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 91
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sons and two daughters : Walter, William, John, Elizabeth and Jane (twins), and David R. Elizabeth married Thomas G. Taylor, and Jane married Charles C. Davis, a mer- chant of Phoenixville. William died in 1870, at the age of nineteen.
Walter MacFeat was reared partly in Scotland and partly in this country. His early education was received in his native land, and after coming to East Vincent township he also studied in the public schools there. After attaining manhood he engaged in farming in that township, and continued to devote his time to agricultural pursuits until 1881, when he abandoned farming. In that year he was elected com- missioner of Chester county, on the Demo- cratic ticket, for a term of three years, and acceptably discharged the duties of that po- sition until 1885. In 1884 he was appointed postmaster at Spring City, under Mr. Cleve- land's first administration, and held that office for a period of four and a half years. At the same time he was dealing in cattle to some extent, and since leaving the post- office he has been engaged in auctioneering and stock dealing. He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church at Spring City, in which he served as deacon three years, as elder six years, and has been a trustee for fifteen years. He is also a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, being past master of Spring City Lodge, No. 535, Free and Accepted Masons, and past high priest of Palestine Council, No. 168, and also a member of Jerusalem Commandery, No. 15, Knights Templar, of Phoenixville.
Walter MacFeat has been twice married. His first wife was Mary M. Holman, who died in 1872, leaving five children, one son and four daughters: Helen, married L. B. Vanderslice, leader of the military band at
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
Phoenixville ; Catharine, who married Rollin Cleverstine, and is now deceased ; Agnes L .; William W., now head bookkeeper for the firm of MacFeat & Chine, Richmond, Vir- ginia ; and Mary E., deceased. Some time afterward Mr. MacFeat was again married, wedding Mrs. Anna M. (Hoffman) Ellis, a daughter of Jacob Hoffman, of East Vincent township. She was born in 1833, in East Vincent township, this county.
H ON. JJ. SMITH FUTHEY, author and
jurist, and who served as president judge of the Fifteenth judicial district of Pennsylvania from 1879 until his death in 1888, was a son of Hon. Robert and Mar- garet (Parkinson) Futhey, and was born in Chestercounty, this State. Ile was of Seotch- Irish descent, and an interesting history of the old and honorable Fnthey family, of which he was a member, will be found in the biographical sketch of R. Agnew Futhey, which commences on page 313 of this work.
J. Smith Futhey was reared in his native county, received a good education, and after reading law was admitted to the bar of Chester county on February 7, 1843. Ile practiced his profession successfully until February 24, 1879, when he was appointed by Gov. Henry M. Hoyt as judge of the Fifteenth judicial district, to fill ont the un- expired time of Judge Butler, who had re- signed. In November, 1879, Judge Fnthey was elected by the people for a full term of ten years, there being no opposing candi- date. He died in 1888, while on the bench. He presided with ability and fairness over the courts of his county, and left behind him a record of ability and integrity. Judge Futhey and Gilbert Cope were the authors
of the interesting and valuable "History of Chester County " that was published by L. HI. Everets in 1881.
E. CLIFFORD EMERY, a leading farmer of Birehrunville, who is serv- ing as school director of his township and is a gentlemen highly esteemed by his fel- low-citizens, is the oldest son of Jacob and Annie (Moses) Emery, and was born Jan- nary 3, 1859, in East l'ikeland township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. ITis paternal grandfather, Jacob Emery, was a native of this county, and died in East Pikeland township about 1863, aged nearly seventy years. The latter was a farmer by vocation and became quite prosperous in his day. He was an active democrat in politics and served for a number of years as justice of the peace in his township. In religious faith he was a Lutheran, and a prominent mem- ber of that denomination at Pikeland. He married Abbie Sloyer, and reared a family of six children, three sons and three daugh- ters. One of these sons, Jacob Emery (father), was born in East Pikeland township, this county, in 1830, and now resides in West Pikeland township, where he has followed farming all his life. In polities he is a democrat, and has served as school director for nearly twenty years, and as justice of the peace for four or five terms. He also is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and in 1857 married Annie Moses, a daugh- tor of John Moses, of West Pikeland. She was born in 1840 and is still living.
