Biographical annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, containing genealogical records of representative families, including many of the early settlers and biographical sketches of prominent citizens, Vol. I, Part 57

Author: Roberts, Ellwood, 1846- ed
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : T. S. Benham
Number of Pages: 826


USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Biographical annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, containing genealogical records of representative families, including many of the early settlers and biographical sketches of prominent citizens, Vol. I > Part 57


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He is the son of James and Catharine (Mc- Dermott) Farrall. His early life was spent in farming and in 1848 he came to America on the sailing vessel, Patrick Henry, being thirty-three days on the ocean and landing in New York. He went to Philadelphia at once and obtained em- ployment. His first work was in unloading a cargo of straw in Philadelphia, and his next was in wheeling coal at the Green street coal wharf. He soon afterwards came to Norristown and in 1855 bought his present home.


Patrick L. Farrall married Bridget Nugent, daughter of Miles and Bridget (Donally) Nu- gent, of County Tyrone, Ireland. Their children are : James, who married Mary Campbell and has the following children: Alice, Helen, Agnes, Catharine, James and Charles ; Catharine J., who married John Lappin; Mary, who was born March 19, 1864, and resides at home ; Annie, who married Alexander Griffith and has two children, Alexander and Carrie; Rosy, who married John Gallagher (deceased) and had four children, Mary, Rosalina, Agnes and Joseph; Frank P .; Elizabeth, a sister of the Immaculate Heart con- vent, Philadelphia ; Ella, a graduate of the West Conshohocken high school and now a teacher in that school; Agnes, also a graduate and teacher in the West Conshohocken high school ; and Alice, a graduate of the West Conshohocken high school and a teacher in Bridgeport.


James Farrall (grandfather) was a resident of County Tyrone, Ireland, where the family had resided for many years. Many of the family followed the trade of butchering, while some were hatters. They were all Roman Catholics. The children of James and Catharine (McDermott) Farrall were: Owen (deceased) ; James; Ann (deceased) ; Mary Jane; and Patrick.


Frank P. Farrall received his education in the public schools, and for several years worked as a sawyer for the Hendom Marble Company. In 1892 he was elected township supervisor on the Democratic ticket by a majority of seventy-nine, the term of office being two years. In 1894 he opened a general country store and in connection with this store carried on the egg and poultry business until 1901. In that year he was again


elected supervisor by a majority of seventy-seven, and in February, 1902, he was re-elected by a majority of one hundred and fifty, the largest ever attained by any one in he township. He is a member of the Catholic church in West Con- shohocken.


Frank P. Farrall married Miss Annie, daugh- ter of William and Mary (Gallagher ) McElhenny, who was born January 13, 1869. Her father came from County Donegal, Ireland. He worked on the Richmond wharfs in Philadelphia for a time and then went to Norristown and was em- ployed in the stone quarries. From Norristown he removed to Bridgeport where he remained until 1900, since which time he has been in Ire- land, visiting his native place, and also visiting England.


Frank P. Farrall and Annie McElhenny were married April 20, 1893. Their children are: Mary, born August 29, 1894 ; Gertrude, born Au- gust 30, 1896; Francis, born April 10, 1898; and Elizabeth, born July 14. 1902.


WILLIAM DANIEL NIPPES was of Ger- man parentage. He was for many years a resi- dent of Mill Creek, in Lower Merion township, where he owned a farm which he managed until his death. He was a gunsmith by trade and was noted for his skill in that art. He manufactured rifles and small arms for the government, and just prior to the war of the Rebellion he made and delivered to the United States authorities arms to the value of twenty thousand dollars, for which he never received any pay. When a propo- sition was made to pay the bill, it was opposed by Jefferson Davis, afterwards president of the so-called Confederate States, saying there was no money in the United States treasury with which to pay it. Mr. Nippes was originally a Demo- frat, but was in no sense an office-seeker. After the beginning of the war for the Union he be- came a Republican and continued a member of that party until his death. He belonged to the Lower Merion Baptist church, as did his wife, having joined it when quite a young man. Both were buried in the Baptist church cemetery. He was a man of good ability and well educated.


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Of his children : Louisa married Josiah Shinn and they had one child, Rebecca. Caroline died unmarried. Sarah Ann died at the family home. Julia Ann resides on the home farm. Emeline (deceased) married William Booth, who owns the farm and mill. Albert died of smallpox, in childhood, on the home farm. Sergeant is the father of William D. Nippes.


