Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 34

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


USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II > Part 34


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In 1904 Robert Coleman Hall Brock was elected Colonel of the Second Regi- ment, National Guard of Pennsylvania, and held that position until his death. Col. Brock died at Wynnewood. August 9, 1906, of a somewhat lingering illness, he having been unable to accompany his regiment to the annual encampment at Gettysburg for that year.


At the meeting of the board of managers of the Franklin Institute, held Sep- tember 19, 1906, a committee was appointed to draft a suitable memorial of their deceased colleague, Col. R. C. H. Brock, and their report was entered in the Journal of the Institute for December, 1906. After giving a sketch of the useful


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and active life of Col. Brock, the memorial concludes with the following well- merited tribute to his worth :--


"His courtesy and gentleness of manner were as remarkable as his extreme modesty and kindness of heart. He embodied the best type of a useful citizen,- one whose brains and hands were always at the service of his fellows for worthy objects,-and of the American gentleman, exemplifying in his own conduct how a large fortune could be worthily enjoyed and at the same time used for noble purposes.'


Col. Brock married, April 23, 1884. Alice, daughter of Henry C. and Mary ( Klett) Gibson, who survives him.


Issue of Robert Coleman Hall and Alice ( Gibson ) Brock:


Alice Gibson, b. June 23, 1885; Henry Gibson, b. Nov. 23, 1886:


Robert Coleman Hall Jr., b. June 25, 1890, d. Nov. 22, 1900.


HUBERT BROCK, eighth and youngest child of John Penn and Julia Watts ( Hall) Brock, born March 28, 1863, died unmarried, November, 1896. He was a student at St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, and entered the Towne Scientific School of the University of Pennsylvania, in 1880; was later trans- ferred to the Wharton School of the same institution, as a special student, but left during his Sophomore year. He was a member of the Zeta Psi Fraternity. He travelled extensively in foreign countries, making a complete trip around the world.


THOMAS FAMILY.


The Thomas family, of Merion, Philadelphia county, trace their ancestry, like most of the other Welsh settlers of Merion, through a long line of Welsh princes, back to the fourteenth century. The earliest ancestor of whom we have any distinct record, was :


JENKIN AP ADAM, Lord of Kevendyglwydd, living in the time of Edward III. and Richard II., of England. He is said to have borne the surname of Herbert, and to have been a descendant of a Norman family of that name, famous prior to the conquest of England by William I. He had a son :


GWILIM (William) AP JENKIN, Lord of Kevendyglwydd, who married Wenl- lian (died 1377), daughter of Howell Vychan, descended from Ynir, "King," or Lord, of Gwent, and their fourth son was:


THOMAS AP GWILIM, of Perthir, who died in 1438. He married Maud, daugh- ter and heiress of Sir John Morley, and their fifth son was:


SIR WILLIAM AP THOMAS, knighted in 1426, died in 1446. He acquired the castle and demesne lands of Raglan, from his maternal ancestors the Morley fam- ily, and married for his second wife, Gwladys, daughter of Sir David Gam, and widow of Sir Roger Vaughan, of Tre'twer. Her father David Gam, son of Llewlyn, was knighted on the field of Agincourt, in 1415, as he was dying from wounds received in that sanguinary conflict. He was of a fierce and warlike dis- position, it being said of him, that "he lived like a wolf and died like a lion." He was a strong partisan of the English under Henry IV. and Henry V., and for the former, undertook to assassinate, in 1402, his own brother-in-law, the famous Welsh patriot Owen Glendower. Sir William ap Thomas was also at Agincourt. He was sometimes called William Thomas Herbert. He had by his second wife several sons, of these was William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and :


SIR RICHARD HERBERT, of Coldbrook House, about a mile from the town of Abergavenny, in Monmouthshire. He was slain at Banbury in 1469. Of him his great-grandson, Lord Herbert, of Cherbury, wrote: "That incomparable hero who twice passed through a great army of northern men, alone, with pole- axe in his hand, and returned without mortal hurt, which is more than is famed of Amardus de Galle, or Knight of the Sun."


