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 23
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He conquered the western Indians in 1794, and diedl at Presque Isle (now Erie), on the shore of Lake Erie, December 14,
1796, where his remains were first interred, but in 1809 they were removed and en- tombed in the family cemetery at St. David's church, in Chester county.
"Mad Anthony Wayne," wise in council, brave in danger, and terrible in battle, has left behind him a name that will live through all the centuries, and his momory will ever be cherished throughout the earth wherever patriotism, duty and high moral worth are known and appreciated.
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C AMES PYLE WICKERSHAM,
LL.D., one of the leading educators of the United States, was a son of Caleb Wick- ershamn, and was born in Newlin township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 5. 1825. The Wickersham family is a branch of the old Wickersham family of Bolney parish, England, from which Thomas Wickersham came to Marlborough town- ship, where he bought a thousand acre tract of land. Fifth in descent from him was Caleb Wickersham (father), who mar- ried a Miss Pyle, of Quaker faith.
James Wickersham's education was oh- tained mainly in common schools and at the Unionville academy. At the age of six- teen he began to teach school, and while he taught he worked harder than any of his pupils, and by the time he was twenty he had become a good general scholar; being well versed in mathematics and in some of the natural sciences, and reading with facility several of the ancient and modern languages.
As a teacher, Mr. Wickersham's success was marked from the beginning. The common schools he taught were considered among the very best. In 1845 he became principal of the Marietta academy, Lancas-
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
ter county, in which position he was very successful, and remained ten years. Upon the establishment of the office he was elected county superintendent of schools in the county where he lived, and a year thereafter founded the Normal institute, at Millersville, out of which eventually de- veloped the first State Normal school in Pennsylvania, and, in fact, the whole nor- mal school system. In 1856 he became the permanent principal of this school, and made it, in the ten years he remained at its head, one of the most flourishing institu- tions in the county, running the number of students in attendance up to a thousand. In 1866 he accepted the position of State superintendent of common schools, and served until 1881. During his adminis- tration Pennsylvania made great progress in her school affairs, and became the acknowl- edged peer in this respect of any State in the Union. The educational exhibition made under his direction at the Centennial was unequaled by that of any other State or nation. While serving as State superintend- ent he was repeatedly offered important and honorable educational positions in other States, but always declined to accept them.
During Presideut Arthur's administration Dr. Wickersham served as minister to Denmark, and after his return to the United States, was actively engaged in educational work until his death, which occurred at Lancaster, this State, March 25, 1891, at sixty-six years of age. In 1863 he com- manded an emergency regiment during the Gettysburg campaign. He served twice as president of the National association of teachers, and was the author of three valu- able educational works, two of which- School Economy and Methods of Teaching -are of world-wide reputation.
R OBERT EMMET MONAGHAN is
a leading member of the Chester county bar. He has always taken a deep interest in the business enterprises of the country, and the political affairs of his county and State. He is a son of James and Catharine (Streeper) Monaghan, and was born on the 24th of July, 1822, in West Fallowfield township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. His father was a native of county Fermanagh, Ireland, from whence he came to America about 1799, when he was nineteen years of age. He had been engaged in the rebellion in Ireland, under the leadership of Robert Emmet, and was secretary of one of the United Irishmen's associations, and took an active part in their contest against the British govern- ment. When Emmet failed, the young secretary was compelled to flee to the United States. He landed with other fugi- tives, at New Castle, Delaware, without funds and among strangers. Being pos- sessed of a liberal education be taught school in Delaware State, and in Chester county, Pennsylvania; and for a consider- able period was a clerk in a store and a "nail-works." He subsequently became a farmer in Chester county, and resided on his farm in the same county until his death in October, 1841. He took an active part in the various enterprises of his neighbor- hood, and in the politics of his adopted country. He was an earnest and positive democrat. For many years he was a jus- tice of the peace, and was nominated by the Democratic party as a candidate for the State legislature in 1836, and lacked only thirty votes of being elected. He was twice married. Ilis first wife was Hannah Jackson, a sister of the Hon. William Jack- son, who was, at one time, a state senator,
Robert Emmet Monaghan.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
By this marriage he had three children : John, William and Hannah, all of whom are deceased. His second wife was of Ger- man descent, and was born in Montgomery county. Pennsylvania. Her maiden name was Catharine Streeper. They had ten children : James. Jonathan J., Margaret S., Mary J., R. Montgomery. Andrew J., Cath- arine S., Robert Emmet, Alicia R., and E. Randolph. Six of these still survive, and all reside in their native county of Chester.
