USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of contemporary biography of Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 9
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
highest degree of utility and in vastly enlarging its proportions, while he earned for himself imperisli- able honors as a manufacturer and inventor and the gratifying consciousness of having been a strong instrumentality in checking the nefarious business of counterfeiting both at home and abroad. But, although so largely occupied by the demands of his extensive business, he never abandoned the cultiva- tion of his literary tastes, finding in them all necded relaxation for his tired mind and body. To the Catholic Quarterly Review he has been an occasional and valued contributor, his writings being upon metaphysical philosophy. Several years ago he published through Messrs. Porter & Coates of Phila- delphia, a work in two parts, entitled "Elementary Philosophy," which contained the deductions of a most extended course of reading and reflection. In this work the learned author took strong ground throughout, from the standpoint of rational analysis, against the growing materialistic atheism of the times. More recently he has been engaged in the preparation of two works somewhat similar in char- acter, in which, as in that already published, he employs the weapons of the scholar in combatting the loose reasoning so widely prevalent and so damaging in its influence upon the manners and morals of modern society. From the inception to the closc of the celebration of the Centennial of the birth of the Nation, Dr. Willcox was a prominent figure in the enterprise, serving as a member of the first Board of Finance created by Act of Congress, and later-by request of the Centennial Commission -as one of the Judges of the Exhibition, of whom there were one hundred American and one hundred foreign selected. At the initial meeting of the Committee he was elected President of Group XIII. "and after six months of active duty in that capacity, he wrote, by request, a critical compendium of the entire work of his Committee for publication." For his able services in connection with the Exhibi- tion he received a letter of thanks from the Commis- sion and was honored by a special medal. Al- though he has retired from active business he still retains his interest in commerce and manufactures, and holds directorships in a number of important corporations and institutions. Of late years he has bestowed considerable attention upon the work of developing the lower section of the State of Florida, the phenomenal growth of which he early foresaw and predicted. He is a large land owner in South Florida, his property being chiefly in Orange County, where he is in the habit of spending the greater por- tion of each winter, and with the climate, resources and advantages of which he is thoroughly familiar. In 1852 Dr. Willcox married Miss Mary Keating, of
Philadelphia, daughter of Jerome Keating, one of the early manufacturers of Manayunk and for many years a business partner of the late John J. Borie. The grandfather of this lady was John Keating, a distinguished officer of the French Army in the last century, who, for having captured the Island of St. Eustache from the British, was created a Chevalier of the Order of St. Louis by Louis XVI. of France. Of the children born to this marriage, three of the five now living are married. Mrs. Willcox died in 1862. Dr. Willcox married, in 1864, Miss Catharine Sharples, daughter of the late Abraham W. Sharples, of Thornbury township, Delaware County, Pennsyl- vania, and granddaughter, on her mother's side, of the Right Rev. Henry U. Onderdonk, formerly the Episcopalian Bishop of Pennsylvania. There have been two children by this marriage, both of whom are living. For many years Mr. Willcox's home has ' been in one of the stately old mansions on Spruce Street, Philadelphia. Since his retirement from ac- tive business, in 1879, he and his family have gener- ally spent a portion of each winter on the Florida estate in Orange County, a most valuable property, the care and development of which is one of its owner's chief pleasures. Here, as at his elegant home in the North, Dr. Willcox has at hand a choice library, rich in the works of the masters of literature in all tongues, and especially full in the department of philosophy, his favorite study. Personally Dr. Willcox is one of the most agreeable and accom- plished of men. He is that rare combination of a ripe scholar and thorough business man, successful alike in the pursuit of knowledge and the pursuit of wealth. His circle of friends embraces many of the most able and gifted men of our time, and among them he is recognized as a man of the high- est grade of intellect and the purest character. Be- lieving that a duty devolves upon those competent to essay the task, he has taken his place among the noble array of Christian scholars who are urging war against the modern materialistic philosophy, and his keen powers of analysis and brilliant mas- tery of language are not the least effective in the great struggle now going on throughout the intel- lectual world.
