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 28
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ing to his native place, took charge of the home farm, where he continued to reside during the remainder of his life. In connection with his farm he conducted a blacksmith shop, where he did a great deal of work. Ile was a strict adherent of the Presbyterian church, and took an active part in supporting all its charitable and religious interests. In politics he was a democrat until the breaking out of the civil war, when he became a republican, and ever afterward supported the policy of that political organization. He was elected to the office of justice of the peace in Sadsbury township and served one term. In business his energy, industry and ability rendered him successful, and he was a man of broad sympathies and generousimpulses. Noone was ever turned away empty-handed from his door, and his memory is yet fondly cherished by many whom he befriended during his active and useful life. By his marriage to Mary Cowan he had a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters, of whom four are still living: Elizabeth, who married William Simpson, and now resides in Parkesburg, this county ; Margaret, also residing in Parkesburg, unmarried; Caroline, the wife of Robert Irwin, of Coatesville; and Robert Calvin, now engaged in the harness making busi- ness at Atglen. Miss Margaret Cowan, or Maggie Cowan, as she is familiarly known, was educated principally at select private schools in this county, and in 1878 came to Parkesburg, where she has resided ever since. She is now the president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, of Parkesburg, and has been a member of the Independent Order of Good Templars since 1862. She is an active and successful Sun- day school worker, having been engaged
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in the Sunday school nearly all her life, either as scholar or teacher.
The Cowan family is of Irish extraction. The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, whose name was also Robert, came from the north of Ireland at an early day, and settled in Sadsbury township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a large tract of land, the deed for which is dated in 1770, and is now in possession of his great-granddaughter, Margaret Cowan. Adam Cowan (father) was born in Sadsbury township, where he died in 1802, aged fifty-five years. His wife, by whom he had a family of four children, died in 1834, in her eighty-third year. The maternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Hugh Cowan, also an emigrant from the north of Ireland, and probably remotely connected with the paternal side of Robert Cowan's family. Ile settled in Sadsbury township, this county, previous to the coming of Robert's paternal grandfather, and was a prosperous farmer and influential citizen in his day. The Cowans were among thie earliest set- tlers here, and were active and well known among the early militia of the county.
EORGE D. PETERS, burgess of Spring City, and one of the active and progressive young business men of that prosperous borough, is a son of Charles and Mary (Diemer) Peters, and was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 27, 1864. Ilis paternal grandfather, Charles Peters, was born and reared in the city of Bordeaux, France, from which he came in 1814 to Philadelphia, where he resided for a number of years, when he removed to Spring City, where he died. He was a
book-binder by trade, and married Ant Warnock, and had a family of three sons and two daughters: Theodore, Charles, Josephine, Virginia, and Joseph. Charles, the second son and father of the subject of this sketch, was born November 9, 1825, and learned the trade of book-binder, which he followed at various places until 1866, when he came to Spring City and was suc- cessively engaged in the general mercantile and hotel business. His hotel stood on the site of Yeager & Hunter's foundry, and was known as the "Springville Hotel." Within the last few years Mr. Peters has retired from active life, and still resides at Spring City. He is a democrat in politics, and while residing in Philadelphia served two years as assessor and the same length of time as elerk to the engineer of water- works. He married Mary Diemer, daughter of Michael and Rachel Diemer, and to them were born four children, two sons and two daughters.
George D. Peters was reared principally at Spring City, and received his education in the public schools and the high school of that place. Leaving school he went to Philadelphia and entered Pierce's Business college, from which he was graduated in the spring class of 1881. He then became book-keeper for the stove manufacturing firm of O. B. Keeley & Co., of Spring City. and went with them when they removed their works to Columbia, where he re- mained but two months. At the end of that time he accepted a position as book- keeper with James Spear, stove manufac- turer, of Philadelphia, and six months later resigned to engage with S. M. Reynolds & Co., of Middletown, Delaware, where he remained but three months. He then, in 1884, accepted a position in the Spring City
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National bank, which he resigned two years later to engage with Yeager & Hunter. in whose employ he remained until October 1, 1889, when he returned to the bank, of which he has been teller ever since.
