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 103
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In politics Mr. Croskey supports the re- publican party, and is a member of the pres- ent city council, being the first republican ever elected to that position. He is chair- man of the street and electric light commit- tees, and has served for some time as a member of the committees on ways and means, police, light and water. On January 12, 1888, Mr. Croskey established the Men- thon kennels at Phoenixville, which he named after Bernard de Menthon, who founded the Hospice of the Great St. Bernard in 962, and raised those remarkable St. Bernard dogs who have saved the lives of thousands of storm lost travelers in the Alps, although life saving monk and dog have now passed
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into the evening of their day. The St. Ber- nard dog is a noble creature and the largest of the canine race. Among those St. Ber- nards which Mr. Croskey brought from England was Lord Bute, the largest dog on earth, which cost three thousand seven hun- dred and fifty dollars, and was a magnificent creature, thirty-six inches in height to the shoulder and weighed two hundred and fifty- six pounds.
Knowles Croskey is a pleasant and agree- able gentleman, and resides in a neat and tasteful residence, where he enjoys welcom- ing his many friends and invited guests. He believes in aiding worthy individual en- terprises, and in the development of the industries of the country.
He was slow and careful in the commence- ment of his business career, but daily wid- ened out the sphere of his operations until he embarked in his Phoenixville enterprise, which he has developed to its present large proportions, and in whose prosecution he has met with marked success.
H ARRY I. BROWNBACK, whois vault
clerk in the sub-treasury at Philadel- phia, and was formerly connected with the business interests of Phoenixville, this county, where his family still resides in a most beautiful home, is a son of Edward and Han- nah (Peterman) Brownback, and was born in East Vincent township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, November 19,1850. He grew to manhood there, and received a good En- glish education in the common schools and atthe Phoenixville High school. After leav- ing school, in 1868, he engaged as a clerk with Katerand Wagoner, and remained there for a period of four years, after which he be- cametime-keeperin the Phoenix Iron works,
and retained that position for nearly six years. In 1878 he purchased the clothing store of Emanuel Ewing at Phoenixville, and successfully conducted the clothing business until August, 1890, when he disposed of his interests, and in April, 1891, was appointed vault clerk in the sub-treasury at Philadel- phia, a position he has filled ever since with ability and to the entire satisfaction of his official superiors. In politics Mr. Brown- back is an ardent republican, and has been the candidate of his party for the office of recorder of deeds in his native county. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Phoenixville, and also a prominent member of a number of fraternal organiza- tions, being connected with Phoenix Lodge, No. 75, Free and Accepted Masons; Phœ- nix Chapter, No. 98, Royal Arch Masons ; Jerusalem Commandery, No. 15, Knights Templar ; Phoenix Lodge, No. 212, and Pales- tine Council of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
On November 14, 1873, Mr. Browuback was united in marriage to S. Lizzie Miller, a danghter of Mahlon and Susannah Miller, of Phoenixville. To Mr. and Mrs. Brown- back were born five children : Mahlon M., deceased ; Clara M., also dead ; Alice Maud, Nellie I., and Bessie A., the latter also de- ceased.
Harry I. Brownback is a worthy repre- sentative of one of the fine old families of Chester county, and traces his ancestry back to Garrett Brownback (or Gerhard Brum- bach, as then written), who came to Amer- ica from Germany in 1725, and whose history is more particularly detailed in the sketch of Lewis C. Brownback, found on page 555 of this volume. Edward Brownback (pater- nal grandfather) was born in 1798, and died in 1854. By occupation he was a farmer, a
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
whig in polities, and in religion a member of the Methodist Episcopalchurch. He mar- ried Margaret Root, by whom he had a family of thirteen children, among whom were: Edward, Uriah, Stephen, Lewis, Lu- zetta, Rosanna, Edith, Margaret and Malin- da. The second Edward Brownback (father) was born on the old homestead in East Vin- cent township, this county, July 6, 1819, and died here November 14, 1872, aged fifty-three years. IIe was a farmer all his life, and became very prosperous. In poli- ties he was a whig and republican, and in religion a strict member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He married Hannah l'e- terman, and was the father of thirteen chil- dien : Luzetta, married Samuel H. Souders, of Phoenixville; John W., deceased; Ste- phen S., a farmer of this county, wedded Annie Kein; Andora S., deceased ; Edward, married Sarah J. Zimmers, of Phoenixville; Ilarry I., the subject of this sketch; Oran W., dead; Annie, the wife of Harry lleis- tand, a merchant of Parker Ford; Margaret S., wedded George W. Orr, of Phoenixville, where they reside ; Lizzie H., deceased ; Wil- liam W., also dead ; Rosie, married John J. Davis, and resides at Phoenixville: and Clinton, now deceased.
