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 84
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
706
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
whig and later a republican, always taking an active interest in public affairs, but enter- taining no political ambition for himself. Keeping in line with the religious traditions of his family, he was a strict Quaker, being a life-long member of the Society of Friends. In 1851 he married Amy Hall, a daughter of Thomas and Phoebe (Mode) Hall, of Wil- listown township, this county, and was the father of four children. The eldest of these, Thomas H., was born March 22, 1852, mar- ried Mary V. Edwards, by whom he has six children -Charles H., Clara E., Ida M., George E., Elsie and Ralph E-and is now a well known and prosperous farmer of Wil- listown township. The eldest daughter of William and Amy Williams was Mary H., who was born January 2, 1854, and died July 17,1854; the second daughter, Amy Ida, was born September 10, 1857, and became the wife of Elwood Gleason, a farmer residing in Marlborough township. The youngest son was William, the subject of this sketch.
David Marshall, paternal grandfather of Mrs. Elizabeth Florence Williams, was a native of Marshalltou, and died in West Brandywine township, this county. He mar- ried Hannah Hoopes, and after his death she moved to her farm in Westtown town- ship. She departed this life at the advanced age of eighty-five years. She was the ouly daughter of Ezekiel Hoopes, and reared a family of five, one of whom, John E. Mar- shall (father of Mrs. Williams), was born De- cember 12, 1824, and is now living in West- town township, near the borough of West Chester. Ilis principal occupation in life has been that of a farmer. Iu politics a re- publican, he married Elma James, daughter of Abram and Phœbe (Hunt) James. She was born March 7, 1834, and by this union had a family of eight daughters: Hannah
M., born May 21, 1854; Lydia Helen, born April 21, 1856; Elizabeth Florence, born December 29, 1858, who became the wife of Mr. Williams; Lettie E., born in West Chester, January 3, 1863; Auna Belle, born December 4, 1865 ; Sallie Aneta, born Janu- ary 1, 1869; Laura May, born August 1, 1871 ; and Lenora, who was born January 3, 1875, and died April 15, 1876.
Ezekiel Hoopes, great-grandfather of Mrs. William Williams, married Amy Evans, a member of the Society of Friends. Their only daughter, Hannah Hoopes, was born in Westtown, Chester county. She finished her education at the Friends' school at West- town, and afterward married David Marshall. They had five children, two sons and three daughters : Amy A., who married Edward Hicks, now deceased; Mary, who married Hunt James, and both are now deceased ; Malinda, married Aaron James, a farmer of Illinois, and astrict member of the Society of Friends, and they departed this life at their home, within a few months of each other; John E., married Elma J., daughter of Abram and Phæbe (Hunt) James, and a sis- ter of Aaron James, before mentioned.
E EUGENE CUMMISKEY, a man of great business ability and one of the most successful book publishers of Philadelphia, was born in County Tyrone, province of Ul- ster, Ireland. He received most of his edu- cation in Ireland, and at seventeen years of age left his home in the far famed northi of Ireland to come to Philadelphia, where he joined his eldest brother, Rev. James Cummiskey, who had preceded him to this country, and who served for several years as pastor of St. Mary's Catholic church in the Quaker City. Eight years later he en-
707
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
gaged in the publishing business, and by good judgment, attention and industry, built up rapidly in his chosen field of work. Ilis publientions were mostly of a religious char- acter, and included Bibles, a twelve-volume edition of Butler's Lives of Saints, and in 1827, the first American, from the last Lon- don, edition of Lingard's History of En- gland, fourteen volumes ; beside many other interesting, profitable and useful works. With each succeeding year he widened the field of his trade, until his business assumed large proportions and he was known as one of the most successful publishers in the State. Specially qualified and well adapted for his line of business, in which he merited all the success he achieved, he was wide awake, energetic and honorable. Hle inan- gurated his business under excellent au- spices, and always kept it under efficient and experienced management, making it a success in every sense of the word. In 1846 he purchased a country residence and a farm of one hundred and sixty-three acres of land, in East Whiteland township, Chestercounty, where he resided during each summer un- til his death, which occurred June 9, 1860, when in his sixty-ninth year. With fitting and appropriate services his remains were entombed in the Catholic cemetery at Phila- delphia, to await the morning of the resur- rection.
