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 50
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 April 5, 1865, Mr. Fulton was united in marriage with Hannah A. Kirk, who was a daughter of Joseph Kirk, of West Not- tingham, and died April 12, 1875, leaving two children: Kirk Fulton, who married Sarah J. Kimble, and now resides in East Nottingham ; and Anna E. Mr. Fulton was remarried on October 19, 1876, wedding Annie E. Neeper, and by his second mar- riage has one child, a daughter named Eleanor J.
In politics Mr. Fulton is a republican, and has always been active in the councils of his party in Chester county. He served as justice of the peace from 1863 to 1876, and then resigned to become a member of the
house of representatives of Pennsylvania, to which he had been elected in that year, and to which he was re-elected in 1878. He is a past grand of Fairview Lodge, No. 324, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a past commander of William S. Thomp- son Post, No. 132, Grand Army of the Re- publie, and a member and president of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian church of Oxford. William T. Fulton is public spirited and has great and useful influence in his community. He is quiet and unassum- ing, but energetic and successful, and his course in life has been such as to command confidence, and win respect and estecm.
JAMES AIKEN, M. D., a well estab- lished and successful physician of Ber- wyn, and a lineal descendent of the old Aiken family of Scotland, is a son of Thomas Aiken, and was born February 21, 1848, in East Whiteland township, Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania. He was reared in East Whiteland and Tredyffrin town- ships, received his education at John W. Lock's seminary, of Norristown, Montgom- ery county, and leaving school made choice of medicine as his life vocation. He read with Dr. Jacob Rickabaugh of Tredyffrin township, and then entered the medical de- partment of the university of Pennsylvania, from which he was gradnated in the class of 1868. Immediately after graduation he came to Berwyn, where he has practiced ever since with good success. Dr. Aiken is a strong republican in political matters, has served as a member of the school board of his township, and in various other local offices, and has always worked heartily for the success of his party. Ile is an elder of Berwyn Presbyterian church, and a member
420
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
of Berwyn Lodge, No. 998, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Dr. Aiken is descended from the old Aiken family of Scotland, from which country his grandfather, John Aiken, went into the historic north of Ireland, where he resided until 1832. In that year he came to East Whiteland township, of which he was a resident until his death. He was a carpet weaver by trade, and while in Scotland married and was the father of four chil- dren, two sons and two daughters. One of the sons was Thomas Aiken, the father of Dr. Aiken. He was born in the north of Ireland, April 3, 1811, and came in 1832 with his father to East Whiteland town- ship, where he was engaged in farming un- til 1855. In that year he removed to Tredyffrin township and purchased a farm, which he tilled until 1867, when he came to Berwyn, where he has lived a retired life ever since. He is a republican in politics, and has served as an elder in the Presbyterian church for over forty years. Mr. Aiken married and reared a family of six chil- dren : Dr. John, a graduate of the university of Pennsylvania, who served as surgeon of the 71st Pennsylvania infantry, and died from cold contracted while serving in the Federal army ; Mary J., wife of E. S. Wells; Rev. Thomas J., a graduate of Lafayette college and Princeton seminary, and pastor of the Berwyn Presbyterian church since 1878; Sallie and Elizabeth, who are both dead; and Dr. James.
Dr. Aiken enjoys a fine practice at Ber- wyn and in the surrounding country. In addition to his professional duties he gives considerable personal attention to his pres- ent well-stocked drug store, which he estab- lished several years ago.
On March 2, 1881, Dr. James Aiken was
nnited in marriage with Clara, daughter of George Alexander, of North Coventry town- ship. Their union has been blessed with two children: Thomas, born January 17, 1884; and Clara, born August 24, 1889.
