USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsylvania : comprising a historical sketch of the county, by Samuel T. Wiley, together with more than five hundred biographical sketches of the prominent men and leading citizens of the county > Part 102
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the age of twenty-six; Sarah, married J. . Acker Guss, who resides at Spring City, this county, where he is engaged in the manufacture of paper boxes; Seneca, a farmer by occupation, now living on the old homestead; Wesley, died in 1891, form- erly one of the firm of Mowrey, Latshaw & Co., of Spring City; Joseph I., the subject of this sketch; Lydia, became the wife of John H. Davis, a sketch of whom appears on page 405 of this volume; Samuel R., a resident of Spring City; Enos E., a mer- chant of Spring City; Horace, also a resi- dent of that borough, where he is a paper- box mannfacturer ; and Anna Leah, deceased.
Joseph I. Mowrey was reared principally in North Coventry township, where he re- ceived a good English education in the pub- lic schools, and afterward took a course ex- tending through three terms in Ursinus college. On leaving college he engaged in farming in East Coventry township, and was thus employed for a period of five years, after which he removed to Spring City and embarked in the bakery and ice cream busi- ness. He successfully conducted the latter enterprise for nearly six years, when he sold out, and in March, 1890, formed a partner- ship with his brother-in-law, John A. Davis, under the firm name of Davis & Mowrey, and began dealing in flour, feed, coal, wood, limestone and curb stone. Being energetic, progressive and enterprising, and endowed with good business ability and sound judg- ment, the members of this firm soon had a prosperous business, which has steadily in- creased and is now important and Incrative. They handle everything in their line, and make it a point to give satisfaction in every transaction, endeavoring to make a friend of every customer.
On December 2, 1877, Mr. Mowrey was
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united in marriage with Harriet Latshaw, a daughter of John Latshaw, of Spring City, and to them has been born a family of seven children, five of whom are still living: Annie L., John HI., Davis K. (deceased), George B., Ida (dead), Paul B. and Edna L.
In his political affiliations Joseph I. Mow- rey is a stanch republican, and has served as assistant assessor of his borough. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Spring City, and is one of the board of stewards. He is also a member of the fra- ternal organization known as Knights of the Golden Eagle, and is popular alike in social and business circles and wherever he is known.
JARVIS ELLIS was one of the leading
and most prominent business men of Downingtown and the great Chester valley for nearly a quarter of a century, and was highly esteemed for his sound business judg- ment and many good qualities. He was a son of James Ellis, and was born at the vil- lage of Oberny, in Yorkshire, England, Jan- mary 29, 1829. James Ellis was born in England, where he held various positions during his life, in different large cotton fac- tories. He married and reared a family of children : Benjamin, Mary, Hannah, Joseph, Jarvis and James.
Jarvis Ellis was left an orphan when a mere child. At nineteen years of age he came to Fisherville, where he was employed as a carder in the old woolen mill for nine- teen years. At the end of that time he be- came manager of James (. Roberts' woolen mill at Barneston, and four years later, upon the death of Mr. Roberts, was made joint manager with James Mullen, of the entire business of the heirs of the Roberts estate. When the youngest heir of the estate be-
came of age Mr. Ellis resigned his position in the mill to engage in the woolen manu- facturing business for himself. He pur- chased the site of the old woolen mill at Fisherville, which had burned down, and erected the present cotton and woolen mills of that place now owned by his heirs. He soon built up a good business, and was act- ively engaged in manufacturing a superior line of goods until his death in 1892. Hle was a republican in politics and ranked as one of the leading cotton and woolen mann- facturers of southeastern Pennsylvania. In addition to his factory Mr. Ellis owned twenty-eight houses in the village of Fish- erville, and a farm of one hundred and thirty-three acres. His labors of life closed on July 20, 1892, when he passed away at sixty-three years of age. His factory, now operated by his widow and children, is a well equipped structure that was recently enlarged and remodeled in order to keep up with a large and constantly increasing volume of trade from Philadelphia and other eastern cities. Seventy-five men are em- ployed as a regular force, and of the many fine lines of woolen goods and jeans cloth one is the famous "Beaver Valley Buck- skins." Seventy looms are in constant oper- ation and as high as sixty thousand yards of cloth have been turned out in one month. The plant ranks as one of the largest, best equipped and most prosperous of the cotton and woolen factories of the State.
