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 35
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Penelope Van Prince, nec Lent, came from Holland. The vessel bringing her and her husband was wrecked in 1640 near Sandy Hook. ller husband was killed by the Indians, and she was wounded and left for dead on the beach. A friendly Indian secreted her in a hollow tree, where she remained three days. He then carried her to New York, where she met Richard Stout, whom she married either in the year 1643 or 1645, after which they removed to New Jersey and settled in Middletown. She lived to be over one hundred years old.
Abigail Stevenson was the daughter of Edward Stevenson, who was probably a brother of Thomas Stevenson of Newtown, Long Island.
James W. Moore, son of Samuel and Elizabeth B. (Wamsley) Moore, was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, June 14. 1844. In 1860 he was the valedictorian at the graduating exercises of the Easton high school; in 1864 was the Latin salutatorian of Lafayette College, from which he received the degree of Master of Arts in 1867; and in 1869 the degree of Doctor of Medicine was conferred upon him by the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. Since January 8, 1866, he has been a mem-
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ber of the faculty of Lafayette College, in which institution he served as tutor from 1866 to 1868, adjunct professor from 1868 to 1872, pro- fessor of mathematics and experimental philosophy since 1872. The departments of physics and electrical engineering were organized under his direction, and the equipment of the laboratories was accomplished by him. He is the dean of the Pardee School of Science, a member of the American Philosophical Society, Fellow of the American Associ- ation for the Advancement of Science, Fellow of the American Academy of Medicine, member of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, ex- president of the Northampton County Medical Society, conferee of the International Congress of Electricians, Philadelphia, in 1884, and Chicago in 1893, member of the Sons of the Revolution, Historian General of the Founders and Patriots of America. 1607-1657. member of the Phi Beta Kappa society, Nu Kappa Epsilon society, and a num- ber of others. For four years he was a member of the legislative com- mittee of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, which succeeded in having passed the medical examiner's bill.
Dr. Moore has contributed a number of valuable papers on physical, sanitary and medical subjects in scientific and lay publications, and is the author of the following named works: "The Elements of Natural Philosophy for the Use of Engineering Students." 1891 ; "The Elements of Natural Philosophy for the Use of Junior Students in College," 1891; "Methods of Investigation and Record Book of Experiments in Physics." 1892; "Instruments and Methods of Physical Measurements," 1892; "Simple Harmonic Motion," 1894: "Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on Heat." 1894; "Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on Electricity," 1895: "Electro-dynamic Phenomena," 1888: "Notes on a Course of Lectures on Light," 1889: "An Attempt to Analyze the Statistics of Dipl- theria in Easton from 1888 to 1894 Inclusive," 1894, published in the Le-
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high Valley Medical Magasine: "Some Thoughts on the Necessary Pre- liminary Training for the Medical Profession," 1893; Number 17. "Bulletin of the American Academy of Medicine;" "Some Sanitary Questions," in "Transactions of the Northampton County Medical Society;" "Address on Hygiene," 1896, in "Transactions of Pennsyl- vania State Medical Society:" "American Ancestral Chart of a Branch of the Family of the Rev. Jolm Moore, of Newton, Long Island, which settled in l'ennsyvania in 1897:" "Records of the Kingwood Monthly Meeting of Friends, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, 1900."
Dr. Moore married, July 30, 1874, Rachel Philips Flannery, daughter of the Rev. James Flannery, of Philadelphia, (son of Michael Flannery and Bridget O'Mara, his wife, who came to Wilmington. Delaware, in 1814, from Tipperary, Tyrone county, Ireland). and Margaret Hub- bert Macdonald, daughter of John Macdonald (son of William Mac- donald of Germantown, Pennsylvania, who came from the highlands of Scotland to America, and Elizabeth Shocka) and Elizabeth Hubbert. daughter of Christian Hubbert (a soldier of the war of the Revolution, who served for nearly four years as gunner in Captain Van Achr's Company of Artillery, under Colonel Thomas Proctor in the continental establishment ) and Margaret Walker, a descendant of a German ancestry. Dr. Moore was formerly a member of the Reformed Dutch church, but is now a member of the Presbyterian church. His political affiliations are with the Republican party.
THOMAS WIGHTMAN.
There is no one nation that has contributed to the complex com- posite makeup of our American social fabric an element of more sterling worth and of greater value in supporting and fostering our national
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institutions than has the fair Emerald Isle. From this source our republic has had nothing to lose and much to gain. Ireland has given us men of sturdy integrity, indomitable perseverance, alert mentality and marked business sagacity,-the result being the incorporation of a strong and strength-giving fiber ramifying .through warp and woof. A man who may well look with pride upon his ancestral record is the subject of this sketch, who has been long and prominently identified with the industrial activities of the city of Pittsburg and who stands forward as one of the city's active, progressive and successful busi- ness men. Not a pretentious or exalted life has been his, but one that has been true to itself and its possibilities and one to which the biographist may turn with a feeling of respect and satisfaction, for through his own efforts Mr. Wightman has attained a worthy suc- cess in a material way, while his course in life has been ordered on that high plane of integrity and honor which ever gains confidence and esteen1.
