USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. I > Part 82
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The Spangler family of Pennsylvania trace their ancestry back to George Spangler or Spengler, who was cup-bearer to the Emperor Barbarossa (1150, A. D.) whom he accompanied in one of the crusades to the Holy Land in 1189. The family coat of arms consists of a red shield emblazoned with a silver beak- er resting on three golden hills, and surmounted by a bishop's bust. The fam- ily was long settled at Nuremberg, Germany, of which town, a George Speng- ler (b. 1479, d. 1534) was town clerk in 1526, in which year he entertained there Melanchton, the great reformer. Lazarus Spengler, son of George the town-clerk, was a friend and coadjutor of Martin Luther, and an active par-
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ticipator in the scenes of the reformation, was with Luther at the Diet of Worms, of the proceedings of which he wrote a graphic description. He was also the author of a number of theological treatises, and of religious poetry. After his death Luther published his "Confessions of Faith of Lazarus Speng- ler, formerly Syndic of the City of Nuremberg." Valentine Krug, whose widow Caspar Singer married, was a tanner, and died in Lancaster, in 1757, leaving children Valentine and Jacob, before referred to as soldiers in the Revolution, and daughters, Barbara and Margaret. Eve Maria (Spangler-Krug) Singer, died at Lancaster, December 13, 1802, aged 76 years, I month and three days.
Caspar and Eve Maria (Spangler) Singer had nine children, four of whom, Emanuel, John, Abraham, and Elizabeth, lived to mature years, married and reared families. Rebecca Singer, daughter of John, was for many years an eminent preacher among Friends, became the second wife of Isaac Collins, of Philadelphia, and her sister Elizabeth married Isaac S. Lloyd, another prominent Quaker ; three other sisters married ministers of the gospel.
ABRAHAM SINGER, youngest surviving son of Caspar (2) and Eve Maria (Spangler) Singer, was born at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, April 25, 1765. He ac- companied or preceded his father to Philadelphia, and seems to have been as- sociated with him in the mercantile business, at 137 Market street. At any rate he and his brother John succeeded their father in the business there and their names appear on the Philadelphia directory of 1797, the year of their fath- er's decease, as grocers at 137 High street. John, however, after the settle- ment of his father's estate, engaged in business at 91 Race street while Abra- ham continued at the old place until 1809. In 1796 his residence was No. 10, North Eighth street ; in 1797, North Fifth street; and in 1811, he is denominated "Gentleman" and resident at No. 16 Filbert street.
Abraham Singer was a member of Captain Eleazer Oswald's light infantry company, Philadelphia, Second Battalion Pennsylvania militia, at the close of the Revolution, and one of those who signed the petition of members of this company to the Supreme Executive Council, August 1, 1786, setting forth, that they were assured that Congress had lately received "an official declaration from the Court at London, 'That they will not relinquish the Posts and Garrisons on our Frontier,'" and that Congress had it in contemplation to call for a "portion of the Militia, to dispossess the British of these Fortresses." The petition con- cludes, "we wish not to be excelled or out done in Point of Zeal and Activity in promoting the Interest and Welfare of our Country at large, we take this early opportunity to entreat that your Honorable Body will be pleased to consider us as the First on the List of Volunteers from Pennsylvania, whenever Congress shall think proper to adopt so necessary a Measure." Abraham Singer was also the first captain of the Second troop, Philadelphia City cavalry, organized about 1793, which formed part of the regiment known as the "MacPherson Blues" sent to Western Pennsylvania to quell the Whiskey Insurrection, in 1794. He was present as captain of the Second troop at the dinner given to General Wayne, at Weed's Tavern, Gray's Ferry, February 25, 1796; led the troop as an escort to President Adams on his return to Philadelphia; was captain of the Second troop, when the three "Troops of Cavalry, belonging to Philadelphia, Captains, Dunlap, Singer, and Morell" were called into service at the order of the
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Secretary of War, March 20, 1799, to quell the House Tax Insurrection in Northampton, Berks, and northern Bucks counties.