Sergeant Nippes was born on the homestead and grew to manhood on the farm. He was well educated. Although capable of entering the ranks of business or professional life he pre- ferred farming. After his marriage he bought the farm now owned by his son William D. Pippes, and lived on it until his death. He was a successful farmer. He was active in his party councils. He and his wife both belonged to the same church and are buried in the same ceme- tery as his father. He married Miss Margaret Stillwagon, only daughter of William Stillwagon. The Stillwagons were an old family of Lower Merion township, and lived near Mill Creek, where they were farmers.


The children of Mr. and Mrs. Sergeant Nippes were four in number: William D., born March 12, 1841, at Mill Creek, is the subject of this review. Josephine, born in 1838, on the Stillwagon farm, married William Nobblett, of Philadelphia, who served in the Civil war and died as a result of the privations and hardships of a soldier's life. George, born in 1843, married Miss Anna Rambo, and they had ten children. Albert, born in 1847, is married.


William D. Nippes came to his present home when a small boy, and was reared there. He worked on the farm in summer and attended the neighboring schools two months in the winter.


He married Hannah Levan, born June 15, 1844, in Berks county, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Marias) Levan, and came to Montgomery county with her family in girlhood locating in Conshohocken, where her father was a farmer, butcher and cattle dealer. The Levans were a famous French fam- ily who came to America from France in the early days of the Republic.


Mr. and Mrs. William D. Nippes have had eight children, as follows :


Margaret E., born August 16, 1867, married William Upright. Their children are Orville, Malvin, and Florence, who died in childhood.


Henry E., born October 18, 1868, married Miss Lizzie McCain. Their children are Jennie E., Wilson and Morris.


Amanda, born November 23, 1870, married Henry Rigley. Their children are Emeline and Clarence.


Emeline, born April 7, 1872, married Frank Shenline.


Sergeant, born May 1, 1874, married Marion Opil. They have one child, Russel Nippes.


William D. Nippes is a Democrat in politics and although he takes a great interest in politics he has never sought or held office. He bought his farm in Upper Merion township in May, 1902, and has been very successful in raising crops.


THOMAS S. STREEPER, a well-known farmer of Plymouth township, was born August 16, 1851, in Whitpain township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and is the son of Samuel C. and Mary (Shay) Streeper.


The founders of the Streeper family in Amer- ica were four brothers who emigrated from Ger- many. Jacob Streeper (paternal grandfather) and his wife were farming people in the vicinity of Chestnut Hill. They had five children : Samuel, Jacob, Harriet, Maria and Margaret, all deceased.


Samuel C. Streeper (father) was born in Springfield township, Montgomery county, in 1802. He was the son of Jacob and Lydia (Samuel) Streeper. Samuel C. Streeper received a common-school education at Chestnut Hill, and spent the early part of his life in following the carpenter trade. At the time of his death and for many years previous to it, he was a farmer. He died at the age of seventy-one years. Samuel C. Streeper married Mary, daughter of Jesse and Sarah (Mullen) Shay, both deceased. Mrs. Mary (Shay) Streeper died at the age of fifty-five years. Mr. and Mrs. Streeper had five children, as follows : Lydia and Jessie, deceased ; Amanda ;


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John, who married Emma Paine and lives in making the maps for a number of counties in Philadelphia ; and Thomas.


Jesse Shay (maternal grandfather) and his wife were farming people and old residents of Horsham township, Montgomery county, Penn- sylvania. Mrs. Sarah ( Mullen) Shay was a mem- ber of the Society of Friends. They both lived to an advanced age, and had six children, one of whom is now living, Thomas B. Shay, of Florida.


Thomas S. Streeper was reared on the farm in Whitpain township where he was born, and received a common-school education. He lived in the same place until he was thirty-five years of age, when he married and removed to his pres- ent home in Plymouth township. He understands his business of farming thoroughly. Like his father he has always been a Republican, and is a public-spirited man.


On February 17, 1886, Thomas S. Streeper married Maria Taggart, born December 21, 1863, daughter of Austin L. and Sarah (Rudy) Taggart. They have two children: Amanda, born December 27, 1886, and Austin T., born April 8. 1891. The former is a graduate of the high school and is now attending the West Chester Normal School.


Mrs. Thomas S. Streeper is a member of St. Thomas' Episcopal church, of Whitemarsh.


