USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 60
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ern Pennsylvania for several generations. John H. Sweeney, paternal grandfather of Major Sweeney, removed to West Chester, where he passed most of his life, and died in 1883, aged seventy-eight years. For many years he was successfully engaged in the gro- cery business in that village, where he was a prominent member of the Methodist Episco- pal church, and most highly esteemed by all who knew him. His son, John R. Sweeney ( father), was born in West Chester in 1837, and was reared and educated in his native vil- lage. At an early age he developed remark- able musical powers, and has given consider- able attention to music nearly all his life, being a well known teacher of the " divine art," who has acquired a national reputation. In 1871 he removed to Chester, Delaware county, where he has ever since resided, and where he is now employed as professor of music in the Pennsylvania Military college, located in this city. He is a republican politically, and a leading member of the Presbyterian church, in which he has long taken an active interest. He is now in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and married Lizzie A. Gould, a native of the village of West Chester. She died at her home in Chester, in 1871, at the early age of thirty-two years.
Frank G. Sweeney was reared partly in his native village of West Chester, this State, partly in the city of Dover, Delaware, where his father was located for a time, and partly in this city, to which he came at the age of twelve years. His primary instruction was obtained in the public schools, and his education com- pleted in the Pennsylvania Military college, of this city, from which he was graduated in June, 1876, with the degree of C. E., having taken a complete course in civil engineering. He has been a resident of Chester since 1871, and after graduation taught in the public schools here for one year. In 1879 he entered the real estate office of Cochran & Seeds, in this city, as a clerk, where he remained in that capacity until 1881, when he purchased the in-
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terest of Mr. Seeds in the business, and the firm name became Cochran & Sweeney. These gen- tlemen have continued to do a large and lucra- tive business ever since in real estate, insur- ance, and as mortgage brokers. They are both active, energetic, and enterprising men, and their trade has increased in volume and importance until it is one of the largest of its kind in the entire county. They have made some important deals in real estate, represent a number of the oldest and most reliable in- surance companies in America, and in mort- gage brokerage stand at the very front, being intimately acquainted with the entire business of this section, and able to place mortgages and similar loans on the most advantageous terms to all concerned. In addition to his other business interests, Major Sweeney is largely interested in the Chester Electric Light & Power Company, of which he is a director and the vice president.
Major Sweeney has been twice married. His first wife, whom he wedded in 1882, was Lizzie A. Dyer, of the city of Chester. She died in 1888, leaving one son, John R., jr. In June, 1892, Major Sweeney was united in mar- riage to Henrietta R. Mowry, youngest daugh- ter of Rev. P. H. Mowry, a prominent Pres- byterian minister of this city.
Politically Major Sweeney is a republican, and in religion a strict Presbyterian. He has served his church as trustee and deacon for a number of years, and takes an active interest in all movements calculated to advance the cause of Christianity or benefit humanity. There is also a strong military side to his na- ture, and in 1881 he became captain of Co. B, 6th National Guards of Pennsylvania, and commanded that company for a period of ten years, resigning in 1891 upon his promotion to be inspector, with the rank of major, of the First brigade of the Pennsylvania National Guard, of Philadelphia, and attached to the staff of Gen. Robert P. Dechert, of that city. In all the relations of life Major Sweeney has borne an honorable and conspicuous part, and
as a citizen, business man, and cultured Chris- tian gentleman, he is greatly respected and esteemed. His manner is affable and engag- ing, and being a man of liberal education and fine conversational powers, it is always a pleas- ure to meet and know him.