On February 8, 1889, Mr. Peters was united in marriage with Florence Sheeler, daughter of John Sheeler, who was form- erly a stove manufacturer of Royer's Ford, Montgomery county.
In polities Mr. Peters is a strong demo- crat, and served as a member of the council for three years and auditor for three years. He was elected burgess in February, 1892, and has been discharging the duties of that position very successfully ever since being inducted in office. Ile is a member of Spring City Lodge, No. 553, Free and Ac- cepted Masons; Phoenix Chapter, No. 198, Royal Arch Masons ; Palestine Council, No. 8, Royal and Select Masters, and Jerusalem Commandery, No. 15, Knights Templar. He is also a member and deacon of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and has been serving for some time as president of the Spring City Fire Company. George D. Peters has rapidly won his way to the front rank of the successful young business men of his borough by energy, hard work and a genius for overcoming difficulties.
PROF. A. THOMAS SMITH, vice- principal of West Chester State Nor- mal school, in which he has held the chair of pedagogy for seven years, is a son of Erasmus P. and Elizabeth ( Baker) Smith, and was born at Jeffersonville, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, September 10, 1862.
A. Thomas Smith was reared in Mont- gomery county, and received his education in the public schools, the West Chester
State Normal school, from which he was gradnated in the class of 1883, and in special study under Dr. W. Il. Payne and Dr. Jerome Allen. Immediately after graduation he was offered and accepted the position of first assistant in the Soldiers' Orphan school of Chester Springs, this county, which he held until the autumn of 1884. He was then elected principal and served until January, 1885, when he resigned to take the chair of pedagogy in West Chester State Normal school, which he has held ever since. The studies in his depart- ment embrace psychology, logic, ethics, methods of culture and instruction, school economy and educational history, and are so arranged and classified as to thoroughly treat of the science of pedagogies. Pro- fessor Smith has systematized his work and brought it up to a high standard, and the successful results of his teaching have been such as to cause a great demand for his services as a county institute instructor throughout Eastern Pennsylvania and in the States of New Jersey and Delaware.
On August 7, 1888, Prof. Smith was united in marriage with Lizzie Fenton Ogden, daughter of George Ogden, of Cape May Court House, New Jersey, and who was graduated from the West Chester State Normal school in the elass of 1886. Mrs. Smith is now a teacher of geography and history in her Alma mater.
Professor Smith is a republican in politics, and a charter member of the Westminster Presbyterian church of West Chester, in which organization he was chosen one of the six original ruling elders. His time is given chiefly to his profession, in which he has always been an active and zealous worker. Professor Smith is in touch with the educational thought of the age, and con-
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stantly seeks to enlarge the boundaries of his knowledge in the noble field of human learning in which he labors. He is a member of the West Chester Philosophical society, and now in the enjoyment of a year's leave of absence, a resident member of the school of pedagogy of the University of the city of New York.
We cannot estimate too highly the ser- vices rendered to the cause of education in Pennsylvania by her State Normal schools. of which West Chester has deserved right to rank high. One of the most important departments of West Chester State Normal school is that of pedagogics, which, under the charge of Prof. A. Thomas Smith, has achieved enviable reputation. Professor Smith is in the early prime of life, and has before him long years of activity and useful- ness in a noble sphere of action.
JACOB F. KEPHART, whose business career spans half a century, and who has been connected with the Schuylkill Valley Stove Company of Spring City since its organization, is a son of John and Esther (Fox) Kephart, and was born in Limerick township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, August 28, 1826. His pater- ual grandfather, Adam Kephart, was a native of Lehigh county, and in addition to serving as a soldier in the revolutionary war, he furnished several cavalry horses and a team for the use of the Continental army. Some years after peace was declared in 1783, he removed to Limerick township, Montgomery county, where he followed farming until his death. He married Susannah Shuman, and to them were born four sous and one daughter. The sons were Andrew, John. Adam, and Christian,
of whom Andrew and Adam served as sol- diers in the war of 1812. John Kephart, the second son, and father of Jacob F. Kep- hart, was born in 1788, in Lehigh county, and settled in Limerick township, where he died June 6, 1868, at four score years of age. He learned the trade of stone-mason, which he followed for nearly fifty years. He was a democrat in politics and a mem- ber of the Evangelieal Lutheran church, and married Esther Fox, who died June 7, 1878, aged eighty years, and was a daugh- ter of Jacob Fox, a native of Berks, and u resident farmer of Montgomery county. Mr. and Mrs. Kephart were the parents of four children: Susanna, Jacob F., Enos, who married Maria Walters, and Esther, widow of William B. Kugler, who resides at Pottstown, this State.
