Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 103

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978

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Ralph Bowie married ( second) abont 1802, Mary Deborah David, of Philadel- phia, a descendant of an old Huguenot family which emigrated to America after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. By this marriage there were three children. He died about 1810, and was buried at York. His widow then returned to Phila- delphia and resided a number of years with her sister, Mrs. Thomas Latimer. Her children were reared and educated in the city.

Issue of Ralph and Mary Deborah (David) Bowie:

Catharine, d. in childhood; Susanna Latimer, d. 1850, at York, Pa .; unm .; THOMAS LATIMER, of whom presently.

THOMAS LATIMER, born at York, Pennsylvania, March 7, 1808, and named for his uncle-in-law, at the death of his father, removed with his mother to Phila-

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delphia. He entered the class of '26, department of arts, University of Pennsyl- vania, 1823. He was moderator of the Philomathean Society there and vale- dictorian of his class in graduation ; he obtained his degree of A. B., 1826, and that of A. M., 1829. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and practiced in Phila- delphia until his death, February 15, 1838, aged twenty-nine years. In 1836, he married Catharine Helen, born 1814, daughter of Richard Ashhurst, for fifty years a leading merchant of Philadelphia, though born in England, by his wife, Elizabeth Croto, widow of Capt. Hughes. Her brother, John Ashhurst was a classmate of Thomas L. Bowie, at University of Pennsylvania.

Issue of Thomas L. and Catharine Helen (Ashhurst ) Bowie:

RICHARD ASHHURST, b., Phila., Dec. 8, 1836; of whom presently.

RICHARD ASHHURST, born in Philadelphia, December 8, 1836. He entered the class of '55, department of arts, University of Pennsylvania, second term of sopho- more year, 1853; was a member of the Zeta Psi Fraternity; obtained degree of .A. B., 1855, and of A. M., 1858. He was admitted to the practice of law in Phila- delphia.

A hard student, and devoted to classical and numismatics, he gathered around him a large and select library, and was noted for his scholarly attainments. In 1862 R. Ashhurst Bowie married Louisa, youngest daughter of Hon. Richard Henry Bayard, of Delaware, by his wife, Mary Sophia Carroll. The Bayard family has for generations been conspicuous in American history. Nicholas Bay- ard, the first ancestor who came to America, was the son of an Amsterdam mer- chant, though of French Huguenot extraction. He was a nephew of Gov. Stuyve- sant, of New York, and was Secretary of the Province of New York, 1672, and Mayor of New York City, 1685. His grandson, Col. John Bayard, was a member of the Provincial Council (New York), 1774, Colonel of the Second Continental Regiment, 1775; Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, at Philadelphia, 1777 ; and member of Continental Congress, 1785.

His son, James Ashton Bayard, married Anne, daughter of Gov. and United States Senator, Richard Bassett, of Delaware, settled in Wilmington, in that state, and was elected United States Senator, 1804, serving until 1813; declined the mission to France, as well as the one to Russia, and was one of the United States Con- missioners who negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, 1814. Two of his sons were United States Senators from Delaware, James Ashton Bayard, Jr., in the Senate, 1851-64, and 1867 ( father of another United States Senator, Thomas F. Bayard, who was also Ambassador to England), and Richard Henry Bayard, who was first of the two brothers to enter the Senate. The latter was born in Wilmington, Delaware, 1796; graduated (A. B.), at Princeton, 1814, practiced law, served as United States Senator, 1836-37, and 1841-45, was Chargé d'affaires, in Belgium, 1850-53, and died in Philadelphia, March 4, 1868. His wife, Mary Sophia, was daughter of Charles Carroll, by his wife, Harriet Chew ; and granddaughter of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, the celebrated Maryland signer of the Declaration of Independence; and of Benjamin Chew, Provincial Councillor of Pennsylvania. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, was son of Charles Carroll, Jr., and Elizabeth, a daughter of Clement Brooke, of Prince George's county, Maryland, by his wife, Jane Sewell. Clement Brooke was the son of Maj. Thomas Brooke, of Brooke-

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field, Prince George's county, Maryland, and his wife, Eleanor Hatton. Maj. Brooke, who died 1776, was the son of Hon. Robert Brooke, by his first wife, Mary Baker. Robert Brooke was the immigrant ancestor of the distinguished Maryland family, bearing his name, and one of the Deputy Governors of the Province in 1655.

