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 74
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
family of five children, two sons and three danghters: Dr. William, who was for many years a practicing physician of Sadsbury township, and died in 1872, aged forty-five years, leaving a family of eight children- Dr. Samuel. William, John, Thomas, Jane, Mary, Margaret, and Helen ; John Y., whose name heads this sketch; Mary, married William Armstrong, and died about 1867, leaving six children ; Margaret, deceased at the age of twenty-one; and Eliza, who wedded John A. Parke, a farmer of High- land township, this county. Mrs. Jane Latta was a native of Delaware, a strict member of the Presbyterian church, and died in 1842, at the age of forty-five years.
Jolin Y. Latta was reared on the home farm and received a liberal education in the Chester county academy and similar institu- tions of learning at Strasburg and Wilming- ton. On leaving school he engaged in farm- ing on the old homestead, and agricultural R EV. BENJAMIN C. NEEDHAM, a pursuits were so agreeable to his disposition that he has devoted his entire life to enlti- vating the farm on which he was born, and which passed into his possession in 1862. The farm consists of one hundred and fifty- seven acres of valuable land, well improved, and conveniently located on the Philadel- phia and Lancaster turnpike, two miles from Parkesburg. In addition to this farm Mr. Latta also owns one hundred and eighty acres of land in this county. Beside his farm operations he has, since 1860, been a large live stock dealer, being for more than twenty years a member of the well known stock firm of Latta & Phipps, who were en- gaged in shipping cattle from the west to the Philadelphia markets. Mr. Phipps died in 1880, and since that time Mr. Latta has continued the stock business by himself, but not so extensively as before. For a time he | England, where he took a three years'
dealt in sheep and cattle, but now handles cattle exclusively, and has been remarkably successful in this business.
On April 6, 1876, Mr. Latta was united in marriage with Martha Rupert, a daughter of William Rupert, of this county. She died in 1880, in the thirty-first year of her age, leaving two sons: James and William. In politics Mr. Latta is a democrat, and has served for a number of years as school di- rector of his township. He is one of the directors of the Parkesburg National bank, and occupies the same position in the Parkesburg Building and Loan association. Being affable in manner, prompt and ener- getic in business, and thoroughly reliable in every relation of life, it is doubtful if there is a better known or more popular man in the entire township.
graduate of East London college, and the pastor of the First Baptist church of Coatesville, is one of the most successful evangelistie pastors of Pennsylvania. He is a son of Capt. George and Susan (Carter) Needham, and was born in County Kerry, province of Munster, Ireland, in the year 1853. He received his elementary educa- tion in the schools of his neighborhood, and at fifteen years of age, in 1868, came to Bos- ton, Massachusetts, where he entered the lithographing establishment of W. H. Forbes & Co. After working for some time he was made foreman of the office, but soon left to accept a position in the Boston postoffice, then under the charge of Hon. E. HI. Toby. In a short time he resigned, and after spend- ing a few months with his brother William in Portland, Maine, he went to London,
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
course in the East London college, from which he was graduated in the class of 1880. After graduation he and his three brothers came to Chicago, where they spent a whole winter in evangelical work in Moody's tab- ernaele, of which the eklest brother, Rev. G. C. Needham, was pastor. From Chicago he went to the Indian reservation in Ontario, Canada, and was engaged very successfully for five years in preaching to the different Indian tribes, and in establishing and con- dneting Indian schools. His next field of missionary and evangelical labor was in Philadelphia, where he spent a short time among the sailors on the docks. Ilis evan- gelical labors were so remarkably successful that he was called as pastor of the Brandy- wine Baptist church, where his work during his three years' pastorate was instrumental in raising the congregation from weakness and apathy to strength, life, and prosperity. From Brandywine he went to the Baptist church at Reading, where his ministry was abundantly rewarded with sneeess in build- ing np a strong and prosperous congrega- tion. Hle remained at Reading until 1890, when he assumed his present pastoral charge of the Coatesville Baptist church, where he has won respect, confidence, and esteen. His judicious course of action and impressive preaching has added largely to the member- ship of Coatesville Baptist church, which numbered one hundred and eighty members when he enme, but under the two years of his administration has increased to three hundred.
