USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 55
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J. NEWLIN TRAINER, president and treasurer of the Patterson Mills Com- pany, and prominently identified with the manufacturing interests of the city of Chester, where he has ranked as a leading citizen for many years, is the eldest son and fourth child of David and Ellen (Eyre) Trainer, and was born September 4, 1842, at Linwood, now known as Trainer, Delaware county, Pennsyl- vania. The Trainers are descended from one of those sturdy old English immigrants who crossed the broad Atlantic and planted them- selves in what is now Pennsylvania two years before the coming of William Penn himself. and who afterward exerted such a powerful influence on the industrial life of the three lower counties. In all those counties the name still lingers, synonymous with energy, industry, enterprise, and superior business tact -qualities which have been the distin- guishing characteristics of the family from the earliest times. The original immigrant was David Trainer, an English Quaker, who left his native land to escape the religious perse- cutions which were visited upon members of his society in that day. In 1771 he settled on the present site of Ridley Park, this county, 24a
where he received the grant of a large tract of land, and near where the different branches of the family resided for many generations. He was the father of seven children, four sons and three daughters. Of these, David Trainer, the eldest son and paternal grand- father of the subject of this sketch, married Mrs. Sarah Smith, nee Newlin, who was a lady of remarkable beauty and refinement, and who had the honor of standing as brides- maid to Dolly Madison when she was married to President James Madison. Mrs. Trainer was possessed of many rare accomplishments, was a Quakeress of the olden type, and lived to be seventy-five years of age. They were the parents of five children : Sarah M. Walker, William, Josiah B., Mary Smith, and David, father of J. Newlin Trainer. After the death of his first wife Mr. Trainer married another estimable lady, Mrs. Mary Balfour, nee Leiper, who was of good old revolutionary stock, and possessed of fine humane and philanthropic sentiments, a leader in woman's work for the betterment of humanity, and a liberal and zealous worker in the church. Mr. Trainer died February 29, 1846, at the ripe old age of seventy years. His youngest son, David Trainer (father), was born in Chester, this county, July 9, 1814, grew to manhood in his native village, and became one of the pioneer cotton manufacturers of Delaware county, and a prominent factor in the progress which marked the industrial development of his time. A man of only common school educa- tion, he was nevertheless possessed of so fine an intellect and such rare business ability that he easily led in whatever enterprise he under- took, being full of resources, and apparently always able to perfectly adapt means to ends, and see the end from the beginning. With him the culture of the college curriculum was unnecessary, as he seemed to grasp the prin- ciples which underlie affairs, as if by instinct, and with characteristic energy and industry bend everything to his purpose. The super- ior mental endowment which he inherited
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
amply fitted him for the safe guidance and successful mastery of the great enterprises which he originated and conducted. For forty years he was engaged in the manufacture of cotton fabrics at Linwood, this county, during which he did much to improve the methods in use, and the character of the fin- ished product. In his later years he admitted his sons into partnership, under the firm name of D. Trainer & Sons, afterward changed to the D. Trainer & Sons Manufacturing Com- pany, of which organization he was made president, and continned to serve in that capacity until his death, April 7, 1890, at which time he was in his seventy-sixth year, and one of the oldest and most successful cotton man- ufacturers of the United States. He had al- ways been closely identified with the industrial enterprises, and with the social and religious life of the city, and was widely known and universally esteemed. To him is due the credit of fonnding the three large cotton fac- tories known as the Trainer mills, and situated at Linwood and Thurlow stations, this county. He was also instrumental in establishing the Patterson cotton mills, now operated by the Patterson Mills Company, of which his son, J. Newlin Trainer, is president and secretary. For a number of years he was president of the Delaware County bank, and interested in numerous other enterprises. Politically he was a whig and republican, and in religion an active and zealous member of the Episco- pal church. He was twice married. His first wife was Ellen Eyre, a daughter of Wil- liam Eyre, of Chester, and by that union he had a family of seven children : Sarah ; Susan ; Annie E., who married Thomas M. Kerr : J. Newlin, whose name heads this sketch ; Wil- liam E .; Catharine N., wedded Mahlon D. Marshall ; and Edward E. Mrs. Trainer died in March, 1872, after a long and industrious life, filled with good deeds nobly done, and worthy of all emulation.
