History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 150

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162

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The last public measure in which he took part was the securing of a daily mail to his vicinity, obtained, after per- sistent effort, a few months before his death.

JOHN FULTON, an emigrant from the north of Ire- land, and of Scotch descent, came about 1750, and settled near Oxford, Pa. He was a captain in the patriot army during the American Revolution. His son James was the father of James J. Fulton, who married Nancy A. Ramsey. To them were born four sons-William T., Joseph M., James, and Hugh R., the latter an attorney in Lancaster -and two daughters,-Rachel and Jane, both deceased in their infancy.

WILLIAM T. FULTON was born in West Nottingham, Feb. 27, 1835, on the place where his grandfather had located. He was educated in the common schools, and later at the Jordan Bank Academy. He engaged in farm-

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

ing, then learned the blacksmithing trade, and later taught school some two years. He read law with "the Great Commoner," Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, and afterwards with Hon. J. Smith Futhey. He was admitted to the bar May 13, 1861. He settled at Oxford. In August and Sep- tember, 1861, he helped to recruit Company E, Purnell Legion, Maryland Infantry, made up of the bordermen of Pennsylvania and Maryland. He was captain of the com- pany until August, 1862, when he was promoted to be ma-

Bank, and associate counsel of the Philadelphia and Balti- more Central Railroad. He gives his full time and atten- tion to the practice of his profession, in which he has been successful. He is a public-spirited citizen, and his influence is largely felt in all measures for the public good.

DR. JAMES FULTON, brother of the last named, and son of James J. and Nancy (Ramsey) Fulton, was born Nov. 12, 1832. He was educated at the public schools of the neighborhood, at the academy of Evan Pugh, at Delaware

7 7. Julion

jor of the regiment, and was subsequently discharged on account of physical disability. After leaving the army he resumed the practice of his professioo, which he continued until the invasion of the State by Lee in 1863, when he volunteered in the State service to repel the invaders. He was elected justice of the peace in 1863, re-elected in 1868, and again in 1873, resigning Nov. 1, 1876, to accept a seat in the Legislature, to which he was that year elected, and to which he was re-elected in 1878. In the Legisla - ture he was a member of many important committecs, among which were those of Judiciary, general and local, and of Federal Relations, of which latter he was chairman. Hc is a stanch Republican and very active in politics. In 1865 he was married to Hannah A., daughter of Joseph Kirk, of West Nottingham, and in 1876 to Annie E. Neeper, of Oxford. By his first wife he had two children, Kirk and Annie E., and by his second marriage one daughter, Jennie.

He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and one of its trustees; also belongs to Fairview Lodge, No. 334, I. O. O. F .; is a director in the Oxford National

College (Newark, Del.), and at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. He read medicine four years with_Dr. Thomas H. Thompson, beginning in 1855 and graduating in 1859, when he began practicing his profession at Jenner- ville, this county. After two years he went into the army as assistant surgeon of the 143d Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, which position he held until his resignation, April 4, 1864. He was captured at the battle of Gettys- burg, in the first day's fight, when the Union forces were driven back through the town, and reported to Gen. A. P. Hill, who directed him to go back of the hospital and do the best he could for the sick and wounded. In this battle it was his duty to provide food and shelter for the sick and wounded,-a difficult thing to do when the wounded were within the enemy's lines, and the trains with the provisions far to the south of the town. He tried begging from house to house, but this was an exceedingly slow operation, as the enemy had exhausted the supply before the battle came on. In looking around he found bakers and bakeries, but no flour. Upon consulting some of the rebel officers they advised him to visit Gen. Ewell, stating they had

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

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DR. JAMES FULTON.

plenty of flour in their trains, and that he would willingly supply all needed. He accordingly visited Gen. Ewell, finding a sharp-visaged little man, enjoying a good break- fast on a bridge to the east of the town. He promised a supply of flour, and sent him back to duty happy in the thought of being soon able to provide food for the poor fellows who were suffering with hunger. This was on the morning of the third day of the battle. It is enough to say that the meal did not come, as at the time Dr. Fulton was talking with him the flour was getting away to " Old Virginia" as fast as the rebel teams could take it. After leaving the general and coming back to town, he told a baker what be had done, when the latter asked him if there was any assurance that a person would get paid if they furnished something in the line of provisions. The doctor told him he certainly would be paid, and he would give him vouchers. He then said that he had sixteen bar- rels of crackers which he would sell, and immediately pro- ceeded to loosen the boards of the garret of his shop, and brought down the crackers. The doctor procured a guard, and had them taken to the different hospitals. They served a good purpose until the enemy retreated, when provisions poured in plentifully from all sides. Thus while the Union army was manfully struggling to hold its position to the south of the town, on Cemetery Hill, Round Top, and Culp's Hill, the doctor was busily engaged in trying to keep the wounded of the first day's fight from suffering with hunger. The doctor is a learned and skillful physi- cian, enjoying in an eminent degree the confidence of the community and the esteem of the medical world.