This Sir Richard Herbert married Margaret, daughter of Thomas ap Griffith Nicholas, of Dynevor, and sister of Sir Rhys ap Thomas, who slew Richard III. on Bosworth Field. They had issue :


Sir William Herbert, from whom descended Hugh Gwyn, of Peniarth; the Powells, of Llanwddyn ; the Humphreys, of Llwyndu ; the Owen family, of Mer- ion, Pennsylvania, and through them the Cadwaladers, and others, thus being the lineal ancestor of many of the early families of Philadelphia. The Thomas family, however, descend from the second son :


SIR RICHARD HERBERT, of Montgomery Castle, called also of "Cwm Ystwith and Pencelly," who was gentleman usher to King Henry VIII., and resided in great luxury at Blackhall, where he entertained on the most lavish scale. He


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married as his second wife, Jane, daughter of Gwilim ap Rees Philip, of Llyn- howell, in Carmarthenshire. Their fourth child was:


JANE HERBERT, who married (first) Thomas Lloyd, and (second) William Awbrey, Esquire, of Aberkynfrig, who died June 27, 1547. He was a son of Hopkin Awbrey, by his wife, a daughter of John Griffith, of Gwyn ; and grandson of Jenkin Awbrey, Esquire, by his wife, Gwenlliam, daughter of Owain ap Grif- fith, of Taly Llyn.


The Awbreys trace their descent from Stiant Awbrey (brother of Lord Awbrey, Earl of Bullen, and Earl Marchall, of France, who came to England with William the Conqueror in 1066), whose son, Sir Rinallt Awbrey, married a daughter of the Earl of Clare and Priany, and had a son, William Awbrey, of Aberkynfrig, married to Julia, daughter of Sir William Gunter, and their son Thomas Awbrey, married Ann, daughter of John Cayraw, Baron of Cayrowe, and had a son Thomas Awbrey, of Aberkynfrig, Constable and Ranger of the Forest of Brecon, who married Johann, daughter of Trahaerne ap Einion, Lord of Comond, and had by her a son, Thomas Awbrey Goch (red-haired), who mar- ried Nest, daughter of Owain Gethyn, of Glyn Taway, and had by her Richard Awbrey, who married Creslie, daughter of Phe ap Eledr, and had Gawlter Aw- brey, who married Juhan, daughter and heiress of Rees Morgan ap Einion, of Carmarthenshire, and had Morgan Awbrey, of Aberkynfrig, who married Alice, daughter of Watkin Thomas David Lloyd, and was the father of Jenkin Awbrey, Esquire, of Aberkynfrig, above mentioned, the grandshire of William Awbrey. who married Jane Herbert.


RICHARD AWBREY, of Aberkynfrig, eldest son of William Awbrey, by his wife, Jane Herbert, sold the estate of Aberkynfrig to his cousin, Dr. William Awbrey. He died in 1580, leaving issue by his wife, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Gunter, of Gileston :


RICHARD AWBREY, of Llanelyw. "who departed this life Anno. 1646," and was buried under the floor of the chancel of the church of Llanelyw. His grave is covered by a flat tombstone which forms part of the pavement of the chancel, bearing this inscription : "Here lyeth the body of Richard Awbrey of Llanelyw, Gent. who married Anne Vaughan, daughter of William Vaughan of Llanelyw. and had issue: William, Richard, Thomas, John Theophilus, and Elizabeth. Died the 23 day of September, 1646." The armes of the Awbrey and Vaughan family are engraved upon this tomb. Of these six children of Richard and Anne (Vaughan) Aubrey, the first and third are both ancestors of the Thomas family of Merion, since


WILLIAM AUBREY, the eldest son, who had heired his father's estates, being a Puritan and Parlimentarian, and having no son, on his father's death in 1646. married his daughter Elizabeth to William Aubrey, the eldest son of his brother, Thomas, in order to keep the estate in the Puritan stock, his next younger brother, Richard, Vicar of Boughrod, in Radnorshire, and an adherent of the King. The latter instituted proceedings to recover the property after the death of his elder brother, but the matter was finally settled by arbitration.