Engene Cummiskey married Achsah Mid- dleton Cooke, a daughter of Apollo and Abi- gail Cooke, of New Jersey, and on her mother's side a granddaughter of John Hird, who fought in the Revolutionary war, was taken prisoner, and died on one of the En- glish prison ships on the Delaware. Her paternal grandfather was Sir William Cooke, an English baronet, who eamne to America under appointment of King George III., and
received for his services a large tract of land situated near Springfield, New Jersey, and known as "Cream Ridge." A part of this land was inherited by his son, Apollo Cooke, father of Mrs. Cummiskey, who was a promi- nent and influential man in his community.
Mr. and Mrs. Cummiskey had eight chil- dren : Laura C., Dr. James, who was gradu- ated from Jefferson Medical college, and has practiced in Philadelphia for over a quarter of a century ; Eugene, jr., who succeeded to his father's business as a publisher, and died January 25, 1882; Marie Geraldine; Julia Antoinette, who died at four years of age; Angelina Gertrude. died in infancy : Adele, who died at an early age; and John Paul, who only lived to be four years of age.
D. B. STOUT, one of the veterans of the late civil war, and proprietor of the wagon factory and blacksmith shops at Waterloo mills, near Berwyn, is a son of Charles and Sarah Ann Stout, and was born September 8, 1839, at Unicorn tavern, now known as Strafford, Delaware county, Penn- sylvania. He was reared and educated there, and after leaving school served an apprenticeship of three years with William Steele in the milling business, at Waterloo mills, this county. He followed that trade about two years, and shortly after the break- ing out of the civil war enlisted as a mem- ber of Captain Bean's company of the 29th Pennsylvania militia. He served in that company nearly three months, being sta- tioned at Philadelphia and Reading most of the time. After his discharge, August 1, 1863, he re-enlisted in Co. C, 83d Penn- sylvania infantry, and served with the army of the Potomae, taking part in the battles of the Wilderness, Rappahannock, Reams
708
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
station, Hatcher's Run, and numerous other engagements. He was in the detachment that captured and destroyed the Weldon railroad, and during the fight at Hatcher's Run was himself captured by the Confed- erates, but by strategy soon effected his es- cape and rejoined his company. He served until the war ended, and was honorably discharged at Harrisburg, June 29, 1865.
Returning from the army, Mr. Stout eu- gaged for a time with M. H. Wilds in the wheelwright business, and later conducted it on his own account in his present location at Waterloo mills. In 1867 he opened a shop at Newtown, where heremained a short time, and in 1868 returned to Waterloo mills, where in connection with wheelwright work he opened a blacksmithing depart- ment, and has ever since successfully con- ducted this combined business. In his shops, which employ four skilled workmen the year round, are constructed all kinds of heavy farm wagons, in addition to a large amountof work of a miscellaneous character.
On January 5, 1868, Mr. Stout married Mrs. Lydia A. Foy, nee Bewley, a daughter of Samuel and Anna (Anderson) Bewley, and to this union was born a family of five children, two sons and three daughters: Charles T., Sallie A., Arabella T., Frank D. and Ella M. Mrs. Stout was born January 2, 1840, educated in the public schools of West Chester, and in 1859 married James Foy, who died in 1861. IIer mother, Mrs. Anna Bewley, had been married to William Jones, by whom she had two sons-Benja- min and William A .- and after the death of Mr. Jones, had wedded Samuel Bewley, by whom she had six children, two sons and four daughters : Mary L., Lewis, Jonathan, Matilda Davis, Charles, Sarah Kauffman and Mrs. L. A. Stont-all married except Charles.
Politically Mr. Stout is a stanch republi- can, and takes considerable interest in pub- lie affairs. He has served as inspector of elections, and is a member of Wyomissing Tribe, No. 231, Improved Order of Red Men. He is also a member of McCall Post, No. 31, Grand Army of the Republic, at West Chester.
Charles Stout (father) was born Septem- ber 30, 1815. He obtained a good education, and was a man of more than ordinary abil- ity. While young he learned the trade of wheelwright, and followed that occupation at various places in Chester and Delaware counties, being located for fifteen years at Waterloo mills. He was an excellent work- man, and became widely known for his in- genuity and ability in his line of work. In politics he was an ardent democrat, taking an active interest in public questions, and. in religious faith and church membership was a Baptist. He was a member of the United American Mechanics, and died Jan- uary 17, 1859, aged forty-four years. He married Sarah Ann Bittle, and by her had four children, two sous and two daughters : Martha J., D. B., the subject of this sketch : Annie and Isaac N.