Jarvis Ellis married Mary Jackson, who was born in 1830, in Yorkshire, England, and is a daughter of John Jackson, a nur- seryman, who came from England to Bonds- ville, this county, where he died and left five children : Bessie Sharp, Mrs. Mary El- lis, Joseph, Harry and George. To Jarvis and Mary Ellis were born ten children :
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
George, married Elizabeth King, and is the present factory manager; Martha, wife of William Fisher, loom boss; Mary McCanan, now dead; Hannah, wife of W. R. Brown, a merchant of Fisherville; Sarah, who is now dead ; Jarvis, jr. ; Laura, wife of Harry Irwin, a dyer by trade ; Emma, who mar- G. L. Hadfield; James, an engineer, who married Emma Clift; and Sarah, wife of F. J. Elston, of Guthriesville.
Jarvis Ellis, jr., second son and fifth child of James and Mary (Jackson) Ellis, is a cloth finisher by trade, and married Katie, daughter of Jacob Wagoner. They have four children : Harry, Laura, Jarvis and Jacob. Mr. Ellis is a republican in poli- tics, and a member of the Knights of the Golden Eagle, the Independent Order of Red Men, and of the Junior Order of United American Workmen.
JOHN A. HENNISS, a prominent tin- ware and stove dealer of Atglen, who has served as burgess, school director and mem- ber of the council of that borough, is a son of Capt. John and Matilda (Watson) Hen- niss, and was born at Cochranville, Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania, November 4, 1844. There he grew to manhood, attend- ing the public schools and acquiring a su- perior English education. After leaving school he learned the tinner's trade with his father, and continued to work with him un- til 1877, when, one year after his marriage, he removed to Atglen and engaged in the tin and stove business for himself. Being energetic, enterprising, and willing to devote his best efforts to please his patrons, he soon had a nice trade which has steadily in- creased to the present time. He now carries a large stock of everything in his line, and
can satisfy the most fastidious taste and meet the views of the most careful purchaser. Inheriting fine business ability and having had a long practical training, it is a satis- faction to him to do business, and fully com- prehending the fact that business is only half done if the buyer is dissatisfied, he takes particular pains to make every transaction satisfactory in itself.
In 1876 Mr. Hennis was united in mar- riage to Clara Wise, a daughter of Michael and Mariah Wise, of this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Henniss have been born three daugh- ters : Emma M., Annie A., and Gladyss, all living at home with their parents.
In his political affiliations Mr. Henniss has always been a democrat, is a stanch sup- porter of his party, and influential in its lo- cal councils: He was elected and served as burgess of Atglen, and has also served as a school director and a member of the borough council. To the duties of these various po- sitions he has always given that close atten- tion which distinguishes the management of his private business, and discharged every official duty with ability and a patriotic re- gard for the public good. He is a member of Skerrett Lodge, No. 343, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, of Cochranville, and a gen- tleman of broad intelligence and affable manners.
The Henniss family is of direct Irish de- scent, this branch of it having been planted in America by John IIenniss, grandfather of the subject of this sketch. John Henniss was born and reared on the Emerald Isle, but left his native shore in 1810, with wife and children, to seek a home in the United States. He first settled at Petersburg, Vir- ginia, but afterward removed to Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania, where he carried on the brokerage business for a number of years.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
Ile died in that city in 1846, at an advanced age. His son, Capt. John Henniss (father), was born in Ireland, but was brought to America by his parents while yet an infant, and with them lived in Virginia and Phila- delphia. In early life he learned the trade of tinner, and in 1839 located at Cochran- ville, Chester county, where he carried on the tin and stove business until his death, August 16, 1881, when in the seventy-first year of his age. He was remarkably snc- cessful in business, and at the time of his death owned the second largest tin and stove house in Chester county. Politically he was an ardent democrat all his life, and served as sealer of weights and measures in this county for some time. There was a military side to his character, and he took great interest in the militia organizations of his day. When a young man he served as captain of a military company at Coch- ranville, known as the "Steel Grays," and was ever afterward known and addressed as Captain Henniss. He married Matilda Watson, and to them was born a family of children. She was a native of Harford county, Maryland, and died December 15, 1889, in the seventy-sixth year of her age, and greatly beloved by all who knew her.
