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 79
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John S. Mullin was reared on the farm until his fourteenth year, and educated in the high schools of the city of Philadelphia. After completing his education he was em- ployed by the great dry goods house then known as Samuel Hood & Co., but now Hood, Foulkrod & Co., of which firm his elder brother, William Mullin, was a mem- ber. He remained with this company for a
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
period of seven years, becoming familiar with the business in all its details, and at the end of that time, in 1854, removed to Downingtown, this county, and embarked in general merchandising on his own ac- count. This business he continued success- fully until 1877, when he withdrew and in the following year located in West Chester and opened a merchant tailoring and cloth- ing establishment, which he conducted until January, 1892, when he disposed of his in- terests and retired from active business.
On January 5, 1857, Mr. Mullen was uni- ted in marriage to Sarah P. Ayars, a daugh- ter of Shepard Ayars, of this county, and to them was born a family of five children, two sons and three daughters : Shepard A., now a practicing physician in the borough of West Chester; Kate, married Dr. J. W. Pratt, of Coatesville, this county ; J. Wesley, a prominent physician of Wilmington, Del- aware; Isabella, married J. M. Burns, a carpenter residing in West Chester; and Mabel, living at home with her parents.
Politically Mr. Mullen is a democrat, giv- ing that party an intelligent, active and loyal support on all general questions, and has been honored by election to many offi- cial positions of trust and responsibility. While at Downingtown he served as chief burgess of that borough, and was council- man and school director for a period of eighteen years. Since coming to West Chester he has served as chairman of the Democratic County committee, and in 1892 was sent as a delegate from this county to the Democratic State convention. He has always been an active and influential worker in his party. He has served for four years as a trustee of the Normal school here, and is a director in the Farmer's National bank of West Chester. For many years
he has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and is now serving as trustee and treasurer of his church in this borough. He is also a member of William- son Lodge, No. 309, Free and Accepted Masons, of Downingtown.
W ILLIAM BRINTON SMITH, an in-
telligent and prosperous farmer, resid- ing in the suburbs of the borough of West Chester, was born in Parkesburg, Chester county, Pennsylvania, August 4, 1816. He is a son of James Smith, who was a farmer by occupation, and a native of Salisbury township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, born in 1788. He was a man of great en- ergy, strong will power, and a stanch tem- peranee man and an active politician in the whig party. He died at West Chester'in 1872. His wife was a daughter of William Brinton, a descendant of one of the oldest families of Chester county. By this mar- riage he had a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters: Lydia A. (dead), was the wife of Ephraim Penrose, of Berks county : Charles, was a farmer in Lan- caster county, where he died; William B .; Mary P., now deceased, who was the wife of John Forsythe, of this county; Par- vin, deceased, whose family resides on the old homestead at Parkesburg; Thornton, now of Washington city, who entered the civil war near the beginning of that strug- gle and served for over three years.
William Brinton Smith married Ellen Starr, a daughter of Jeremiah Starr. She is of one of the oldest families of Berks county, and is of Irish lineage. To this marriage have been born a family of four children : Sibilla, wife of Joseph Cope, re- siding near West Chester; Elizabeth, wife
39
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
of Samuel L. Brinton, residing near West Chester - who has five children -Clement, Francis D., Willard, Ellen and Robert; Helen Augusta (deceased), who married Curtis H. Warrington and had three chil- dren -Carrie, Ellen Starr and Hannah ; Josephine Loraine (deceased), married to Francis Warrington, and had two children (both now dead), William and Henry.
William Brinton Smith was educated in the Penn Charter school of Philadelphia, receiving a fair education for that day. On leaving Philadelphia he came to Parkes- burg, and resided on his father's farm until his marriage, in 1848, when he removed to Berks county, where he continued to farm until 1869, when he came back to West Chester, and was there until 1880, when he came to the present farm of eighty acres. In early life he was a whig in politics, hav- ing voted for William Henry Harrison, and on the death of that political organization he joined the Republican party, and has since been inclined to be independent. Ile is hospitable, well read, and an interesting conversationalist, and a member of the So- ciety of Friends.
John Smith (grandfather), a tanner by trade, was a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He came to Chester county in 1794, and bought a farm in the vicinity of Parkesburg, where he died at an ad- vanced age.