R. Ashhurst Bowie died in Philadelphia, February 16, 1887, surviving his wife. She having died August 14, 1883.

RICHARD HENRY BAYARD BOWIE, son of R. Ashhurst and Louisa ( Bayard ) Bowie, was born in Philadelphia, August 29, 1868. In 1884 he entered the college department of University of Pennsylvania, class of '88; received degree of A. B., 1888, and entered the law department of the university, receiving the degree of LL. B. there, 1891. He is the fourth of his family, who, in direct descent, have been members of the Pennsylvania Bar, and the third in descent to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, both his father and grandfather being graduates of that institution. He is now living at 1710 Walnut street, Philadelphia ; is a member of the Philadelphia, Racquet, St. Anthony and Country clubs, and of the State in Schuylkill. On November 25, 1890, he married Mira Amy, daughter of William Henry and Kate Potter, of New York City. They have issue :

Louisa Bayard Bowie, b. Feb. 9, 1892; Katharine Ashurst Bowie, b. Dec. 19, 1896; R. H. B. Bowie, Jr., b. Jan. 25, 1898.

BROWN FAMILY.

The ancestors of Alexander Patterson Brown, of Philadelphia, were sturdy Scotch-Irish stock, representatives of which poured into Pennsylania in great numbers between 1710 and 1760, from their temporary refuge in the north of Ireland, whither they had been driven in the "Killing Times" of James II. The Browns were Presbyterian Covenanters in Scotland, and persisted in the holding of their "conventicles," which Graham of Claverhouse, later Earl of Dundee, was commissioned by James II, to break up. The killing of John Brown in cold blood, April 30, 1685, by Claverhouse's troopers, and the drowning of the women martyrs tied to a stake on the shore of the Bay of Luce, are well known historic incidents of the persecution waged by Dundee for the extermination of the Covenanters of Scotland. Four years later, July 29, 1689, Claverhouse met his fate in the Pass of Kkiecrankie.

John Brown, the martyr, and Isabella Weir, his wife, were both born in the parish of Muirkirk, Ayreshire, Scotland. After his murder his family, with many others, fled for safety to county Armagh, Ireland, where in the old grave- yard at Loughilly, are buried several generations of his descendants.

William Brown, grandson of John the Martyr, was born in Ayrshire, Scot- land, 1685, and died in county Armagh, Ireland, 1761. He married Janet Weir, born in Scotland, 1680, died in Armagh, 1768.

JOHN BROWN, grandfather of Alexander Patterson Brown, of Philadelphia, born 1760, came to America, and in 1820 located near Cambridge, in Guernsey county, Ohio, where he died 1825; his wife Isabella, born 1768, died there 1835.

WILLIAM BROWN, son of John and Isabella, born 1803, accompanied his parents to Guernsey county, Ohio, 1820, but not being pleased with life, and the prospects of material success in that then primitive wilderness, in the following year, made his way on foot, back to Philadelphia. He engaged in the mercantile business, for a time carrying his goods to points in Pennsylvania, where highways, rail- roads and other public improvements were being made, and finding ready sale for them among the surplus population composed of the workmen on these improve- ments, and the new settlers attracted to the improved localities. Having an abid- ing faith in the growth and commercial importance of Philadelphia, he invested his earnings in what was then suburban real estate, his first purchase being a lot at Seventeenth and Locust streets still owned by his family, and where he died July 18, 1887. The appreciation in the value of his real estate holdings, increased from tinie, added to the ordinary accumulations of a life of business activity, made him a comparatively rich man.

William Brown was an active member of the Anti-slavery Society of Phila- delphia, and signed the contract for the erection of Pennsylvania Hall, erected 1835, for holding meetings in the interest of the slave, and burned down when barely completed by a frenzied mob, incited to it by the slave-holding interests.

William Brown married Jane, born 1807, died 1871, daughter of Alexander Patterson, born at Poyntz-Pas, county Armagh, Ireland, 1762, and died in Phila- delphia 1825; by his wife, Mary Jamison, born 1777, died 1842.

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Robert Patterson was the owner of extensive mills on the manor of Acton, Pyntz-Pas, county Armagh, Ireland, which he sold, 1815, to Col. Charles Maxwell Close, and emigrated to America, and in the following year settled in Philadelphia, where he resided until his death, 1825. His son, Rev. David Jameson Patterson, D. D., born in Pyntz-Pas, county Armagh, Ireland, October 9, 1811, entered Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, 1831, and received degree of A. M., 1835; was an in- structor in the Academic Department of that institution until 1846. He studied for the clergy and was many years pastor of a Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, where he died, 1902.

