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 56
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
years with the firm of F. L. & E. Jacobi, iron founders and steam engine builders, at Meissen, Saxony, the seat of the famous " Dresden" china works. At the end of that time, in 1869, he sailed for the United States, and after a short stay in New York city, came to Phoenixville, where he accepted his present position as chief of the drawing department of the firm of Kellogg, Clarke & Co., the predecessors to Clarke, Reeves & Co., which latter firm was succeeded in 1884 by the Phoenix Bridge Company. In that capacity he has served in a very intelligent and most acceptable manner to all interested in the operation of this great plant.
On April 19, 1876, Mr. Lippert married Augusta F., who was a daughter of Conrad and Christine Kærper, of Philadelphia, and died June 20, 1878, after a short but happy union. After her death he wedded her sis- ter, Ottilie, on January 14th, 1880. They have only one child, a daughter, named Christine Ottilie. Mr. and Mrs. Lippert were among the victims of the terrible rail- road accident at Flat Rock, near Philadel- phia, on October 24, 1892, by which nine passengers were killed and forty injured in the collision of the fast express with a coal train. Mrs. Lippert had two limbs and Mr. Lippert his left leg fractured, besides re- ceiving internal injuries. They are now at St. Timothy's hospital, Philadelphia, and are slowly recovering.
In politics Mr. Lippert has been a repub- lican ever since coming to this country. He is a member of the Unitarian church, ranks high as a draughtsman and engineer, and is recognized as a social and genial gentleman. With the scientific education of the old, and over twenty years of the varied and prac- tical experience of the new world, he is well qualified for the line of special work
in which he is successfully engaged at Phœnixville.
The Lippert and Rohr families have long been residents on the territory of the pres- ent great German empire, whose unification was accomplished through the instrumen- tality of William I. and the "Iron Chan- cellor," Bismarck. Mr. Lippert's father, Dr. George L. B. Lippert, was born in 1801. He was one of the leading physicians and an influential man in the municipal affairs of Leipsic, his native city, which he served for twenty-five years as a member of its select councils. On declining a re-election for select councilman for the fifth time, the city of Leipsic conferred on him the hon- orary office of "elder" of the city, a rare distinction bestowed only in recognition of long and distinguished public services. On October 19, 1833, he married Phillipine F. Ræhr, and of their thirteen children, nine are still living. Dr. Lippert died May 24, 1873, at seventy-two years of age, and his widow survived him until April 2, 1880, when she passed away, aged sixty-nine years. Mrs. Lippert was a daughter of Rev. Johann F. Ræhr, a native of the Grand Duchy of Weimar, who was a prominent man in the religious affairs of Germany in his day. As a minister of the Lutheran church he was the successor of the poet Her- der in the ecclesiastical charge of the Grand Duchy of Weimar as general superintendent and president of the grand ducal consistory, and confirmed Augusta, wife of William I., and first empress of Germany, who was a princess of Weimar. In religious affairs he was the leader of the Rationalist as op- posed to the Orthodox party of Germany, and his letters on rationalism have been frequently republished since his death. He died June 15, 1848, aged seventy-one years.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
Dr. Rohr ranked high in the literary cir- eles of his country, and when Gæthe died was selected to pronounce the funeral ora- tion over the remains of Germany's greatest poet and author.
F RANK P. THOMAS, an active and prosperous business man and a success- ful book and job printer of West Chester, is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth A. (Myers) Thomas, and was born on the 4th day of July, 1853, in Adams county, Pennsylvania. His great-grandfather, Philip Thomas, was a native of Pennsylvania, and lived in Adams county for many years before his death. His grandfather, John Philip Thomas, was born in the year 1786, in Adams county, where he was actively engaged in farming until his death, which occurred on January 28, 1857, when he was in the sixty-first year of his age. He was a member of the Lutheran church. In politics he was a strong demo- crat. He married Anna Maria Hoffman, and to them were born five children, three sons and two daughters : Henry, who served one terni as sheriff of Adams county, and now enjoys the life of a retired farmer in Straban township, Adams county; Jacob; Samuel, father of the subject of this sketch ; Susanna, married George Ehrehart, now deceased ; Margaret, who was first married to David Lockhart, and after his death wedded Edwin C. Gitt, of near New Oxford, in Adams county. Samuel Thomas (father) was born in 1829, in Adams county, and died at York, York county, in 1887, aged fifty-eight years. By trade he was a car- penter, but after going to York he was en- gaged in the mercantile business for a good portion of the time before his death. In his early life he was a democrat, but in
after years he became a republican, and took an active interest in the principles advocated by the latter party. At one primary elec- tion he lacked only two votes of receiving the nomination for register and recorder of wills in the county in which he lived. Like his father, he was a member of the Lutheran church. He married Elizabeth A. Myers, who was born in 1835, and now lives in York. They had three children, two sons and one daughter: Margaret R., who mar- ried Frank O. Watts, and they are both dead; Frank P., of whom this sketch is written; and Willis M., who died in boy- hood.
