USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Volume IV > Part 17
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In 1922, Mr. Robinette became a partner in Stroud and Company, Inc., a Phila- delphia banking house, of which, in 1924, he became the owner and head.
The business qualifications possessed by Mr. Robinette have brought him into demand for the executive and directorate offices of a number of important con- cerns, and, in addition to being head of his own banking house, he serves as presi- dent and director of the Federal Bond & Share Company, the United States Bond & Share Company; and as chairman of the board and director of the Carthage Paperboard Company, Inc., the Intercontinental Company, Ltd., the Interconti- nents Power Corporation, and as director of the American Gas Company, the Philadelphia Suburban Gas & Electric Company, the George B. Newton Coal Com- pany, the Shippers' Car Line Corporation, the Southern Dairies, Inc., U. S. Dairies Corporation, American Investors, Inc., The Passwall Corporation, and the Bank of North America and Trust Company.
Mr. Robinette is a former director of the American Electric Power Company, the Wilmington and Philadelphia Traction Company, the Consolidated Power and
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Light Company, the Lynchburg Traction and Light Company, the Roanoke Trac- tion and Light Company, the Ohio Valley Electric Company, the Boyd County Electric Company, the Ironton Electric Company, the Kentucky Securities Corpo- ration, the Luzerne County Gas & Electric Company, the Tide Water Power Company, etc.
In the early days of the World War, Mr. Robinette executed an important mis- sion to Belgium. When the United States entered the war, he enlisted in the navy. He was attached to Admiral Sims' Headquarters in London and was sent as the assistant to the naval attaché attached to the American Legations in Nor- way, Sweden and Denmark, later being advanced to lieutenant-commander in the United States Navy, with appointment as naval attaché at Stockholm, Sweden. He came out of the war with the following decorations: Legion d'honneur, France; Order of the Sword, Sweden; Order of the White Rose, Finland; Medaille. Commemorative de Comite National, Belgium; Order of the Crown of Belgium; and Distinguished Service Navy Cross, United States.
The political allegiance of Mr. Robinette is given to the Republican party. He is a member of the board of managers of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, a trustee of the Thomas W. Evans Dental Museum and Institute, the Chestnut Hill Academy, and the Graduate School of Medicine of the University of Penn- sylvania, and a member of the board of managers of the Graduate Hospital attached to the university. His social organizations are the Racquet, Rittenhouse, Univer- sity, Union League, Huntingdon Valley Country, Philadelphia Cricket, Sunny- brook Golf, Pennsylvania Athletic, Mask and Wig clubs, the Down Town Asso- ciation of New York, the Bankers' Club of New York, and the Corinthian Yacht Club of Philadelphia.
It was in May, 1928, that Mr. Robinette's munificent gift of one million dollars to the University of Pennsylvania for the establishment of the Robinette Founda- tion was announced by Dr. Josiah H. Penniman, provost of the university. The gift was the more significant owing to the purposes for which it was made and because of the fact that its donor is an alumnus of the university. . It was specified that $500,000 of the gift was to be used as set forth in a memorandum prepared by the Professor of Medicine at the university and others, after a full study of the subject, as follows :
. To conduct a Clinic for the study and treatment of organic diseases of the heart, circulatory system, kidneys and other important organs of the body, as set forth in a memorandum pre- pared by Dr. Alfred Stengel and attached to this letter.
The remaining $500,000 of the gift it was specified was to be used to promote education in the field of the liberal arts in accordance with the educational policy of the university as it shall from time to time be determined.
Mr. Robinette indicated in his letter to the university trustees that, as the needs of the foundation grew, he hoped to make additional sums to take care of such needs. He said: "I do this so that the work of the Clinic may never be restricted to a field of treatment and study in which there may no longer exist a predominat- ing menace, and so that the Clinic may always devote itself to the attack upon that disease which at the time is the greatest obstacle to the continued activity of people of middle age and beyond, and especially those who are the leaders of our national life.
