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 45
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Harrison, and confirmed by the United States senate. Entering upon the duties of his responsible office February 6, 1890, he instituted thorough system and active service in every department, and so increased the efficiency and receipts of his office, that on July 1, 1890, it was raised from a third class to a second class presidential postoffice. He is courteous and obliging to all, but never allows anything to be done in the office contrary to correct business prin- ciples. He is active, energetic and pro- gressive, and not only has given Phoenix- ville a good postal system, but has raised the office, under his praiseworthy manage- ment, to a high rank among the best man- aged and most efficient offices of the State. Mr. Henderson is an active republican in politics, and served as a member of the re- publican county committee from the first ward of Phoenixville for five years, being secretary of the committee two years of that time. He is a member of Washington Cas- tle, No. 45, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and Phoenix Lodge, No. 212, and Phoenix Encampment, No. 79, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was a member of Co. D, 6th Pennsylvania National guards, from February, 1881 to 1886, serving as ser- geant.
On December 26, 1888, Mr. Henderson was united in marriage with Tillie C. Buck, daughter of William and Isabella Buck, of Phoenixville. Mr. and Mrs. Henderson have one child, a son, named Smedley D., who was born December 19, 1889.
Robert J. Henderson, on his paternal side is a descendant of the Henderson family of Ireland, which is frequently mentiond in the local history of County Derry of that country. His grandfather, James Hender- son, was a native of County Derry, in which
he passed his life as a farmer. He was a strict Presbyterian in faith, and died in 1840, aged fifty-eight years. He married Isabella Thompson, by whom he had nine children : William, Robert, Annie, Isabella, Mary, Catherine, Matilda, Margaret Jane, and James, the father of the subject of this sketch, all now deceased. James Hender- son was born in County Derry, November 11, 1830, received his education in the schools of his neighborhood, and in 1847 came to Chester county, where he settled at Kimberton. He was engaged in farming and milling at that place until 1850, when he came to Phoenixville, where he entered the employ of Joseph S. Buckwalter, baker, and the next year was employed by Keeley & Rorke in the same business. In 1854 he worked for Reeves & Cornell, and in 1856 became a member of the firm of Henderson & Williams, in the grocery business. In 1858 he engaged in the flour business for himself, and has been successfully engaged in that line ever since. Mr. Henderson is a republican in politics, but gives nearly all of his time to his business and takes no active part in political affairs. He married Mary Ortlip, and to them were born seven children : James A., Samana, William, Isa- bella, Robert J., Joseph S., and A. Kennedy, now dead. Mrs. Mary Henderson, who died July 1, 1885, aged sixty years, was a daugh- ter of Samuel Ortlip, who was born in Ches- ter county, February 8, 1786, and followed the occupation of a mill wright for a liveli- hood. He was a Lutheran in religions faith and church membership, and mar- ried Hannah Fouse, by whom he had eleven children : William, Ann, Oliver, Samuel, Maria, Mahlon, John, Mrs. Mary Hender- son, Isaac, Jefferson, and Sarah, all deceased except the three last named.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
Although young in years, Robert J. Hen- derson already ranks as a business man of ability and success. While rigid and ex- acting in all that applies to business, yet he is pleasant in manner and ever ready to accommodate any one, and has many warm personal friends who esteem him highly for his integrity and generous social qualities.