J. Newlin Trainer was reared principally in his native village of Linwood, and obtained his
preparatory training in the public schools there, after which he took a full course at the Polytechnic college in Philadelphia. Soon after completing his education he entered into partnership with his father in the operation of the Linwood cotton mills, now known as the Trainer mills, comprising three distinct plants designated as mills Nos. 1, 2, and 3, and now owned and operated by the D. Trainer & Sons Manufacturing Company. This enterprise was originally established in 1837, but since then many valuable improvements have been made and the capacity frequently increased as trade enlarged, until at present the mills employ more than five hundred people and do a busi- ness aggregating half a million dollars annu- ally. In 1887 the large cotton mill at Ches- ter was completed, and J. Newlin Trainer, who had been largely instrumental in perfect- ing the great enterprise, was made president and treasurer of the company. Here they em- ploy about three hundred and twenty-five operatives, and manufacture goods to the amount of upwards of four hundred thousand dollars every year. Mr. Trainer is also largely interested in three cotton mills at Rock Hill and Foot Mill, South Carolina, two of which are now in charge of his eldest son, David Trainer. He also, in partnership with his brother William, still owns the old homestead of one hundred acres, upon which their large manufacturing establishment is located at Trainer station, and the aggregate value of this property is estimated at one million dollars. In addition to his other holdings he owns a beautiful country place of sixty acres near the city, upon which he has just erected a hand- somely appointed residence which is conceded to be one of the finest and most tasteful coun- try homes in this section of Pennsylvania.
J. Newlin Trainer has been married twice, his first wife being Elizabeth T. Okie, who died December 27, 1867, aged twenty-three years, and without issue. On February 24, 1870, he married Hannah B. Booth, a daugh- ter of William Booth, and a native of the city
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
of Chester. This union has been blessed by the birth of five children, four sons and one daughter: David, who now has charge of two cotton factories in South Carolina, as before noted; Elizabeth, deceased in infancy; William B., J. Newlin, jr., and Samuel Bancroft - the three last named residing with their parents at their beautiful home near the city of Chester.
In politics Mr. Trainer has always affiliated with the Republican party, but has been too thoroughly immersed in business cares ever to have taken much active part in political affairs. He is a leading member of the Marcus Hook Episcopal church, which he is now serving as senior warden, having succeeded his father in that relation. During all his life he has been prominently identified with the various indus- trial enterprises of this section, and given his aid and influence to every movement for the development or improvement of the city and county. For a number of years he has been a director in the Delaware County National bank at Chester, and deservedly ranks with the best, most enterprising and most successful residents of this county, for whose upbuilding and manufacturing supremacy he has done so much.
K. T. WILLIAM PECHMANN, pro-
prietor of the drug store at Marcus Hook, this county, and of another in the bor- ough of South Chester, is a native of Bremen, Germany, where he was born on Christmas day, 1864. His parents, Karl H. and Margaret (Klubescheidt) Pechmann, were both born in Germany, where the father still resides, be- ing now in the fifty-fifth year of his age, and retired from all active business, and where the mother died in 1892, aged fifty-three years. They were both life long members of the Luth- eran church, in which faith the subject of this sketch was reared. K. T. W. Pechmann grew to manhood in his native city, and, after re- ceiving a classical education in a leading Ger- man college, he bade farewell to home and friends and in 1881 came to the United States,
when only seventeen years of age. Landing at New York in October of that year, he made his way to Bloomington, Illinois, where he ac- cepted a position in a drug store and remained for some time. In 1883 he came east and set- tled in Philadelphia, where he clerked in a drug store until 1885, when he removed to South Chester, Delaware county, to become manager of a drug store owned by F. M. Reed, of that borough. He remained in charge of that establishment for some eighteen months, but upon the death of his old employer in Philadelphia, was prevailed on to return to that city and take charge of the drug store where he had formerly been a clerk. Mr. Pechmann conducted that business until the property was sold to close up the estate, and then returned to South Chester and once more entered the employ of Mr. Reed, with whom he remained until 1889. In the Spring of that year he re- turned to Germany to visit his old home, and after spending the summer in the Fatherland, came back to the United States in the autumn, and soon afterward embarked in the drug busi- ness on his own account at Marcus Hook, this county, where he has ever since conducted a successful and constantly increasing trade in drugs, medicines and toilet articles. He owns a handsome store building, which is well stocked with standard preparations and is the centre of a lucrative business. In addition to this property he also owns a drug store in South Chester, at the corner of Third street and Highland avenue, which he manages and which is becoming a popular and paying en- terprise.