He married, May 16, 1861, Anna M. Johnson, by whom he has had the following children : Rebecca, James, Mary, Carrie, William, and Gertrude. He is a member of the

Oxford Medical Society, of the Chester County Medical Society (of which he has been president), and is now the examining surgeon of the government for the pension de- partment in this county. He belongs to the F. and A. M. and I. O. O. F., in both of which he has been quite prom- inent.

FUSSELL, SOLOMON, born in Yorkshire, England, 1704, son of William and Elizabeth Fussell, came to Pennsyl- vania, and settled in Philadelphia about 1721. He mar- ried Susannah Coney, daughter of Jacob Coney and wife Barbara (daughter of William Clinkenbeard). Their son, William Fussell, born 1728-9, married, at Abington, 8, 10, 1751, Sarah Longstreth, daughter of Bartholomew and Ann, and about 1761 settled in Chester County ; died 1803 or 1804 at Phoenixville, and was buried at Pikeland Meeting. Sarah was born 11, 8, 1728-9, and died 9, 21, 1800. Their children were Susanua, b. 1, 29, 1753, mar- ried Aaron Dunkin ; Bartholomew, b. 9, 28, 1754, d. 10, 17, 1838, near Yellow Springs, Chester Co., aged eighty- four; Solomon, b. 12, 20, 1755, d. 10, 22, 1793.

Bartholomew Fussell, born in Philadelphia, removed, when young, with his parents to near Phoenixville ; lived also in Montgomery County, and afterwards removed to Maryland and became a member of Little Falls (now Fallston) Monthly Meeting of Friends. In old age he returned with his wife to Chester County ; was for many years an esteemed minister of the society, and at the time of his death a member of Uwchlan Monthly Mceting, which issued a testimony or memorial concerning him. He married, 6, 6, 1781, Rebecca Bond, daughter of Joseph and Esther (Jeanes) Bond, and granddaughter of Richard and Charity Bond. Esther Jeanes was the daughter of William Jeanes and wife Esther (Brewer), and was one of

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the " first" white children born in Philadelphia. Rebecca Fussell, born 10, 9, 1751, near Kimberton, Chester Co., died 3, 4, 1851, nearly one hundred years of age. Their chil- dren were Esther, b. at Hatboro', Pa., 3, 18, 1782, died in Chester County, 2, 18, 1848, m. John Lewis, Jr .; William, b. 6, 30, 1783, d. 6, 4, 1856, m. Jane Foulke ; Sarah, b. 9, 10, 1784, d. 8, 11, 1860, m. Thomas P. Jacobs ; Joseph, b. 4, 26, 1787, d. at Fall Creek, Ind., 1855 ; Solomon, b. 6, 28, 1789; Jacob, b. 2, 7, 1792, d. 8,7, 1855; Bartholomew, b. 1, 9, 1794, d. 1, 14, 1871 ; Rebecca, b. 4, 21, 1796, m. Joseph Trimble.

William Fussell married, 9, 28, 1809, Jane, daughter of Edward and Elizabeth R. Foulke. Edward Foulke was the son of John, the son of Hugh, the son of Edward and Eleanor Foulke, who came from Wales.

The children of William and Jane Fussell. were Eliza- beth R., Edwin, Esther Ann, Joseph, and Milton. Edwin, born 6, 14, 1813, married his cousin, Rebecca Lewis, 1, 20, 1838, and resides in Media. He is the father of Charles Lewis Fussell, an artist, of Philadelphia, whose paintings have been much admired; also of Dr. Linnæus Fussell, an active member of the Delaware County Institute of Science.

Dr. Bartholomew Fussell, born in Chester County, 1, 9, 1794, removed in early life to Maryland, where he taught school and read medicine, and where he found means to give Sabbath and private instruction to great numbers of slaves, many of whom, with hundreds of other fugitives of their class, he afterwards protected and assisted at his home in Pennsylvania while on their way to freedom. Laboring, in connection with the late Thomas Garrett, of Wilmington, Del., and with many others, at available points, about two thousand fugitives passed through his hands on their way to freedom, and among these he frequently had the delight of welcoming some of his old Sabbath-school pupils. The mutual recognition was sometimes touching in the extreme.