E' LLWOOD T. CARR, one of the lead- ing auctioneers of eastern Pennsylvania, whose residence is at Radnor, this county, is a son of Clement and Phœbe Ann ( Wright) Carr, and a native of Abington township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he was born September 22, 1850. The Carrs are of Scotch-lrish origin, and rank with the older families in this part of the Keystone State. James Carr, paternal grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, resided nearly all his life in the vicinity of Wayne. He was a farmer by vocation, married, and was the father of twenty-one children, five of his sons serving in the Federal army during the civil war. He died in 1863, at an advanced age. Clement Carr ( father) was born on the old home- stead near Wayne, this county, while this territory was still a part of Chester county, and was reared and educated there. Soon after his marriage he removed to Abington township, Montgomery county, this State, where he was employed in the rolling mills and where he resided until 1855, when he moved to Chester county, settling near Mt. Pleasant, and lived there until 1861, at which time Mr. Carr enlisted in Co. E, 11th Penn- sylvania cavalry, with which regiment he served for four years, being quartermaster's sergeant most of the time, and was only dis- charged after Lee's surrender at Appomattox. It is related of him that during his entire term of service he was never sick a day, and never saw the inside of an army hospital. During her husband's absence in the army, Mrs. Carr removed from Chester county to Radnor town- ship, Delaware county, and when the war was ended Mr. Carr joined her here and has ever
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since been a resident of this county. In poli- tics he is a stanch republican, and served for six or eight years as supervisor of this county. .
Ellwood T. Carr spent his childhood in Montgomery county, his boyhood principally in Chester county, and came into Delaware county with his mother at the age of twelve. His education was obtained in the public schools, but his advantages in this direction were limited. Being the eldest of six chil- dren, soon after his father entered the army, he was compelled to leave school and home in order to assist in the maintenance of the family, and accordingly hired himself to Jos- eph W. Thomas, of Chester county, with whom he lived until 1862, when he came to Radnor township, this county, and lived with Hiram Cleaver until 1866. He then entered the employ of Campbell MacPherson, with whom he remained until 1871. In that year he embarked in business for himself. renting and operating different farms in Radnor and vicinity. For thirteen years he lived on a farm owned by Lawrence Romey, and while devoting his time mainly to agricultural pur- suits, also engaged occasionally in the busi- ness of an auctioneer. In this line he met with considerable success, and became one of the most popular "criers" in this section. Having so many calls to conduct public sales, lie finally concluded to give his entire atten- tion to the business, and in 1890 disposed of his personal property and farming utensils for that purpose. He has ever since found ample employment in this line, and to-day is one of the leading, most successful and best known auctioneers in eastern Pennsylvania. Being an excellent judge of values and of human na- ture, quick witted and a good conversation- alist, he can "size up" a crowd of bidders instantly, and, adapting himself to the situa- tion, proceed to put them in a good humor with themselves and the rest of mankind, and then concentrate their attention on the busi- ness in hand. In winning the attention of an audience and securing the best bids its mem-
bers intend to make, he has few equals and no superior ; and no doubt much of his popu- larity and success as an auctioneer is due to personal characteristics that would be impos- sible to define or describe.
In 1877, Mr. Carr was united by marriage to Margaret D. Moore, a danghter of William Moore, of Newton, and a niece of H. Jones and J. Hunter Moore. To Mr. and Mrs. Carr were born two children, one son and a danghter : Phæbe, now a teacher in the public schools of Springfield, this county; and Camp- bell, who is employed as clerk in the Bryn Mawr bank.
In his political tenets Mr. Carr is a staunch republican, and has borne no inconsiderable part in the work of his party in Delaware county. He has been a member of many im- portant county conventions, as a delegate from Radnor, and has served several times on the county committee. In 1881 he was a dele- gate to the State convention at Harrisburg, and in 1887 was a candidate for the nomina- tion for sheriff of this connty, before the repub- lican county convention. On the first ballot he had forty-six votes, which were increased to fifty-eight on the second ballot, when his name was dropped because the contest ap- peared to be between Messrs. Howard and Green. In 1890 Mr. Carr was again before tlie convention as a candidate for sheriff, and on the first ballot had one hundred votes, but his competitor, Mr. Howard, having a much larger number, Mr. Carr withdrew his name and moved to make the nomination of Mr. Howard unanimous, pledging himself and his friends to the support of the entire ticket. He afterwards took the stump and spoke throughout the county on behalf of the ticket put in the field by that convention. Mr. Carr is a member of the Keystone club of Chester, the Chester Republican club, and the Young Men's Republican club of Chester. He is also captain of Col. Owens Jones Camp, No. 45, Sons of Veterans, of Bryn Mawr, from which he has three times been a delegate to the
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State encampment, and in August, 1893, was sent to the National convention at Cincinnati, Ohio. He is likewise a member of Arasapha Tribe, No. 161, Improved Order of Red Men, and a past master of Cassia Lodge, No. 273, Free and Accepted Masons.