E. Clifford Emery was reared principally on his father's farm and obtained a good practical education in the public schools of His neighborhood, completing his studies at a private school in Phoenixville. Upon
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
leaving school he engaged in farming, and has followed that occupation ever since, meeting with good success and now owning a fine farm of one hundred acres of im- proved and highly productive land. Ad- hering to the political faith of his ancestors, Mr. Emery has been a life long democrat, and is now serving as one of the school di- rectors of his township. He has been some- what prominent in local politics, serving his party as a member of the county executive committee from West Pikeland township. Being a man of broad and liberal views he takes a lively interest in all public questions, and is very popular as a citizen and neigh- bor. He is a prominent member of the Evangelical Lutheran church at Pikeland, in which he is serving as an elder.
In the year 1881 Mr. Emery was united in marriage to Annie M. Ralston, a daugh- ter of William Ralston, of West Vincent, and to Mr. and Mrs. Emery have been born two children, both daughters : A. May, born May 29, 1882; and Florence Edna, born March 7, 1889, and died September 20th of the same year.
E DWIN FRICK, one of the leading citizens of Matthews, is a fine old gen- tlemen who has spent a long life engaged in agricultural pursuits, and is universally es- teemed by his fellow citizens. He is the only surviving son of John and Sarah (Dunn) Frick, and a native of Chester county, hav- ing been born in East Vincent township, October 12, 1819. The Frick family is of Swiss origin, though some of its members have been scattered in Germany and Eng- land for several generations. This branch was planted in America by Jacob Frick (great-grandfather), who was born in 1717,
and came over from Rotterdam, Germany, in September, 1733, in the merchant ship Pennsylvania, of London, John Stedman, master. He was one of a number of Ger- man Baptist emigrants who came at that time and settled along the Schuylkill river in Chester and Montgomery counties. Jacob Frick was accompanied by a brother named John, and they first settled one mile east of Pottstown, but afterward removed to Chester valley, two miles from Valley Forge, where they lived during the revolutionary war. They were located near the scene of the Paoli massacre, and on their farm the Brit- ish and Hessians encamped after the battle of Brandywine. Jacob married Elizabeth Urner, of this county, who was born in 1724 and died in 1757. He died in 1799, aged eighty-two years. Their son, John Frick (grandfather), was born in Chester Valley, and died in East Coventry township, this county, at an advanced age. He was a farmer by vocation, and married Catharine Grumbacher, by whom he had a family of eight children. Among his sons were Jacob Frick, who married Mary Sower and had a family of eight children; and John Frick (father), who was born in Coventry township, this county, in 1787, and died in West Vin- cent township in 1852, aged sixty-five years. The latter was a farmer by occupation, an old-line whig in politics, and married Sarah Dunn, a daughter of Philip Dunn, then of Crawford county, this State, to which he had removed from New Jersey. By this mar- riage John Frick had a family of eight chil- dren, four sons and four daughters: Susan Acker, Edwin, Hazael, David (dead), Chath- erine Bertolett (deceased), John, Sallie Sav- idge (dead), and Lizzie Bertolett.
Edwin Frick was reared on the old home- stead in West Vincent township, and re-
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
ceived such education as could be obtained in the country schools of that early day. After attaining his majority he engaged in farming, and has spent all his active life in that occupation. Since 1882 he has prac- tically retired from business and is taking life easy. In politics he was a whig during his early years, casting his first vote for William Henry Harrison in 1840, but has been a stanch republican ahnost from the time that party was first organized in Penn- sylvania. He is a leading member of the Baptist church at Vincent, in which he has served as trustee and deacon for many years.
In December, 1853, Mr. Friek was mar- ried to Hannah Laferty, a daughter of Dan- ie! Laferty, of West Pikeland township, this county. To them were born two children : Allen, who died October 6, 1889 ; and Mary, who married Irvin Hallman.