JOHN L. WELDIN, a self-made man and the leading furniture dealer and undertaker of Downingtown, is a son of George and Rachel ( Williams) Weldin, and was born at Brandywine Hundred, Dela- ware, September 27, 1858. The Weldin family is of French descent, and was founded in the United States by three brothers who left France in the latter part of the eigh- teenth century. One of them settled in northern New York, another became a resi-
dent of a southern State, and the third brother, John Weldin (grandfather), settled on the site of Wilmington, Delaware. lle was a wheelwright by trade and a democrat in polities, and was an intimate friend of the elder Thomas F. Bayard, father of Thomas F. Bayard, secretary of State under Presi- dent Cleveland. John Weldin was a mem- ber and trustee of Mt. Pleasant Methodist Episcopal church of Wilmington, married and had a family of nine children : Jacob, a prominent merchant; Lewis J., who sailed for South America in a vessel that was lost at sea ; William, a farmer; George, Lydia Williams, Anna Beeson, Margery and Jane Beeson. George Weldin (father) was born in 1825, in the metropolis of Delaware, where he has always resided. He is a brick- layer by trade, a republican in politics, and a Methodist in religion, being a member of Union church of that denomination at Wil- mington. Having studied military tactics when a young man he was employed by the government, during the late civil war, to organize and drill companies for different Union regiments. He married Rachel Wil- liams, and to their union were born nine children : Elizabeth, wife of Ellis P. Hicks, a farmer and dairyman ; John L., Sadie, who died in childhood ; Cyrus E., who first mar- ried Clara Mitchell, and after her death wedded Bertie Wright; George, of San Francisco, who is employed on n steamer running from that city to Panama ; Wilber, of Wilmington : Mary and Laura. Mrs. Weldin is a daughter of Nathaniel Williams, who was a tailor by trade and served as the first jailor at West Chester. He married, und renred a family of seven children: Charles, Moses, Isaac, Mary Pool, Amy Wel- diu, Prudence Murdock and Rachel Weldin. Of these children all are dead except Moses,
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Prudence Murdock and Rachel Weldin, mother of the subject of this sketch.
John L. Weldin received his education in the select schools of Delaware and the Wilmington academy, and leaving school commenced to learn the trade of blacksmith, which he soon abandoned to become an ap- prentice in the shop of L. F. Adair, a cabi- net maker and undertaker of his native city, with whom he served from 1872 to 1876. Upon completing his trade, in the last named year, he went to Texas, and after working at Houey Grove for a year, he went to Paris in the "Lone Star State," where he was manager of Wells & Babcock's furniture factory and undertaking business until 1882. In that year he returned to Wilmington, and then came to Downingtown, where he became a partner in the furniture and under- taking business. This partnership existed until July 21, 1883, when Mr. Weldin pur- chased his partner's interest, and has con- tinued the business ever since. In his es- tablishment he keeps a large and choice stock of tables, chairs, stands, sofas, cham- ber sets, and all kinds of useful and orna- mental furniture. He also carries every- thing in the line of funeral requisities. He has the latest and most artistic designs in caskets and coffins, and is an efficient and popular funeral director. He does a large business and enjoys the confidence of his many patrons.
On February 18, 1884, Mr. Weldin was united in marriage with Rebecca Irwin, who died and left two children: George and Wilber Lewis. In politics Mr. Weldin is a republican. He is a member of Downing- town Baptist church ; Yamassee Tribe, No. 134, Improved Order of Red Men; and Brandywine Lodge, No. 385, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is the
representative to the Grand Lodge of Penn- sylvania. His record as a business man has been one of success and prosperity.
JOHN HENRY BUCKWALTER, ex-
treasurer of Chester county, and a rep- resentative farmer and business man of the Schuylkill valley, is a son of Samuel and Mary (High) Buckwalter, and was born on the farm on which he now resides in Charles- " town township, Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, July 25, 1837. He grew to manhood on the farm where he has always resided and which he has owned for over a quarter of a century. He received his education in the common schools and Professor Hon- sack's academy at Freeland, Montgomery county. Leaving school he turned his at- tention to agricultural pursuits, in which he has been successfully engaged ever since. His farm contains one hundred and fifty acres of choice land, which is well improved and in a high state of cultivation. While successful in grain and stock-raising, he gives considerable attention to grass, and makes a specialty of hay baling, in which line of business he averages annually ten thousand tons of baled hay. He also oper- erates a steam grain thresher, and does a large amount of custom work in the eastern and northeastern part of the county.
