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 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
On December 22, 1853, Mr. Landis was married to Hannah L. Funk, a daughter of John Funk, of East Coventry township, Chester county. To Mr. and Mrs. Landis were born two children, one son and a daughter. The son, John D. F., was born June 29, 1859, and on October 14, 1886, wedded Florence M. Swindells, a daugh- ter of Rev. W. Swindells, D. D. He is now chief elerk in the office of the Phila- delphia & Reading Railroad Company, and resides at Trevose, Bucks county. The daughter is Susanna F., now living at home with her parents.
David Landis ( father ) was also a native of Berks county, born near Boyertown May 15, 1804. In that county he passed his life, principally engaged in the tannery business, though he owned and successfully managed a fine farm. Ile was a man of eu- ergy and good business ability, lived an ac-
tive and useful life, and passed away on October 4, 1839, at the early age of thirty- five years. Almiost in boyhood he embraced the political doctrines of the old whig party, and remained an ardent supporter of that organization all his life. In religious faith he was a Mennonite and an active member of that church. April 21, 1831, he married Catharine Latshaw, a daughter of John Latshaw, of this county, and to this union were born two sons, George W., the subject of this sketch, and Rev. John L., who now resides at Cape May, New Jersey, where he is engaged in pastoral work as a minister of the Presbyterian church. The latter was educated at Collegeville, and early adopted the gospel ministry as his chosen life work. Ile married Florence Miles, of Potter county, Pennsylvania. Three years after the death of David Landis, April 28, 1842, Mrs. Catharine Landis married Rudolph Reiff, who died January 12, 1884, aged sev- enty-six, having been born April 3, 1808. She now lives at Pottstown Landing, having reached the eighty-second year of her age in January last.
The maternal grandfather of George W. Landis, John Latshaw, was a native of Chester Springs, this county, born March 26, 1785. Ile purchased a large farm near Chester Springs, where he was engaged in farming. For a time he lived near Potts- town Landing, retired, but returned to Ches- ter Springs, where he died May 13, 1860, aged seventy-five years. He was a whig and republican in polities, and a member of the Mennonite church, in which he was trustee for many years. He married Susan Iligh, and reared a family of two sons and six daughters, the eldest of whom became the wife of David Landis, and the mother of George W. The others were : Madeline,
310
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
married John McCurdy, a farmer, justice of the peace, surveyor, and real estate dealer (now deceased), and now lives in Tredyffrin township, this county; Susan, who wedded Rudolph Harley, a retired farmer of Cairo, Illinois; Jacob B., deceased; Elizabeth, married Isaac Heistand, and they are both now deceased ; Mary, wedded Israel Beidler, a Mennonite minister (now dead ), and lives in Cleveland, Ohio; John, a farmer of West Pikeland township, who married Elizabeth Jones; and Sarah, who wedded Horatio Adams, a machinist, residing in the city of Philadelphia.
H ARMAN PRIZER, one of the enter- prising and successful citizens of East Coventry, and a gentleman widely known among the business men of this section of the old Keystone State, is the fourth child and only son of Henry and Elizabeth (Diffendaffer) Prizer. He was born on the old homestead in East Coventry township, this county, November 5, 1832, and educated in the public schools there. After attaining manhood he was engaged for a time in op- erating the home farm, on which G. W. Shantz now resides, and has devoted his whole life to agricultural and kindred pur- suits. In 1862 he purchased the Heister property, and owns one of the most desir- able farms in this locality, containing one hundred and twenty acres of choice land, nearly all improved. He keeps a number of fine cows and is engaged to some extent in shipping milk to Philadelphia, besides which he was a stockholder and director in the East Coventry -now "Elgin"-cream- ery, having been among the earliest pro- moters of that enterprise, and officially con- nected therewith since its organization in
the spring of 1883. Mr. Prizer is also a stockholder and director in the Citizen's National bank of Pottstown, and has held that relation since the organization of the bank in March, 1892. In his political affil- iations he is a republican, though an ardent temperance advocate, and has been school director three terms and also served as town clerk, and made the first and second military enrollments in East Coventry township. He is now a member of Brown- back's German Reformed church and super- intendent of the Sabbath school, though formerly connected with New Bethel Metho- dist Episcopal church, in which he served as trustee.