ISAAC M. PEARSON, a prominent member of the Warren Manufacturing Company of Virginia, and the proprietor of the Toughkenamon spoke and wheel fac- tory, is known as one of the useful men and highly respected citizens of the county. Ile is a son of Isaac and Eleanor (Mason) Pear-
son, and was born near Chandlerville, Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania, April 1, 1826. Ile received his education in the common schools of New Garden township, and later learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed until he was twenty years of age. He then cast about him for a line of business in which there would be more room for ex- pansion, and less numerous competitors than there were in blacksmithing. Spoke making seemed to be nearest to what he desired, and a favorable opportunity presented itself to him in the spoke factory at Laurel, in New Garden township, which he rented and ran successfully from 1859 to 1861. He then entered into partnership with Samuel Strahon, under the firm name of Strahon & Pearson, and they operated a spoke factory on White Clay creek, near Chandlerville, until 1862, when they admitted James M. Carliss into partnership with them, and added to their business the manufacture of wheels. Two years later their factory was burned, and Mr. Carliss withdrew from the firm and was succeeded by John C. Chandler, the firm name then changing from Strahon, Pearson & Carliss to Strahon, Pearson & Co. The new firm rebuilt the factory in 1864, and in 1865 removed their spoke machinery and stock to Toughkenamon, where they placed them in Isaac Slack's sash and door factory building, which they had rented. The next year they brought their wheel making ma- chinery to Toughkenamon, and purchased the rented factory building, admitting Isaac Slack into partnership with them, under the firm name of Strahon, Pearson & Co. In 1866 Mr. Strahon transferred his interest to his sons, Joseph and Milton, and the follow- ing year the firm established a general car- penter furnishing business at Riverton, War- ren county, Virginia. Some time after this
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
Isaac Slack died, and was succeeded by his son, Julius, who in 1886, with Mr. Pearson and others, bought the interests at Riverton of the Strahons, and organized the Warren Manufacturing Company. The wheel and spoke firm continued in existence until Au- gust 1, 1890, when Mr. Pearson became sole proprietor. His large plant has first-class railroad shipping facilities. His manufac- tory building is a three story brick struc- ture, twenty-eight by one hundred feet in dimensions, with a two-story frame annex, nineteen by one hundred and forty feet. Mr. Pearson makes a specialty of wheels, and puts an article on the market that is highly appreciated and extensively used on account of durability and first-class work- manship. He has won success because he has deserved it and worked for it. He em- ploys twenty men and has an extensive trade.
On August 7, 1851, Mr. Pearson was united in marriage with Anna M., daughter of Joseph Kimble, of New London, Chester county.
Isaac M. Pearson is of Irish-English de- scent. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Pearson, was born in 1761, and lived in the State of Delaware, where he died in 1848, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. He owned a farm which he tilled with fair returns, and when General Jackson was elected in 1828, changed in politics from the Federal to the Democratic party. He- married Sarah Cloud, and reared a family of eleven children : John, Susan Gamble, Isaac, Willianı, Joseph, Thomas, Ruth Moore, Mary Wilson, Laban, Hiram and Amos. Of the sons, Isaac (father), was born in 1791, in Chester county, and learned the trade of blacksmith, which he followed for many years at Chandlerville. He was ademocrat,
held several local offices, and was an attend- ant at Friends' meeting. He died in 1862, aged seventy-one years. Hemarried Eleanor Mason, who was a daughter of William and Sarah Mason, and who died at the ripe old age of ninety-three years. To their union were born five children, one son and four dangh- ters : Isaac M .. Ruth Anna, Sarah, Lydia, and Mary, wife of David Brown, a retired miller of London Grove township.
In polities Isaac M. Pearson is a Jeffer- sonian democrat, and served his borongh for one term as a member of the school board. Ile is a man of energy and great industry, and stands prominent among his fellow townsmen in the leading characteristics that make the successful and honorable business man.
