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 82
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MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
of the organizers of the Home Water Company, he was elected one of its directors, and served in that capacity for a short time. He is an active member of the Humane Fire Company, having been one of its founders, and for some time its financial secretary. He has been the efficient secretary of the Royersford Building and Loan Association from its organization. May 1, 1890. In 1894 he became an organizer of the Linfield Cold Storage Company, of which he was elected treasurer.
In politics Mr. Lewin is an Independent. He was appointed a notary public by the late Gov- ernor Robert E. Pattison, April 8. 1886, which position he yet holds by successive reappoint- ments, from time to time. He was one of those who were instrumental in the incorporation of Royersford as a borough in 1879. He filled the position of school director for nine years, during which time he successfully advocated the system of free school books and a modern plan of heat- ing and ventilating the school building. In 1885 he was elected assistant assessor. In 1892 he was chosen burgess of Royersford by an over- whelming majority of its voters, serving one year. It was during his administration as burgess that the franchise was granted to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to lay its tracks on First avenue.
Fraternally Mr. Lewin is prominent and active in Masonic circles. He is a charter member of Royersford Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, No. 585; a member of Pottstown Chapter, No. 271 ; a charter member of Nativity Commandery, No. 71, K. T., of Pottstown; a member of Bloomsburg Consistory ; a member of Palestine Council, No. 8, of Phoenixville and a Noble of Rajah Temple of the Mystic Shrine, Reading. He is also a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, Towamencin Tribe, No. 99, of Royers- ford.
Religiously Mr. Lewin is an active member of the Lutheran church. When he was executor of the estate of William Lewin, his father, he donated the land upon which was erected Grace Evangelical Lutheran church. He is one of the
trustees of the Lutheran congregation of Roy- ersford.
Mr. Lewin married, February 18, 1875, Lizzie Bean, daughter of Isaac Bean, of Upper Provi- dence. She died July 1, 1894. The couple had three children : William A., Isaac E., deceased, and Lawrence B. \r. Lewin's eldest son grad- uated with honors from Fairfield Military Acad- emy in June, 1895.
June 20, 1901. he was married the second time to Mary G. Gibson, of Dover, New Jersey.
Mr. Lewin is an influential and highly re- spected citizen of Royersford. He has done everything possible in the course of an active and useful career to build up the prosperity of the community in which he lives, and his efforts so successfully exerted in this direction are fully appreciated by his fellow townsmen, without reference to their political or denominational affiliations.
DANIEL H. WHITE, one of the best-known bricklayers and contractors of Norristown, was born near Hickorytown, in Plymouth township, September 5, 1862.
When he was quite young the death of his father.made a change in the residence of the fam- ily necessary, and his mother removed to Norris- town, where he attended the Oak street school for a number of years. He was then apprenticed to his uncle, Emanuel Sweed, to learn the trade of bricklaying. After serving at his trade three years, he worked with his uncle as journeyman to the time of Mr. Sweed's death in 1890. He then became a partner of Thomas McGrath, as a con- tractor and builder. At the end of a year, the firm of McGrath & White was dissolved, and Mr. White started out on his own account and has so continued to the present time. Mr. White has built many residences and other buildings in Norristown, among them the Gresh cigar mann- factory, in 1891. Later he crected the Scheetz wholesale grocery store, Scheidt's brewery, the Norristown woolen mill, two large wards for the State Hospital for the Insane: the public school building at Penn Square, and others. Mr. White
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has built recently twenty-five houses for Harry A. Keeler, twenty for Ellwood Roberts, and as many more each for John H. Rex and the Hamil- ton Terrace Company, on West Main street, Norristown.
In politics Mr. White is a Republican and takes an active interest in his party, working for it and giving liberally of his means for its sup- port. He has been nine years in town council, has been two years chairman of the market com- mittee, and also of that on finance, watch, lamp, sewers, railways and accounts. He has been many times a delegate to county conventions, and has long been a member of the borough executive committee. Mr. White belongs to the Masonic Order, and is a thirty-second degree Mason; to the Odd Fellows, and to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Thomas White (father) was born in Upper Merion township, and was a stone mason by trade. At the time of his death he was living in Plymouth. He was hauling ice for .Mr. Stoner, when he was thrown from the cart and killed. His children were: Harry, married Annie Kelly, and has two children; Elizabeth married Irvin Blackburn, and has two children ; Daniel H., sub- ject of this sketch; Thomas Horace, married, but has no children; Laura, married Ellis Ramsey, and has one child.
