USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 52
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
She died in the fiftieth year of her age, Sep- tember 20, 1860, the same year as her hus- band. Their children were : Mary Ann, John, Jane, William Henry, Fanny, Arthur, and Margaret.
William H. Martin was a lad of five years when his parents removed to Upland. His education was received in the public schools at that place, which he attended only until he reached his ninth year, when he entered the mill, as was customary at that time. Before he attained his majority he enlisted, August 15, 1861, in Company I, 3rd Pennsylvania cavalry, as a private, serving faithfully in that regiment for three years, and was honorably discharged August 16, 1864, at Philadelphia. During his entire term of service he never left the front. and participated in some twenty general battles, besides a large number of skirmishes and minor engagements. Among the historic conflicts in which he took part were the battles of Williamsburg, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and Fredericks- burg. He was with Mcclellan in his cam- paign through Virginia, in the peninsular cam- paign, and with Grant in the fearful struggles in the Wilderness. During all that time he was never off duty on sick leave, and never asked for a furlough.
Returning to Chester, he again worked at his trade until March 23, 1870, when he was appointed by President Grant postmaster of Chester, and at the expiration of his commis- sion was re-appointed by President Hayes, serving in all about nine years, the only per- son in the history of that office, since it became a presidential one. to receive that distinction. Retiring from the postmastership in January, 1891, he removed to his farm, near Gettysburg, until 1886, when he entered the employ of the Baltimore &Ohio RailroadCompany. In No- vember, 1889, he was appointed by Governor Beaver, factory inspector of Pennsylvania, be- ing the first person to occupy that position, or- ganized the department, and held the office un- til May, 1891. when he was removed by Gov-
ernor Pattison. In the latter part of the same year he was appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury, special inspector of the customs at the port of Philadelphia. That position he held until May 31, 1893, when he was removed by Secretary Carlisle, since which time he has been employed as a solicitor for the Guarantors of Pennsylvania, a casuality, liability, and in- demnity institution, whose principal office is at No. +35 Chestnut street, Philadelphia.
Mr. Martin was married February 26, 1871, to Martha T. Collett, a daughter of George T. and Mary A. Collett, of the city of Chester. To this union has been born two children, one son and a daughter : Mary A., and Henry Gartside. Mr. Martin is an attendant of the Episcopal church, and is a charter member and the quartermaster of Wilde Post, No. 25, Grand Army of the Republic, and was a mem- ber of the public building committee appointed by the citizens of Chester, to secure an appro- priation for a postoffice building, and did ef- fective service in bringing that movement to a successful conclusion.
In his political affiliations William H. Martin has always been a republican, and for many years has taken an active part in local politics, being regarded as a safe and wise counsellor. His life has been active and useful, and has been crowned with a large measure of success, due to the ability, energy, and enterprise which form his chief characteristics, and which have made his name known throughout Pennsyl- vania.
W ILLIAM MEZYCK MEMMIN-
GER, M. D., of distinguished ancestry and one of the most skillful and successful physicians and surgeons in the county, is a son of Robert Withers and Susan ( Mezyck , Memminger, and was born at Rock Hill Place, a health resort of Hendersonville county, North Carolina, March 7, 1866. His paternal grandfather. Christopher Gustavus Memmin- ger, was born in Brussels, Belgium, and came to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1820. Hc
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
was a distinguished lawyer, became a political leader, wrote "The Book of Nullification," and served for twenty years in the legislature. He was active in school reforms, founded the public school system of Charleston, and served as secretary of the treasury in the cabinet of Jefferson Davis from February, 1861, to June, 1864. He died at eighty-nine years of age, and a marble bust of him has been placed by the lawyers of Charleston in their city hall, beside those of Calhoun and others of his illus- trious compeers. He was an Episcopalian, and married and reared a family of eleven children. His second son was Robert W. Memminger, the father of the subject of this sketch. Robert W. Memminger was a grad uate of Harvard college, studied for the Epis- copal ministry at Paris ; he took orders, but never would accept any church as a pecuniary, on account of ill health, and turned his atten- tion to business enterprises and religious au- thorship. having written several books of note and merit. He once owned valuable orange groves and phosphate mines, served as a staff officer in the Confederate service, and now lives in retired life at Charleston, South Car- olina, in which city he owns a large amount of valuable and desirable property. He mar- ried Susan Mezyck, a member of an old Huguenot family, and one of the leading fam- ilies of the South. They had six children : Charles G., William M., Robert W., Willis W., Henry E. and Lucien. Mrs. Memmin- ger's ancestors, the Mezycks, came to the South at an early day, once owning a large part of the site of Charleston, and afterward investing in rice plantations.