ROBERT L. JOHNSTON.
HON. ROBERT L. JOHNSTON, of Ebensburgh, President-Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Cambria County, ex-Treasurer and ex-Prothonotary of that County, and one of the oldest members of the Pennsylvania bar, was born in Franklin Town-
N. L. Johnston huston
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
ship, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, January 7, 1815. His father, William Johnston, was a mem- ber of an Episcopalian family of Fermanagh County, Ireland, which had its home in Enniskilleu, on the banks of Lough Erne. After the Rebellion of 1798 he, together with his widowed mother and brothers and sisters, emigrated to the United States, landing at New Castle, then the port of Philadelphia. Mrs. Johnston and her family settled at Milesburg, Centre County, in 1801; and at Bellefonte, in 1806, William Jolinston, her son, was naturalized. The latter married, in 1804, Miss Jane Ramsey, of Miles- burg, whose mother was a Blair and claimed purely Scottish ancestry. The subject of this sketch was the sixth of eleven children born to this marriage. His infancy and youth were spent before Pennsyl- vania had adopted the common school system, and therefore his early education was such only as could be gathered at the private schools then in existence. Compared with the splendid advantages of the present day, those he enjoyed scarcely deserve mention ; but the lad was studious by nature, and through an accident at the age of fourteen, by which he lost entirely the use of one of his limbs and was confined to his home for a long period, he was en- abled to devote himself industriously to such books as were procurable, and thus by means of one mis- fortune repaired another, at least to a considerable extent. The profession of law seemed to him to present special advantages for life work and to be more in consonance with his tastes than any other vocation, and although conscious of his educational shortcomings he determined to attempt its mas- tery. Accordingly, in 1839, he removed to Cambria County, and, entering the office of the late Michael Dan Magehan, Esq., a lawyer of excellent repute and extended practice, he began his studies. In the spring of 1841 he was admitted to practice, and from that period down to the present he has de- voted himself mainly to professional and judicial work. In 1845 he was elected County Treasurer, and after serving a term in this office was elected, in 1851, Prothonotary of the County. In both of these positions he was distinguished for his probity and the faithful performance of duty. A Democrat in matters of National policy, Judge Johnston has always taken a more or less prominent part in poli- tics in connection with his party, and in 1864 and in 1866 was its candidate for Congress in the Con- gressional District in which he lives. The majority in this district holding adverse political views, he was defeated on both occasions. As a lawyer Judge Johnston is known throughout a wide sec- tion of the State for his superior skill and the great tenacity with which he prosecutes his cases. A
practice of nearly half a century has given him a rare cominand of legal knowledge and of the intri- cacies and technicalities of his profession. He has few equals among his colleagues at the bar in the matter of recalling decisions and precedent. His great success has resulted from diligence and study, aided by unvarying honesty and an absolute free- dom from the pettiness and trickery which occa- sionally stain legal practice. He is known also as a high-minded citizen, whose promises and obliga- tions are faithfully redeemed on all occasions; and in consequence he posessess the esteem not only of his professional associates but also of the great body of his fellow-citizens. In religious belief Judge Johnston is a conscientious and professing member of the Roman Catholic Church, a regular attendant at its services and a liberal contributor to its vari- ous charities. In a wide social circle he is respected as a mau of upright and pure life and an honor to the private walks of American citizenship. In the fall of 1883 Judge Johnston was elected President- Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Cambria County. He took his seat on the bench on his sixty-ninth birthday, January 7, 1884, and has until the present time filled his judicial position with fearlessness and impartiality. He has been faithful to the high trust reposed in him; and though in his seventy-fifth year, retains all his vitality, and from present appearances may survive his term with credit to himself and advantage to the due administration of justice in the district over which he presides. Judge Johnston was twice married. On October 13, 1842, he was married to Eveline Rodrigue, by whom he had a daughter, who mar- ried John Scanlon, Esq., and has since died. After- wards he married Mrs. Mary Glass, by whom he has one son, a boy now eleven years of age.
