History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 114

Author: Davis, W. W. H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910; Ely, Warren S. (Warren Smedley), b. 1855; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III > Part 114

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

525

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

corporated existence, and prepared and read a history of the library at the meeting, also arranged a condensed history of the institution which was published with various illustrations as a souvenir of the occassion, and conducted the exercises during the day and evening, June 14, 1902.

Dr. Dana married, June 3, 1872, Fanny Pawling of an old Norristown ( Pennsyl- vania) family related to the Muhlenberghs Heisters, the Biddles, and others of promi- nence in early Pennsylvania and New Jer- sey history. Dr. and Mrs. Dana have one son, Sylvester.

LUCY WHARTON DREXEL. On the historic Bristol Pike, in Bensalem township, in a mansion hardly less historic, lives a representative of one of the oldest and most prominent families in Pennsylvania. Lucy Wharton Drexel, widow of the prom- inent banker and philanthropist, Joseph Drexel.

Mrs. Drexel is a descendant of Thomas Wharton, the first acting executive of the infant commonwealth when she had joined her sister colonies in the effort to throw off the yoke of the mother country. He was a deputy from Philadelphia to the first provincial convention, July 15, 1774, a mem- ber of the committee of safety in 1775 and 1776, and the first "President of the Supreme Executive Council of the Com- monwealth of Pennsylvania, and Captain General and Commander-in-chief in and over the same," on March 5, 1777. He was a merchant in Philadelphia, and was a leader in the patriotic cause from the start. He died at Lancaster in 1778, while filling the office of chief executive of the state, at the age of forty years. He married Susannah Lloyd, a descendant of Thomas Lloyd, the first acting provincial Governor of the province of Pennsylvania, by virtue of his office as president of William Penn's first council, from September, 1684, to Feb- ruary 9, 1688, and was deputy governor under Penn, 1690-1. A rare distinction in one individual. a lineal descendant of the first executive of the province and of the first executive of the commonwealth, is enjoyed by the subject this sketch. Kearney Wharton, the oldest son of Thomas, and the granfather of Mrs. Drexel, was a lawyer, but followed chiefly the business of a merchant in Philadelphia. He was a member of the council of the city, and its president at one time. His wife was Maria Salter, of Tacony, Philadelphia county, whom he married November II, 1795. Their children were: Thomas Lloyd ; John; Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Mor- ris; George, and James. Kearney Whar- ton died January 4, 1848, at the age of eighty-four years, and his widow survived until 1867, aged ninety-two years. She was a member of the Society of Friends. Her family were of the Church of England. Thomas Lloyd Wharton, the father of

Mrs. Drexel, was born in Philadelphia in 1799, but was reared on a farm near Tacony, where he later became the owner of a fine farm. He was employed in a bank in Philadelphia, being prominently connected with the Philadelphia Bank for forty years. He died in 1869 at the age of seventy years. His wife was Sarah Howell Smith, daugh- ter of Richard R. and Sarah (Howell) Smith, by whom he had two children, namely: Fanny, born in 1843, wife of Brigadier General Guy V. Henry, and Lucy Wharton, the subject of this sketch. Mrs. Wharton died in 1846. Lucy Whar- ton was born in 1841. She was educated at St. Mary's Hall, Burlington, New Jer- sey. In 1865 she married Joseph W. Drexel, a member of the well known banking firm of Drexel & Company, of Philadelphia.

Joseph W. Drexel was a son of Francis M. Drexel, a native of Austria, who in early life was an artist and protrait painter. He located for a time in South America, where he attracted the attention of General Simon Bolivar, the distinguished hero and patriot of South American Independence, whose protrait he painted. Under the pat- ronage of General Bolivar he started the bank in Philadelphia, with money loaned by him. The venture proved a success from the start, and soon became one of the most prominent banking institutions of the country. The firm as first organized in- cluded Francis M. Drexel and his son Francis, and soon after its establishment the other two sons, Anthony and Joseph WV., became members of the firm. In 1871 Joseph W. Drexel went to New York city and established a branch banking house which he conducted for five years, when he retired and devoted the next twelve years to philanthropic schemes for the bet- terment of the condition of mankind.