Thomas Wightman is a native son of the Emerakl Isle, having been born near the ancient seaport town of Newtownards, on Lough Strangford, county Down. about ten miles east of the city of Belfast, the date of his nativity having been January 8, 1818. His father, James Wightman, was a prosperous farmer of that locality and was of Scotch-Irish lineage, being likewise a native of county Down, as was also his wife, who maiden name was Martha Smiley. They became the parents of nine sons and two daughters, of whom Thomas was the youngest of the sons, and he is now the only survivor of that large family of children. In the year 1825 James Wightman, in company with his entire family, emigrated to America, and took up his residence in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, for fifteen years being in Pitts- burg, and in 1840 he purchased a tract of land and developed an ex-
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tensive fruit orchard, giving the same his attention during the remainder of his life, and being prospered in his endeavors. In speaking of the emigration of the family to the United States, the subject of this sketch states that he considers this action taken by his honored father as one of the most admirable achievements of his long and useful career, and the loyalty shown by the family to the land of their adop- tion was of the most distinctive insistency. James Wightman was a member of the Presbyterian church, with which the family had been identified for more than two centuries, but for a time after coming to America he attended the services of the Protestant Episcopal church. lle was a man of unbending integrity and positive opinions, having strong intellectual powers and ever showing the courage of his con- victions, though he was tolerant in his judgment of his fellow men and was animated by a most generous and kindly spirit. It is worthy of note that during the long course of his life he was never once involved in litigation .- a fact which stands in evidence of his straightforward course and of the fact that the shadow of wrong and injustice never clouded any portion of his career. His wife passed away about five years after the family took up their abode in the United States, but he lived to attain the venerable age of eighty-eight years, passing to his reward in the fulness of years and honors. It was the good fortune and pleasure of Thomas Wightman to visit his native land a few years since and to view the old stone house in which he was born and passed his boyhood days, the place having distinct sentimental interest and attraction for him.
Thomas Wightman's early educational advantages were such as were afforded in a little schoolhouse of red brick in the city of Pitts- burg, the same having as its presiding genius Mr. A. W. Campbell, one of the most efficient instructors of the early days in this city, and Mr.
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Wightman still retains in his possession a number of cards, desig- nated as "rewards of merit," which were presented to him by this hon- ored teacher, whom he holds in grateful memory. AAt an early age he developed distinctive proficiency in mathematics, and after leaving the day school to enter upon his business career he continued his studies in night schools and thus laid an excellent foundation for that broad and exact fund of knowledge which he has since gained by judicious reading and through active participation in business affairs of wide scope. At the age of fourteen years Mr. Wightman secured a clerkship in a local grocery, where he was employed for a period of two years, at the expiration of which, in 1834, he resigned and took a position in the glass manufactory of William McCully, thus giving inception to his career in connection with a line of industry with which he has since been identified and along which he has attained distinctive success and prestige, controlling interests of marked scope and importance. Upon taking up his new duties he was assigned to the work of the packing department, and shortly after he entered the employ of Mr. McCully that gentleman was called to New Orleans and entrusted the charge of the business to Mr. Wightman, who was not yet fifteen years of age. In speaking of the matter Mr. Wightman said to our representative : "I felt this to be a turning point in my career, and the responsibility of looking after the business, paying the men, etc., was attended with much personal interest and with a due appreciation of the trust in- volved." His employer returned and was so much impressed with the discrimination and proficiency shown by the youth that he offered him the responsible position of superintendent of the factory, which he accepted, retaining the incumbency until the year 1840, when, at the age of twenty-two years, he was admitted to partnership in the busi- ness, under the firm name of William McCully & Company. This
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association obtained until 1851. when Mr. Wightman entered into part- nership with Frederick Lorenz, a former business associate of Mr. Mc- Cully. Mr. Lorenz died very suddenly, in 1856. He had become in- volved in financial difficulty and the business was assigned to Mr. Wightman for the benefit of creditors. Mr. Wightman simultaneously identified himself with the firm of Alexander D. Chambers' Sons, in the same line of enterprise. Atwood Lorenz, who had assumed charge of his father's interests, died shortly afterward, and Mr. Wightman thereupon resumed control of the business, which was conducted for a number of years under the firm name of Lorenz and Wightman, the title later being changed to Wightman & Company. Limited, while finally the present name was adopted .- the Thomas Wightman Glass Company, under which operations have been successfully carried for- ward for the past eight years. In the city of Pittsburg the plant of the concern comprises two large factories with the most improved equipment, one being devoted to the production of window glass and the other to bottle glass, and in addition to this the company also maintain factories at Parker's Landing and Monongahela, while a large jobbing business is conducted in quarters at 204 Wood street, in the city of Pittsburg. The careful attention, exceptional executive ability and pro- gressive methods which have been brought to bear by Mr. Wightman have been the porent factors in the building up of a magnificent enter- prise, and his standing in the commercial world is shown in the implicit confidence and esteem accorded him, and during the long term of years representing his active identification with the business life of his home city he has ever commanded the high regard of all with whom he has come in contact or with whom he has had dealings.