On the 10th of November, 1891, Mr. Pech- mann was united in marriage with Elizabeth J. Bartow, a daughter of John Bartow, of Mar- cus Hook. Their union has been blessed by the birth of one child, a son, named Karl B., now in his second year.
In political sentiment Mr. Pechmann is an ardent democrat, and has taken considerable interest in local politics. For some time he has been serving as school director at Marcus
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Hook. Since 1892 he has been a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and in 1889 became a member of Chester Lodge Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a yonng man of sterling integrity, possessing many of the virtues which characterize the German race, and is very popular among all who know him.
GEORGE DRAYTON, president of the
Charter National Bank and the Title Trust Company, of Media, is a self-made man in the truest signification of that term, and has been for years one of the best known and most successful financiers of Delaware county. He is a son of John and Harriet (Bullivant) Dray- ton, and was born in Lincolnshire, in the east- ern part of England, April 9, 1818. John Drayton was a shoemaker by trade, and in 1820 came to Philadelphia, where he acted as foreman in a large shoe manufacturing estab- lishment until his death, which occurred in February, 1832.
George Drayton, at ten years of age, left Philadelphia to live with Richard Fimple, on a farm in Marple township, in Delaware county. where he remained until he was sixteen years of age. During the six years he spent on the farm he received two months schooling in each of three winters. When he left Mr. Fimple he followed farm work and attended school three months one winter, paying his own tui- tion and working in the mornings and even- ings and on Saturdays for his board. The next spring after leaving school he engaged as a regular farm hand and continued in that line for nearly eight years. He worked for fifty cents a day while engaged as a farm hand, but in 1855 quit that line of work to rent a farm, which he tilled with profit for several years. At the end of that time he surrendered his rented farm and became superintendent of a large tract of farming land in Upper Darby township, which position he held for nine years. About this time he turned his atten- tion to dealing in real estate, and dealt largely
therein, and all his transactions were success- ful. From Upper Darby he went to Concord township, where he bought a farm and was engaged for a short time in agricultural pur- suits. In the meanwhile Mr. Drayton sought to widen out the field of his business opera- tions by dealing in lumber and coal. He opened an office in Philadelphia, and did a large and successful business until his time was entirely demanded by his financial interests at home. In connection with his farming he opened coal and lumber yards at Chester Heights, which he pursued with accustomed success, up to 1887. In that year his diversi- fied business interests were such that he witlı- drew from the coal and lumber trade and re- .. moved to Chester Heights, becoming mainly instrumental in the organization of the Charter National bank of Media, which was opened for business in April of that year. He was elected the first president of the bank, and continued to occupy that position until Janu- ary 8, 1894, when he declined a re-election.
Four years after founding the Charter Na- tional bank, Mr. Drayton became active and influential in organizing the Media Title and Trust Company, which was incorporated un- der the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, January 15, 1891. The company engages in a general trust business, deals in real estate, makes loans, receives deposits on interest, * and transacts all other kinds of business in its line. It has burglar-proof steel vaults, and is an institution absolutely necessary to accom- modate the wants of Media and the surround- ing community. Mr. Drayton is president of the company, whose other officers and board of directors are all experienced and well qual- ified business men. The Title and Trust Con- pany has its offices and rooms on one side of a fine building, on the other side of which are the rooms of the Charter National bank, and all of the company and bank apartments are fitted up in fine taste.
George Drayton evinced his patriotism dur- ing the late civil war, when he served as a
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
sergeant in Capt. B. T. Green's Delaware Guards, and served in guard or patrol duty near Antietam when Lee and Meade were measuring arms there.