He organized several plans for the bene- fit of the poor, and carried them into effect. One of his successful projects was the incorporation of Klej Grange upon a large tract of land in Maryland, where he induced poor families to settle by keeping them without charge for one year and then sell- ing them the land on easy payments. He also owned Cedar Hill Farm in New Jer- sey, where unemployed poor were fed and clothed until employment could be found for them elsewhere. Many other projects for the employment and improvement of the poor were carried into effect in Phila- delphia, New York, and elsewhere. Mr. Drexel was a musician of talent, and an eminent patron of the higher arts. On every Thursday a musical quartet was en- tertained at his house, and he was presi- dent of the Philharmonic Society at the time of his death, as well as a member of several other musical organizations. He was one of the organizers of and a life member of the Metropolitan Art Museum. Mr. Drexel died in 1888. He left four children : Kath- erine, wife of Charles B. Penrose, of Phlia- delphia; Lucy, wife of Eric B. Dahlgren ; Elizabeth, wife of John V. Dahlgren, of

526

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

New York city; and Josephine, married Dr. John Duncan Emmett.

Mrs. Lucy Wharton Drexel now resides on the old Bickley estate known as Pen Ryn. It is part of a plantation of two hundred and fifty acres purchased in 1744 by Abraham Bickley, Sr., a native of Sussex, England, but of Welsh descent. The plantation on the Delaware river was then known as "Belle Voir." but its name was changed by Mr. Bickley to Pen Ryn, after the home of his ancestors in Wales. Abraham Bickley married a daughter of Robert Shewell and sister of Mrs. Benja- min West, and settled on the plantation on Bristol Pike. In 1804 he remodeled the old mansion house by adding the present front to it, and later renewed the back portion. Mr. Bickley had six children : Robert Shewell, Abraham, Isaac, Elizabeth, Hannah, and Lydia, all of whom died un- married, and all with the exception of Abraham, Jr., lie buried in a vault erected on the premises by Mr. Bickley. Robert Shewell Bickley resided for the most part in the city of Philadelphia, though he had purchased several tracts of land adjoining Pen Ryn, which, together with his inter- est in the homestead, he devised at his death to his sisters Elizabeth and Hannah. Isaac Bickley died in 1853 and devised his share in Pen Ryn to his sisters for life, then to his relative Lloyd Wharton. who took the name of Lloyd Wharton Bickley. The sisters had previously made a deed to Isaac for the land devised by Robert and Pen Ryn, vesting the title in Lloyd Wharton Brickley after the death of Isaac. After the death of the latter, in 1890, Mrs. Drexel purchased Pen Ryn of Mrs. Bickley, and has since that time made it her home. and has enlarged the mansion and made extensive improvements in the surrounding grounds. The stately old house commands a fine view of the Delaware river and surrounding country. Mrs. Drexel usually spends the year at Pen Ryn. She is a wo- man of high character, generous and hos- pitable, and enjoys the esteem and friend- ship of a very large circle of friends.

CONVENT OF THE BLESSED SAC- RAMENT. Travelers, passing through Bucks county via New York Division of the Pennsylvania railroad, may be curiously at- tracted by a large institution situated on an eminence at Cornwells, overlooking the Delaware river and displaying the quaint form of architecture peculiar to both the Spanish and Italian styles and resembling somewhat in form the old Spanish Indian Mission buildings of Southern California. This institution, unique in its form of ar- chictecture, is unique also in the plan of work mapped out for the members who en- ter it, whose lives after the customary pro- bation and preparation, are to be conse- crated to the Christianization, education,

and elevation of the two neglected, aban- doned, and oft despised races-the Negro and the Indian. This building is known as the Convent of the Blessed Sacrament, St. Elizabeth's, Cornwells. It is the Moth- er Ilouse of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, a religious body of women, or- ganized in the year 1889 for the purpose above named, the evangelization of the In- dian and Negro.

The conception of such an organization originated in the first place, in the noble and exalted mind of Right Reverend James O'Connor, Bishop of Omaha, who in his early priestly days had belonged to the archdiocese of Philadelphia, and had been pastor of St. Dominic's Catholic church, Holmesburg, before his elevation to the episcopate. A man thoroughly devoted to the best interests of the Indians, he had during his apostolic visits witnessed not only the wrongs to which they had been subjected, the encroachments to which they were forced to submit, the injustices for which they obtained no redress, but also with the deepest sadness, he had seen the moral degredation of these people neglected as it were, and in darkness waiting for the bread of life, with none to break it to them. He knew that for these evils there was only one power that could cope effectti- ally-the elevating and ennobling force of the Christian religion which had human- ized mankind, exemplified in the lives ot its followers who were ready to freely renounce all ties of earth to enlighten, ameliorate and emancipate 'these people from their physical, intellectual, and moral bondage. While seriously pondering these things, the deplorable condition and neglect of another despised race appealed to his great heart, and he planned to form a con- gregation whose exclusive work should be amongst the people of these two races.