WILLIAM AUBREY, son of Thomas, is said to have been a member of the Soci- ety of Friends, but if so, it would seem that he returned to the Anglican church, judging from the place of his burial. His sons, Richard and William, and his daughter, Martha, were certainly "Friends."


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William Aubrey's tombstone at Llanelyw Church bears this inscription : "Here lyeth the body of William Awbrey, of Lllanelyw, son of Thomas Awbrey, Gent. Married Elizabeth, daughter of William Awbrey. Had issue Ten: Rishard, William, 2, Thomas Theophilus, Anne, Mary 2, Martha, & Elizabeth. Departed this life in Hope of a Joyful Resurrection, the 16 of December 1716, aged 90."


Of the children of William and Elizabeth Aubrey, of Llanelyw, William mar- ried Letitia, daughter of William Penn, the Founder of Pennsylvania.


MARTHA AUBREY, the ninth child of William and Elizabeth Aubrey, of Llanelyw, born about 1662, became a member of the Society of Friends, and is said to have accompanied her relatives, John and Barbara (Aubrey) Bevan, to Pennsylvania in 1683. Whether she came thus early to America, or according to another authority, accompanied her affianced husband, Rees Thomas, several years later, has not been clearly established. True it is that she married Rees Thomas at Haverford Meeting, in the Welsh Tract of Pennsylvania, April 18, 1692. He was a descendant of the Thomas family of Wencoe, Wales, and nephew of John Bevan, as shown by a letter written to his father-in-law, William Aubrey, April 29, 1695, from which it is to be inferred that his father was Rees. son of Hopkin Thomas, who married a daughter of Evan ap John, of Treverigg, and sister to John Bevan. He was also cousin to Barbara (Aubrey) Bevan, her mother, the wife of William Aubrey, of Pencoyd, being a sister to his father.


Rees Thomas purchased 300 acres in the Welsh Tract, Merion township, of Sarah, widow of John Eckley, the deed being dated August 15, 1692. He subse- quently purchased other land adjoining of Edward Pritchard. The plantation owned and occupied by him was located near the present Rosemont Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, ten miles west of Philadelphia. A greater part of it remained in the ownership of his descendants for four generations.


Rees Thomas was a prominent man in the community, serving several terms in the Colonial Assembly, the first in 1702, and the last in 1720. He was also com- missioned a Justice of Philadelphia county, June 14, 1722. His will proved Feb- ruary 12, 1742-3, was dated September 10, 1742. His wife, Martha, died March 7, 1726-7. She was a very estimable woman, and much beloved and respected in the community in which she lived she was for many years an Elder of the Society of Friends, and prominent in benevolent and charitable works.


A quaint little volume of poems extolling the virtues of Martha (Aubrey), wife of Rees Thomas, was printed in 1727, by Samuel Keimer, of Philadelphia, no copy of which is now known to be in existence.


It was reprinted in 1837, by her descendant, Mary (Thomas), wife of Jona- than Jones, of Wynnewood. The title page is as follows :-


A Collection of Elegiac Poems Devoted to the memory of the late Virtuous and excellent Matron and worthy Elder in the Church of Christ, (Of the Society of Friends) MARTHA THOMAS Late wife of REES THOMAS, of Merion, in the County of Philadelphia, in the Province of Pennsylvania; and daughter of WILLIAM AWBREY,


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Of Llan Elew, in the County of Brecknock, in Great Britain. Who departed this life On the 7th of the Twelfth Month, 1726-27. -"A Woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. "Give her the Fruit of Her Hands, and let her Works praise her in the Gates." Prov. xxxi, 30, 31.


PHILADELPHIA: Printed by Samuel Keimer, in Second Street, MDCCXXVII.


Issue of Rees and Martha ( Aubrey) Thomas :--


Rees, b. Apr. 22, 1693; m. Elizabeth Jones, dau. of Dr. Edward Jones, by wife Mary Wynee. They had two daughters, Letitia, m. David Evans, and Anne m. Samuel Williams;


Aubrey, b. Jan. 30, 1694-5, mn. Gulielma, dan. of William Penn Jr. and grand- daughter of William Penn, the Founder. They resided in Eng .;


Herbert, b. Nov. 3, 1696, m. Mary Havard, dan. of John; d. without issue;


Elizabeth, b. Oct. 10, 1698, m. Samuel Harry, of Chester Co., and left issue; WILLIAM, b. July 2, 1701, of whom presently ;


Richard, b. July 23, 1703, d. a young man, unm.


