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 53

Author: Garner, Winfield Scott, b. 1848 ed; Wiley, Samuel T
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Gresham Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 916


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 53


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married in 1712, and died in 1756. His children were Robert, Esther, Mary, Thomas Garrett, Ellis (2), and Isaac. In religion he was a Quaker, as was his father. The second Ellis Williams (great-grandfather) was also a native of East Goshen township, and on February 1, 1748, married Lydia Haines, a daughter of Isaac and Catharine Haines, of East Goshen, by whom he had six children : Jesse, Ellis (3), Isaac, Nathan, Jane and Lydia. The third Ellis Williams (grandfather) was born in East Goshen township, about 1765, and died in Willis- town township, May 31, 1821, aged fifty-six years. He was a farmer by occupation, and a life long member of the Society of Friends. On November 19, 1789, he mar- ried Jane Garrett, a daughter of Josiah and Mary ( Yarnell ) Garrett, by whom he bad a family of eight children: Lydia, born December 19, 1790, and died February 12, 1815; Mary, born September 9, 1792, and died March 31, 1810; Jesse, born Novem- ber 19, 1794, and died August 22, 1872; Ellis, born November 24, 1797, died Decem- ber 28, 1874; Josiah, born July 4, 1800, died February 27, 1817; Jane, born De- cember 24, 1802, died December 23, 1889; Nathan (father), born December 11, 1804, died December 24, 1883; Garrett, born December 26, 1806, died February 6, 1875; and George, born October 7, 1808, died July 17, 1811. The mother, Mrs. Jane Williams, passed to her final rest July 8, 1839, aged 72 years.


Nathan Williams (father) was born in Willistown township, as were all his brothers and sisters, and after obtaining an educa- tion in the private schools of his neighbor- hood, engaged in farming and followed that occupation all his life, in his native town- ship. Politically he was a whig and repub-


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lican, and became prominent in his con- munity. In religion he adhered to the faith of his childhood and was a member of the Society of Friends all his life, being connected with the Goshen meeting. On March 18, 1830, he married Esther Pratt, a daughter of Joseph and Priscilla Pratt. To their union was born a family of five children, one son and four daughters: Priscilla, born January 25, 1831, and died August 7, 1841; Emma, born March 12, 1833, and still living; Granville, the sub- ject of this sketch; Henrietta, born Oc- tober 4, 1838, died September 15, 1841, and Sarah, born November 23, 1840, died September 2, 1841. The mother, Mrs. Esther Williams, was born December 31, 1806, and passed away April 16, 1841, at the early age of thirty-five years. On November 17, 1847, Nathan Williams re- married, wedding Susannah R. Smith, nee Russell, but had no children by this second marriage.


JOSEPH T. ROTHROCK, M. D., pro-


fessor of botany in the university of Pennsylvania, and who ranks next to Asa Gray in the field of American botany, first won national prominence and reputation by his reports in 1878 as botanist of the geologi- cal and geographical exploration and sur- vey west of the 100th meridian. He is a son of Dr. Abraham and Phoebe B. (Trim- ble) Rothrock, and was born at McVey- town, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, April 9, 1839. In a pleasant little valley in northern Germany, on the waters of the beautiful upper Rhine, famous in German song and story, is the ancestral home of the Rothrocks, and the birth place of Abraham Rothrock, the founder of the Rothrock


family of Pennsylvania. He was one of the forty Lutheran palatinates who came in colonial days to Berks county, where by industry, honesty and perseverance they prospered and became substantial and well respected citizens in the communities in which they settled. A lineal descendant of Abraham Rothrock was Philip Rothrock, the paternal grandfather of Dr. Rothrock, and who was a farmer in Mifflin county, where he died in 1850, at ninety-four years of age, being the oldest man at that time in the county. He was a Presbyterian, and married and reared a family. His son, Dr. Abraham Rothrock (father), was born April 19, 1806, near Lewistown, that county. He received his education at Lewistown acad- emy, then under the charge of Dr. James Woods, and entered the University of Penn- sylvania, from which medical institution he was graduated in 1835. He practiced two years prior to graduation, and since then has been in active practice at McVeytown, this State. During the late war he was surgeon of the board of enrollment of the seventeenth district of Pennsylvania, and was one of the three surgeons whose pay was never sus- pended or reduced, on account of the per- fect manner of conducting the business affairs of their offices. Dr. Abraham Roth- rock is a republican in politics, and an elder of the Presbyterian church, and justly ranks as one of the leading physicians of central Pennsylvania. On May 11, 1837, he mar- ried Phœbe B. Trimble, and they have three children : Dr. Joseph T., Ann A., and Mary M., wife of D. M. McFarland, a banker of West Chester, whose sketch ap- pears in this volume.