On September 14, 1880, Mr. Needham wedded Mary R. Pardee, a daughter of Rich- ard. R. and Rebecca Pardee, of New York city. Mr. Pardee was a great Sunday-school worker, the friend of D. L. Moody, Ralph Wells, and other prominent religious labor-
ers. To Mr. and Mrs. Needham have been horn three children, two sons and one daugh- ter: Benjamin, Lillian, and Leroy. Mrs. Needham is a whole-souled Christian wo- man, a capable teacher of the bible, and a enltivated musician. She uses her splendid talents for the glory of her Savior.
The Needham family is of English de- scent, and Rev. Mr. Needham's paternal grandfather, James, was born in England, but settled in Ireland, where he resided until his death. He lived to a good age, having roared a family of five children, three sons and two daughters. One of the sons, Capt. George Needham, the father of Benjamin, was born in County Kerry, Ire- land. He served for many years under the British government as an officer in the coastguard service, and for many years held the post of poor-law relieving officer and collector of revenues. His death took place in 1862, at the age of sixty years. He was a prominent, active, and influential member of the Protestant Episcopal church. Ben- jamin's mother, whose maiden name was Susan Carter, passed away in her thirty- eighth year, having left a previous testi- mony to her exalted Christian character. She was the mother of ten children, five of whom were daughters and five sons. The youngest daughter, Belinda, of sainted mem- ory, and the oldest son, James, have been with their parents in the better land for many years. The surviving children are: Mary, the wife of William C. Hickson, of Australia : Sarah, of Boston, Massachusetts : Elizabeth, wife of Gideon Hevenor. of St. John's, New Brunswick; Susan, wife of Rev. D. M. Stearns; Rev. George C .. of Philadelphia, evangelist, and editor of the Defense ; Rev. Benjamin, the subject of this sketch ; Rev. Thomas, the sailor-evangelist.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
connected with the Pennsylvania Baptist society ; and Rev. William E., "the artist preacher," who is pastor of Trinity Baptist church at Camden, New Jersey.
Rev. Benjamin Needham as a republican is interested in the great political issues of the day, but is not a political demagogue. He gives his time to the cause of his Divine Master, in whose service he has met with such abundant and enduring success.
E DWARD DONALDSON BING-
HAM, district attorney for Chester county, and a young lawyer of fine intellect and superior legal attainments, who has al- ready won high standing and substantial sue- cess in his profession, is the second son and only surviving child of Rev. Dr. William R. and Nannie (Allison) Bingham, and was born in East Whiteland township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, February 10, 1854. His hoy- hood was passed in this county, and he at- tended a private school at Oxford until his seventeenth year, when he entered the sophomore class of Princeton college, from which well known institution he was grad- uated in the class of 1874, at the age of twenty. He soon afterward accept a po- sition as tutor in Lincoln university ; where he remained two years, meeting with great success as a teacher and winning golden opinions from the faculty. In the antumn of 1876 he resigned his position in the uni- versity and went to Pittsburg, where he be- gan the study of law in the office of the well known attorneys, Bruce & Negley, of that city. After two years spent in sound- ing the depths of legal knowledge as ex- pounded by Blackstone, Kent, and other fathers in the science of law, he was admit- ted to the bar in the fall of 1878, and im-
mediately opened a law office at West Ches- ter, this county, where he has ever since been successfully engaged in a practice that has constantly increased and is now quite luerative. This result has not been attained by accident or chance, but is the outcome of thorough preparation for the duties of his profession and intelligent and painstak- ing attention to the interests of his clients. Mr. Bingham is a republican in politics, and so popular in his party and so competent as a lawyer, that he was nominated and elected to the office of district attorney in the fall of 1890. He has been discharging the du- ties of that position in a manner which re- fleets credit on himself and pleases his con- stituents. In religion he is a Presbyterian, being a member of the First Presbyterian church of West Chester. On Sptember 25, 1888, Mr. Bingham wedded Mary Louise Johnston, a daughter of the late S. Reed Johnston, of the city of Pittsburg.
The paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Hugh Bingham, was a native of Adams county, Pennsylvania, where the family was planted at an early day, and where he grew to manhood and received an ordinary English education. In early life he removed to York county and engaged in farming, which was his main business in life, though he engaged in other enterprises to some extent. He became quite prosper- ous, and was a stockholder and director in a banking house in that county for a nom- ber of years. In politics he was an old-line whig, and in religious faith a Presbyterian, in which church he served as an elder for a quarter of a century. He married Margaret Kelley, a daughter of Col. John Kelley, of York county, this State, and reared a family of five children, two sons and three daugh- ters: John, now deceased, who studied law
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
and died shortly after being admitted to the bar; Margaret, Eliza, William R. and Eze- miah. Mrs. Margaret ( Kelley) Bingham was born during Washington's second ad- ministration and lived to see the adminis- tration of Benjamin Harrison. William R. Bingham (father) was born in Adams county, this State, in 1822, received his education at Jefferson college, Cannonsburg, Washington county, and studied theology at the Western Theological seminary, Allegheny City, from which he was gradnated in 1847. He at once entered the ministry of the Preshyte- rian church, and came to Chester Valley as pastor of the Great Valley church of that denomination. Here he remained engaged in active and successful labor, until the au- tum of 1859, when he retired, and one year later assumed charge of the church at Oxford, where he continued to preach for about a year and a half, when failing health compelled him to abandon all active work. Nearly a decade passed before he resumed the duties of a regular pastorate, but in 1878 he took charge of Avondale Presby- terian church, with which he was connected for a period of ten years. He has always been an earnest student and a deep thinker, and is widely known for his extensive knowledge on Biblical subjects. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon Rev. Mr. Bing- ham by Westminster college. In 1888 he was appointed pro tempore to the chair of theology in Lincoln university, and has con- tinned to occupy that position ever sinee. He has also been president of the board of trustees of that institusion for a number of years, and is a director of the National bank at Oxford. In all matters that pertain to the development of his town or the im- provement of his county, Rev. Dr. Bingham takes an active interest, and believes that
the best preparation for the future life is se- eured by properly rounding out all the du- ties and possibilities of "the life that now is." Politically he is a republican, with au abiding faith in the humanitarian princi- ples on which the party was originally . founded, and an earnest desire to see them applied in our government. Rev. Dr. Bing- ham was united in holy wedlock with Nan- nie Allison, a danghter of Hon. Robert Allison, of Huntingdon county, this State. Their union was blessed by the birth of three children, of whom only the subject of this sketch now survives. The youngest was HIugh W., who died in infancy, and the second was a daughter named Mary Allison, who died in her twenty-sixth year. She was the first graduate of Wellesley college (1879), and president of its alumni associa- tion until her death. Mrs. Bingham died in 1863, and in 1886 Dr. Bingham married Jennie Gardner, a daughter of Thomas Gardner, late of this county. IIon. Robert Allison (maternal grandfather), long since deceased, was a prominent and influential citizen of Huntingdon county, an ardent whig in polities, and represented his district in the congress of the United States. His father John Allison, was one of the oldest settler. of Franklin county, and served as a member of the State constitutional conven- tion of 1787, which ratified the constitution of the United States, in which convention also sat Jacob Elliott, the maternal grand- father of Mrs. Naunie Bingham.
H ON. JAMES BOWEN EVER- HART, an orator, a statesman, and a patriot, whose distinguished public services stamped him as a man of rare ability, high resolve and noble purpose, was the third
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
son of Hon. William and Hannah ( Matlack) Everhart, and was born in West Whiteland township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, July 26, 1821. Two and a half centuries ago the Everhart family came from the king- ' dom of Wurtemberg to the State of New York, from which the great-grandfather of Mr. Everhart came to Chester county, where his son, James Everhart (grandfather), was born and reared. James Everhart served in the revolutionary war, and his son, Hon. William Everhart (father) was born in 1785. William Everhart was a surveyor by pro- fession, and in 1824 removed to West Ches- ter, where he was engaged extensively for over forty years in the mercantile business. He was a whig, and a member of the Thirty-third Congress, in which he delivered a very able speech on the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He died October 30, 1868, lamented by all who knew him.
James Bowen Everhart received his edu- cation in Bolmar's academy and Princeton college, from which he was graduated in 1842. He read law, was admitted to the bar in 1845, visited Europe to take special law courses in the universities of Edinburgh and Berlin, and then practiced until 1861. In 1862 he raised and commanded Co. B, 10th regiment Pennsylvania militia, during the war, and displayed great courage at Antietam. When Lee invaded the State in 1863, Mr. Everhart was among the first to respond to his country's call, and served as major of the 29th emergency regiment.