DANIEL M. FOX.
HOM. DANIEL MILLER FOX, ex-Mayor of Philadelphia, and now Superintendent of the United States Mint in that city, was boru in the section known as the " Northern Liberties," June 16, 1819. His ancestors on both sides were people of high re- spectability, and the city of Philadelphia has been their home since the Revolution. In that struggle his maternal grandfather, Daniel Miller, after whom he was named, took quite a prominent part, "being present with Washington at Germantowu, Pennsyl- vania, New Brunswick, New Jersey, the Highlands, New York, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the siege of Yorktown, and the surreuder of Lord Cornwal-
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lis." Captured by the British troops during the campaign in New Jersey, he was alleged to be a spy and a guard started with him for the British headquarters in Philadelphia, but on his way, for- tunately, he effected his escape and at once rejoined the patriot army, with which he continued in ac- tive service until the close of the war, when he set- tled with his family in the "Northern Liberties." An esteemed resident of the place at that time was Charles Fox, the paternal grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, whose son, John Fox, married Margaret, a daughter of Daniel Miller of Revolu- tionary fame. Born and reared in the "Northern Liberties," this young couple were attached to the locality and continued to reside there after marri- age. Notwithstanding their limited means they gave their son Daniel excellent advantages in the way of an education, and when he left school he was well qualified to begin for himself the battle of life. The lad's first employment was as clerk in a retail store, but he found no vocation in it, and at the expiration of two years gave it up to engage in the study of conveyancing, which he had decided to adopt as a profession. After five years patient and faithful service in the office of the late Jacob F. Hoeckley, who stood at the head of the profession in Philadelphia, he branched out for himself, open- ing an office in the city. Paying strict attention to business, and scrupulously maintaining the dignity of his calling by conscientiously avoiding specula- tion and those sharp practices which in other hands had brought it into disrepute, he soon made a name for himself, and, becoming well known as a repu- table and reliable conveyancer, secured a very large share of work. From year to year his business in- creased in volume and importance, and finally was reputed to be larger than that transacted in any other office in the city. In order the more fully to meet the requirements of his profession, Mr. Fox made a close study of the laws governing and touching real estate operations, which he found were becoming more and more intricate with the increase in their extent, and then, submitting him- self for a legal examination, was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in November, 1878, being then in his fifty-ninth year. This was a step well taken, and his services in the settlement of estates, and as administrator, executor and trustee, were, if any- thing, more greatly in demand than ever. The amount of this special work in his hands probably exceeded that entrusted to any other Philadelphian. Mr. Fox's public career began early. He was but twenty-one when elected a member of the Board of School Directors of the District in which he then lived, and for years prior to 1854, when the city was
consolidated, and the law in that regard changed, he was President of the Board. His interest in the public schools has never waned, and one of the labors in which he takes great pride and in which he was a pioneer, was that of extending their ad- vantages to adults by the night school system. Mr. Fox was twice chosen by the City Councils as a Director of Girard College. He also represented the "Northern Liberties " in the Board of Health, serving nine years. During that period the city was twice visited by the cholera, in the abatement of which he labored with great zeal and success. Chosen to represent his ward in the Select Council, he sat in that body three years. On his retirement, in 1861, he was regarded within his party as one of the strongest men that could be selected for the Mayoralty, and in the following year he was nomi- nated for that office by the Democratic party, with which he was politically affiliated. The city at that time was strongly Republican, and he was de- feated by the Hon. Alexander Henry, although he ran largely- ahead of his ticket. In 1865 he again received a unanimous nomination for the same of- fice, and ran against the Hon. Morton McMichael. Although a second time defeated, his personal pop- ularity was increasing, and upon his third nomina- tion in 1868, he was elected, defeating his Republi- can opponent, Gen. Hector Tyndale. Mr. Fox was inaugurated January 1, 1869, and his first official duty as Mayor of Philadelphia was to receive Gen. Grant as President-elect. The reception was held at Independence Hall, in the presence of the City