USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 43
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
ness amounting to $11,000, which increased in 1892 to $17,000, and in 1893 his business aggregated more than $20,000. He employs five clerks and keeps two delivery wagons go- ing all the time.
In his political affiliations John A. Wood is an ardent republican and takes an active in- terest in municipal affairs. While he is in no sense a politician, he considers it the duty of every good citizen to keep posted on public affairs, and to make his influence felt in the government under which he lives. Mr. Wood has frequently been called on to serve in posi- tions of honor and trust, and has always dis- charged his duties in a manner at once accept- able to the public and creditable to himself. In his religious views he is an Episcopalian. He was married October 14, 1893, to Frances A. Calvert, of Thurlow, Pennsylvania.
JACOB BOON, M. D., a well known and popular physician of Darby township and one of the largest real estate owners in Dela- ware county, is the eldest son of Andrew and Anna ( Foulke) Boon, and was born October 9, 1837, at Glenolden, in Darby township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. The family is of Swedish extraction and one of the very oldest in Pennsylvania, its progenitors having come to this country with the Swedes and Fins, who settled along Darby creek as early as 1637. The first Boons of whom we have any account were three brothers named Peter. Hans and Swan, the latter being the great- great-grandfather of Dr. Boon. They all took up large tracts of land in what is now Dela- ware county, and a part of that owned by Hans Boon is now in possession of the subject of this sketch. Hans' son, Andrew Boon (great- grandfather), was a farmer, as were his ances- tors, and lived and died in what is now Darby township. He married and reared a family of children, one of whom was Abram Boon (grand- father ), who was born in Darby township about 1776, and also followed farming as an occupa-
tion. He had a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters : Andrew, Marcus, Joel, William, Christina, Susan, Lydia and Elizabeth. None of the daughters ever mar- ried. Abram Boon was an anti-federalist in politics, and a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church in Darby village. He died about 1840, aged sixty-five years. His eldest son, Andrew Boon (father), was born in an old log house in Darby township in 1803, and received a good common school education, after which he engaged in farming and followed agricul- tural pursuits all his life, dying about 1871, at the age of seventy-two years. Politically he was a democrat, and in religion a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Anna Foulke, a native of Delaware county, and a daughter of George Foulke. To them was born a family of nine children, three sons and six daughters : Susan, who married Wil- liam Rudolph : Ellen, deceased at the age of twenty-two; Jacob, whose name heads this sketch; James, died in his twenty-second year : Emily, wedded George Hedrick ; Daniel, Ann, Martha and Mariah, the two latter being twins. Mrs. Anna Boon died aged eighty- two. The Boon family is a long lived one, most of its members reaching the age of eighty years. It never became numerous, and its only known representatives now living are Dr. Boon's family and William Boon and Margaret Beebee, and his brothers and sisters. It is thought that Daniel Boone, the celebrated Kentucky hunter, was a descendant of Hans Boon, one of the three brothers already men- tioned.
Jacob Boon, M. D., was reared and educa- ted in Darby township, this county. After leaving school he taught seven terms in that township and Montgomery county, and in 1862 abandoned teaching to take up the study of medicine. After reading medicine one year lie entered Jefferson medical college in 1863, where he studied for more than a year. Be- fore completing his course he enlisted for ninety days in Co. A, 37th regiment of emer-
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A -TIK, LENOX AND FN FOUNDATIONS
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gency men, stationed at Greencastle, but after one month's service was discharged. He then went to Philadelphia and enlisted in Co. B, 203d Pennsylvania infantry, joining the main army in front of Petersburg. He was among the reinforcements sent to Deep Bottom, but arrived too late to participate in that engage- ment. After several minor battles he took part in the historical struggle at Fort Fisher, and was with General Terry at the capture of that stronghold. For a time he was camped on the old York road in front of Richmond, and was later engaged in skirmishing along the coast line toward Raleigh, North Carolina, and joined in besieging that city. Returning to Pennsylvania after the war he reëntered the school room and tanght for some time, when he again resumed his medical studies at Jeffer- son college, and was graduated from that well known institution in 1867. Dr. Boon imme- diately located in Darby township, Delaware county, where he met with a kindly reception and has ever since been engaged in a large general practice, living in his present residence at Glenolden since 1869. Dr. Boon is an ac- tive member of the Delaware County Medical society. For many years he was an Odd Fel- low, having served in all the chairs of his lodge, and afterward became connected with the encampment. In political sentiment the Doctor is a democrat, and has always taken an active part in local affairs. serving as auditor, school director, and in other official positions.