On October 28, 1855, Mr. Prizer was united in marriage to Mary A. Wanger, a daughter of Abraham and Mary (Bergey) Wanger, of North Coventry township, Chester county. This union was blessed by a family of eleven children, six sons and five daughters: L. Ella, born 1856, mar- ried John Buckwalter, who resides at Kenilworth, and a sketch of whose life ap- pears on another page of this book; H. Clifton, born October 5, 1857, married Mary Guest, and is a prosperous farmer of South Coventry township; Flora K., born Febru- ary 19, 1859, wedded John Schlichter,whose biography will be found elsewhere in this volume; William W., born September 15, 1860, and died in infancy ; William A., born September 10, 1861, married Anna R. Hall- man, and now resides near Stauffer's shops in East Coventry township, where he is en- gaged in farming; G. Milton, born July 19, 1863, wedded Emma High and farms at home; Anna L., born June 15, 1865, who became the wife of Addison Miller, now re- siding at Sheeder; Rose M., born March 29, 1868, and died at the age of four
R. Agnew Juthey.
313
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
vears and one month; N. Bella, born Au- gust 29, 1869; F. Newton, born February 6, 1874; and Irvin W., who died in infancy.
For a detailed statement of the ancestral history of the Prizer family, see the sketch of Henry Prizer, father of Harman Prizer, which appears elsewhere in this work.
R. AGNEW FUTHEY is a representa-
tive of one of the oldest families of Chester county, who has the distinction of having been the first school superintendent of the county, and was for many years con- neeted with her banking interests. He was long an active, intelligent and successful man of affairs, but for some years has been living in retirement at his elegant home in Parkesburg. He is the eldest son of Sam- uel and Ann (Parkinson) Fnthey, and was born September 2, 1824, in what was then West Fallowfield, but is now Highland township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. The Futheys are of original Scotch descent, but the American branch is of Scotch-Irish parentage. Their home in the seventeeth century was near Arbroath, on the eastern coast of Scotland, where they owned lands bearing the same name. The family was prominent and infinential, two of its mem- bers - Alexander and Henry -being in par- liament during the reign of Charles II., while others filled positions of honor and trust. Robert Futhey emigrated from Scot- land to the north of Ireland in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and his son, also named Robert, came from Ireland to America between 1725 and 1730, and settled in the southern part of Chester county, Pennsylvania. He died soon after his arrival, leaving four children - Robert,
Sammel, Margery and Henry-from whom have descended the numerous Fnthey family now scattered in all parts of the United States. Robert removed to the Cumberland valley abont 1770, and his de- scendants can be found throughout western Pennsylvania and in some of the southern and western States. Henry removed to the western part of North Carolina, and has de- scendants in both the Carolinas, Samuel, who was born in 1725, remained in Ches- ter county, where he became prominent and took an active part in aiding the American cause during the revolution. In January, 1750, he married Ruth Steele, of New London township, and in 1763 . purchased and removed to a farm of two hundred aeres in West Fallow- field (now Highland ) township. He died January 27, 1790, and was buried in the family burying ground at New London. At his death he left two surviving children, Ann and Samuel. Samuel's brother, Robert Futhey, served in the American army dur- ing the revolution, and died soon afterward from exposure while in the service. Ann Futhey married Samuel Dale, who became an influential citizen of the Buffalo valley, and served in the house of representatives of Pennsylvania ten years and in the State senate six years. Samuel Futhey (2) (grand- father ) had considerable taste for military life, and served five campaigns in the revos Intionary war. In 1794 he was adjutant of a regiment of cavalry that took part in suppressing the whisky insurrection in western Pennsylvania. He subsequently filled the office of brigade inspector for seven years, with the rank of major, by which title he was ever afterward addressed. lle was a member of the Presbyterian church and an old-line whig in politics. In
20
314
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
1782 he married Margaret McPherson, who died in 1784, and in 1788 he wedded Martha Smith. Major Futhey died February 22, 1812, leaving five children : Robert, Jane, Sarah, Samuel and John S. Robert Futhey was born January 21, 1789, served in the war of 1812, was a member of the Pennsyl- vania legislature in 1841-42, and died July 29, 1870. He married Margaret Parkinson, of Carlisle, this State, and at his death left five children : J. Smith, James L., Martha, Elizabeth J. and Robert. His eldest son, Judge J. Smith Futhey (now deceased ), was one of the authors of the history of Chester county, published by Louis H. Evarts, at Philadelphia, in 1881, and for a number of years president judge of the courts of Ches- ter county. John S. Futhey, the Major's youngest son, was born December 20, 1796. He resided for many years in Wrightsville, York county, and during his later life in West Chester, where he died August 18, 1867. He married Juliann Heintzelman, a sister of the late Gen. Samuel P. Heintzel- man, but left no descendants. Samuel Futhey (3) (father) was born February 2, 1794, in what was then West Fallowfield township, this county, and was a prosperous farmer there until his death, March 29, 1855, at the advanced age of sixty-two years. He owned and occupied the old homestead, was a member of the Upper Octoraro Presby- terian church, a whig in politics, and a great admirer of Henry Clay. By his marriage to Ann Parkinson-who was a sister of his brother Robert's wife-he had a family of three children : Robert Agnew, the subject of this sketch; Mary A .; and Samuel Dale. Mrs. Futhey was a native of Cumberland county, this State, a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, and died April 27, 1871, in the seventy-fourth year of her age.