THOMAS HARGREAVES, proprietor of the Grand opera house, and the Met- ropolitan hotel in the city of Chester, and one of the most successful young men of eastern Pennsylvania, is the eldest surviving son of George and Mary ( Fletcher) Hargreaves, and was born at Chester, this county, on the 6th of August, 1860. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Hargreaves, was an Englishman by birth and education, who learned the trade of spinner in his native village of Derry, Lan- castershire, and resided there until after his marriage. In 1850 he came to America, and locating in Chester, Delaware county, Penn- sylvania, engaged in carpet weaving in the factories here, and continued to reside in this city until his death. He was twice married. By his first wife he had three sons : George (father), James, and John. By his second marriage he had no children. George Har- greaves (father) was born in Lancastershire, England, received a good common school ed- ucation, and afterward learned the trade of dyer, at which he worked in the English cotton factories until he came to the United States and also located in the city of Chester. Here he passed the remainder of his life. He was a republican in politics, and for a number of years took an active interest in political affairs, and was also a member of Larkin Lodge, No. 76, Knights of Pythias. He married Mary Fletcher, and to them was born a family of six children, two sons and four daughters : Alice ; Ella, unmarried ; George, deceased in early childhood ; Thomas, the subject of this sketch : Sarah, died in childhood, and Jennie.
Thomas Hargreaves was reared in his native city of Chester, and in the public schools here
he obtained a good English education. Leav- ing school he engaged in the cigar business at Chester, with which he was more or less con- nected for a number of years. Being fond of athletic sports, and having a special liking for the National game of base ball, ne early became an expert player, and later organized a base ball club in the city of Chester, with which he visited all the principal points in eastern Penn- sylvania, and successfully contended on the diamond with many of the best base ball teams in this part of the Keystone State. This or- ganization became well known in the sporting circles of the country, and in addition to win- ning fame as expert players, were also very successful from a financial point of view. Later Mr. Hargreaves went into the bottling business at Chester, manufacturing soft drinks, which occupation he followed until 1890. During the latter year he erected what is known as the Grand opera house of Chester, which furnishes a handsome house for amnsements and public gatherings, and fills a want long felt by the people of this city. Prior to its erection the Holly Tree hall was the only building in the city suitable for theatrical entertainments, and it frequently proved entirely inadequate. Mr. Hargreaves became the manager of his new opera house, and since its opening has built up the reputation of Chester as a play-loving city, and is now enabled to give its people the finest attractions by the best companies on the road. His enterprise has met with abundant encouragement and success, and permitted him to display his fine knowledge of what the people appreciate and are willing to patronize in the way of high class amusements. In Jan- nary, 1892, he became proprietor and has since successfully conducted the popular Metropol- itan hotel in Chester, one of the leading hotels of this city. Taken altogether, his career has been remarkably successful, and is the result of unceasing activity, great enterprise, and sound judgment in practical affairs.
Mr. Hargreaves wedded Ella McClurg, a daughter of John and Jane ( Robinson) Mc-
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Clurg, and to them have been born two chil- dren, only one of whom now survives : Ella, and Thomas, who died in infancy. Politically Mr. Hargreaves is a stanch republican, and has always been actively interested in local poli- tics. He served for three years as chief of the fire department of Chester, and in 1893 was nominated as councilman from the Fourth ward of this city. He is a member of Camp No. +86, Patriotic Order Sons of America, and de- servedly takes rank with the most enterprising and successful young men of his native city.
