USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I > Part 68
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In 1889 he was appointed to fill a vacancy on the bench of Common Pleas Court, No. 2, of Philadelphia, and in November of the same year was elected to the same position for the full term of ten years. In 1899 he was unanimously re-elected for another term of ten years, being then the President Judge of the Court. He resigned his judicial position in 1902 to accept the nomination of the
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Republican party to the office of Governor, to which he was elected in November by a majority of over 156,000 votes over ex-Governor Robert E. Pattison, the popular standard bearer of the Democratic party, who had been twice elected to that position.
During Gov. Pennypacker's administration the Commonwealth made great progress in all directions. The practical movement for good roads was begun, the Health Department was established, the State Constabulary created, a great coal miners strike was averted, the Forestry Reserve was doubled, Valley Forge made, in fact, a State Park, Greater Pittsburg incorporated, a new Capitol completed and dedicated, the State apportioned into Senatorial and Representative Districts for the first time in thirty years ; the volume of new laws was cut down one-third ; the power of the corporations to seize the streams and sources of water supply of the State taken away, and legislation enacted which President Roosevelt described as marking "an epoch in the practical betterment of political conditions" for all the States; $375,000 was appropriated for the deepening of the channel of the Delaware river and over $13,000,000 left in the treasury.
As a jurist Judge Pennypacker stood exceedingly high in the estimation of the people. His opinions were characterized by good sense, sound reasoning, and an enlightened knowledge of and practical application of the law to the case in hand, and he was seldom reversed by the higher Courts. Gov. Pennypacker has taken a lively interest in the affairs of Philadelphia. In 1886 he was appointed a member of the Board of Education, and he has always been an ardent friend of popular education. He has for many years taken a very active interest in historical sub- jects and has written and published a number of books, papers, pamphlets, etc., of high merit from a historical point of view. A careful and conscientious student, his historical publications are models of accuracy and authenticity. Intensely proud of his native State and her institutions, his ability to ferret out obscure and interesting facts in reference to their history is unexcelled among contemporary historians. Among the more prominent of his publications are: "The Settlement of Germantown," "Hendrick Pannebecker," "Historical and Biographical Sketches," "Bebber's Township," "The Annals of Phoenixville" and "Congress Hall." In addition to the above he has published some fifty other books, pamph- lets and papers of more or less historical interest. He is also the author of a number of legal text books of merit, among them being "Pennsylvania Colonial Cases," "Digest of Common Law Reports," and "Pennypacker's Supreme Court Reports;" and he also aided in the preparation of forty-five volumes of the "Weekly Notes of Cases."
Gov. Pennypacker has long been one of the most active members of the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania, and done much to place it on the high plane of usefulness as an institution. He served it many years as Vice-President, and since 1900 has been its President. He was largely instrumental in securing the State appropriation which enabled the Society to erect its large and commodious building at Thirteenth and Locust streets in 1906-07. He was one of the founders and is now Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution ; fills the same official position in the Colonial Society ; has been President of the Netherlands Society, and of the Pennsylvania German Society, is a member of the Society of Colonial Wars, the Society of the War of 1812, and of the Penn- sylvania History Club. He is President of the Philobiblon Club, and connected
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with a number of other historical, educational and social organizations. He has been for several years a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, and is a Past Commander of Frederick Taylor Post, No. 10, Grand Army of the Republic.
Gov. Pennypacker is an antiquarian of rare instinct, and collected a library of early Pennsylvania publications, manuscripts and curios, containing over ten thousand books, pamphlets, and manuscripts, many of which are exceedingly rare and valuable.
Franklin and Marshall College and the University of Pennsylvania conferred upon Governor Pennypacker the degree of Doctor of Laws.
He married, October 20, 1870, Virginia Earl, daughter of Nathan Broomall, of Phoenixville, and a descendant of some of the old and prominent Quaker families of Delaware county. They had issue:
Dirck Koster Pennypacker, b. Aug. 4, 1871; d. Jan. 18, 1872:
Josephine Whitaker Pennypacker, b. Nov. 14, 1872; Eliza Broomall Pennypacker, b. Oct. 18, 1874; graduate of Bryn Mawr College, 1897; Anna Maria Whitaker Pennypacker, b. Nov. 22, 1876; graduate of Bryn Mawr College, 1897;
Samuel Richardson Pennypacker, b. Dec. 3, 1878; d. Nov. 2, 1880;
Bevan Aubrey Pennypacker, b. July 29, 1881 ; graduated at the William Penn Charter School, Phila., and entered the Univ. of Pa., Department of Arts, from which he received his degree of B. S., class of 1902. He subsequently entered the Law Depart- ment of the University, from which he graduated in 1905, and was admitted to the Phila. bar, where he has since practiced his profession. He is a member of the Law Academy, has been President of the Hare Law Club, and is now Assistant City Solicitor of Phila .; m. Oct. 19, 1907, Katharine Roberts, dau. of Powell Stackhouse, President of the Cambria Iron & Steel Company, by his wife, Lucinda Maria Bu- chanan.