C APTAIN BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
BEAN, one of the energetic, progres- sive and prosperous business men of Ches- ter county, who is a large stockholder and manager of the Bean Fire Sand Company, of Valley Forge and Pawling, and who served with distinction in the Union army during the civil war, is a son of Nicholas and Mary Ann (Vanderslice) Bean. He was - born near Pawling, Schuylkill township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, January 18, 1835, and received his education principally in the public schools and at Norristown boarding school, and in the seminary at Wy- oming, Luzerne county. Leaving school in 1856 he joined a party, consisting of his brother Henry and two other young men, and together they made a tour, with ox teams, of the western country, visiting Pike's Peak and other places, then attract- ing attention in Colorado and Kansas. After satisfying their curiosity in that direction they returned to Pennsylvania, and Mr. Bean engaged in stock dealing, shipping cattle and sheep from Iowa to the markets of Chicago and Philadelphia. He had been in this business only two years, when he abandoned it to take charge, with his bro- ther Henry, of his father's lumber and coal business at Pawling: There had always been a military side to his nature, and when the civil war broke ont, prompted by the spirit of patriotism which vibrated in every breeze that swept his native hills, young Bean repaired to Harrisburg, and early in
421
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
1862 enlisted in Co. I, 129th Pennsylvania infantry, of which company he soon became second lieutenant, and subsequently was pro- moted to be captain. After serving out his term of enlistment-ten months-he re- enlisted as captain of Co. B, 34th regiment of emergency men, for three months. Dur- ing his service in the army he participated in the battles of second Bull Run, Chintilla, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and a number of less important contests and skirmishes. In 1868 he was made quarter-master of the tenth divison, Na- tional guards of Pennsylvania, with the rank of major, and continued to occupy that posi- tion until 1876, when the division was dis- banded. He then became a member of the Washington troop of Chester county, with headquarters at Paoli, enlisting as a private. In a short time he was promoted to be quartermaster's sergeant, and after holding that rank two years, was made captain of the troop, and as such is still serving. While yet a student at Wyoming, Captain Bean was a member of the Wyoming artillery, and the knowledge obtained in practice there did much toward fitting him for the military positions he afterward occupied, and for active duty in the field.
After the war closed Captain Bean re- turned to Chester county, and again en- gaged in the coal and lumber trade with his brother Henry, under the firm name of II. & B. F. Bean, which business they contin- ued successfully until 1880. In 1880 they embarked in the stone and sand crushing business, under the same firmi name, and that firm continued operations until 1887, when the concern was resolved into a joint stock company for a period of five years, with Henry Bean as manager. At the death of Henry Bean, September, 1890, B. F.
Bean became manager. Their principal business is the manufacture of furnace and fire-brick sand, in which they have an im- mense and constantly increasing trade.
Captain Bean was united in marriage in 1865 to Martha J. Beckley, a daughter of Jacob and IIannah Beckley, of Lower Provi- dence township, Montgomery county, this State. They have two children, both sons : Francis M. and Benjamin Franklin, jr. In politics Captain Bean is a stanch republican, and never voted the democratic ticket out- side of his township, and while cherishing no political ambitions of his own, is always loyal in the support of the principles that underlie the organization of the great party to which he adheres and in the glory of whose record he shares. IIe is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, Post No. 45, of which he is now commander, and is also a member of Phonix Lodge, No. 75, Free and Accepted Masons.
Henry Bean, paternal grandfather of Capt. Benjamin Franklin Bean, was a native of eastern Pennsylvania, and lived during the greater part of his life near Pawling, this county, where he died in 1820, at the age of sixty years. Hle owned a small farm and his principal occupation was the culti- vation of the soil. To him and his wife, Susannah, were born eight children, two sons and six daughters, all of whom are now deceased. The daughters were: Sarah A., married Jacob Rasor; Catharine, wedded Jno. R. Dean; Rebecca, became the wife of Joshua Zimmerman ; Susan, married Marks Morris. The sons were: Nicholas Bean (father), who was born January 17, 1801, and Henry, who died at the age of nine- teen. Nicholas Bean was born on the old Bean homestead near Pawling, where he was reared and educated, and where
422
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
he passed a long, active and useful life, dying there in April, 1878, in the sev- enty-eighth year of his age. In early man- hood he learned the trades of carpenter and cabinet-maker, and followed that combined occupation for a number of years. He sub- sequently began dealing in lumber and coal, which became his chief business during the remainder of his life. In connection with this, however, he owned and operated a farm, and became very successful and prosperous. He was a man of great energy and good business judgment, and at the time of his death had an extensive trade, which was thereafter conducted by his sons, Henry and Benjamin Franklin. In politics he was originally a whig, and when that party went to pieces about 1856, he attached himself to the Republican party, and gave the latter an active and influential support so long as he lived. He married Mary A. Vanderslice, of Schuylkill township, this county, and to them was born a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters: Anna, who mar- ried Jesse Jarrett; Sarah, wedded William Govett, and is now deceased; Susannah, became the wife of Abin Evenson, and is also dead ; Harriet R., married Joseph Culp; Mary F., wedded John T. Cox; Henry B., deceased; Benjamin F., the subject of this sketch; Jones B., George W., and Lewis U. The mother, Mrs. Mary A. Bean, died in 1885, in the seventy-eighth year of her age.