B ETHEL MOORE CUSTER, a promi- nent business man, farmer and land owner of Llanwellyn, this county, who has done much for the improvement of his section, and been closely identified with building oper- ations in Llanwellyn and elsewhere, is a son of John and Elizabeth (Osborn) Custer, and a native of Upper Merion township, Mont- gomery county, Pennsylvania, where he was born June 8, 1828. The Custer family is of German decent, and one of the oldest in this country, the Chester branch being remotely connected with the distinguished General Cus- ter, who lost his life on the plains in fighting the Indians. William Custer, paternal grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was a stone mason by trade, and afterward followed farming for a number of years. He was a whig in politics, and a member of the German Lutheran church. He married and reared a family of six children : Anna Ramsey, Mary Vandyke, Margaret, Bethel Moore, Amos and John. John Custer (father) was a farmer and stone mason. He served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and lived to be sixty-seven years old. At the time of his death he owned a farm of two hundred acres in Perry county, this State. Politically he was a whig, and in religious faith and church membership a Lutheran. He married Elizabeth Osborn, and by her had a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters : Mart A. Egbert,
Margaret Branyan, George W., Elizabeth Keel, Bethel Moore (subject of this sketch), Anna Lubbe, John and Thomas. Her father was a large manufacturer, owning two factories, one at Conshohocken, Montgomery county, and the other in Philadelphia. He was an En- glishman by birth, and came to the United States for the purpose of setting up some special machinery. He liked this country so well that he remained, and afterward became a large manufacturer here.
Bethel Moore Custer passed his boyhood days on his father's farm in Montgomery county, receiving his early education in the public schools of that county, and afterward completing his studies in Philadelphia. At the age of fifteen he became an apprentice to the blacksmith trade, and spent more than four years in making himself familiar with every branch of that business. He worked at his trade for three years, and then engaged in the dairy business, with which he has been more or less connected ever since. In 1850 he started a business in West Philadelphia, which he afterward turned over to his sons, who still conduct it. In 1866 he purchased the farm on which he now resides, at Llanwellyn, but prior to this he had resided on Sixty- third street, West Philadelphia, where he car- ried on farming and dairying for some time, and later removed to Belmont, Montgom- ery county, where he continued the busi- ness for two years before coming to Delaware county. His present farm aggregates two hundred and twenty-five acres of choice land, but his original purchase contained five hun- dred acres. The village of Llanwellyn is built on part of the tract he first purchased. Mr. Custer's dairy farm is perhaps the largest in Delaware county. He keeps one hundred fine cows, and uses twenty horses in carrying on the business, besides which he is also largely interested in raising fine horses for the markets. He also devotes considerable time to real es- tate transactions, and is vice president of the First National bank of Darby, which he was
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largely instrumental in organizing. He has sold many lots in the village of Llanwellyn, upon which valuable improvements have been made, and still has a number of good lots for sale on easy terms, and is largely interested in several other real estate enterprises, which promise much for the development and pros- perity of the county.
On November 6, 1851, Mr. Custer was mar- ried to Mrs. Jane Robinson, nee Crothers, by whom he had ten children: Louisa J. Par- tridge, Charles D., Samuel C., Ida J. Ulrich, Isaac R., Maggie S., John W., Bethel Sher- man, Lizzie (deceased ), and Mary Alice. Mrs. Custer died on Christmas eve, 1871, at the age of forty-fonr, and on June 11, 1872, Mr. Custer wedded Martha Holmes.
In political affiliations Mr. Custer has always been a stanch democrat, and has taken an ac- tive interest in local politics for many years, never missing a presidential election since he attained his majority. He was nominated for Congress from the district comprising Chester and Delaware counties, against William B. Ward, and after a heated campaign was de- feated by a majority which was one thousand less than that usually given by his political opponents in the district. Mr. Custer has been twice nominated for a seat in the State assem- bly, but, belonging to the minority party, he has been defeated each time, though by re- duced majorities in one case the nsual ma- jority of twenty-five hundred being brought down to four hundred. These facts are an eloquent tribute to his popularity among the people who know him best, and of his high standing in the county. He has served as township auditor and road supervisor, and has been a member of the school board for over seventeen years, during much of which time he has served as secretary and president, be- ing deeply interested in school work and edu- cational affairs. All his life he has been a vo- racious reader, and has acquired a large fund of useful knowledge, having a finely cultivated mind, and always keeping well posted on cur-
rent events. For forty-five years he has been a prominent member of the Baptist church, and is also a member of Cassia Lodge, of Montgomery county, and of St. John Com- mandery, Knights Templar, of Philadelphia. He was one of the original promoters, and is financially interested in the Philadelphia and Telford road, being instrumental in pushing it to completion between Darby and Chester. This, like all the other enterprises in which Mr. Custer has been engaged, has proved a financial success, and is now paying a hand- some dividend. In every relation of life he has been active and useful, and is widely known and universally esteemed for his integ- rity, nprightness, industry and benevolence.
