USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of genealogy and biography of the state of Pennsylvania with a compendium of history. A record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Volume II > Part 18
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iam Robertson, of that state, while on a visit to England and Scotland, was given one of the eleven stone cannon balls fired from Loch Leven castle at the boat in which Queen Mary was escaping, and which was found, with the others, when the lake was drained, very nearly where Walter Scott said they would be found. He presented it to the Philo- sophical Society of the United States at Philadelphia, and it is still in their possession or in that of the Historical Society. The arms of the Robertsons are thus described : "Gules, three wolves' heads erazed. argent, armed and langued. azure. Crest-a dexter hand holding up an imperial crown proper, with a man in chains lying extended below the escutcheon of the arms." Motto, "L'irtutis gloria merces." "The chief seats were the Castle of Grath, Innerwick, Mt. Alexander and others."
On her mother's side, also, Mrs. Johnson comes of an old and noted family, the Henshaws. The member of the Heronshaw, Hernshaw or Henshaw family from whom this branch of the Henshaws are de- scended was Thomas Henshaw, of London, England, son of Robert Henshaw, of Drees (sometimes written Dresby, and in the printed genealogy of the Recestor written "Derby" by Thomas Dale Rich- mond, Herald). He was a captain in the service of James I who, for his "faithful and able service" granted him the arms which had been borne by the family before, and added a crest which is thus described in the warrant: "Upon a wreathe of his Collers. Argent and Sable, a Falcone seasing on a Wing, gould with a Crown about the Neck, Gules Beake and Legs Sables, with Belles of the first." And more particularly specified in the margin "Mantled Gules Rumbled Silver." The birds in the arms were heathcocks. Thomas died in 1639. leaving a large estate. He was succeeded by his son Thomas, who had also granted him a crest representing a griffin's head quartered on the arms
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of his father. Some branches of the family have the eagle, the crest of the Stanleys of Derby and Man. The Henshaws intermarried with the Stanleys and the name "Margaret Stanley" is common in the family. appearing in nearly every generation since. Sir Evan Haughton mar- ried Margaret Stanley, daughter of the early of Derby and Charlotte de Tremouille, and their daughter, Margaret Stanley Haughton, mar- ried Sir Joshua Henshaw. Joshua Henshaw, son of Thomas Henshaw second, came to this country. His son Joshua was born in 1672. Daniel. son of Joshua second, was born in 1701 and died in 1781. Ben- jamin, son of Daniel, was born in 1729 and died in 1793. He settled in Middletown, Connecticut, where the old Henshaw house still stands in a good state of preservation. Daniel, son of Benjamin, was born in 1762 and died in 1825. He lived for a time in Middletown, and then removed to Middlebury, Vermont. Of his children, Sarah married Charles H. Richards, of New York, and her daughter married the artist. Daniel Huntington. Julia Ann Henshaw married the Rev. Dr. Robertson, and was the mother of Mrs. Johnson. Daniel Henshaw's oldest son was John P. K. Henshaw. He entered the ministry and became Bishop of Rhode Island.
(The Henshaws were well represented in the war of the Revolution. Mrs. Johnson's great-grandfather, Benjamin Henshaw, was a lieutenant colonel in the Continental army. His brother, William, was a colonel, and his brother. David, a captain. His brother Joseph was a member of a patriotic association composed of Samuel Adams, James and Joseph Warren, John Adams, Josiah Quincy, Joseph and Joshua Henshaw and William Mollineaux. Benjamin's sister married Colonel Samuel Denny, and his daughter Captain John Meigs, both of the army. All were distinguished for conduct and ability.)
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have made their home in Chester for the
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past twenty-eight years. They have two children, Julia Theodora, born June 27, 1878, and Charlotte Shaler, born July 4. 1884.
Much of Mr. Johnson's time has been devoted to literary work. and he has shown fair ability in this line, both in prose and verse, but he has never made it his life work, and it has rather been the recreation of leisure hours than a serious occupation. As a journalist and maga- zine and newspaper contributor his work has been necessarily ephem- eral. Among other publications are: "Memoir of Edwin Ferry John- son, Civil Engineer." "Memoir of John .\. Robertson:" History of St. Paul's Church, Chester. Pennsylvania:" "The Old Graveyard :" "Heirlooms of Saint Paul's:" "The Nation's Centennial. 1876;" "Water Supply of Chester:" "Memoirs of John B. Hlinkson, Jurist ;" "Bi-centennial Souvenir Saint Paul's Church," etc.