WILLIAM PRICE CORYELL, of
Kenilworth, is a son of George and Sarah Ann (Price) Coryell; was born in Pottsgrove township, Montgomery county, this State, August 14, 1858. The Coryells were originally natives of France, and the family was transplanted to America after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, the landing being at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, which was followed by the taking up of land on Scotch Plains, near Plainfield. Later we find one of the family, Emanuel, located on the Delaware river at Lambert- ville, where Coryell's ferry connecting Lan- bertville with New Hope was owned and operated by the family until it was super- seded in 1818 by what was then considered the wonderful bridge. It was at this ferry (in low water Coryell's ford ) that Washing- ton and the Continental army made several of their memorable crossings. The family attained great age. Emanuel Coryell's son Cornelius (great-grandfather of William l'. Coryell), was ninety-nine years old when he died, July 10, 1831, having been born June 27, 1732; and another son, Abraham, died at the age of ninety, in 1828. Cornelius married Mary Shaw, and reared a family of nine children, his eldest son, George, was a patriot of the revolution, and fought at the battle of Monmouth. Later in life he was a confidential friend of Geor Washington,
and was a fellow member with Washington of Lodge 22 of Masons. He was also one of Washington's pall bearers. He was born Angust 19, 1760, and died February 18, 1850, as his tombstone in the Presbyterian churchyard at Lambertville will tell you, "The last survivor of the six men who laid 'The Father of his country' in his grave." Another son, John (grandfather), who was born May 30, 1766, and reared in the vicin- ity of the ferry, after attaining his majority settled in what was then New Hanover, now Pottsgrove township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He was a democrat in polit- ieal belief, and married Sarah, daughter of Israel Ortlip, by whom he had a family of nine children : Mary Ann, Susan, John, Sarah, George, Abbie, Rebecca, Eleanor and Alexander. Of the three sons, George was the only one to marry and continue the name; Alexander died in childhood, and John died when a young man, unmarried. George Coryell (father) was a native of Pottsgrove township, was born there Oeto- ber 22, 1810. He lived in Montgomery county until 1866, when he removed to Chester county. Here he lived for a period of ten years, dying February 3, 1876, on the farm now owned by the subject of this sketch. He was a farmer, a whig and re- publican in politics, and always active in behalf of his party's interests. On January 1, 1850, he married Sarah Ann, daughter o William Price, of North Coventry, this county. By this marriage Mr. Coryell had a family of five children, two sons and three daughters: Sallie, Ella (died in in- fancy ), Louis Angustus (died in his seventh year), William P. and Carrie. William P. Coryell was reared partly in Montgomery and partly in Chester county. In boyhood he attended the public school of the district,
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
from which he went to Millersville Normal, until the death of his father caused him to return home to assume (at the age of seven- teen) in connection with his sisters, charge of the farm (their mother having died previous to their father). He then attended for a time, as a day scholar, the Hill school at Pottstown, continuing to farm on the old homestead in East Coventry township, this county, which he has ever since culti- vated and now owns. It consists of fifty- two acres of valuable land, highly improved and in a good state of cultivation. In poli- ties Mr. Coryell is republican, and gives his party a loyal support on all leading ques- tions. He is unmarried.
The maternal great-great-grandfather of William P. Coryell, George Price, was a native of Chester county, and died at his farm near Pottstown, September 25, 1823, aged seventy years. He was a preacher in the Dunkard or German Baptist church. He married Sarah Harley, and reared a large family, among his children being Daniel Price (maternal great-grandfather), who was also born in this county and fol- lowed farming, dying August 20, 1810, at his home in what is now North Coventry, aged thirty-five years. He was married to Han- nah Bach, and left two daughters and one son, William Price (grandfather), who fol- lowed the peaceful and independent voca- tion of farmer, and was quite successful in his calling. He was a thinker, a close ob- server of events. His intelligence, sound judgment, and independence of thought and action made him a man of more than or- dinary prominence and usefulness. He was a whig and later a republican, and repre- sented his district in the legislature in the sessions of 1844 and 1845. He died in February, 1875, aged seventy-four, in the
house in which he had been born and lived all his life. He married Lydia Urner (a daughter of Jonas Urner, who was a preacher in the Dunkard church), and reared a family of six children, three sons and three daugh- ters. They all married, and with one ex- ception are now dead. Sarah Ann and Elizabeth (both deceased); Daniel, who is president of the National bank of Potts- town; Caroline, deceased ; Jonas, who was sergeant in the army, and was killed in battle at Greenbrier, Virginia; and Nathan, now deceased, who removed to Kansas, and at the breaking out of the war enlisted in a Kansas regiment. He served as a captain, and afterward studied law and became pres- ident judge of Doniphan, Brown and Atchison counties, Kansas.