William Anderson, maternal grandfather of Mrs. D. B. Stout, was a native of Ireland, who left the Emerald Isle in early manhood, crossed the Atlantic and settled at Valley Forge, this county. He was a farmer by occupation, a democrat in politics, and was the father of five children, one son and four daughters. The son was Joseph Anderson, now a retired business man of Philadelphia.
Isaac Newtown Stout, a brother of D. B. Stout, was also a war veteran, serving as sergeant of Co. D, 97th Pennsylvania in- fantry, in the first brigade, tenth army corps. He was wounded in the right arm, and
Hon. Levi B. Kaler.
711
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
died from the effects of that wound after returning from the army. He was a cab- inet maker by trade, and was married three months previous to his death.
Kaler reared a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters.
Levi B. Kaler was reared in Berks county, and received his education in the common schools, and under the private instruction of Rev. Henry Miller, a noted teacher of his day. The school privileges which he enjoyed were confined to the winter seasons, and the summers he spent in work on the farm. At nineteen years of age he com- meneed the battle of life for himself in the business world by becoming a salesman with William Nyce, a dry goods and grocery dealer of Phoenixville. By attention and industry he acquainted himself with all the details of the business, and in seven years after entering the store Mr. Nyce retired, and Mr. Kaler and his fellow-clerk, Nathan Wagoner, purchased the store and condneted it most successfully under the firm name of Kaler & Wagoner, until the death of Mr. Wagoner, when his widow succeeded him and the business under the old firm name has been continued until the present time.
HON. LEVI B. KALER, ex-member of the house of representatives of l'enn- sylvania, a Thirty-second degree Mason, and one of the most substantial and well-known business men of Phoenixville, is a son of John and Elizabeth (Unstead ) Kaler, and was born in Robeson township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, January 26, 1828. Ilis pa- ternal grandfather, Matthias Kaler, was a native of Germany, and settled in the south- ern part of Berks county. He was a mem- ber of a light horse troop that did service for the American cause during the latter part of the revolutionary war. In 1791 he was appointed by Governor Mittin to the office of justice of the peace for the townships of Union, Robeson and Canaerrou, in Berks county, and served as such until his death, which ocenrred in 1825, when he was in the On September 17, 1860, he married Anne Oliver Nyee, by whom he had four children, of whom the youngest, Anne, only survives, and is now married to H. G. Dreisbach, of Lewisburg, this State. Mrs. Kaler died May 4, 1869, and on July 16, 1874, Mr. Kaler married Anne S. White, a cultured and amiable woman, who is a daughter of Samuel and Susan White. and was for many years a very popular and highly successful teacher of Phoenixville. seventy-fifth year of his age. His son, John Kaler (father), was born in Robeson town- ship, Berks county, where he always resided and followed farming until his death in May, 1859, aged seventy-five years. He was a member and officer of St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal church, and married Elizabeth Umstead, a daughter of John I'mstead, a descendant of Heinrich Umstead, an early settler in Skippack valley, Montgomery county. John Umstead married a Miss Levi B. Kaler was originally a whig in polities, but when that party went down he identified himselfwith the Republican party. which he has supported ever since. He served as school director from 1856 to 1862. and during his three terms of service all the Boyer. Mrs. Kaler, who was born at Trappe, in the above named county, was a school pupil of Gov. Francis R. Shunk. She was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, and died in December, 1851, when in the sixtieth year of her age. Mr. and Mrs. ! schools were graded and new houses built.
712
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
He was elected a member of the council in 1872, re-elected iu 1873, and was in a measure instrumental in securing the erec- tion of the present water works. In 1874 he was elected chief burgess, and ten years later was elected as a member of the house of representatives of Pennsylvania, in which honorable body he served with credit and dis- tinetion. In business affairs Mr. Kaler pos- sesses that rare power of glancing over dif- ferent enterprises and taking in every detail and making due arrangements for the same. He is one of the originators and a present director of the Phoenixville National bank, and has been for over twelve years a direc- tor of the Pickering Valley Railroad Com- pany. He has been president of the Masonic Hall association ever since it was organized in 1868, and is a director of the Fidelity Mutual Life association of Philadelphia, which has now a business of over forty mil- lion dollars. Mr. Kaler is a deacon of the First Baptist church of Phoenixville, of which he has been treasurer almost contin- uously since 1855, and of whose Sunday school he has continuously been the etti- cient superintendent for nearly twenty-seven years. He was one of the incorporators and is now the secretary of the Morris Cemne- tery association, which was incorporated in 1866, and has also served for more than twenty years as the clerk and treasurer of the Central Union association of Baptist churches. Ile is a member of the Wire Picket Fence Company of Phoenixville, holds an interest in several other business enter- prises, and frequently acts as guardian, ex- ecutor and administrator, being selected on account of his business ability, experience and integrity. Mr. Kaler owns valuable real estate in Florida, where he made his first purchase of land in 1883. He has
twenty-two and a half acres of orange groves which are nearly all now bearing.