Daniel H. White married Miss Anna E. Wood, daughter of James and Eliza (Livingston) Wood. She was born in Norristown, December 23, 1859. Her father, James Wood, was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, and with his mother came to Canada, where his mother died, his father having passed away before they left Ireland. He was an only child, and was thus left an orphan of seventeen years of age. He only remained in Canada a short time, and then came to Pennsyl- vania, where he secured employment. He drifted to Norristown, where he has since resided. His wife, Eliza Livingston, was born in county Derry, Ireland, and came to the United States with her sister Jane, when she was sixteen years of age. They landed in Philadelphia, and soon obtained employment, and came later to Norristown.
Mr. and Mrs. Wood's children: Catharine
Jane, born June 16, 1856, died September 28, 1861 : Anna Eliza, now Mrs. Daniel White.
Mr. and Mrs. Daniel H. White's children : James Wood, born March 27, 1881, died August 17, 1881; Flora Elizabeth, born May 23, 1882; Bessie Mabel, born June 13, 1886; Howard Drake, born April 7, 1888; Anna Bella, born Oc- tober 3, 1889; Charles Simon, born April 15, 1891 : Milton Rae, born December 7, 1890.
Men of Mr. White's stamp have assisted very materially in building up and developing Norris- town. He is an active member of the Hancock Fire Company. Genial and affable in his bearing, he has hosts of friends, and is deservedly popular.
WILLIAM T. BATE, deceased, was a grandson of William and Mary Bate, and a son of William and Mary ( Bennett) Bate. He was born October 25, 1818, at Tywardreth, Cornwall, England, and was brought by his parents to Liverpool, and subsequently to Manchester and other points in Lancashire, his father having been a blacksmith and boilermaker.
After a period spent in the schools of his na- tive land, William T. Bate entered the shops under the supervision of his father, and acquired a general knowledge of the business. In 1835 he began at Parconsoles, Cornwall, England, an apprenticeship under Richard Terrell and Wil- liam West, the latter named having been a me- chanical engineer. For twelve years he followed his trade of blacksmith and boilermaker in var- ious portions of the country, and then, having concluded to seek a broader field for his skill and labor, he came to the United States, leaving Eng- land for New York on July 13, 1847, and arriv- ing here after a tedious voyage of eight weeks. Soon after his arrival he found employment at Belleville, New Jersey, and later was engaged in other parts of the state, later removed to Con- necticut, from whence he changed his place of residence to Westminster and Finksburg, Mary- land, and then to Liberty, Maryland, where he engaged in milling. In 1856 he was solicited to assume charge of the boiler and blacksmith shops of the Norris Iron Works, then the leading estab- lishment in Montgomery county. Pennsylvania,
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485
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
where he was employed until 1857, when owing to the business depression and panic which pre- vailed at that time the works were closed. He then removed to Easton, Pennsylvania, where his family resided, and he was employed as super- intendent of the Warren Iron Foundry at Phil- lipsburg, New Jersey. About the year 1859 he returned to Norristown, where he again entered the employ of the Norris Iron Works in the same capacity, that of superintendent, remaining there until 1865 when he came to Conshohocken, but it was not until 1878 that his family removed to that town. Here he engaged in the manufacture of steam boilers in addition to blacksmithing and general work pertaining to the trade, the busi- ness being conducted under the firm name of William T. Bate & Company, comprising Wil- liam T. Bate, his son, Richard H. Bate, and John Wood. The new enterprise, which was then lo- cated near the banks of the Schuylkill river, was soon put upon a successful and profitable basis through the well directed efforts of the members of the firm. The partnership of William T. Bate & Company was continued up to 1868, when Mr. Wood withdrew from the business, and the firm of William T. Bate & Son was formed. In De- cember, 1868, the business was removed to its present location in order to secure more com- modious and suitable buildings, and since then the firm have erected others to meet the increas- ing demands of the trade. For a number of years they have been engaged in the manufacture of steamboilers, gas apparatus, iron and brass cast- ings, gasometers, core-barrels and all kinds of blacksmithing and machine work. The estab- lishment is the most extensive of its kind in Con- shohocken, furnishing employment to a large number of laborers, skilled mechanics and other artisans, and under the united efforts of both father and son the name of William T. Bate & Son has everywhere become recognized as a guarantee for superiority and perfect workman- ship.