E LLIS P. NEWLIN, the proprietor of the Green Tree Inn, of West Chester, . and a wounded Union soldier of the late war, and who enjoys the popular distinction of being one of the most accommodating landlords in Chester county, is a son of Henry and Louisa (Elkins) Newlin, and was born in Highland township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, August 10, 1841. The New- lins are of Irish descent and the name was originally written Newland. They came in an early day to what is now Delaware county, where James Newlin, the paternal grandfather of Ellis Newlin, was born and reared to manhood. James Newlin although a poor boy, yet was a typical American boy and such was his energetic career in life that he died quite a wealthy man. He was a millwright by trade, came to East Fallow- field township, Chester county, in early life
and acquired property rapidly. He owned a good farm, and a paper, a clover, and a saw-mill at Newlin's Mills. He died on Duck run in East Fallowfield township in 1877 at eighty-two years of age. He was energetic, thoroughgoing, and a useful man, and married and reared a family. His son, Henry Newlin, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in this county in 1814. He was a farmer and paper manufacturer in Highland township until 1863, when he removed to West Fallowfield township, where he embarked at Cochranville in the hotel business, which he followed up to 1878. He then retired from active business and died in October, 1886, when in the seventy- fourth year of his age. He was a democrat in politics and an active man in business affairs, and while running his paper-mill in Highland township, enjoyed a remarkably good trade, which he had built up by his own efforts. He married Lonisa Elkins, who was reared in this county, where she died in April, 1891, at seventy-four years of age. She was a daughter of George W. Elkins, a paper manufacturer of this county, who moved to Philadelphia where he died. Mr. and Mrs. Newlin reared a large family of children.
Ellis P. Newlin was reared on his father's Highland township farm, received his edu- cation in the common schools, and in 1862 enlisted in Co. L, 17th Pennsylvania cav- alry. He was elected first sergeant of his company and served until the close of the war, being honorably discharged from the Federal service at Little York, this State, in June, 1865. He lost two fingers of his right hand at Chancellorsville, but did not leave the army, and was in all the succeeding battles of the army of the Potomac, until the Southern Confederacy went to pieces at
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
Appomattox Court House. After being dis- charged, he went to Cochran's Mills, where he was engaged in the hotel business for eight years. He then removed to Oxford, ran the Oxford house one year and then assumed management of the Gum Tree ho- tel, which he conducted in connection with farming until 1881. In that year he came to West Chester where he leased the Green Tree hotel for three years, and at the end of that time, returned to his farm on which he remained one year. He then returned to West Chester and purchased the Mansion house, which he sold six years later to its present proprietor. In the winter of 1891, he purchased the Green Tree hotel, whose name he changed to Green Tree inn and which he has conducted most successfully ever since. The Green Tree inn was estab- lished nearly a century ago and is recog- nized as one of the best hotels in the county. The present building is a four-story brick structure, 50x60 feet in dimensions, fur- nished and fitted throughout in modern style. It is heated by hot air, lighted by electricity, and in every respect equals any of the best first-class hotels in the country, excepting those of the larger cities. It contains nearly fifty sleeping rooms, a fine dining room ar- ranged to accommodate one hundred guests, and reading, writing and sample rooms, with a first-class bar. Mr. Newlin has made an effort to establish a model hotel and has succeeded. He is well prepared to accom- modate both permanentand transient guests, and has stabling and shed room sufficient to provide for one hundred head of horses and seventy-five teams. He personally su- pervises every detail of his business and em- ploys none but courteous and accommodat- ing assistants.
In 1870, Mr. Newlin married Bella, daugh-
ter of John Keech, of Highland township, and they have three children : Robert H., Anna and Emily.
In politics Mr. Newlin is a democrat. He is a member of Skerrett Lodge, No. 343, Free and Accepted Masons, of Cochran- ville. Ellis Newlin is an honorable and pro- gressive business man, and ranks as one of Chester county's most enterprising citizens.
H ON. WASHINGTON TOWNSEND,
ex-member of Congress, and the oldest member of the Chester county bar, is the eldest son of David and Rebecca (Sharpless) Townsend, and was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1813. He re- ceived his education under Jonathan Gause and Joseph Strode, at the West Chester academy, and while serving as teller in the bank of Chester county turned his attention to the study of law. He read with William Darlington, was admitted to the bar, May 7, 1844, and has been successfully engaged in the practice of his profession ever since. He served as cashier of the bank of Chester from 1848 to 1857, and then resigned to give his entire attention to his profession. Mr. Townsend is a republican in politics. He served as prosecuting attorney from October, 1848, to April, 1849, was a dele- gate to the Whig National convention of 1852, and to the Republican National con- vention of 1860, and served with credit and distinction as a member of Congress from 1868 to 1876, during which time he warmly advocated a protective tariff, the present National banking system, the ap- propriation of the public land sales to edu- cational purposes, and an improved Indian policy.