Frank P. Thomas received his education in the public and high schools of York, the town in which he was reared. He learned the trade of printer, and when only fifteen years of age was actively engaged in com- pleting his knowledge of the "art preserva- tive of all arts." After serving for some time as foreman in the office of the paper where he learned his trade, he left York, and in 1878 removed to West Chester, where he accepted the position of foreman in the office of the Daily Republican, a prosperous paper of that town. He retained this posi- tion until March, 1888, when he engaged in the book and job printing business for him- self, and by prompt attention and care he has built up a flourishing business.
On November 3, 1885, Mr. Thomas was united in marriage with M. Lizzie Fisher, a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Fisher, of Lancaster, this State. Mr. Fisher is dead, but his widow still resides in Laneas- ter. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas was born one child, Grace E., who died at seven months of age. In the political principles of the day Mr. Thomas adheres to the re- publicans. He is a member of Pocahontas
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Lodge, No. 316, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; West Chester Castle, No. 226, Knights of the Golden Eagle ; Estella Lodge, No. 131, Knights of Pythias; Kenhana Council, No. 248, Order of United American Mechanics ; and a social and political or- ganization known as the West Chester Pio- neer Corps, No. 1. He is also a member of the First West Chester Fire company, the Mutual Benefit society, and the Citizens' Beneficial society. In his line of business Mr. Thomas is well prepared to execute orders for all kinds of job work. He has his office thoroughly equipped with every- thing requisite for first-class work. He is a practical and skilled workman, allows nothing inferior to leave his establishment, and enjoys a constantly increasing trade.
GEORGE MORRIS PHILIPS, Ph.D.,
president of the West Chester State Normal school since 1881, and whose pro- fessional labors in training teachers and in the field of authorship, entitle him to an honorable place in the history of American education, is a son of John M. and Sarah (Jones) Philips, and was born at Penning- tonville, now Atglen, Sadsbury township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1851. Of the many honored and honorable families of Chester county, none stand higher for ability and uprightness of life than the Philips family, planted near West Chester, during the French and Indian war, by Joseph Philips, a native of Wales, who was an intelligent, temperate and industri- ons man. The Philips family is noted for its longevity and the strong religious ele- ment by which it is characterized. During the nineteenth century it has been pre- eminently a race of teachers, while in po-
litical life its members have worn the judi- cial ermine and sat in the halls of legislation. Joseph Philips was born in 1716, in Wales, where his wife, Mary, was born in 1710. They were strong Baptists, and in 1755 came to near West Chester, where the husband died May 18, 1792, and the wife passed away on December 26th of the same year. Their second son, Lieut. John Philips, was born in Wales, served with his brothers, Capt. David and Lieut. Josiah, in the revo- lutionary war, and being taken prisoner in . New Jersey, was confined for some time on a British prison ship at New York city. After the close ofthe war, Lieut. John Philips married and settled near Downingtown, where he died May 22, 1790, at forty-five years of age. His eldest son, George Philips, the grandfather of Dr. Philips, was born near Paoli, and in early life removed to a farm near Penningtonville, in West Fallowfield township, where his son, John M. Philips (father), was born May 8, 1812, and died on his farm July 21, 1879, aged sixty-seven years. John M. Philips was a farmer by occupation, and a democrat in politics until 1860, when he cast his last democratic vote for Stephen A. Douglas. After that he supported the Republican party. He was a man of influence in his community, ever active in political affairs, but sought no office and had served for many years before his death as a deacon in the Baptist church, of which he was an ex- ceedingly useful member. He was twice married, and his second wife, whom he wedded in 1844, was Sarah Jones, who was born in 1818. She is a daughter of Hon. Thomas and Elizabeth (Todd) Jones, the latter of whom was a cousin of President Lincoln's wife. Hon. Thomas Jones served as an associate judge of Chester county for
George Morris Philips, Ph.D.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
several years, and was an inspector general of the militia of Pennsylvania in 1825, when he eseorted Marquis LaFayette to the battle- field of Brandywine. Hon. Thomas Jones was a son of Enoch and Sarah ( Davis) Jones, and a grandson of Samnel Jones, whose father, Griffith Jones (name origin- ally written John), came from Wales about 1712. John M. and Sarah (Jones) Philips had seven children: Mary, wife of D. B. Miller, a lawyer and the president of the National bank of Lewisburg; Thomas J., a graduate of the university of Lewisburg and prominent in agriculture and polities ; Dr. George Morris; Charlotte E., wife of Preston E. Hannum, of Lancaster county ; Caroline J., who married Matthew H. Boyd, of Atglen ; Sarah (deceased) ; and John T., who died in early manhood.