Robert Emmet Monaghan was born on his father's farm and grew up as a practical farmer's hoy until he was over twenty years of age. He received his education in the neighborhood of his birthplace and at the academies of Unionville and New London, in Chester county, and Strasburg, in Lan- caster county. He commenced his business life by teaching school in his native county for twenty dollars per month. He also assisted to teach in New London and Unionville academies. After teaching for a time he was offered the position of col- lector on the Pennsylvania canal, at Liver- pool, Perry county, which office he occu- pied for three years, during which period he read law under the instruction of Hon. Hamilton Aklricks, of Harrisburg. Being of a studions character and industrions habits, and possessing a full measure of the Irish gift of eloquence, he began the practice of the law at West Chester some forty years ago. The earnest manner in which he adopted the cause of his clients soon gave him prominence in his profes- sion ; and his frank, fearless and indepen- dent manner of speech, and the honest ad- herence to his every conviction, gained the confidence of the citizens in all parts of his county. During the whole of his pro- fessional life he has retained the support 13
and highest regards of the people. Ilis name is connected with a number of lead- ing cases found in the reports of the Sul- preme court of the State.
He is, and always has been, an ardent and leading democrat, and has taken an active and influential part in the councils of the party for many years. He represented the county of Chester in the legislature when quite a young man; has been many times a representative in the State conventions, and was chairman of the conventions of 1876 and 1880, which elected the delegates to the National conventions that nominated Samnel J. Tilden and General Hancock. He was elector at large on the Hancock electoral ticket in 1880, and received the highest number of votes of any candidate on the ticket. He was twice delegate to the National conventions of his party, and was an original Tilden delegate in the St. Louis convention, in 1876, which non- inated Mr. Tilden. He has been several times a member of the Democratic State Central Committee. He was a member of that committee in the eventful cam- paign of 1860, and did all in his power to unite his party in the State, so as to defeat the election of Mr. Lincoln, on the ground. as he then said, "to prevent a conflict be- tween the sections of the Union." He was an influential member of the committee of thirty-four, sent by the Democratic State convention at Harrisburg, to Washington city, in the month of February, 1861, whose mission was to aid in effecting some cout- promise among the States, and, if possible. to save the country from the civil strife be- tween the North and South, which after- wards desolated the States. He was a can- ¿lidate for Congress in 1868, but was defeated by Hon. Washington Townsend. lle and
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Mr. Townsend stumped the district in joint discussion, with credit to themselves and great satisfaction to their friends. And to their great honor they were better friends at the close of the campaign than at the commencement of the contest. Their warm personal friendship continues undimmed by years. Mr. Monaghan was nominated against Hon. Wayne Mac Veagh for the office of District attorney in Chester county, and was beaten by about five hundred votes in the county, which gave thousands of a majority against his party. He has served in the councils of the borough of West Chester, for twelve years was a trustee of the Normal school of West Chester, and for a portion of the time he was president of the board of trustees. He always gave his influence in favor of such projects as would develop and advance the best inter- ests of the people. He has been and is director in several of the local improvements of his connty. He was one of the first di- rectors of the Electric Light Company in West Chester. He is a member of the board of public charities. He is also the president of the West Chester Gentleman's club, and the Assembly Building associa- tion, of which he was one of the originators. He is now president, and one of the active managers, of the Chester County Agricul- tural society. He was one of the corpor- ators of the Union Trust Company of Phil- adelphia, and has been, and is, a member of its board of directors from its organization to the present time. His name was twice before the Democratic State convention and received a respectable vote as a candiate for the office of governor. In 1891 he was placed on the Democratic State ticket as a delegate at large to the proposed Constitu- tional convention, and was elected, leading
