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 30
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three daughters : Frederick W., engaged in the fruit business at Ridgeway, North Caro- lina ; Wesley J., station agent at Marion. that State: Mary Jane, wife of JJ. H. Mor- rison, of Oxford, Pennsylvania ; Caroline and Sydney who died in infancy; and Albert E. and Lizzie A., who reside in Oxford, this State. Mark Townsend yet gives his time principally to his prosperous and rapidly increasing fruit business.
RICHARD T. ELLICOTT, one of the older and highly respected citizens of Chester county, is the only son of Nathaniel HI. and Tamson ( Roberts-Trimble) Ellicott, and was born at Ellicott City, Maryland, on January 18, 1844. Heis descended from the old Ellicott family so well known in Mary- land, and received his education in the Friends'school at Providence, Rhode Island. After leaving school he associated himself with Col. John Clark, in the contracting business, in which they were very success- ful, both retiring very comfortably well off.
Jonathan Ellicott, for whom Ellicott City ( Maryland ) was named, was the paternal grandfather of Richard T. Ellicott, and his brother, Andrew Ellicott, was a prominent surveyor of that day, and as such was en- gaged in laying out the city of Washington about 1792. Nathaniel H. Ellicott (father) was born at what is now Ellicott City, Maryland, in 1791, where he was reared and educated. About 1849 he removed to Chester county, Pennsylvania, and settled at West Chester, in the house now occupied by the subject of this sketch, where he continued to reside until his death in 1861. when in his seventieth year. He was a miller by trade, and a strong abolitionist, believing that the " peculiar institution "
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was the sum of all iniquity, and that part of the constitution which supported it a " league with hell." In his religious con- victions he was a Quaker, and a life-long member of the Society of Friends. Not- withstanding his adherence to that organi- zation, there was a strong military side to his character, and in 1814, when less than fourteen years of age, he took part in the engagement at Fort McHenry, at the time Scott Keys wrote his now famous song, " The Star Spangled Banner," while a pris- oner on board at British man-of-war. In 1821 he married Thamazine Roberts, nee Trimble, a daughter of Richard Trimble, who was the founder of the free school system of New York city. By this mar- riage Mr. Ellicott had two children : Rich- ard T., and a daughter named Jane T., who married Joseph P. Wilson. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson are now dead. They had a family of three children, one son and two daugh- ters: Cornelia T., who married R. Jones Monaghan, now a well known member of the bar at West Chester; Mary, wedded J. Townsend Fairlamb, now deceased, who was formerly western manager of the Pennsylvania Investment Company; and Henry George.
M ONTGOMERY FRICK, one of the young and successful business men of Spring City, and secretary of the well known Schuylkill Valley Stove Manufactur- ing Company, is a son of Charles and Mary Ann (Evans) Frick, and was born at Linfield, Limerick township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. March 31, 1860. The Frick family, which was settled in Pennsylvania at an early day during the last century. is of Swiss origin, and Hon. Benjamin Frick
(grandfather), was a prominent man in his day. He owned several boats on the old canal, then was interested in the con- struction of a railroad, and his popularity was such that he was elected as a republican member of the State senate from Mont- gomery county when it was strongly demo- cratic. He was very active and influential in politics, and married Ellen Davis, by whom he had six children, of whom one was Charles Frick, father of Montgomery Frick. Charles Frick was born in 1828, at Linfield, where he still resides. He has been engaged for many years in general business, but making specialties of lumber and coal. He is a republican in politics, served for several years as postmaster of Linfield, and takes an active part in the political affairs of his county. He is a member of the Baptist church, and married Mary Ann Evans, who is a daughter of Ezekiel Evans. To them were born four children : Benjamin, now dead; Lewis, who is engaged in business at Linfield; Montgomery and Mary.
Montgomery Frick was reared at Linfield, received his education in the public schools and Millersville State Normal school, and then was engaged in business with his father until 1889, when he helped to organize the Schuylkill Valley Stove Manu- facturing Company, of Spring City, of which he has served as secretary ever since.
On October 28, 1885, Mr. Frick was united in marriage with Savilla Thomas, daughter of John Thomas, of Limerick, Montgomery county, and to them has been born (1892) one child, a son, named Charles Thomas.