In later life his anecdotes and reminiscences, told in the vivid style resulting from a remarkably retentive memory, which could recall word, tone, and gesture, brought to life some of the most interesting of his experiences with these fleeing bondmen, whose histories no romance could ever equal.

After his graduation in medicine, being at one time called upon to deliver an address before the Medical So- ciety of Baltimore, in the midst of a pro-slavery audience and before slave-holding professors and men of authority, Dr. Fussell, with a courage scarcely to be comprehended at this late day, denounced " the most preposterous and cruel practice of slavery as replete with the causes of dis- ease," and expressed the hope that the day would come "when slavery and cruelty should have no abiding-place in the whole habitable carth ; when the philosopher and the pious Christian could use the salutation of 'brother,' and the physician and divine be as one man; when the rich and the poor should know no distinction ; the great and the small be equal in dominion, and the arrogant master and his menial slave should make a truce of friendship with each other, all following the same law of reason, all guided by the light of Truth."

He was one of the signers of the " Declaration of Sen-

timents," issued by the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, and he had the gratification of attending the last meeting of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, called to celebrate the downfall of slavery in America, and for the dissolution of an organization whose purpose was effected.

But it was not slavery alone which occupied the thoughts and attention of this large-hearted man. He was well known as an advocate of common-school education, of tem- perance, and of every other interest which, in his view, pertained to the welfare of man.

As a practitioner of medicine he was eminently success- ful, his inteuse sympathy with suffering seeming to elevate his faculties and give them unwonted vigor in tracing the hidden causes of disease, and in suggesting to his mind alleviating agencies. His patients felt an unspeakable comfort in his presence, well knowing that the best possible remedy which his knowledge, his judgment, or his experi- ence suggested would be selected, let the difficulty or in- convenience to himself be what it would.

He believed in woman as only a thoroughly good man can, and from early youth he had been impressed with her peculiar fitness for the practice of medicine. In the year 1840 he gave regular instruction to a class of ladies, and it was through one of these pupils that the first female graduate in America was interested in the study of medi- cine. In 1846 he communicated to a few liberal-minded professional men a plan for the establishment of a college of the highest grade for the medical education of women. This long-cherished plan, hallowed to him by the approba- tion of a beloved wife, was well received. Others, with indomitable zeal, took up the work, and finally, after a suc- cession of disappointments and discouragements from causes within and without, the Woman's College, on North College Avenue, Philadelphia, starting from the germ of his thought, entered on the career of prosperity it is so well entitled to receive. Though never at any time connected with the college, he regarded its success with the most affectionate interest, considering its establishment as one of the most important results of his life .*

Dr. Fussell married first, 5, 26, 1826, Lydia Morris, daughter of Morris and Jerusha (Whitton) Morris, born 7, 13, 1804, at Fox Chase, Montgomery Co., died 7, 3, 1840. He married second, 2, 9, 1841, widow Rebecca C. Hewes, daughter of Edward and Rebecca (Peirce) Church- man, born 12, 13, 1804. He died at the residence of his son, Dr. Morris Fussell, in West Pikeland, near Chester Springs, at the age of seventy-six years.

FUTHEY .- The Futheys are of Scotch origin. Their home in the seventeenth century was near Arbroath, in the county of Forfar, on the eastern coast of Scotland, where they owned lands bearing the same name. The family was prominent and influential, Alexander Futhey and Henry Futhey being members of the old Scottish Parliament in the reign of Charles II., while others of them filled positions of trust and honor.

Robert Futhey emigrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and settled in Belfast. He had a son Robert, who between the

* See " Genealogy of Dawson Family," by C. C. Dawson.

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

years 1725 and 1730 came with his family to America, and settled in the southern part of Chester Co., Pa. He died soon after his arrival, leaving four children,-Robert, Samuel, Margery, and Henry. Robert removed to the Cumberland Valley, in that part of it now Franklin County, about the year 1770, and his descendants are numerous in Western Pennsylvania, and in some of the Western and Southern States. Henry removed to the western part of North Carolina, in the neighborhood of Charlotte, at a time when there was an extensive emigration of Scotch- Irish from Pennsylvania to that region. He has descend- ants in North and South Carolina. Samuel was born in 1725, and during his earlier years, after arriving in this country, resided in Londonderry township, Chester Co. In January, 1750, he married Ruth, daughter of Samuel Steele, of New London township. In 1763 he purchased and removed to a farm of over two hundred acres in West

in the proceedings of the Council of his having delivered into the Continental stables horses purchased by him for the use of the army. In August, 1777, the Council ap- pointed persons to take an account of all the wheat, flour, grain, and other stores in the county of Chester, and for the purpose of billeting and providing for the poor that might be removed out of the city of Philadelphia, and Thomas Heslep and Samuel Futhey were appointed to per- form that duty for East and West Fallowfield townships. The following letter, addressed to him, and written during the Revolution, is interesting as showing the depreciated state of the paper currency in circulation :