his ticket in the State by over four hundred votes. In 1890 he was appointed by Gov- ernor Beaver a member of the joint com- mission from the States of Pennsylvania and Delaware, composed of Hon. Wayne MacVeagh, W. H. Miller, Esq., and himself, of Pennsylvania, and Hon. Thomas F. Bay- ard, Dr. B. L. Lewis, and Hon. John H. Hoffecker, of the State of Delaware. The duties of these commissioners are to define, settle and mark the dividing line between the two States. Recently he has been ap- pointed by Governor Pattison on the impor- tant commission, with Hon. Charles R. Buckalew and Ovid F. Johnson, Esq., for the "Promotion of the uniformity of legis- lation in the United States." He adheres to the teachings of the fathers of democracy. He is for tariff reform, by the absolute re- duction of duties to the needs of the gov- ernment, conducted on the strictest princi- ples of economy, and opposed to the increase of salaries of public officers. In politics he adheres to the doctrines and principles ad- vocated by Jefferson and sustained by Jack- son. He believes that taxation should be equal to be just, and fairness should be done as well to agriculturists as to manufacturers and the other active pursuits of the people. He favors the Jackson standard of hard money, both gold and silver. On the cur- rency question he adheres to the position he took in 1876, when, as president of the Democratic State convention, at Lancaster, he declared in his address at the opening of the convention, "My best judgement is that we should have a sound currency based upon gold and silver, the recognized commer- cial representatives of exchange througout the nations of the world." He believes, with Senator Daniels, of Virginia, and other leading democratic statesmen, that free and
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
fair coinage of silver is demanded by the agriculturists and others of the producing and laboring classes; and that the time has come when it is impossible to keep the sil- ver question from being one of the leading issues of the hour; and that the people of the north, south, east and west have forced it to the front, and that neither Wall street money changers, nor the managers of cor- porations and monopolies, nor the gamblers in stocks, can divert the people from the contest.
In addition to his legal business Mr. Mon- aghan has always taken an active interest in farming. In his earlier years he invested his savings in land, which constitutes the foundation of the large farming interests he has been conducting for the past fifteen years in the State of Missouri. Mr. Mon- aghan has eaten no bread of idleness. He has lived a very busy life of constant indus- try and activity. He is a man of positive character, and of undoubted ability, and whose honesty of purpose has gained for him a high place in the estimation of the community in which he lives, and through- out the State wherever he is known.
FI RANK P. DARLINGTON, one of the leading business men of West Chester, who is vice president of the West Chester board of trade, and prominently identified with a number of important en, terprises in the borough, is fourth of the five sons of Amos II. and Sarah II. (Strode) Darlington, and was born June 1, 1850, in East Bradford township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He grew to manhood in this county, and received a superior English education at Fairville institute. After leav- ing school he engaged for a time in farming
on the old homestead in East Bradford township, and then accepted a position as bookkeeper with the dry goods firm of N. H. Brown & Co., in the city of Philadel- phia. At the end of two years he became salesman for the same company and spent about two years in that capacity, after which he returned to West Chester, this county, and in 1871 embarked in the grocery and provision business at this place. His store is located on the corner of Market and Church streets, and contains at all times a full stock of everything connected with his line. Being a man of fine execu- tive ability, sound judgment and strict in- tegrity, he has succeeded in building up a large trade, and now finds himself at the head of a lucrative and constantly growing business. In addition to this he is largely connected with a number of other enter- prises, being secretary and treasurer of the Cooper Medicine Company ; vice president of the West Chester board of trade; and a director in the West Chester Electric Light Company, besides other business in- terests here and elsewhere. Mr. Darlington has always taken an active part in every enterprise calculated to increase the pros- perity of the borough, and as a business man and citizen stands deservedly high. Politically he is a republican, and has served as a member of the borough council two terms, during the latter of which he acted as second burgess, and in the absence of the chief burgess served as chief burgess for a time.
On April 30, 1879, Mr. Darlington was united in marriage to Annie D. Tate, a daughter of Joseph G. Tate. n well-known and prosperous business man of Philadel- phia. To Mr. and Mrs. Darlington have been born three sons: Herbert T., born
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
September 11, 1880; J. Benson, born Au- seended to the eldest son, Abraham Dar- gust 3, 1887; and Irwin, born May 10. | lington (2), and has since passed out of the 1890.