ALEXANDER PATTERSON BROWN, son of William and Jane ( Patterson) Brown, born in Philadelphia, June 3, 1839, was educated in the schools of Philadelphia, finishing by a special course of study at the Central High School, under the prin- cipalship of Prof. John S. Hart. In February, 1859, he entered the boot and shoe factory of H. Barrett & Company, became proficient in the manufacture of leather goods, and later became a travelling salesman in the west for his firm and built up a large trade. In 1870 he organized a firm with his brother Clement M. Brown as partner. Mr. Brown was appointed by the Board of Finance of the Centennial Exposition of 1876, to collect funds to erect an exhibition building on the Exposition grounds in Fairmount Park, where the manufacture of shoes and other leather goods was illustrated, and it was largely due to that enterprise that the exportation of American shoes was largely increased, and has since kept pace with the indefinite expansion of a trade which, in money value, is only second to that of agriculture, in the United States.

Mr. Brown also collected the funds for the expenses of the great international regatta, on the Schuylkill, 1876, in which several crews from Europe and Canada took part.

Alexander P. Brown has been an extensive foreign traveller; few men have travelled through as many countries of the world, and made so close a study of the different conditions, nationalities and governments of men. His faith in our republican system and institutions is abiding, and he believes that ours is the most perfect and enduring system for the government of man. He has many friends at home and abroad. He is a life member of the Pennsylvania Hospital, of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; a member of the Young Men's Christian Association ; the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and a great number of other associations.

A few of Philadelphia's oldest and best families were of distinguished New England ancestry, their forbears taking part in founding Boston and Newport- the cradle of New England civilization. This desirable element brought into Philadelphia's commercial life the iron purpose and lofty integrity of Puritan ethics, and with these sturdy traits the heritage of gentle blood and social ideals of some of the most ancient and cultured families of Europe.

Jacob Harman, merchant, and his wife, Sarah Stephens, of Newport, were types of this class. Sarah Stephens Harman was a lineal descendant of the most prominent New England families-the Coggeshalls, the Hutchisons, and the Bulls, who furnished Colonial Governors for Rhode Island, and filled positions of highest trust and responsibility in the Colony of Massachusetts. This New England stock was strengthened by the marriage of Sarah, daughter of Jacob Harman, to Steward Brown, Esq., who belonged to the family of international

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bankers, Brown Brothers, with banking institutions in Liverpool, New York. Baltimore and Philadelphia, making them known in all parts of the civilized world for financial solidity and commercial integrity.

Steward Brown's nephew, Sir William Brown, represented with honor Liver- pool's interests in Parliament. His princely benefactions to that city in the shape of a library and museum so commended his philanthropy and public spirit to the Crown that he was made a Baronet. Other members of the Brown family con- tributed largely to the financial development of great industrial enterprises and civic betterment in leading American cities.

By reason of their social standing, the union of Steward Brown and Sarah Harman was one of notable interest, being one of the few Colonial events finding a permanent record in the pages of Burke's Peerage, where it is given with the family history of Sir William Brown, Bart.

The Harman line of descent is an interesting one. Sarah Stephens Harman was daughter of William Stephens and Ann Bull, of Newport. The latter, born 1723 in Newport, was daughter of Hon. Henry Bull and Phoebe Coggeshall, his wife. Henry Bull, born November 23, 1681, was Attorney General 1721, Speaker of the House 1728, first Chief Justice 1749, and also Deputy Governor of Rhode Island. His great-grandfather, Jireh Bull, born 1638, was Captain in the Indian Colonial wars, serving with great distinction. . The father of Jireh Bull was Henry Bull, Colonial Governor of Rhode Island in 1685-86 and 1690; founder of the Historic Charter Colonies, Portsmouth, 1638, and Newport, 1639. He was an Original Proprietor of Rhode Island. and it was he who at the most critical hour for Colonial Liberty at the close of the darkest days in the history of New England, opposed James 1, when he, through the tyrant, Andros, sought to crush at one blow the spirit of liberty by abrogating the Charter, depriving them not only of political and religious privileges but also the right to hold individual titles to property, claiming such were vested as the personal property of the Stuart Kings, and could be disposed of at their pleasure. When King James fled from England before the advance of William of Orange, the Revolution in England was followed by an uprising in the Colonies, and Andros fled. Bancroft, speaking of this Colonial crisis, remarks,-"All eyes turned to the Antinomian, the more than octogenarian, Henry Bull, and in February, 1690, that fearless Quaker, true to the light within, employed the last glimmering of life to restore the democratic charter to Rhode Island." The royal charter thus preserved by Henry Bull had been secured from Charles II. through the efforts of Roger Williams, Clark, Coggeshall and Hutchison ; the last two also were ancestors of Sarah Stephens Harman. It was Bull and Coggeshall who stood up against the tyrannical meas- ures of King James and held the first popular assembly within four years. The charter so secured and preserved, established civil government for the first time in the world on the doctrine of liberty of conscience, making it the highest court of appeal and the cornerstone of popular rights. This valuable legacy is justly regarded the Ark of Liberty, being the oldest constitutional charter in the world. and so liberal and just in its provisions that it was not even changed by the upheaval of the American Revolution, but remained in force until 1842. It gave the first formal separation of Church from State in the history of the world, and in preserving this priceless legacy to civilization, Henry Bull crowned his long public career with lasting usefulness and honor.