WILLIAM THOMAS, fourth son of Rees and Martha (Aubrey ) Thomas, in- herited a portion of the homestead, on which he erected a substantial stone house, and greatly improved the plantation. According to the testimony of his great- granddaughter, Mary Jones, "he was a mild tempered man, very constant in the attendance of Religious Meetings." He lived all his life on the old homestead, dying there June 13, 1776. He married, May 12, 1724, Elizabeth, daughter of David Harry, of Chester county, a colonial justice, and member of assembly from that county, 1716-7.


Issue of William and Elizabeth ( Harry) Thomas :-


REES, of whom presently ;


Martha, m. Dr. John Llewlyn, "a surgeon of Consequence and respectability" in Merion township;


Mary, m. Peter Evans; lived to advanced age but had no children;


Hannah, m. Jonathan Powell, but left no issue;


Elizabeth, m. Abraham Evans, of Gwynedd township, and had several children; Jonathan, resided many years in Chester Co., d. there at advanced age; was twice m .; by first wife had children Rees, Rebecca, Elizabeth, and Richard; by second wife, Ann Haley, had William, Samuel and Ononah;


David, d. on his farm in Merion township; m. - Rhodes and had children, Martha, Lydia, Aubrey, William and Eleanor;


Richard, m. Ann and had daughters Elizabeth, Martha, and Ann.


REES THOMAS, son of William and Elizabeth (Harry) Thomas, married November 3, 1758, Priscilla, only daughter and heiress of John and Mary Jermon, who lived near the Friends' Meeting House in Radnor township, Chester county, and were people of substance and respectability. Rees and Priscilla Thomas resided on a portion of the old Thomas homestead, which they greatly improved, erecting the "Mansion House," occupied by his son, William, as late as 1829, and also other substantial buildings. Neither, however, lived beyond their prime, Priscilla dying July 6, 1769, and her husband only surviving her a few years, died in his forty-fifth year. Their seven children were all minors at the death of their parents, and their paternal grandfather dying at about the same time as


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their father, they were left to care for themselves in the troublous times of the first years of the War of Independence and failed to receive the educational ad- vantages that should have been theirs under happier circumstances.


Issue of Rees and Priscilla (Jermon) Thomas:


WILLIAM, b. July 8, 176-, m. April 5, 1786, Naomi Walker, b. Feb. 17, 1765, d. May 4, 1817, of whom presently;


Mary, m. Anthony, eldest son of Abraham and Hannah Tunis, of Lower Merion, and had eight children, viz .: Charles, William, Abraham, Rees, Priscilla, Jane, Aubrey and Richard;


John, d. s. p. to 1829;


Hannah, was living with brother William on old homestead, unm. in 1829;


Rees, went to Ky., about beginning of century ;


Jonathan, also removed to Ky .;


Priscilla, d. prior to 1829, unm.


WILLIAM THOMAS, son of Reese and Priscilla (Jermon) Thomas, inherited the old Thomas homestead, and the "Mansion House," erected by his father, in which he lived all his life. He married, April 5, 1786, Naomi, daughter of Joseph Walker, of Great Valley, Chester county, and a descendant of Lewis Walker, who emigrated from Merionethshire, Wales, in 1686, and settled in the Welsh Tract of Merion and Haverford, marrying, in 1693, Mary Morris, a fellow passenger on the ship that brought him to Pennsylvania, though said to have been of English parentage. They reared a family of eight children in the simple faith of the Society of Friends, one of whom was father of Joseph Walker, who was likewise a consistent and earnest member of the Society. He was a farmer and resided on his farm near Valley Forge, in Treddyfrin township, during the war of the Revolution. His granddaughter, Mary (Thomas) Jones, before re- ferred to in these pages, writes of him in 1829, as follows: "They," referring to Joseph Walker and his wife, "were exemplary and pious people and I believe respected by all who knew them. I have heard many testify in an uncommon manner of the affection and grateful remembrance they had of the noble and gen- erous acts of kindness and hospitality extended by my dear grandfather to them- selves and others during the Revolutionary War and since. They being members of the Society of Friends, whose principles would not permit my grandparents to take an active part, either offensive or defensive, in the struggle at that time. They therefore, united their efforts to do all that was in their power to relieve those that were in trouble or distress, without respect to persons or party, and many were the opportunities that presented for exercise of that law of kindness, and acts of charity to the poor half clad and shivering soldiers, as well as private individuals, General Wayne having chosen their house as his headquarters for six months during the winter that General Washington had his army in winter- quarters at the Valley Forge, which was a few miles from my grandfather's dwelling. They were of course surrounded by the American Army and conse- quently witnessed a great portion of the distress and suffering of that eventful period."