ARTHUR HIBBS TOMLINSON.
Professor Arthur H. Tomlinson, founder and to the present time principal of the Swarthmore Preparatory School, at Swarthmore, and widely known as a successful educator, comes from an excellent English family which made an early settlement in New Jersey, where his paternal grandfather. Benjamin P. Tomlinson, was born and reared.
In his young manhood, Benjamin P. Tomlinson removed to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he passed a long and useful life, and where he died in 1857. aged seventy years. He was a farmer and miller by occupation, and a Quaker in religion. While he took little interest in political affairs, he was an ardent opponent of slavery. His wife was Hannah Knowles, who bore him three sons and as many daughters.
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Robert Knowles Tomlinson, a son of the parents named, was born in 1831, in Bucks county, where has been his home during his entire life. He began his education in the common schools, and after- wards attended an academy at Westtown and Benjamin Hallowell's excellent school at Alexandria. He engaged in farming, which he pursued with abundant success. A man of broad intelligence and well poised mind, he exerted a wide influence through his writings in local and class journals upon agricultural, educational and economic ques- tions. He is a member of the Hicksite branch of the Society of Friends. and a Prohibitionist in politics. He married, in 1855, Mary Hibbs, of a well known Quaker family, and a woman whose life reflected all the Christian graces. She died in 1890. at the age of fifty-seven years. She was the mother of seven children-Arthur H., Edith, Walter H., Alvan Il., Ernest H., Benjamin P. and William H. Tomlinson.
Arthur H. Tomlinson, eldest child in the family named, was born January 20, 1856, in Upper Makefield township, Bucks county, was reared upon the paternal farm and acquired an excellent English edu- cation in the public schools. When nineteen years old he was com- petent to teach, and for two years following he had charge of a school. He had developed a special aptitude for educational work, and he now devoted his effort to qualifying himself for more advanced effort. He took a course in the State Normal School at West Chester, and was graduated from its elementary department in 1877. He then went to Cecil county, Maryland, where he opened a Friends' school which he conducted with marked success for four years. Returning to his native state, he opened a Friends' select school at Oxford, which he conducted for two years. He was meantime pursuing his studies, and in 1883 was graduated from the Scientific Department of the West Chester State Normal School. Immediately afterwards he took a post graduate course
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in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and it was his dis- tinction at entrance to be one of a remarkably small number admitted on a normal school diploma. In 1884 he became principal of the Friends' Academy at Locust Valley, New York, which he conducted with gratifying success for a period of three years and until 1887, when he was called to Jenkintown, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, to establish a Friends' boarding school. He opened this school under the most favorable auspices, his reputation as an educator being well known in the neighborhood, and enlisting the hearty co-operation of the people and the interest of their children. This school Professor Tomlinson conducted with entire success and added credit to himself for a period of five years, when (in 1892) he resigned.
His retirement from the school at Jenkintown was an event deeply regretted by the people of that village. But Professor Tomlinson had become impressed with the great necessity for an adequate preparatory school at Swarthmore which should afford proper preparation to young men and women desiring to enter the college there. His efforts were warmly seconded by the people into whose midst he came, and he was enabled to open the Swarthmore Grammar School on September 12 of the same year. To this beneficent institution, now known as the Swarthmore Preparatory School, which had its inception in him, he has given his conscientious and intelligent effort to the present time. From a small beginning it has grown to important proportions, and its future is bright with promise. The teaching faculty is headed by Professor Tomlinson, an experienced and successful educator, who has devoted the best years of life to the school providing for the community an agency for good which is of incalculable worth.
Professor Tomlinson was married, August 6, 1886, to Miss
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Emma Pyle, a daughter of William H. Pyle, of West Chester. Four children have been born of this marriage: Willard. Helen, Albert 11 and Dorothy.
ISAAC MILLS.