HENRY C. PENNYPACKER, second son of Dr. Isaac Anderson and Anna Maria (Whitaker) Pennypacker, born at Phoenixville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, June 20, 1847, was for a number of years engaged in the printing business in Philadelphia, retiring from business to accept a position in the Prothonotary's office, Philadelphia, which he still holds. He is the owner of over two hundred acres of land in Chester county, comprising "Moore Hall," the historic Colonial residence of the Moore family, where he now resides.
Mr. Pennypacker married, April 17, 1883, Clara, daughter of Joshua and Sarah Elizabeth (Jenkins) Kames, born in Philadelphia, September 30, 1855. They have one son, Joseph Rusling Whitaker Pennypacker, born in Philadelphia, November 10, 1887, who is now a student at Wenonah Military Academy, Weno- nah, New Jersey.
ISAAC RUSLING PENNYPACKER, third son of Dr. Isaac Anderson and Anna Maria (Whitaker) Pennypacker, born at Phoenixville, Chester county, Pennsyl- vania, December II, 1852, was educated at Bond's School, Phoenixville, and "The Hill" School, Pottstown. He was one of the proprietors and editor of the Wilmington (Delaware) Morning News from 1880 to 1883; on the editorial staff of the Philadelphia Press and Philadelphia Inquirer, 1883 to 1899; author of "Gettysburg and Other Poems," several of which were included in Stedman's "Library of American Literature," Longfellow's "Poems of Places" and other Anthologies. The poem "Gettysburg" was read at the dedication of the Pennsyl- vania monuments erected upon the battlefield. George Morgan, writing in the "Book News" for July, 1904, of the poetry relating to the battlefield said, after
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referring to poems of Bayard Taylor, Whittier, J. W. DeForrest, Bret Harte, and Will H. Thompson, "Something nobler and greater than these is Isaac R. Penny- packer's 'Gettysburg.' Edmund Clarence Stedman, who was generous enough to place it higher than his own Gettysburg effort, designates it as a noble free-hand epic."
Mr. Pennypacker wrote the article "Philadelphia" in "Johnson's Cyclopaedia," and for Appleton's well-known "Great Commanders Series," the "Life of Gen- eral Meade," an authentic narrative of the movement of the Army of the Potomac. He has been for some years a contributor of reviews to the Chicago Dial and the New York Nation.
Since 1898 Mr. Pennypacker has resided at Haddonfield, New Jersey. He was elected a member of the town council there in 1902; was Chairman of the Street, Lighting, and Water Committees, and originated the movement which resulted in extending the town limits. He resigned in the autumn of 1906. He is a director of several incorporated companies ; was trustee for a number of years of the Mt. Holly Library Company, is a member and was formerly president of the Nether- lands Society of Philadelphia, and wrote the song which is sung at each of the Society's annual dinners ; is a member of the Montrose and the Camden County Country clubs, and the Franklin Inn Club of Philadelphia, and was elected in 1907 a member of the E. Q. B. Club of the University of the South, at Sewanee, Tennessee.
Mr. Pennypacker married, 1878, Charlotte, of Harford county, Maryland, daughter of William P. C. Whitaker, by his wife, Mary Ramsay, granddaughter of Col. Nathaniel Ramsay, of the Maryland Line, who was conspicuous for his bravery at the battles of Long Island, Brandywine, and Germantown, and whose regiment with that of Col. Stewart, checked the British pursuit at Monmouth, until Washington could rally the retreating American troops. Col. Ramsay was a member of the "Old" Congress. A street in Baltimore is named for him, and his is the central figure of one of the bronze groups on the Monmouth battle-field monument. Col. Ramsay's portrait and that of his brother, Dr. David Ramsay, the eminent historian, of Charleston, South Carolina, both painted by Charles Willson Peale, hang in Independence Hall. Dr. David Ramsay was elected President of the Continental Congress. Col. Ramsay's wife, the great-grand- mother of Mrs. Pennypacker, was Charlotte, daughter of Col. Aquilla Hall, by his wife, Sophia White, (sister to Bishop William White, first Bishop of Prot .. estant Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania ) and great-granddaughter of Capt. John Hall, of the long established Hall family of Harford county, Maryland, members of which intermarried with the Heaths, Keys, Pacas, Howards, McHenrys, and other leading families of Maryland. Sophia White danced at the Philadelphia Assembly Ball, in 1749.