Many of the patents of the firm have received most favorable mention in the scientific journals of this and other countries, and have proved in practical use to be of the highest merit and of
great value as contributions to the list of useful mechanical inventions. William T. Bate de- vised and perfected an ingenious and valuable steam generator which he patented, and which after numerous practical tests has proved of great valne and use in the generation of steam, par- ticularly to the merchant marine of this country and elsewhere.
Mr. Bate took an active interest in everything belonging to the business until within a few years of his death, when the increasing infirm- ities of age compelled him to leave details to others, and more particularly to the junior part- ners, his sons, Richard H. and John S. Bate. By his strict integrity and conscientious business methods he made an enviable reputation for the establishment which has been fully maintained by his sons, winning for them a prominent posi- tion in the manufacturing and commercial world. He was at the time of his death the oldest boiler- maker in the United States, and was also the old- est member of the American Boiler Manufactur- ers' Association of the United States and Canada. The first water gas model for Professor T. S. C. Lowe, of Norristown, Pennsylvania, when he was experimenting in the manufacture of that article, was made at the Bate Works, and the model is still in the possession of the firm. Mr. Bate had probably more patents granted to him in the line of boilers and gas generating appar- atus than any other individual. One of his latest devices was a low water alarm for boilers, an exceedingly useful device. He was a very su- perior draughtsman, and a fine example of his work in this line was a representation of the boiler plant of the Norristown Hospital for the Insane, which hangs upon the wall of the office of the Bate Company. It shows everything to the minutest detail and is elegantly drawn. Mr. Bate was a member of the Episcopal church, a Republican in politics, advocating the principles of his party, and was affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and other organ- 'izations.
Mr. Bate married, January 18, 1839, Miss Elizabeth George, of Cornwall, England, who died April 5, 1900. Elizabeth (George) Bate
486
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
was a daughter of William George, of Cornwall, England. She was born November 29, 1818, and on July 13, 1847, came to the United States with her husband. She was a dutiful and faith- ful wife and an indulgent mother to her children. She was a most estimable lady of the old school type, and in her death the community lost a benevolent and good Christian woman. The children of William T. and Elizabeth (George) Bate were: I. William, who married Elizabeth Rotes, and is now deceased, leaving a widow and seven children ; 2. Edward T., who married Mary A. Hall, and is now deceased, leaving a widow and two children, mentioned at length herein- after ; 3. Mary, who became the wife of Charles Fairbairn, was the mother of six children, and is now deceased; 4. Richard H., of whom see forward; 5. Elizabeth J., who became the wife of Cadwallader H. Brooke, and they are the par- ents of five children; 6. John S., of whom see forward ; 7. Ella F., who became the wife of W. C. Johnson, and has two surviving children ; 8. Caroline A., who died in 1876, while her parents resided in Philadelphia ; 9. George, who died in childhood; 10. Thomas, who died in infancy; II. Clara T., who became the wife of George E. Stees ; 12. Matilda, who died in infancy; 13. an unnamed child who died in infancy; 14. Abra- ham L., who died in infancy.
The death of Mr. Bate came rather suddenly on Wednesday morning, February 10, 1904, al- though he had been in poor health for many months. The employees of the works attended the funeral in a body, and the floral offerings were magnificent. The Rev. H. J. Cook, of Con- shohocken, rector of Calvary church, officiated, and the remains were interred at Montgomery cemetery, Norristown, Pennsylvania. The pall- bearers were six grandsons of deceased, namely : Howard, Frank and Richard Bate, of Consho- hocken, Albert Bate, of Manayunk, and George and Charles Fairbairn of Philadelphia. The Conshohocken Recorder made this comment, which touched a chord in the hearts of all who know him: "In the passing away of Mr. Bate, not only Conshohocken mourns, but all who ever came in contact with him, whether in business or
otherwise. His honest and upright principles have always been recognized. His charitable hand was ever extended to the worthy."