" MR. SAMUEL FUTHEY : The mare you bought at my vendue, she stood you in £1525, and out of that you paid 3970 dollars, and there is returned to me 170 dollars counterfeits, which I have left in the hands of Mr. John Heaslet to give to you, and if you will please to strike the balance you will much oblige your friend and humble servant,

"TRISTRAM MOORE."

ROBERT FUTHEY.

Fallowfield (now Highland) township, a portion of which is still occupied by some of his descendants. During the Revolution he was an ardent Whig, as, indeed, were all those of Scotch-Irish lineage. He had the reputation of being a very superior judge of horses, so much so that persons about purchasing came to him from considerable distances to obtain his judgment. He was employed by the Supreme Executive Council to purchase horses for the use of the Continental army. In the proceedings of the Council of the date of April 1, 1778, as given in the Co- lonial Records, is the following entry : " An order was drawn on the treasurer in favor of Stephen Cochran for the sum of two thousand pounds, to be by him paid to Samuel Futhey, of the county of Chester, to purchase horses with to mount the cavalry, agreeably to the request of the commit- tee of Congress, now at Camp." Frequent mention is made

He held slaves under the laws of Pennsylvania. In ac- cordance with an act of Assembly of 1780 for the gradual abolition of slavery, he made the following return to the office of the clerk of courts of the slaves owned by him at that date, viz. :

"Samuel Futhey, of West Fallowfield, returns :

"No. 1. A mulatto woman, named Jinn, aged twenty years, a slave for life.

"No. 2. A mulatto girl, named Dinah, aged one year and three months, a slave for life."

He died Jan. 27, 1790, and was buried in the family burial-ground at New London. As a curious item it may be added that in the appraisement of his estate his slaves were valued as follows : Jinn, at £30; Sal, at £7 10s. ; and Jenny, at £5. Their order in the inventory is between the black horse and the grindstone. Hc left two children to

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

survive him,-Ann, born Nov. 2, 1750, and Samuel, born Sept. 1, 1753. A son, Robert, served in the army in the Revolution, and was in the disastrous battle of Three Rivers, in Canada, in 1776. He died soon afterwards from the exposures of the service. Two other children, Ann and Francis, died young. Ann Fnthey married Samuel Dale in January, 1769, and removed to the Buffalo Valley, near the present town of Lewisburg, Pa. Samuel Dale became a prominent and influential citizen, and was a member of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania ten years, and of the Senate six years. Their descendants, of various names, are numerous, and have filled influential positions in the State and country.

Samuel Futhey (2) had considerable taste for mili- tary affairs, and served five campaigns in the war of the Revolution, and in 1794 he was adjutant of a regiment of cavalry that marched to aid the general government in quelling what is known as the " Whisky Insurrection," in Western Pennsylvania. He subsequently filled the office of brigade inspector for seven years, and was then and afterwards addressed as Maj. Futhey. In 1782 he married Margaret McPherson, who died in 1784, and in 1788 he married Martha Smith. He died Feb. 22, 1812, and was interred at New London.

Maj. Futhey left five children,-Robert, Jane, Sarah, Samuel, and John S. Robert Futhey was born Jan. 21, 1789, and resided on a part of the old homestead farm in West Fallowfield township. He served in the war of 1812 -14, and was a member of the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1841 and 1842. He married Margaret Parkinson, of Carlisle, Pa. He was esteemed as a valuable citizen, and was a peacemaker in his neighborhood, and by his individ- ual influence contributed much in abating asperities and in the settlement of many disputes, which by any other than a mild and temperate course would have ended in liti- gation. He died July 29, 1870. His surviving children are J. Smith, James L., Martha, Elizabeth, and Robert. His eldest son, J. Smith Futhey, is one of the authors of this volume, and since March 1, 1879, has been president judge of the courts of Chester County.