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Among other provisions in his deed of gift there appears the following :
I have long viewed with admiration the policy of the University of Pennsylvania to make the results of its scientific work available for the benefit of mankind. I wish this policy applied in full measure to the results achieved by the Foundation and especially by the Clinic.
I wish the work of the Clinic to be carried on in cooperation with similar work of the American Heart Association, of the life insurance companies and of other agencies, and I wish the public to receive the benefit of the coordinated efforts of the leading organizations active in the fight to prolong life and eliminate disabling diseases.
In furtherance of this policy I wish to have the findings and discoveries of the Clinic pub- lished and distributed as widely as possible since knowledge is one of the most effective of all agents in fighting an enemy of so insidious and destructive a nature. In particular it is my desire that the work of the Clinic shall be directed towards the investigation of preventative measures, and that as such are discovered the knowledge regarding them may be widely dis- seminated through the proper agencies. I regard this feature of the work as of paramount importance.
While it is my purpose that the Clinic will eventually have at its service funds sufficient to make it the foremost of its kind in the world, I have in the present offer provided sufficient means to permit the establishment of the Clinic at once, and it is my hope to provide for its normal growth upon a scale in accordance with the expectations of the scientific men who have advised me in the matter. Greater sums will, I have little doubt, become available in the future.
In announcing the university's acceptance of the gift, Dr. Penniman, the provost, said :
The plan presented by Mr. Robinette is of a sort which the University welcomes and grate- fully accepts. Its proposal constitutes an exceedingly generous and far-sighted action in sup- port of the University's purposes and ideals. It was only after repeated requests that Mr. Robinette consented to have the identity of the donor revealed.
In his letter to the trustees of the university, Mr. Robinette stated he had studied carefully the various needs of the institution and the opportunities for public service which such a foundation might offer. "The provision as to the clinic for the study, treatment and prevention of diseases of the heart and circula- tory system is made because I am convinced that, through this means, a very. great contribution can be made to the betterment of human welfare," Mr. Robinette wrote.
The later provision for the College of Liberal Arts endowment was made, according to Mr. Robinette, "partly because I am a graduate of the College of Liberal Arts, and partly for other reasons. I recognize that a sound, cultural edu- cation is essential in the development of civilization so that an intelligent and full use may be made of the advantages that lie before us."
Commenting editorially on Mr. Robinette's establishment of the foundation that bears his name, the "Philadelphia Bulletin" said :
Edward B. Robinette's gift of one million dollars for a foundation to be operated by the University of Pennsylvania not only contains provisions for the academic carrying out of his praiseworthy intent, but adds to the ordinary basis of such foundations a flexibility and a general education regard that mark it as unusual.
Medical research into the cause, prevention and remedy of cardiac diseases is an imperative need. The ratio of mortality from heart ailments is on the increase throughout the country. In Philadelphia twice as many persons are carried off by them as by cancer. So that. even allowing for death certificates in which heart ailments are stated, where other underlying dis- eases were primarily responsible, it is evident that the incidence of cardiac maladies is destruc- tive. The Robinette Foundation will aid the University Medical School to make war on this condition.
The donor, with forethought lacking in many similar gifts, provides that if the time shall come when it appears that his endowment can be more advantageously diverted to some other more pressing medical service by reason of some other disease or diseases displacing heart troubles from the position of first importance, then the Clinic may turn to the study and treat- ment of such diseases. This frees the Robinette Foundation from the hard and fast definition
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which sometimes seriously limits the usefulness of such establishments, and opens the way to service according to the changing need.
Mr. Robinette's gift for liberal arts, made in the conviction that a sound cultural education is essential in the development of intelligent civilization, is timely recognition of the danger of over-specialization, and especially of too early specialization of the student in course. It is in line with the best thought of all professions, which now frankly recognizes that lack of gen- eral knowledge is a serious handicap to any specialist.