Abraham Singer was an ardent Federalist, and his company was considered a Federalist organization, politically. Captain Singer became involved in the riot in St. Mary's Catholic church-yard on Sunday, February 9, 1799, growing out of the excitement over the repeal of the alien and sedition act, and with several others was arrested, and finally, in 1801, tried and convicted of assault, for which he was sentenced to a nominal fine and costs.
Captain Singer, entered the United States service in the war of 1812-14, as lieutenant of a company commanded by Captain George Hetzellberger in the regiment commanded by Lieutenant-colonel John Lutz, which was ordered by the governor to rendezvous at York, Pennsylvania, August 26, 1814, for a tour of duty, and where a roll of the company was made, September 2, 1814. He died January 4, 1815. His sword is in possession of his great-grandson, Howard Stetler ; his epaulettes and a portrait in oil, painted at Lancaster in 1806, have descended to Edgar A. Singer, the son of the subject of this sketch.
Abraham Singer married, at Christ Church, Philadelphia, May 8, 1794, Ann, (b. Phila. November 25, 1769) daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Singleton) Tresse; granddaughter of Hugh and Hannah (Finney) Tresse; great-grand- daughter of Thomas and Mary (Pearse) Tresse; and great-great-granddaughter of Hugh and Margaret Tresse, of Newark on the river Trent, in the County of Nottingham, England.
The first of the Tresse family to come to America was Thomas Tresse, a broth- er of Hugh Tresse, last above mentioned, who was in Philadelphia at least as early as 1688. He was a prominent merchant, and was associated with Samuel Car- penter, and others in a number of business enterprises; was one of the com- pany, with William Bradford, the printer, Robert Turner, and William Ritten- house in 1690, organized for the purpose of erecting a paper mill in or near Philadelphia, the interest wherein Turner and Tresse sold in 1701. In 1709 Thomas Tresse purchased 13,000 acres of land on the Manatawney, Hanover township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county, and, March 12, 1712, exe- cuted a deed of trust therefor to his sister Margaret Tench, and his nephew Thomas Tresse, Jr., including other lands, at Germantown, in the Jerseys and elsewhere, for the benefit of his sisters, nephews and nieces. The wharf of Thomas Tresse adjoined that of Samuel Carpenter, and was on Front street between Walnut and Dock streets. He was one of the prominent merchants of Philadelphia, who joined with the mayor, aldermen, and other officials of the city in 1710 in a petition to the General Assembly to grant more liberal powers to the corporation of the city. He was one of the early members of Christ church, but in 171I was baptized as a member of Pennypack Baptist church, and though he was buried at Christ church, May 17, 1714, his will, dated April 30, 1714, and proved June 1, 1714, gives legacies for the benefit of the Baptist church of Philadelphia, and at Pennypack, and to "Friends" John Hart, of Bucks county, Baptist minister ; Samuel Jones and Abel Morgan, Baptist minis- ters, and James Poulter and Edward Church, of Philadelphia, deacons and trus- tees of the Baptist church. This will however leaves the bulk of his estate to two of the children of his brother Hugh, Joshua, and Thomas Tresse, the former being named as executor. Substantial legacies are, however, given to
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his sister Margaret Tench, of Philadelphia; his sister Elizabeth Bate, residing in Great Britain, and her two sons; his uncle William Mallett, "now in Phila- delphia"; and his brother Hugh Tresse. From the fact that he mentions, three of the children of Hugh, viz, Charles, Hugh, and Sarah Tresse, as "now in Great Britain," it is supposed that the brother Hugh had but lately arrived in Philadelphia, with his two elder sons, Joshua and Thomas, and was followed later by his wife Margaret, and younger children. The will also mentions "Hugh and Margaret Tress, children of Cousen (nephew) Thomas Tresse" then mere infants, the latter less than a year old. Thomas Tresse was evidently closely as- sociated with most of the prominent and wealthy families of Philadelphia, as he appears as witness, trustee, executor, or legatee of more than twenty wills between 1694 and 1714.