William M. Memminger received his literary education at Kenmore university, of Virginia, and then entered South Carolina State Medi- cal college, from which he was graduated at twenty-two years of age, in the class of 1888, with honors and with the high grade that en- titled him to a place on the medical staff of the Charleston hospital. He remained there but a year, and then took charge of the marine
hospital, which he left twelve months later to become resident physician at St. Francis Xa- vier infirmary. Leaving there he received the appointment of physician and surgeon to one of the steamers on the United States and Brazilian mail line, but an attack of la grippe prevented him from serving, and he afterward became one of the members of the staff of physicians to the New York State asylum for the insane. Leaving that institution in a short time, he was successively connected with the St. John's, Child's, the St. Luke's and the Bellevue hospitals, and then, after his State examination at Philadelphia, to practice in Pennsylvania, he located, in February, 1893, at Upland, where he is building up a good practice. Dr. Memminger, although young in years, has had a remarkably large amount of hospital practice. He makes a specialty of surgery, in which he has been very success- ful. He is well read and a close student, and has contributed some valuable papers to the leading medical journals of the United States.
B ENJAMIN WEST, one of America's greatest and most world renowned painters, was a son of John and Sarah (Pear- son) West, and was born at West Dale, now Swarthmore, Springfield township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1738. His parents were Quakers, but perceiving in their son an innate propensity for the art of draw- ing, they allowed him to cultivate his talents in opposition to the rigid principles of their sect. He was aided by his friends, and went to Italy to study the works of the great mas- ters. "He crossed the Alps and went to England. There prejudice and bad taste met him, but his genius overcame both. For George III. he painted the " Departure of Regulus," and that achievement placed him on the throne of English art. The King and Reynolds and West founded the Royal acad- emy : and he who, in the face of every obsta- cle, created a public taste for high art, was
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
properly appointed ' Painter to his Majesty.' He designed thirty grand pictures, illustrative of 'The Progress of Revealed Religion, ' and completed twenty-eight of them." He died at London, England, March 10, 1820, and on the next day his remains were entombed by the side of the remains of Reynolds and Opie, in St. Paul's cathedral. Lester, in speaking of West, says: "There have been more vol- umes written about this great painter in Eng- land than there have been devoted to him in the land of his birth."
H ON. HENRY HALE GRAHAM,
the first president judge of the courts of Delaware county, was a son of William Gra- ham, and was born in London, England, July 1, 1731. His father came to Pennsylvania in 1733, first settling in Philadelphia, subse- quently at Darby, and finally at Chester. " His son entered the office of Joseph Parker, then deputy register of Pennsylvania for the county of Chester, and on the former's death, in 1766, was appointed to the vacant position, which included that of prothonotary, register and recorder. He had been commissioned one of the justices of the county in 1761, and again in 1775. When the Revolutionary strug- gle was at hand Graham's feelings leaned to- ward the support of the mother country, his wife teaching him to yield obedience to con- stituted authorities. Hence, in March, 1777, Thomas Taylor was appointed to succeed him, and seems to have entered into the discharge of the duties of the office, for Taylor's name appears on some of the documents on file in the Orphaus' court at West Chester. For some reason now unknown, on April of the same year, Benjamin Jacobs was appointed, but refused to serve, when Caleb Davis was appointed in his place. The latter accepted, but it appears from the proceedings of the Supreme Executive council, under date of July 28, 1777, ' that Henry Hale Graham, esq., late prothonotary, had, under divers pretences.
neglected to deliver up to him, the said Davis, the books, records, papers and seals belonging to the said office,' whereupon council issued a warrant directing Davis 'to enter in the day time, with proper assistants, the dwelling house and out houses of the said Henry Hale Graham, esq., and search for and take pos- session of and secure in some safe place the books, records, papers and seals belonging to the said office.'