In politics Mr. Wightman originally gave his support to the Whig party, having cast his first presidential vote for William Henry Har-
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rison, but upon the organization of the Republican party he trans- ferred his allegiance to the same and has ever since been an uncompro- mising advocate of the principles and policies for which it stands sponsor. He is a zealous and consistent member of the Presbyterian church, in whose faith he was reared, and for thirty-six years he held member- ship in the old Fourth Presbyterian church, while at present he is identified with the Bellefield church, of which he has been an elder for the long period of thirty years, doing all in his power to forward the spiritual and material work of the church.
Mr. Wightman has important capitalist interests aside from those to which reference has been made. He is vice-president of the First National Bank and of the People's Bank for Savings, and also the Safe Deposit & Trust Company, implying, of course, a membership in the directorate of each of these important institutions. For many years he has been a member of the board of trustees of the state reform school, and since 1882 he has held the office of president of the board, being recognized as a public-spirited citizen and as one ever ready to lend his aid and co-operation in the promotion of all worthy objects for the general good. Mr. Wightman is the owner of valuable realty in the city of Pittsburg, including his beautiful residence on Forbes street, the same being located on a tract of ten acres and being one of the finest homes in the city.
Though now past the age of fourscore years Mr. Wightman is to be found each day at his office, giving his personal supervision to his business affairs and showing a mental and physical vigor which would be a credit to one of far less years, and indicating that his life has been one which has never infringed nature's laws .- a clean and noble life which has been prolific in practical usefulness and in kindly deeds. He is a fine type of the self-made man in the sense of the often misapplied
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term, and in even this cursory review of his career there may be gained lessons of practical value and incentive. Mr. Wightman has ever been appreciative of the higher values of life, and his intellectuality is such that he may well be termed a man of broad education, for he has read widely and understandingly of the best literature, and has one of the finest private libraries to be found in the state.
In conclusion of this sketch we will advert briefly to the domestic chapter in this life history. On the 30th of July, 1845. Mr. Wightman was united in marriage to Miss Isabella Ruth Russell, a daughter of John Russell, one of the prominent merchants of Pittsburg in the early days. It was the privilege of Mr. Wightman and his devoted and cher- ished wife to celebrate on July 30, 1902, the fifty-seventh anniversary of their marriage. They became the parents of nine children, all of whom are living save one, and the family home is one in which the refined amenities of social life have ever been in evidence, while the same is a center of gracious hospitality. The names of the children are here entered in order of their birth : John R., James Smiley, Algernon. Sidney. William Henry. Mary Noble ( died in 1890 at the age of twenty- eight years). Samuel Ralston, Isabella Ruth and Thomas. Jr. The eldest son is an archdeacon in the Protesant Episcopal church, being identified with the missionary work in his home city. and four of the other sons are associated with their father's business, while it is a matter of gratitude and satisfaction to Mr. Wightman and his wife that none of the children have removed far from the old home, to which they all come at Christmas-tide and other festal occasions with rare excep- tions, the family relations being of ideal nature.
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CHARLES HOWELL LOCHER.
For five generations members of the Locher family have followed one line of industry, beginning it among the hills of Maryland as an accessory to extensive farming operations, and pursuing it with acceler- ated skill and profit. To Charles Howell Locher, president of the City Savings Fund and Trust Company, of Lancaster. the industry has been only a means to extensive financial and business operations in which he has been most successfully interested.
Seven generations back Henry Locher, the founder of the family in America, left his native home in Switzerland and settled in the colony of Virginia. Some of his descendants removed to Maryland. where Jacob Locher, the grandfather of Charles Howell, owned and operated a large farm on the Hagerstown pike, one hundred and twelve acres of which remained until very recently in the possession of the family. Jacob Locher also followed the ancestral occupation of tanner and currier, as did his father and grandfather before him. He was a patriotic American, and during the war of 1812 enlisted from Maryland in the American army. He married Mary Grove, the daughter of an extensive farmer of Maryland, and removed to Lancaster county, Penn- sylvania, later continuing the leather trade at Harrisburg, where he died at the age of sixty-two years. His wife survived to the age of seventy- three, passing away in 1871.
