USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 65
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On February 28, 1889, Mr. Schiedt was united in the bonds of holy matrimony with Annie Kraft. Their union has been blessed by the birth of one child, a son, named J. Harry. In his political affiliations Mr. Schiedt is a stanch democrat, and always keeps well posted on current questions. In religion he likewise adheres to the faith of his father, and is a member of St. John's Lutheran church, corner Broad and Arch streets, Philadelphia.
J. HENRY SLAWTER, who enjoys the distinction of being one of the leading contractors and builders of the city of Chester, and of Delaware county, is a son of Lewis and Phebe Ann ( Derickson) Slawter, and a brother of Clayton R. Slawter, whose sketch will be found elsewhere in this volume- which see for ancestral history of the Slawter family. J. Henry Slawter was born June 30, 1856, at Village Green, Delaware county, Pennsyl- vania, and was educated in the public schools of the city of Chester. Leaving school at the age of fourteen, he served an apprenticeship at the carpenter trade, and afterward entered the employ of John B. Roach, the eminent ship-builder, in the joiner's room connected with his works. He remained with Mr. Roach for a period of thirteen years, working on the steamship New York City and many other large vessels constructed at the Chester ship- yards. Later Mr. Slawter worked for one year at Cramp's ship-yards in Philadelphia, but in 1885 he formed a partnership with a younger brother, under the firm name of J. H. Slawter & Brother, and engaged in the con-
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tracting and building business at Chester. They did a large business, receiving and exe- cuting some of the largest contracts for build- ing ever let in this county. In 1890 this partnership was dissolved, and J. H. Slawter has since conducted the business in his own name. During 1890 he erected the large plant of the Standard Steel Casting Company at Chester, one of the largest in the city, and in 1891 he built twenty-five houses for him- self, which he now rents. In 1893 he finished the plant of the Penn Steel Casting Company, on Penn street, which is another of the mam- moth industrial establishments that reflect credit on and add wealth to this city. In the same year he constructed a power house for the Union Railroad Company at Chester, and the large Lobdell car-wheel manufacturing plant at Wilmington, Delaware. He also erected the extensive tin plate mills at Tenth and Otis streets, in the city of Philadelphia, which cover an entire block, and are among the largest manufacturing plants of that " city of brotherly love." He purchased a block of old buildings at Third and Penn streets, Chester, from the James Shaw estate, and has removed the old structures and now has under construction on that site some twenty-four new houses, occupying the whole block. He also has under contract, in different stages of progress, twenty-nine other buildings, the prices of which aggregate over sixty-five thous- and dollars. In 1892 he did more than one hundred and fifty-thousand dollars' worth of business, and is recognized as the leading contractor of Delaware county.
On the 20th day of June, 1879, J. Henry Slawter was united in marriage to Sallie McNeal, a native of Chester, and a daughter of Archibald McNeal, of this city. Their union has been blessed by the birth of one child, a son named Henry G., now in his fourth year. In political sentiment Mr. Slawter is an ardent democrat, and in religious faith a zealous Baptist, well posted on both political and re- ligious topics. He has always been a great
reader and an earnest student, and is particu- larly well informed on all questions relating to the history, faith, and ordinances of the Baptist church. His phenomenal success in business is undoubtedly due to his superior ability, and the indefatigable energy with which he pushes all enterprises in which he engages. Like youth's bright lexicon, Mr. Slawter's vocabulary contains no such word as fail.
EDWARD H. HALL, a prominent member of the Delaware county bar, and of the borough council of Media, where he has resided continuously since 1855, is a son of John M. and Hannah ( Johnson) Hall, and was born April 15, 1848, in Aston township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania. The Halls are of direct English descent, and the family was planted in America by the paternal great- grandfather of the subject of this sketch, whose son, Robert Hall (grandfather ), was for many years a prosperous farmer of Dela- ware county, owning an extensive farm, and served as justice of the peace for a time. He married and reared a family of children, one of their sons being John M. Hall (father), who was born in this county in 1806, and died at Media in January, 1891, aged eighty-four. After attaining manhood he engaged in farm- ing, and followed that occupation successfully until 1855, when he was elected sheriff of Delaware county, being the first man ever elected to that office on the Republican ticket in this county. He served as sheriff from November, 1855, to November, 1857. After retiring from that office he engaged in the mercantile business at Media, and also kept the county prison for some time. He filled a number of the borough offices at different times, but retired from all active business several years previous to his death. In relig- ion he was a member of the Society of Friends, and married Hannah Johnson, born near Vil- lage Green, this county. Mrs. Hall was also a Friend in religion, and was descended from
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old Quaker stock. She died in 1873, aged fifty-eight.