" After the Revolution, November, 1783, Henry Hale Graham was a practicing attorney in the courts of Chester county. On Novem- ber 7, 1789, he was appointed by Governor Mifflin president judge of the courts of Dela- ware county, but it appearing that, not being a justice of the peace at the time, he could not act as president of the Quarter Sessions and Orphans' court, on November 9, 1789, Governor Mifflin requested the return of the former commission, and the same day Graham was commissioned a justice of the peace. On the next day, November Io, he was appointed president judge of the court. At the fall elec- tion in that year Henry Hale Graham was chosen one of the delegates to the Constitu- tional convention of 1789-90, and while attend- ing the meeting of that body in Philadelphia he died, January 23, 1790. John Parsons, the first named in the commission to the associate justice, became the president judge of the courts, ad interim."
C EORGE MALLISON, proprietor of the Lansdowne cotton and woolen mills, at Chester, this county, and one of the lead- ing manufacturers of this city, was born May 9, 1821, at Lepton, Yorkshire, England, where his father, George Mallison, lived all his life, and where he died at an advanced age. When only nine years old the subject of this sketch entered the yarn department of a large woolen factory and began learning the business which has been his life occupation. He remained in the spinning and weaving department until
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
eighteen years of age, and then became a de- signer, since which time he has worked in every department of textile manufacture, and mastered all the details of the business, from the first preparation of the raw material to the finished cloth, ready for the merchant's counter. Having pretty thoroughly mastered his trade, in 1848 he determined to leave his native land and try his fortune in America. He landed at Boston, Massachusetts, on August 21st of that year, and soon after located at South Andover, where he secured employment in the weaving department of a large factory, and remained six months. Desiring to see more of the country, he then removed to Ohio, and worked at his trade for a time at Sardini Falls, near Cleveland, and later at Steuben- ville, that State. For a period of seven years he remained in the west, and then went to Canada, from which he returned to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania, entering the employ of George Evans, of Grubbtown, as weaver. Later he became designer in the factory of Kershow & Jones, at Hestonville, Pennsylvania, and afterward accepted the po- sition of loom boss in the establishment of Thomas Kent, on Darby creek, this county, where he remained for sixteen months. He then became loom boss in the factory of James Taylor, near Wilmington, Delaware, and spent two years at that place, after which he accepted the place of manager in J. B. Hugh's factory, in the city of Philadelphia. In 1866 he re- moved to Lenni, Delaware county, where he formed a partnership with John Burnley, and opened the Park Mount mills, with which he is still connected. These mills manufacture worsted, cotton and woolen goods, and have proved a very successful venture.
In 1868 Mr. Mallison became manager of the factory owned by William Wood & Com- pany, at Twenty-second and Spring Garden streets, Philadelphia, where he remained un- til 1891, at which time he purchased the James Ledward mills at Chester, this county, which he has since operated in his own name.
Since the mill came into his possession he has made valuable improvements and addi- tions to the plant. The main building is of brick, fifty by three hundred and twenty-four feet, two stories high, and is supplied with the latest improved machinery throughout. In addition there is an engine house, packing house and two dye houses, the whole plant covering two and a half acres of ground, and being surrounded with beautiful shrubbery, it forms on of the handsomest grounds to be found among all the industrial establishments of this city. The mill employs one hundred and seventy-five people, and turns out an an- nual product of mixed goods amounting to nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which are sold principally through Whitman & Phelps, of New York city. Mr. Mallison is the sole proprietor of this mill, which stands as a monument to his energy, industry and ability, and is a fitting reward for a lifetime of toil in a business which he thoroughly learned in early manhood and has industri- ously pursued all his life.
In 1857 Mr. Mallison married Mary Wagon- seller, a native of Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, and a daughter of David Wagonseller. To them were born four sons and two daugh- ters.