Montgomery Frick is a republican in politics, but does not take a very active part in political affairs and gives his time to the business enterprise in which he is en-
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gaged. The Schuylkill Valley Stove Manu- facturing Company was organized early in the year 1889, and purchased their present plant which had been erected and operated up to that time under the auspices of the Knights of Labor. This extensive plant, which covers an area of three and a half aeres of ground, is situated in the southern part of the borough, on the Schuylkill river and Schuylkill Valley railroad. The main buildings are brick, and comprise a four- story ware-house, an engine and boiler house, a cleaning room, a two-story cupola house and a molding room, all of which are thoroughly equipped with the latest and most approved machinery for stove manufacturing. The company employs eighty-five skilled workmen, has an annual output of one hundred thousand dollars' worth of stoves from their works, and have a large patronage in nearly every State of the Union. Mr. Frick has pursued a con- servative but perfectly safe financial policy. and has thus contributed largely to the remarkable success of the company.
COL. NATHANIEL M. ELLIS, a
soldier and financier, was born at Potts- town, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, February 25. 1821. His parents were Christopher and Margaret ( Missimer ) Ellis, the former of English and the latter of German descent. Christopher Ellis was one of the early settlers of Montgomery county, this State, a shoemaker by trade. and lived at Pottstown. He was a demo- crat in politics, and served in the war of 1812. Ile died about 1850, aged sixty-four years, and his wife passed away in 1824, in the thirty-second year of her age. The subject of this sketch, Col. Nathaniel M.
Ellis, received his early education in the public schools of Pottstown, and completed his studies under private tution in the city of Philadelphia. At the early age of twelve and a half years he entered the service of the Reading Railroad Company, in the location, and was first employed in taking cross sections of the road. When it was completed from Pottstown to Norristown he was placed in temporary charge of the station at Phoenixville. He soon afterward left the employ of the company and re- sumed his studies in Philadelphia, where he remained for one year engaged in perfecting his education. In 1838 he returned to active service on the road, and Phoenixville having become an important point he was ap- pointed general agent of the company at this place, having charge of all the varions departments. He continued in the satis- factory discharge of the multitudinous duties connected with this responsible position until 1873, when he was compelled to resign on account of his health.
In 1842 Mr. Ellis was elected and com- missioned as major of volunteers, and ap- pointed in 1860 aid-de-camp to Governor Packer during his term of office. He has held many offices of public trust and honor, among them burgess of Phoenixville, presi- dent of the town council, borongh engineer. and president of the school board, of which latter he was a member for many years, having always taken a profound interest in the great cause of popular education. In his political affiliations he has always been democratie, and was an active supporter of Andge Donglas in his contest for the presidency in 1860. At the breaking ont of the civil war he took an active part in polities, deoming it his duty to at once openly espouse the cause his conscience
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held to be right. He was prominent in the organization of the Phoenixville National bank, and was one of its directors for a number of years, and also served as a director of the Morris Cemetery Company, which he helped to organize. In addition to these he was also a director in the Masonic Hall association of Phoenixville. As a business man he was noted, during an active career extending from 1835 to 1872, for stability of purpose and striet integrity in all his dealings. In religious belief he is a Baptist, and is a prominent member of Phoenix Lodge, No. 75, Free and Accepted Masons. He has about retired from active business, and resides in a beautiful home, which he erected in 1844, at the corner of Main and Morgan streets. During all his life he has been known for the firmness of his friendships, and is among the most highly esteemed citizens of Phoenixville and Ches- ter county.
In February, 1842, Colonel Ellis was united in marriage with Mary Morgan, a daughter of Hon. John Morgan, of Phoenix- ville, who was a prominent man in his day. To the Colonel and Mrs. Ellis was born a family of three children, one son and two daughters: Mordicai, who is now chief clerk in the office of the Phoenixville Bridge Company ; Mary, who married Dr. William T. Porter, of this borough ; and Sallie, living at home with her parents.