Robert Agnew Futhey was reared on the old homestead in Highland township, pur- suing his primary studies in the common schools and receiving his academic educa- tion at New London and Unionville acad- emies. After leaving school he engaged in teaching, and was assistant teacher under Prof. Myers at the old West Chester acad- emy until 1854, when he was elected county superintendent of public schools, being the first superintendent ever elected in Chester county. He held his position three years, during which time his father died, and at the expiration of his term of office he re- turned to the old homestead and took charge of the farm. He continued to be occupied in agricultural pursuits until 1868, when he removed to the vicinity of Parkesburg. In the following year was organized the private banking house of Parke, Smith & Co., at Parkesburg, and Mr. Futhey accepted a position as clerk in that institution. He served for one year in that capacity and was then made cashier, in which position he re- mained until 1883, when he retired from ac- tive business. In 1870 he moved into Parkesburg, where he has one of the hand- somest and most finely appointed residences in the borough.
In December, 1855, Mr. Futhey was united in marriage to Sarah P. Taylor, a daughter of Jacob Taylor, of this county. He is a member of the Presbyterian church and a stanch republican in politics. Many times he has been called on to fill local of- fices, and has served as burgess of Parkes- burg, school director, and member of the borough council. He is a worthy represen- tative of a worthy family, and is passing his declining years surrounded by comfort and luxury, and enjoying the respect and esteem of a wide circle of steadfast friends.
315
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
ISAAC R. HALDERMAN, one of the old and honored citizens of North Cov- entry township, residing near Pottstown, is the eldest son of John and Rebecca ( Rein- hart ) Halderman, and was born January 2, 1828, in North Coventry township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he has always resided. He was reared on the farm, edu- cated in the common schools, and has divi- ded his attention between farming and mill- ing, being successful in both occupations. He now owns two hundred and five acres of valuable improved land in that township, and also owns and operates a grist mill and saw mill on pigeon creek-the same mill erected by his father about 1814, and the first ever built on this ereek.
Isaae R. Halderman has been twice wed- ded. His first wife was Magaret Sabold, whom he married on Christmas day, 1855, and by whom he had three children-one son and two daughters: Valeria, born Oc- tober 21, 1856, and died May 1, 1859; John II., a sketch of whom will be found on an- other page of this work; and Arabella, born April 14, 1860, and passed away November 16, 1861. Mrs. Halderman died April 7, 1852, aged thirty-one years, and ou March 24, 1864, Mr. Ilalderman wedded Hannah Kein, who was born April 19, 1831, and is a daughter of Samuel Keim, of Warwick township, Chester county. By this mar- riage Mr. Halderman had two sons and a daughter: Wilmar K., born July 20, 1865; Alice K., born December 17, 1868, gradu- ated in June, 1892, from the Normal school at Kutztown, and is now engaged in teach- ing; and Maurice S., born March 18, 1877.