John H. Buckwalter married Anna J. Baker, daughter of Dilworth and Hannah Baker, of Schuylkill township. Mr. and Mrs. Buckwalter have seven children, five sons and two daughters: Mary, now the wife of H. R. Vanderslice, a machinist in the employ of the Phoenix Iron Company, and a resident of Schuylkill township ; Sam- uel, now in the employ of the railroad com- pany; James, married Anna Meggs, and is
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
railroad station agent at Douglasville, this county ; Charles, who married Vina Sailor, and is a farmer of Schuylkill township: Carrie, now engaged in the millinery busi- ness at Spring City ; John H., who is in the United States railway postal service, and runs between New York city and Pittsburg, this State; and Winfield R., at home.
The Buckwalter family is one of the old, prominent and highly respected families of Chester county and the Schuylkill valley, and was founded by two brothers who fled from Germany on account of religious per- secutions during the latter part of the sev- enteenth century. They purchased, direct from William Penn, a tract of two thousand acres of land on the west side of the Schuyl- kill, and extending up to the line of the great Welsh purchase on the west. They wrote their name as Boekwalter, but it be- came Anglicised into Buckwalter. They became members of the Mennonite church after coming to this country. John Buck- walter, a grandson of one of these brothers, was the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch. He was a farmer and distiller by occupation, and served in the Revolution- ary war. His distillery was on the farm now owned .by his grandson, John II. Buckwal- ter. On this farm was made the first in- provement by one of the two brothers who founded the family in the county, and on it was located a hospital for some time during the revolution. John Buckwalter married and reared a family of four children : Jacob, John, Henry and Elizabeth Kingle. John Buekwalter (grandfather), the second son, was born September 14, 1777, and in early life removed to East Nantmeal township, where he died in 1819, aged forty-nine years. lle was a farmer and distiller, and a mem- ber of St. Matthew's church, to which he
was a liberal contributor. On July 27, 1800, he married Mary Bechtel, who was born in 1775. They had six children : Samuel, John, Elizabeth Wynne, David, Henry and James. Samuel Buckwalter (father), was born May 6, 1801, and died in February, 1869, aged sixty-eight years. He was a farmer by oc- eupation, and a man of intelligence and good judgment. At eighteen years of age John Buckwalter assumed control and man- agement of the farm which he afterward purchased. He was an enthusiastie whig, had held the offices of supervisor and school director of Charlestown township, but would never accept any county office, and was one of those who, in the presidential campaign of 1840, moved on rollers the historie Har- rison log cabin from his farm to Laneaster city. Ile was a Mennonite, and married Mary Iligh. To their union was born two sons and three daughters : Charles, John II. (subject), Mary E. Davis, Mrs. Robinson and Carrie E.
John II. Buckwalter is a stanch republi- can, and in 1877 was nominated by his party for county treasurer, being elected and serving for three years. He is a liberal and generous man, an honest and honorable business man, and an intelligent and re- spected citizen.
H ORACE W. WALTERS, an energetic business man and public spirited eitizen of Chester county, who has been promi- nently identified for nearly twenty years with the material progress and prosperity of Phenixville, is a son of Jonas P. and Rebecca (Miller) Walters, and was born in East Pikeland township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, November 13,. 1858. He was reared in his native township, received his
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
education in the common schools and public schools of Phoenixville, and then entered Eastman's Business college of Poughkeepsie, New York, from which he was graduated in 1876. Immediately after graduation he returned and engaged in the ice business at Phoenixville with his father under the firm name of J. P. Walters & Son. At the death of his father in 1889 he succeeded to the entire business, which he has conducted successfully ever since.
His paternal grandfather, William Wal- ters, was born in Chester county, where he resided until his death at an advanced age. He received his education in the schools of his day, and afterward learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed in connection with farming. He was a democrat in poli- tics, and a Lutheran in religious faith and church membership. He married Hannah Pennypacker, and they reared a family of tive children : Nathan, Jonas P., Jefferson, Isaac and Lewis. The second son, Jonas l'., the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in East Pikeland township in 1832. He learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed until 1869, when he removed to Phoenixville and embarked in the ice business, which he conducted up to his death, which occurred December 13, 1889, when he was well advanced in the fifty-seventh year of his age. He was a democrat and a Lutheran, like his father before him. After coming to Phoenixville he was elected and served for three terms as a member of the borough council. He married Rebecca Miller, who still resides at Phoenixville. To their union were born three children, two sons and one daughter : Horace W., Eugene E., and Flora, who is now dead.