In complete harmony with his designs for the intellectual, moral and physical re- generation of these two benighted . races, he found a generous co-operator in Miss Katharine M. Drexel of Philadelphia who in the wealth which the heavenly Father had placed at her disposal, saw only a treasure confided to her care to be used not for self, nor selfish purposes, but for the uplifting of her fellow men. She knew that "Kindness to the wronged is never without its excellent reward, holy to man- kind, and ever acceptable to God." and "That the light of heaven's own love hath fallen there

Where deed on earth hath rendered less The sum of human wretchedness."

Therefore, though years before she had learned“That the secret of life-is, giving," she determined now, when this good Bishop appealed to her in behalf of these races, to consecrate that wealth to their service, to minister. to serve and to espouse their cause forever. In 1889, she

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

527

made the first sacrifice by leaving the home of her childhood to enter the Convent of Mercy, Pittsburg, to prepare herself for the renunciation which comes with the religious profession.

In May, 1890, Bishop O'Connor died and the new work was placed under the kindly care of the Most Reverend Archbishop Ryan of Philadelphia who generously, and with unwearied patience and with wide. em- bracing charity, found room in his large heart to interest himself and to take un- der his direction this new work inaugurated to minister to the needs of the Negro and the Indian. Miss Drexel made her profes- sion of religion, was given the name of Mother Mary Katharine in 1891 and was appointed by the Most Reverend Archbish- op Superioress of the new community. Some few young ladies eager to co-oper- ate with her in the work of this undertak- ing had meanwhile joined her and in 1891 there were some twenty or twenty-five members.

Cornwells, Bucks county, was the spot selected for the erection of the new build- ing which was to be the novitiate where the future Sisters of the Blessed Sacra- ment would prepare themselves for their missionary labors. In July, 1891, the cor- ner stone of this building was laid with the inscription, very appropriate to the work to which they were consecrated, "And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people ; there they shall be called the children of the living God."-(Rom. Chap. IX.) In De- cember, 1893, the building was ready for occupancy, and the little community num- bering not more than twenty-five, entered the new home where they were to prepar- themselves for the great missionary work of their order and where they were to show forth in their lives-"That they who love their fellow-men, are loving God the holiest way they can;" where they were to learn with the poet that

"It was theirs to cheer the hearts that hopeless grieve

To follow in the steps of want, its vic- tims to relieve ;"

where they were to prepare themselves for the vast field of labor which awaited them, for they were not to be confined by any limitations of time or place, their rule pointing out to them the following: "They may employ any means most opportune to secure living temples for the Divinity amongst the Indian and Negro races in whatever country they are located :" SO that wherever a Negro or Indian child is to be found it will not be contrary to the rule of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to find some of their representatives there also.

The work of the Institute embraces the charge of schools, orphanages, nursing, visitation of sick, and the instruction of

adults in the principles of Christian doc- trine. It may not be out of place to men- tion here that their rule admirably points out to them the following: "The Sisters admitted to this Religious Congregation, besides attending particularly to their own perfection, which is the principal aim of all religious orders, shall by an apostolate of prayer and work, zealously endeavor to procure living temples for the Divinity amongst the Indian and Colored races, ac- cording to the words of the great apostle : 'Know ye not that you are the temple of God and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you ?'"-I Cor., Chap. III, Verse 13.

If this truth be but effectually realized their morals are elevated, their minds are raised to that higher plane, their hearts are more in harmony with the Unseen Power working within them in "Whom they live and move and have their being." Acts, Chap. XVII, 28 v. It is not wrong to say that if this truth had reached the power of conviction in the great multitude of mankind, the annals of history would record nothing but what was glorious in all creatures. Education then, in both hu- man and divine knowledge is necessary for these people-education which will exer- cise a formative influence-education, not only of the body but of the soul-education which teaches not only of the present, but brings before them their eternal destiny- education which teaches them the knowl- edge of their duty towards God and the consequent result of their first and primal duty-their duty towards their neighbor in order to fulfill the command of God. Much then, depends upon the education of these people, many considered the outcast of so- ciety, who born under the said heritage of indifference, poverty, and misearble sur- roundings need the help of superior minds to teach tme to face the problem which con- front their races. Tennyson said :

"Love took up the harp of life

And Smote on all the chords with might; Smote the chord of self

That trembling passed in music out of sight."