Issue of Isaac R. and Charlotte (Whitaker) Pennypacker:
Isaac Anderson Pennypacker, b. at "Mt. Pleasant," Harford co., Md., Aug. 29, 1879; graduate of the Univ. of Pa., being president of the Senior Class, 1902; member of the Phila. bar, and of the bar of the Supreme Court of Pa .; Director in 1908 of The Young Republicans' Club of Phila .; Secretary of The Netherlands Society of Phila .; member of the Delta Phi Fraternity; Southern Club, Phila., and Society of the Cincin- nati, being a delegate from Maryland to the Triennial Convention of 1908, held at Charleston, S. C .;
Nathaniel Ramsay Pennypacker, b. at "Mt. Pleasant," Harford co., Md., Sept. 26, 1881; graduated from Lehigh Univ., with degree of Engineer of Mines; in charge of mining
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operations in the Province of Ontario, Canada, 1906-07, and since that time in Nevada ; member of Delta Phi Fraternity;
Charlotte Pennypacker, b. June 20, 1885; educated at The Holman School, Phila., and Burnham School, Northampton, Mass .; pupil of Dr. David Wood, of Phila .;
Julia Elizabeth Pennypacker, b. Jan. 12, 1887; prepared for college at Miss Hill's school, Phila., and the Burnham School, Northampton, Mass., and entered Vassar College with Class of 1910; Secretary of Sophomore Class, elected by student body member of "The Joint Committee of Faculty and Student;" member of Contemporary Club, and of the Membership Committee of the Christian's Association ;
Mary Ramsay Pennypacker, b. March 28, 1888; educated at the Burnham School, North- ampton, Mass .;
Maria Whitaker Pennypacker, b. Dec. 15, 1889; educated at the "Oldfields" School, Glencoe, Md .;
Grace Adams Pennypacker, b. Oct. 25, 1892; educated at "Oldfields" School, Glencoe, Md.
JAMES LANE PENNYPACKER, youngest son of Dr. Isaac Anderson and Anna Maria (Whitaker) Pennypacker, born December 11, 1855, in Philadelphia, in the house now numbered 1803 Chestnut street, graduated from Friends Central High School, 1874, and from Harvard University 1881, with the degree of A. B., magna cum laude. In 1881 he entered the Old Corner Book Store, Boston, Massachu- setts, doing the editorial work for that well-known book publishing establishment until 1883, when he returned to Philadelphia and continued the publishing business there. In 1892 he became connected with The Christopher Sower Company, of which house he is now Vice-President and General Manager. The Christopher Sower Company was founded in 1738, and has been in continuous existence from that date to the present time, and is the oldest and historically the most famous publishing house in America. It is a member of the Association of Centenary Firms and Corporations of the United States.
Mr. Pennypacker is a member of the Harvard Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa ; Harvard Club of Philadelphia ; Harvard Club of New Jersey; University Club, of Philadelphia ; Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadelphia; American Asso- ciation for the Advancement of Science; Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; Pennsylvania Society, Sons of the Revolution, and the Netherlands Society of Philadelphia. He is an advisory manager of the Free Museum of Science and Art, of the University of Pennsylvania, and President of the Delaware Valley Natural- ist's Union, an association of scientific societies located in or near Philadelphia, on both sides of the Delaware river.
James Lane Pennypacker married, June 17, 1884, Grace Fisher, born October 3, 1858, daughter of George and Hepsy A. (Seaver) Coolidge, of Dedham, Massa- chusetts, and ninth in descent from John Coolidge, who came from Cambridge- shire, England, 1630, and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. Mr. Penny- packer and his family reside at Haddonfield, New Jersey.
Issue of James Lane and Grace F. (Coolidge ) Pennypacker:
Grace Coolidge Pennypacker, b. Jan. 24, 1886; graduated from Friends' Central School, 1905; d. Feb. 1, 1906;
Joseph Whitaker Pennypacker, b. Oct. 8, 1887; now (1908) member of Junior Class at Haverford College;
Edward Lane Pennypacker, b. Sept. 12, 1889; d. May 25, 1899;
James Anderson Pennypacker (twin), b. June 11, 1899;
Anna Margaret Pennypacker (twin), b. June II, 1899.
