. Chadwick early became noted as one of the working members of the assem- bly, and the interests of his constituents were always carefully guarded, while the solid foun- dation of past experience was made the basis upon which he endeavored to build practical and useful legislation. He served two years on the board of trustees of the Soldiers' Home at Erie, Pennsylvania, being the republican representative appointed by the legislature. In December, 1889, he was appointed post- master at Chester by President Harrison, and at once entered upon the discharge of his offi- cial duties. Endowed with fine ability that has been carefully trained by long participa- tion in practical affairs, and possessing great executive powers, Mr. Chadwick has admin- istered the growing business of the Chester postoffice with efficiency and promptness, and is deservedly ranked as one of the best post- masters this city has ever had:
On September 9, 1857, Robert Chadwick married Louisa J. Gardner, a daughter of Henry G. Gardner, of Frankford, Philadelphia county, and to them was born a family of six
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children, two sons and four daughters, two of whom are dead. The eldest son, Henry G. Chadwick, married Annie Kirk, and has three daughters- Hattie, Louise and Annie. He is a partner with his father in the wagon fac- tory here. The younger son, John Gartside Chadwick, is studying medicine at the Hahne- mann Medical college. The eldest daughter, Susie A., married Charles S. Worrell, of this city, and has two children - Henry Chadwick and Robert C. The younger daughter, Saralı Louise, is living at home with her parents in their comfortable and commodious home at No. 220 West Seventh street.
On August 5, 1862, Hon. Robert Chadwick enlisted as a private in Co. I, 114th Pennsyl- vania volunteers-the regiment known as Collis zouaves - and served as such until the close of the war, being mustered out at Ar- lington, Virginia, on May 29, 1865. Since 1866 he has been a member of Wilde Post, No. 25, Grand Army of the Republic, at Ches- ter, and served as a representative to the Na- tional convention of the Grand Army at Port- land, Maine, and at St. Louis, Missouri. He is also a member of the American Veteran Legion, and a past master of Chester Lodge, No. 236, Free and Accepted Masons, and is prominently identified with Chester Chapter, No. 258, Royal Arch Masons, and St. John Commandery, No. 4, Knights Templar, of Philadelphia.
J. ENGLE COCHRAN, the leading real estate dealer and mortgage broker of the city of Chester, is a son of John and Cath- arine ( Johnson) Cochran, and was born at Marcus Hook, Delaware county, Pennsyl- vania, May 10, 1850. He was reared princi- pally in the city of Chester, and received his preparatory training in the public schools here and in a preparatory school at Hightstown, New Jersey, where he remained two years. At the end of that time he returned to Chester
and spent two years studying in the Pennsyl- vania Military academy of this city. He then entered the employ of the Pennsylvania rail- road company, of which his uncle, Herman J. Lambert, was then president, and for three years was engaged in civil engineering in the south. In 1872 he returned to Delaware county and engaged in the real estate and mortgage brokerage business in the city of Chester, which he has successfully conducted here ever since. For more than twenty years he has been an important factor in the busi- ness and development of Chester, and his op- erations both in real estate and loans surpass in importance and magnitude those of any other single firm in the city.
On June 10, 1875, Mr. Cochran was united in marriage with Adele D. Ladomus, the daughter of a leading jeweler of the city of Philadelphia. To Mr. and Mrs. Cochran have been born four children, one son and three danghters : Mary Adele, Amy Engle, Margaret A. and Robert Spencer, all living at home with their parents in their handsome residence on Fourteenth street.
In his political affiliations Mr. Cochran has always been republican, and has served the city as a member of the select council and as chairman of the street committee. He is a member of Scott Lodge, No. 258, Free and Accepted Masons, and owns a large amount of real estate in this city, as does his wife, who has an independent fortune in her own right.