The Darlingtons of Chester county are ! descended from Job and Mary Darlington, of Darnhall, Cheshire, England, two of whose sons, Abraham and John, emigrated to America prior to 1711, and settled near the town of Chester, in what is now Dela- ware county. John, the younger of these two brothers, finally removed to Maryland, and his history and that of his descendants, if any, has beeome obscure and uncertain. Abraham Darlington married Deborah Car- ter, a daughter of Joseph Carter, and after her death without issue, in 1716, he wedded Elizabeth Hillborn, a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Hillborn, of Bucks county, and became the progenitor of the numer- ous family of Darlingtons in Chester county and vicinity, now numbering nearly two thousand souls. He had learned the sad- dler's trade in England, but it is supposed he did not devote mueh attention to it after locating on the farm in Chester county. He, however, became widely known as a physician and surgeon, being very skillful in the treatment of disease, and apparantly a natural born surgeon. After his mar- riage Abraham lived in Ashton township, then Chester, now Delaware county, unti! 1723, when he removed to a farm on the lett bank of Brandywine creek in Birming- ham township, about half a mile above Chad's Ford. Here he purchased two hun- dred acres of land for eighty pounds ster- ling, and resided upon it until his death, February 9, 1776. llis wife died December 28, 1771. Their children were ten in num- ber: Mary, Deborah, Elizabeth, Abraham, Thomas (great-grandfather), John, Hannah, Rachel, Job and Rebecca. The farm de-
family, the principal portion of it being now the property of Clement Biddle.
Thomas Darlington (great-grandfather). married, April 25, 1754, Hannah Brinton, a daughter of Edward Brinton, of Birming- ham, and settled in East Bradford, on one hundred acres of his father's land, purchased from John Strode in 1750. Their children were: Edward, Abraham, Thomas, Jesse, Amos, George, Stephen, Hannah, Elizabeth, Emanuel and Brinton. Emannel Darlington (grandfather) was born June 28, 1775, in East Bradford township, this county, and after attaining manhood engaged in agri- culture, and followed that pursuit all his life. Politically he was an old-line whig, and in religion a strict member of the Society of Friends. He married Martha House, and had a family of five children, one son and four daughters : Sarah, Hannah, Phoebe, Mary and Amos Darlington (father). The . latter was a native of East Bradford town- ship, born in 1814. He was reared on the home farm and educated in the subseription schools of his neighborhood. After leaving school he engaged in farming and made that the principal business of his life. He died at his home in East Bradford township, April 20, 1866, aged fifty-two years, and greatly respected by a wide cirele of friends. In politics he was an active republican, and held many of the offices in his township. He was a life long member of the Society of Friends, and married Sarah II. Strode, a daughter of Richard Strode. She was born in East Bradford township in 1810, and is still living in her native township, being very active for a woman of her great age. Her father was born in Westtown township, but lived during the latter part of
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
his life in West Chester, dying there at an advanced age. He was a farmer and nur- seryman. By his marriage with Sarah II. Strode Mr. Darlington had a family of five children, all sons: Richard S., who served in the State militia during the civil war, and is now superintendent of the West Chester brick and tile works at West Chester: Eu- gene, now a resident of Greenwood, Ken- tucky, where he is engaged in merchandis- ing; Edwin, a prosperous farmer residing on the oldl homestead in East Bradford township; Frank P., the subject of this sketch ; and S. Barnard, now a clerk and bookkeeper in the employ of his brother, Frank P. Darlington, at West Chester.
REV. JOHN MILLER DICKEY, D.
D., a distinguished Presbyterian divine, and the principal founder of Lincoln uni- versity, the first Negro college in the world. was a son of Rev. Ebenezer Dickey, and was born at Oxford, Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, December 16, 1806. He wasof Scotch- Irish descent, and his great-grandfather. Samuel Dickey, sr., came in an early day from the north of Ireland to West Notting- ham township, where his son, Sammel Dickey (grandfather), huilt the first cotton factory west of the Schuylkill river. Samuel Dickey married, and his son, Rev. Ebenezer Dickey (father), was a prominent Presbyterian min- ister of Chester county. Rev. Ebenezer Diekey married and reared a family of three sons and three daughters. The sons. Rev. John M., Rev. Samuel, and Dr. Ebenezer V .. were all very prominent and highly useful men in Chester county.