JOHN BEITLER, Jr., the popular postmaster at Chester Valley, and a suc- cessful general merchant of that place, is a son of John and Thomazine (Thompson) Beit- ler, and is a native of Lionville, Uweblan township, this county, where he was born April 4, 1843. Ilis paternal grandfather, Hon. John Beitler, was born in Chester county, and lived for many years at Lion- ville, where he died in 1873, aged ninety- two years, and where his remains repose in
the Friends' burying ground. Ile was a farmer by occupation. a Quaker in religion, and politically a whig and a republican, be- ing active and prominent in local polities for many years. Ile represented Chester county in the State legislature one term, and at one time or another held all the offices of his township. His wife was Anna Evans, and they were the parents of five children, two sons and three daughters : John, Jesse, deceased ; Hannah, who married a Mr. Rog- ers, and is now dead; Mary and Sarah. John Beitler (father) was born at Lionville, in November, 1808, received a fair education in the common schools of his native place, and has continued to reside there all his life. Ilis attention has been principally de- voted to agricultural pursuits, in which he was very successful, owning one hundred acres of valnable land. Politically he is a republican, with whig antecedents, and he married Thomazine Thompson, by whom he had a family of five sous and four daugh- ters : Hannah, married James Trimble, a farmer residing in Maryland; Julia, de- ceased ; Lewis, married Elmira Oberholtzer, and is now a carpenter and builder of West Pikeland township, this county : Elizabeth, widow of Wilmer Smedley, and living in West Chester: John, the subject of this sketch ; Anna, still living at home ; Henry, married Rachel Stephens, and is now en- gaged in milling in Uwehlan township: Hollan, who wedded Sallie Downing, and resides on the old homestead in the same township; and Luman, who married Anna R. Pyle, and is engaged in merchandising at West Grove, this county.
John Beitler, whose name heads this sketch, was reared principally at Lionville, and received a good English education in the common schools. He began life on his
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
own account as a clerk in a general store at Howellville, this county, where he remained five or six years. In 1872 he embarked in business for himself at Chester Valley, where he has ever since conducted a general store, meeting with marked success. He keeps a complete stock of all kinds of gen- eral merchandise, sells at reasonable prices, and takes pains to please all who favor him with their custom. As a consequence he has built up a lucrative business, and become well known and very popular in his com- munity. In connection with his store he also owns and manages a small farm. Po- litically he is a republican, and takes an in- telligent interest in all public questions. Near the beginning of President Harrison's administration he was appointed postmaster at Chester Valley, and has acceptably filled that office to the present time, 1893.
On March 19, 1874, Mr. Beitler was united in marriage to Anna M. Steen, a daughter of H. J. Steen, of Paoli, this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Beitler have been born two children, one son and a daughter : Florence C. and John, who is the fourth of that name in direct line of descent. Both are living at home with their parents.
T THOMAS MARSHALL, one of the substantial business men of Chester county, and a director of the First National bank of Kennett Square, is a man whose career well illustrates how success can be won by integrity and industry. He is a son of Thomas, sr., and Sarah (Gregg) Marshall, and was born near Kennett Square, in Ken- nett township, Chester county, Pennsylva- nia, July 18, 1809. He passed his boyhood days on the farm, received a good practical English education, and upon attaining his
majority learned the trade of stone mason, at which he worked steadily for nine years. He then turned his attention to farming and stock raising, in which he was successfully engaged in Kennett township until 1874. In that year Mr. Marshall came to Kennett Square, where he was largely instrumental in establishing the First National bank of Kennett Square, of which he has served continuonsly as director ever since its or- ganization. He is careful in financial mat- ters, and always advocates a conservative policy that well protects the interests of the stockholders and depositors. In addition to his banking interests Mr. Marshall owns two large farms, beside his fine residence on Broad street, and some valuable property on State street. In politics he was formerly a republican, but at the present time is not identified with any political party, although his interest in governmental affairs has never abated, and he now casts his ballot for the man he thinks best qualified for the office, independent of all party considerations. As a man and as a citizen he is respected, and as a financier he possesses the confidence of the public. His grandfather, John Marshall, was born and reared in Kennett township, where he received his education, and fol- lowed farming and milling until his death, in the early part of the nineteenth century. He owned a flouring mill near Kennett Square, and lived and died in the faith of the Society of Friends, in which he was reared. He married, and reared a family of five children : William, sr., Robert, Thomas, Anna Scarlet and Hannah Yeatman. Thomas Marshall, sr., the youngest son, and father of the subject of this sketch, was born on the home farm, where he was reared and spent his life. He followed farming and milling, was an old-line whig
Horace A. Beale.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
in politics, and had been an exemplary member of the Society of Friends for many years before his death. His wife's maiden name was Sarah Gregg, and to them were born five sons and four daughters: John, William, Carpenter, Albion, Susan, Phebe, Ilannah, Sarah and William.