So, in the work of the education of these two races, the highest and holiest love has inspired the hearts of over one hundred young women who are at present engaged in the work, or are preparing for it. The love of God smote upon the chords with might, smote the chords of self to trans- form, divinize it and make that music "pas- sing out of sight pass over into the souls of those who know not the Divine Om- nipotence, who know not that they are in truth the temples of the Holy Ghost; chil- dren not of wrath, but of truth, and that the 'truth shall make them free."" These young women wish to make these poor people catch a glimpse of that glory which they do not always see.

Attached to the convent by a cloistered

528

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

walk, covered with a picturesque tiled roof is the institution known as Holy Providence House. It is a combination of an industrial and intellectual training school. Here the Sisters teach the children the principles of domestic science, the im- portance of habits of thrift, industry, and economy so necessary for their future suc- cess in life. There are 170 children in the Institute, 110 girls ranging in ages from hve to twenty-one years; and fifty-two boys ranging from five to thirteen years of age. When the boys reach the age of thirteen, they are transferred to industrial or trade schools to complete their education. The girls remain with the Sisters until they are twenty-one, and the Sisters endeavor to im- press upon their minds the necessity and dignity of labor, striving to hold before them the most exalted motives to enable them to fulfill faithfully their work on earth. All are obliged to attend school daily during the school session which lasts from September I, to June 30. The girls have the opportunity to complete the Grammar School course. If proficient in the branches which this course includes they receive a certificate or diploma testifying to their ability. In order to receive this certifi- cate they must also have satisfactorily passed the Domestic Science course which includes cooking and dress-making, taught according to scientific principles, and laun- dry work.

From the Mother House at Cornwells three branches have sprung: One, St. Cath- arine's Indian Boarding School at Santa Fe, New Mexico, where 160 children are taught by the Sisters, the plan followed there being something similar to that at Cornwells; another, St. Frances de Sales, Rock Castle, Virginia, where southern girls are received from fourteen to twenty-one years of age. Here they prepare themselves for teaching and aim to become proficient in other spheres of industry in order to become self sustaining in the future, and of benefit to their people; also another In- dian Mission in a lonely wilderness in the wilds and wastes of Arizona called St. Michael's, where about one hundred Na- vajo Indian children belonging to the vast pagan tribe of twenty thousand souls are received and cared for, taught the princi- ples of religion and human knowledge ac- cording to their capabilities.

Let us hope that the little seed planted in Cornwells, Bucks county, may grow and produce fruit for a rich harvest in the hearts of the poor Negroes and Indians, both for time and eternity, spreading its branches far and wide for their benefit, and enlisting the sympathies of the many noble-minded men and women who are connected with the history of the county. This is the ardent wish of those whose lives are to be spent in furthering the cause of their elevation.

JAMES B. CANDY. The family of

Candy in England are of French extraction, whose progenitor was Jean de Conde, younger son of Louis de Bourbon, the first Prince of Conde, and the founder of the family who took their name from the town of Conde, near the borders of Belgium, and the home of the royal family of Bour- bon and Navarre. He was the friend and . pupil of Gaspard Coligny, the famous Ad- miral of France, and like him espoused the cause and religion of the Huguenots and became their leader in 1554. Condemned to death by Francis II., he escaped through the sudden demise of that prince, and at the reopening of. hostilities between the Catholic and Protestant factions in 1562 he became again the recognized leader of the Huguenots, and opened negotiations with Queen Elizabeth, under whose pro- tection he placed his family. He was killed at the battle of Jarnac, December 15, 1569. His eldest son Henry, second Prince of Conde, returned to France, and his descend- ants were prominent in the internecine struggles at the court of that kingdom for several generations. From the younger son of Louis the English family is descended. A grandson emigrated to the New Eng- land colony in 1639 and settled in Boston, from whence he removed to Windsor in 1650. Another descendant, John Condee, with his nephew, Alexander. Condee, emi- grated to Maryland and settled in Prince George county. In Hanson's "Old Kent" is this record; "Alexander Condee, bap- tized ye 22d day of Aprill 1693." Through their residence among the English the end- ing of the name became changed. On a tombstone in an old cemetery at New Haven, Connecticut, is found this inscrip- tion ; "Rebecca Canbe, wife of Zachariah Canbe. died September 22, 1739, aged 91 years." The family has been prominent in England for many generations, some of its members holding high governmental and social positions. In the "Armorielle Universelle" is recorded their coat-of-arms, charged with three fleur-de-lis and a star.