George Morris Philips received his ele- mentary education in the schools of his town, pursued his academie studies in the high school, then under charge of Prof. Wm. E. Buck, a superior teacher and now superintendent of the schools of Manches- ter, New Hampshire, and in 1867 entered the freshman class of Lewisburg university (now Bucknell), from which well-known educational institution he was graduated in the classical course in 1871 with the second honors of his elass. His intention was to study law after leaving the university, but immediately after graduation he was elected professor of mathematics in Monongahela college, and relinquished his idea of legal studies to accept that position, which he held until 1873, when he was offered and accepted the same position in West Chester Normal school. Five years later he re- signed at West Chester to become professor of mathematics and astronomy in Lewisburg university, where he remained until 1881,
when Professor Maris resigned the presi- dency of West Chester Normal school, and he was elected to succeed him. Dr. Philips immediately entered upon the duties of the presidency, and under his charge the school has prospered greatly and increased in at- tendance from three hundred to almost a thousand pupils.
On December 27, 1877, Dr. Philips mar- ried Elizabeth M., danghter of William H. and Anna (Taylor) Pyle, of Highland town- ship. Dr. and Mrs. Philips have two ehil- dren : William P., born June 29, 1882 ; and Sara, born February 16, 1887.
Dr. Philips is a republican in polities, and a member of the First Baptist church of West Chester, in which he has served as a deaeon for several years. Ile takes great interest in the prosperity of his city, and is now serving as a director of the National bank of Chester county, as well as of the Dime Savings bank, as a manager of the West Chester hospital, and as a member of the board of trade of West Chester. Ile has aimed to make the West Chester Nor- mal school a first class and desirable insti- tution in every sense of the word. Under his administration great improvements have been carried forward in the erection of new buildings and the beautifying of the grounds. These improvements, costing over $200,000, have made the property worth at least $400,000. His present field of labor is one for which Dr. Philips is well qualified by adaptation, skill and experience. IIe uses methods that, founded upon the laws of na- ture, challenge investigation and inspire confidence. His discipline is of that char- acter that enforces obedience to just re- quirements and at the same time commands respeet from those over whom it is exercised. Dr. Philips is an active and vigorous
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
worker for common schools and popular education, and has a deep enthusiastic love of his work, and an abiding faith in its re- sults. He is a prominent institute instruc- tor in this and other States, and has traveled much throughout this country and in Eu- rope, where he has closely studied the dif- ferent systems of public instruction. In 1890 he was, by unanimous vote, elected to the presidency of the Pennsylvania State Teachers' association, and presided over that body at its Bedford meeting in 1891.
While earnest in behalf of elementary instruction he has not lost interest in higher education, and in connection with President Isaac Sharpless, of Haverford college, has written a work on astronomy and another on natural philosophy, which are extensively used throughout the United States and rank very high among the standard school text- books of to-day. He is at present prepar- ing a text-book upon the history and gov- ernment of Pennsylvania. He was for years president of the Microscopical Society of West Chester, and has long been presi- dent of the Philiadelphia Alumni club of Buchnell university.