Jacob F. Kephart was reared in his native township, received a practical edu- cation in the schools of his neighborhood, and then learned the trade of blacksmith, at which he worked until 1847. In that year he was given charge of the blacksmith shops at " Yankee Dam," on the canal three miles above Spring City, which position he held until 1851, when he went to Reading, where he was engaged in the manufacture of farming implements for two years. He was then successively engaged in the same line of business at Lebanon for three years, and at Harrisburg for nine years. At the end of that time, in 1865, he embarked in farming and in the grain threshing machine business, which he followed until 1879, when he sold his farm and resided at different places for ten years. He then ( 1889) be- came a member and director of the present Schuylkill Valley Stove Company, of Spring City. This company was organized in the spring of 1889. nud purchased its present
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plant, which had been built three years pre- vions and run until that time under the au- spices of the Knights of Labor. The plant covers a large area, and its principal buildings are a four-story warehouse, an engine and boiler house, a cleaning room, a two-story cupola house, and a molding room. The company employs eighty-five skilled work- men, turns out annually over one hundred thousand dollars' worth of stoves, and has a large patronage in nearly every State in the Union.
In political sentiment Mr. Kephart is a democrat, but in local politics supports men and measures independent of party consid- eration. He is a member of the Evangeli- cal Lutheran church, and has had many years of valuable and successful experience in different manufacturing enterprises.
AMES S. PHIPPS, for many years a prominent and prosperous farmer of Uwehlan township, but since 1877 a resident of the city of West Chester, is a son of Jonathan and Isabella (Peters) Phipps, and was born February 6, 1823, on the old Phipps homestead in Uwchlan township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. There he grew to manhood, receiving his education in the common schools, and after leaving school engaged in farming. For a number of years he taught during the winter season, and at one time was widely known and popular as a teacher. After some eight or ten years spent in this manner he abandoned teaching and devoted his entire attention to agricultural pursuits until 1877, when he removed to the city of West Chester, where he has since resided, practically re- tired from active business. He still owns and directs the operations of two fine farms
in Uwchlan township, one consisting of one hundred and ten acres of valuable land and the other containing abont one hundred and thirty aeres. Both are well improved and in a good state of enltivation. Mr. Phipps is a member of the orthodox Society of Friends, and a republican in his political opinions. He is a man of sound judgment, strict integrity, and great uprightness of character, and has been called on by a large number of his friends to serve in the posi- tion of guardian and trustee. He now has in his keeping many trusts of this kind. He was elected justice of the peace in 1866, and remained in office until removing from the township.
On November 31, 1849, Mr. Phipps was wedded to Hannah James, a daughter of Hon. Jesse James, of West Nantmeal town- ship, this county. To their nnion was born a family of two children, one son and a daughter: Margaret, who married J. E. Armstrong, now a large oil operator resid- ing at Petrolia, Ontario, Dominion of Can- ada; and Jesse, who died February, 1872, aged four years. Mrs. Phipps died in April, 1877, in the forty-seventh year of her age.
The Phipps family is of English extrac- tion, and was planted in America by John Phipps (paternal great-grandfather), who came over from England in 1686 and settled in Uwchlan township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He took up one thousand acres of land, which is now owned in part by the subject of this sketch and his sister. Joseph Phipps (grandfather) was born in 1750, and after his father's death inherited the latter's estate and spent his entire life in agricultural pursuits. He was accidently killed while on his way home from court. In politics he was an old-line whig, and in religion a Friend, or Quaker. He married
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Mary Ann Keeley, by whom he had a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters. One of these sons was Jonathan Phipps ( father), who was born on the old homestead in 1790, and being left an orphan at an early age, by the death of his father, he was reared and educated by his mother. After attaining manhood he engaged in farming, and passed his days in the cultiva- tion of the soil. Ile was a whig and re- publican in politics, a strict adherent of the Society of Friends, and died in 1866 at the advanced age of seventy-six years. In January, 1818, he married Isabella Peters, of Delaware county, and to them was born a family of eight children, only two of whom now survive. They were all members of the Society of Friends, and lived active, useful, and honorable lives.