Naomi (Walker) Thomas, was born February 17, 1765, and died May, 1817, her husband surviving her many years.


Issue of William and Naomi (Walker) Thomas :-


Mary, eldest child, m. (first) Charles McClenachan, and (second) Jonathan, son of Owen and Susannah (Evans) Jones of Merion, and great-grandson of Dr.


Cours Quy @ Thomas


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Edward Jones, pioneer of the Welsh Tract. Mary Jones was publisher of second volume of the volume of poems, mentioned in early part of this narrative, and also prepared narrative of her family from time of arrival in Pa. to 1829, from which we have freely quoted.


REESE, b. March 24, 1789, d. March 27, 1835; m. Rebecca Brooke; of whom presently;


Sarah, m. Dr. James Anderson:


Joseph, d. unm .;


Emily, m. Isaac W. Roberts;


Pricilla, m. George T. Stuckert:


Louisa, m. John C. Evans;


William, m. Tacy Roberts:


Jane W., m. John Cleaver.


REESE THOMAS, eldest son of William and Naomi (Walker ) Thomas, born in Merion, March 24, 1789, married, March 29, 1810, Rebecca, daughter of Capt. Benjamin Brooke, of Gulph Mills, Upper Merion township, Montgomery county, a distinguished officer and patriot in the Revolutionary War, by his wife, Anna Davis. Reese Thomas, after his marriage, became the proprietor of the famous Gulph Mills, which he operated until succeeded by his son, William Brooke Thomas, in 1832. He died at Gulph Mills, March 27, 1835. He was a man of high standing in the community, and one of the original anti-slavery men of Montgomery county.


Issue of Reese and Rebecca (Brooke) Thomas :-


WILLIAM BROOKE, b. May 25, 1811, d. Dec. 12, 1887; m. Emily Wilson Holstein, of whom presently;


Benjamin Brooke, m. Ann Condon:


Louisa, m. Amos Corson;


Priscilla, m. (first) Isaac Barber, (second) Ogden Cuthbert;


Naomi, never m .;


Mary Ann, never m .; Emily, m. Jonathan Trego: Rebecca, m. Milton Allen;


Reese, d. in childhood.


WILLIAM BROOKE THOMAS, eldest son of Reese Thomas and his wife Rebecca Brooke, was born May 25, 1811, in Haverford, Upper Merion township, Mont- gomery county, on the property which the Friends afterward bought from his parents for the erection of Haverford College. The family removed to Gulph Mills, which had been inherited by his mother from her father Benjamin Brooke. Here Mr. Thomas was instructed by his father in the manufacture of flour, and on his father's death succeeded to the proprietorship of the mills on coming of age in 1832. He operated the mills until 1842, and after a year, in which he en- gaged in the mercantile business at Lyonsville, removed to Philadelphia, where he began the manufacture of flour on a small scale, at Thirteenth and Willow streets, using at first but a twenty horse power engine. His business increasing. he secured another mill at Thirteenth and Buttonwood streets and installed an additional eighty horse power plant. Still unable to supply the demand for his products, he erected a larger mill and added a three hundred horse power plant, making in all four hundred horse power ; operating twenty-four pairs of buhrs, turning out 1,200 barrels of flour, and using over 5,000 bushels of wheat per day. This was far in excess of the capacity of any other mill in Philadelphia or its


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vicinity, and an exceedingly unusual one prior to the introduction of the roller process and the establishment of the vast milling plants of the northwest, several years later. Mr. Thomas was, at this period, by far the largest purchaser of grain for domestic purposes, in Philadelphia.