Edward H. Hall was reared in Delaware county, receiving his education in the public schools here and at the Friends' Central High school in Philadelphia. After completing his education he assisted his father in the mer- cantile business for a time, and later entered the law office of George E. Darlington. of Media, as a clerk, and later began preparing himself for the bar. After the usual course of reading and study he was admitted to prac- tice in November, 1873, and soon took a lead- ing position at the bar. He has conducted an active and successful general practice here ever since, giving special attention to civil cases, and being regarded as a safe counsellor and deeply grounded in the intricacies of civil law and procedure.
In 1872 Mr. Hall was married to Susan Barton, a daughter of Jonathan Barton, of Chester county, this State. They have one child, a daughter named Elizabeth. In polit- ical sentiment Mr. Hall is a stanch republi- can, and has held his present position as a member of the borough council for a number of years. He is a member of George W. Bartram Lodge, No. 298, Free and Accepted Masons ; Media Chapter, No. 234, Royal Arch Masons, and St. Albans Commandery, No. 47. Knights Templar, of Media.
C EORGE EDWARDS, proprietor of the Brighton nurseries at Crum Lynne, and a leading florist of the city of Chester, is the eldest son of George D. and Laura (Colborn) Edwards, and a native of Sussex county, Eng- land, where he first saw the light December 10, 1854. His paternal grandfather, William Edwards, resided at Shoreham, Sussex county, and was a farmer and contractor by occupa- tion, doing an extensive business. He was a member of the Conservative party in English politics and took an active part in municipal affairs, becoming quite prominent and amass-
ing considerable means. In religion he ad- hered to the established church and was a de- voted Episcopalian all his life, and died at the age of seventy-two. He married and reared a family of six children, two sons and four daughters : Harriet, Henrietta, Anna, Lizzie, Edward and George D. His youngest son, George D. Edwards (father), grew to manhood in his native place, and received a good prac- tical education. He then engaged in the coal business on an extensive scale, contracting for large quantities and shipping it to all parts of the United Kingdom. After successfully con- ducting that business for a number of years he retired therefrom, and became proprietor of a popular hotel, which he continued to manage until his death in 1872. He, like his father, was a conservative in politics, and a member of the Episcopal church. For a num- ber of years he was connected with a military organization. He married Laura Colborn, of Sussex county, and by that union had three sons and three daughters : George, the sub- ject of this sketch ; Robert N., Emily Chap- man, Frank, Carrie Bovey, and Florence, who died at the age of eighteen years. Mrs. Laura Edwards died in England.
George Edwards was reared in his native county of Sussex, England, and educated in Shoreham college, which he left before gradu- ation to assist his father in conducting the hotel, on account of the latter's failing health. After his father's death he assumed the entire . management of the hotel and successfully con- ducted it until 1890, when he disposed of the property and came to the United States, set- tling in the city of Chester, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, where he has ever since re- sided. Soon after locating here he embarked in the nursery business as proprietor of the Brighton nursery, and later engaged in the propagation and sale of horticultural supplies, including every desirable variety of fruits, flowers and vegetables. He erected a green- house twenty by sixty feet, which proving too small for his business, he, in 1893, began the
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erection of two others, one of the same size and another twenty by one hundred and twenty feet in dimensions. His flower department is located at the corner of Eighth and Edg- mont streets, where he makes a specialty of supplying fine cut flowers for funeral purposes and wedding decorations.
On October 1, 1890, Mr. Edwards was united in marriage to Mary Martin. Mr. Edwards is thoroughly devoted to his prosperous busi- ness. He is genial and pleasant in manner, and is rapidly becoming popular among the people of his adopted city.