JAMES REA MAXWELL, M. D., a
graduate of Jefferson Medical college, and a rising young physician of Parkes- burg, is a son of Robert and Mary ( Rea) Maxwell, and was born September 20, 1862, near the Gap, in Lancaster county, Penn- sylvania. The Maxwells are of English extraction, and trace their American ances- try back to William Maxwell, who came over from England long prior to the revo- Intionary war, and settled at Stewartstown, New Jersey. They are of the same Max- well family from whom sprung General Maxwell, who distinguished himself during the revolutionary struggle. William Max- well (grandfather) removed from New Jer- sey at a very early day, and located in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where he purchased a large farm, on which he resided until his death ut the age of sixty years, and where his descendants have become
numerous and the family taken a prominent place. Among his sons was Robert Max- well ( father), who is a prosperous farmer of Lancaster county, owning the old homestead on which he resides, being now in his seventieth year. lle is a republican in politics, and for many years has been a member and elder in the Presbyterian church. In 1855 he married Mary Rea, a member of the Presbyterian church, and a native of Gap, who died November 10, 1890, at the advanced age of sixty-six years. To them was born a family of three children, two of whom died in infancy.
James Rea Maxwell was reared on the farm, and obtained his education in the com- mon schools and the State Normal school at Millersville, Pennsylvania. After leaving the Normal school he engaged in teaching for a couple of years, after which he entered the office of Dr. John B. Martin, at Bart, Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania, and began the study of medicine, toward which he had been inelined since early youth. After an assiduous course of reading with Doctor Martin he entered the Jefferson Medical college of Philadelphia, and in 1888 was graduated from that popular institution with the degree of M. D. He immediately located at Parkesburg, this county, where he has conducted an active practice ever since, and where he has won a good degree of success by his skill and devotion to the important profession of his choice.
At the time of the Johnstown food Dr. Maxwell went to that stricken city and spent a week of hard work in the hospital there. endeavoring to alleviate the suffer- ings of the survivors of that awful catas- trophe. He is a member of the Chester County Medical society, and takes an active interest in its proceedings. He is also n
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member of the Presbyterian church of Parkesburg, and an earnest Sunday school worker, having been superintendent of the Sunday school at Lenover ever since its organization. In politics he is a stanch republican, and occupies the position of notary public at Parkesburg. He is also a member of Keystone Lodge, No. 569, Free and Accepted Masons. Dr. Maxwell is unmarried. As a citizen and as a physician he has the confidence of the community, and bids fair to occupy an important page in the medical history of Chester county.
H ENRY K. KURTZ, a member of the iron firm of W. W. Kurtz & Sons, has general charge of the Valley Iron works at Coatesville. He is a son of William W. aud Annie (Bunn) Kurtz, and was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 2,1857.
William W. Kurtz ( father) is a native of Gettysburg, this State, but in early man- hood removed to the City of Philadelphia, where he has resided ever since. After becoming a resident of Philadelphia he engaged in the dry goods business, which he very successfully managed for a number of years. He then became a banker, and for nearly a quarter of a century conducted a large general banking business in the city of Philadelphia, under the firm name of W. W. Kurtz & Co., bankers and brokers, No. 131 South Fourth street.
Ife was engaged for some time in his father's banking house in Philadelphia and then accepted a position as superintendent of the Allentown Gas works, at Allentown, Lehigh county, this State, where he re- mained in charge for a period of six years. Ile then returned to Philadelphia and was
engaged with his father in the banking business until 1889. In that year the iron firm of W. W. Kurtz & Sons was organized and succeeded to the business of C. E. Pennock & Co., known as the Valley Irou works, at . Coatesville, this county. Henry K. Kurtz, became a member of this firm,
was appointed manager of the business, and has had general charge of the works ever since. The mill furnishes a superior quality of boiler, bridge, ship and tank plate, and has a capacity of ten thousand tons yearly. The firm is composed of William W. Kurtz, William B. Kurtz and Henry K. Kurtz.