S AMUEL PENNOCK, one of the lead- ing inventors of agricultural machinery in the United States, and a respected citizen of Kennett Square, with whose prosperity he has been prominently identified for nearly half a century, is a son of Moses and Mary J. (Lamborn ) Pennock, and was born in East Marlborough township, Chester county. Pennsylvania, October 8, 1816. The ances- tor of the Pennoek family in Pennsylvania was Christopher Pennock, who married Mary, daughter of George Collett, of Ireland. Ile came in 1685 to Philadelphia, where he died in 1701. His son, Joseph Pennock, was born in 1677, in Ireland, and came with his father to Philadelphia, where he was en- gaged in the mercantile business until 1714. when he settled in West Marlborough town- ship. He married Mary Levis, and their son, William Pennock (great-grandfather), was born in 1707. He married Alice Men- denhall, and of the nine children born to them, one was Samuel Pennock (grand-
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
father), who was born November 23, 1754. He was a chair, reel and "little wheel" manufacturer, and married Mary Hadley, by whom he had nine children : Margaret, Simon, Phebe, Moses, Elizabeth, John, Amy, Hannah and Mary. Moses Pennock (father), the second son, was born November 14, 1786, in East Marlborough township, near Ken- nett Square. He became interested at an early age in agricultural inventions, and in 1822 invented and patented the first prac- tical revolving horse rake. In 1824 he se- cured a patent on a discharging rake, and six years later invented and patented a vi- brating grain thresher. He was a democrat and a Friend, and married Mary Jones Lam- born, who was a daughter of Robert and Martha (Townsend ) Lamborn, and who died aged seventy-four years. They had nine children : Thomazine, Jesse, Samuel, Han- nah, Barclay, Morton, Edith, Joanna and Sarah. Of these children Morton and Sam- nel Pennock established a warehouse at Wilmington, Delaware. He died at Ken- nett Square in 1864. Barclay Pennock, who died March 9, 1858, was one of Bayard Tay- lor's companions in his travels through Eu- rope, that are recorded in "Views Afoot." Barclay Pennock was a scholar and a man of literary ability, and his "Folk Lore" of ancient Scandinavia, and his description of his travels through northern Europe, are in- teresting and entertaining.
Samuel Pennock was reared on his fatlı- er's farm, received his education in the schools of his neighborhood, and then learned the trade of carriage maker. Later he went to Wilmington and for one year was en- gaged with the firm of Harlan & Hollings- worth. Leaving Delaware he returned to the farm to study the agricultural machinery then in use, and soon made improvements
on a rude grain drill which his father had patented. This improved drill, which he patented, contained the idea upon which all the modern grain drills are constructed. In 1859 Mr. Pennock invented and patented the "Iron Harvester," the first mowing machine in America that was equipped with a cutter-bar that could be raised and low- ered without the driver leaving his seat. Fifteen years later, in 1873, he invented, patented and introduced into use, the " Pen- nock Road Machine," the first practical machine in this country for the construction and repair of roads. Mr. Pennock came in 1844 to Kennett Square, when it contained but thirty houses, and during his residence here, has seen it grow from a place of one hundred and fifty population to a borough with fifteen hundred inhabitants. He was originally a republican, but is now rather independent in politics. He is a Friend in religion, and a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, and has been a strict temperance man for over fifty years. He has never used tobacco, and has always opposed the use of tobacco and intoxicating drinks.
In September, 1853, Mr. Pennock married Deborah A. Yerkes, a daughter of John Yerkes. They have three children : Fred- erick M., Charles J. and Theodore. Fred- erick M. Pennock was graduated from Cor- nell university in 1877, married Cora W. Webster, of New York, and is now engaged in the manufacture of road machines and steel bridges in Charleston, West Virginia. Charles J. Pennock received his education at Cornell university, was assistant curator of the museum at Princeton college for some time, and with his wife Mary, nee Scarlet. lives near Kennett Square, where he is now a florist. Theodore Pennock received his education at Cornell university, married M.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
Lonisa Sharp, and is the general castern agent for the Western Wheel Scraper Com- pany.
JA AMES MCCLURE, of Glen Moore, is a substantial farmer, a good business man and highly respected citizen. He is a son of Silas and Margaret ( Moore) McClure, and was born on the farm on which he now re- sides in Wallace township, near Glen Moore, Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 8, 1824. He was reared on the home farm, which has been in the family for three generations, and received his education in the common and se- lect schools of his neighborhood. Leaving school he engaged in farming, which he has followed successfully ever since. Within the last few years he embarked in the dairy business, in which he has met with good success. He keeps thirty-five cows and ships his milk to the Philadelphia market, where it is in good demand on account of its purity and excellence. Mr. McClure is prompt and courteous, of honorable busi- ness methods, and by his straightforward course in life has won confidence and friend- ship on every hand. Under his manage- ment his present dairy business has grown to considerable proportions, rests on a firm basis, and its future prospects are of a favor- able and encouraging character. He is a republican in political sentiment, and has been for many years a member of Fairview Presbyterian church, of which he is a ruling eller. When Lee invaded Pennsylvania in 1862 he was one of those who responded to Governor Curtin's call for men to aid in the defense of the State, and was elected first lien- tenant of a company of infantry, returned as the " Union Guards." He served until September 22, 1862, when he was honorably discharged, and then returned home to re-
summe the management and cultivation of bis farmı.