Joseph Trimble Rothrock completed his academical course in Juniata county, and Freeland seminary, Montgomery county,


Joseph Jumble Rothich, M. O.


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OF CHESTER COUNTY.


and on August 7, 1862, enlisted as a private in Co. D, 131st Pennsylvania infantry, and was commissioned as captain on July 1, 1864, of Co. E, 20th Pennsylvania cavalry, which he commanded until January 6, 1864, when he was honorably discharged at Ilarrisburg. He participated in the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg, and was wounded through the thigh at Frederieks- burg, where his regiment in forty minutes lost more men in its terrific charge, propor- tionately, than did the Light Brigade in its celebrated charge at Balaklava. Returning home from the army he resumed his studies and was graduated from the Lawrence Scientifie school of Harvard university in 1864, and from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1868. He commenced practice in Centre county, but in 1870 removed to Wilkesbarre, mak- ing a specialty of diseases of the eye and ear, and in 1876 established the North Mountain school of physical culture. In the last named year he was appointed lec- turer on forestry by the American Philo- sophieal society, and thus has contributed much toward developing the growing for- estry sentiment of this State. In 1866 he accompanied an exploring party into British Columbia, and in 1873 was appointed as surgeon and botanist to the United States geographical and geological exploration and survey west of the 100th meridian, under Lieutenant G. M. Wheeler. He served in that capacity from 1873 to 1875, inclusive, and added many plants to the botanical col- lections of the west that were not known of by Gray or King. He made extensive botanical collections in Nevada, Utah, Cali- fornia, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. In the valuable report of his work he cata- logues 104 orders, 637 genera, and 1657 27


species. His reports constitute the Sixth volume of these surveys, and contains 404 quarto pages, with fifty-two pages of physi- cal geography and economic botany. In his modest introduction to the work, he al- lows too much credit to others and does not do justice to his own achievements, but the work passed into the hands of the pub- lie, which appreciated the magnitude of Dr. Rothrock's labors, and the great value of his contributions to American botany, of which it is (as he said of another work) a prominent landmark. Prior to this he wrote a "Sketch of the Flora of Alaska," which was published in the report of the Smithsonian institution for 1867. In 1880 he wrote a catalogue of the trees and shrubs in the horticultural gardens of Fairmount park, Philadelphia, and has now in prepa- ration a fortheoming oetavo volume of about six hundred pages, to be entitled the "Medical Botany of North America." He came in 1877 to West Chester, where he has resided ever since.


On May 27, 1869, Dr. Rothrock married Martha E. May, only daughter of Addison and Elizabeth ( Shafer) May, of West Ches- ter, this county, and they have three chil- dren living: Addison M .. Henry A., and Elizabeth M.


Dr. Joseph T. Rothrock is an indepen- dent in politics, and was for several years a vestryman of the Protestant Episcopal church of West Chester. Hle is a member of the American Philosophieal society, So- ciety of Naturalists of the United States, Philadelphia Academy of natural sciences, Canadian Botanical society, American Acad- emy of Political and Social sciences, Penn- sylvania Historical society, and the American Geographical society. In 1866, while in British Columbia, he was serving under the


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BIOGRAPHY AND. HISTORY


Western Union Telegraph company, which explored and surveyed a telegraph route through Alaska and via Behring Strait to the mouth of the Amoor river in Asia. During the next year he became professor of botany at the Pennsylvania State agri- cultural college, which position he held a short time, and in 1876 took charge of the Young Ladies' seminary of Wilkesbarre, which he left the same year to accept his present position as professor of botany in the university of Pennsylvania.


Dr. Rothrock is the author of various in- teresting and useful papers that have ap- peared for the last few years in botanical memoirs, scientific magazines, and the lead- ing medical journals of this country. He is an active and persistent worker, and even employs his vacations in the interest of botany. In his yacht, White Cap, he con- ducted a university exploring expedition during his vacation of 1890 among the West Indian Isles, and returned with large and valuable accessions to the university mu- seum, as well as gleaning many new facts of the botanical wealth of the tropical waters of the Carribbean Sea. He photographed the trees of North America in order to make their botanical description more clear, and for this work was awarded a silver medal at the Paris exposition in 1878.