Austin L. and Sarah (Rudy) Taggart lived in Upper Merion township. He was a very prominent member of the Patrons of Husbandry, and from this circumstance, as well as his cham- pionship of the interests of farmers, he became known throughout Pennsylvania as "Farmer" Taggart. He was born in Tamaqua, Schuylkill county, November 21, 1836. His father was a merchant and lumber dealer, and he came of a long line of ancestors, of whom the first in Penn- sylvania settled in the state in 1740. The Tag- garts were always characterized by independence in thought and action. Austin L. Taggart's great-grandfather was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary war and was killed in battle.


In the year 1850 the family removed to Mont- gomery county where Austin was educated in public and private schools. At an early age be began work as a surveyor, running the lines and


Michigan. Returning to Norristown, he engaged for a short time in the mercantile business, but his tendency toward agriculture was too strong to permit him to remain in that business. He be- came a resident of Upper Merion, owning and tilling one of the best farms in that township. In 1886 the Republicans of the county named him for the legislature. Accepting the nomina- tion with relutance, he was elected and entered heartily, earnestly and efficiently upon his legisla- tive duties. He was re-elected in 1888, 1890 and 1892, having charge of the important granger tax bills, prepared and endorsed by the state or- ganization of Patrons of Husbandry. He was also on many important committees, including railroad, public buildings, and accounts. In 1892 he was again a candidate but was defeated by Charles I. Baker, his majority being twenty in a poll of twenty-seven thousand, one hundred and four votes. Mr. Taggart at once filed a notice of contest, alleging that fifty-five students of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, a Catholic institu- tion at Overbrook, had illegally cast their votes for Mr. Baker. Mr. Taggart claimed that they had no residence within the meaning of the law to entitle them to vote in the county. The house elections committee sustained Mr. Taggart's con- tentions, the house adopted its report, and on April 18, 1893, he was sworn in. He died very suddenly in February, 1894.


Mr. Taggart was a member of the Twentieth Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment during the war. He was mentioned at times in connection with the succession to the United States senate, and, but for his untimely death, might have become the Republican nominee for governor. He was a good talker, a deep thinker, and thoroughly inde- pendent in all that he said and did. He left a widow and eight children, all of whom reside in Norristown or its vicinity.


REV. JOSEPH H. HENDRICKS, an earn- est and eminent expounder of the gospel, who en- joys the distinction of having served the same charge-Trinity Reformed church, Collegeville, Pennsylvania-longer than any other living


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pastor in Montgomery county, is a son of the late Abraham H. and Mary (Hunsicker) Hendricks, and his birth occurred in Upper Providence town- ship, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, Decem- ber 21, 1834. The family name was originally Hendricksen, and the first settlers in this country of this name came from Holland, and are char- acterized in the often-recited history of the set- tlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, as a lib- erty-loving people. The name is also quite con- spicuous in the extended German histories of the countless martyrdoms of the non-resident Chris- tians on the continent of Europe. There are a large number of persons in the United States who bear the name of Hendricks, and possibly the most prominent among them was the late Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, who served in the capacity of United States senator, governor of Indiana, and vice-president of the United States with Grover Cleveland, dying shortly after his in- auguration in the last named office.


Henry Hendricks (grandfather) was a promi- nent leader of the Mennonite denomination. He married and the following named children were the issue of the union: John, Benjamin, Abra- ham H., Elizabeth and Nancy Hendricks.


Abraham H. Hendricks ( father) was a farmer by occupation, residing in Upper Providence township, Montgomery county. In religious faith he was a Mennonite. He was united in mar- riage to Mary Hunsicker, daughter of the Rev. John Hunsicker, and granddaughter of the Rev. Henry (Heinrich) Hunsicker, both very promi- nent and influential Mennonite bishops in their day and generation in eastern Pennsylvania. The Hunsicker families are descended from Valentine Hunsicker, who came from Switzerland and set- tled in Skippack township in 1717. Mr. and Mrs. Hendricks were the parents of the following named children : John; Elizabeth, wife of David Reiner ; Roger; Joseph H .; Mary, wife of R. R. Casselberry ; and Sarah, wife of Joseph Cassel- Berry.


