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 82
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C' HARLES C. HIGHLEY, a good finan-
cier and a popular business man, who has served as cashier of the National bank of Malvern ever since its organization, is a son of Felix F. and Susan R. (Corson) High- ley, and was born in Schuylkill township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1862. He received his education in select schools and Norristown High school, from which insti- tution he was graduated in the class of 1880. After graduation be read law with his uncle, Hon. George N. Corson, for two years, and then dropped his legal studies to accept a
position in the Peoples' National bank of Norristown, where he remained for two years. At the end of that time, in 1884, he was appointed to his present position of cashier of the National bank of Malvern, which was organized in the above named year.
Ilis paternal great-grandfather, Henry Highley, is a descendant of one of two Highley brothers who came from Germany to Pennsylvania. One wrote his name Heilig, and became a resident of German- town, while the other, who wrote the name Highley, came to Chester county, and was the immigrant ancestor of Henry Highley, whose son, George Highley (grandfather). was born in Schuylkill township, and after his marriage with Aun Francis, removed to Lower Providence township, Montgomery county, where he followed farming until his death, and left seven children: Henry, Thomas, Felix, Mrs. Hannah Corson (dead), Eliza (deceased), Mary l'., and Deborah. The eldest son, Henry Highley (father), was born August 1, 1832. Ile received his edu- cation at the old Fremont seminary of Nor- ristown, Montgomery county, and was en- gaged in tilling the home farm until 1875, when he sold it to the Reading Railroad Company. He then purchased a farm near Norristown, which he cultivated for twelve years, and at the end of that time removed to Norristown, where he has resided ever since. He is a republican in politics, served as school director for several years, and mar- ried Susan R. Corson, who is a member of the old Corson family noted for the many professional men which it has furnished, and is a daughter of Charles Corson, a noted abolitionist of slavery times, and whose brother, Dr. Hiram Corson, although eighty- eight years of age, is still practicing at Ply-
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
mouth, Montgomery county, and was the first exponent of the idea of women physi- cians practicing in hospitals. Mrs. Highley has six brothers and sisters : William E., an editor ; Richard and John, real estate agents ; Hon. George N., a prominent lawyer and a · member of the constitutional convention of 1872; Adelaide; and Mary F. To Mr. and Mrs. Highley have been born five children : Dr. George N., a graduate of the university of Pennsylvania, who married Mary W. Wilson and is practicing in Conshocton, this State; Ione, wife of H. L. Everett, a publisher of Philadelphia ; Charles C .; Sarah C., wife of George M. Holstein, treasurer and manager of the Berther Zinc Company of Pulaski, Virginia, which employs eight hundred men at that place; and Nannie P.
In politics Charles C. Highley has always been a republican, and was one of the first justices of the peace elected for Malvern, and is still in commission. Mr. Highley is popular as a business man. He is treasurer of the Malvern Water Company, and was the originator of the Malvern & Duffryn Mawr Building and Loan association, which was formed on January 1, 1888, and is in a prosperous condition. He is well acquainted with the principles of safe banking, and has been very successful in every position that he has ever held in connection with finan- cial and business institutions.
WIL ILLIAM P. MARSHALL, a well
known conveyancer and active busi- ness man of West Chester, and a public spirited and progressive citizen of the county, is a son of Samuel and Philena ( Pusey) Marshall, and was born in Concord town- ship, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, De- cember 21, 1826. The Marshall family of
Chester county, from which William P. Marshall is descended, was founded by John Marshall, who emigrated about 1684 from Elton, in Derbyshire, England, and settled in Upper Darby township, Delaware county, and within the bounds of Darby Friends' Meeting, of which he was a useful member. He died September 13, 1729. In 1688 he married Sarah Smith, of Darby, and their marriage was the first that was solemnized at the first meeting house built at that place. Their children were: John, William, and Thomas. Thomas, the youngest, was born December 10, 1694, and settled in Concord township, Delaware county, where, in 1727, he built a brick house, which is still stand- ing, and now in posession. of the brother of the subject of this sketch. On February 24, 1718, he married Hannah Mendenhall, a sister to the wife of John Bartram, the eminent botanist. Their son, Thomas Mar- shall (great-grandfather), was born July 26, 1727, and married Edith Newlin, by whom he had four children, one son and three daughters. The son, Thomas Marshall, jr. (grandfather), was born December 12, 1756, and died August 13, 1844, when in the eighty- eighth year of his age. He was a tanner by trade, and followed farming to some extent on the old Concord homestead, which he had inherited from his father. On April 21, 1779, he married Mary Grubb, by whom he had several children, of whom the youngest was Samuel (father), who was born. March 24, 1789. Samuel Marshall followed tan- ning and farming until his death, which occurred on August 27, 1832. He was an intelligent and active business man, and married Philena Pusey, a daughter of Ellis Pusey. She was a preacher in the Society of Friends, and passed away in 1842. . Mr. and Mrs. Marshall reared a family of seven
William
J. Marshall.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
children, six sons and one daughter: Ellis P., now deceased, was a farmer and resided at the old homestead; Thomas, also dead, was a farmer of Delaware county; Samuel, a remarkably successful business man and head of the well known banking firm of Marshall & Ilsley, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; William P .; Edward S., now engaged in farming at London Grove; Henry, who died young ; and Margaret, widow of Morris Pal- mer, who was a farmer in the State of Delaware.