Hugh Tresse, the elder, the lineal ancestor of the subject of this sketch, does not seem to have taken so prominent part in the affairs of Philadelphia as his brother Thomas, and probably did not come to Philadelphia until shortly before his brother's death, at which time his sons Thomas Tresse, Jr., and Joshua Tresse were already prominently associated with their uncle in various business affairs they having probably been in this country several years prior to the ar- rival of their father. Hugh Tresse, survived his brother sixteen years, and was buried at Christ church, August 26, 1730. He left no will and letters of administration on his estate were granted to his son Thomas Tresse, Jr. His wife Margaret, was buried at Christ church, May 3, 1720.
The children of Hugh and Margaret Tresse, all born at Newark on the Trent, Nottinghamshire, were Thomas, Joshua, Charles, Hugh, and Sarah. Of Joshua, we know little, further than that he was the executor of the will, of his uncle Thomas in 1714, and later purchaser of a large amount of the real estate of the other beneficiaries under the trust deed of 1712, above-mentioned. Hugh Tresse (2) was buried at Christ church, April 3, 1720; he left a widow Mary and children, James, Charles and Hugh, mentioned in the will of their aunt, Sarah Tresse, who died unmarried, prior to June 4, 1720, the date of probate of her will, dated April 2, 1720, which also mentions her father, Hugh Tresse, and brothers Thomas, Joshua, and Hugh, the latter deceased; and refers to legacies received under the wills of her uncle Thomas Tresse and aunt, Margaret Tench. The latter was buried at Christ church, November 18, 1716.
Thomas Tresse, Jr., as his name appears on the early records to distinguish him from his uncle Thomas, was, like his uncle, very prominent in the affairs of Philadelphia. He was born in Newark on the Trent, County of Nottingham, England, where he was baptised, March 27, 1686. He probably came to Phila- delphia when quite a young man and lived there with his uncle Thomas Tresse, and aunt Margaret Tench, who appears to have been a childless widow. He was a member of Christ church, where he was married by Rev. Evan Evans, April 8, 1711, to "Mary, daughter of Mr. Nicolas Pearse." She was buried at Christ church, in the Pearse vault, May 28, 1714.
(From the fact that the elder Thomas Tresse was also buried in this vault, it has been assumed by some that Mary was his wife and not that of his nephew Thomas Tresse, Jr., but the baptism of their two children, Hugh and Margaret, who are mentioned in the will of Thomas Sr., as the children of
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his "cousen Thomas Tresse," the term cousin being at that time applied to nephews and nieces, fully proves that she was the first wife of Thomas, Junior. The term "wife," not "widow," in the record of her burial is another proof.)
Thomas Tresse married (second) at Christ Church, May 15, 1715, "Elizabeth, daughter of Captn. Samuel Finney, and relict of Joseph Pidgeon, deceased." Thomas Tresse Jr., was early associated with his uncle in mercantile business in Philadelphia, and at the death of the latter, in 1714, inherited a large por- tion of the ample estate. Most of the real estate, outside of Philadelphia, how- ever, owned by Thomas Tresse, Sr., was conveyed to Thomas Tresse, Jr. and Margaret Tench, his aunt, by a deed of trust from Thomas Tresse, Sr., in 1712, and later conveyed by them to different parties, the iron lands and inter- ests at Manatawney, going to Joshua Tresse, brother of Thomas, Jr. The dif- ferent tracts owned by Thomas Tresse, Sr., "Merchant and Ironmonger," in- cluded the 13,000 acres in New Hanover township. On the Manatawney Creek; 1250 acres in Warwick township, Bucks county, sold by the trustees in 1714; 500 acres in Burlington county, and 500 acres in Gloucester county, New Jersey ; 1086 acres in Philadelphia county ; 340 acres in Chester county ; 50 acres in New Castle county ; and 50 acres on the Delaware in Philadelphia.