p ROF. JACOB K. JONES, an able,
experienced and popular educator, and who has been principal of Spring City High school since 1877, is a son of George W. and Mary Jane (Seymour) Jones, and was born in Reading, Berks county, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1846. His paternal grand-
father, Thomas Jones, was a native of Wales, and came during the war of 1812 to Gibraltar, Berks county, where he re- sided until his death. He married Mary Housman, and reared a family of four chil- dren, three sons and one daughter : Robert, who enlisted in the 78th Pennsylvania in- fantry, and was killed at the second Bull Run battle ; Daniel, who settled at Danville, Montour county, where he died ; George W ., and Sarah, wife of Joseph Bradigham, of Reading. Geo. W. Jones was born in 1818, and after commencing life for himself set- tled at Birdsboro, in his native county, where he still resides. He was engaged for many years in the lime burning business in the southern part of Berks county, but is now living a retired life. He is a member of the Lutheran church, has always been a democrat in politics, and has held various local township offices. He married Mary Jane Seymour, who was born in 1820, and is a daughter of Solomon Seymour, of Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have had seven children, four sons and three daughters : Prof. Jacob K .; Ellen, wife of George Arters, who is employed as an iron cutter in Brooks' rolling mill at Birdsboro; Rachel, who married Jesse B. Gross, now employed in a large rolling mill at Coatesville, where they reside; Amanda, (dead); G. Morris, who married Elizabeth Wirt, and is a "boss puddler" in Brooks' rolling mill; Daniel, who died young; and Frank, now dead.
Jacob K. Jones was reared in his native county, and received his education in the common schools, Boyertown academy, and Kutztown State Normal school, from which excellent educational institution he was graduated in the class of 1877. He com- menced teaching in the autumn of 1867,
423
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
in the common schools of Union township, Schuykill county, and two years later came to Charlestown township, this county, where he taught the same school for seven succes- sive winter terms, and had his salary in- creased each winter by the citizens, in order to retain his services. At the end of that time he returned to Kutztown Normal school to finish his course there in the sen- ior class. After graduation in 1877, he ac- cepted the principalship of Spring City High school, which important position he has held ever since.
On August 14, 1879, Professor Jones was united in marriage with Miss Annie V., daughter of John F. and Mary C. Young, and their union has been blessed with one child, Clarence M., who was born Angust 7,1890.
Prof. Jacob K. Jones is a prohibitionist in politics, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has served as financial secretary of the board of stewards, and as an exhorter and a class leader. When he assumed charge of the Spring City High school, Professor Jones found but four grades, but determining upon bringing the school up to a high standard, he went to work with a will to succeed, and has brought the school up to nine well arranged grades. Eleven rooms are now used to accommodate over five hundred pupils. The course of instruction has been extended so as to em- brace algebra, geometry, book-keeping, physics, and the elements of Latin, and ten classes have been graduated since 1881. Progress and prosperity have marked the school since it has been under Professor Jones' charge. In recognition of his ability, scholarship and snecess as a teacher, he has been several times elected as a member of the committee on permanent certificates for
Chester county. He is treasurer of the teachers' county institute fund, and has ar- ranged and constructed a set of school ap- paratus for philosophical experiments that is spoken of very highly. While not neg- lecting his school work he is interested in the prosperity of his borough and has served as secretary of the Building and Loan asso- ciation since its organization in June, 1891, when he was chairman of the committee which drew up its constitution and by-laws. He is an active and successful school and institute worker, and keeps abreast of the educational progress of the age.