The Cochran family is of Scotch-Irish lin- eage, and was planted in America by John Cochran, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who was born and reared in the north of Ireland - a locality to which is traced the ancestry of so many men who have dis- tingnished themselves in the history of this country, and left their impress on nearly all our institutions and industries. In early man- hood John Cochran left his native land and soon after his arrival in America settled in this county, at what is now the city of Chester,
THE V ... 1 1K PUB HOPPARY
ASI IR, LENOX AND TILDAN FOUNDATIONS R
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where he purchased a large tract of land and continued to reside until his death about 1848, when he had attained the advanced age of nearly seventy years. He married a Miss Engle, and reared a family of five children, one of whom was John Cochran (father), who was born in what is now the city of Chester, in 1825. He now resides here, in the sixty- eighth year of his age, though still actively engaged in business as a real estate dealer and mortgage broker in the city of Philadelphia. At one time he owned all the land north of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore railroad between Chester and Ridley creek, now built up and comprised within the cor- porate limits of the city. During all his ex- tended career he has been noted for energy and activity in affairs, and now at an age when most men desire to escape the cares and responsibilities of active life, he still volunta- rily remains at the head of a large and com- plicated business, to the careful direction of which he gives close personal attention, find- ing that pleasure in constant activity which. others seek in rest and recreation. Politically he is a stanch republican, and in religion a member of the First Presbyterian church of this city, being among the oldest members of this denomination in Delaware county. With his accustomed energy he takes an active part in the affairs of his church, and contributes liberally toward the support of its various in- terests. In 1848 he married Catharine Jolin- son, a native of Springfield, this county, and by her had a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters : J. Engle, Samuel J , Helen, Herman L., Mary J., Anna, J. Howard, Meta and Archibald A. Mrs. Catharine Coch- ran was a daughter of Samuel Johnson, and a granddaughter of the late Samuel Johnson, a noted astronomer of his time. She was a strict member of the Presbyterian church, and died at her home in this city in 1876, at the early age of forty-six years. The Cochran family is connected with the Sharpless family, another of the old pioneer families of Delaware county.
R EV. MATTHEW A. HAND, the pas- tor of the Ca holic church at Wayne, this county, is a son of Patrick and Catharine ( Murray) Hand, and' was born April 23, 1860, in West Phir delphia Pennsylvania. His father is a native ot We timeath, Ireland, and came to the United States when only fourteen years of age. In 1853 he married Cathrine Murray, who was born in the same village in Ireland, and who died May 27, 1867, aged thirty-five years. They had a family of three children : Jennie, Matthew A. and Katie V. Patrick Hand now resides in the city of Phil- adelphia, and is in the sixty-filth year of his age, having been born in 1828.
Matthew A. Hand grew to manhood in West Philadelphia, receiving his early educa- tion in the public schools. In January, 1871, he became a student at St. James parochial school in West Philadelphia, and one year later en- tered LaSalle college, Philadelphia, where he remained until 1876. In September of the lat- ter year he entered the seminary of St. Charles Boroneo at Overbrook, Montgomery county, where he began studying for the priesthood of the Catholic church. He was ordained there January II. 1885, and was soon after made assistant at St. Dominick's church, Holmes- burg, Philadelphia county. While serving in that position he also became chaplain to the convent of the Sacred Heart at Torresdale, same county, and visiting chaplain of the house of correction. On September 20, 1886, he was transferred to St. John's church, cor- ner of Thirteenth and Chestnut streets, in the city of Philadelphia, as assistant pastor. He remained there until June 3, 1888, when he was made assistant at the church of St. Agatha, Thirty-eighth and Spring Garden streets, Phil- adelphia. After a little more than three years' stay at this church, he was transferred to the Church of the Assumption, Twelfth and Spring Garden streets, Philadelphia. During the ab- sence of the rector, who was in feeble health, Rev. Father Hand was placed in charge of the parish temporarily. On the 7th of June,
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1893, he received a commission from Most Rev. Archbishop Ryan to establish a parish at Wayne, Delawan county, and soon after came to this place a 1 1. egan his work. He has been very & coesstal in his efforts to build up a church here , an 1 has already erected a small chapel for ta . use of his congregation until they can build a handsome church, to thre erection of which Father Hand is now giv- ing his attention. He is a very pleasant gen- tleman and is well liked by the people of Wayne.