Thomas Tresse was one of the solid men of Philadelphia, and took an active part in public affairs. He was elected to the common council of the city, October 7, 1718, and served until his death in 1739, and was city treas- urer from 1732. Like his uncle, he filled numerous trusts in the settlement of estates, etc. He was one of the most active members of Christ church filling the position of Warden from 1723, and from 1727 to 1731 served as chairman of various committees for raising funds for the enlargement and improvement of the church and other business matters relating thereto. He was also inter- ested in Trinity Episcopal church, in Oxford township, Philadelphia, where the family of his second wife, Elizabeth Finney, held membership, being one of the donors in 1715, of a patent to that church. He was buried at Christ church, November 21, 1739, being in his 54th year. By his first wife, Mary Pearse, Thomas Tresse, had two children, Margaret, baptised at Christ church, September 13, 1713, buried there, December 4, 1732; and Hugh Tresse, bap- tised January 26, 1714, at the age of 8 days, died 1746, married Hannah Fin- ney, niece of his stepmother, Elizabeth Finney; of them hereafter.
Elizabeth Finney, second wife of Thomas Tresse, was a daughter of Cap- tain Samuel Finney, by his first wife. She was buried at Christ church, Feb- ruary I, 1736-7. Her first husband Joseph Pidgeon was a merchant, and justice of Philadelphia, and member of the provincial council.
Thomas and Elizabeth (Finney) Tresse, had six children, only two of whom lived to mature years, Ann, (1722-1793), married Daniel Rundle; and Mary. married James Murgatroyd and died in 1782. The will of Thomas Tresse, proved December 31, 1739, names his three children, Hugh, Mary and Ann, and makes his "brother-in-law Charles Finney," trustee. All three of the chil- dren are named as executors, but letters were granted to Mary and Ann Tresse, (then both single), "Hugh being absent."
Captain Hugh Tresse, son of Thomas Tresse, Jr., by his first wife, Mary Pearse, and only son of his father, who survived infancy, was born in Philadel- phia in 1712. He was a sea captain, and probably lost his life at sea, as we find
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no record of his burial. He survived his father but a few years, the exact date of his death being also unknown. He is named as "absent" when letters testa- mentary were granted on the estate of his father December 31, 1739, being probably on a sea voyage. Letters of administration were granted on his es- tate, September 2, 1746, to his father-in-law Charles Finney, four days after the burial of his wife. Finney evidently renounced letters later, as, July 16, 1748, letters were granted to Robert Greenway, "during the minority of THOMAS and Hannah Tresse, minor children of the said deceased." Charles Finney was still living, dying exactly two years after the grant of the letters to Greenway. Captain Hugh Tresse married Hannah, daughter of Charles Finney, of Oxford township, by his wife Elizabeth Tregony, and granddaughter of Captain Sam- uel Finney, of Tacony.
Captain Samuel Finney, of Cheatham Hill, county of Lancaster, England, merchant, purchased by deeds of lease and release, dated August 4, 1699, of Thomas Fairman, 800 acres of land, laid out in Philadelphia county, and Feb- ruary 6th, 1699-1700, purchased another tract of 187 acres at the mouth of Tacony Creek, and soon after the last purchase came to Philadelphia and settled thereon. He engaged in business as a merchant in Philadelphia, driving into the city from his residence between Tacony and Frankford. In 1705 he was granted a vacant lot for a stable "for accommodating his horses when he comes
to town, * in the 3d St. Between Sassafras and Vine Sts. on the East side, of 3d St. 55 ft. in breadth and 196, depth." Captain Samuel, "being a man of good ability, and very considerable estate," was early called upon to take an active part in the affairs of the province of Pennsylvania. He was called to the provincial council and took the oath as a member thereof, Sep- tember 17, 1701, and retained his seat in that body until his death in 1712. On October 28, 1701, when William Penn was about to leave the province and return to England, Captain Finney was one of the council of state named by him "for the Government of the said Province of Pennsylvania and Counties an- nexed * * and in the absence of me or my Lieutenant Governor, out of said Province, or on the incapacity of the Lieut. Govr. to exercise all the pow- ers and jurisdicition conferred by the Royal Charter, etc., for the Government thereof." He was also commissioned a justice of Philadelphia county, Septem- ber 2, 1701, and re-commissioned September 4, 1704. April 17, 1706, he was named as one of the provincial judges of the province of Pennsylvania, and the lower counties thereof, and served on the supreme bench of the province until his death. He was buried at Christ church, August 7, 1712.