John M. Dickey was a graduate of Dick- inson college and Princeton Theological seminary, and spent half a century in the
Presbyterian ministry, from the granting of his license to preach, in 1828, to his death, which occurred in 1878. when he was in the seventy-second year of his age. He was the founder of Oxford seminary, a training school for women as teachers, and Ashmun. now Lincoln, university, for the education of Negro teachers and ministers to serve their race in every quarter of the world.
Mr. Diekey was a strong abolitionist. helped found the National bank of Oxford. and was " a leading spirit in all departments of public usefulness in which he was engaged."
W ALTER A. MacDONALD, who is
now serving his second term as county surveyor of Chester county, is the youngest son of John and Jane ( Lilley) Mac Donald. and was born at Cochranville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, September 30, 1859. His early education was obtained in the public schools of Perry county, to which his parents had removed. and he subsequently entered the Cumberland Valley institute. at Mechaniesburg, Cumberland county, where he took a thorough course of training under the tutelage of Dr. Ege, and studied sur- veying and civil engineering. After com- pleting his studies he was engaged for a time with the Harrisburg city surveying corps in active service at the State capital. Later he came to Chester county and en- gaged in teaching for two or three years. In 1883 he assisted in making the survey- of Chester county from which the excellent county map of that year was prepared. and the following year he was connected with the city surveying corps of Reading. Penn- sylvania. During isst he was in the chi- ploy of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany, engaged in surveying their extensions
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
in Centre county, and in the spring of 1885 was appointed borough surveyor of West Chester, this county. In 1886 Mr. Mac- Donald was elected county surveyor of Chester county, and discharged the duties of that position with such distinguished ability that he was reelected in 1889 for a second term. He has served at the same time as borough surveyor for West Chester, and does a large amount of outside survey- ing and civil engineering, among which has been considerable bridge work. He is nn- married.
Archibald MacDonald, paternal grand- father of Walter A., was born in the high- lands of Seotland, amid scenes made forever famous by the immortal Burns, and grew up and was educated there. Ere middle life was reached he determined to leave his native land and seek a newer home in that new world which seientists believe to be the old. He came to America, and was led by circumstances to Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, where he settled near Coatesville, and passed the remainder of his life. Im- bued by early associations and inherited tendeneies, with a love for out-door exist- ence and personal independence, he devoted his life to agricultural pursuits, and became prosperous and influential. He reared a large family, of whom John MaeDonald ( father) was one. The latter was born in Chester county, near Coatesville, in 1811, grew to manhood on the farm, and re- ceived such education as was afforded by the schools of that early day. After leav- ing school he learned the trade of mill- wright, and in 1844 was married to Jane Lilley, by whom he had a family of four children. He worked at his trade in this county for a number of years, but while his children were yet small removed to Perry
county, and continued to reside there until his death, in 1887, at the advanced age of seventy-six years. In later life he became a farmer and was quite successful. Politi- rally he was a republican, and actively sup- ported that party in all its efforts to pre- serve the unity of this country, free the slaves, and establish the government on a firm and enduring basis. For many years he was a prominent member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, and earnest in his support of all efforts intended to benefit his fellow man. Many still live who can tes- tify to his kindly nature and frequent aets of benevolence and hearty good will for his neighbors and all with whom he was ac- quainted. His wife preceded him to the tomb, dying in 1871, at the age of sixty years. Their two daughters are Lizzie A. and Lydia A., twins, the former of whoni married Thomas Pennell, a prosperous farmer residing near Duncannon, Perry county, and the latter living also at Dun- eannon. The two sons are John Wesley, now with the Kent Iron and Hardware company at Wihnington, Delaware, and Walter A., the principal subjeet of the fore- going sketch, who to-day stands among the most successful, useful, and highly re- spected yonng men of Chester county.
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