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
OHN DANIEL BALTZ was born in the city of Philadelphia, December 10, 1845, and is the second son of Daniel Dunn and Elizabeth (Roche) Baltz, also natives of Philadelphia, of German and French ex- traction. ITis paternal grandfather arrived in this country from Hesse Cassel in 1802, and served a short time in the war of 1812. Ilis maternal grandfather and great-grand- father (Roche) having arrived much earlier, served under General LaFayette in the war of independence.
When the civil war broke out the subject of this sketch, then fifteen years of age, left his studies and was enrolled in the Scott Legion regiment under President Lincoln's first call. By the exercise of parental au- thority, this engagement was cancelled, much to the chagrin of the youthful soldier, who soon again entered the ranks, and was mustered into Co. H, Col. E. D. Baker's First California regiment, so namedin honor of its first colonel, a senator from Oregon who, wishing to tie the then doubtful State of California to the cause of the Union, had his regiment bear the first California banner that entered the war. This regiment was organized April 29, 1861, by special author- ity from the war department, and was the first three-years' regiment to complete its organization. After the tragie death of Colonel Baker at Ball's Bluff, the regiment was claimed by its native State, and became the 71st of the Pennsylvania line. It served under Gen. B. F. Butler, and was moving toward Richmond on the Peninsula when the defeat at first Bull Run occurred, when it was hurried to the defense of our imper- illed capital. It marched over Chain Bridge into Virginia, where it came in contact with the enemy, and recovered lost ground, the regiment suffering heavily in dead and
wounded, among the latter being Private Baltz. It thereafter formed part of the corps of observation under General Stone, oppo- site Leesburg, Virginia, and engaged the enemy at Ball's Bluff.
In March, 1862, this corps of observation moved up the Shenandoah valley, and forced Stonewall Jackson's command to retire from Winchester. When the army of the Poto- mac was organized, the Philadelphia brigade, with the 71st as senior regiment, was as- signed to the second division, second corps of that army, under Generals Sumner and Sedgwick, serving in that gallant corps in its many trying conflicts and brilliant achievements under its several illustrious commanders.
Private Baltz was always in the ranks for duty, and never was absent, by furlough or other cause, from any battle, skirmish or movement, in which his company partici- pated, until he was carried off in a litter by two comrades, while the army of the Poto- mae was laying siege to Richmond. Being declared disabled for future service, he was honorably discharged at Fair Oaks, Vir- ginia, but was shortly thereafter in the field again, being commissioned lieutenant of Co. F, 40th regiment Pennsylvania volunteer militia, which served in the Cumberland valley during the Gettysburg campaign un- der Generals Couch and Dana, U. S. A., and was the first regiment to march through Chambersburg, in the wake of Longstreet's retreat, while General Mende was moving by the way of Emmettsburg after Lee, who was making for the Potomae in a more di- rect line. When Meade followed Lee across the Potomac this regiment was posted along the Hagerstown pike, in General Jennings' brigade, until after Lee had recrossed the Rappahannock.
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BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
In the early part of August the 45th was ordered from the border to Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, to quell riots in sympathy with the New York riots. It took posses- sion of Pottsville, which the rioters had held, and served thereafter under General Whipple, U. S. A., who arrived with artil- lery and cavalry, when the rioters, com- posed principally of the "Knights of the Golden Circle," a branch of the Southern organization formed to destroy the repub- lic, were overawed, but not until the 45th had exchanged shots with the rioters. Lieu- tenant Baltz commanded Co. F during the greater part of its service, and was mustered out with his regiment, in the early fall of 1863, before he was eighteen years of age.
After leaving the army he entered the office of Joseph S. Siddall, Esq., studied con- veyancing and real estate law, wasadmitted a member of the "Conveyancers Associa- tion of Philadelphia," and there entered into active practice. When Hon. Daniel M. Fox was elected mayor of Philadelphia, at his solicitation Mr. Baltz took charge of the conveyancing department of his extensive business, until his own business demanded the whole of his time. He was registered a law student at the Philadelphia bar, from the office of Robert M. Logan, Esq., with whom he studied, and while busily engaged in his profession and studies, was compelled by impaired health to give up both, after thirteen years close application to his pro- fession. Under advice of his physician, he gave up his sedentary business and place of residence, then Germantown, for a rural home and an out-door life. During his many trips within a radius of thirty miles from Philadelphia, in quest of a new home, no locality seemed to him so restful as the beautiful valley of Chester, near Downing-
town. He purchased in February, 1877, a small farm on the Philadelphiaand Lancas- ter turnpike, twenty-seven miles from the city, in the township of West Whiteland, and added thereto a few acres. Tearing ont and remodeling the old farm mansion was soon under way, and by mid-summer a comfortable home for his family was estab- lished, in which he has since resided, a citi- zen of Chester county.