S TEPHEN DARLINGTON, who was a constant student, a ripe scholar and one of the finest linguists of Pennsylvania, ranked high as a scientifie and progressive farmer. He was a son of George and Lydia Barnard Darlington, and was born in what
is now l'ocopson township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1799. The pri- mogenitor of the Darlington family in Chester county was Abraham Darlington, who came from England about the year 1708. He was reared on a farm and learned the trade of saddler, but after coming to this county he settled east of the Brandy- wine on a farm of two hundred acres. His second wife was Elizabeth Hillborn, and their fifth child, Thomas Darlington, re- moved higher up on the Branywine, where he settled on a farm now owned by one of his grandsons. Thomas Darlington married Hannah Brinton, and their sixth son, George Darlington (father), who was a farmer and miller by occupation and trade, settled, near the close of the last century, west of the Brandywine, on the Pocopson stream. He married Lydia Barnard, and his children in the order of age were: Hannah, Richard, Stephen, Cyrns, George, Joseph B., Hill- born, Lydia, and Eliza.
Stephen Darlington was reared on the farm, received a good education, and then engaged in farming and the study of mathematics. He settled on a farm border- ing the Brandywine, and between that stream and his father's home, which had been previously owned by Henry Hoopes. This farm was in poor condition when Mr. Darlington came into possession of it, but he immediately commenced the fertilization of its soil and the improvement of its fences and buildings, and in fifty years he had brought it up to such a state that it ranks as one of the best farms of Pennsylvania. He brought the soil up to garden richness, and while his buildings were not orna- mental, they were permanently finished and roofed with slate, from the dwelling to the pig sty. His fences were constructed
Stephen Darlington.
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of iron and placed upon a stone basis so securely as to stand the test of a century.
On September 15, 1825, Mr. Darlington married Ann Mendenhall, who was born October 27, 1804, and died March 9, 1885, aged eighty years. She was a daughter of Aaron Mendenhall, who owned a fine farm in Pennsbury township, which had de- seended as a patrimonial estate from his father, Isaac, who inherited it from his father, Joseph, one of the sons of the immigrant Benjamin, who came about 1686, from Married Hill, Wiltshire, England, with his brother John, and settled in Pennsylvania, and from whom all of the name of Menden- hall now in America are descended. Mr. and Mrs. Darlington had five children : Fenelon, Sarah, Louisa, Emma, and Lamar- tine. Mr. Darlington was fortunate in the choice of a partner, who contributed her full share to the success of out-door as well as household operations. She was tidy in the extreme, and busied in usefulness from morn to bed time. She with her husband uniformly attended meetings of worship and business in the Society of Friends, of which they were members. She rarely took up a book or paper unless in the afternoon of the first day of the week. Notwithstanding this full timing of her hours, she was foremost in looking after those in suffering or in want, and was free in administering unto these by heart, hand and purse.
A memorable occasion of Stephen Dar- lington's life was his golden wedding which was celebrated Wednesday, September 15, 1875, with appropriate and interesting ceremonies, a full account of which ap- peared in the Daily Local News. It was really a grand reunion of the Darlingtons and Mendenhalls, families so noted for
punctuality and honesty that it is a common expression "as punctual as a Darlington or as honest as a Mendenhall." A magnificent repast was furnished in the commodious barn to acommodate the large number that were present. Addresses were delivered and poems read by several of the guests. hut two of the most distinguishing events of the occasion were the marriage of Sarah D., the eldest daughter of Mr. Darlington. to Samuel Auge, of West Chester, who was a guest at the original wedding, fifty years before. and the address of welcome from Mr. Darlington and his wife, which was a poetical effort ou the part of Stephen Darlington of so much merit that we repro- duce it as it appeared in the public press :
" When noble LaFayette from beyond the sea, Reviewed the land himself had helped to free, Received the plaudits of a grateful shore, Which scarcely ever man received before; T'was then in early youth, as man and wife, We ventured on the doubtful path of life; Poor and of small account, we took our stand, But thanks to toil and Heaven's protecting hand, Enough of comfort 'round our home appears, 'To satisfy the needs of closing years; Enough of fame our modest cause attends, And not the least, a list of valued friends ; And now since fifty suns have passed away, Gladly we greet you on this bridal day ; You who with us have shared the early moru, Or, who the bloom of later years adorn - To all we wish a long and prosperous life, A noble husband, or a worthy wife."