JOHN F. BEATTY, proprietor of the leading coal and feed business at Morton, this county, and one of the most enterprising and successful business men of that section, is a son of William P. and Martha (Hannum) Beatty, and a native of Springfield township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, where he was born February 23, 1856. The Beatty family is of Scotch-Irish origin, its first representa- tive in America being Thomas Beatty ( great- grandfather), who was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, but left the Emerald Isle while yet a boy to try his fortune in the new world, and settled in Delaware county, where William Beatty ( grandfather) was born. His grand- father served as a soldier in the American army during the war of 1812, was afarmer and edge tool maker, and a member of the Pres- byterian church at Middletown, this county. His son, William P. Beatty (father), was born on the old Beatty homestead in Springfield township, in 1828, and after attaining man- hood succeeded his father in the manufacture of edge tools, and followed that business all his life. His death occurred at his home in his native township, February, 1878, after an active and useful life spanning half a century. Politically he was a Jacksonian democrat, and filled the office of school director one term in his township. In 1852 he married Martha Hannum, a daughter of Edwin Hannum, and a native of Delaware county. She is of direct Welsh descent, and her family is among the
oldest in Pennsylvania, and connected with the Sharpless family of this and Chester county. She now resides in the village of Morton, and is in the sixty-first year of her age. The children of William and Martha Beatty were : Ella M., J. F., William P. and Edwin H.
John F. Beatty was reared on the farm in Springfield township, and received his educa- tion in the public schools and at Swarthmore college, which latter institution he attended for two years. After leaving school he assisted his father in the edge tool factory until 1881, when he removed to the village of Morton and embarked in the coal and feed business on his own account. Being active and enterprising, he soon had a good trade, which he has con- ducted with increasing success to the present time. In addition to his coal and feed busi- ness Mr. Beatty is interested in several other directions. He is a director in the Faraday Power, Heat & Light Company of this village, occupies the same position in the Morton Building and Loan association, and is a direc- tor of the Morton Fire Company.
On November 23, 1881, John F. Beatty and Mary Grace Cooke were united in marriage, and to them have been born three daughters : Emma Cooke, Jean Lewis and Martha Han- num ; the last died when two years old. Mrs. Beatty is a daughter of Lewis D. Cooke, of Glenolden, Delaware county, and was born near Valley Forge, Chester county.
Politically Mr. Beatty is an ardent democrat, well gronnded in the basic principles of his party and active in their support. For twelve years he has been treasurer of the Morton Democratic association, and is recognized as one of the ablest and most influential local leaders of democracy in his section. He has represented Delaware county in the State con- ventions of the Democratic party, and taken an active part in their proceedings. Mr. Beatty is a member of George W. Bartram Lodge, No. 234, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Media Chapter, No. 298, Royal Arch Masons. While his business methods have
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won the confidence of the community, he is also highly regarded as a man and a citizen, and is very popular with all who know him.