The Halderman family is of German de- scent and is an old family in Pennsylvania, having been resident here for many genera- tions. The paternal grandfather of the sub-
ject of this sketch, Samuel Halderman, was a native of Berks county, this State, where he died at the early age of twenty-eight years. He was a democrat in polities, a farmer by occupation, and married Magda- lena Wanger, by whom he had two chil- dren, who lived to maturity : John W., and Susan, who married John Rinehart. John W. Halderman (father), was born on the old "Felix farm " in Berks county, on January 3, 1799, and after his father's death, when only six or eight years of age, came to Ches- ter county with his mother, and was reared in North Coventry township. There he passed the remainder of his life, dying Feb- ruary 18, 1880, in the eighty-first year of his age. Ile was by turns, a farmer, shoe- maker, and miller, and in 1814 erected the first mill ever built on Pigeon creek, which he successfully conducted for a number of years. In polities he was a democrat. Hle married Rebecca Rinehart, a danghter of Abraham Rinehart, of East Coventry, Ches- ter county, and had a family of six chil- dren: Isaac R., the subject of this sketch : Nathan R., deceased; William R., boru November 25, 1829, and died Jannary 8, 1845; Ann Amelia, born July 17, 1831, and died August 21, 1855; Catharine, boru August 31, 1833, and died September 1, 1856; and Valeria, who was born March 28, 1835. Mrs. Rebecca (Rinehart) Hal- derman was born March 10, 1807, and is yet living, being now in the eighty-sixth year of her age.
F RED A. TENCATE, cashier of the Phoenix Iron Company, of Phoenix- ville, is a veteran of the civil war and an energetic, useful and prominent citizen of Chester county, who is en-
316
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
titled to rank with the self-made men of whom this Commonwealth is justly proud. He is a son of John E. and Frances S. (Cal- loway) Tencate, and was born January 3, 1842, on the isle of Guernsey, Great Britain. His parents were both natives of England, but emigrated to America in the summer of 1852, and located at Phoenixville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, where they continued to reside until called away by death. The father died August 17, 1879, aged tifty-nine years and eight months. He was a shoe- maker by occupation, a member of the Pres- byterian church, and a stanch republican in politics. Mrs. Tencate died June 27, 1890, in the seventy-first year of her age. She also was a devoted and faithful member of the Presbyterian church.
Fred A. Tencate came to Phoenixville with his parents when only ten years old, and at that early age began working with his father at the shoemaking trade, which he followed for three years. He then se- cured employment in the rolling mills of what is now Phoenix Iron works of this town, where he remained until June 6, 1861, working through all grades up to a finish- ing roller. In 1861, when only nineteen years of age, he enlisted in Co. G, 1st Penn- sylvania reserve corps, as a private, and at Harrison Landing, Virginia, August 4, 1862, was promoted to be regimental commissary sergeant and served as such until November, 1863, when after the first advance in the Mine Run expedition, he was sent back to Washington as disabled and untit for field duty. Up to this time he had never lost a day from active duty, and after reaching Washington he was assigned to duty as ex- ecutive clerk for the board of examining surgeons of the Veteran Reserve Corps. lle held this position until the expiration of
his term of enlistment, when he re-enlisted as first sergeant, and at the request of the board of surgeons was continued as their clerk. In October, 1864, he procured a furlough and visited Philadelphia, desiring to become a citizen of the United States, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in the following November. He was granted final naturalization papers October 8, 1864, having already done three years and four months active military duty, which was in the strictest sense the purely voluntary ser- vice of an alien. At the request of Mr. Tencate he was assigned to duty as chief clerk at the military prison at Louisville, Kentucky. December 15, 1864, he was com- missioned captain of Co. B, 124th colored infantry, and while holding that rank served in the position of assistant adjutant general at Camp Nelson, Kentucky, and also as pro- vost marshal and as provost marshal- general of the first division, department of Kentucky, with headquarters at Lex- ington. September 14, 1865, he took charge of his regiment and was in command until it was mustered out of the service. He was discharged October 24, 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky, and returning to Penn- sylvania was commissioned first lieutenant of the 5th colored cavalry. Finding him- self physically unfit for work in the rolling mills, he accepted the commission and joined the regiment at Helena, Arkansas, March 9, 1866. At the mustering out of the 5th colored cavalry he was assigned to duty as superintendent of the bureau of refugees at Hamburg, Ashley county, Arkansas, and served in that capacity until July 9, 1866, when he resigned and returned to Phoenix- ville to accept the position of assistant cash- ier with the Phoenix Iron Company. He occupied that place until March, 1879,when
317
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
on the death of J. B. McAllister, Mr Ten- cate was made cashier by the company and has acceptably filled this position ever since.
On January 17, 1866, Mr. Tencate was united in marriage to Jennie E. Bradley, a daughter of Rev. Joel E. Bradley, of Pho- nixville. To their union has been born a family of six children, two sons and four daughters: Joel E., Francis J., a graduate from the State Normal school at West Ches- ter, Pennsylvania, and now teaching in the grammar department of the public schools of Phoenixville ; Jennie, Mary, Caroline W .. and one deceased.