In 1884, Henry K. Kurtz married Leila Longaker, a daughter of Hon. A. B. Lon- gaker, of Allentown, Lehigh county, Penn- sylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Kurtz have three children, two sons and a daughter: William W., Leila, and Henry K., jr.
I SAAC S. COCHRAN, a prominent citi- zen of Chester county, residing in West Chester, who enjoys the distinction of being the oldest and largest live stock dealer in the county, is the eldest son of William L. and Eliza (Stanley ) Cochran, and was born near Media, Delaware county, Pennsyl- vania, January 28, 1826. His paternal grandfather, Isaac Cochran, was also a na- tive of Delaware county, but iu later life removed to Chester county, where he died about 1852. He was a farmer during his earlier years, but became an inn-keeper and for many years was proprietor of the Rose Tree hotel, near Media. In polities he was an old-time whig, and so popular in Delaware county that he was elected to the responsible position of sheriff, and served one term with entire satisfaction to the
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public and credit to himself. He married, and had a family of seven children. Wil- liam L. Cochran ( father ) was born in Del- aware county in 1799, but removed to Ches- ter county about 1832, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1869, at the ripe old age of seventy years. Ile was a cattle dealer and farmer in Willistown township, and possessing sound judgment and great business energy, he became sie- cessful and prosperous. In politics he was first a whig and later a republican, always taking considerable interest in public ques- tions. lle married Eliza Stanley, a daugh- ter of Jacob Stanley, of England, and to them was born a family of eight children, four sons and a like number of danghters, of whom Isaac S., the subject of this sketch, is the eldest.
Isaac S. Cochran received his education in the academy conducted by Joseph Strode, in this county-at that time a well-known boarding school for boys and young men- and after completing his studies and leaving school he began life on his own account as a dealer in live-stock, buying and selling cattle. At one time he owned and operated a large stock farm near the borough of West Chester. He has handled stock more or less all his life, and is an expert judge of cattle. His business has grown to such an extent that it is perhaps true that he buys and sells a larger number of animals every year than any other man or firm in Chester county.
On December 31, 1851, Mr. Cochran was united in marriage to Phobe Shimer, a daughter of Edward Shimer, of this county. To their union was born a family of four children, three sons (two sons are now de- ceased ) and a daughter. The daughter, Laura, is now the wife of R. H. Johnson, a
contractor and builder, of Wayne, Delaware county, this State. The son, Harry Coch- ran, married Clara Smith, and resides with his father, being also engaged in buying and selling live-stock. In politics Mr. Cochran is a republican, but is too busy with business affairs to take any aetive part in politics.
R. NEWTON THOMAS, the senior member of the firm of R. N. Thomas & Co., which is extensively engaged in the coal, feed, grain and Hour business at West Chester. is a son of David R. and Isabella (Doyle ) Thomas, and was born at New London, Chester county, Pennsylvania, Jan- uary 1, 1843. The Thomas family of Chester county, of which the subject of this sketch is a member, was founded by Dr. David Thomas ( grandfather ), who was born in Hilltown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1759, where he resided until 1808, when he settled in Lower Oxford township, Ches- ter county, in which he died in 1824, aged sixty-five years. Ile was a physician, and served as a private in the revolutionary war and surgeon in the war of 1812. He was a strong democrat, and a leading Baptist in the community where he resided, and in 1791 married Mary Jones, of Bucks county. His son, David R. Thomas ( father), was born at Hilltown, Bucks county, May 8, 1803, and died in Wilmington, Delaware, February 20, 1874. when in the seventy- first year of his age. He was a tanner and leather currier by trade, and worked for many years at Wilmington, Delaware. He was a consistent Methodist, and in politics left the Democratie party on the subject of slavery to identify himself with the repub- lienns. In 1856 he married Isabella Doyle. who is now in the eighty-fourth year of her
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