JOHN LENTZ GARRETT, a rising lawyer of the city of Chester, is a son of J. Lewis and Caroline ( Dutton ) Garrett, and was born November 1, 1863, at Village Green, Aston township, Delaware county, Pennsyl- vania. The Garretts trace their transatlantic origin to England, whence the family was early transplanted to America and settled in the colony of William Penn. John Garrett, paternal grandfather of John Lentz Garrett, was a native of Chester county, born in 1789, and died at Village Green, this county, in 1872, after an active and useful life covering over three quarters of a century, being eighty- three years of age at the time of his decease. While yet a young man he learned the trade of millwright, at which he worked for many years throughout Chester and Delaware coun- ties, and had the reputation of being unusually skillful in the business. He and his brother Lewis served in the American army during the war of 1812. In 1835 he became landlord of the Seven Stars tavern at Village Green, which is said to have been the headquarters of Lord Cornwallis while the British army lay en- camped near this village in the fall of 1777. Mr. Garrett remained connected with this hotel until his death in 1872. During the ten-hour agitation in 1847, he took an active part in favor of the proposed reform, which was then even more unpopular with the em- ploying class than the eight-hour agitation is now. He permitted the workingmen to hold their meetings at his house without charge, and thus incurred the enmity of a number of his neighbors and patrons. The cause which then required martyrs is to-day regarded as much a matter of course as the rising and set- ting of the sun. And thus the world moves for- ward. John Garrett married Hannah Smedley, and had a family of five children, all of whom
are now deceased except J. Lewis Garrett (fath- er), and Hannah Ann, wife of James Harvey, of the city of Chester. The former was born in this county July 31, 1823, and was reared principally at Village Green, where he attended the public schools and obtained a good prac- tical education. After leaving school he was associated with his father in the management of the hotel for a number of years, and finally succeeded to its ownership and sole control. It is now known as the Village Green hotel, and although nearly seventy-one years of age, Mr. Garrett still continues in its management. Politically he is a democrat of the Jacksonian school, and was elected in 1857 to the office of county auditor. Again in 1884 he was elected to the same position, serving one term with great acceptability. In 1861 he married Caroline Dutton, a daughter of Robert R. Dutton, ex-sheriff of Delaware county, and by that union had a family of four children, two sons and two daughters: Howard Lee, John Lentz, Carrie Lewis and Lena Bell, deceased. Mrs. Caroline Garrett was born in Upper Chichester township, this county, in 1836, and is consequently now in the fifty-eighth year of her age. Her father, Robert R. Dutton (ma- ternal grandfather), was also a native of this county, of English parentage, and in 1846 was elected and served as sheriff of this county. After the expiration of his term of office he embarked in the lumber business in this city, which he followed with gratifying success un- til his death, in 1873, at the age of sixty-four years. He married Anna Bartram, a direct descendant of John Bartram, the distinguished botanist.
John Lentz Garrett grew to manhood at Vil- lage Green, receiving his education in the pub- lic schools and at the Chester High school, from which latter he was graduated in the class of 1883. He then began reading law in the office of O. B. Dickinson, esq., in this city, and later entered the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated with the degree of B. L. in
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1887. In June of the same year he was ad- mitted to practice at the Delaware county bar, and has ever since been associated with O. B. Dickinson, esq., his former preceptor, in gen- eral practice in the courts of this county. These gentlemen have a large clientage and do an extensive law business.
Politically John Lentz Garrett is an active and enthusiastic democrat. He has been a working member of the Democratic executive committee of this county ever since attaining his majority. For several years he served as secretary of this committee, and is now serv. ing his second term as its chairman. Mr. Garrett is unmarried.
GEORGE L. ARMITAGE, a prominent
manufacturer and dealer in building pa- pers and roofing materials, and a leading con- tractor for all kinds of tin, slate and slag roof -. ing, at Chester, this county, is a son of John and Caroline ( Welch) Armitage, and a native- of Hartford county, Maryland, where he was born August 2, 1855. The family is of direct English descent, and was planted in the United States by George Armitage, paternal grand- father of the subject of this sketch, who came over from England about 1840 and settled in Pennsylvania. He died in the city of Phila- delphia about 1850, aged nearly fifty years. His wife was Hannah ( Ibotson) Armitage, of England, and he reared a family of children, one of whom was John Armitage (father ), who was born in England, but came to the United States with his parents when fourteen years of age. He now resides in the city of Richmond, Virginia, where he is engaged in the manu- facture of roofing materials, and is doing a large and prosperous business. Politically he is a democrat, though he has taken little in- terest in politics, preferring to devote all his energies to the management of his business affairs. In 1853 he married Caroline Welch, of Delaware county, Pennsylvania. To their
union was born a family of three children : George L., Charles F. and William C. Mrs. Caroline Armitage was born in Delaware county, was a devoted member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, and died August 15, 1892, at the advanced age of sixty-nine years.