Councils and a large number of citizens. From it dated a warm friendship with Gen. Grant which continued until the time of his death. The munici- pal administration of Mayor Fox was notable for many reforms and innovations upon the then exist- ing order of things. His extended experience in the Board of Health made him especially solicitous regarding the sanitary condition of the city, and through his vigorous initiative many wholesome improvements were effected, particularly in those sections of the city "where the impurity of the denizens hazarded the health of more respectable neighborhoods." It was during Mayor Fox's official term that the Volunteer Fire Department ceased to exist. The sense of the respectable and law-abiding element of the citizens condemned the evil practices which had grown up around the volunteer system, and clamored for its disbandment. Able men in Councils gave the movement for its abolition their cordial support, and at length an ordinance was in- troduced and passed establishing a Paid Fire Depart- ment. This step aroused the bitterest feelings among the volunteers who were large in numbers
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CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
and strong in political influence, and to a great ex- tent vicious and unprincipled. The people gener- ally hoped the bill would pass, and watched with keen anxiety the action of the Mayor, against whom those opposed to its passage did not hesitate to make numerous threats. Undaunted by these, but with a degree of wisdom and foresight which proved his executive ability, the Mayor retained the bill to near the close of the limit by law unsigned, seeking by this course "to soften the feelings cngendered by its passage, and also to meet any emergency in carrying the act into effect." Having accomplished the latter to his satisfaction, he formally approved the ordinance and it became a law. With the ex- ception of some puerile manifestations of anger, such as hanging the Mayor in effigy in several en- gine houses, nothing of an untoward nature occur- red, as the steps taken by the proper law officers were rigorous and effective. These, with the cor- dial co-operation of the better class of the volun- teers-men who were second to none in their inter- est in the city's welfare,-" enabled the- new 'Fire Department ' to go into operation without any dis- turbance whatever, and the city has ever since re- joiced in an efficient system, without any of the former accomplishments of noise, riot and public disturbance." It was a custom of Mayor Fox to attend many fires in person for the double purpose of holding a moral check on the lawless, and to stimu- late the police in their duties of keeping the streets clear for the free exercise of those whose business it was to extinguish the flames. His watchful- ness often prevented serious disaster, and on one occasion saved a number of lives. This was at the great fire in which Newhall, Borie & Co.'s sugar re- finery, at the corner of Race and Crown Streets, was totally destroycd. While the conflagration was at its height the lives of a number of volunteer firemen were endangered through their own stubbornness, and only saved through determined action on the part of the Mayor. The story, as graphically told in the "History of the Philadelphia Police," is as follows :
" The engine house of the refinery was a single story building facing on Crown Street; over it was a projection five or six stories in height, containing the hoisting apparatus and other machinery of great weight. About a score of the firemen took up a position on the roof of the engine house and direc- ted a stream of water against the main building. Un- known to them the flames were rapidly eating their way to the machinery in the projection over them. The Mayor made it a point to attend all important fires, and frequently his vigilance at great confla- grations resulted in the detection of gangs of thieves who operated in the uniform of firemen. On this occasion he observed the danger which threatened the men. It was evident to him that the machinery
would soon be reached, and the projection fall. A serious disaster would be the consequence unless the men were removed. The Mayor sent the Chief of Police to inform them of their danger, and en- deavored to induce them to retire from their peri- lous position. They angrily declared they would occupy whatever place they pleased, and said the Mayor should mind his own business, as he had no authority over them. The Mayor saw that prompt and decisive action was necessary if the lives of the men were not to be sacrificed. He ordered Chief Mulholland to drive the headstrong fellows from the roof by force. All the policemen in the neigh- borhood of the fire were collected and they charged the volunteers, who were routed with some diffi- culty and came clamoring around the Mayor, de- manding to know by what authority he had inter- fered with them, execrating and threatening him with personal violence.
' Wait five minutes and I'll give you an answer,' said Mr. Fox, quietly.