Dr. Boon is largely interested in real estate, owning valuable property at Glenolden, Rid- ley Park, Chester, Lansdowne and Boon Sta- tion. With Fred Vogel he was instrumental in the development of Lansdowne Heights and West Folsom. At the latter place he pur- chased forty-four acres of land and laid it out into building lots, christening the place Oak- land. This property he sold to James Mor- nan in 1888, and afterward bought it back. In 1889 he and Mr. Vogel purchased two tracts containing one hundred and ninety-five acres, called the place Lansdown Heights, and have
since been improving and developing this property. In 1886 Dr. Boon bought fifteen acres, on which he built fifteen houses, which he still owns and rents. He is also the pro- moter and main owner of the village of Boon, and has done much toward building up and improving Glenolden, Folsom and West Fol- som. Indeed, it may be said that Dr. Boon has done as much as any man toward the up- building of the material interests of his county, and he is now one of the largest real estate owners in this part of Pennsylvania. He was one of the promoters of the Darby & Chester pike, and his influence has been felt in nearly all the public enterprises of this section for years. On May 10, 1872, Dr. Boon was mar- ried to Lizzie F. Lawrence, a daughter of J. Warren Lawrence, of Springfield township, this county.
S. PANCOAST JAMES, who is promi- nently connected with the milk trade of South Chester, and well known to the people of this section, is a son of Daniel and Eliza P. (Worrall ) James, and a native of Spring- field township, this county, where he was born July 28, 1844. The James family is of Welsh descent, and this branch was founded inAmerica by Evan James, paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who came from Wales while yet a young man, and settled in West Nantmeal township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, at an early day. He was a farmer by occupation, and married Rachel Evans, also a native of Wales, by whom he had a family of seven children : William, Ab- ner, Jesse, Evan, Hannah. Sarah and Mary. William James (grandfather) was born and reared in West Nantmeal, Chester county, where a great portion of his life was spent as a farmer. He was a whig in politics, took an active part in public affairs, and wedded Jane Dunwoody, a daughter of James and Grace Dunwoody, and a descendant of one of the oldest families of Pennsylvania. By that union he had eight children : James, Myrach,
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Daniel, Benjamin F., Evan Abigail, who mar- ried Rudolph Huzzard, and Rachel, who be- came the wife of Albert Way. Daniel, the third son and father of S. Pancoast, was born on the old James homestead in Chester county, December 16, 18:0, and after attaining man- hood learned the trade of millwright, at which he worked for a number of years, taking con- tracts for putting in the machinery of many large mills. He afterward purchased the Thorndale flour mill and saw mill at Glen Mills, this county, which he successfully conducted until his retirement from business in 1866. He died at Glen Mills on February 17, 1888, at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. Politically he was a republican, and served as county commissioner during the trying times of the civil war. A man of sound judgment and good business ability, he accumulated considerable property and won the respect and esteem of all who knew him. While not a - member of any church, he regularly attended the Presbyterian church, and was liberal in his contributions toward the support of its interests. On March 1, 1837, he married Eliza P. Worrall, a daughter of John Worrall, a leading farmer and orthodox Friend of Spring- field township, and to them was born a family of eight children, four sons and four daugh- ters : Annie E., who married James Phipps, of West Chester, this State; Jane, also a resi- dent of West Chester; William, deceased at the age of 50 ; S. Pancoast, whose name in- troduces this sketch ; Mary, now the wife of George P. Dutton, a prosperous miller of Ches- ter township, this county ; George, now a resi- dent of San Jose, California : Ella, married Wilmer Cheyney, of Thornbury township, this county ; and John, also residing in Thornbury township. Mrs. James died in 1876, aged sixty-four years.