The late Isaac Mills was one of those characters to whom much interest attaches as connecting links between periods far remote from each other. In our rapidly developed country the lifetime of one man often covers the whole time elapsing between the first settlement, or even dis- covery, of a territory and its ultimate growth to the highest state of civil- ization. While this fact is of such frequent occurrence in the newer states as to attract little notice. in the okler commonwealths of the cast an "early pioneer" is of sufficient rarity to still be an object of curious inquiry. This is especially the case when the "oldest inhabitant's" career embraces the entire story of some spot or section which has he- come of historic interest by reason of records running back into the far distant past. As Isaac Mills was born in the first year of the nine- teenth century and lived well on toward its close, meantime becoming the first settler of the most famous battlefieldl of the earlier Indian wars, it will be realized how applicable to him are the remarks in the foregoing preliminary statement.
Stephen Mills, who was of English descent and born in the Ber- mudas, came from there to New Jersey during the latter part of the eighteenth century. He married Elizabeth Osborn, and it was during their subsequent sojourn in New York city that the birth of their son Isaac occurred, on the 13th of December. 1801. When the boy grew up he accompanied his father. in 1818, on two trips from the seacoast with a drove of horses for sale at Fort Pitt, which was then considered in the
Isana delle
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"far west." but is now the great iron center of southwestern Pennsyl- vania. In 1822 Stephen Mills decided to locate permanently in this region, and for that purpose leased what is known as the Troy farm. then consisting of two hundred and sixty acres. Documents to be found in Carnegie Free Library at Pittsburg show that this land included the site of the famous battle between the English colonists and the Indians, during which General Braddock was killed and George Washington, then a major of Virginia militia, gained his first military reputation. These documents are original grants for a tract of land covering one thousand and forty-three acres, of which three hundred and twenty- eight acres are included in what is known as the "Braddock Field" farm. and this, together with the Petersburg or Mills farm, constitutes the present site of the modern city of Braddock. The last mentioned tract was purchased by Isaac Mills February 13. 1829, and the records show that he paid two thousand dollars therefor. In early life he had learned the trade of coopering, but it seems that this was abandoned for farm- ing, in which he was engaged continuously for more than half a century. In 1830 he built the pioneer industry of the present town of Braddock. the same being an ax factory, whose operation required the services of three men. but five years later the establishment was enlarged by the addition of a saw to cut timber, and two additional hands were added to the force. Near the mill and along the river bank were constructed five log cabins, of one room each, but all these at different times were washed away by the annually recurring floods of that section. Until the year 1851 Mr. Mills and his family, the five mill employes, the one farm laborer and the Bell family constituted the only inhabitants of "Braddock Field."
The Civil war brought about conditions in this peaceful community that greatly disturbed its repose, besides cansing much annoyance to the
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proprietor and his dependants. One day in July Mr. Mills and several of his daughters, accompanied by two farm hands, started out for a field north of Cemetery Hill, and when they returned late in the after- noon a complete transformation had taken place in the scene. Numbers of white tents had been pitched amid the growing crops of grain and vegetables, soldiers in blue uniform swarmed over the place and every- thing indicated "the pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war." In short the hitherto quiet rural retreat had been converted into "Camp Copeland." a city of white tents speedily arose and the air was resonant with the hurry, bustle and noise of a military encampment. The com- mander of the forces contracted with Mr. Mills for the use of thirty acres, for which a rental of one hundred dollars per month was to be paid, but the soldiers spread themselves over a territory of one hundred acres and remained there from the time of their arrival until near the close of the war in 1865. The annoyance, as well as the damage caused by these intruders was great. and the family estimated that they were injured to the extent of thousands of dollars by the unwelcome presence of these idle soldiers. In 1867 Braddock was incorporated as a borough. and Mr. Mills was elected as its first burgess, being chosen a year later to succeed himself in that office.