On December 12, 1861, Mr. MeClure mar- ried Mary L. Rutherford, daughter of John B. and Keziah ( Park) Rutherford, of Har- risburg. To Mr. and Mrs. McClure have been born eight children, two sons and six daughters : James (deceased), Marion (de- ceased), Margaret M., Florence, Jennie R .. J. B. Rutherford, Mary P. and Gertrude.
In the first half of the last century John McClure, the great-grandfather of James MeClure, with four of his brothers, left Ire- land and came to North Carolina, from which State Jolin removed, about 1746, to Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he settled ou the farm now owned by William II. Pals- grove, in Uwchlan township. He died here March 25, 1777, aged seventy-two years. In 1743 he married Jane Ahll, who passed away February 15, 1762. They had eight children, three sous and five daughters. The sons were Capt. James, Joseph and Benjamin, all of whom resided on the home farm. C'apt. James McClure (grandfather), was born January 11, 1746. and commanded a company under Washington in his cam- paigns around New York city, during the revolutionary war. After the close of that great contest, Captain McClure removed to the farm in Wallace township, now owned by his grandson, the subject of this sketch. The farm then consisted of six hundred acres of land, and he resided upon it until his death, at an advanced age. He was a Fed- eralist in politics, and a consistent member of Brandywine Manor church. He married Esther MeClure, and reared a family of four children : Jane, Mary, Rachel and Silas. The only sou, Silas MeClure (father), was born June 4, 1783, on the home farm, where he resided until his death, November 13.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
1837, at fifty-four years of age. He was a Federalist in politics, and married Margaret Moore, by whom he had five children : Esther, wife of S. M. Krauser ; Rachel, wife of Dr. Matthew A. Long; Mary A., James, and William M. Mrs. Margaret McClure, who died August 9, 1861, aged seventy- three years, was a granddaughter of Judge James Moore, who was one of the first asso- ciate judges of Chester county, being ap- pointed in 1791, and serving until his death in 1802. He resided on a farm near Glen Moore, now owned by Mrs. Martha Fleming, and married Elizabeth Whitehill, by whom he had four sons : William, James, John and David. William Moore (maternal grand- father) resided on a farm in Wallace town- ship, now owned by David Brunner, and married Mary Henderson, by whom he had six children : Elizabetlı, Rachel, James, Margaret (mother), Sarah and Daniel.
The MeClure and Moore families have both been long resident in Chester county, and their descendants are noted for energy, enterprise and intelligence.
JOHN TEMPLETON, one the older and most highly respected and worthy citi- zens of Chester county, residing on the old Templeton homestead near the village of Frazer, is the youngest and only surviving son of John and Margaret (Davis) Temple- ton, and was born on the farm where he now lives, in East Whiteland township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, May 3, 1832. The Templetons are one of those old fam- ilies whose residence here antedates the revolutionary period. Some time near the middle of the eighteenth century three brothers of the name left their home in Ireland, and emigrating to America settled
in Chester county, Pennsylvania. Two of these brothers located in West Brandywine township, and the other, John Templeton, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, took up a large tract of land in what is now East Whiteland township, in 1752. He was a maltster and farmer by occupation, owning and operating the first brewery in Chester county. He died on his farm in East Whiteland township about 1792, at an advanced age. Among his children was John Templeton (grandfather), who was born on the homstead farm, where his family lived during the revolutionary war. After the battle of Brandywine, the English army passed through that section, and a number of Cornwallis's soldiers stopped at his place, where they destroyed nearly all his house- hold goods and fed up all the oats and other grain in the barn. He served during that war as a private in the Continental forces, and endured many hardships and privations in common with his compatriots. In re- ligion he was an Irish Presbyterian, and politically a stanch democrat from the ear- liest days of that party. He married Eliza- beth Long, by whom he had three sons : John: Alexander, who died in Maryland ; and James, who died in Genesee county, New York. John Templeton (father) was born in East Whiteland township, this county, in 1783, and died there in 1852. He cultivated the home farm until 1819, when he became proprietor of the "General Wayne" hotel, on the Lancaster pike, near Frazer, which he conducted until 1822, at which time he purchased and removed to a farin situated one-fourth of a mile south of Frazer, in East Whiteland township. There he resided, engaged in agricultural pursuits, until called away by death, March 13, 1852, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. In poli-
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
tics he was a stanch democrat, and served as school director and assessor for a number of years. fle was a man of sound judgment, had the confidence of all who knew him, and was frequently called on to settle up estates and handle trusts of various kinds. Although his educational opportunities had been somewhat meagre in early life, he gave such attention to questions of learning, busi- ness, politics, religion and every-day life, that he became well informed, and could talk in- telligently and in an entertaining manner on a wide range of topics. In religious faith and church membership he was a Presbyterian, and in 1814 he married Mar- garet Davis, a daughter of William Davis, of East Whiteland township, this county. To their union was born a family of seven chil- dren, two sons and five daughters : William, Elizabeth, Martha Ann, Henrietta, Cath- arine, Margaret and John, all now deceased except Margaret and the subject of this sketelı.