N ATHAN G. THOMPSON, M. D., now practicing at Coatesville, is one of the oldest and best known physicians in Chester county, having been in continuous practice since 1852. He is a son of Dr. Robert and Sarah (Grier) Thompson, and was born in Londonderry township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 12, 1829. The Thompsons are of Scotch-Irish extrac- tion, and for at least three generations have been prominent in medical records. Dr. William Thompson (grandfather ) was a na- tive of Oxford, studied medicine, and be- came a surgeon in the United States navy. He was what was known in that day as a "blue stocking" Presbyterian -noted for his dignified manner and austere life, and died at Oxford, in 1813, aged forty-five years. He married a Miss Johnson, and reared a family of six children. His son, Dr. Robert Thompson ( father), was born near Oxford, this county, on September 18,
375
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
1794, and after securing the best education afforded by the schools of that day, entered the medical department of the old Pennsyl- vania university, from which he was gradu- ated with the degree of M. D. He was an earnest student of his profession, and gifted by nature with many qualities that go to make the successful physician. He located near Cochransville, this county, where he was engaged in extensive practice for a period of twenty years, only quitting his laborious work when touched by the hand of death. He died February 21, 1836, at the early age of forty-one years. Ile was a Jacksonian democrat in politics, a member of the Fagg's Manor Presbyterian church, and married Sarah Grier, born in the first year of this century, by whom he had a family of five children. He was a skillful physician and one who secured the confi- dence and love of his patients and friends in a remarkable degree. Ilis wife survived him some forty-four years, dying in 1884, in the eighty-fourth year of her age. She was a native of West Brandywine township, this county, and a life-long member of the Presbyterian church.
Dr. Nathan G. Thompson was reared principally in West Brandywine township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, and is in- debted to the public schools of that locality for his early education. When only four- teen years of age he left school and secured a position as elerk in a mercantile house at Wagontown, this county, where he re- mained for a year, and then came to Mid- way-now the west end of Coatesville- and spent two years clerking in a general store. At the end of that time he was of- fered a position as assistant book-keeper in a wholesale dry goods house in Philadelphia, anıl removed to that city. It was not long,
however, till the sedentary character of this new employment began to undermine his health, and he resigned the place and re- turned to Chester county. He then deter- mined to read medicine, toward which he had long been inclined, and accordingly entered the office of Dr. Alexander K. Gaston, where he studied for a time and afterward matriculated at the Philadelphia college of medicine, from which institution he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in the spring of 1852. A little later he located in West Brandywine township, where by de- grees he built up a large and lucrative prac- tice, to which he continued to devote his time and attention for the space of forty years, his name becoming a household word in all the surrounding country. In the lat- ter part of March, 1892, he removed to Coatesville, where he is now practicing his profession and meeting with a marked de- gree of success.
On March 12, 1856, Doctor Thompson was married to Agnes W. McClure, a daughter of William W. McClure, of Bran- dywine Manor. By this union he had four children : two died in infancy ; Horace, lived to be twenty-one years of age; his daughter, Alice A., who is now a widow for the second time, and resides with her father. Her first husband was John M. Neely. By their union one child was born, Robert T. Neely, who is ten years of age, residing with his mother; and her second marriage was to William II. Holmes, who died leaving no children.
Doctor Thompson has been a member of the Brandywine Manor Presbyterian church for forty years, during fifteen of which he has served as a ruling elder. In politics he is a republican, and served as president of the school board in Brandywine for more
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
than fifteen years. He is a member of the Chester County Medical society, and stands · high in the county, both as a citizen and a physician.
C ASPER S. FRANCIS, who is entitled to the honor of giving to Spring City its name, and who is prominent among the successful and progressive business men of Chester county, is a son of Joseph and Susannah (Snyder) Francis, and was born in East Pikeland township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, August 31, 1811. The Fran- cis family is of Swedish lineage, and was one of the early settled families of Mont- gomery county, where Thomas Francis, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born and reared and who afterward re- moved to Chester county. His son, Joseph Francis (father), was born in Montgomery county, and resided in East Pikeland town- ship, Chester county, where he died at about fifty-three years of age. He was a prosper- ons farmer, an old-line whig in politics, and a consistent member of the Reformed church. He married Susannah Snyder, who was born in 1789, and died in 1845, aged fifty-six years. She was a daughter of Cas- per Snyder, a successful farmer and miller of East Pikeland township, who was a brigade inspector during the war 1812. Mr. and Mrs. Francis reared a family of seven children, six sons and one daughter: Thomas, a farmer and shoemaker by trade ; Casper S., the subject of this sketch ; Arnold, who resides in East Vincent township; Joseph, of Coventry township; John, a resi- dent of Kimberton; Henry ; and Mary Ann, who married Alexander Hoffman, and is now dead. Henry Francis, the youngest son, was born March 21, 1820, received a common school education, and learned the
trade of wheelwright, at which he worked for some time, after which he was success- fully engaged in milling with C. S. Francis at Spring City.