JOHN C. RHODES, senior member of the coal and lumber firm of Rhodes .& Wilcox, at Chester Heights, this county, and of the mercantile firm of Rhodes Brothers, of the same place, is the second son of William and Lydia (Cummings) Rhodes, and a native of this city, where he was born October 20, 1861. His paternal grandfather, William Rhodes, was born and bred in England, but left that country after attaining manhood, and came to the United States. Later he removed to Rock- dale, this county, and continued to reside there until just previous to his death, when he came to Chester. Politically he was a demo- crat, and for a number of years was connected with the Independent Order of Odd Follows. He was a member of the Episcopal church, and married and had three sons and two daughters : John B., William, Samuel, Su- sanna and Kennie, who never married. Wil- liam Rhodes (father) was born at Rockdale, this county, and obtained a good practical education in the public schools of that place. At an early age he learned the trade of brick- layer, and worked at that occupation for sev- eral years. Later he began contracting for brick work and carried on that business quite extensively for a number of years. During
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the early part of his life he resided at Rock- dale, but removed to Wilmington, Delaware, about 1852, and after a residence of six years in that city came to Chester in 1858. For eight years he was engaged in the con- tracting and building business in this city, and then removed to Knowlton, this county, and embarked in the manufacture of cotton and woolen jeans, in what is known as the Crozer cotton mills of that place. He suc- cessfully conducted that business from 1866 to 1880, and at the expiration of that time be- came associated with his brother, in the lat- ter's cotton mills, at Llewellyn, this county, where he remained as superintendent until his death. An ardent democrat in politics, he took an active part in local affairs, and in religious faith and church membership was an Episcopalian. He was a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Improved Order of Red Men. During the civil war he acted as recruiting agent in this county, and earnestly supported the govern- ment and the Union cause. He married Lydia Cummings, and by whom he had a family of four children : Hannah, who married Joseph Turner: Samuel B., who married Maggie Carson, a daughter of William Carson, a mem- ber of the Brookside Manufacturing Company, at Parkmount ; John C., the subject of this sketch ; and Harry W., secretary and treas- urer of the Media Trust Company, who is un- married and in business with his brother, John C., at Chester Heights.
John C. Rhodes was principally reared in the city of Chester, and obtained his academic education in the famous institution presided over by Professor Gilbert, from which he was graduated in 1878, at the age of seventeen. He soon afterward accepted a position as clerk in a general store at Llanwellyn, for which he received one dollar a week for six months, and then had his salary increased to ten dol- lars a month. For this small stipend he worked for more than three years, and was then promoted to be manager of the business.
Here he remained for a period of eight years, during which time he accumulated a little money, and then went to Colorado and en- tered the employ of the Milltown Cattle Com- pany at Denver. After two years spent in the west Mr. Rhodes returned to Chester Heights, this county, and forming a partnership with William Carson, under the style of Rhodes & Carson, began his present prosperous coal and lumber business. This firm successfully conducted the enterprise for nearly five years, until November, 1892, when it was dissolved by mutual consent, and Mr. Rhodes took an- other partner in the person of Thomas C. Wilcox, and has since continued the business under the firm name of Rhodes & Wilcox. Both are men of undoubted ability and fine business capacity, and the firm is met with abundant success and now has a large and im- portant business. In addition to this success- ful enterprise, Mr. Rhodes is also engaged in general merchandising at Chester Heights, in partnership with his brother, Harry W. Rhodes, under the style of Rhodes Brothers.
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