George Morris Philips' ideal of education is high but practical ; he regards the school as representative of the family, and would by the habitual and rightful cultivation of all the faculties of the intellect and imagin- ation seek to form the well balanced mind, and by judicious instruction and proper culture would strive to fit the pupil for the intelligent discharge of every duty of good citizenship. He would have educators re- alize that they should be skilled workmen and master builders of our popular civiliza- tion, and would seek to impress them with the idea of fully qualifying themselves for the discharge of the responsible duties of
such an important position. He regards teaching as a "high and holy calling" and the teacher's "fame as the property of na- tions." Dr. Philips is popular as an educa- tor, and in recognition of his services in behalf of education, Lewisburg university conferred the degree of Doctor of Philoso- phy upon him in 1884. His devotion to normal school work and the good of the public schools to be attained by intelligent and cultured teachers, is attested by his re- fusing to accept the presidency of the Lew- isburg university, to which he was unan- imously elected in 1888, and again in 1890 declining Governor Beaver's offer to him of the position of State superintendent of pub- lic instruction of Pennsylvania.
C YRUS S. MARGERUM, the efficient manager of the Cedar Valley Lime Company, is a son of Philemon and Eleanor (Polhanieus) Margerum, and was born in Delaware county, Pennsylvania, January 31, 1846. He received his education in the common schools, and learned the trade of blacksmith with his father, with whom he worked as a partner for over twenty years. In 1889 he quit blacksmithing to become manager of the Cedar Valley Lime Com- pany, which position he still holds. The works of this company were started about 1882 by William Bleakley, of Camden, New Jersey. The Cedar Valley lime kilns turn out nothing but wood-burnt lime, for which there is a great demand in the market. At these kilns Mr. Margerum works a regular force of twenty-two men. He has made some improvements in the methods of work- ing, and his management has been very ac- ceptable and entirely satisfactory to the company.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
The Margerum family has been resident for several generations at Trenton, the eap- ital of the State of New Jersey, where Philemon Margerum (father) was born. He came to Chester county in 1859 and settled at New Centreville, in Tredyffrin township, butafterward removed to Charlestown town- ship, where he died on August 10, 1888, at seventy-seven years of age. He was a blacksmith by trade, and a democrat in political opinion. He married Eleanor Polhanieus, a daughter of John and Mary Polhanieus, and they reared a family of three sons and three daughters : Philippina, wife of E. T. Bidding, of Montgomery county ; Charles, a policeman of Philadel- phia; Anna, wife of William De Haven, of Norristown, this State; John II., married Phebe Ruth, daughter of George and Sarah Ruth, served in the United States navy during the last war, and is now a resident of East Whiteland township; Cyrus S .; and Eleanora, wife of Charles Grover, of Phœ- nixville. Elenor, mother of C. S. Marger- um, died December 16, 1891, aged eighty- two years.
In political opinion C. S. Margerum is a republican. Ile is a life member of Thomp- son Lodge, No. 340, Free and Accepted Masons, of Green Tree.
On May 14, 1868, Mr. Margerum married Emma, daughter of Samuel Rennard, a farmer of Charlestown township. To their union has been born five children, three sons and two daughters: Charles, George, William, Mary and Phoebe.
SA AMUEL JACOBS, a well respected citizen and prosperous and successful merchant of Devault, is the eldest son of George and Mary (McCool) Jacobs, and
was born in White Marsh township, Mont- gomery county, Pennsylvania, September 17, 1834. HIe received his education in the common schools, and was engaged in farnı- ing for several years in different townships in the northern part of Chester county. In 1888 he came to Devault, once known as Ayers' Corner, where he established his present general mercantile store. Ile car- ries a full and well assorted stock of dry goods, staple and fancy groceries, notions, boots and shoes, and everything in the mercantile line needed to supply the large trade which he has built up.
On February 16, 1870, Mr. Jacobs mar- ried Phobe Baker, daughter of David Baker, of Willistown township, this county.
In politics Samuel Jacobs is a democrat. He is a member of Willistown Baptist church; and Academy Lodge, No. 502, In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows. Through- out life he has been careful, honest and eco- nomieal, and has slowly but surely carried forward every agricultural or business en- terprise in which he has ever been engaged.