William P'. Marshall was reared on the farm, received his education at Westtown boarding school, and then followed teaching for ten years, most of the time as principal of a Friend's school at Darby, and the last three years at London Grove. After his marriage, in 1851, he purchased a farm ad- joining the borough of West Chester, upon which he has since resided. In 1872 he leased the most of the land to Hoopes, Brother & Thomas, nurserymen, and opened an . office in West Chester, where he has been actively and successfully engaged in the conveyaneing business ever since. He also loans money on mortgages, and looks after real estate interests, renting and sell- ing desirable properties. He has been for several years a director in the National bank of Chester county, of which old institution he is vice-president.
On April 4, 1851, Mr. Marshall married Frances A., daughter of Hon. James An- drews, who was an associate judge of the courts of Delaware county for a number of years. To Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have been bory seven children, one son and six daugh- ters. Samuel, the son, is a surveyor by profession. One of the daughters is mar- ried to John . H. Darlington, who resides near West Chester, and another to Dr.
George G. Groff, a professor in Bucknell university.
In politics Mr. Marshall was an old-line whig until that political organization went down, and since then has been identified with the Republican party. He is a mem- ber of the Society of Friends, as have been his ancestors before him. He has always taken a deep interest in educational matters, and in addition to his labors for the progress of the academies and private institutions of learning, he has served for a number of years as a trustee of the West Chester State Nor- mal school. The unfortunate and criminal classes of human society have received his attention and thought, with a view to their improvement and reclamation, and he has served for seventeen years as an inspector of the Chester county prison. William P. Marshall has achieved success by deserving it. Ile is firm but courteons, kind and hos- pitable, and is a man of well known integ- rity, both in public and private life.
JESSE HAWLEY, deceased, belonged to that class of men who leave the world something better for their having lived in it. He was energetic, intelligent and use- ful- to himself and others. Not only his friends and neighbors but the interests of humanity in general held a place in his large heart, and received such aid as his circum- stances allowed and opportunity permitted. Ilis industry and ability gave him success in business, while other qualities of head and heart won him prominence in the commun- ity and left a name and memory which con- stitute a better monument than can be fash- ioned from marble. He was a son of Joseph and Rebecca (Meredith) Hawley, and was born in Uwchlan township, Chester county,
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Pennsylvania, February 14, 1806. His early education was obtained in the comnion schools of his neighborhood, and his train- ing completed by a course of study in one of the leading boarding schools in this county. Leaving school he learned the trade of tanner, and in 1831 purchased the tannery at Pughtown, which he successfully conducted for a period of thirty-seven years, retiring from the business in 1868. He was a man of great energy and fine business ability, and during the time he operated the tannery built up a lucrative trade and ac- cumulated a handsome competency. He also owned and managed a good farm, which was well improved and highly productive. His death occurred at his home in Pugh- town, October 7, 1887, at which time he was in the eighty-second year of his age. In politics he was originally a whig, but after the advent of the Republican party in this county he adhered to that organiza- tion, and was active and influential in its support. He took a deep interest in popu- lar education, and served as school director for many years. During the anti-slavery agitation he was particularly active, and served as a delegate to a number of conven- tions held by those who opposed slavery, and were devising ways and means to assist fugitive slaves on their way to freedom in the British dominions of the north. In re- ligious faith he was a Quaker, and a strict member of the Society of Friends all his life.