Edward Burton Robinette married, November 22, 1915, Meta Craig Biddle, formerly Mrs. S. Crozer Robinson, daughter of Nicholas and Eliza (Butler) Bid- dle, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The residence of Mr. and Mrs. Robinette is in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia.
C. & R. 1-9
Gaither
The early history of the Gaither family is intimately interwoven with the his- tories of the early colonies of both Virginia and Maryland, where through succes- sive generations, the members held high place and the line in its succeeding repre- sentatives have worthily upheld its early traditions.
(Facts from English records.)
The Gaither family are direct descendants of Ralph de Gater, who came over with William the Conqueror from Normany in the year 1066. In Wales can be found the ruins of Gater Castle near the Princess of Wales estate, and in the veins of this family run the blood of the illustrious Plantagenets. The De Gaters and the De Warfields have, through successive generations both in England and in this country, been faithful to the interests of the church and the State.
A glance at the meaning of the name itself will not be amiss here. Its medieval forms are Ate Gate and Atte Gate, which have, since the fifteenth century, been modified to Agate, Gater, and, especially, to Gates. In North Britain "Gate" is equivalent to way; as in the phrase, "Gang your Gate," for "Go your way." In the late sixteenth century the name was spelled Gaither.
(I) JOHN GATER lived in Virginia as early as 1623, where his name appeared on February 26 of that year, sixth on the list of the corporation of "James Citie." He was a religious man ; built a church, paid the minister, and in this small commu- nity, he was their sovereign, their King. The minister's name was Wyatt ; Sir Fran- cis and Lady Margaret Wyatt's names appear on this list. John was born in England in 1599 and died in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in 1652. From "James Citie" he returned to England, where he married (second), in 1631, returning to Virginia in 1635 on ship "Assurance," with his wife, Joan, aged twenty-three, and his son, John, aged fifteen, of a previous marriage. John Gater brought sixteen adults with him from England, for whom he paid passage to America and for whom he obtained an allowance of land from the Colony. He settled on a three hundred and sixty-acre tract of land nearly opposite Old Point Comfort, in Virginia, in 1636. He was granted three patents for land in Elizabeth City County, Virginia, in 1636, 300, 300, and 200 acres, respectively. These tracts were granted him for transport- ing the people into the Colony.
At this time Elizabeth City comprised both sides of the James River and included the Elizabeth River, upon which the city of Norfolk is situated, and at the mouth of the latter is situated "Sewall's Point." With his family he came to Maryland and settled at the head of South River, Anne Arundel County. The Maryland records regarding John Gaither are unquestionably that of his son. The estate of John Gaither was the fifth one for which an administration was granted in Anne Arundel County by the Provincial Court of the Province of Maryland. He married (second) Joan. He had a son, John, of his first marriage (previously mentioned), of whom further.
U'(Hotten: "List of Arrivals in America," p. 173. "Colonial Records of Virginia," p. 395. Family records.)
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(II) JOHN (2) (GATER) GAITHER, son of John Gater, was born in England in 1620, and was buried in Maryland, November 12, 1702. Of this record in Virginia we have the following in Warfield's "Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland," pp. 6-7, that very early in the Lower Norfolk Colony, Vir- ginia, Puritan ministers from Boston were secured to preach, and, in 1638, a church was erected at Sewall's Point, situated at the mouth of the Elizabeth River. Among those contributing to this church in 1640 were Thomas Meeres and John Gatear, Sr. (Gaither), who with others agreed to pay thirty-six pounds annually for them- selves and the inhabitants of Tanner's Creek. At this period Upper Norfolk County was comprised in the former county, as it was not a separate county until 1637. Thomas Meeres, who made John Gaither, Sr., one of his devisees, held three hundred acres in Upper New Norfolk County, in 1644, and was one of the first settlers from Virginia in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, as a court record of the latter mentions him as being one of Lloyd's commissioners in 1649. John Gaither, Jr., was granted land by patent from Lord Baltimore, in the Province of Maryland, in Anne Arundel County: January 26, 1663, three hundred and sixty-four acres; April 14, 1672, two hundred acres, "Gaither's Range"; February 21, 1684, three hundred and ninety-one acres; August I, 1668, seventy acres, "The Landing."