In politics Mr. Drayton was formerly a re- publican, but has been for several years iden- tified with the Prohibition party. He was elected in 1863 as a county commissioner, and served until 1867. In 1891 he was the prohi- bition candidate for State treasurer, and re- ceived in Philadelphia the highest vote cast there for any candidate in 1891 on the prohi- bition ticket for Congress.
On January 29, 1840, Mr. Drayton married Judith Flounders, a native of Chester county, and who died November 1. 1890. To Mr. and Mrs. Drayton were born three children. of whom two daughters are living - one single and the other a widow.
George Drayton is a member of Bradbury Post, No. 149, Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Drayton is an example of a self-made man, whose energy, will power, ability, and industry has won honor, position, and influence for him. He commenced life without friends or capital, but made the best of his opportun- ities, and is now recognized as one of the ablest financiers and most influential citizens of the county.
JOHN P. CROZER, the great cotton manufacturer, and in honor of whom Crozer Theological Seminary was instituted, was a son of John P. and Sarah (Price) Crozer, and was born in the old West house at Swarth- more, in Springfield township, this county, January 13, 1793. He received a limited ed- ucation, and after trying farming for a few years, and making a short visit to the west, he engaged in cotton manufacturing. In 1845 he bought the Flower farm and founded Up- land, where he built the great cotton mills that bear his name. He was a zealous Baptist, gave generously to educational and religious canses, and died March 11, 1866. His long and active life was one of honor and usefulness.
JOHN H. WEAVER, a veteran Union soldier of the late civil war, and a suc- cessful contractor and builder of Chester city, is a son of Joseph and Susan (Williams) Weaver, and was born in the house now oc- cupied by M. B. Fay, on Edgmont avenue, Chester city, Pennsylvania, March 16, 1845. The Weaver family is of Dutch lineage, and was planted in the new world by John B. Weaver or Weber. Descended from him was Joseph Weaver (great-grandfather), a native of what is now Delaware county, and a resi- dent of Shoemakerville. He was a farmer, a democrat and a Friend, and served in the war of 1812. He owned a large grist mill, and died at nearly one hundred years of age. His children were: Joseph, jr., William, Isaac, Samuel and Rebecca. Joseph Weaver, jr. (grandfather), was one of the prominent citizens and political leaders of Delaware county in his day, being contemporary with Judge Lieper, General Beale, Jolın Larkin, jr., and others of the first business men of Chester city. Mr. Weaver was a Hickory democrat, and served as sheriff of the county from 1822 to 1825, and as prothonotary from " 1838 to 1841. He did considerable work in settling estates and in writing deeds and other legal documents. He died suddenly, with cholera, in 1850. He was a prominent Mason and Odd Fellow, and married Jane Doyle, by whom he had seven children : George, John, Benjamin F., Rebecca, Anna T., Joseph and Jane. Joseph Weaver (father) was born in Delaware county, received a good practica. education, and followed carpentering and con- tracting in Chester city, where many of the old buildings are monuments of his art and skill as a builder. He was a democrat and an Odd Fellow, and served in one of the emer- gency regiments during the late civil war. He died in April, 1872, at fifty-five years of age. Mr. Weaver married Susan Williams, who was a daughter of John and Margaret Williams. To Mr. and Mrs. Weaver were born ten chil- dren : Henrietta, Jane Morris, Susan Quick,
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
« John H., Mary Jones, Elizabeth Sharp, Han- nah, Joseph (dead), Joseph (2) and Emma.
John H. Weaver was reared in his native city, and after receiving his education in the common schools, learned the trade of carpen- ter with his father. He was employed at Roach's ship-yard, in the pattern shop, for a period of about twelve years, and has since been employed in the contracting and building business.
On July 29, 1867, Mr. Weaver was united in marriage with Anna S. Brannon, and to their union have been born six sons and six daughters : Harriet B., Stahler, Aldes Ash Weaver, Joseph (deceased), Susan, Emma, Anna, Bessie, John, Francis K., Joseph (2), David, and Samuel.