Samuel Futhey was born Feb. 2, 1794, and owned and occupied the old homestead. His wife was Ann Parkinson, a sister of his brother Robert's wife. He died March 29, 1855, leaving three children,-Robert Agnew, Mary A., and Samuel Dale, one of whom, Robert. A., was the first superintendent of public schools of Chester County, and is now cashier of the Parkesburg National Bank. John S. Futhey was born Dec. 20, 1796. He resided for many years in Wrightsville, York Co., and during his later years in West Chester, where he died Aug. 18, 1867. His wife was Juliann, a sister of the late Gen. Samuel P. Heintzel- man. They left no descendants.

GANDOUETT, FRANCIS, " Doctor in Physick," of Bris- tol, England, came to Philadelphia before 1712. His chil- dren were Solomon, Alexander, Jeremiah, Francis, Mary, and Henrietta. His son Alexander, also a physician, lived in Chester in 1736, and in that year petitioned for a license to sell " Cordiall waters" of his own distillation by small measure, as well as to use it in his practice. There is evi- dence that his practice extended many miles from Chester.

GARDNER, CARSWELL, was born in the year 1756. He entered the army of the United States in 1776, in a regiment commanded by Col. Ward, and was taken prisoner by the British on Dorchester Neck, carried to Boston, and confined on board a transport-ship in Boston Harbor. In about six weeks he escaped in one of the cutters of the enemy. This he sold for eighty dollars, which he received in bills of one dollar each, all bearing the head of John Hancock. Soon thereafter he was appointed sergeant of the foot-guard of Gen. Washington. He followed the for- tunes of the general, and was in the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Princeton, and Trenton, and shared in the honor of taking the Hessians at the latter place. His term of service having expired, at the solicitation of Gen. Wash- ington he recruited a troop of horse, which was joined by twenty-two of the foot-guard. When the troop was marched to Morristown, where the army then lay, Gen. Washington made choice of the same twenty-two, together with Mr. Gardner, as his horse-guard, on account of his attachment to them and his confidence in them. They marched with him to various places, and hutted at Valley Forge, sharing great privations during the long and in- clement winter when the army lay at that point.

At the battle of Germantown Mr. Gardner was the bearer of a flag of truce, by order of Gen. Washington, to the enemy in Chew's house, commanding them to surren- der, but was not permitted to approach within speaking distance of the house before he was fired upon. He bore a part in the battle of Brandywine ; he was also in the battle of Monmouth, and was the bearer of a dispatch from Gen. Washington to Gen. Lee, the evening before the battle, con- taining orders relative to that battle, which were disobeyed by Gen. Lee, and for which disobedience he was afterwards tried by court-martial and suspended from service.

He served as a member of the horse-guards until Gen. Washington went to West Point in 1779, when he joined the regiment of light dragoons under the command of Col. William Washington. At the end of his term of service, in 1780, he received an honorable discharge from Col. Washington, with a request that he would engage in the service as a recruiting-officer, which he did.

At the close of the war he engaged in the peaceful pur- suit of agriculture in New London township, Chester Co., where he spent the remainder of a long life, respected and csteemed by his neighbors. He received a pension from the general government, and died in the year 1842, at the age of eighty-six years.

GARRETT, JOHN, and Mary, his wife, were the parents of the following children, whose births and baptisms are taken from a Bible printed in 1634 :

"John garat was borne the 10 day Januari 1631 and baptised forteanth.

"- garat was horne the 30 day of Aprill 1640 baptised the third of May.

" Mari garat was baptised the fifteenth of May 1642.

" William garat borne 21 of August and baptised the third of sep- tember 1643.

"Catren garatt baptised May 26 in the year of our lord god 1646. "Thomas Garrat the sonne of John Garratt and Mary his wife was baptised in May the 17, 1649."

Of these children, William married Ann Kerke (Kirk ?),

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

2, 19, 1668, probably at a Friends' meeting, and lived at Harby, in the county of Leicester, until 1684, when he came to Pennsylvania and settled in Darby. The following memorandum is from the records of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting :

"William Garret, John Smith, Robert Cliffe, & Samuel Levis, Their Certificate was Read in the monthly meeting at Philadelphia and accepted, which was given them hy lhe meeting at Harby in the County of Leicester, the 20th day of ye 5th month, 1684, & Sub- Boribed by Edwd Hallam, Henry Brown, John Marriot, Robert Dub- bleday, with Beyerall others."

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 150

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 1162

Author: Futhey, John Smith, 1820-1888; Cope, Gilbert, 1840-1928
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1162