JOHN COCHRAN, one of the most suc- cessful real estate operators in eastern Pennsylvania, and a gentleman favorably known throughout the Keystone State, is the only son of Job and Abigail ( Engle) Coch- ran, and was born October 25, 1825, at Ches- ter, Pennsylvania, within three squares of where he now resides. He received his pre- liminary instruction in the private schools of Chester, and completed his education at Cas- sington academy, in Vermont. Leaving school at the age of eighteen, he engaged in farming with his father, whose farm contained two hundred and seventy acres, now lying within the corporate limits of the city of Chester, and most of it covered by solid blocks of houses. At the time of the elder Cochran's death but three houses stood on this land, which now furnishes homes for not less than ten thousand people. After the father's death the land was divided between his two sons- the daughters receiving their shares in money-and John Cochran sold his part, eighty-three acres, to John C. Larkin, who laid it out into building lots, with Ninth street running through the center of the new addition. Having disposed of his real estate interests, Mr. Cochran formed a partnership with R. Morgan Johnson, under the style of Johnson & Cochran, and began a general mercantile business at Fourth and Market streets, on the site of the old Irwin
tavern, now occupied by W. P. Ladonn's jewelry store. He carried on that business successfully for a period of five years, and then began dealing in real estate. While conducting his real estate operations on an extensive scale, he also engaged in the mort- gage, loan, and life insurance business. His office remained in Chester for nearly twenty years, during which he did much for the up- building of this city, but in 1876 he transferred his business to Philadelphia, and was afterward engaged in various real estate enterprises in this county and elsewhere. He was the chief promoter of Norwood Park, and of Prospect Park, at Moore's station, and thus laid out what are now two of the finest residence towns between Chester and Philadelphia. He origin- ally owned Norwood entirely, but afterward admitted John Sheswich, of Philadelphia, to an interest in the property, and they labored together for its development and improve- ment. Since moving his office to Philadel- phia, Mr. Cochran has been largely engaged in the real estate commission business in that city. An examination of the records in Sep- tember, 1878, showed that he had a greater number of deeds on record than any other man in Delaware county, and had sold more land and made more improvements than any other man. Among these sales may be mentioned the forty-one acres comprising the grounds on which the Shaw & Esry mills are located, at Chester, and forty-six acres at Village Green, which he purchased and laid out into building lots. He has always been successful in his real estate transactions, and is, with perhaps a single exception, the largest real estate dealer in the city of Philadelphia, where the bulk of his interests now lie, though he still owns considerable property in Chester and other places in Delaware county.
Politically Mr. Cochran is a republican, of broad and liberal views, but has never taken any very active interest in politics. In religion he is a member of the First Presbyterian church of Chester, in which he has served as
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OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
a ruling elder for thirty-five years, and as superintendent of its Sabbath school for a quarter of a century. He has also been a trustee of his church for many years, and has been an earnest advocate of temperance prin- ciples all his life.
In June, 1848, John Cochran was united by marriage to Catharine Johnston, a daughter of Samuel Johnston, a prosperous farmer of Springfield township, this county. By that union he had a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters : J. Engle, Samuel J., now a member of the real estate firm of Cochran & Sweeney, of Chester ; Herman L., drowned while skating, at the age of sixteen ; Helen, married Frank S. Martin, a civil en- gineer of New York city, who now resides at Plainfield, New Jersey ; Dr. Mary J., a prac- ticing physician of West Philadelphia ; Anna, unmarried ; J. Howard, now in the real estate and insurance business at Chester ; Archibald, who studied law, was admitted to the bar, and is now practicing his profession in the city of Chester; Kate and Metta, who both died in infancy. Mrs. Catharine Cochran died in No- vember, 1875, at the age of forty-six years, and on December 9, 1880, Mr. Cochran wed- ded Annie E. Woods, a daughter of Rev. James S. Woods, a Presbyterian clergyman of Lewiston, Pennsylvania, whose grandfather on the maternal side was John Witherspoon, one of the signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and a lineal descendant of John Knox, the eminent religious reformer of Scot- land. Mrs. Cochran is herself a devoted Presbyterian.