S. Pancoast James was reared in this county and received his education in the public schools of Upper Providence township and the high school at Media. After leaving school he learned the millwright trade with his father, but
only followed that occupation a short time. He went to Bloomington, Illinois, in the spring of 1866, where he remained one year, and then returned to Delaware county and em- barked in the coal and lumber business at Glen Mills, this county, in partnership with his father. That enterprise he successfully con- ducted for a period of sixteen years. Retiring from that business in 1882, he purchased a farm in Chester township, and for four years was engaged in agricultural pursuits thereon. In 1886 he removed to Village Green, where he was engaged in farming for three years, and from there went to Boothwyn, in Upper Chi- chester township, remaining four years at the latter place. In 1893 he removed to South Chester, where he is now extensively engaged in the dairy and milk business.
On Christmas eve, 1878, Mr. James was united in marriage with Sallie J. Lewis, a daughter of George Lewis, a prominent miller of Haverford township, this county. To them has been born one child, a daughter, named Grace Lewis.
In his political affiliations Mr. James is an ardent republican, having taken an active part in local politics for a number of years, and held a number of township offices. In 1863 he enlisted in Co. C, 29th Pennsylvania in- fantry, under Capt. John M. Broomall, and served for three months.
A LBERT P. LEWIS, proprietor of the Wallingford cotton mills, near Swarth- inore, this county, and the representative of a family which has been engaged in the manu- facture of cotton goods here for nearly a cen- tury, is a son of Mordecai and Sarah P. (Mil- ler) Lewis, and was born in Upper Providence township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1851. The Lewises are of Welsh descent, and among the oldest families of Delaware county, where they have been en- gaged in agricultural pursuits and manufac- turing industries since the Revolutionary
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
period. George Lewis, paternal grandfather of Albert P. Lewis, was a native of Delaware county, and in early life engaged in the paper manufacturing business, which he relinquished in later years to become a farmer. He mar- ried Edith Worrall, by whom he had a family of six children. His death occurred in 1870, when eighty-five years of age, but his widow lived to be ninety-six. Their son, Mordecai Lewis (father), was born at Wallingford mills, this county, in 1821, and died herein 1870, aged forty-nine years. He owned these mills and spent his entire life here, engaged in the man- ufacture of cotton goods. Politically he was a republican, and in religion a follower of George Fox. He married Sarah P. Miller, a native of Chester county, and like her hus- band a member of the Society of Friends. They were the parents of eight children, seven sons and one daughter: Isaac M .. J. Reese, Albert P., Davis, Frank, Mary, West and Harry. Mrs. Lewis belonged to an old Del- aware county family, of English extraction, and her death occurred in 1870.
Albert P. Lewis grew to manhood at Wal- lingford mills, receiving an English education in the public schools here and at Kennett Square academy in Chester county. After leaving school he became a farmer and fol- lowed that occupation until 1879, owning at one time two hundred and twenty-five acres of land, twenty-five of which lay within the corporate limits of Media. In 1879 he entered into a partnership with his brothers, Isaac M. and J. Reese Lewis, and engaged in the man- ufacture of cotton goods at the Wallingford mills, Swarthmore, this county. Shortly after- ward Isaac M. Lewis withdrew from the firm, and in November, 1888, J. Reese Lewis dis- posed of his interest to his brother, and Albert P. Lewis thus became the sole owner of these textile mills, which he has continued to man- age successfully ever since. The Wallingford mills have a large capacity, and manufacture their products from the raw material, every process, including dying and finishing, being
done in the different departments under the same roof. These goods are principally han- dled by large jobbers in Philadelphia, Balti- more, Pittsburg, and other cities, and find their way to all parts of the country.
On October 13, 1875, Albert P. Lewis was united by marriage to Mary Cummins, a daugh- ter of James R. Cummins, of Delaware county. To Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have been born two children, one son and a daughter : Harry W., now in his seventeenth year, and Florence C. Politically the subject of this sketch is a re- publican, and in religion a member of the Society of Friends.