JESSE H. GARRETT, the present superintendent of the Westtown school farm, is the eldest son of Aaron and Sidney (Ilawley) Garrett, and was born February 26, 1838, in Willistown township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He was principally
reared on the farm owned by his father in that township, and received a good English education in the public schools and at West- town boarding school. After completing his studies he engaged in farming in his native township, where he successfully fol- lowed that occupation for a period of fifteen years. He was energetic and enterprising, with enough of that rare quality called com- mon sense to enable him to strike a happy medium between the antique methods that served in former times and the wild vagar- ies of modern agricultural cranks, who im- agine that in every new and untested scheme lies the solution of the old problem of "how to make the farm pay." He demonstrated by practical experience that the road to suc- cess runs along the middle ground, some distance from either extreme. About 1881 he removed to Birmingham township, and for four years conducted a farm there. In 1885 he came to Westtown and assumed the duties of superintendent of the Westtown school farm, to which position he had been appointed by a committee in charge of that institution. He still occupies that post, and has given entire satisfaction in his adminis- tration of the affairs of this farm, which comprises six hundred acres and practically deals with all phases of diversified agricul- ture. In politics Mr. Garrett is a republican, and in religion a leading member of the Society of Friends, being connected with Birmingham meeting, which he is now sery- ing as overseer.
On January 5, 1865, Mr. Garrett was united in marriage to Susan Cope, youngest daughter of Darlington and Sallie (Thomas) Cope, of West Chester, this connty. To Mr. and Mrs. Garrett has been born a fam- ily of ten children, three sons and seven daughters : William S., a carpenter by occu-
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
pation, who married Lillie White, and now resides in the city of Portland, Oregon ; Sallie C., Elizabeth, Alice M., Anna C., Howard T. (deceased ), Bertha S., Lillian J., Abigail II. and Charles C. The latter and all the daughters are living at home with their parents.
The Garretts are descended from English Quaker stock, and have been residents in Pennsylvania since 1684, when William, son of John Garrett, came from Leicester, Eng- land, with his wife, Ann, and settled at Darby. Their children were Ann, Mary, Samuel, Hannah, Sarah, Alice, Willian, Thomas and John. William, sr., died at Philadelphia in 1724, and his wife in 1722. The eldest son, Samuel, married Jane Pen- nell, of Middletown, in 1698, and they had nine children : Mary, born April 7, 1699, married first Thomas Oldman and second Obadiah Eldridge; Joseph, born February 25, 1701, married Mary Sharpless in 1822; Hannah, born July 18, 1704, married Wil- liam Lewis in 1728; Samuel, born October 20, 1706, died January 19, 1707; Samuel (2), born Angust 22, 1708, married Sarah IFibberd in 1731, and settled in Willistown, where he died January 29, 1747, leaving four children-Josiah, Jesse, Samuel and Aaron; Nathan, born December 13, 1711 ; James, born April 17, 1714; Thomas, born October 26, 1717; and Jane, boru April 20, 1719. Anron Garrett, son of Samuel, was born December 27, 1746, married Rachel Cox in 1769, and died March 18, 1815. His wife died February 4th of the same year. Their children were: Levi, Amos, Aaron, Sarah, Robert and Mary. This Aaron Gar- rett, jr., was the paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Ches- ter county, and lived most of his life in Wil- listown township, where he died in 1808.
He was a farmer by occupation, a whig in polities, and a Quaker in religious belief. He married Jane Hoopes, a daughter of Jesse and Rachel Hoopes, and by this union had a family of six children : David, born November 28, 1803, and died October 17. 1868; Rachel Y., Betsy, Jesse H., Aaron and Jane.
Aaron Garrett (father) was born in Wil- listown township, this county, in 1811, where he grew to manhood, was educated and spent most of his life. In 1872 he removed to Edge- mont township, Delaware county, where he passed the closing years of his life, dying there in 1877, at the advanced age of sixty- four years. While yet a young man he learned the trade of tanner and followed that occupation for a time, but his chief business was farming. He was a man of deeply re- ligions character and a life-long member of the Society of Friends. Politically he was a whig until about 1856, when he identified himself with the Republican party and ever afterward yielded it a loyal support. In 1833 he married Sidney Hawley, a daughter of Benjamin Hawley, of Goshen township, and by this union had a family of four chil- dren, two sons and two daughters: Eliza- beth, now deceased; Jane, who married William P. Smedley, and resides in Media, this State : Jesse H., whose name heads this sketch; and Robert, who married Sarah H. Cope, and is now a prosperous farmer of East Goshen township, this county.