In politics Horace W. Walters is a strong democrat, and gives an active support to his
party on all the great political issues of the day. By industry, perseverance and honor- able dealing, he has built up a very success- ful business. He has three large dams and ice houses, employs four teams to deliver ice to his home trade at Phœuixville, and ships large quantities to Philadelphia, where he does a wholesale business. Active and energetic, he is well qualified to mauage large and important business enterprises, and has already carved out for himself a successful career.
On November 19, 1882, Mr. Walters was united in marriage with Minnie, daughter of Francis H. and Ellen E. Cook, of Phœ- nixville. Mr. and Mrs. Walters have one child, a son, named J. Frank, who was born January 4, 1884.
GOL. ALFRED RUPERT, ex-protho-
notary of Chester county, who served in the army of the Potomac from 1861 to the end of the civil war, and is now one of the prominent and leading business men of West Chester, is a son of William and Ann (Acheff) Rupert, and was born at Russellville, Upper Oxford township, Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania, May 28, 1837. His paternal grandfather, William Rupert, sr., was a native of Philadelphia county, and grew to manhood in a portion of that county that is now included within the limits of the Quaker city. He received a good acad- emic education and became a teacher. In 1820 he left Philadelphia and removed to Upper Oxford township, Chester county, where he was engaged in his chosen pro- fession until his death. While devoted to teaching he gave some attention to agri- cultural pursuits, and owned a good farm, which he kept in a good state of cultivation.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
He was prominent and useful in his con- munity, and married and reared a family. Ilis son, William Rupert (father), was born in 1808, in Philadelphia county, and in 1820 was brought by his parents to Upper Oxford township, where he remained until after he was married. He then removed to West Fallowfield, where he embarked in the gen- eral mercantile business, which he followed until his death at an advanced age. He also owned a good farm, and ranked as a successful business man. He was an old- line whig and republican in politics, and married Rachel Acheff. They had seven children, of whom six grew to manhood and womanhood: Noah, who is engaged in farming in Lancaster county, this State; Major George M., a successful lawyer of West Chester, whose sketch appears on page 277 of this volume; Col. Alfred; Charles A., general manager of a large mercantile establishment at Ercildoun, this county, of which he is postmaster; and David Hayes, train dispatcher in the office of the Philadelphia Street Traction Railway Company. The deceased was Martha J., who married John Y. Latta, a prominent eattle dealer and business man of Sadsbury township.
army in 1865, and in 1866 was elected pro- thonotary of Chester county, which office he filled very acceptably until the close of his term in 1870. In 1869 he established his present book and stationery business on High street, to which he has given his per- sonal attention since leaving the protho- notary's office in 1870, except the time that he was in command of the 11th regiment of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, and helped to suppress the Pittsburg labor riots of 1877. Colonel Rupert is a republican in politics, and at the present time is serving on his second term as justice of the peace of West Chester, and has held various other offices. He is a member of Geu. George A. McCall Post, Grand Army of the Re- public, and West Chester Lodge, No. 322, Free and Accepted Masons.
Colonel Rupert married Mary E. Groff, a daughter of Isaac Groff, a native of Lan- easter county, who came to Atglen town- ship, and afterward (1870) removed to West Chester, where he died at an advanced age. To the Colonel and Mrs. Rupert have been born three children, one son and two daugh- ters: Eva, wife of J. Frank E. Hause, a young and rising lawyer of West Chester (see his sketch on page 215) : Jennie, who died at ten years of age; and Frank B., living at home.