Joseph H. Hendricks was reared on his father's farm and his preliminary education was obtained in the neighboring schools. In the spring of 1851 he entered Freeland Seminary,


now Ursinus College, and in the fall of 1852 he took charge of a public school at Milford Square, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. During the four consecutive winters he figured in the role of pub- lic school teacher, attending boarding school in the summer months. In February, 1856, he be- came assistant teacher in Freeland Seminary, then a very popular boarding-school at which there were many young men in attendance quali- fying themselves to become public school teach- ers and to follow other lines of professional work, there being but one normal school in the state at that time. From the position of assistant teacher in the common English branches, in two years he was promoted to teach the higher mathematics and was also appointed vice-principal of the in- stitution. While he was serving in this double capacity he was, according to the usages of the Mennonite church, at a meeting of the Christian Society, at Freeland, now Collegeville, held in 1860, elected on trial to the office of the gospel minister. As was expected, he at once began to attend to some of the duties of the gospel ministry as best he could along with his school work, al- though under very serious disadvantages, but hav- ing succeeded fairly well, by the direction of the said Christian Society, he was on June 25, 1861, ordained to the office of a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, invested with all the powers usually belonging to that office, by the laying on of hands, the Revs. Abraham Hunsicker, Israel Beidler, Abraham Grater and Henry A. Hun- sicker, officiating.


The Christian Society materialized and was incorporated in the spring of 1855, and was com- posed of the above named ministers and about forty adherents who had been disowned and dis- fellowshipped by a branch of the Men- nonite church of which they had all been members, because of their so charged too liberal views of Christian doctrine, church fellowship, education, and kindred subjects. During the years 1854-55 the society built for itself in Freeland, now Collegeville, what is styled the "Christian Meeting House", which was opened for public worship the following spring. The Christian Society, through the stated


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preachings of the gospel, during the first half dozen years of its existence, made substantial progress in the peculiar work designed for it, and it was, therefore, wisely determined to ar- range for a more perfect church organization, by the preparation of a discipline, election of a church council, pastor, etc. In February, 1862, Mr. Hendricks was elected pastor of the Christian Society, and on the first Sunday in April, 1862, was installed as such, the Rev. Israel Beidler preaching the sermon and delivering the charge to the congregation, and the Rev. Henry A. Hun- sicker delivering the charge to the pastor. Prior to 1862 the brethren who' had so faithfully preached in the "Christian Meeting House" re- ceived no pecuniary compensation for their serv- ices. The original Christian Society, subsequently Trinity Christian church, remained inde- pendent of ecclesiastical connection with other churches until 1888, when, after all necessary and proper steps in the premises had been taken, it became connected with the Reformed (German) church of the United States. In 1892 the Skippackville church was also formally made a part of the same denomina- tion. The Collegeville charge, as it is now, is made up of Trinity church, Collegeville; Trinity church, Skippackville; and Ironbridge Chapel, Rahın's Station ; and with its three Christian En- deavor societies, its three Sunday-schools, and its other auxiliary church societies, is a very in- fluential charge, and has grown to its present proportions and prominence under the efficient pastorate of Rev. Hendricks


During the first two years of Mr. Hendrick's pastorate he continued his relations with Free- land Seminary as teacher and vice-principal, but in entering upon the third year, he wholly severed his relations with it. A. H. Fetterolf, Ph. D., LL.D., now president of Girard College, becoming his successor. During the following three years of the pastorate, in addition to his min- isterial duties, he cultivated his father-in-law's farm adjoining the church property, the congre- gation in the meantime being educated in the way of contributing with commendable generosity towards the support of the gospel. In February,


1867, he purchased his father's property which was located near the church and at once moved thereon, residing there to the present time. The life-work of Mr. Hendricks has been closely and indissolubly intertwined with what is now Trinity Reformed church, he having been connected with the Sunday-school since the spring of 1856, serv- ing twenty-eight consecutive years as superin- tendent, and also taught and led the singing, in all the past history of the Sunday-school and still continues to do it. The church building has been materially enlarged, improved and beauti- fied, and the church-yard and cemetery grounds have been extended to twice their original size. He nas never missed officiating at a funeral on account of sickness, has only missed in a third of a century three church services on account of bodily sickness, and in all these years has had but on brief "pastor's vacation". The late Moses Auge wrote of Mr. Hendricks some years ago, that he is "greatly beloved by his own congrega- tion, and is much in demand outside of his own churches, especially to officiate at funerals. He is a fluent and forcible preacher, speaking entirely ex tempore, in a rapid, earnest and convincing manner, impressing every one with the absolute conviction of the truth of what he is saying". He has delivered numerous addresses at Sunday- school picnics, public school commencements, na- tional Thanksgiving and Decoration days, and to the Grand Army of the Republic Posts, for which he has received words and testimonials of high appreciation.