It is true that John Gaither, Sr., was among those who subscribed toward the upkeep of the church at Sewell's Point, Virginia, but it was under compulsion, and it was the disaffection resulting from the same that caused the migration of these Non-Conformists, of which John Gater, Sr., was one, to Maryland, where there was religious freedom, while the Church of England was ever in control in Virginia. Charles the Second, of England, ascended the throne in 1660, and it was after that date that the Non-Conformists left Norfolk County for Maryland.
The name of John Gaither, II, appears in a list of military officers for Anne Arundel County before 1700. He married Ruth Morley. (Morley II.) Children :
1. John, born January 15, 1677; married Jane Buck.
2. Ruth, born September 8, 1679; married John Warfield. (Warfield II.)
3. Benjamin, of whom further.
4. Rachel, born April 19, 1687; married Samuel White.
5. Edward, born September 28, 1689.
6. Mary, born April 13, 1692.
7. Rebecca, born May 14, 1695.
8. Susan, born July 22, 1697.
("All Hallows' Parish Register," p. 60. "Maryland Historical Society." "Maryland Archives" (1694-97), p. 541. Warfield: "Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland," pp. 6-7, 107-08. )
(III) BENJAMIN GAITHER, son of John and Ruth (Morley) Gaither, was born February 20, 1681, and died in 1741. He settled at "Gaither's Fancy" and acquired additional large estates upon the Patuxent River, also land called "Bite the Biter," on which two of his cottages were still standing in 1905. Benjamin Gaither was very active in establishing Queen Caroline's Parish in 1728. His will was dated March 20, 1741, and proved August 31 of that year. To his son, Ben- jamin, "The Cat Hill" and one-half of "Turkey Neck"; to John, one-half "Bite the Biter"; the other half to Samuel; to Edward, part of "Benjamin's Lott"; to Henry, "Gaither's Chance"; to William, "Gaither's Fancy" and part of "Turkey
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Neck"; to Elizabeth Davis, the lower part of "Benjamin's Lott"; to his other daughters, one hundred and seventy-five acres each of "Gaither's Chance." He married, September 8, 1709, Sarah Chew Burgess. (Burgess III.) Children :
I. Benjamin, born July 16, 1710.
2. Elizabeth, born October 14, 17II.
3. John, of whom further.
4. Edward, born December 20, 1714.
5. Samuel, born Jannary 19, 1718.
6. Ruth, born October 23, 1719.
7. Joseph, born September 18, 1722.
8. Henry, born May 7, 1724.
9. Sarah, born March 29, 1726.
IO. William, born July II, 1728.
II. Mary, born March 17, 1732.
12. Cassandra, born March 23, 1734-35.
(Wills, Liber 22, Folio 380. Land Office, Annapolis, Maryland.)
(IV) JOHN (3) GAITHER, son of Benjamin and Sarah Chew (Burgess) Gaither, was born April 24, 1713, and died in 1784. His will was dated September 3, 1783, and was proved November 8, 1784. The following is an extract from his will :
I also give and bequeath to my Son Vachel Gaither, his Heirs and Assigns forever, all my right and title to the remaining part of the aforsaid Tract of land called "Bite the Biter," over and above what I have already given to my Son Zachariah and my aforesaid daughters, as also two other tracts or parcels of land the one being part of the Second Addition to Snow- dens Manor containing fourteen Acres, and the other being a tract or parcel of land called "Gaithers Chance" containing twenty acres. And the rest of my personal estate after all my just debts are paid (Two of my valuablest Negroes then living to be left unto or among my aforesaid daughters) the remaining to be equally divided among all my surviving children, share and share alike, and also that my beloved Wife have peaceable possession without any hindrance or disturbance whatever or unto the premises whereon I now dwell, with the appur- tenances thereunto belonging.