He was a popular republican leader and served from 1876 to 1882 as a member of the State senate, in which he delivered enlo- gies on Bayard Taylor, William Penn and Anthony Wayne, that have been pronounced the finest memorials ever delivered in Penn- sylvania. In 1882 he resigned as State sen-
ator to accept the seat to which he had been eleeted in the Forty-eighth Congress of the United States. He was re-elected in 1884, and served through both of his congres- sional terms with ability and usefulness, while his speech on the " River and Harbor" bill was read with interest throughout the country. He was an entertaining anthor, and his "Miscellanies," "Poems," "The Fox Chase," and "Speeches," are volumes of interest and usefulness.
On August 23, 1888, James Bowen Ever- hart was stricken down by the hand of death and his spirit passed away from time to eternity. His remains were appropri- ately entombed, and the press of the State did ample justice to his "memory, which will always be held sacred in the county of his birth."
H ENRY MERCER, the leading grain merchant of Phoenixville, and a rep- resentative of one of the old and honored families of the county, is the youngest child of Hatton and Elizabeth (Thompson) Mercer, and a native of London Britain township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he was born October 30, 1848. He grew to manhood in this county, and was educated in the common schools of London Britain township and at Kennett Square. Leaving school he learned the trade of mil- ler, and was engaged in that occupation for six years. In 1875 he embarked in the general grain business at Phoenixville, and by his energy and enterprise soon built up a good trade, which has increased with the passing years until he now does an immense wholesale business, handling from a hundred and fifty to two hundred car loads of grain per week. He is a member of the commer- cial exchange of Philadelphia, and has the
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
deserved reputation of being - in his par- tienlar line -one of the best judges and best posted men in the State of Pennsylvania. In politics Mr. Mercer is a stanch republi- can, and in religion a strict adherent of the Society of Friends, in whose faith he was reared. He is a member of Kennett Square Lodge, No. 475, Free and Accepted Masons.
On January 29, 1873, Mr. Mercer was united in marriage with Emma L. Palmer. a daughter of Samuel R. and Rebecca B. Palmer, of Chester, Delaware county, this State. To Mr. and Mrs. Mereer have been born one child, a daughter. Rebecca C. P., who was educated in the Friends' Central school in Philadelphia, graduating in June, 1892, and is living at home with her parents.
The Mercers are deeended from old English Quaker stock, and trace their American an- cestry back to Thomas Mercer, great-great- great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who came from " Ayno-on-the-Hill," Northampton county, in the west of Eng- land, with his wife, Mary, and settled in what is now Westtown township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, near the close of the seventeenth century. There he died abont 1716, and his widow survived him some seven years, dying in 1723. Their children were: Thomas, born in 1694, and married Hannah Taylor in 1710; Mary, married William Pennell. August 26, 1710; Eliza- beth, wedded Joseph Woodward, in 1712; Ann, became the wife of Joshua Peirce, August 28, 1713; and Joseph, who settled in East Marlborough, and in 1719 married Ann Wickersham, by whom he had six chil- dren - Mary, Ann. Richard, Hannah, Rachel and Joseph. Thomas Mercer (great-great- grandfather), and his wife, Hannah Taylor, were the parents of eleven children : Rachel, born June 2, 1712: Daniel, born Septem- 37
ber 14. 1714: Robert, born September 28, 1716; Thomas, born August 26, 1718 : Ann, born August 8, 1720 : Hannah, born March 28, 1724; Phebe, born May 20, 1726; Mary. born April 16, 1728 ; Patience, born January 31. 1731 : Thomas, born January 18, 1734; and David, born March 3. 1737. The eldest son, Daniel Mercer, married Rebecca Town- send, and died June 25, 1807, aged ninety- three years. His wife died October 13, 1792. at the age of eighty-two. Their children were: Solomon, born October 30, 1736; Rebecea, born October 1. 1738; Jesse, born July 23, 1740, and died June 3, 1763 ; David, born June 23, 1742; Daniel, born March 20, 1747 ; and Phebe, born August 11, 1750. Thomas Mercer (great grandfather), was a farmer, and passed all his life in this county. dying about 1816, at the advanced age of eighty-two years. He married Jane Innt. by whom he had a family of seven children : Joseph, Hannah, Thomas, Jesse, Mary, David (grandfather), and Jane. He married a ser- ond wife at the age of seventy, and had four children : John, Thomas, Harlan and Ann. David Mercer (grandfather) was born Jan- uary 23, 1771, and died March 8, 1846, aged seventy-five years. He was a farmer by oc- enpation, and a whig in politics. Hle mar- ried Elizabeth Hatton, and was the father of a family of four children, one son and three daughters: Hatton, father of the sub- ject of this sketch ; Ann, Celia and Hannah, all of whom are now deceased. Hatton Mer- eer (father) was born in Westtown township. Chester county, June 20, 1802, and passed away from earth in 1872, at the age of sev- enty years. He was a farmer in early life, and a miller during his later years. Polit- ically he was a whig and republican, and in religion followed the traditions of his an- eestors, being a strict member of the Society