·
PROF. WILLIAM H. WALKER, who
taught with well merited success for nearly a quarter of a century in Friends' C'entral school of Philadelphia, and who is now engaged in the management of his farm in Tredyffrin township, is the eldest son of
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
T. Ivins and Isabella B. (Henry) Walker, and was born in Tredyffrin township, Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1853. He received his education in the public schools of Tredyffrin township, and Friends' Central school, of Philadelphia, from which excellent institution he was graduated in the class of 1869. Leaving school he was variously employed until 1872, when he be- came principal of the Friends' High school of West Chester. At the end of one year he resigned that position to become an in- structor in the Friends' Central school of Philadelphia, in which he taught consecu- tively and successfully from 1873 to 1892. In the last . named year he resigned, and since then has been engaged in the manage- ment of his farm and other agricultural pursuits. His farm . of one hundred and forty-four acres'of fine farming and twelve acres of good woodland, in Tredyffrin town- ship, is a desirable piece of property on' ac- connt of its fertility and improvements, and also because it is convenient to school, church and market. He is a republican in polities, but has never desired or sought prominence in political affairs, although he is a close observer of men and parties, and keeps himself well informed on the enrrent issues of the day.
On May 13, 1885, Mr. Walker was united in marriage with Charlotte A., daughter of William Weber, of Jeffersonville, Mont- gomery county. Their union has been blessed with two children: Isabella and William W.
The Walker family is one of the old and highly respected families of Chester county, and its immigrant ancestor is said to have been Lewis Walker, who came from Wales to Chester county in 1686. Joseph Walker, the great-great-grandfatherof Professor Walker,
was a prominent farmer and Friend of Tredyffrin township, where he died in 1818, at ninety years of age. His son, Thomas Walker (great-grandfather), married Mar- garet Curry, and had a family of ten chil- dren : Sarah, married Benjamin Moore, of Philadelphia ; Richard C .; William, married Sarah 'Pennypacker; Joseph, who'married Hannah Stevens, and after her death wedded Eliza Roberts; Ann, wife of John Richards ; Jane, married Joseph Pennypacker; Zilla, wife of Evans Kendall; Mary, who married Benjamin Rowland ; Hannah, wife of Stephen Stevens; and Isaac, who married Elizabeth Beidler. Richard C. Walker (grandfather), the eldest son, was born in 1791, and died in 1870, aged 'seventy-nine years. He was a farmer, whig and Friend. He married Sarah Cleaver, who died and left two chil- dren : Jonathan, who married Caroline Blanchard; and T. Ivins. For his second wife Mr. Walker married Rebecca Jones, by whom he had one son, Richard, who married Martha Wood. After the death of his sec-' oud wife Richard C. Walker wedded Sarah A. Jones, and by this third marriage' had four children : Mary, wife of William Vogdes, Margaret, now dead; John, who married Emma Stephens; and Sarah, wife of Edward Bonsall. The second son by the first mar- riage, T. Ivins Walker (father), was born September 23, 1823, in Tredyffrin town-' ship, where he died August 17, 1869, aged forty-six years. He was a farmer and re- publican, and married Isabella B. Henry, eldest daughter of Hon. William Henry, of Montgomery county. They had two ehil- dreu : Prof. William II. and Ivins C., who was born January 1, 1864, and is engaged in the livery business at Norristown, Mont- gomery county, where he married Mary R. Thomas, by whom he has one child, Anna-
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
bel. Mrs. Isabella B. Walker died July 1, 1892, at sixty-two years of age. Hon. Wil- liam Henry (maternal grandfather) lived at Port Kennedy, Montgomery county, and died at Phoenixville ahont 1880, aged sev- enty-eight years. He was a democrat and a Presbyterian, and represented Montgom- ery county in the legislature about 1850. He married Elizabeth Bull, and their chil- dren were : Mrs. Isabella B. Walker (mother), William, Sallie B., Mrs. Anna L. Tyson, Mrs. Emma B. Loneks, Mrs. Sophia Hamp- ton, Mrs. Florence Kendall, Mrs. Lizzie Saylor, Mrs. Ellen Kendall, Mrs. Frances Patrick. Ida M., and John and Charles, who both died in infancy.