John Gaither is entered in Heitman's "Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army during the War of the Revolution": "John Gaither, Ist Lieu- tenant, Maryland Battalion of the Flying Camp, June, 1776." He married Agnes Rogers. (Rogers III.) Children :
I. John Rogers, inherited "Three Beall Morro," in Montgomery County.
2. Zachariah, of whom further.
3. Vachel; married, October 25, 1782, Ruth Marriott; inherited the remainder of "Bite the Biter," and was a captain of the Revolution.
4. Samuel.
5. Evan.
6. Ann, who, with her sisters, inherited fifty acres of land in "Bite the Biter" to enjoy until they married.
7. Sarah; married Richard Warfield.
8. Mary; married Seth Warfield.
9. Susanne.
Io. Agnes.
(Register of Wills Office, Annapolis, Maryland, Wills. Liber 34, Folio 213.)
(V) ZACHARIAH GAITHER, son of John and Agnes (Rogers) Gaither, was an ensign in the Revolutionary. War. His commission was granted, as shown by the following document :
I33
GAITHER
The State of Maryland to Zacharia Gaither, Gentleman.
GREETING-Be it known, that reposing especial trust and confidence in your fidelity, cour- age, good conduct, and attachment to the liberties and independence of America, you are by these presents constituted and appointed Ensign of Cap. Basil Burgess' Company (late John Burgess) in the Elk Ridge Battalion of Militia of Anne Arundel County.
You are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the trust reposed in you by dis- ciplining all officers and soldiers under your command, and they are hereby strictly enjoined and required to obey you as their ENSIGN.
And you are to observe and follow all such orders and directions as you shall from time to time receive, according to the laws and Constitution of this State, and rules and regulations, which, under the authority thereof, are or may be established. This commission to be in force until lawfully revoked.
Given at Annapolis this 30th day of March, Anno Domini 1779.
TH. JOHNSON, Governor.
As early as the year 1776 Zachariah Gaither is mentioned in connection with military equipment, for in that year the Council of Maryland ordered "the Treas- urer to pay to Zachariah Gaither six pounds for two Musquets." The following account, written by a member of the family, is especially interesting in connection with the Gaither family in Maryland and in Pennsylvania :
Zachariah came from "Bite the Biter" (part of which he inherited from his father) to Herring Creek. There he met and fell in love with the charming Sarah Warfield. After twenty years of married life, Zachariah passed away and was buried in his father's (John Roger's) estate, opposite "Bite the Biter." The home on this estate was a handsome place built of old English brick. Several of John's and Agnus' descendants from the west came east and carried back with them bricks, as precious souveniers of their ancestral home.
After Zachariah's death, Sarah left Anne Arundel Co. and came to Hagerstown, Mary- land, with her two children, Zachariah, Il, and Lucy, who died when a child and is buried near Hagerstown. There Sarah, again, entered the holy state of matrimony. Her second husband was a Hessian officer named Helmar.
A granddaughter of Sarah and Zachariah, I, has given a vivid description of Helmar's handsome and dignified appearance and the delightful and fashionable army life, of those days, Sarah and her husband enjoyed. After the war she accompanied her husband to Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, and was buried over there. For this reason her grave cannot be found in Maryland.
Follows a concise and accurate description given by Brevet Maj. John Calvin Gaither, Washington, D. C., which verifies the description given above. He remembered distinctly a statement from his father, Samuel Gaither, that the Warfields and his family were connected in Maryland, through the marriage of Zachariah Gaither, I, to Sarah Warfield. He described, too, a feud, resulting in a lawsuit, over the possession of family heirlooms and money. Unhappily, the Gaither family lost in the contest.
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