Harvey P. Mallison was born February 6, IS60, in the city of Philadelphia, and obtained his education in the public schools of that city. At the age of fifteen, when in the senior class, he left school to become assistant superintendent of the William Woods factory in Philadelphia, of which his father was then superintendent, and upon his father's purchase of the Ledward mills here, he came to Chester as superintendent of these works,in which ca- pacity he has ever since remained. He early familiarized himself with every detail in the various departments, and is considered one of the best and most skillful superintendents to be found in the city of Chester. In politics Har- vey P. Mallison is a republican, and is a mem- ber of the Royal Arcanum at Philadelphia.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
In June, 1889, he was married to Katharine Graham, a daughter of John Graham, of Phil- adelphia, and now resides in a beautiful home at Lansdowne, this county.
TTO WAND, proprietor of the Colling- dale Manufacturing Company mills at Collingdale, this county, where he has resided since 1892, is the only son of John and Louisa (Meyer) Wand, and was born September 18, 1859, at Nordhausen, province of Saxony, Prussia. His father was a distiller by occn- pation, and had served in the regular army of Prussia. He was the father of three children, of whom only the subject of this sketch came to America. The two daughters were Agnes Sheiber and Anna Prahmer. The father died September 15, 1865, at the age of fifty-seven years. Young Wand grew to manhood in his native town of Nordhausen, and received his early education in the schools of that place. He afterward attended college and also the university, where he passed his regular exam -. inations and then entered the Prussian army as a volunteer for one year. At the expira- tion of his term of military service, in July. 1879, he came to the United States, locating first at San Francisco, California, where he remained for some time. In 1882 he removed to Philadelphia, where he engaged in the wholesale liquor business, and successfully conducted that enterprise until 1892. In the latter year he purchased the business and plant of the Collingdale Manufacturing Company, at Collingdale, Delaware county, and has since that time been numbered with the enterpris- ing manufacturers of this county. He is en- gaged in the production of all kinds of fancy turned work, including balustrades, fancy mold- ings and in the manufacture of tables. His mills employ twenty skilled workmen, and turn out an annual product amounting to nearly fifty thousand dollars in value.
In politics Mr. Wand is a republican and protectionist, though he has never taken any
very active part in political affairs, preferring to devote his attention strictly to his prosper- ous business. He is a member of Ivanhoe Lodge, No. 449, Free and Accepted Masons : St. John Chapter, No. 232, Royal Arch Masons : Kadosh Commandery, No. 29, Knights Tem- plar ; and Lulu Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and Knights of Birmingham. He is also con- nected with the Order of United Friends.
On September 16, 1886, Mr. Wand was united in marriage to Sophie Pabst, a native of Philadelphia, and a daughter of John Pabst. To Mr. and Mrs. Wand have been born two children, both daughters : Lena and Lulu. Since becoming a manufacturer Mr. Wand has met with remarkable success, and is becoming widely known for the superiority of his pro- ducts, which are in great demand in all parts of the surrounding country.
H ON. JOHN M. BROOMALL, the Nestor of the Delaware county bar, is one of the few remaining members to-day. of that Congress whose votes gave freedom to four millions of slaves. He was born in Lower Chichester township, Delaware county, Penn- sylvania, January 19, 1816. and received his education in Friends' academy, Wilmington, Delaware. He read law with the celebrated Hon. John Bouvier, of Philadelphia, was ad- mitted to the bar on August 24, 1840, and has practiced ever since. He served in the State legislature in 1851 and 1852, was a member of the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, and acted as president judge of the courts of Delaware county from April, 1874, to January 1, 1875. Judge Broomall was a member of the Constitutional Conven- tion of 1874, commanded a militia company in both of Lee's northern invasions, and has written several valuable articles on the history of Delaware county. He is president of the Delaware County Institute of Science, and did much toward developing the old north and south wards of Chester city.
