USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 32
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In 1865 Mr. Davis was united in marriage to Martha Neal, a daughter of Robert and Mary Neal, of Seaford, Delaware. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have two children, one son and a daughter : Katie B. and Edgar F.
In his political affiliations Horace B. Davis has always been a republican, having cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln for president in 1864, and takes an active interest in local politics. In 1891 he was appointed mercan- tile appraiser for this district, and in 1891 was elected a member of the city council from the Sixth ward. in which capacity he is still serv- ing. In 1893 he was a prominent candidate for county treasurer. Mr. Davis is a leading member of the Baptist church, and also a
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prominent member of several secret society organizations, among which may be mentioned L. H. Scott Lodge, No. 352, Free and Ac- cepted Masons; Chester Chapter, No. 258, Royal Arch Masons; Chester Commandery, No. 66, Knights Templar ; Lieperville Lodge, No. 263, Independent Order of Odd Fellows ; and Larkin Lodge, No. 78, Knights of Pyth- ias. He is genial and affable in manner, and one of the most popular men personally to be found in Delaware county.
JOSEPH C. EGBERT, B. S., M. D.,
Ph. D., a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, and a prominent physician of Wayne, this county, who is also secretary of the Wayne Electric Light association, and a conspicuous figure in the Masonic circles of this part of the Keystone State, was born May 30, 1853, at Merion Square, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and his parents are Hamilton and Elizabeth (Rohrman) Egbert. The Egberts are of English extraction, but have been resident Americans since 1660, when Govert Egbert came over from England on the sailing vessel "Spotted Cow," and settled on Staten Island. Representatives of the family came into Penn's colony and settled in Mont- gomery county prior to the Revolutionary war, and from there have spread into various parts of Pennsylvania and a number of the western States. Lawrence Egbert, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a Pennsyl- vanian by birth, and served with distinction in the American army during the struggle of the colonies for independence. One of his sons was David Norman Egbert (grandfather), who was born in Montgomery county, this State, in 1788, and after attaining manhood engaged in general merchandising, and later became a lumber and coal dealer in Plymouth township, that county. He died there in 1873, aged eighty-five years. Politically he was an old-line whig and republican, and for many years filled the office of justice of the peace in
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his township. He married Maria Yocum, and reared a family of three children, all of whom are now living. One of his sons is Hamilton Egbert (father), now a resident of Bryn Mawr, Montgomery county. He was born on the old Egbert homestead, in Plymouth township, that county, September 18, 1821, and while yet a boy removed to Merion Square, where he resided for twenty-nine years, afterward re- moving to the vicinity of Bryn Mawr, where he resided for thirty-four years. He is presi- dent of the Bryn Mawr National bank, and has always taken an active part in local politics, being an enthusiastic republican. In 1852 he married Elizabeth Rohrman, a native of Phil- adelphia, and a daughter of John Leonard Rohrman, one of the first wall paper manufac- turers of that city. Mr. Rohrman was of di- rect German descent, and died in 1876, aged seventy-nine years, at Gladwyn, Merion Square, Montgomery county, where he had re- sided for forty years. To Hamilton and Eliza- beth Egbert was born a family of two children, one son and one daughter: Joseph C. Egbert and Katherine R. Egbert. Mrs. Egbert was born in 1827, and is consequently now in the sixty-seventh year of her age.
Joseph C. Egbert was reared principally at his native village of Merion Square, Montgom- ery county, and received his early training in the common schools. At the age of sixteen he entered the University of Pennsylvania, from which institution he received the degree of B. S. in 1873, and the degree of M. D. in 18So. In the same year he received the de- gree of Ph. D. from this university. While a student in Philadelphia his preceptor was the eminent Dr. Henry R. Wharton, who is still a power in this leading educational institution of Pennsylvania. In less than a year after his graduation Dr. Egbert began the practice of his profession at Wayne, Delaware county, being the first physician to locate in the vil- lage of Wayne, though others were settled near it. Here he soon acquired and has suc- cessfully maintained a large general practice.
15
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He is a member of the Delaware County Med- ical society, and of the Obstetrical and Path- ological societies of the city of Philadelphia, and has one of the finest private medical libra- ries to be found in the State of Pennsylvania.