Among the descendants of Hendrick Pannebacker, who have rendered distin-
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guished service to their native state of Pennsylvania, other than those in direct line of descent of the branch of the family treated of in this sketch, are Major General Galusha Pennypacker, of Philadelphia, and Hon. Elijah F. Pennypacker, many years Canal Commissioner of Pennsylvania, when that office was a very important one, for the reason that most of these artificial waterways were owned by the Commonwealth; sketches of both of whom follow.
MAJOR GENERAL GALUSHA PENNYPACKER, of Philadelphia, another distin- guished descendant of Hendrick Pannebecker, was born in Chester county, Penn- sylvania, June 1, 1844, only child of Joseph J. and Tamson Amelia ( Workiser ) Pennypacker, and great-grandson of Matthias and Mary (Kuster) Pennypacker, before mentioned. He was educated at the Classical Institue at Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
Entering the Union Army as a non-commissioned staff officer in April, 1861, in the Ninth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, he served his term of three months enlistment with Gen. Robert Patterson in the Shenandoah Campaign. On August 22, 1861, he re-entered the army as Captain of Company A, Ninety-seventh Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was promoted to Major, October 7, 1861 ; serving in the Tenth Corps, Department of the South, during 1862 and 1863. Was in the engagements at Forts Wagner and Greeg, James Island, Siege of Charleston, capture of Fort Pulaski, and of Fernandina and Jacksonville, Florida. He joined the Army of the James, in Virginia, in April, 1864, and was promoted Lieutenant- Colonel of his regiment, April 3, 1864, and Colonel, June 23, 1864, commanding at Swift Creek, May 9, at Drury's Bluff, May 16, Chester Station, May 18, and Green Plains, May 20, 1864. He was in numerous battles, and was assigned to the command of the Second Brigade, Second Division, Tenth Corps, September, 1864; was in the successful assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, January 15, 1865, and received the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery in battle, and a brevet as Brigadier-General United States Volunteers, January 15, 1865.
He was promoted to Brigadier-General of United States Volunteers, February 18, 1865, and was made Major-General United States Veterans by brevet, March 13, 1865. He was several times severely wounded and was the youngest general officer in the War of the Rebellion. After the War he entered the regular service and was commissioned Colonel of the Thirty-fourth Regiment Infantry, United States Army, July 28, 1866, his regiment afterwards changed to the Sixteenth Infantry, United States Army. He served as commander of different posts and was a department commander at various times until his retirement on account of wounds in 1883. He became Brevet Brigadier-General of the United States Army, March 2, 1867, and Brevet Major-General on the same date, and was commis- sioned Brigadier-General, United States Army, retired, April 23, 1904. Is a member of Society of Cincinnati, Loyal Legion, Historical Society, of Pennsyl- vania, etc., and resides at 300 South Tenth street, Philadelphia. He is unmarried.
Hon. ELIJAH F. PENNYPACKER, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Funk) Penny- packer, and great-great-grandson of Hendrick Pannebecker, "Dutch Patroon," was born in Schuylkill township, Chester county, November 29, 1804, died January 4, 1888. He completed his education at John Gummere's Boarding School, Bur- lington, New Jersey, after which he taught in a private school in Philadelphia, and later in the neighborhood of his nativity, being engaged there in teaching, surveying and farming for several years. He was elected to the State Legislature
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for the terms of 1831-2, 1832-3, 1834-5, 1835-6. He presented in the Lower House the bill by which the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company was incor- porated, and had charge of it as Chairman of the committee to which it was referred, until signed by the Governor. His correspondence shows the interest he manifested in the establishment of the public school system, he being associated with Thaddeus Stevens in its adoption. He was also active in the establishment of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and was chairman of the Committee on Banks and Banking.
In 1836 he was made Secretary of the Board of Canal Commissioners, and served in that capacity until he was made a member of the Board, in 1838, Thad- deus Stevens and John Dickey being his associates. From the fact the greater part of the general improvements in the canal system of the State were owned by the Commonwealth and controlled through this board of commissioners, made it the most responsible political position in the State with the exception of the gov- ernorship.