The house stands on a knoll facing the south, which was christened " Breezy Knoll," and in full view of Whitford station. The ground, sloping away in all directions, af- ford an extensive and beautiful view of the valleys and hills in the distance, enlivened without annoyance by the busy shifting scenes, day and night, on many miles of the Pennsylvania railroad, with the less active Chester Valley railroad nearer to view, at its crossing of the valley creek.
It was in the quiet of this home that he wrote and published his Defense of Senator E. D. Baker, with whom he was serving when the latter fell at Ball's Bluff. Among the many favorable reviews of the book, including those at length in the leading Philadelphia and Boston papers, the follow- ing, concise and expressive, appeared in the Grand Army Record, of Boston : "Senator E. D. Baker's defense at Ball's Bluff, writ- ten by John D. Baltz, bears the stamp of a painstaking effort to render justice where it is due. Realizing that many of the best war histories accept the theory that Baker was answerable for the Ball's Bluff disaster, the author has made a patient examination of the official records, and essays to show the true inwardness of this long mooted question. He has done his work well. To rescue the reputation of this gifted states- man and soldier from the cruel aspersions
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OF CHESTER COUNTY.
cast upon it by General Stone, is its avowed object. The friends of Baker everywhere will doubtless hail with joy this searching analysis, for it seems to prove, indisputably, that he died like a soldier, obeying to the letter the injunctions of his superior officer, and guiltless of one of the great blunders of the war."
On December 8, 1874, Mr. Baltz married Annie Augusta, daughter of Henry and Susan B. Sagehorn, and they have two chil- dren, born in Chester Valley : Ellen Dun- can, and William Sagehorn Baltz.
Henry Sagehorn, a drug clerk of Bremen, arrived in this country when a young man, and become a successful merchant and manufacturer in the city of New York, and married Susan B. Hancock, a lineal descend- ant of Godfrey Hancock, who came over in the Ship Shield, from Yorkshire, England, "with his wife Mary, four children and servants," an account of which appears on page 109 of Smith's History of New Jersey. In 1676 Godfrey Hancock became a charter member of the new colony at Burlington, New Jersey, where he settled on his plan- tation, which he named "Steetley," and was identified with the new government, in its general assembly and in other positions.
As an amateur farmer Mr. Baltz obtained some practical knowledge of animals and erops, and a good dividend in health, from the vitalizing air of the valley, the even tenor of this quiet life being varied by busi- ness engagements in the city, incident to aiding in the organization and incorpora- tion of the "First Title Insurance Con- pany," of Philadelphia, formed by the Con- veyaneers' association-likewise of the Land Title and Trust Company, and later a diree- tor of the Massachusetts Title Insurance Company, of Boston. He is also a director . 45
of the Algonquin Improvement Company, which improved a large tract of land on the Pennsylvania railroad, south of the park front. At the same time he was promi- nently identified with extensive adjoining purchases, along Elm avenue bordering the park, added to the lands of " Park Front Im- provement Company," all of which property was reclaimed, and transformed into choice locations for residences-almost equal to Boston's public garden, or Central park, New York.
Mr. Baltz is chairman of the Citizens' committee, of Philadelphia, which agitated and urged upon the city councils the pas- sage of an ordinance for the "Suppression of the soft coal smoke nuisance" on rail- roads, within the city limits. This move- ment has been and is quietly but steadily opposed by corporate influence, but very appreciable progress is being made, sup- ported by all the city newspapers. He is also a member of the historical committee, of the Survivors' association, of the 71st Pennsylvania volunteers, which is charged with the preparation and publication of its regimental history. While thus engaged he was not neglectful of the slight duties incident to his neighborhood, and served as director and treasurer of the Oakland eream- ery, anditor of his township, foreman of the grand jury of Chester county, and as a di- rector of the West Whiteland Protective and Insurance Company, which he was in- strumental in re-organizing and having in- corporated.
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