On April 22, 1891, Dr. Egbert was married to Catharine Miller, a daughter of Cornelius J. Miller, of the firm of Miller & Mooney, of Philadelphia. The doctor and Mrs. Egbert are members of St. Mary's Memorial Episco- pal church of this village, of which the doctor is now accounting warden.
As has been indicated, Dr. Egbert is prom- inent in the Masonic circles of Eastern Penn- sylvania, being a thirty-second degree Mason. He is a member of Wayne Lodge, No. 581, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is worshipful master: scribe of Montgomery Chapter, No. 262. Royal Arch Masons; St. Albans Commandery, No. 47, Knights Temp- lar ; and the Sovereign Consistory of Phila- delphia, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masons. Politically Dr. Egbert is a republi- can, but has seldom taken any active interest in politics, preferring to devote his time and attention to his profession. Since 1888 he has been secretary of the Wayne Electric Light association, and is interested in every movement toward the development or im- provement of the industrial and business in- terests of his village or county. As a citizen and physician he is held in the highest esteem, having early won the entire confidence of this community.
F REDERICK AYDELOTTE HOW-
ARD, a member of the well known wholesale commission and grocery firm of Howard Brothers, and one of the leading business men of the city of Chester, is a son of George W. and Leah C. ( Pool ) Howard, and was born October 20, 1855, in Baltimore Hundred, Sussex county, Delaware. He re- ceived his elementary education in the acad- emy at Berlin, Maryland, and afterward took
a limited course in the grammar school at Chester, Pennsylvania. At the age of sixteen he entered Bryant & Stratton's business col- lege in the city of Philadelphia, where he ac- quired some knowledge of modern business methods, and after leaving that institution was employed for a time as clerk in the postoffice at Chester, Pennsylvania. When eighteen years of age he embarked in the retail grocery and commission business in connection with his father and brother, under the firm name of G. W. Howard & Sons. This firm was not very successful, the partnership was dissolved in 1876, and young Howard visited the great southwest, traveling extensively in several of the southwestern States and territories. He spent some six months in hunting and fishing, camping out most of the time, and then in company with a Canadian friend purchased a boat and floated twelve hundred miles down the Red river, to Shrevesport, Louisiana, thence to New Orleans by steamer, from which place they came by boat to Cincinnati, Ohio. Returning to Pennsylvania in 1877, Mr. Howard associated himself in business with his brother, George W. Howard ( for his ancestral history see his sketch), and under the firm name of Howard Brothers they be- came commission merchants in Chester, and at the same time began operations on a small scale as wholesale grocers. The same year they erected a store on the grounds they now occupy, on the northwest corner of Sixth and Welsh streets, which they gradnally enlarged to its present dimensions as their business in- creased. In 1889 George W. Howard with- drew from the firm to engage in other business, and his place was filled by their youngest brother, William E. Howard, who has ever since been an equal partner in the business. How- ard Brothers were the first to do a commission business in the city of Chester, and to them also belongs the honor of having been the pioneers in the wholesale trade here. Their establishment is a two-story brick building, forty by one hundred and fifty feet in dimen-
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sions, with a spacious basement store room, and a wing covering an area of fifty by fifty feet. Every convenience is here found for conducting a general wholesale grocery busi- ness in all its branches.
It is now sixteen years since this business was established, and by dint of energy, enter- prise and honorable dealing, its founders have steadily increased their trade until to-day their house occupies a position of prominence in the mercantile world, and is conceded to be the leading wholesale grocery entrepot in Dela- ware county. They are doing the largest wholesale commission business, with one ex- ception, between Philadelphia and Baltimore. This success has not come by chance, but is wholly due to the energy and perseverance of the two Howards, who in addition to their fine executive ability have a thorough knowledge of the business in all its details, and give their personal attention to overseeing everything connected with their establishment. Twelve assistants are employed and six commercial travelers are kept constantly on the road, whose routes extend through Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. Howard Brothers now have the entire confidence of retail deal- ers wherever their business extends, and that area is rapidly widening, with still more bril- liant promise for the future. In addition to the wholesale grocery business Howard Broth- ers own valuable lands lying within the cor- porate limits of Chester, in one of the most at- tractive localities of the city. Mr. F. A. How- ard is and always has been affiliated with the Republican party, but is not a stalwart.