Casper Snyder Francis was reared on the farm, received his education in the common schools, and then learned the trades of car- penter and millwright, which he followed for six years. At the end of that time, in 1837, he purchased a farm and a grist and saw mill on Stony run, in East Vincent township, which he run until 1860, when he came to Spring City, then Springville, and formed a partnership with David G. Wells of that place and Samuel Smith of Philadelphia, under the firm name of Smith, Francis & Wells. They erected and operated a stove foundry until 1865, when Mr. Francis with- drew from the firm, and embarked, in 1866, in the stove foundry business at Royer's Ford, as a member of the firm of Francis, Buckwalter & Co., which continued up to 1878, in which year Mr. Francis sold his interest to his partners, John Sheeler, J. A. Buckwalter, Henry Buckwalter and Henry Francis. He was then engaged in various business enterprises until 1886, when he and others started the Spring City Bloom Iron works, which they operated for six years, of which company he was president from its organization. He then sold his interest in the plant to Willis Grant Rogers, a grandson of Mr. Francis. Since then Mr. Francis has been engaged in looking after his various interests in different busi- ness enterprises.
On September 20, 1836, Mr. Francis mar- ried Maria Finkbinder, daughter of Jacob Finkbinder, who was born November 15, 1813. They have two children : Susannah, born February 26, 1838, and wife of James Rogers, a foundryman of Limerick, Mont- .
Casper S. Francis.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
gomery county, Pennsylvania (this exten- sive plant has recently been moved to Potts- town, where a large trade is being carried on) ; and Martha, who was born April 23, 1844, and married R. D. Evans, of East Pikeland township, now in the employ of the Phoenixville Iron Company.
Casper S. Francis has been a whig and republican in politics, and is a member of Spring City Reformed church, of which he served as a deacon and elder until a few years ago, when he resigned on account of impaired hearing. Since coming to Spring City he has been prominently identified with nearly every important enterprise of that thriving town. He served as the second burgess of the place, and was mainly instru- mental in having the name of the postoffice and borough of Springville changed to that of Spring City. In 1872 he procured the charter of the National bank of Spring City, of which he was president for fourteen years. He was also interested in the Phoenixville National bank, of which he was a director for ten years, and only retired from his prominent position in the bank on account of his impaired hearing. Mr. Francis has also served his borough frequently as school director and treasurer, and in many other ways conducive to its progress and prosper- ity. As a citizen he has always enjoyed the highest respect of his fellow-townsmen, and as a man stands high on account of his hon- esty and integrity.
C. S. Francis was among the first to agi- tate the subject of securing a railroad branch into Spring City. He was among the first persons to consult with the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to urge the propriety of extending the Frazer branch up to Spring City, which proposition was more than accepted, by the construction of
the Schuylkill Valley division through Spring City. He was also employed as as- sistant in adjusting damages to property holders along the line from Phanixville to Parker Ford.
CALEB HOOPES, a retired farmer and
well respected citizen of Toughkena- mon, is a son of Benjamin and Phebe (l'en- nock) Hoopes, and was born in New Gar- den township, Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, March 15, 1817. He was reared ou the home farm, received his education in the common and select schools of his native township, and then engaged in farming in New Garden until 1868, then at Westtown Farm for seven years. He then, in 1875, removed to his present home at Toughkena- mon, and within the last few years has re- tired from active life.
Mr. Hoopes is very comfortably situated to enjoy the fruits of his many years of la- bor. He is a republican in politics, has held various township offices, and is one of the substantial and reliable citizens of New Garden township. He is a member of New Garden meeting, Orthodox Society of Friends.