For the last quarter of a century Mr. Kaler has been one of the leading business men and successful financiers of his eity. He well deserves, on account of his integrity and honorable business methods, the respect and confidence which he enjoys among a people where he has risen, by his own ef- forts, from obseurity to a favorable position in the community. Levi B. Kaler is a Thirty-second degree Mason. He is a mem- ber of Phoenix Lodge, No. 75, Free and Accepted Masons ; Phoenix Chapter, No. 198, Royal Arch Masons ; Palestine Council, No. 8, Royal and Select Masters : Jerusalem Commandery, No. 15, Knights Templar -; and Caldwell Consistory of Scottish Rite Masons, located at Bloomsburg, Pennsyl- vania.
O. E. MOSES, a prominent merchant of Anselma, who is interested in other lines of business also, and has been identi- fied with the prosperity of the town for the last decade, is a son of Joseph and Cathe- rine (Stine) Moses, and was born in East Pikeland township, Chester county, Penn- sylvania, October 25, 1849. At six years of age he lost his parents and was reared prin- cipally by strangers, living successively with Jacob King, Mrs. Rebecca Pennypacker, and George R. Stiteler. He received his education in the common schools and then learned the trade of carpenter with Jones Walker. After serving his apprenticeship, he worked at his trade in West Vincent township, and at West Chester, and then went to Philadelphia, where he was en- gaged in superintending carpenter work for eleven years. 'At the end of that time, in
713
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
1884, he came to Anselma, where he formed a co-partnership with his brother-in-law, Horace Latshaw, under the firm name of Moses & Latshaw, and engaged in the gen- eral mercantile, coal, feed, and lumber busi- ness. This partnership continued up to April 1, 1887, when Mr. Moses purchased his partner's interest, and since then has conducted the business under his own name. Ilis establishment is well fitted up and he carries a heavy and carefully selected stock of groceries, flour, notions and hardware, while his warehouses are well stocked with grain, bran, fertilizers, seeds and baled hay, and his lumber and coal yards always con- tain all kinds of lumber and several grades of coal. He makes a specialty of grain, hay and lumber, and fills large orders for the eastern markets. Mr. Moses has secured a splendid and remunerative trade, whose constantly enlarging proportions augur fu- ture success and prosperity. He owns a farm of thirty acres, and in addition to con- dueting his own business he aets at Anselma as agent for the United States Express Con- pany, and as station agent for the Philadel- phia & Reading Railroad Company. He is an active republican in politics, and a dea- con of Vincent Baptist church, in whose Sunday school he is a persistent worker.
On January 17, 1878, Mr. Moses wedded Sue, daughter of Jacob B. and Anna (Pen- nypacker) Latshaw, of West Pikeland. To Mr. and Mrs. Moses have been born three children : Laura, Emma and Auna.
O. E. Moses is of German descent. Ilis paternal grandfather, Michael Moses, spent the larger part of his life in East Pikeland, where he died in 1853, at about seventy-five years of age. He was a stonemason by trade, and married Hannah Hines, by whom he had six children : James, Esther, John, Jos-
eph, Mary and Barbara. The youngest son, Joseph Moses (father), was a farmer and a democrat, and died May 9, 1855, at thirty- eight years of age. Ile was a member of Pikeland Lutheran church, and married Catherine Stine, who was a daughter of Adam and Elizabeth (Friday) Stine, and who died December 13, 1860, when in the thirty- ninth year of her age. To Mr. and Mrs. Moses were born four children: Wilmer W., Mary E., O. E. (subject), and Addison.