David P. Locher, the father of Charles Howell, was born at Sheperdstown. Virginia, now West Virginia, on the banks of the Po- tomac. in July, 1827. He came with his parents to Lancaster county. and in the early days of his manhood became interested in business. which he prosecuted most successfully throughout life, becoming one of the best known business men in Lancaster. He built a small tan-
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nery on South Prince street, which he operated for two years, and then greatly enlarged the plant, operating the same successfully until 1868. In 1876 he bought a tannery on South Prince street, which he extended and operated most profitably until his death. He also owned and conducted an excellent and well improved farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Manheim township. Lancaster county, which is still in the possession of the family. He was greatly interested in fine stock, and his herd of blooded Jersey cattle was the admiration of the farming community for many miles around. He was an admirable judge of horses, and kept a fine stable in Lancaster, his four-in-hand of Hambletonian breed being the only one in the city for many years. It was in 1870 that he engaged in the banking business with his son Charles Howell, who has since followed that foundation branch of finance with remarkable success. In November. 1848. David P. Locher was married, at Lancaster, to Clementina M .. daughter of Robert Evans, a merchant of Lancaster. To this union were born four sons, Charles Ilowell. Robert E .. Grove and Clement E., the three last named being, respectively. president, secretary and treasurer of the Park Run Tan- ning Company, incorporated in 1895. they being the successors to the business so successfully conducted by their father. The death of David P. Locher occurred February 11, 1884, when he was nearly fifty-seven years of age. His widow survives, residing in Lancaster, on East King street. She is a devout member of the Presbyterian church, and a lady most highly esteemed for her many womanly and Christian qualities.
Charles Howell Locher was born at Pottsville. Pennsylvania. October 21, 1849. The following year his parents returned to Lancaster. and there he spent his boyhood days. He attended the city schools. and from the Lancaster high school. in February, 1867, entered the
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bank of Evans, McEvoy and Company, as a clerk. While gaining ex- perience there he acquired a taste for a financial career. On the 30th of November, 1870, the business of Evans, McEvoy and Company was purchased by his father and himself, under the firm name of D. P. Locher and Son. the partnership continuing until the death of the father, in 1884. The bank then became the property of Charles H. and Robert E., his brother. It is now the City Savings Fund and Trust Company, located at the corner of West King and Penn square, and has a paid-up capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Charles Howell Locher is president and one of the directors.
Mr. Locher has also been interested in many other successful husi- ness enterprises. In June, 1894, in company with John Keller and Michael Reilly, he purchased the Lancaster and Quarryville Narrow Gauge Railroad, fifteen miles in length. The company was reorganized, with Mr. Locher as president, and he operated the road in connection with the board of directors until December 28. 1899. when the property was sold for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company. Mr. Locher is also interested in the Park Run Tanning Company, incorporated in 1895. by the consolidation of the Conestoga Oak Tannery and the Park Run Tannery, both owned by Mr. Locher and brothers. The six stockholders were Mr. Locher, his three brothers, his mother, and George Greiner, foreman, who is now deceased. In 1894 Mr. Locher was one of the organizers of the Citizens' Power. Light and Heating Company, which sold their property at a handsome profit to the Edison Company. Ile is now director and treasurer of the Lancaster Electric Light. Power and Heating Company. For the past twenty years he has been a stockholder and the secretary of the Lancaster Hotel Company: he is treasurer of the Conestoga Fire Insurance Company, having one hundred thousand dollars' capital :
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and president of the Lancaster and Columbia Railway Company. Hc is also treasurer of the Woodward Cemetery Association. In 1887 he laid out an addition to Harrisburg, a tract of thirteen aeres, which was subsequently sold in building lots at a handsome profit, and is now well improved.
Mr. Locher is recognized as one of Lancaster's most capable and successful business men. While prospering to an unusual degree in his own business affairs, his success contributes also to the general advancement of the city, for his investments and enterprises are con- structive in their nature and insure the general welfare. He is public- spirited and generous in disposition, and earnestly supports those meas- ures that promise to promote the best interests of Lancaster.
Mr. Locher was married at Pittsburg. Pennsylvania, in 1872. to Miss Lila S. Reno. a native of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Eli Reno, who was a farmer and was also engaged in steam- boating. To Mr. and Mrs. Locher were born five children. David R .. Mira F ... James R .. Lila R. and Robert E. David R. is president of the Eastern Milling and Export Company of Philadelphia; he was married October 23. 1901. to Miss Mary Eshleman, of Lancaster. Mira E. married Jay Nevin Shroder, manufacturer of paints in Lancaster. and they have one child. Jay N .. Jr. Lila R. was married April 12. 1902. to Frederick Atwood McVay. treasurer of the Pittsburg Trust Company.
In politics Mr. Locher is a Republican, and is serving at present as a member of the school board of Lancaster.
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