A moment later the projection with all the heavy machinery fell, crushing the engine house. The men who a moment before had reviled the Mayor were silent for a moment, then they gathered round him and gave three prolonged and hearty cheers for . Daniel M. Fox."
Mayor Fox was the first to recommend and en- force the practice of roping off streets during con- flagrations, now so generally followed throughout the country. This practice not only secured a clear space for the firemen to work in, but had the effect of preventing the access of persons bent on theft. It also limited the dangers to life from falling em- bers or walls. Its advantages were so apparent that all successive Mayors of the city have adopted it. An incident during Mayor Fox's term which attracted wide attention, and in which his prompt action was the means of bringing several offenders . to well merited punishment, was the attempted as- sasination in open day, in a Front Street store, of James Brooks, a detective in the United States Revenue service. The case was at once taken in hand by the Mayor, who by stimulating the efforts of the police and offering heavy rewards, caused the arrest of the guilty parties and their subsequent conviction. A custom inaugurated by Mayor Fox and which has proved of high value on many occa- sions, is that of inviting leading and experienced citizens to confer with the Chief Magistrate from time to time and assist him with their advice. With an eye single to the public welfare, Mayor Fox paid scrupulous attention to the bills sent to him for his signature, and signalized his official term by thirty-two veto messages, nearly all of which were sustained. His official term closed in a most gratifying manner, both Chambers of Councils unanimously passing resolutions of thanks for his able and energetic administration of the city's af- fairs. He was also the recipient of a banquet at
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the Academy of Musie, tendered him by leading eitizens, irrespective of party, on which oeeasion the unanimous approval of his executive eareer was voieed by eloquent speakers. The preliminary steps towards the great International Exhibition of 1876, in commemoration of the Nation's Centennial, were taken during his administration, and no small share of the success of this gigantie undertaking was due directly to his personal efforts. He served as a member of the Centennial Board of Finance, which had charge of all the funds of the Exhibition, from its opening until its elose, and contributed freely of his time and means and also spoke with marked effect, towards its promotion and final sue- cess. In July, 1876, Mr. Fox was appointed by the President of the United States one of three Commis- sioners selected from different States to investigate and report upon the controversy which existed be- tween the General Government and the railroad corporations with reference to the transportation of the United States mails, "the former complaining that the service was not satisfactorily rendered, and the latter that they were not adequately eompen- sated." The Commission, in the exereise of its funetions, visited every seetion of the country, em- bracing a distance of travel of over twenty-eight thousand miles. Sessions were held in all the prin- cipal eities, mueh testimony taken, and when its labors were completed, a report of great value was prepared and presented to Congress, whieli went far towards a satisfactory settlement of the controversy. Mr. Fox was appointed Superintendent of the United States Mint at Philadelphia by President Cleveland in the montli of June, 1885. The office eame to him unsought, and on all sides it was agreed that his appointment was a just tribute to his unquestioned integrity and his eminent abilities as a publie man. A life-long resident of the city of Philadelphia, Mr. Fox has always had its interests sincerely at heart, and privately as well as officially has sought to do all that lay in his power to advanee the welfare of its people. He has taken a most ae- tive part in educational, sanitary, philanthropic and other benevolent work, and has served with dis- tinction as President of the Pennsylvania Society for the Protection of Children from Cruelty, as Di- reetor of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, and in various other capacities-his eon- stant aim and object being the alleviation of suffer- ing, the prevention of erime and the uplifting of the unfortunate. Mr. Fox is a man of dignified and distinguished presenee. He possesses an engaging manner, which finds its well-spring in his kind heart, honest intentions and generous disposition. Love of justice and great magnanimity have been
his most striking characteristics ; and it is said by those intimately acquainted with his eareer, that " his life has been singularly free from the petty strifes which disfigure the lives of so many who have to fight their battle against odds." So high stood he in the estimation of his party, that in suc- eessive State Conventions his name was presented as candidate for Governor and warmly supported by the Philadelphia delegations.
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