Joseph T. Rothrock is an original thinker and an independent investigator, and while he gives due attention to the views of his predecessors and coutemporaries in the field of botany, yet he collects his facts and can- didly tells their story, whether it be for or against the popular views and theories of the day. The natural sciences are indebted to members of the medical profession of Pennsylvania for some of their grandest discoveries and most advanced work. Dr.


King of Westmoreland county, in the field of geology made the discovery that air breathing animals existed in the carbonifer- ous age; while Dr. Alter, another Pennsyl- vanian, was the true discover of spectrum analysis, by which the elements of the sun and stars are determined, and in the ad- vanced work of botany Dr. Rothrock has already associated his name with those of Bartram and Gray, and has a permanent place in the history and progress of botany in North America.


DR. JOHN CLEAVER BARTHOLO-


MEW, a young and popular veterin- ary surgeon of Berwyn, who was graduated from the university of Pennsylvania in the spring of 1891, is the only son of Benjamin and Rebecca (Huddleson) Bartholomew, and a native of Chester valley, being born in East Whiteland township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1863. The old and prominent Pennsylvania fam- ily of which Dr. Bartholomew is a member is said to be descended from the celebrated Barthelemi family of France, many of whom, having seceded from the Roman Catholic church, emigrated to Great Britain in order to escape persecution. From England they came to America at an early day, and the records show that members of the family were settled in Philadelphia as early as 1681, where George Bartholomew and his wife Mary owned and conducted the Blue Anchor tavern, being Philadel- phia's only public house-the first in the city and the State. It was here that William Penn first landed and was enter- tained. The old building still stands in a good state of preservation. . July 25th fol- lowing, George Bartholomew was granted


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OF CHESTER COUNTY.


by William Penn a lot adjoining the tavern, which was laid out August 1, 1664, but the patent did not issue until 1686. (Taken from the history of the Bartholomew fam- ily.) John Bartholomew, paternal great- great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a resident of what is now Montgomery county, and died in 1756, and Mary, his widow, about 1762. They had eleven children: Ann, married Thomas Waters; Joseph; Thomas; Elizabeth, wedded Isaac Davis, of Tredyffrin ; Rachel, became the wife of Benjamin Davis; John; Andrew ; Benjamin; Mary, married a Mr. Thomas; Augustine, and Edward. The eldest son, Joseph Bartholomew (great- great-grandfather), settled in East White- land township soon after 1740, and died there in November 1754, leaving a wife, Sarah, and four children : John, Benjamin, Hannah and Rachel. Their father's lands were divided between the sons, John re- ceiving the homestead with a hundred and eighty aeres of land, while one hundred and sixty were devised to his brother Ben- jamin. Both were real lovers of rural life, and contentedly settled down to farming. From 1772 to 1775 Benjamin served as a member of the assembly, and when the muttering thunders of the opening revolu- tionary struggle broke on his peaceful home, spurning the idea of cultivating an invaded soil, he raised a company of volun- teers, at whose head as captain he marched to the tented field, where he fought gal- lantly and suffered much, but was provi- dentially spared to see the colonies free and again resume the quiet life of a farmer, which he loved so well. He died on his well-cultivated farm in East Whiteland township, March 31, 1812, aged sixty years, and his remains rest in the cemetery


of the Great Valley Baptist church in Tredyffrin. Captain Bartholomew married Rachel Dewees, a daughter of William and Sarah (Potts) Dewees, by whom he had a family of teu children: Joseph, married Ilannah Davis, and died in Tredyffrin township in 1811; Hannah, married John Hughes; Sarah; John, grandfather of Dr. J. C .; Rachel, wedded Thomas Davis; Marian ( Maryanne ) died unmarried; Ed- ward, married Emily Cleaver; Augustine, wedded Maryanne Philips; Benjamin mar- ried Elizabeth Pritner; and Ellen, who be- came the wife of Thomas Maxwell. John Bartholomew (paternal grandfather) was born in East Whiteland township, this county, where he lived all his life, engaged in agricultural pursuits. Politically he was an old line whig, and was active and prominent in the support of the tenets of that party. He married Lydia Cleaver, and was the father of a family of six children, four sons and two daughters. One of his sons was Benjamin Bartholomew (father), who was born in East Whiteland township in 1827, and now resides in the city of Philadelphia. He grew to manhood on his father's farm, received a good educa- tion in the public schools, and after leaving school engaged in farming in his native township, which occupation he followed until 1885, when he accepted a position in the eustom house in Philadelphia and re- moved to that city. In his political affilia- tions he has been a republican ever sinee that party was organized in this State. In 1859 he married Rebecea Huddleson, a daughter of Dr. J. T. IIuddleson, of Glen Mills, Delaware county, where he was a successful practitioner for many years. By this union Benjamin Bartholomew had a family of three children, one son and two


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daughters : Mary Ellen, Caroline H .; and Dr. John C., the subject of this sketch.