He was one of the earliest advocates of an association of grain and feed ship- pers; was one of the organizers of the Corn Exchange Association, and its first president in 1853. He was re-elected in 1854 and thereafter declined the position, but continued to be one of its prominent members for many years, being recog- nized on the floor of the Exchange as one of the leading business men of the city. He was possessed in a high degree of the qualities that go to make the successful merchant and business man; intelligent, energetic, industrious, selfreliant, quick in dicision, upright, and honorable in all his dealings. "Of him," says A. G. Cattell, President of the Exchange, in a memorial delivered before that body at its annual meeting, January 31, 1888, "it may be truthfully said, his word was as good as his bond * * * for thirty years our firm had large business trans- actions with him reaching in the aggregate, millions of dollars, nearly all of which was done without so much as the scratch of a pen between us, and I can bear testimony that, so far as I can remember, there was never even the shadow of a dispute in regard to a single transaction."


Mr. Thomas was also one of the prominent members of the Board of Trade, of Philadelphia, and for many years a director of the Manufacturers' Insurance Company. He was also president of the Corn Exchange Bank.


He was early interested in the Anti Slavery cause and was the first vice-presi- dent of the Montgomery County Anti-Slavery Society organized in 1837, and served on important committees of that organization. His name appears on the memorials adopted by the Anti-Slavery Association of Philadelphia, of which the Montgomery Society was a component part. His four sisters were also active members of the local society and all active in the cause, contributing work of their own hands to be sold at the fairs held annually to raise funds to be used to con- tinue the crusade against human slavery. He was an active partisan of the Free Soil party and voted for John P. Hale for President in 1852. It was natural, therefore, that Mr. Thomas, though formerly a Democrat, should have been one of active participants in the formation of the Republican party. He assisted in the preliminary arrangements for the campaign of 1856, and took a very active part in that determined struggle, both in Philadelphia and the country at large. He was elected to the Common Council of the city, by a combination of Peoples' and Republican parties. He was a member of the National Convention that nominated Lincoln at Chicago, in 1860, and on his return, entered heart and soul into the contest for his election, with the battle cry of "No further extension of human slavery." When Lincoln's election was accomplished and the storm clouds of rebellion began to lower, he was one of those who went to the national capital to stand by his chosen leader and see that he was vested with the high office to which he had been elected. Enrolling himself as a member of Hon. C. M. Clay's company of volunteers, and with musket on shoulder, with them he paced the city, "keeping watch and ward over the centre of the nation's hopes and fears," during the Baltimore riots of April, 1861.


He was appointed by President Lincoln, Collector of the Port of Philadelphia, in the early days of his administration, and brought to the performance of the


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duties of that responsible position a strong will and well balanced mind ;- familiar, far beyond the average, with the commercial laws and usages,-he man- aged the office with an ability and honesty of purpose which when he retired from the position brought him the universal plaudit, of "Well done thou good and faithful servant."


In August, 1862, Mr. Thomas formed the employees of the Custom House into a military company, known as the "Revenue Guards" and after they were sufficiently drilled in military tactics, and equipping them at his own expense, was commissioned their captain on September 14, 1862; having written to the Treasury Department asking for leave of absence from his office of Collector of the Port, that he might go with them to the front. Secretary Chase tried to con- vince him that he could render more efficient service to his country by retaining the office, but Mr. Thomas, with characteristic decision of character, had decided for himself as to his sphere of action, and immediately wrote to the Department that unless they chose to grant him the desired leave of absence, they should consider his letter a resignation of the position of Collector of the Port. He at once answered Governor Curtin's call for troops by organizing a second company of "Revenue Guards" and marching the two companies to Harrisburg, where he was made Colonel of the 20th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was with them, at Hagerstown, Maryland, on the Saturday following the battle of Antietam, to assist in repelling the threatened invasion of Maryland and Pennsyl- vania, where he remained until the danger was over.




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