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Other ancestors of the Harman family on the maternal side of the grand- parents of Phoebe Coggeshall rendered notable service to Colonial development. John Coggeshall, great-grandfather of Phoebe Coggeshall, was one of the strong characters in the early history of Massachusetts. When he came to Boston, 1632, he brought with him not only property and social culture, but high moral ideals, which left a deep impress upon Colonial times. Coggeshall was born 1599 in Hadrington Castle, Essex, England. His mother, Lady Ann Coggeshall, belonged to an ancient family tracing itself back to Norman origin. Ralph de Coggeshall. Crusader and Latin Historian of England, and "The Seige of Jerusalem," belonged to this old feudal stock. The Coggeshalls owned large estates at Essex and Suf- folk, including the two famous manors, Coddam Hall and Little Coggeshall in the vicinity of Coggeshall-on-the-Black-Waters. Jolin Coggeshall, from his arrival in America, figured prominently in Colonial life, being engaged in religious activities with John Elliott, apostle of the Indians, and Matthew Cotton, most noted of Colo- nial divines, and serving as deacon of the first Boston church. He was thus a founder of Boston and took a leading part in all its affairs. The oldest existing record of Boston gives the interesting fact that John Winthrop, John Coggeshall. Coddington, and Capt. Pierce and five others, were chosen as first Selectmen, "who were to manage the affairs of ye towne." This record bears date "1634, monthe 7, daye 1." He was also chosen to represent Boston seven different times in the first General Court, whose organization and enactments have been the model of State legislatures in the United States. His rare executive and business quali- ties seem to have been greatly in demand in public service, and we find record of his assisting in organizing the school system, and fortifying Boston with a sea fort against attack of the French who claimed all New England from Cape Cod. For the sake of religious principle. Coggeshall left Massachusetts to found another great commonwealth-Rhode Island.

In the history of this Colony he figures among the founders of Newport and Portsmouth, as Treasurer, Assistant Governor, and later on when the Charter Colonies of Providence, Newport, Warwick, and Portsmouth organized them- selves as "The Rhode Island and Providence Plantation," he was chosen the first President of the Confederation, with Roger Williams as Assitsant from Provi- dence, and Gov. Coddington, Assistant from Newport. He died in this office and his remains are now interred in Newport, of which he at one time owned the larger part.

His granddaughter, Phoebe Coggeshall, was a descendant on the maternal side of William Hutchison and Ann Marbury. William Hutchison, born 1639, in England, belonged to a distinguished family which had furnished two Mayors to Lincoln, England, and which for 150 years was foremost in the civil and military affairs of Massachusetts. It was of his great-grandson, Gov. Hutchison, the famous royalist and brilliant author, that the Lord Chancellor of England, Lord Longborough, said,-"He is the admiration of half of England and of all Conti- nental Europe."

William Hutchson also rendered important service in Colonial times, being appointed by Charles II., with Roger Williams and John Coggeshall, trustce of the famous Royal Charter, and being a founder of Portsmouth, and afterwards its chief magistrate. He was first Judge of Newport, and also treasurer. Later on he was elected Deputy Governor of Rhode Island. His wife, Ann Hutchison, was

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the celebrated religious reformer whom Bancroft says was founder of one of the two political parties of Massachusetts, and whom Winthrow Wilson says "pos- sessed such engaging earnestness and eloquence as gave her noticeable pre- eminence over her sex, great and small feeling alike the woman's singular charm and power."

Speaking of her notable career, Bouve says, "This gifted woman of intensely spiritual nature and steadfast purpose stood in her day for the principle of liberty of spirit and thought, and though a persecuted exile her name lives to-day in history as the heroine and martyr of the earliest struggle for intellectual and religious liberty in the American Colonies."

Ann Hutchison was the daughter of an English clergyman. Her mother was the great aunt of England's Poet Laureate and dramatist, John Dryden. The famous English writer, Jonathan Swift, was also related to her, and thus by heri- tage she was a woman of superior intellect, bright wit, and cultured personality. She, with all her children except one daughter, was massacred by Indians.