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
W ILSON B. YOUNG, one of the prominent young business men of Rut- ledge, this county, and a graduate of the Penn- sylvania Military academy, is a son of Richard and Wilhelmina (Pyle) Young, and was,born January 27, 1867, in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The family is of Scotch-Irish descent, and was planted in America by Alex- ander Young, paternal grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, who came over from the north of Ireland, and soon afterward settled in Philadelphia. There he engaged in the whole- sale whisky trade, which he conducted until his death. He was succeeded in business by his son, Richard Young (father), who was born in Philadelphia. The latter was reared and educated in his native city, and after the death of the elder Young he carried on the whole- sale liquor business in Philadelphia until 1867, accumulating a handsome fortune. In that year he retired from active business and re- moved to Morton, Delaware county, where he has ever since resided. He is a stanch repub- lican in politics, and for many years was one of the foremost local leaders of his party in Philadelphia, though of late years he has taken less interest in public affairs. For nearly fif- teen years he has been a justice of the peace at Morton, and for several years was a mem- ber of the school board, which latter office he resigned in 1891. He is now president of the Faraday Heat, Power & Light Company of Morton, in which he is largely interested. He married Wilhelmina Pyle, a native of Phil- adelphia, by whom he had a family of children. Mrs. Young is of German extraction.
Wilson B. Young was reared principally at Morton, this county, to which his parents re- moved when he was only a few months old. His preliminary studies were conducted in the public schools, and his education finished at the Pennsylvania Military academy, Chester, this county, from which he was graduated in 1880. In 1885 Mr. Young embarked in the retail grocery business in Philadelphia. That en- terprise he successfully conducted until 1890,
when he disposed of his interests in Philadel- phia and engaged in the grocery business at Rutledge, this county. Here he has met with flattering success and has built up a good trade. He is now assistant postmaster. In 1892 Mr. Young was united in marriage to Lillie Craig, youngest daughter of James Craig, of the city of Philadelphia. In political sentiment Mr. Young adheres to the traditions of his family and has always been an ardent republican. He is enterpising and wide awake as a busi- ness man, pleasant in manner, accommodat- ing in disposition, and his career promises to be one of great success.
JOHN BARTRAM, the earliest Ameri- can botanist, and the founder of the first botanical garden in America, was the eldest son of William and Elizabeth (Hunt ) Bartram, and was born in Darby township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1699. " He found few helps to education in early life, but study and perseverance overcame a host. of difficulties. He seldom sat down to a meal without a book, and he learned the classic languages with great facility. His avocation was that of a farmer, and his favorite study was botany. Mr. Bartram was the first Amer- ican who conceived the plan of establishing a botanic garden for American plants and veg- etables." He established such a garden near Philadelphia, and traversed the whole country in order to collect every production obtain- able. He sent many botanical collections to Europe, where they were highly valued, and led to an extensive correspondence between him and the learned and scientific men of the old world. He was made an honorary mem- ber of many scientific societies of Europe, and in 1766, George III. appointed him " Amer- ican Botanist to his Majesty." John Bartram died September 22, 1777. His son, William, became a noted naturalist, and did much to- ward advancing the study of American orni- thology.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
W ILLIAM L. MATHUES, the pres- ent popular prothonotary of Delaware county, and clerk of the court of quarter ses- sions, is a son of William F. and Emeline (Willis) Mathnes, and was born March 24, 1862, in Middletown township, this county. The Mathues family is of German extraction, and were settled in Pennsylvania prior to the Revolutionary war, in which struggle the pa- ternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch took an active part. His son, William Mathnes (grandfather), was born in Baltimore county, Maryland, in 1795, and when only eighteen years of age enlisted in the American army and served during the war of 1812. He afterward resided in Chester county, this State, for many years, and finally removed to Delaware county, dying at Media, this county, in 1878, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. He married Susan McHenry, and reared a family of seven sons and one daughter, only four of whom now survive. Willam F. Mathues (father) was born in Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1825, and grew to manhood there, re- ceiving a common school education. While yet a young man he came to Delaware county, and has made his home here ever since. He is a carpenter by trade, and for twenty years has been a resident of Media. In religion he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a stanch republican in politics. He served three years during the civil war as a member of the 54th Pennsylvania infantry, enlisting as a private and being promoted to hospital steward. Soon after the war closed he was elected treasurer of Delaware county by the republicans, and acceptably filled that respon- sible position for two years. From 1885 to 1888 he was sheriff of the county, and had been deputy sheriff for a number of years previous to his election to that office. He has always been active in local politics and is a prominent member of Bradbury Post, No. 149, Grand Army of the Republic. In 1849 he married Emeline Willis, born in 1826, a native of Del- aware county, and a daughter of Allen Willis.
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