William Marshall is a member of the Society of Friends, and has lived such a life as to refleet credit on his society and his family, which has always had honorable standing in the county. Ile married Eliza- beth, daughter of Peter Plankinton, and to their union were born three children : Sarah, now the wife of Ezra Hill, a farmer of Kennett township; Charles, who married Mary Sharpless, and is engaged in farming ; and Eslenia Jackson, who died in 1885.
C APT. HORACE A. BEALE, presi- dent of the Parkesburg Iron Company, who has been mainly instrumental in build- ing up one of the greatest industrial plants of the State, and whose life career is a fit- ting exemplification of nineteenth century progress, is a son of Joseph and Margaret (McDowell) Beale, and was born in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, January 25, 1827. The progenitor of the Beale family in Ches- ter county was William Beale, a son of Thomas and Catharine Beale of Caine, in Wiltshire, England. He was born August 14, 1709, and about 1730 settled in West Whiteland township, where he owned a large traet of land and where he died December 27, 1800, aged ninety-one years. By his first wife, Mary, daughter of David Jenkin, he had eight children, and one of their sons, John Beale (grandfather), was born Decem- ber 12, 1740. He enlisted in the Continental army, and while serving under LaFayette
died January 25, 1777, near the head of Elk valley, where his remains were buried. He married Tamar Burgoyne and left two chil- dren : Mary and Joseph, the father of the subject of this sketch. Joseph Beale was born in 1768, in Juniata county, and after his father's death, was reared near Down- ingtown by his grandfather. He did one round of service during the closing years of the revolutionary war, being stationed in the lower part of the State, but was never called into action. He became a member of the extensive furniture manufacturing firm of Beale & Jemison, of Philadelphia, where he made his home for many years before his death. He died on his farm at Downingtown, in 1841, when in the seventy- seventh year of his age. He was a demo- erat, a member of the First Presbyterian church of Philadelphia, and ranked as one of the successful business men of that city. He married Margaret, daughter of Capt. James MeDowell, of Upper Oxford town- ship, who was a member of the same church as her husband, and died in 1834, aged fifty- three years. 'Mr. and Mrs. Beale reared a family of three children : James M., Joseph, late surgeon-general of the United States navy; and Capt. Horace A., the subject of this sketch.
Horace A. Beale was reared principally in Chester county and received his education in the old Philadelphia academy and the university of Pennsylvania, at which latter celebrated institution of learning he took a three years course. His first insight into the iron business, in which he has since played an important part, was obtained when he left school and became a clerk in 1846 at Laurel iron works. In a short time he left there and went to Phonixville, where as a clerk in the office of the Phoenixville iron
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
works, he had good opportunities for acquir- ing a practiced knowledge of iron manu- facturing in all of its details. In 1852 hè left Phoenixville and purchased Thorndale iron works, and commenced the career in which his life's success has been achieved. The direction of his life was set with his as- suming the management of Thorndike, which he successfully operated for eleven years. In the line of his life-work at Thorndike he studied closely all that bore upon the iron industry, and his progress was rapid and substantial until he needed a larger field for the exercise of his energy and abili- ties, which he found at Parkesburg in 1872. Existing conditions there were so favorable that he built his present iron plant of that place and ran it most successfully until 1882. In that year he disposed of it to the Parkes- burg Iron Company, which he had organized and of which he has served as president ever since. This company was organized January 13, 1882, with a capital stock of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dol- lars, and under the efficient management of Mr. Beale has achieved remarkable success in the field of iron mannfacturing. Their plant covers about three acres of ground and is thoroughly equipped with buildings and machinery for the manufacture of iron. The rolling mill when running full furnishes employment for two hundred and fifty men. It has a capacity of ten thousand tons and is pronounced by competent judges to be one of the best equipped mills of the State.