Captain Samuel Finney, was accompanied to Pennsylvania, by a family of children, most of whom had already reached the age of maturity, but was probably a widower. He married (second) about 1705, Elizabeth, the widow of Henry Tregony, a colonial merchant of Philadelphia, who died in 1704. She was baptised at Christ church, as Elizabeth Finney, September II, 17II, then aged 58 years. She married, (third) May 17, 1717, Edward Evans. John Finney, the eldest son of the captain, was sheriff of Philadelphia, 1703-4, later a provincial judge, etc. Elizabeth Finney, the second daughter, married (first) Joseph Pidgeon and (second) Thomas Tresse, as before stated the other sons were, Samuel, Joseph and Charles, who with "kinsman Robert Asheton". were mentioned in their father's will.
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Charles Finney, probably the youngest son of Samuel, the provincial council- lor and judge, was born in England in 1682. He settled in Oxford township, Philadelphia county and was one of the active members of Trinity Episcopal church there, serving many years as vestryman, and as trustee from 1737 until his death. He was a contributor in 1724, to the fund for the purchase of 63 acres on the Bristol road for the use of the rector. He died, July 16, 1750, aged 68 years, and is buried at Trinity church, Oxford.
Charles Finney married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Treg- ony, the latter being his step-mother. Mrs. Finney died October 14, 1748, at the age of 66 years and is buried beside her husband at Trinity church, Oxford, where many of the family are buried. They had six children who lived to ma- ture age :- Elizabeth, married in 1732; Mary, married John Bringhurst, the famous coach-maker of Germantown; Hannah, married Captain Hugh Tresse; Samuel, died in 1753, leaving an only child, Hannah ; William, died without issue in 1752; Henry died without issue in 1744; Richard, who has left numerous descendants.
Hannah (Finney) Tresse, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Tregony) Fin- ney was baptised at Trinity church, Oxford, April 9, 1721; and wife of Captain Hugh Tresse, and was buried at Christ church, August 29, 1746. She had two children, Thomas and Hannah Tresse, mentioned in the will of her father, Charles Finney.
Thomas Tresse, only son of Captain Hugh and Hannah (Finney) Tresse, was born in Philadelphia, February 4, 1744-5 and was baptised at Christ church, December 8, 1745. Losing both father and mother when less than two years of age, he was probably reared in the family of his maternal relatives. He learned the trade of house carpenter, and after his marriage, March 30, 1767, at Christ church, resided in the district of Southwark, where he died November 18, 1772, at the age of twenty-seven years. He was buried in Christ Church burying ground, where his tombstone may still be seen. His widow, née Elizabeth Singleton, married (second) November 22, 1774, Thomas Pugh, who had been named as one of the executors of her first husband's will. Thomas and Hannah (Singleton) Tresse had three children: Thomas Tresse, born December 31, 1767, married Mary Buck, in 1780, and left issue; Ann Tresse, born November 25, 1769, married Abraham Singer ; Richard Tresse, born October 4, 1772, died unmarried, October 20, 1793. Ann (Tresse) Singer, died at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, January 25, 1806. The following account of her death and burial was written by her husband, Captain Abraham Singer ;-
"My dear wife, Ann, died at Lancaster the 25th of January, 1806, in the presence of several friends and myself, aged thirty-six years and two months. The natural amia- bleness of her temper was not affected by the tedious and painful disease which terminated her life, and she resigned her breath with that tranquility and confidence in the mercy of her God which manifested piety and the consciousness of a virtuous well spent life alone can inspire. Her remains were interred in the German Lutheran burying ground at Lancaster by the side of my mother's grave." (The church has since been enlarged and now extends over both the graves mentioned, the bodies now resting under the church).