Dr. John Cleaver Bartholomew wa's principally reared in his native township of East Whiteland, received his education in the public schools of Chester county and at the Great Valley Friends' school, and later entered the veterinary department of the university of Pennsylvania, at Philadel- phia, from which famous institution he was graduated in the spring of 1891. Early in the following year he located at Berwyn, where he has ever since been successfully engaged in the practice of his profession. Dr. Bartholomew has taken great pains to properly and thoroughly prepare himself for the work he proposed to do, and has already shown that he possesses an exhaus- tive knowledge in all matters pertaining to the diseases of live stock in general and horses in particular, and that he has ac- quired great skill in their treatment.


In politics the doctor follows the tradi- tions of his ancestors and is an ardent re- publican, taking an intelligent interest in all public questions, and keeping well posted on current events. He is connected with the organization known as the Society of Cincinnati, having inherited his member- ship through his father, and is a popular and promising young professional gentle- man, who stands high in social circles and among business men wherever he is known.


B. FRANKLIN WILLIAMS, post-


master at Williams Corner, and one of the enterprising and progressive men of this county, who served three years during the civil war, and has since enjoyed a busi- ness career aggregating a fair degree of success, is a son of John and Sarah (Rob-


erts) Williams, and was born January 1, 1844, in Charlestown township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. His paternal grand- father, Daniel Williams, was a native of the same township, and lived and died there. He was a farmer by occupation, a Presby- terian in religion, and in politics a Jackson- ian democrat. He married Jane McCoy and reared a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters : Mordecai, David, James, John, Juliann, Elizabeth, and Martha. John Williams (father) was also born in Charlestown township, his natal day being December 8, 1801, and resided there until 1858, when he disposed of his property and removed to Schuylkill township, settling near what is now known as Williams' Cor- ner, where he passed the remainder of his life, dying September 4, 1875, aged nearly seventy-four years. He was educated in the common schools of his neighborhood, and on leaving school learned the mason trade and became a contractor and builder. For a number of years he followed that oc- cupation, but in later life purchased a farm and devoted his last years to agricultural pursuits, conducting his operations on an extensive scale and becoming very prosper-


ous. At one time he owned and operated six farms, located in Schuylkill and Charles- town townships, and was also engaged for a time in the manufacture of paper at Wil- liams' Corner. In his earlier years he was a democrat in politics, but on account of his anti-slavery proclivities joined the Repub- lican party about the time of Lincoln's first election to the presidency, and ever after- ward supported that political organization. In religion he was a Presbyterian, and as contractor and builder erected many fine residences and public buildings between Downingtown and Philadelphia, besides


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OF CHESTER COUNTY.


bridges, &c., on the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad; also the Presbyterian church at Charlestown. On April 12, 1833, he mar- ried Sarah Roberts, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Roberts, of Schuylkill township, Pennsylvania. To them was born a family of eight children, five of whom were sons: J. Robert, now deceased, who married Sarah J. Kungle; Mary J., wedded William HI. Johns, a prosperous farmer of East Pike- land township; Davis B., married Sallie Pennypacker and resides near Aldham, en- gaged in farming and crushing stone; I. Walker, now a farmer of Schuylkill town- ship, who married Susannah Stephens; Sallie A., became the wife of Everett W. Anderson, a farmer of Charlestown town- ship ; B. Franklin, the subject of this sketch : Dr. William K., who was graduated from the Hahnemann Medical college of Philadel- phia, married Millie Wright, and is now practicing his profession in the city of Philadelphia ; and Retta, who wedded John T. Kinsey, a well known produce dealer of Bridgeport, Montgomery county, where they reside.