On November 20, 1845, Mr. Hoopes united in marriage with Mary, daughter of Aaron Cooper, of Sadsbury township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. They have five chil- dren, two sons and three daughters: Ben- jamin P., who married Julia Walter, and is a farmer in Laneaster county ; Priscilla, wife of Mark Hughes, a farmer of London Grove township; Phebe, who married Henry Pal- mer, a farmer of the above named town- ship; and Edwin A., who married Susan- nah Walter, and is in the dyewood business in Chester, Delaware county, Pennsylvania.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
The Hoopes family of Chester county, of which Caleb Hoopes is a member, is one of the oldest families of the State. His pater- nal grandfather, Jonathan Hoopes, was born in Chester county, where he passed his life. He was a shoemaker by trade, a Friend in religion, and a republican in politics during the last years of his life. He married Eliza- beth Bane, and their children were : Tamzin, William, Margaret, Jane, Israel, Elizabeth, Benjamin, James, Phœbe, Joel, Thomas, and Susannah. Benjamin Hoopes (father), the third son, was born August 15, 1782. Ile learned the trade of shoemaker, but was principally engaged in farming until his death, which occurred July 31, 1860, at seventy-eight years of age. He was a re- publican and an Orthodox Friend, and mar- ried for his first wife Elizabeth Marshall, who died and left four children : William, Anna, Lydia, and Phineas. His second wife was Phebe Pennock, a daughter of Caleb Pennock. She was born July 21, 1783. By his second marriage, Benjamin Hoopes had six children : Pennock, Caleb, Elizabeth Cooper, Benjamin, jr., Phebe Cooper, and Samuel.
I EVI E. WARNER, deceased, was one of the intelligent, energetic, progres- sive, and successful business men of the generation now passing away. He possessed business ability of a high order, was a son of Isaac and Jane (Latch) Warner, and a native of Lower Marion township, Mont- gomery county, this State. He was born some time in October, 1820, and was reared principally in Montgomery county, where he attended the common schools for a time, but completed his education at the State Normal school in West Chester, this county.
In early boyhood he manifested the posses- sion of unusual talent, and, using every ad- vantage that came within reach, he soon acquired a good education. After leaving school he learned the trade of shoemaker, and shortly afterward opened a shoe store in Montgomery county. He was energetic and successful, and in a short time had an extensive trade, with eight or ten men in his employ. For a number of years he conducted this business, living at Rose Mont for a period of seventeen years, and he then removed to Strafford, Chester county, where he purchased a fine farm containing seven- ty-seven acres, and devoted his remaining years principally to agricultural pursuits. In 1880 he opened a serpentine stone quarry on this farm, and operated that enterprise successfully until his death, October 18, 1881, (afterwards carried on by the family until 1889), when just closing his sixty-first year. In political faith he was an ardent republican, and in church membership a . strict Lutheran, being active and influential in the religious circles of his neighborhood.
On April 25, 1858, Mr. Warner was wedded to Emma D. Hansell, a daughter of Norris and Sarah Hansell, of Libertyville, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. This union was blessed by the birth of eight children, five sons and three daughters: Norris, born February 21, 1859, and now engaged in sinking artesian wells; Lewis, born March 26, 1861, married Clara Stan- ley, and is a contractor and builder, resid- ing at Strafford, this county; Levi E., jr., born July 3, 1863, married Ella J. Horton, and resides at Devon, this county, where he is engaged as carpenter and builder ; Mary Jane, died in childhood; Gardner L., born November 1, 1867, now managing the home farm; Auna H., born February 22,
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
1870, married Joseph H. Childes, jr., a prosperous farmer of Wayne, Delaware county ; Jacob, born November 8, 1872, and is now living at home and learning the carpenter trade ; and Emma L., born March 13, 1875, also residing at home with her mother. The mother of these children, Mrs. Emma D. Warner, was born in Liber- tyville, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. She grew to womanhood and was educated in Montgomery county, and is a member of the Baptist church. The family ranks among the best in Chester county and is widely known.
G EORGE H. BEAVER, one of the prosperous farmers residing near New Centreville, is the only son of Charles and Catharine (Spare) Beaver, being born March 31, 1858, near Centreville, Tredyffrin town- ship, Chester county, Pennsylvania. The Beaver family is of original German de- scent, but this branch was planted in America by members who emigrated from England at an early day, and settled in Pennsylvania. Tradition says five brothers of the same name came over from England and settled in various parts of this State. Among them was Devault Beaver (great-grand- father), who located above Howellville, Tredyffrin township, this county, where he died at an advanced age. By occupation he was a farmer, and in religion a member of the Lutheran church. He married and reared a family of five sons and four daugh- ters. Among his sons was Daniel, born in 1789, married Catharine Detwiler, by whom he had four sons, and died October 22, 1861, on the old homestead ; and George Beaver (grandfather), who was born in Tredyffrin township, this county, and died there in
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