Stephen Darlington was a republican in polities. He gave close attention to the education of his children, and at the close of the day's labor after examining their work and progress in their studies, he gave them a lesson in the languages as a general rule. In early manhood he exhibited the taste and well-read scholarship of the poet. the persevering taet and thrift and effort of the mathematician; and gathered the self-
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sought and self-found gems and treasures in language-while he shrunk not from the dull and slow and sturdy rounds of the practical farmer. In his early studies each new effort was erowned with a new joy (such as he only knows who ascends the golden pathway of art, of science or of duty), but in later life he confined his efforts mainly to farming operations and the study of the classics. Stephen Darlington's long and practically useful life closed on May 16, 1884, when he passed away from the scenes of his earthly labors. His re- mains were interred in a beautiful lot in Birmingham cemetery, but he will be long remembered in the community where he resided. A successful teacher of the county pays the following beautiful and well de- served tribute to his memory: "While Stephen Darlington was a model agrieul- turalist, he was also a constant student, a ripe scholar, and as a linguist had few equals, if any, in his native State."
H ENRY P. WAITNEIGHT, one of the young and energetic members of of the Chester county bar, is a son of William Walters and Margaret C. ( Broon- all) Waitneight, and was born in Phoenix- ville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, Sep- tember 6, 1861. The Waitneight family is of German lineage, but is American by residence for over a century. Its founder was Jacob Waitneight, who came from Germany, and, after serving in the Ameri- can army during the revolutionary struggle for separation from the mother country and political independence, he married Cath- arine Grate, and settled in Chester county, where he followed farming for a livlihood. His son, Jonathan Waitneight, the paternal
grandfather of the subject of this sketch. was born in East Pikeland township, where he also followed farming, and died at an early age. He was an old-line whig in po- litical sentiment, and married Maria Wal- ters, sister of the late George Walters, for so many years civil engineer for the Phoenix Iron company, and had children. His old- est son, William W. Waitneight, was born July 19th, 1820, and at twenty years of age came to Phoenixville, which he made his home until his death, which occurred February 6th, 1886. He was a blacksmith by trade, and worked for many years for the Phoenix Iron company. Mr. Waitneight took con- siderable interest in municipal and county affairs, and served frequently as a member of the town council, of which he was presi- dent for several years. He was a whig and republican in politics, and served as the first superintendent of the water works. He was a member of Zion Evangelical Lutheran church, and Phoenix Lodge, No. 212, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he had been secretary for twenty-five years. He married Margaret C. Broomall, a mem- ber of the old Broomall family of Delaware county, and to their union were born seven children. Mrs. Waitneight, who still re- sides at Phoenixville, was born in Delaware county, June 16, 1823; her mother was Hannah Griswold ( Conner) Broomall, who died in Phoenixville in 1879, at the advanced age of ninety-two; and has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since her early youth.
1
Ilenry P. Waitneight was reared at Phoenixville, and after he was graduated from the High school in the class of 1879, he entered Dickinson college, of Carlisle, this State, where he took a classical course. Leaving college he made choice of the legal
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profession as his life work. He read law with the firm of Monaghan & Hause, was admitted to the bar in 1886, and since then has been engaged in successful practice in Chester county, and has gained an enviable reputation as a careful and conservative ad- viser. In politics he is a stanch and pro- nouneed republican, who believes in an en- ergetie support of the cardinal principles of his party. He has been many times a dele- gate to county conventions, and was a dele- gate to the Harrisburg convention in April, 1892, which nominated Hon. John Dean, of Blair county, for supreme judge. He is a vestryman of St. Peter's Protestant Epis- copal church, and a member of Phoenixville Lodge, No. 212, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Waitneight takes a deep in- terest in educational affairs as well as polit- ical matters. He was appointed in 1889 to fill a vacancy in the school board, occasioned by the death of Dr. L. B. Hawley, and in 1890 was elected for a full term of three years as a member of the board, of which he has twice been made president by a nnanimons vote. Mr. Waitneight, although young in years, is prominently identified with the progress of Phoenixville, whose best interests he has always at heart. He is a recognized advocate of learning and ability in his chosen profession, and has gained reputation as an interesting speaker and as a man of broad and liberal views on all publie questions of interest or import- ance.