W ILLIAM SHARPLESS, one of the remarkably successful business men of southern Chester county, and the proprie- tor of the Toughkenamon and Kennett Square ereameries, is a son of William, sr., and Sarah A. (Varuall) Sharpless, and was born in Middletown township, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, June 10, 1849. He enjoyed the educational privileges of the common schools of Delaware county, which he left at an early age to engage in farming. At the end of ten years he disposed of his farming interests and embarked in his pres- ent creamery business at Toughkenamon. Ilis creamery, which is well fitted up, is op- erated on the latest and most scientifie prin- ciples and its products are recognized as first class in every particular. His main build- ing is forty by fifty feet in dimensions, while all other necessary buildings have been fully supplied. The daily products of the creani- ery average five hundred pounds of butter, one thousand quarts of cream and one hun- dred pounds of cottage cheese. The cream- ery business of Mr. Sharpless now aggregates seventy thousand dollars per year, and from its present rapid rate of increase promises to go above one hundred thousand dollars at no far distant day in the future.
714
1
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Being connected directly by rail with Philadelphia and Baltimore, he has constant markets for all of his products. Besides his Toughkenamon creamery he owns a creamery and dwelling house and some choice building lots on Willow street at Kennett Square. By his energy, industry and judicious management he has estab- lished an enterprise that is highly beneficial to his section of the county.
On the 13th of November, 1872, Mr. Sharpless was united in marriage with Sarah, daughter of Eber Hurford, and they have one child living, a son, named Warren, who was born Angust 20, 1879. They had buried a son and a daughter previous to that time.
William Sharpless is a grandson of Samuel Sharpless, who was a native of Delaware county, where he owned a large farm. Ile was a earpenter by trade, and did an exten- sive business in contracting in addition to managing his farm. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and married and reared a family of thirteen children, four sous and nine daughters: Joseph, Samuel, William, sr., Beulah, Amy, Thamazine, Han- vah, Ruth Anna, Sarah, Lydia, Matilda, Joel and Thomas. William Sharpless, the third son and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1806. He was a farmer by occupation, and in political affairs always supported the Democratic party. He married Sarah A. Yarnall, and they were the parents of five children : Enos, Emma, wife of Ed- win Scott, who is engaged in the creamery business ; William, Pennock, and Sarah, wife of Joseph H. Pyle. Mrs. Sarah A. (Yarnall) Sharpless, was born in 1812, and died November 10, 1876. Her father, James Yarnall, was a native and life-long resident of Delaware county, where he was a farmer. lle married and had three children : Mrs.
Sarah A. Sharpless, Margaret and Eber. After his death his widow married James Edwards, and three children-Hannah, Pennock and Milton-were born to them.
In politics William Sharpless is a democrat of the Jeffersonian type. His success in life is attributable to his own energy and efforts, and he deservedly ranks in that useful class of men who are known as 'self-made, and who are the architects of their own good fortunes.
JOHN L. BROWER, a popular young business man and the leading bookseller and stationer of Phoenixville, is a son of Daniel W. and Rebecca ( Miller) Brower, and was born at Phoenixville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1864. He received his education in the public schools of Phœ- nixville, commenced life for himself as a draughtsman for the Phoenix Bridge Com- pany, and three years later engaged in the book and stationery business with D. W. Brower & Son, with whom he remained for three years. IIe then re-entered the service of the Phoenix Bridge Company, and was employed successively for nearly three years in their Kansas City and home offices, and in the New York city office of the Phoenix Iron Company. At the end of that time, in 1890, he was engaged as engineer-draughts- man in the United States engineer's office, Major Raymond, United States Army, in charge, at Philadelphia, which position he resigned a year later and purchased his fath- er's mercantile establishment at Phoenixville, this county, and since then has been success- fully engaged in the book and stationery business. He keeps his store always stocked with a full variety of books and periodicals, fancy goods, gold pens and novelties, bric-a-
715
OF CHESTER COUNTY.
brac, leather goods, musie and instruments, eutlery, fire arms, bicycles and sporting goods, toys, curtains, baskets, coaches, and other articles. The newspaper sales are more than one thousand two hundred daily, and the United States Express Company has its agency in Mr. Brower's charge. The new store at Main and Bridge streets, opened December, 1892, is the largest and best ar- ranged in the county, and the owner has built up a good trade by attention, industry and a careful study of the wants of his pat- rons. Ile is a republican in political opin- ion, and has been a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church for several years.
On June 8, 1888, Mr. Brower was united in marriage with Mary M., daughter of Thomas M. and Margaret N. Eaton, of White Ilill, New Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Brower have one child, a daughter, named Margaret.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.