Thomas Davy Candy, father of James Bentley Candy, of Langhorne, Bucks coun- ty, Pennsylvania, and a lineal descendant of Jean de Conde, emigrated with his pa- . rents from Manchester, England, at the age of two years. The family settled at Poughkeepsie, New York, where Thomas Davy Candy was reared and educated and acquired proficiency as a mechanical en- gineer. He later located at Paterson, New Jersey, where he married Ann Bentley. She was a native of England, and had come to America with her parents at the age of one and a half years. Her family had located for a time at Ellicott's Mills, Maryland, and removed from there to Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, where the parents died, after which the family moved to Paterson, New Jersey. Thomas D. Candy removed with his wife to Philadelphia soon

James B. Candy D. D.

529

HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

after their marriage, and followed the trade of a mechanical engineer in that city for many years. He was the father of two sons, James Bentley and John Bent- ley Candy.

JAMES BENTLEY CANDY was born in the city of Philadelphia, June 7, 1836. He began his education at the private school of Edwards & Parton, at the south- west corner of Penn Square and Market street, and later attended the Morris public school and the high school, graduating from the latter in 1852. He inherited from his father a mechanical turn of mind and much of his leisure time as a boy was spent in the neighboring machine shop of Mr. Harrison. On leaving school he entered the employ of James E. Caldwell & Co. to learn the jewelry business, but later chose the calling of dentistry and took up his studies under the tutelage of John De- Haven White, M. D., D. D. S., Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the Penn- sylvania College of Dental Surgery. Mr. Candy was a student at this college and was an assistant in the clinical department at the age of nineteen years. He graduated at the age of twenty-one, and practiced his profession in the villages of Yardley, Dolington, and Attleboro, now Langhorne, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He then en- tercd the employ of his preceptor, and sub- sequently opened a dental laboratory at 108 South Eighth street, Philadelphia. He was also in the employ of what is now the S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company in the manufacture of artificial teeth, in sections; these were then entirely handmade, and were mounted upon gold or silver plates.

At the outbreak of the civil war Dr. Candy, having been a member of the Artil- lery Corps of the Washington Greys for nearly five years, was well skilled in the manual of arms, and was called upon to spend several months in the drilling of squads of recruits for the front. He was lieutenant commanding, of Company B, Grey Reserves, Captain William H. Kern, and at one time gave an exhibition drill and company movements in Musical Fund Hall, and was subsequently presented with a sword for his proficiency in the art of war.

Returning to the practice of his pro- fession, he located at 248 North Eleventh street, where he practiced until April I, 1863, when, owing to the illness of his wife, he removed for her benefit to Attle- boro (now Langhorne), Bucks county, where he has since resided, and has achieved distinction and succes in his chosen pro- fession.

Dr. Candy is a man of strong individual- ity, has always been a close student, and is independent and fearless in the advocacy of what he believes to be right. In the matter of the incorporation of the village of Attleboro into a borough he was one of the most earnest advocates of the change,

and took an active part in the establish- ment of grades and building and fence lines, though these measures met with strong opposition by some of the property owners of the borough. He has always been a strong advocate of the Democratic party and its principles. In 1883 he was appointed a notary public, and filled that position with satisfaction to the public, until he was appointed by President Cleve- land, postmaster of Langhorne, which latter office he held until the change in the ad- ministration. He is a past master of Bristol Lodge, No. 25, F. and A. M.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 114

Author: Davis, W. W. H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910; Ely, Warren S. (Warren Smedley), b. 1855; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921 Publication date: 1905 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1040

Author: Davis, W. W. H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910; Ely, Warren S. (Warren Smedley), b. 1855; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1040