p ROF. JOHN HUNTER WOR-
RALL, the widely known educator. who early won deserved recognition in his chosen profession, has been connected with the educational interests of this county since 1856. Ile is a son of Frederick and
Sarah ( Hunter ) Worrall, and was born near what is now Strafford, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, in the first half of the present century. His grandfather, Elisha Worrall, was also a native of Delaware county, born near Middletown, where he was reared and passed most of his active and useful life. Ile was a farmer by vocation, and died near Strofferd, then called the Old Spread Eagle, at an advanced age. Frederick Worrall (father) was born near Concord, Delaware county, and spent his life in agricultural pursuits. He was a federalist and whig in polities, and married Sarah Hlunter, a daughter of James Hunter, of Delaware county. By this union he had a family of five children, four sons and one daughter : Elisha, a farmer, who removed to Mont- gomery county, where he died in October, 1890; William, a miller by occupation, who died near Collegeville, Montgomery county ; Joseph L., whose residence is in the city of Philadelphia ; Martha Ann, married Caleb B. Ring, a farmer of Chadd's Ford, this county ; and John Hunter, the subject of this sketch. Frederick Worrall died near the Old Spread Eagle hotel in Delaware county, in April, 1847, aged sixty-eight years.
John Hunter Worrall began his studies at Dr. Rollins' private school in Newtown township, Chester county, and later entered a like institution under the management of Thomas Connard, in Philadelphia, where he remained for two years. He then went to New Haven, Connectient, and, under the instrnetion of Edward Umstead, prepared to enter Yale college, from which institu- tion he was graduated with honors in the class of 1856. He immediately came to West Chester, this county, where he began teach- ing in the West Chester academy, and re-
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mained three years. Returning to New Haven at the end of that time, he entered on a post-graduate course, which occupied nearly three years, and from which he was graduated with the degree of Ph. D. Pro- fessor Worrall then returned to West Ches- ter and filled the chair of mathematics in the Pennsylvania Military academy for a period of two years. In 1864 he again be- came connected with the West Chester academy, and, in connection with Eugene Pauline, conducted that institution until 1870, when the trustees sold the property, and adding the fund derived from its sale to the appropriation made by the State, erected the West Chester Normal school building. Professor Worrall was then called to the chair of mathematics in the Normal school, but after one year in that position he re- tired and organized Worrall's Classical and Mathematical academy at West Chester, which he continued until the autunm of 1891, when failing health compelled him to relinquish its care. Ile still gives lessons in his rooms to a limited number of pupils, and many of the successful young business and professional men of this county have been prepared for the active duties of life under his care and instruction.
Professor Worrall is a leading member of the Episcopal church, in which he served as vestryman for a period of fifteen years, and as accounting warden for more than a de- cade. The mental equipments with which he began active life were indicated in the fact that in his freshman year he took first prize in his class in mathematics, and em- phasized this triumph by repeating it in the sophomore year. He also received the gold medal on graduation for work done and high standing in mathematics. These early promises received ample fulfillment in the
active career of Professor Worrall, who soon became widely known for his scholastic attainments and greatly valued for his un- usual merit as a teacher. He takes rank with the best and most popular educators in this part of Pennsylvania, and notwith- standing his recognized ability-rather, perhaps, on account of it-he is modest and unassuming in deportinent. His popu- larity is co-extensive with his acquaintance, and is founded no less on his admirable qualities as a man than on his brilliant ac- quirements as an educator.
R' EV. ISAAC URNER BROWER, a
minister of the German Baptist or Brethren's church, and a well respected citizen of Parker Ford, is a son of Gilbert and Lydia (Urner) Brower, and was born in East Coventry township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, January 7, 1844. The Brower family of Chester county is a branch of the old Brower family of Holland, and was founded in Chester county by Henry Brower about the year 1740. Gilbert Brower, a great-grandson of the above mentioned Henry Brower, was the father of the sub- jeet of this sketch.
Gilbert Brower was born February 5. 1815, and died December 18, 1890. He married Lydia Urner, and to their union were born three sons and two daughters: Harrison, the eldest (now deceased) ; Dr. William, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, and in which is given a full history of both the Brower and Urner families; Rev. Isaac U .; Sallie H. (now deceased) ; and Elizabeth, who died in early childhood.
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