J AMES H. TEMPLE, superintendent of the Chester branch of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, and a gentleman very highly esteemed in this city, is a son of Abram Y. and Jane | Crooks) Tem- ple, and was born August 16, 1857, at Upland, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. The Tem- ples are of English extraction, but have been resident in America since early times. Wil- liam Temple, paternal grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, was a native of New Jer- sey and the eldest of a family of four sons, the others being Andrew, Azariah and Levi. William Temple married Mary McGowen and was the father of seven children : Jolin C., Ab- ner, Abram (father), Jane, Mary, and two who died in infancy. He lived to be fifty-nine years of age, dying about 1858, and his wife died at the age of sixty-eight. All the children are now deceased except Abner and Abram. Abram Temple (father) was born in August, 1837 at Newton, New Jersey, and is now a fruit and vegetable dealer in the city of Chester, where he has resided since 1858. Prior to that time he had been a sailor, employed for a number of years on the coasting vessels plying between Philadelphia and other domestic ports. In politics he is a democrat, and for many years was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1856 he married Jane Crooks, a
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BIOGRAPHIY AND HISTORY
native of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of James Crooks. To them was born a family of eight children : Mary, Annie, Ella, Emma, Maggie, Leslie, James, and William, who married Rosa Smith and is a weaver and loom fixer by trade. Mary, Annie and Ella, the third, fourth and seventh, died in infancy. Mrs. Jane Temple is now in the fifty-seventh year of her age.
James H. Temple grew to manhood in Ches- ter and obtained a good practical education in the public schools of that borough. At the age of fifteen he entered the cotton and woolen mills of Chester, to learn the business of textile manufacture, and spent a period of fifteen years in the various mills of this city. In 1880 he aban- doned the mills to engage in the subscription book business, which he followed for five years, traveling through different parts of Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, and meeting with good success. At the end of that time he returned to Chester and engaged in the industrial insurance business as agent of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, in December, 1885, and for some fifteen months he acted in that capacity, and then became assistant superintendent for that company at Chester. He held this position until May 20, 1893, when he was made general superintendent in this city, and still continues to act as such. In management of its affairs here he has displayed fine executive ability and has won the esteem and confidence of his offi- cial superiors and the general public. In the underwriting business of this company a spe- cialty is made of industrial insurance for small amounts, and the force at Chester, over which Mr. Temple has supervision, consists of one clerk, three assistant superintendents and twenty agents, with an examining staff of five physicians : Drs. W. W. Johnston, Robert S. Maison and Knales Evans, of Chester, and Percy C. Hoskins of West Chester, and C. Lashell, of Rockdale.
In his political affiliations Mr. Temple is a democrat, but broad and liberal in his views,
and much inclined toward independent action in local affairs. He is a member of the Ex- celsiorSaving society and of the Baptist church. On May 22, 1883, he was united in marriage to Susie A. Heflin, a daughter of Absalom Heflin, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. To Mr. and Mrs. Temple have bean born five children, all daughters : Edith May, Florence Virginia, Ethel lrene, Mildred Evans, and Bessie Alice.
R ICHARD FLOWER FLICKWIR,
president of the common council of the city of Chester, was actively engaged in the drug business here for a number of years, and later served for an extended period as assistant postmaster, but is now retired. He is a son of Jeremiah W. and Jemima ( Flower ) Flick- wir, and a native of the city of Philadelphia, where he was born July 24, 1834. Jeremiah W. Flickwir ( father) was born in the city of Phil- adelphia in 1803, and resided there until 1839. In that year he removed to Chester, Delaware county, and resided in this city and Chester township during the remainder of his life, which closed in 1866, when he was well ad- vanced in the sixty-third year of his age. At the time of his death, and for many years previous, he held the office of deputy revenue collector in this district. From 1864 he was also interested with his son, Richard F., in the drug business at Chester. He was a man of sociable disposition, affable manners and fine conversational powers, and was extremely popular and well liked by the people. Polit- ically he was a whig and republican, and ren- dered his party efficient service in many an active and exciting campaign. He was a vestryman and warden of St. Paul's Episcopal church of this city for many years, and took an active part in all the benevolent and other enterprises of his church. In 1827 he married Jemima Flower, a daughter of Richard Flower, and a native of Upland, this county. She was a consistent member of St. Paul's Epis-
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
copal church, and died May 17, 1889, in the eighty-fifth year of her age.
Richard Flower ( maternal grandfather) was of English extraction, and his wife was a daugh- ter of Henry Hale Graham. Mr. Flower was born at Marcus Hook, this county, and for many years was proprietor of what was known as the Chester flouring mills, where he did a large and lucrative business, supplying a vast amount of flour to several leading markets in this country and shipping large quantities to Europe. He died in July, 1843, at the age of eighty-four years.