B. Franklin Williams was reared partly in Charlestown and partly in Schuylkill township, where he attended the public schools until 1860, and on June 10, 1861, when little more than sixteen years of age, enlisted as a musician in Co. K, 4th Penn- sylvania reserves, for three years. He served out the full term of his enlistment, being detailed as a clerk at headquarters during the latter part, and was honorably dis- charged at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1864. While connected with the army he was in the seven days' fight around Rich- mond, at the battles of second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, South Mountain and All- tietam, and in southwestern Virginia took


part in the contest at Cloyd Mountain, un- der General Crook, and in a number of skirmishes and minor engagements. After his discharge, Mr. Williams returned to Chester county, and after taking a course in the Quaker City Business college at Phil- adelphia, engaged in the manufacture of paper at Williams' Corner, which he suc- cessfully conducted until 1884, when he rented his plant to other parties and en- barked in the general mercantile business at the same place. He continued this en- terprise until 1891, and in that year rented his store to others and again assumed the management of his paper mill, in which he is now engaged. His specialty is the manu- facture of binder's board, and the mill has a capacity of six tons per week. The plant was formerly a cotton mill, operated by Roberts, Semers & Bevans, but was converted into a paper mill in 1858, by Mr. Williams' father, who had purchased the property. In addition to his paper mill and store Mr. Williams also owns one fine farm in Schuyl- kill township. Politically he is a repub- lican and stands high in the local councils of his party. He has served as township an- ditor and assistant assessor, and in 1884 was appointed postmaster at Williams' Corner, a position he has ever since filled acceptably. He is connected with the Veteran Reserve corps, and is a member of Phoenixville Post. Grand Army of the Republic.


On October 25, 1871, Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Josephine H. Steph- ens, a daughter of William M. and Hannah ( Hall) Stephens, of Upper Merion, Mont- gomery county, this State. To Mr. and Mrs. Williams was born one child, a son named Howard S., who is now attending the Friends' Central school in the city of Philadelphia.


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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY


SAMUEL S. FINKBINER, M. D., a


graduate of the Jefferson Medical col- lege, and a member of the Schuylkill Inter- county Medical society, who has been in the active practice of his profession at Parker Ford for the last quarter of a cen- tury, is a son of Jacob and Margaret (Rambo) Finkbiner, and was born in East Vincent township, Chester county, Penn- sylvania, October 17, 1838. He received a good academical education, and then took a course at Pennsylvania college, after which he read medicine with Dr. E. B. Hecket and Dr. A. R. Savage. At the com- pletion of his required course of reading he entered Jefferson Medical college, of Phila- delphia, from which famous institution he was graduated in the class of 1865. After graduation he opened an office at St. Mary's, this county, which he left after a residence of eighteen months, to come to Parker Ford, where he has been in active and suc- cessful practice up to the present time.


On December 24, 1864, Dr. Finkbiner married Elizabeth Catherine, daughter of Henry Hamor, of West Vincent township, and to their union have been born two chil- dren : Jacob H., of West Philadelphia, who married Eva Larkins, and is now engaged in mercantile business in West Philadel- phia, and Martin Luther, a graduate of the Philadelphia college of pharmacy.


Dr. Finkbiner is of German lineage. His paternal grandfather, Jacob Finkbiner, sr., was a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania.


His son. Jacob Finkbiner (father), was born on March 4, 1809, in East Vincent township, where he lived and where he died in March, 1891, when he had passed into his eighty-second year. He was a car- peuter by trade, and after helping to build many of the locks on the Schuylkill canal,


purchased a farm in his native township. He was a republican and a Lutheran, and had been an active church worker for many years before his death. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret Rambo, was born in Montgomery county. Their chil- dren were: Jehu E., who resides on the home farm; Rev. John W., a graduate of Pennsylvania college, and engaged in the ministerial work of the Evangelical Lutheran church in Cumberland, Maryland; Mary E,, who died young; Dr. Samuel S .; and Alice and Susan Eliza, who are both dead.


In politics Dr. Finkbiner is a republican. He is a member of Zions Lutheran church and Pottstown Council, No. 351, Royal Ar- canum. He has gained success in the field of his profession by his knowledge, skill and efficiency.


AMES M. PENNYPACKER, of


Parker Ford, is a book-keeper and edu- cator of considerable note, and a represen- tative of one of the oldest and most promi- nent families in the commonwealth. He is the eldest son of Daniel and Rebecca (Major) Pennypacker, and a native of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, being born near Lower Providence postoffice, that county, January 2, 1838. The Penny- packer family had its origen in North Bra- bant, Holland, and numerous members of it still exist in that country. Abont the year 1650 some of them went up the Rhine to Flomborn, a village near Worms, where they became Germanized and changed the Holland name Pannebakker (tile-maker) to Pfannebecker. The "Weissthum" or manuscript record of Flomborn from 1542 to 1656, signed by Johannes Pfannebecker, | one of the town officers, was lately in pos-




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