When the second call for emergency men was made in 1863, Mr. Weaver enlisted in Co. G, 29th Pennsylvania militia, serving until the regiment was discharged. He then en- listed in the Second Pennsylvania heavy artil- lery. He was transferred to Co. A, 20th reg- iment of the Veteran Reserve corps, and was honorably discharged from the Federal service at Philadelphia on September 6, 1865. Mr. Weaver resides at No. 609 West Eighth street, and does a business in his line of contracting and building. He is a democrat in politics, and a member of Trinity Methodist Episco- pal church. He has served as class leader and exhorter. He is energetic and active, and takes rank with the substantial and useful cit- izens of his city.
W ILLIAM CARSON, proprietor of the Maplewood hotel at Lenni, this county, and a local republican politician, and who served during the civil war as a member of Knapp's light artillery, is a son of William and Esther (Wright) Carson, and was born June 13, 1836, at Kingsessing, now known as Pas- chalville, Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania. His paternal grandfather, Hugh Carson, came alone from Belfast, Ireland, previous to Wash-
ington's first administration, and settled near Oxford, Chester county, this State, being then only sixteen years of age. He lived in that vicinity for a number of years, but finally moved to the old Wilcox paper mills, now known as Glen Mills, where he passed the re- mainder of his life and died at an advanced age. He was a democrat politically and a member of the Methodist church. He married Margaret Blank, who was born near the Bran- dywine battlefield, on the night of the battle, and reared a family of six children, two sons and four daughters : Nancy Newill, Mary Mc- Guiggan, Elizabeth Jones, Margaret, William and John. William Carson (father), was born February 14, 1800, and after obtaining a good common school education, engaged in various industrial pursuits and passed most of his life in Delaware county, dying in 1879, at the age of seventy-nine years. Politically he was a whig and republican, and in religion a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. For many years he resided near Lenni, and was twice married. By his first wife, Esther Wright, he had a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters: James, a miller by trade, who died at the age of twenty-one : John D., a carpenter and contractor, who resides in the city of Springfield, Illinois ; Mary, who mar- ried Robert Hamilton, and after his death wedded Robert Brown : Margaret, deceased in childhood ; William, whose name heads this sketch ; Robert, a carpenter residing at Deca- tur, Illinois; Isaac, deceased in childhood, and Esther, who also died at an early age. Mrs. Esther Carson died in 1845, aged forty- one years, and Mr. Carson afterward married Gertrude Clark; no children.
William Carson grew to manhood princi- pally in Delaware county, and obtained his education in the public schools. Leaving school at an early age he entered the cotton mills at Glen Riddle, with which business he remained connected until 1866, when he be- came a clerk in Brown's grocery store at Glen Riddle. After two years spent in the store,
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Mr. Carson embarked in the hotel business as proprietor of the Mountain house at Rockdale, where he remained until 1891. In 1893 he se- cured license for the Maplewood hotel at Lenni, and has since been conducting a pros- perous business at that place. In addition to his hotel business he is interested in various other enterprises at Glen Riddle and elsewhere, and is a director in the Delaware County Trust Company, of Chester.
In 1864 Mr. Carson enlisted for one year as a member of Knapp's light artillery, and was in actual service for nearly ten months, during which he took part in a number of regular en- gagements and was with Sherman in his fa- mous march to the sea, also serving in the 147th Infantry Pennsylvania volunteers. He remained with his command until after the collapse of the Confederacy, and was mustered out of service with his battery at Camp Rey- nolds, Braddock's Field, near Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, July, 1865. Politically Mr. Carson is a stanch republican, and has taken an active part in local politics. He has done much for the success of his party at the polls, and has held a number of local offices. He was once announced as a candidate for sheriff of Dela- ware county, but he withdrew his name when the convention met. On many occasions he has been a delegate to the county conventions of his party, and was a delegate to the State convention which nominated Mr. Quay for State treasurer. He is a member of Benevo- lent Lodge, No. 40, Independent Order of Odd Fellows ; Bradbury Post, No. 149, Grand Army of the Republic, and of Lenni Lodge, No. 86, Improved Order of Red Men.
On February 9, 1857, Mr. Carson was mar- ried to Rebecca A. Pierce, a daughter of Wil- liam Pierce, of Bethel. To Mr. and Mrs. Car- son was born a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters: Margaret, married S. B. Rhodes, of Glen Riddle, a partner in and manager of the Brookside Manufacturing Company, of Lenni : Captain William R., for years prominently connected with the National
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