On the 28th of May. 1835, Isaac Mills was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Snodgrass, a resident of the Turtle creek neighbor- hood, and the result of the union was a family of nine children, most of whom have passed away. Mary S .. the eldest daughter, died many years ago: Elizabeth Laird on January 6. 1900: and Isaac Mills, Jr .. on March 6, 1902. The latter is said to have been an almost exact image of his father. as much so in fact as if they had been twin brothers. Helena G., the fourth child, is now the wife of C. C. Lo- briger, of Fitzgerald, Georgia. Mrs. Rachel A., widow of Henry
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Clay. of Elizabeth, New Jersey, and a lady of refinement and culture, at present occupies one of the most beautiful residences in Braddock. situated on the site of the old homestead. Nancy J. died April 14. 1870. and Samuel S. on the 16th of August, 1864. James K. and Stephen D .. the youngest of the family, are prominent manufacturers of Braddock.
Isaac Mills, the venerable pioneer father. after a long. busy and blameless life, closed his earthly career January 28, 1880, but his wife survived twenty years longer, her death not occurring until March 29, 1900. They were splendid samples of the sturdy men and women whose dauntless determination, self-sacrifice and resolute courage in facing every kind of hardship made them the advance agents of progress and evangels of the new civilization in the western world.
ISAAC SHARPLESS. Sc. D., LL. D.
Isaac Sharpless. Sc. D .. LL. D., president of Haverford College. is from an old family of Friends which has contributed many of its members to useful educational labor. His father was Aaron Sharpless. who married Susanna, daughter of Thomas Kite. an esteemed minister in the Society of Friends. The children born of this marriage were Edith, Thomas and Elizabeth. Aaron Sharpless took for his second wife. Susanna. daughter of James and Ann (Truman) Forsythe, and they for some years filled the positions of superintendent and matron, respectively, of the Westtown Boarding School, and. after the death of her husband. the widow filled positions similar to that which she had occupied with him. Mr. Sharpless filled the positions of clerk, over- seer and elder for several years, and at the time of his death was a member of the "Meeting for Sufferings," or representative committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. "while his sound judgment was recog-
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nized in frequent appointments as arbitrator in neighboring disputes." -Cope.
The children of Aaron and Susanna ( Forsythe ) Sharpless were Isaac, who is further written of below: Ann, who became a teacher in the Westtown Boarding School: James F., who died in youth ; William T., who became a physician in West Chester, Pennsylvania : and Su- sanna, who as a member of the Yearly Meeting Committee, was given oversight of the Westtown Boarding School.
Isaac Sharpless, eklest child in the family, last named, was born 12 m., 16, 1848. He received his early education in the school with which his parents were connected, Westtown Boarding School. from which he was graduated in 1867, when eighteen years of age. He then entered the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University, from which he was graduated in 1873, with the degree of Bachelor of Science in civil engineering. He began his career as a teacher in the Westtown Boarding School. whence he was called after two years to the position of instructor in mathematics in Haverford College .. He was appointed successively to the positions of professor of mathematics and of dean of the college, and in 1887 to that of president, in which capacity he now (1903) continues to act. He received the degree of Doctor of Science from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1883, and that of Doctor of Laws from Swarthmore College in 1887. Dr. Sharpless is the author of text books on geometry and astronomy, and "An Ac- count of the English Educational System," which is one of the volumes of the International Educational series. He has also written "Quaker Experiment in Government." being an account of the early history of Pennsylvania, and "Two Centuries of Pennsylvania History" in Lip- pincott's Educational Series.
Dr. Sharpless was married 8 mo., 10, 1876, at West Chester
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Meeting, to Miss Lydia Trimble Cope, born in West Chester, 2 m., 13. 1857. daughter of Paschall and Amy A. (Baily) Cope. The children born of this marriage were as follows: (1) Helen, born in l laverford, 7 mo., 25. 1877, who graduated from Drexel Institute, and is now assistant in the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C .; (2) Amy C., born 1 m., 12, 1879, who is a student in art : (3) Frederic C., born 10 mo .. 1. 1880, who graduated from Haverford College in 1900. and in 1903 from the medical department of the University of Pennsyl- vania : (4) Edith F., born 11 mo., 1, 1883; (5) Lydia T., born 10 mo .. 10, 1885: (6) Katherine T., born 10 mo., 17, 1896.
EDWARD HICKS MAGILL, LL. D.