The Jacobs family has been resident of Montgomery county for several generations ; the paternal grandfather of Samuel Jacobs was reared and died there. ITis son, George Jacobs (father), was born and reared in Montgomery county, and in 1839 came to White Horse, in East Whiteland township, where he resided until 1851, when he re- moved to a farm near Valley Store, that township, on which he resided until his death, which occurred April 11, 1889. Ile followed lime burning as an occupation, was a democrat in politics, and married Mary McCool, of White Marsh, Montgom- ery county. They were the parents of nine children, all sons : Samuel; Robert, who died at two years of age; Charles, who
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
went west in 1879 and of whom nothing has been heard since; Joseph, a merchant of Charlestown township, who served in an emergency regiment when Lee invaded Pennsylvania in 1863; George, of Willis- town township, who also served in an emer- gency regiment; William, a blacksmith, and resident of Charlestown township; John, of Titusville, this State, who served nine months in a Union regiment during the late civil war, and is now engaged as an oil well driller; Evan; and Morgan, who died February 23, 1883.
CAPT. MATTHEW BARKER, a
highly respected citizen and a prosper- ous farmer of East Whiteland township, is a son of John and Martha (Buchanan) Barker, and was born in Honeybrook township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, February 20, 1806. He attended the schools of his neighborhood and then learned the trade of tanner at Honeybrook. He did journey work for several years, after which he formed a partnership with his cousin, John Buchanan, and they conducted a suc- cessful tanning business for seventeen years. In the meantime, in 1836, he purchased a farm of sixty-one acres of land, to which he afterward added sixty-four acres more. Since retiring from the tanning business he has given his time and attention chiefly to the management of his farm, which is well improved and also provided with two sep- arate houses and barns. He has resided continuously since 1850 in the house which he now occupies, which was formerly owned by Dr. Stephen Harris.
His father, John Barker, was a native of Chester county, and spent most of his life at Ringwood forge, where he died in the
year 1812. He was a carpenter by trade, and married Martha Buchanan, who was a daughter of Matthew Buchanan, and died in 1839. To their union were born five chil- dren : Henry, Capt. Matthew, John, Joseph, and Mary. They are all dead except Capt. Matthew Barker.
When Lee invaded Pennsylvania in 1863, Captain Barker raised Co. I of the 1st Pennsylvania militia, and commanded it until it was discharged after the Confeder- ates were driven across the Potomac by General Meade. In politics he is a repub- lican. He served his township as a justice of the peace, and in 1873 was elected as a county commissioner for a term of three years, which expired in 1877.
On February 6, 1834, Captain Barker married Jane W. Kennedy, who was a daughter of Alexander Kennedy, and died November 16, 1863, aged fifty-three years. They had five children, three sons and two daughters : Matthew, of Colorado, who served as a Union soldier for three years, and was wounded at the battle of South Mountain ; William, married Tennie Esther, who is now dead; Alexander K., who married Louie Pierce, and is a resident of East Whiteland township; Margaretta, wife of John Fetters, a farmer of the same town- ship; and Mary Jane, who married Dr. Benson, of Baltimore, Maryland.
JOHN E. SMALE, a prosperons farmer of North Coventry township, and a member of the Ancient Order of Foresters, is a son of Jonas and Julia Ann (Beeler) Smale, and was born March 8, 1853, on the farm on which he now resides on the old State road in North Coventry township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He was
481
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
reared on the home farm, received his edu- cation in the common schools, and was care- fully trained to farming, which he has fol- lowed successfully ever since. He has al- ways resided on the home farm, of which he owns one hundred and nineteen acres. In connection with farming, he gives some attention to stock raising. His land is of good quality and highly productive.
On Christmas Day, 1879, Mr. Smale mar- ried Isabella Knoll, a daughter of Frederick Knoll, of Pottstown, Montgomery county. To their union have been born three chil- dren, two sons and one daughter : H. Loyd, Flora B., and Jonas F.
John E. Smale is a democrat in politics, and a member of the Ancient Order of For- esters, and also a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, of Pottstown, Montgom- ery county. While not neglectful of politi- cal matters, yet his time is chiefly given to the management of his farm and business affairs.
The Smale family traces back its history in Germany for several generations, and the American branch was planted by the great- grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Ifis son, John Smale (grandfather), was in all probability born in Berks county, and he died in Chester county about 1855. Ile purchased the farm upon which his grand- son, John E. Smale, now resides, and at the time of his purchase the farm contained two hundred and sixty-four acres of land. He was a stone mason by trade, but gave his time chiefly to farming. He served as a soldier in the American army during the war of 1812, always supported the princi- ples of the Democratic party, and was an active member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, of Pottstown, Montgomery county. lle married, and one of his sons, Jonas
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