On June 1, 1882, Fred A. Howard was united in marriage to Bessie Dunn Pearce, a daughter of Rev. John J. Pearce, a member of the Cen- tral Pennsylvania conference of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Pearce represented the Lock Haven district in Congress during those dark days, just before the rebellion, and with one exception was the youngest member of that Congress, being only twenty-nine years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Howard has been
born a family of four children, three sons and a daughter : John Pearce, Mary Anna, Fred A., jr., and William E. Mrs. Howard is a direct descendant, in the sixth generation, of John Alden, the hero of Longfellow's famous poem, and her uncle, Hon. Stewart Pearce, was the historian of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania.
William E. Howard, junior member of the firm of Howard Brothers, is a republican in politics, and is associated withi Frederick A. Howard in all his business and real estate in- terests. He resides with his widowed mother at No. 214 Broad street, Chester, and is a very popular man, ranking with the best and most successful young business men of the city.
WILLIAM GRAY PRICE, the vet- eran brick manufacturer of Chester, who served for a number of years as postmaster of the city, and has long been prominent in local politics, was born at Chester, March 4, 1828. He is a son of Major Samuel A. and Sarah (Bickham) Price, and a brother of John C. Price, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume, and to which reference is made. for such ancestral history of the Price family as is now attainable. William Gray Price grew to manhood principally in Chester, and obtained a good practical education in the public schools of this city and Philadelphia. Leaving school he became a clerk in a general store at Rockdale, this county, and later occu- pied a similar position in a large mercantile establishment in this city. In 1849, during the big excitement which followed the discov- ery of the precious metal in California, he sailed on the brig Meteor, via Cape Horn (stopping at Rio de Janeiro and other South American ports), for Valparaiso, Chili, where he was employed for two years as cashier in the English house of Ravenscroft Hermanos; y ca at Copiapo, and from thence went to San Francisco, California, where he joined a pros- pecting party, and was one of the original dis- coverers of Salmon river and Gold Bluff. He
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was also one of a party to prospect on Queen Charlotte's island, British America, and other points along the Pacific coast. He returned to the United States in 1854, via Cape Horn, and in the autumn of that year began the manu- facture of brick in Chester, this county. This enterprise proving successful, he has remained in the business continuously until the present time, and is now perhaps the oldest brick man- ufacturer of Delaware county, having spent nearly forty years in this line of productive in- dustry.
In 1863, prior to the battle of Gettysburg, Mr. Price served three months as second lieu- tenant of Co. A, 37th Emergency regiment, and again in the emergency call before the battle of Antietam, as second lieutenant of Co. K, 10th Emergency regiment. In 1869 he was appointed postmaster of this city by President Grant, and acceptably filled that position until 1872. He has served continuously for nine years as a member of the city council, and dur- ing his first term was one of the South ward com- missioners who superintended the construc- tion of the present water works of this city. Politically he is a stanch republican, and one of the trusted leaders of his party in Delaware county. He is also prominently connected with the Royal Arcanum.
On January 18, 1860, Mr. Price was united in marriage to Jennie E. Campbell, a daugh- ter of the late James Campbell, of the city of Chester. To Mr. and Mrs. Price were born three sons, all of whom have attained man- hood and now occupy important and honor- able positions in the business world: The eld- est, Edward A. Price, jr., was born in Ches- ter, September 2, 1864. He received his edu- cation in the public schools of Chester, and after leaving school accepted a position in the postoffice under Jolin A. Wallace. Three years later he left Chester and entered the First National bank of Media as junior clerk, and is now head book-keeper of that institu- tion. He served five years in Co. B, 6th regiment National Guard of Pennsylvania,
but resigned upon his removal to Media. He associated himself with his father in the brick business in 1890. He is a prominent Mason, an active member of Chester Lodge, No. 236, secretary of Chester Chapter, No. 258, Royal Arch Masons, and treasurer of Chester Com- mandery, No. 66, Knights Templar. On No- vember 16, 1892, he married M. Nellie Shaw, a daughter of John Shaw, of the manufactur- ing firm of Shaw, Esrey & Co. The second son, William Gray Price, jr., is engaged in the coal business at Philadelphia. He married Sallie P. Eyre, daughter of the late Joshua P. Eyre, of Chester, and served as second lieu- tenant of Co. B, 6th regiment National Guard Pennsylvania, and as first lieutenant of Co. C, 6th regiment infantry National Guard of Penn- sylvania, and is now adjutant 3d regiment in- fantry National Guard of Pennsylvania. The youngest son, Howard Campbell Price, is em- ployed as salesman for the Keystone Plaster Company, of this city, and was a member of Co. B, 6th regiment infantry, and acting ser- geant-major of the second battalion, 6th regi- ment infantry National Guard of Pennsyl- vania, and now is adjutant of the second bat- talion 6th regiment infantry National Guard of Pennsylvania.