The conspicuous position which Dr. Magill has occupied for so long a period in the educational world, and his identification with Swarth- more College, for so many years, render him a most interesting sub- ject for biographical record. As may be expected, we find in him the ripe scholar, a man of wide culture, enlightened views and trained in- tellect, a man of pronounced personality and strength, one equally at home in the class room, the library, on the lecture platform and in pleasant social life.
Edward Hicks Magill was born in 1825. in Solebury, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. His early education was obtained in the local schools, and he was fourteen years old when he entered the Friends' Boarding School at Westtown. Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1841. His choice of profession was made early in life, as in his sixteenth year he began teaching school. and he continued to teach both in public and private schools during the winter seasons for the following eight years, his summers being occupied in work upon
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his father's farm. The year 1849-50 was spent at Willistown Sem- inary, at East Hampton, Massachusetts, in preparation for college, and in the latter year he was able to enter Yale College without a condition. Here he soon made himself noted, as he easily carried off the prize in mathematics, in his freshman year, sharing with Dr. Eastman.
In 1851 a pamphlet issued by Dr. Francis Wayland on a new sys- tem of degrees, attracted the young student's attention, and resulted in a change being made from Yale to Brown University. Here, under Dr. Wayland, he took a selected course and in 1852 received from Brown University the degree of Bachelor of Arts. From 1852 to 1859 he served as principal of the classical department of the Providence High School, meantime continuing his studies at Brown and reciting once a day. His examination in 1855 secured him a degree of Master of Arts. In 1859 he was invited to take the sub-mastership in the Boston Latin School under Dr. Francis Gardner, and here Dr. Magill remained until 1867, instructing in Latin, Greek, French and mathe- matics, preparing students for Harvard University. In 1867 he re- ceived from Edward Parrish, of Philadelphia, an urgent invitation to accept the position of principal of the preparatory department of Swarthmore College. The acceptance of this position was deferred until 1869, the intervening years being passed by Dr. Magill in studying at the Sarbonne and the University of Paris. Upon his return from abroad in December, 1869, he entered upon his duties at Swarthmore. One year later he was appointed president of that institution, a position for which he was eminently fitted and which he occupied for nineteen years. The duties of the position pressing heavily upon him, and desir- ing rest and recreation, Dr. Magill resigned in 1889. The board re- luctantly accepted it, to take effect one year later, and during the inter- mediate time he was continued in the position with the same generous
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salary. This second trip abroad was enjoyed in literary and scientific study. Upon his return, in 1890. he accepted the chair of French in Swarthmore and filled it for the succeeding ten years, resigning at this time, becoming professor-emeritus. Since that date Dr. Magill has belonged to the college faculty as a lecturer on French literature. Dr. Magill has been honored in many ways. His degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Haverford College, as a recog- nition of his efforts in the founding of . the great institution of learn- ing with which his name must be indissolubly associated.
In the world of literature Dr. Magill is also well known. His first text book was issued during the period of his connection with the Latin school. It was an introduction to a French reader, with a volume of prose and poetry. Since entering upon his duties at Swarth- more he has followed with a French grammar. and a series of French readers, in four volumes. A work to which he has given much atten- tion, is a history of Swarthmore College from its founding. A very comprehensive work, which his friends venture to hope is in a measure an autobiography, is now in course of preparation, bearing the title. "Sixty Years in the Life of a Teacher." He is also now engaged upon a series of works entitled. "French Dramatic Master Pieces. Trans- lated in English Verse, of the Same Metre as the Originals." These are to include Victor Hugo: Corneille: Racine: Moliere: Rostand: and perhaps others. Hugo's Hemani is now finished, and is expected to appear the coming spring. The series will appear in small. neat volumes. each containing but one work of the author. He has been a contributor to many journals, his essays and literary criticisms meeting with ap- probation on many sides, from the cultivated classes for which they are intended.
During the past few years Dr. Magill has occupied a very con-
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genial position, being chairman of the Nationl Committees Association on Modern Languages in America, an international correspondence between students and teachers of France, Germany, Italy and Spain .. During this period it has been his pleasant privilege to place thousand- of students in international correspondence.
As president of Swarthmore College he was recognized as a man of unusual executive ability and exhibited a breadth of culture, and through his fidelity and perseverance did more than any other to place this institution of learning on a par with many which have the halo of years behind them.
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