Politically Mr. Tencate is an ardent re- publican and an active, untiring worker for the success of his party. He has been a member of the Baptist church since his eighteenth year, and is a prominent teacher in its Sabbath school. He has also served his town as school director and president of the town councils. He is also secretary and treasurer of the following enterprises: the Phoenix Pottery; Kaolin and Fire Brick Company, and Phoenixville Land and Im- provement Company, in the latter of which he is financially interested. He is a mem- ber of Stratford Castle, No. 67, Knights of the Golden Eagle, of which he is past noble chief. Mr. Tencate has always had a mili- tary side to his character, and in 1870, in association with Gen. J. R. Dobson, began the present military organization of the Penn- sylvania National Guardsin Chester and Lan- caster counties, being appointed April 27, 1870, as second lieutenant of the Reeves Rifles, of Phoenixville. On June 30, 1870, he was promoted to first lieutenant, and April 22, 1871, was made liententant-col- onel and assistant adjutant general, third division of the uniformed militia of Chester !
and Lancaster counties. September 15, 1873, he was commissioned major of the first provisional battalion, third division National Guards, and April 4, 1874, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of this battalion. Ile became colonel of the 11th regiment, National Guards of Penn- sylvania, on September 8, 1874, which con- mission he resigned February 22, 1877, hav- ing served about five years in the United States service, and nearly seven years in the State service. He was a charter member of Lieut. Josiah White Post, No. 45, Grand Army of the Republic, and is now com- mander of his post.
CAPT. BENJAMIN H. SWENEY, an
honored veteran of the civil war and one among the oldest and best known busi- ness men of the city of West Chester, is the eldest son of John H. and Ann ( Hodgson) Sweney. and was born at West Chester. Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th of September, 1829. The paternal great- grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Thomas Sweney, a resident of Bucks county, who was descended from Scotch-Irish stock, and served in the revolutionary war, being attached for a time to the staff of General Washington. He was a farmer by vocation. devoted his efforts after the war to winning a livelihood from the soil, until the advane- ing infirmities of old age compelled him to desist. His son. Thomas Sweney ( grand- father), was a resident of Chester county. making West Chester his home after his marriage. He died in West Chester in 1856. Mr. Sweney served in the war of 1812, and died after an active and laborious life of nearly eighty years. He reared n
318
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
large family, among whom was John H. Sweney (father), who was born in West Chester, this county, in 1805, and died here March 26, 1881, at the advanced age of seventy-six years. He was a tailor by trade, and married Ann Hodgson, a daughter of Rev. William Hodgson, a Methodist min- ister, who came to West Chester in 1812 from Yorkshire, England, where Mrs. Sweney was born July 16, 1806. By this marriage John H. Sweney had a family of nine children, the eldest being Capt. Ben- jamin H. Sweney.
Captain Sweney was reared in West Chester, and received his education in the public schools of that borough and at Bolmas academy. After leaving school he became an apprentice to the baker's trade, which he thoroughly learned and followed as an oc- cupation for a number of years. He then engaged in the grocery and provision trade at West Chester, and successfully conducted that business for a period of fifteen years. Later he again opened a bakery in the city, and is still engaged in that useful calling. His energy and business ability are well known and such as would insure a cred- itable success in any line of endeavor.
At the very beginning of the great civil war, impelled by that spirit of patriotism which moved the people of the Northern States as if touched by the hand of some divine magician, Benjamin H. Sweney en- listed in his country's service, becoming a member of Co. G, 2d Pennsylvania infantry, and on the organization of the company was elected and commissioned as captain. This was the first company raised in Chester county. At the expiration of their three months' term of service, Captain Sweney re- enlisted in Co. F, 49th Pennsylvania in- fantry, and served as captain of that com-
pany until November 19, 1863, when this regiment was consolidated, and he entered the cavalry arm of the service in the 20th Pennsylvania cavalry, with which he served until the close of the war, being mustered ont as captain on July 16, 1865. During his service with the infantry Captain Sweney took part at the head of his com- pany in the battles of Williamsburg, the Wilderness, Antietam, Fredericksburg, White Oak Swamp and Malvern Hill, be- sides numerous less important engagements and skirmishes. As a member of the cav- alry force he was engaged in the battles of second Winchester, New Market, Piedmont, and Sheridan's raid, and also took part in Hunter's raid. He was in the battle at Five Forks, and was present at the surrender of General Lee at Appomatox.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.