Edward T. Bate, second son of William T. and Elizabeth (George) Bate, died April 17. 1889, in the forty-eighth year of his age, leaving a widow and two children : Laura A., deceased, and Frank Bate. He was an old soldier in the truest sense of the term, and had served his coun- try valiantly during the Civil war. Mr. Bate en- listed on August 10, 1861, in Company C, Eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry, for three years, and after serving the full term faithfully he re- enlisted for a similar term, or until the close of the war. Early in 1864, on account of good be- havior and faithful service, he was detailed as an orderly at General Pleasonton's headquarters, and shortly after was made brigade postmaster. After the surrender of General Lee's army his brigade was ordered to Lynchburg, Virginia, for garrison duty, and Mr. Bate was assigned the position of mail agent between that place and Richmond. During the performance of his duty, on the night of July 23, 1865, while returning to Lnychburg on a government mixed train on the South-Side Railroad, in an accident by which the train was precipitated a distance of eighty feet into a ravine by the collapse of a bridge, Mr. Bate received injuries that crippled him for life and finally caused his death. On recovering con- sciousness after the accident he found that he was partially buried in the sand and pinned fast beneath the tender of the locomotive. Upon be- ing released it was discovered that he could not move any part of his body except his head, which was uninjured, and to those who saw him then his partial recovery, even, seemed to have been a miracle. Those who knew him from knowl- edge acquired by actual presence with him dur- ing the four years of the war, have truly said that there was no better soldier in his regiment. He took part with it in all the many battles of the Army of the Potomac, and never shirked a duty, and it is said that he never responded to a sick call, or was ever off duty on account of sickness. He was taken prisoner with others at the battle of Chancellorsville, but later was exchanged and
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'MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
returned to his regiment. His regiment, which went into service twelve hundred strong, was mus- tered out on August II, 1865, numbering less than three hundred. Mr. Bate was left upon a cot in the brigade hospital at Lynchburg, and was unable to get home until two or three months later. He was a member of the George Smith Post, No. 79, Grand Army of the Republic, for several years, and at the time of his death the organiza- tion attended the funeral and conferred upon their dead comrade all the honors of war.
RICHARD H. BATE, junior member of the firm of William T. Bate & Son, proprietors of the extensive Montgomery Boiler and Machine Works at Conshohocken, and one of the leading and prominent citizens of that borough and Montgomery county, was born on May 23, 1845, in Cornwall, England, a son of William T. and Elizabeth (George) Bate.
In 1847 his parents emigrated to this coun- try and settled at Belleville, New Jersey, and he obtained his early education in the schools of Westminster and Finksburg, Maryland. Subse- quently his parents removed to Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he continued his educa- tional advantages in the public schools of that town up to the year 1859, when he laid aside his school books and turned his attention to the ac- quiring of a practical vocation. He indentured himself to learn the blacskmith and boiler making trade in the Norristown Iron Works at Norris- town, his father at that time being superinten- dent of the works. He was an employee of that establishment up to 1865, at which time, having thoroughly mastered his trade and at the same time become familiar with every detail of the boiler and machine making branch of mechanics, he became associated in business with his father under the firm name of William T. Bate & Com- pany. The firm first consisted of William T. and Richard H. Bate and John Wood, and was estab)- lished for the manufacture of boilers and general machinery, being located at Conshohocken. In 1868 this partnership was dissolved, Mr. Wood retiring, and the firm was reorganized under the name of William T. Bate & Son, the present ex-
tensive Montgomery Boiler and Machine Works having been built for the manufacture of boilers, gas apparatus, core-barrels, castings, and all kinds of blacksmithing and machine work. The firm had made a small beginning in 1865, but the business tact and energy of the several members soon won for the firm prestige and a wide and well deserved reputation, with a consequent in- crease of trade extending to all parts of the country, and giving employment to a large force of men. In the manufacture of boiler and steam generators (and the same may be said of most of their products of manufacture) they have been using their own patents. As their business de- veloped and extended they increased their facili- ties by the erection of new buildings, and now give eployment to a large number of workmen and skilled mechanics. Some of their patents have been of a very important character, have re- ceived creditable mention in the various scientific journals of the country, and have proved in their application and actual use to be of high merit and valuable contributions to mechanical in- ventions.