Although Mr. Hendricks did not go through the curriculum of a college course, yet, June 22, 1881, the board of directors of Ursinus Col- lege, upon the recommendation of its faculty, conferred on him "the honorary degree of Mas- ter of Arts, for his personal worth and merits as a scholar". Ursinus College is located right in the heart of the parish of the Collegeville church, and its professors and a large number of its students are regular attendants at public wor- ship, and a number of members of the church are either directors or graduates of the college. Mr. Hendricks has always been a liberal supporter and patron of the institution, being for many


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years one of its directors and a member of three of its leading committees, and his personal in- terest is further shown by the fact of his having three children and two sons-in-law as graduates of the institution. He is a popular and eloquent preacher, and is greatly beloved by his three con- gregations. Few men in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, either professional or otherwise, are so well known or so highly respected as he, and few more worthy of emulation.


In the fall of 1858 the Rev. Mr. Hendricks married Kate Hunsicker, youngest daughter of the late Rev. Abraham Hunsicker, the founder of Freeland Seminary, and a sister of the Rev. Henry A. Hunsicker, the proprietor and princi- pal of the institution. Their children are: Ella M., wife of F. G. Hobson, of Collegeville, at- torney-at-law, and treasurer and trust officer of the Norristown Title, Trust & Safe Deposit Com- pany ; Bertha, wife of the Rev. Charles E. Wehler, pastor of St. Paul's Reformed church, Manheim, Lancaster county ; Abraham H., of Pottstown, the popular lawyer, who has served two terms as district attorney of Montgomery county, and whose wife is the daughter of Addison T. Miller, of Limerick; and Sara C., wife of Professor J. T. Ebert, who is the present principal of the Schissler Business College of Norristown, Penn- sylvania.


OLIVER M. EVANS. The first ancestor of the Evans family in this country was John Evans, who came from Wales and settled in Phil- adelphia in 1696, removing later to Chester county. He married, and among his children was a son John, born in 1700 and died in 1738. This John Evans married Jane, daughter of Rob- ert Howell, and among their children was a son, Peter Evans, born in 1722. He was a well- known physician, and during the Revolutionary war was a commissioner of supplies for the Continental army, the depot being where is now North Wales, in Montgomery county. He was a justice of the peace, and tried the cases of the members of the Hilltown Baptist church who refused to bear arms during the Revolution. He married Rachel Evans, a daughter of David


Evans, of Gwynedd township. The couple had several children, among them John (grandfa- ther). David Evans died September 18, 1763, aged seventy-three years. Dr. Peter Evans was evidently well to do, as he was taxed in 1776 for two hundred acres of land, two negroes, four horses and eight cattle. David Evans is rated in the list of the landholders and tenants of Mont- gomery township prepared in 1734 by order of John and Thomas Penn, sons of William Penn, as the owner of a hundred acres of land.


The Evans family were among the earliest settlers of Montgomery township. Jenkin Ev- ans, who came from Wales, in 1717, purchased 108 acres of land of Thomas Shute. This tract lay in the north corner of the township, adjoin- ing the Hatfield line, and between what is now the Bethlehem turnpike and the Bucks county line. Jenkin Evans may have been a brother of David Evans, who bought a large tract of land in Hatfield about the same time, and who through the marriage of his daughter Rachel with Dr. Peter Evans became the ancestor of a numerous and prominent family in Hatfield, Montgomery and adjoining townships of what is now Mont- gomery county, Pennsylvania. Rachel was the only child of David Evans.


John Evans (grandfather of Oliver M. Ev- ans) was born February 13, 1767, and was a farmer by occupation. He married Elizabeth Evans, of the Chester county family of that name, his wife having been a relative of Hon. Henry S. Evans, at one time a senator represent- ing Chester and Montgomery counties at Har- risburg. John Evans died October 15, 1824.


The Evans family furnished several physi- cians in the course of two centuries. Jonathan Evans, son of John and Elizabeth Evans, was: one of them. He was the father of Oliver M .. Evans, subject of this sketch. Jonathan Evans. was born January 28, 1793, on the homestead in Hatfield township. He attended the neighboring schools, which supplied the elementary instruc- tion he needed. After completing these studies he entered the Medical Department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania and took the course then prescribed at that institution. He graduated




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