In 1855, Mr. Beale married Caroline Dou- gal, who was a daughter of James Dougal, of Northumberland county, and died in 1859. In 1869 he wedded Ellen M., daughter of Rev. Edwin H. Mendenhall, now of Wayne, but formerly of this county. By his second marriage he has one child, Horace A., jr.
Horace A. Beale is a republican in poli- tics and a member of the Protestant Epis- copal church, in which he is an active worker. He is a member of Williamson Lodge, No. 309, Free and Accepted Masons, of Downingtown. In the late war, during Lee's invasions of Maryland and Pennsyl- vania, Mr. Beale took an active part for the defense of the State, and raised and com- manded an independent infantry company in 1862 and again in 1863. Mr. Beale owns a farm adjoining Parkesburg, which he per- sonally supervises. By the establishment of his iron works at Parkesburg he inang- nrated a career of prosperity for that town, whose population of three hundred has in- crcased to fifteen hundred since the building of the rolling mill. Horace A. Beale met many hindrances in the development of his business that would have defeated less san- guine and determined men, but by energy, quick perception of opportunities and judi- cions management, he conquered every ob- stacle and achieved substantial success. While resolute and determined in business affairs, Mr. Beale is generous, charitable and kind-hearted, and is esteemed and re- spected in the community where he resides.
K NOWLES CROSKEY, a popular citi- zen and business man of Phoenixville, .proprietor of the largest and most thor- onghly equipped machine knitting needle factory in the United States, and who first introduced into this country the wonderful St. Bernard dog, whose fame is world wide for his rescue of hundreds of perishing trav- elers amid the snows of the Alps, is a son of Henry and Ann (Dunohue) Croskey, and was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 3, 1853. His paternal grandfather,
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
George Duncan Croskey, was a native of England, and in early life came to Philadel- phia, where he was successfully engaged in the lumber business until his death at a good old age. Ifis son, Henry Croskey, was born in Philadelphia, where he became one of the largest lumber merchants in the world, re- maining in business until 1875, when he re- tired from active life. He is a republican in politics, a member and deacon of the Baptist church, and married Ann Dunohue, a daughter of Matthew Dunohue, who was a native of Scotland, and came to Philadel- phia, in which city he was engaged as a con- tractor and builder until his death. Mrs. Croskey was a native of Delaware, and a member of the Second Baptist church of Germantown, and died at her home in Phil- adelphia in June, 1892.
Knowles Croskey was reared in Philadel- phia, received his education in the Friends' high school and Rittenhouse academy of Philadelphia, and at Blackwell academy in Virginia, and then became assistant super- intendent of depositories for the American Sunday school union, which position he held for three years. At the end of that time he went to Richmond, Virginia, where he was engaged as a contractor in building engines and boilers, in the general machine works of that city, from 1872 to 1879. In the last named year he returned to Philadelphia, where four years later he took charge of the chandelier factory of Yeaton & Harris, which position he resigned in July, 1887, upon the death of his father-in-law, William Smith, to assume the management of the machine knitting needle factory of the latter at Pho- nixville. He immediately added many im- provements, purchased the factory on March 31, 1892, and now employs a force of forty men, which he expects to increase to a hun-
dred as soon as he can put in place a large amount of machinery that he has just bought. The factory was erected in 1883, by Mr. Smith, and is now well equipped with all the late and modern machinery for the man- ufacture of first-class kitting needles. The durability and superiority of this needle has made an extensive and steady demand for it throughout this country and in some parts of Europe. Mr. Croskey has aimed to make his factory and products first-class, and has succeeded. The factory is a large brick structure, situated on Vanderslice street.
In April, 1886, Mr. Croskey was united in marriage with Kate C. Smith, and they have one child, a son named Ralph. Mrs. Croskey is a daughter of William Smith, whose father established the first needle fac- tory in Leicester, England, in 1827. William Smith came from Leicester to Philadelphia, where he started a needle factory in 1857, at Germantown, which he operated until 1883, when he established the present knit- ting needle factory of Mr. Croskey at West Chester. He died in West Chester in July, 1887.
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