The Cochrans are of ancient Scotch lineage, the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch having been born and reared at Stratham, Scotland, near which he resided during most of his life. In that country Job Cochran (father) was also born and lived until his twelfth year. In 1804, with his father, mother, three brothers and a sister, he came to the United States, and settled near Ches- ter, in what is now Delaware county. After
attaining manhood he purchased a farm be- tween Chester and Media, upon which he re- sided for a number of years. Later he bought sixty acres at South Chester, the present site of the Wellman iron and steel plant, and lived there for many years, removing to Chester some time previous to his death, in 1844, when in the fifty-second year of his age. He was an extensive cattle raiser and dealer, and became quite prosperous and a large land owner. Politically he was an old line whig, and took a prominent part in politics during his more active years. He was one of the organizers of the Delaware Mutual Insurance Company, now of Philadelphia, and served as a director in that organization until his death. He was twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth Engle, by whom he had two chil- dren : Engle and Sarah, who married Her- man Lombard, for many years connected with the Pennsylvania railroad as division superin- tendent, comptroller, and vice president, in which latter position he served until inca- pacitated by age, and became very wealthy. Mrs. Cochran died, and Mr. Cochran after- ward married her sister, Abigail Engle, by whom he was the father of three children : John, the subject of the foregoing sketch, and two daughters, named Elizabeth and Mar- garet. Elizabeth became the wife of William T. Crook, a large woolen manufacturer at what is now known as the Bancroft Mills, who owned three woolen mills at the time of his death, in 1891, when in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He resided on the old Leiper farm near Chester. Job Cochran was at one time interested in a canal enterprise at Car- thagena, South America.
R' EV. HENRY WHEELER,, D. D., pastor of Media Methodist Episcopal church, was born in Wedmore, Somersetshire, England, in 1835. He was licensed as a local preacher at eighteen years of age, and came, in 1855, to this country, where he has served
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successively as pastor of Plainsville, Great Bend, Waymart, Wilkesbarre, and Wyoming, Pennsylvania; Waverly, Oswego, and Nor- wich, New York ; Kingston, Columbia, Christ, Cumberland Street, Phoenixville, and Media since 1893. Christ and Cumberland Street churches, which he served acceptably, are in Philadelphia, and he was presiding elder of Otsego district while in New York. He served as chaplain of the 17th Pennsylvania cavalry in 1862 and 1863, and in 1890 received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Little Rock university, in recognition of his literary work. Dr. Wheeler is the author of several valuable religious works. In 1858 he married Mary Sparks, of Binghamton, New York. Dr. and Mrs. Wheeler have three children : Mrs. Minnie W. Newbury, A. M .: H. S. Wheeler, M. D .; and George P. Wheeler, University Fellow in English, Princeton uni- versity.
R EV. WILLIAM R. PATTON, pas- tor of the Media Baptist church, and who served in the Union army before Peters- burg, is a son of David W. and Jane ( Patton) Patton, and was born at Smithfield, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, September 8, 1838. He received his education at Georges Creek academy and Bucknell university, from which he was graduated in 1871. He was graduated from Crozer Theological seminary in 1874, and has served as pastor of the following Baptist churches : Flatwoods ( 1874), Greensboro (1875-81), and Media since 1881, being the second oldest Baptist minister in Delaware county in years of pastoral labor.
On September 20, 1876, Mr. Patton married Mattie Carey, daughter of Edward and Jane (Moore) Carey, of Media. Mr. and Mrs. Pat- ton have three children : Mabel C., William
E., and Harold C. In 1864 Mr. Patton en- listed in Co. K, 211th Pennsylvania volun- teers, and served on the non-commissioned staff of his regiment being in the battles before Petersburg during that and the succeeding year. The Pattons are of Scotch descent, and Rev. John Patton (grandfather), of Kent county, Delaware, was a son of Robert and Isabella Patton, and after serving in the Rev- olutionary war, was pastor for thirty years of Mount Moriah Baptist church, at Smithfield. His second wife was Elizabeth Lockwood, and one of their sons, David W. Patton (father), was born at Shamokin, in 1800, and died at Smithfield in 1852. He married Jane Patton, whose family was noted for the num- ber of able ministers which it produced dur- during the 17th and18th centuries. Their children were Mary W., John E., Margaret A., and Rev. William R.
C EORGE W. CHILDS, editor and pro- prietor of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, and the founder of the village of Wayne, passed from time to eternity on February 2, 1894, and on his bier "humanity could well afford to lay a greener, more fragrant wreath than ever decked a warrior's tomb or graced a poet's brow." George W. Childs was born in Baltimore, May 12, 1829, and served fifteen months in the navy, when a boy. In early life he became a book publisher in Philadel- phia, and resided in that city until his death. On the 3d of December, 1864, he purchased the Philadelphia Public Ledger, which he soon developed into one of the great newspapers of the country. "He made charity the cheerful duty and the daily beauty of his life. He lived not for himself, but for others. The controlling maxim of his life was 'Be just ; ' the dominating action of it was ' Be helpful.'"
AUG 1 | 1937
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