DAVID H. BURNS, the popular pro- prietor of the leading marble works in the city of Chester, and one of her most re- spected and useful citizens, was born October 31, 1850, at Bordentown, New Jersey, and his parents were George and Martha ( Duncan) Burns. The family is of Scotch-Irish descent, the father and mother both being natives of the Emerald Isle, and both being born in the city of Belfast. George Burns (father) was a cotton spinner by trade, and followed that oc- cupation in County Down, Ireland, until 1835, when he came to the United States and settled at Bordentown, New Jersey. There he re- sided until 1853, when he removed to Penn- sylvania, locating at Lenni, Delaware county,
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
where he continned to live until his death in 1876, at the age of sixty-four years. He was a republican in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, leading a quiet life and being regarded as among the best citi- zens. He married Martha Duncan, a daugh- ter of John Duncan, a sea captain residing in Belfast, Ireland. By that union he had a fam- ily of eight children, five sons and three daugh- ters : William, who is an engineer by trade and resides in Philadelphia ; Margueretta, who married John Whittington, superintendent of the Oregon steamship line at San Francisco, California ; Matilda, wedded Benjamin Mid- dleton, a prosperous farmer of Village Green, this county ; John D., foreman in the machine shops of the Chester steel foundry ; David H., whose name heads this sketch ; Elizabeth. who married Joseph Dyson, of Norwich, Connec- ticut, and is now deceased ; Rev. George J., the present pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church at the corner of Twenty-ninth and York streets, Philadelphia ; and Dr. S. W. Burns, a practicing physician of Chester. Morris county, New Jersey. Mrs. Martha Burns now resides with her son in Philadel- phia, and is in the seventy-eighth year of her age.
David H. Burns came with his parents to Delaware county, Pennsylvania, when only three years of age, and was reared and edu- cated here. After leaving the public schools he served an apprenticeship at the marble cutting trade, with Daniel McClintock, of Media, Delaware county, and in 1875 en- gaged in the marble and monnment business on his own account at No. 614 West Third street, Chester, Delaware county. Here he has been very successful and has become widely known for the excellence of his work. He has perhaps the largest marble business in monu- ments and tombstones in the city, and turns out the finest work done in this part of Penn- sylvania. Among that recently erected is the beautiful and elaborate marble cross for Peter Hunter's son, superintendent of the Eddystone 15 a
Print works, and a splendid granite monument for the noted General Beale, of Washington, District of Columbia, in Chester Rural ceme- tery. He has taken as much as six double wagon loads of finished work into Cumberland cemetery in one day, and during two months in the summer of 1893 he did five thousand dollars worth of business, while others were complaining of dull times.
On the 23d of December, 1875, Mr. Burns was married to Mary E. Broughton, youngest daughter of Robert Broughton, of the city of Philadelphia. To Mr. and Mrs. Burns have been born two children : Minnie B. and Ethel- bert Delong. Minnie was born October 30, 1877, and is now attending the high school in Chester. Ethelbert was born July 14, 1882, and is a student in the public schools. Po- litically Mr. Burns is a stalwart republican and takes an active part in politics, and can always be found at the polls doing his dnty as a good citizen. Mr. Burns is of a literary turn of mind, writes frequently for the news- papers, and is an officer of L. H. Scott Lodge, A. Y. M., and is an all around good fellow.
W ILLIAM S. SYKES, a prominent at- torney of the Delaware county bar, who has served six years as county auditor and been in successful practice in the city of Ches- ter since 1878, is a native of Rockdale, Dela- ware county, Pennsylvania, and was born May 15, 1855. His parents, Daniel and Rachel (Lowe) Sykes, were both natives of England, the former born in Manchester and the latter at Ashton, Underlyne. They were both mem- bers of the Protestant Episcopal church, and came to the United States in 1853, settling at Rockdale, this county, where they resided un- til 1861. In that year Mr. Sykes removed to Philadelphia, and continued to reside in that city until 1869, when he returned to Rock- dale, this county, where he lived until 1870, and then removed to Chester township, on property which was included within the bor-
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ough of North Chester in 1873, and the city of Chester in 1888, since which time he has been a resident of the city of Chester. He is a weaver by trade, and since 1870 has been in the employ of Shaw & Esrey, at their cotton mills in this city. Politically he is a repub- lican, and is now in his sixty-second year, having been born in 1831. Mrs. Sykes died in 1891, at the age of sixty-three, greatly re- spected and beloved by her neighbors and friends, for her many excellent qualities of heart and mind.