All the public positions held by Mr. Pennypacker were voluntary offerings, the gift of the people who acknowledged his intelligence, sincerity and marked probity in the transaction of public business. Other and more flattering prospects of political preferment were relinquished, and he retired from public life in 1839, being unwilling to hold office under a government that sanctioned human slavery. Soon after his retirement, he united himself with the Society of Friends, but he was much too radical to be an acceptable addition in this conservative body, and it was only when the anti-slavery feeling became generally diffused throughout the Society, several years later, that he found the unity with his views therein he had expected on becoming a member. In the great struggle between freedom and slavery he entered heart and soul. In the local anti-slavery society of his neigh- borhood he was for many years chosen president, and he filled the same position in the Chester County and the Pennsylvania State Anti-Slavery societies. His home became a station on the Underground Railroad, three lines from the South meeting at that point, and hundreds of fugitives found there rest and help on their way to Canada and freedom. After the slave system became a thing of the past, Mr. Pennypacker spoke of the unique organization known as the "Under- ground Railroad," as follows, "The stock was never reported in money circles, nor dividends declared, but means were ready as long as necessity required. The Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln dissolved the corporation."
Elijah F. Pennypacker married (first) in 1831, Sarah W. Coates, of the Quaker family of that name who settled in Chester county in 1731. She died childless in 1841, and in 1843 he married (second) Hannah, daughter of Charles and Mary (Corson) Adamson, descended from John Adamson, an English Quaker, who came to Pennsylvania in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Her mother, Mary Corson, was daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Dickinson) Corson, whose ancestor, Cornelius Corssen, said to have been a French Huguenot refugee, landed at Staten Island, about 1685.
Of the nine children of Elijah F. and Hannah ( Adamson) Pennypacker three : Gertrude, Charles and Mary, died in childhood, and a son Elijah J. died in 1895 at the age of thirty-five years. Five are still living: Sarah C., Caroline B., Eliz- abeth, Margaret and Sumner.
ISAAC SAMUELS PENNYPACKER, United States Senator from Virginia, Con-
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gressman, and Judge of the United States District Court, was another great-great- grandson of Hendrick Pannebecker. His grandfather, Dirck Pennypacker, son of John and Annetje (Keyser) Pannebecker, and grandson of Hendrick Panne- becker, removed from the Perkiomen region of Pennsylvania to Sharpsburg, Maryland, established an iron working establishment there, which in the spring of 1781 was almost entirely swept away by a freshet. Instead of rebuilding at that site he removed with his family over the mountains to Woodstock, Shenan- doah county, Virginia. He first erected Redwill Furnace on Hawkesbill creek in what is now Page county, and later erected another furnace a few miles below New Market, now called Pine Forge, Frederick county, West Virginia. He was a pioneer iron master in that region, and the business established by him was con- tinued by his son Benjamin, and grandsons, George M. and Joel Pennypacker, sons of the latter, and brothers to the jurist and statesman, Isaac S. Pennypacker. Benjamin, father of the senator, in 1810 built for his home the spacious "White House," still standing at Pine Forge. His sons, George M. and Joel, bought large tracts of mountain land in Western Shenadoah county and in Rockingham county ; built Liberty Furnace, a few miles from Woodstock, which for many years sup- plied Pine Forge with iron; they also built a furnace at Brock's Gap in Rocking- ham county, but the ore there proving practically worthless it was later abandoned.
Hon. Isaac Samuels Pennypacker, son of Benjamin, above mentioned, was born in Shenadoah county, Virginia, September 12, 1807, died while serving as United States Senator, at Washington, D. C., January 12, 1847. He was educated at Washington College, Virginia, and on his graduation entered himself as a student- at-law in the office of St. George Tucker, in Winchester, Virginia, with his cousin, Green B. Samuels, whose mother was his father's sister, who by the way was another prominent descendant of the Pennypacker clan, filling with great dis- tinction the office of Judge of the Court of Appeals for many years. Isaac S. Pennypacker also attended Winchester Law School, and on his admission to the bar, located at Harrisonburg, and there attained eminence in his profession. In 1836 he was elected to Congress on the Democratic ticket and served one term; declining re-election to accept the position of United States District Judge, to which he was elevated in 1839, and filled until 1845, when he was elected to the United States Senate, but died before the expiration of his term. He was offered by President Van Buren the office of Attorney-General in his cabinet, but he declined, as he did the proffer of the position of Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia, and the nomination of his party for Governor of the State, when his election was an assured result. He was one of the organizers and first regents of the Smithsonian Institution, at Washington, D. C., and was one of the most popular and influential men of his day in Virginia.
LLOYD FAMILY.
ROBERT LLOYD, of Merionethshire, Wales, who came to Pennsylvania in the ship "Lion," of Liverpool, 1683, at the age of fourteen years, and in 1697 purchased land and settled in Lower Merion township, three miles from the present site of Bryn Mawr, traced his ancestry back to
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