George L. Armitage was brought from Maryland to Chester, this county, by his par- ents when only five years of age, and was reared and principally educated here. He at- tended the public schools of this city until 1871, when he went to Philadelphia and took a course of training in Crittenden's Business college, from which he graduated in the au- tumn of that year. After leaving school he worked awhile for his father, who was then engaged in the roofing business at Chester, and later became a partner with his father, under the firm name of John Armitage & Son. They also conducted a branch establishment in Richmond, Virginia, to which city the elder -Armitage removed in 1882, but continued to do business here until 1886, when the firm was dissolved by mutual consent, the father tak- ing the Richmond branch and the son retain- ing the business in Chester, which he has ever since conducted in his own name. He takes contracts, large or small, for all kinds of tin, slate and slag roofing, and is also extensively engaged in the manufacture of building papers and roofing material. His office and ware- house is located at No. 328 East Eighth street, where he keeps on hand a large stock of every- thing required in his line of business, and is at all times prepared to meet any reasonable re- quirements of builders or dealers in roofer's supplies.
On June 16, 1831, Mr. Armitage was mar- ried to Mary W. Marshall, youngest daughter of Henry Marshall, of the city of Chester. and to them have been born a family consisting of two sons and a daughter: Mabel N., Harry M. and George L., jr. Mr. Armitage is a leading member of the Madison street Metho- dist Episcopal church, and in politics is a stanch republican.
THE VAW : . K PUBLI
ASTOR. .. . TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
albert Barter
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A LBERT BAXTER, a prominent dealer in hides and tallow, and one of the pros- perous, enterprising and highly esteemed citi- zens of Chester, is the youngest of the ten children of John and Mary ( Pollard) Baxter, of Bradford, Yorkshire, England, and was born there January 25, 1837. His parents were natives of Yorkshire, where the father died in 1845, aged sixty-two years. He was descended from an old English family, had a fine educa- tion, and for twenty years preceding his death was an earnest and eloquent local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1849 his widow, Mrs. Mary Baxter, came to the United States, bringing her youngest son, the subject of this sketch. She was a member of the same church as her husband, and died in the city of Philadelphia in 1868, in the seventy-fourth year of her age. Of the other children of John and Mary Baxter, Alfred now resides in Colorado, where he owns and conducts a large stock ranch. He was finely educated, being a Greek, Latin, Hebrew and German scholar, and was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church for twenty years in England before coming to America. Another son, Wil- liam Baxter, was for many years a resident of Indiana, where he died in 1886, aged sixty-two years. He was elected and served in both branches of the legislature of that State, where he was known as an able and eloquent temper- ance advocate, and won the soubriquet of " the John B. Gough of Indiana." He was the anthor of what is known in that State as the Baxter temperance bill, passed by the legisla- ture while he was a member of that body.
Albert Baxter was twelve years of age when he came to this country with his mother, and located in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, where for two years he lived with an older brother, William Baxter. He and this brother then removed to Camden, New Jersey, where Albert Baxter remained for a quarter of a century, engaged in the hide and tallow trade. He successfully conducted that busi- ness until 1865, when he sold out and two
years later became a wholesale dealer in wool, at No. 38 North Front street, Philadelphia. In that city he remained for a period of twelve years, and in 1878 removed to Chester, Dela - ware connty, where he once more began deal- ing in hides and tallow, a business which he has conducted until the present time with con- stantly increasing success. Mr. Baxter may be written down as one of the self-made men of his times, for his present prosperity is the result of his own indefatigable industry and the right use of the business ability with which he is endowed. He owns property at Camden, New Jersey, in addition to his holdings in this city.
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