John Templeton was reared and has al- ways resided on the old homestead in East Whiteland township. His education was obtained in the common schools of Frazer, and after leaving school he devoted his time to cultivating and managing the home farm, which he now owns. It consists of one hun- dred aeres of valuable land, and is all finely improved. In his farm operations Mr. Templeton has always been industrious, en- ergetic and progressive, and his labors have been crowned with success, insomuch that he is now in independent circumstances. Politically he has adhered to the faith of his father, and is an ardent democrat, taking a prominent part in local politics and fre- quently representing his township in the county conventions of his party. He has served as assessor and as supervisor, and
held other positions of trust and importance, including the settlement of a number of es- tates. In all these responsible places he has shown an ability and integrity of character that reflects honor on himself and has given great satisfaction to the general public and all concerned.
On January 11. 1865, Mr. Templeton was united in marriage to Anna C. Jackson, a daughter of Hezekiah and Sarah Jackson, of West Goshen township. To Mr. and Mrs. Templeton have been born five chil- dren, three sons and two daughters: Katie J .: Bessie, deceased; John H., also dead; William and Oliver J. Mr. Templeton is a member of Academy Lodge, No. 502, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, since 1853, of which he is a past noble grand.
THOMAS H. MONTGOMERY, pres-
ident of the American Fire Insurance Company, of Philadelphia, who has aided so materially in establishing and guiding the affairs of this substantial organization to its present prestige and great prosperity, is a gentleman well known in insurance circles throughout the United States, and since 1882 has resided near West Chester, at his beautiful home, "Ardrossan." He is esteemed for his many generous qualities and fine business ability. President Mont- gomery was born in Philadelphia, February 23, 1830, and is a son of Rev. Dr. James and Mary Harrison ( White) Montgomery. Ilis father was the first rector of St. Steph- en's church in Philadelphia, and died in 1834. His mother was a granddaughter of Bishop White, the first Bishop of Pennsyl- vania, in whose house. 309 Walnut street, she was born and married. She died Aug- ust 2, 1875, aged sixty-nine years. They
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
had a family of four children, only one of whom now survives.
President Montgomery received a superior English education at the old academy con- nected with the Pennsylvania university, but ill health prevented the completion of his pro- jected college course. At seventeen he en- tered the well-known drug house of Charles Ellis & Co., and in 1851 graduated from the Philadelphia college of pharmacy. The same year he commenced his fire insurance career in the agency of Mr. Richard S. Newbold, formerly secretary of the Delaware Mutual Safety Insurance Company. He remained in this agency for a year, and then became engaged in the drug trade, but ill health again interrupted his plans and caused a change in his business connections. After a short respite from business he became in- terested in the organization of the Enter- prise Insurance Company in 1859, and was appointed successively assistant secretary, secretary and vice-president. In October, 1871, by the advice of his physicians, his health being seriously impaired, he sailed for the West Indies, a few days before the Chicago fire, which brought ruin to many fire insurance companies, as well as to the Enterprise. News of this disaster did not reach Mr. Montgomery until more than six weeks after its occurrence. Returning to the United States in April, 1872, within a fortnight of his arrival he was elected gen- eral agent of the National board of fire un- derwriters. His services in this position were such as required great discretion, good temper, sound judgment and superior exec- utive ability, and in the conflict of rival in- terests among executive officers, and the irri- tation to local agents by the enforcement of the decisions of the executive committee, Mr. Montgomery never lost the confidence
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