Richard Flower Flickwir was reared prin- cipally in the city of Chester, to which his parents removed when he was but five years of age, and received a good English education in the public schools here and in Philadelphia. Leaving school he entered a large wholesale dry goods house in that city as salesman, and remained with the same firm for a period of seven years. In 1857 he went to Beardstown, Illinois, where he engaged in business with his elder brother, . D. Henry Flickwir, since deceased, and continued in partnership with him until 1864. He then returned to Chester, Pennsylvania, and with his father engaged in the drug business in this city. The partnership thus formed was dissolved by the death of his father in 1866, and for three years thereafter Richard F. Flickwir conducted the business alone. In 1871 he became assis- tant postmaster at Chester, and served as such for a period of six years, first under W. G. Price, and afterward under William H. Mar- tin. Since leaving the postoffice he has been retired from all active business.
Politically Mr. Flickwir has always been an ardent republican, having cast his first vote for John C. Fremont for president in 1856. He has served for two years as a member of the common council of this city, and is now serving his second term as president of that body. For eleven years he has been secretary of the Republican county committee, and is regarded as among the best and safest advis-
ers in the local councils of his party. During the last twenty-eight years he has been con- nected with the Masonic fraternity, being now a member of L. H. Scott Lodge, No. 352, of this city ; and is also a member of the Patriotic Order Sons of America. He is unmarried.
C ORNELIUS C. V. CRAWFORD,
M. D., is a graduate of the Jefferson Med- ical college of Philadelphia, who served with distinction as a surgeon during the civil war, and has for many years been practicing his profession in Delaware county, residing now at Chester Heights. He is a son of Benjamin and Anna (Cooper ) Wayne Crawford, and was born in the city of Philadelphia January 31, 1842. The Crawfords are of Scotch lineage, and the family was planted in America by Alexander Crawford, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who was born and reared in Scotland, where he received a superior education and afterward learned the business of a merchant tailor. Subsequent to the birth of his first child he, with his wife, left his na- tive land, and, crossing the broad Atlantic, settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the clothing business as a mer- chant tailor and manufacturer, and became quite successful and prosperous. His business was located in the central part of the city, and he continued to reside in Philadelphia until his death, May 11, 1837, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. Politically he was an old line whig, and in religion a member of the German Reformed church, in which he was very active and prominent for many years. His wife, Christianna (of German origin), bore him a family of five children, four boys and one girl, and died February 13, 1845, at the advanced age of ninety years. Their fourth son, Benjamin Crawford (father), was born in Philadelphia on Christmas day, 1798, and ob- tained his education in the schools of that city. He was of a studious disposition, and continued his investigations in various lines
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all his life. In youth he was strongly inclined toward the ministry, but his father preferred that he should adopt a more substantial and lucrative calling, and he entered his father's employ in the clothing and merchant tailoring business, which he finally made his life occn- pation. He continued to be a great Bible student all his life, and became very proficient in biblical literature and criticism. He was able in debate, a clear and original thinker, and very forcible and logical in argument. Early in life he engaged in business on his own acconnt on Market street, above Seventh, and subsequently removed to Market, above Sixth, where he continued to conduct a large and prosperous business, having branch stores also at Reading and Harrisburg, and was one of the largest clothing dealers of his day. His business transactions were always con- ducted on the cash basis and conscientiously looked after, even to the minutest details. He continued in active business nntil 1856. when, having secured a handsome competency, he retired. Latterly he dealt to some extent in real estate. All the years he remained in active business, and at the time of his death, January 25, 1867, he was highly esteemed for his fine sense of honor, strict probity, and high regard for truth. His word was always his bond. In politics he was first a whig and later a republican. At the age of seventeen he joined the First German Reformed church (old Crown street), of which he was a consis- tent member for years. and later identified himself with the Presbyterian church, in which he was active and prominent until his death. He had fine musical talent, a voice of unusual compass and power, and for more than a third of a century led the singing in various churches in Philadelphia. From early manhood to his death he was actively connected with the Sons of Temperance, and was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a man of great nervous energy and of fine physical development, rarely knowing what it was to be sick, until suddenly stricken down
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