William S. Sykes, their only child, was reared partly in this county and partly in the city of Philadelphia. His primary education was obtained in the public schools of Rock- dale, after which he took a three years' course in the Philadelphia high school. Leaving school he became a messenger for the West- ern Union Telegraph Company in the city of Chester, and after two years spent in that po- sition entered the law office of William J. Harvey, at that time the leading lawyer of the Delaware county bar, and now a prom- inent attorney in Salt Lake City. After com- pleting his preparations for the bar Mr. Sykes was duly admitted to practice in March, 1878, and at once opened an office in this city, where he has been continuously engaged in the gen- eral practice of his profession ever since, giv- ing his principal attention to the civil side of the calendar. Of late years he has had a large divorce practice, and is among the best posted lawyers on that subject to be found in eastern Pennsylvania.
On September 5, 1878, Mr. Sykes was mar- ried to Anna Palmer Chamberlain, a daughter of Palmer Chamberlain, of West Chester, this State, and to them has been born a family of five children, two sons and three daughters : D. Harvey, Rachel, Loretta, William S., jr., and Eola D.
Politically William S. Sykes is an ardent republican, and for years has taken a prom- inent part in local politics, being one of his party's most effective workers. He has fre-
quently been selected for official position, and has never failed to discharge every duty con- nected therewith in a manner highly satisfac- tory to the public and creditable to himself. For six years he occupied the responsible of- fice of county auditor of Delaware county, and was auditor of the borough of North Chester for nine years previous to its incorporation with the city of Chester. He also occupied the position of solicitor for North Chester for a number of years, and took an active part in the legal proceedings connected with the an- nexation of that borough to the city of Ches- ter in 1888. Mr. Sykes is a member of the committee on organization of the Hastings club of this city, the purpose of which is to work for the election of General Hastings as governor of Pennsylvania, and is also a member of the organization known as " The Rockdale Boys," a social club composed of those who attended the Rockdale schools prior to 1870. As a lawyer Mr. Sykes has won an enviable standing at the bar, and is regarded as among the best, most useful and most influential citi- zens of Delaware county.
APTAIN JOSEPH MeDADE, a
well known commander of steam vessels on the Delaware, whose home is in the city of Chester, Delaware county, and who has fol- lowed the sea for nearly half a century, is a son of Edward and Rebecca ( Pile) McDade, and a native of Marcus Hook, this county, where he was born February 9, 1844. The McDade family is of original Scotch ancestry, but its members have been loyal, true hearted Americans since colonial times, having been settled in the adjoining colony of Delaware long prior to the Revolutionary war. In that State the paternal grandfather of the Cap- tain was born and reared. He spent his life principally at New Castle and Delaware City, State of Delaware, was a waterman by occupation, and the father of five children: John, Edward, William, Rachel and Mary.
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He died about 1846, at the advanced age of eighty-three years, and his wife in 1852, aged eighty-four. Their second son, Edward Mc- Dade (father ), was born at New Castle, Dela- ware, March 12, 1808, and after attaining man- hood learned the plasterer's trade, at which he worked for many years. Politically he was a whig and republican, taking considerable interest in local politics and holding a number of township offices, including that of super- visor. He was a member of the Episcopal church, and died November 6, 1866, in thefifty- eightlı year of his age. In 1837 he married Rebecca Pile, a native of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of John and Mary Pile, and who was born May 30. 1817. To that union was born a family of six chil- dren, three sons and three daughters: Rachel, born November 12, 1838, who married a Mr. Taylor; John, born May 1, 1841, and died in 1862; Lewis and Joseph, twins, born February 9, 1844; Elizabeth, born May 23, 1847, and married a Mr. Cloud; and Mary, born April 14, 1849, married a Mr. Cook, and died in 1887. Mrs. McDade died in 1877, aged sixty- two years.
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