Since the reorganization of the firm in 1868, Richard H. Bate has taken an active part in all matters pertaining to the business, assisting in the general management of the manufacturing de- partment as well as the trade. By strictly con- scientious and fair methods of dealing with the trade and all who come in contact with him, he has become a potent factor in the business, and has won for himself a prominent place in the manu- facturing and commercial world. As a citizen he has always been progressive and public-spirited, and has therefore been influential in the public enterprises of Conshohocken. Politically Mr. Bate has always been a firm advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and has taken an in- telligent interest and active part in the advance- ment and success of that party. Though he has never aspired to public or remunerative office, he is at present serving his fourth consecutive term of three years, in representing the third ward of his borough in council. He has been chiefly ac- tive and useful in the direction of industrial en- terprises, being prominently identified with most
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MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
of the business interests of the borough which have been brought forward for its development and general prosperity. In addition to his exten- sive manufacturing interests, he is a director of the First National Bank of Conshohocken, and was for a number of years a director of the Con- shohocken Electric Light Company, and a di- rector and managing superintendent of the Con- shohocken Gas Company. His aid and influence have been given to almost every movement which las for its object the promotion of the general welfare of his town and county. For over forty years he has been a member of the Montgomery Hose and Steam Fire Engine Company, No. I. a volunteer organization of Norristown, in which he has rendered dutiful service. On June 30, 1863, during the Civil war, he enlisted in Company E, Thirty-fourth Regiment Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, under Captain F. Sullivan, in the ninety day service. He was, however, not called to the front, and was honorably discharged before the end of his term of enlistment.
On August 31, 1866, Mr. Bate was united in marriage to Mary M. Murray, who was born May 15, 1845, a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth S. (Thompson) Murray, the former named being a prominent citizen of Norristown, Pennsylvania. On Wednesday, November 14, 1877, occurred the centenarian birthday celebration of Mrs. Eliza- beth Thompson, the widow of Benjamin Thomp- son and grandmother of Mrs. Bate. She was born at Barren Hill, Montgomery county, Pennsyl- vania, November 14, 1777. "Aunt Betsey" Thompson, as she was familiarly known, was a very remarkable woman, and was seen on the streets of Norristown up to within a few years of her one hundredth birthday. Mrs. Thompson re- sided in Norristown all her life with the excep- tion of ten years. She remembered the town from its earliest beginning, in fact from the time when it was but a small village, and recollected when farmers passed through on their way to market on horseback. She also recollected when the yellow fever raged so violently in Philadel- phia, and when prisoners were brought from the city prison to the county jail here, which was kept by her grandfather, William Stroud. She
ate her first meal in Norristown at her grand- father's, and was also present at the last dinner ever eaten in the old county jail, her son, Archi- bald Thompson, then being a keeper in the jail, and afterwards for many years being the court crier. Mrs. Thompson was in possession of all her faculties with the exception of a somewhat impaired hearing at the time of her one hundredth anniversary celebration, and took great delight in relating her recollections of General Washing- ton. On one occasion during his term as Presi- dent, General Washington, en route through Plymouth township, stopped at the Black Horse Hotel, and Mrs. Thompson, then a young girl, had the honor of handing him a drink of water and shaking hands with him. Of her eleven chil- dren, those who grew to maturity were: Maria (Mrs. Everly), Archibald, Hannah (Mrs. Mc- Bride), James, William, Sarah (Mrs. Earl), Ben- jamin, Rebecca (Mrs. Rice), Elizabeth (Mrs. Murray), and Ann (Mrs. Weightman). At the time of her one hundredth birthday, Mrs. Thomp- son had fifty-nine grandchildren and great-grand- children and five great-great-grandchildren. Of the latter group a little daughter Annie, of Richard and Mary M. (Murray) Bate, of Con- shohocken, aged about three months, was the youngest.
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