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
of Friends all his life. March 17, 1831, he married Elizabeth Thompson, a daughter of David Thompson, of the State of Dela- ware, and to their union was born a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters : Thomas, born January 11, 1832; Charles, born May 31, 1834; David, born November 16, 1836; Mary Jane, born No- vember 8, 1838 ; Elizabeth, born September 9, 1841; Sarah, born August 11, 1846; and Henry, the subject of this sketch. The mother of this family, Elizabeth Mercer, passed to her final rest February 28, 1888, aged seventy-seven years, five months and fifteen days. The Thompsons came over from England in the seventeenth century.
W ILLIAM SMITH HARRIS,
a member of the Chester county bar in active practice, and secretary of the West Chester Street Railway Company, is a son of William and Sarah A. (Smith) Harris, and was born in Chanceford township, York county, Pennsylvania, February 24, 1855. He received his elementary education in the public schools of Londonderry township, pursued his classical studies at Unionville academy and under Dr. W. B. Noble, D. D., of Fagg's Manor, and entered Lafayette col- lege of Easton, this State. Leaving college the latter part of the junior year, 1879, (being a member of the class of 1880,) he read law with Groome & McCullongh, of Elkton, Cecil county, Maryland, of which firm the senior member had served as gov- ernor of Maryland and represented his State in the United States senate. After a two years' course with that firm he was admit- ted to the Cecil county bar on January 4, 1882, and after practicing for a short time in Maryland, he went to Grand Forks, North
Dakota, where he followed his profession until 1884. In that year he returned to West Chester, where he has been success- fully engaged ever since in the active prac- tice of his chosen profession. Mr. Harris is a democrat in politics, and in religious belief has been a Presbyterian for several years, being a member and the treasurer of the Westminster Presbyterian church, of West Chester. He is secretary of the board of directors of the West Chester Street Rail- way Company; and a member and past- grand of Pocahontas Lodge, No. 316, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.
On December 16, 1886, Mr. Harris wed- ded A. Maggie Smith, daughter of Joseph Smith, a prominent citizen of the vicinity of Oxford, in this county, and their union has been blessed with one child, a son named William Clyde, who was born October 3, 1887.
William Smith Harris is of English and Scotch descent, and his paternal grandfather, William Harris, sr .. was a native of Chester county, where he followed farming, hotel keeping and general merchandising in West Fallowfield and Londonderry townships. He married Jane Criswell, and one of their sons was William Harris (father), who set- tled in early life in York county, which he afterward left to become a resident of Lon- donderry township, where he died March 1, 1873, aged forty-eight years. William Harris was a democrat in politics, held the office of justice of the peace for fifteen years, and was continually engaged in settling estates, writ- ing wills, drawing deeds, and other legal work for several years before his death. He served his township as a school director, and was recognized as one of the leading and useful citizens of his community and township. He was an active member of Fagg's Manor
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
Presbyterian church, and married Sarah A. Smith, who was a daughter of William and Maria (Laird) Smith, of Chanceford town- ship, York county, and who died in 1886, at sixty-four years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Harris were born seven children, who lived to maturity : William Smith (subject) ; A. Clarkson, of Londonderry township; Maria J., James C., Mary A., John K. and Walter. Mrs. Harris' mother, Maria (Laird) Smith, was a member of the old and dis- tinguished Laird family of Pennsylvania. Her father, Dr. William Smith, was a grad- nate of Washington and Jefferson college, of western Pennsylvania. He received his medical education in a Baltimore, Maryland, institution, and located in Chaneeford town- ship, York county, this State, where he practiced his profession with great success until his death.
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