Alfred Rupert was reared in his native county, received his education in the com- mon schools of Upper Oxford township and Colonel Rupert's military career com- meneed in 1861, when he enlisted as a pri- vate in Co. A. 1st Pennsylvania reserves. He was soon made adjutant's clerk at regi- mental headquarters, was detailed as acting adjutant on July 5, 1862, and on February 3, 1863, received his commission as adjutant. which position he held until the regiment was mustered out of the service on June 13, 1864. He was wounded at Gettysburg, at Hopewell academy, and conunenced life for himself at twenty years of age as a clerk in a book store at West Chester. At the end of eighteen months he left the book store to accept the appointment of deputy recorder of the county, which position he held until 1861, when he enlisted as a pri- vate in a Pennsylvania regiment, and served up to 1865, being discharged with the rank of captain. He returned home from the ! and during the Wilderness campaign was
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
acting assistant adjutant-general of the 1st brigade, 3d division, 5th army corps. In 1864 he re-enlisted, was commissioned as adjutant of the 192d regiment Pennsylvania infantry, and in a short time was detailed as acting adjutant-general, which position he held until his brigade was disbanded. He was honorably discharged from the Federal service in 1865, with the rank of captain, by brevet conferred on him by President Andrew Johnson, for " brave and meritor- ious conduct during the Wilderness cam- paign." After the organization of the Na- tional Guard of Pennsylvania, Governor Hartranft commissioned Captain Rupert, on July 8, 1873, as judge advocate of the third division, with the rank of major. He was commissioned as major on April 18, 1874; as lieutenant-colonel of the 11th regiment on August 14, 1874; and as colonel of the same regiment on June 18, 1877. He com- manded the 11th regiment when it was or- dered to Pittsburg in July, 1877, to help put down the labor riots in that city. He acted judiciously in the part in which he took in suppressing the rioters and restor- ing peace and tranquility.
Col. Alfred Rupert is characterized by industry, energy and perseverance, and these, combined with prudence, economy and sound judgment, have achieved for him a large measure of success as a business man. He is a public spirited citizen, and has always been the friend and supporter of every enterprise or movement calculated to be of local, State or National benefit.
G EORGE S. GRIFFEN, who died Jan- uary 27, 1893, was secretary of the Grif- fen China Company, and formerly a success-
ful civil engineer. He was a man who made his name familiar in every part of America in connection with the wares produced at his works in Phoenixville, this county. Mr. Griffen was a son of John and Mary E. (Lig- gett) Griffen, and was born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, January 11, 1854. The Griffens are of original English extrac- tion, but have been residents of the town of Mamaroneck, in Westchester county, New York, for more than two hundred years. There John Griffen (father) was born in 1812, being the sixth John Griffen in regu- lar line of descent born in the same house. In less than a year after his birth his father died, and his education was conducted by his mother until he was fourteen years of age, when he entered a Friends' boarding school at Nine Partners, Duchess county, New York. After leaving shool he entered the mercantile house of an uncle in New York city, and remained with him until his majority. He then engaged in business with another uncle, and in 1843 came to Penn- sylvania, where he was employed as book- keeper for a time in the iron works and nail factory of R. C. Nichols & Co., of Norris- town. There he developed the talent for engineering and that mechanical genius which afterward made him celebrated as an engineer, inventor and iron master. He erected the iron works of Moore & Hooven, of Norristown, and while so engaged con- ceived and successfully applied a novel method for generating steam to run the en- gines, by using the waste heat from the puddling furnaces. In this way he pro- duced all the power necessary to run the machinery, and made it possible to run the mill as cheaply as by water power, with a far better motor. While the idea was not altogether new, to him must be ascribed the
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
honor of having been the first to success- fully apply it. In 1847 Mr. Griffen con- structed the works of Reeves, Abbott & Co., at Safe Harbor, Lancaster county, this State, and his duties being mainly executive, this work gave him a fine opportunity to dis- play his remarkable talents and pre-eminent ability. After the mills were completed le became superintendent, and while thus en- gaged introduced the governor for controll- ing the speed of the steam engines used in rolling iron, which had hitherto been con- sidered impossible. He also introdneed ma- chinery to carry the rails to the saws, in- stead of running the carriages by hand, as had formerly been done. His well-known invention for making wrought iron eannon was also made at those works. Many hun- dreds of these. guns, made by the Phoenix Iron Company, and known as the "Griffen gun," were used by the government during the civil war. In 1856 he came to Phoenix- ville to take charge of the iron works here, and remained until 1862. His next inven- tion was for rolling the large wrought iron beams, used in modern buildings, on the small rollers then in use. This device he patented in 1857, and it is yet in successful operation. For years he rolled the largest beams made in the world, and assigned all rights in this process to the Phoenix Iron Company. In 1862 he erected the Buffalo Union Iron works for a company engaged in general iron mannfacture, and these works are still among the best in America. In 1867 he accepted the position of civil and mechanical engineer with the Phoenix Iron Company, and returning to Phoenixville. continued to reside here until his death in 1884. In 1868 he was again placed in charge of the works as general superintend- ent, and during 1873-74 erected the large
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