Margaret Brown, daughter of Steward Brown and Sarah Harman, married Dr. John B. Vowell, of Alexandria, Virginia, of the well-known Vowell family, whose shipping interests were of material help to the American cause in the War of 1812, and which afterwards figured in "French Spoliation Claims."

Sarah Harman Vowell, their daughter, married Addison Winters, of Cannons- burg, Pennsylvania, a well known merchant of that place and Washington, Penn- sylvania.

Mary Vowell Winters, their daughter, born at Washington, Pennsylvania, De- cember 25, 1853, died at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 18, 1906, married Wickliffe C. Lyne, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, son of Dr. Robert Baylor Lyne, of Richmond, Virginia, descendant of Col. William Lyne, member of House of Burgesses and of Committee of Safety during the Revolutionary War ; also of Col. John Baylor of the Virginia House of Burgesses and a member of Washington's Staff, who was descended from "King" Carter, President of the Colonial Council and ancestor of Carter Braxton, signer of Declaration of Independence.

Mary Vowell Lyne was a member of the Society of Colonial Dames of Penn- sylvania by virtue of her being tenth in descent from Gov. Bull, of Rhode Island. The Society allowed eight supplementary claims of other Colonial ancestors, thus making her the honored representative of the largest number of distinct claims of Colonial ancestors of any Dame of Western Pennsylvania.

She was a Director of the Civic Club of Allegheny county, and for many years an officer in both Church and Women's Club organizations where her forceful per- sonality and lovable nature left a deep impress.

The children of Wickliffe C. Lyne and Mary Vowell Lyne are Wickliffe Bull, Sarah Harman. Robert Addison, and Virginia Brown Lyne, all of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

The oil portrait of Stewart Brown, Esq., from which the picture accompanying this sketch is taken, has been in family possession for over a hundred years, with other portraits of Colonial ancestors.

Stewart Brown

SUTER FAMILY.

John Peter Suter was born February 25, 1837, in Hagerstown, Maryland, died in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Easter Sunday, April 10, 1887.

His father was Peter Suter, born in same place, July 17, 1806, died in Cumber- land, Maryland, June 8, 1897. He was a tailor. He was of German parentage, and was a member of the German Lutheran church.

His mother was Amelia Renner, daughter of Jacob and Mary Creager Renner : she died in Cumberland, Maryland, November 7, 1895. Her great-grandfather was a soldier in the American army during the Revolutionary war, said to be in a German regiment. Her marriage took place May 9, 1833.

Peter Suter, his great-grandfather, was born in Germany, and also became a soldier in the Continental army. He married Catherine Irvin.

His brothers and sisters were: Amelia, born March 4, 1834; Mary Anne, Sep- tember 3. 1835 : Caroline. September 29. 1838; Maria, January 5, 1840; Emma, July 24, 1841 ; died October 15, 1842 : Jacob A., April 9, 1843 ; Adline, October 10. 1844; Sarah, April 13, 1846; Emma Suter, July 17, 1848.

Capt. Suter and Emma Angusta Vickroy were married August 30, 1864, at Fern- dale, near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, by the Rev. B. L. Agnew, while on a few days' leave of absence from the Army of the Shenandoah, under Major Gen. P. H. Sheridan.

Mrs. Suter, seventh daughter of Edwin Augustus Vickroy and Cornelia Harlan Vickroy, was granddaughter of Thomas Vickroy, who served as an officer under Gen. George Clark, in Kentucky and the west, in the Revolutionary war. The father and grandfather were by occupation land surveyors.

Their children were: Philip, born August 27, 1865, at Ferndale, married Ida May Oliver, March 11, 1896, at Braddock, Pennsylvania ; now resides in Wilkins- burg, Pennsylvania ; Eugene, died in infancy, 1868; Cornelia Vickroy, born in Pittsburg February 11, 1870, died there May 17, 1889; Frederic John, born in Pittsburg November 19, 1871, died there May 21, 1896; Rufus Orlanda, born in Pittsburg January 25, 1875, there married Mary Clarine Beatty, January 4. 1904; now resides in Pittsburg ; Francis Leon, born in Pittsburg January 9, 1877, there married Mary Metcalfe Barr, October 21, 1903 ; resides there ; Herman Alexander, born in Pittsburg November 25, 1880, married Anna Smart, July 14, 1903, at same place ; resides there ; Jean Augusta, born in Pittsburg April 7, 1884. died there April 6, 1888.

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Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 103

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 978

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978