E' LI J. LEWIS is a prosperous and well known farmer of Willistown town- ship, who is now practically retired from active business, and quietly enjoying the comforts and blessings of rural life, on a small property of ten acres in East Goshen township, purchased of the admin- istrators of Dr. Jolın K. Iloskins, Febru- ary 2, 1885. Hle is the fourth child and second son of Sharpless and Susanna G. ( Ashbridge) Lewis, and was born in Wil- listown township, Chester county, Penn- sylvania, March 12, 1842, where he grew to manhood and received his early edu- cation. After leaving the common school he entered the select school tanght by Prof. Phineas Garrett at Sugartown, and later took a course of training in the select school in Delaware county under the care of James A. Baker. Ilis education was finished under the tutelage of Joseph Short- ledge. A. M., at Concord. Ile resided in Willistown township until 1873, when he removed to Edgemont and lived there two years, after which he returned to the place
424
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
of his birth, where he continued to reside until 1885. In that year he settled in the southeast part of East Goshen township. He owns a valuable farm, containing .one hundred and thirty-five acres of choice land, in Willistown township-the old home- stead-and also owns and lives on the Dr. Hoskins place, consisting of ten acres. He has devoted his life principally to farming, and has been successful and prosperous.
On October 5, 1872, Mr. Lewis was united in marriage to Annie E. Baker, a daughter of Aaron and Miranda Baker, of Edgemont, this State. To Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have been born three children: Mi- randa B., Sharpless H. and Edgar A., all living at home with their parents.
The paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Didymus Lewis, who was born November 6, 1747, in New- town township (now Delaware county), on a farm taken up by his ancestors from the original Penn purchase. There he lived all his life, and died at an advanced age. He was a farmer by occupation, a Quaker in religion, and married Phebe Matlack, by whom he had a family of nine children : Debbe, Tamar, Phebe, Mary, Nathan, Eli, Thomas, Margaret and Tacy. Eli Lewis (grandfather) was born in Newtown town- ship, then Chester, now Delaware county, July 18, 1784. He spent his entire life in that county, dying May 11, 1847, at the age of three score and three years. He also was a farmer and a strict member of the religious Society of Friends. Politically he was an old line whig, and his wife was Hannah Sharpless. He was the father of nine children, four sons and five daughters : Sharpless, father of Eli J .; Elizabeth, mar- ried Benjamin Thomas, and after his death wedded Dutton L. Otley; Phebe A., who
became the wife of Lewis Garrett; Milton, a retired farmer, who served as trustee in Marple township, was deputy prothonotary for three or four years, and now resides re- tired in Media; Dr. Isaiah M., deceased, who practiced medicine in Delaware county for a number of years and then removed to Kansas, where he became a large real es- tate owner, and where he died; Mary L., married Worrall Garrett, a farmer of East Goshen township, this county; Edith, who wedded Emmor Hickman, and now resides in the State of Iowa; Eli, deceased, who married Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis; and Hannah, who wedded Albert Hatch, and is also dead.
Sharpless Lewis (father) was born in Newtown township, Delaware county, this State, January 17, 1816, where he was reared and received what was considered a good education in that early day. On April 1, 1842, he removed to Willistown township, Chester county, where he continued to re- side, and retired for several years up to the time of his death, November 29, 1880, when in the sixty-fourth year of his age. His death was cansed by an injury received while engaged in hunting in Hartford county, Maryland. He was a farmer most of his life, but engaged in merchandising at Go- shenville, for some years. Politically he was a whig, as his father had been, until the Republican party took the place of the older organization, after which he acted with the latter. He married Susanna G. Ashbridge, January 10, 1842, and to their union was born a family of four children : Elma, now deceased; Hannalı M., married Frederick W. Baker, a farmer and carpen- ter of West Goshen township; Caspar, wedded Anna M. Bishop, and is now a pros- perons farmer of West Pikeland township; and Eli J., to whom this sketch is devoted.