Abraham and Ann (Tresse) Singer had three children: Maria Singer, born April 19, 1795, died August 16, 1869, married, June 13, 1819, George Shively ; Thomas Tresse Singer, born October 2, 1797, died, at Nazareth, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1809, while attending the Seminary there, and was buried in the Congregational grave-yard there; Richard Spangler Singer, of whom presently.
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RICHARD SPANGLER SINGER, youngest son of Abraham and Ann (Tresse) Singer, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 23, 1798. His par- ents removed to Reading, Berks county, Pennsylvania, when he was a child and he was reared and educated in that city. He married, May 4, 1834, Martha Arthur, who was born November 28, 1817. The first thirteen years of their married life was spent in various parts of the United States. They resided for a time in Dearborn county, Indiana ; removed from there to New Orleans, Louis- iana, and from there to the neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, coming to Phila- delphia in 1847, and spending the remainder of their days in that city. Richard Spangler Singer died December 8, 1890, and his wife, Martha Arthur, died July 5, 1894. They had five children: Charles Arthur Singer, born March 9, 1836, died March 15, 1909; Arthur E. Singer, born September 7, 1837, died June 1862; Edgar Arthur Singer, the subject of this sketch; Emma M. Singer, born November 18, 1842, died January 14, 1864; Frances Maria Singer, born May 13, 1844.
EDGAR ARTHUR SINGER, third child and youngest son of Richard Spangler and Martha (Arthur) Singer, was born in Dearborn county, Indiana, April 13, 1841. Soon after his birth his parents removed to New Orleans, Louisiana, and a year later to the vicinity of Cincinnatti, Ohio. When he was six years old, the family removed to Philadelphia, and he attended the public schools of that city, later entering the Fayette school, at Bustleton, Philadelphia county. He was admitted to the Central High School of Philadelphia in 1855, and later re- turned to the Fayette school and studied Latin and mathematics under the late George W. Fetter, who was afterwards principal of the Girls Normal School of Philadelphia. In 1857, Mr. Singer, at the age of sixteen years became the teacher of the Godfrey school, in Byberry township, Philadelphia county, and in 1860, of the Franklin school near League Island, Philadelphia. He continued his studies while filling these positions, and in 1862 was appointed principal of the Central school of Camden, New Jersey, and later of the Tenth Ward School in that city. In 1865, he became principal of the Zane school, Germantown, Philadelphia ; later filling the same position, at the Filbert street and Keystone grammar schools, until 1872, when he became principal of the Hallowell school, Philadelphia, which position he filled until the close of the year 1886, when having been appointed assistant superintendent of the public schools of Philadel- phia, he entered upon the duties of this responsible position, January 1, 1887, and continued to serve in the capacity of assistant, later associate superintend- ent until his death on January 28, 1909. In 1893, Mr. Singer entered on a post- graduate course in philosophy, English literature and pedagogy, at the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, and in June, 1896, received from that institution the de- gree of Doctor of Philosophy. He was always an indefatigable student, and per- formed faithfully the duties incumbent upon him in the respective positions he occupied, and while waiting for calls to higher positions, strove to qualify him- self for the assumption of higher responsibilities. He possessed rare accomplish- ments both as a man and an educator and those who came in close contact with him and are best able to judge of his qualifications bear testimony to his great and invaluable services to the cause of education in Philadelphia, to which most of the active years of his life were given. He was a member of the Teachers Institute, the Educational Club of Philadelphia, the State Teachers
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