J. BECHTEL MINTZER, M. D., of
Anselma, a graduate of two leading medical colleges of the United States, and a-prominent and successful physician, is a son of Henry and Rebecca ( Bechtel) Mint- zer, and was born at Pottstown, Montgoni- ery county, Pennsylvania, January 29, 1855. He received his elementary education in the publie schools nt Pottstown, and at eleven years of age commenced life for himself by going to work in a brickyard, which he left four months later to become a messenger boy for the Reading Railroad Company. Here his aptness and close attention to his duties recommended him to his superiors, and at fourteen years of age he had so im- proved his opportunities in the telegraph offices where he was employed, that he was appointed telegraph operator at Pottstown, which position he held bnt a short time, when he was promoted to night operator in the depot. In this last position he so well performed his duties that he was soon ap- pointed train dispatcher, although but seven-
teen years of age, and was undoubtedly the youngest train dispatcher ever appointed in the United States. From train dispatcher he was transferred to the passenger service. which he left to engage in the insurance business in Philadelphia, where he took steps to secure a better education. He studied under Rev. Noble Frame, who ad- vised him to take a theological course and enter the ministry of the Methodist Epis- copal church, but he soon gave up the idea, although he had been licensed and had de- livered several sermonsin different churches. He then turned his attention to medieine, and to a three years' course in homeopathy he added a four years' allopathic course at the Medico-Chirurgical college, from which he was graduated in 1890. After gradua- tion from this college he served as anatomi- cal director in the Philadelphia school of anatomy, and as chief of clinies for nervous diseases in the Medico-Chirurgical college, and also practiced in Philadelphia for two years, and then, on July 16, 1892, came to near Anselma, in West Pikeland township. where he has been in continuous active and successful practice ever since.
. On February 20, 1876, Dr. Mintzer mar- ried Chrissie Stone, a daughter of George W. Stone, of Pottstown, this State. To their union have been born four children : Oliver Bland, Charles Craven (deceased ). Frank Kellar, and one that died in infancy.
Dr. Mintzer is a republican in politics. He is a member of the association of the Medico-Chirurgical college and the l'hila- delphia Medieal society. He is skilled and successful as a physician, well read in every- thing connected with medicine, and is build- ing up a fine and extensive practice. .
Dr. Mintzer's grandfather, William Mint- zer, was a stage line owner prior to. the
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
building of the Reading railroad, and after its construction engaged in merchandising at Pottstown, this State. Ile was a Luth- eran and a federalist, and had five sons : Joseph, William, Henry, Frederick and Al- bert. Henry Mintzer (father) was a farmer and merchant, a Lutheran and a republican. He was engaged in the mercantile business for some time, and was postmaster of Potts- town for eight years, being succeeded by his son, Gen. William Mintzer, who also held the office for eight years. He died in 1884, aged seventy-one years. He married Re- becca Bechtel, daughter of Peter Bechtel, of Barren Hill. They had nine children : Gen. William, who commanded the 53d Pennsylvania volunteers during the late war; Catherine Wells, of Kenilworth; Elizabeth Reeser; Henry, now dead; Rebecca Town- send; Irvin, deceased, who served ten years in the regular army; Warren, a telegraph operator of the Reading Railroad Company for the last twenty-five years; Sallie H. Culp; and Dr. J. Bechtel, whose name ap- pears at the head of this sketch.
CHARLES D. MASSEY, a prominent and progressive farmer of Frazer, and a representative of one of the older families of this Commonwealth, is the youngest son of Jacob and Rebecca (Richardson) Massey, and a native of Tredyffrin township, Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania, where he was born May 9, 1828. He was educated at New London boarding school and Norristown boarding school, under the care of Samuel Aaron, and leaving school, at once engaged in farming, to which occupation he has given all the active years of his life. He resided in Tredyffrin township until April 5, 1882, when he removed to East Goshen, where he
owns a farm of seventy-seven acres of valn- able land, all improved. In the manage- ment of his farm he is practical and progres- sive, and has met with remarkable snccess. He is what might well be termed a model farmer, and his broad åcres attest what can be accomplished by intelligent culture"and improved methods. Among his farm build- ings is a very handsome residence, erected by himself in 1882, which is well planned and convenient in all its arrangements. In political faith Mr. Massey is a stanch re- publican, and was elected and served three years as supervisor of Tredyffrin township.
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