425
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
WIL ILLIAM G. MATSON, editor and proprietor of the Item newspaper at Malvern, this county, is the second eldest son of Wesley and Edith ( Heyburn) Matson, and was born May 16, 1861, at West Chester, Pennsylvania. He grew to manhood in his native county, and received his education in the public schools. After leaving school he entered the office of the American Republican at West Chester, and learned the trade of printer, which occupation he followed in that borough for a period of six years, be- coming thoroughly familiar with all depart- ments of the mechanical and editorial work that go to the creation of the modern news- paper. In 1885 he came to Malvern, where he accepted a position on the Malvern Item, having charge of the local work for a time. In September of 1887 he purchased the plant and assumed control of the paper, since which time he has continued to occupy the position of editor and proprietor. The Malvern Item is a six column folio sheet, pub- lished every Saturday, and is republican in polities. It is now in its fifteenth year of successful publication, and has a wide eircu- lation throughout this section. In its edi- torial department it is ably managed, and as a local newspaper is bright, snappy, and al- ways up with the times. Its advertising patronage is good, and in addition to the weekly newspaper, a large amount of job work is turned out at this establishment. In 1891 Mr. Matson served as a delegate to the Republican State convention, and is an earnest and active writer and worker who already exerts much influence in the local councils of his party. He is a member of Malvern Camp, No. 548, Patriotic Order Sons of America.
On June 1, 1892, Mr. Matson was united in marriage with Marie Amelia Burnett, a
daughter of James and Mary Ann Burnett, of Norristown, Montgomery county, this State.
William G. Matson's paternal grandfather, George Matson, was of English descent, and passed most of his life in New Centreville, Delaware State, where he owned a farm and was engaged in agricultural pursuits. IIe married and reared a family, one of whom was Wesley Matson (father), who was born in New Centreville, Delaware State, Novem- ber 22, 1822, and now resides in East Marl- borough township, this county, near Ken- nett Square. In his earlier days lie was a farmer, but the last thirty years of his aetive life were given almost exclusively to the business of a cattle dealer, drover and butcher, in which his operations were at one time very extensive. He is now in his seventieth year, and for some time has been living a rather retired life ou his farnı. In political faith he was first a whig, and when that party disintegrated, became a repub- lican. Religiously he and his family are Quakers, as were their ancestors. In 1854 he married Edith Heyburn, a daughter of George E. Heyburn, a farmer residing near Chadd's Ford, Delaware county, this State. By this union Wesley Matson had a family of four children, three sons and a daughter : George, now a resident of West Chester, and a painter by trade; Anna R., living at home with her parents; William G., the subject of this sketch; and Emmor, also living with his father and mannging the home farm.
W ILLIAM H. STITELER, who enjoys the respect of the community in which he resides, and who is a comfortably situ- ated farmer of West Pikeland township,
426
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
was born December 20, 1845, in West Vin- cent township, Chester county, Pennsylva- nia. He is the fifth son and ninth child of Henry and Penina (Bermer) Stiteler, and was reared on the paternal acres in his na- tive county. He received a good common school education, and after attaining his majority was engaged in farming with his father for several years. At the end of that time Mr. Stiteler embarked in agricultural pursuits for himself, which he followed suc- cessfully until 1876, when he purchased and became resident on his present farm in West Pikeland township. His farm con- sists of one hundred and twenty acres of first class grain and dairy land, which is well improved and under good cultivation. He is one of the most prosperous farmers of his community, and raises considerable stock besides farming. He has always been a re- publican in political opinion, and takes an active part in local politics, being at the present time the member of the Republican County committee from his township. In the educational affairs of his section Mr. Stiteler takes interest, and is now a mem- ber of the school board of West Pikeland township. He is a member of the Evangel- ical Lutheran church, of Uwchlan, and ranks in his community as an industrions farmer and a reliable man.
In 1870 Mr. Stiteler married Mary, daugh- ter of Newton and Hannah Evans, of Ches- ter county. Mr. and Mrs. Stiteler have three children : Carrie B., Penina E., and Anna.
William II. Stiteler is of German descent, and his ancestors for several generations back have been farmers. His paternal grandfather Stiteler was a farmer by occu- pation, and a member of the Seventh Day Baptist church. He married, and reared a
family of nine children, all of whom are dead except two: Rebecca and Elizabeth. One of his sons was Henry Stiteler (father), who was born in 1811, in Chester county, where he was engaged during his lifetime in farming, and where he died in 1889, when in the seventy-eighth year of his age. He was a republican and Baptist, and married Penina Bermer, who passed away in 1890, at seventy-eight years of age. Their fam- ily consisted of ten children, six sons and four daughters : George, Annie, Mary, Sarah, John, Henry, Elizabeth, Morris, William H., and Newton.
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.