History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 167

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

USA > Pennsylvania > Chester County > History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches > Part 167

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REV. WILLIAM LATTA was born in Bucks Co., Pa., in May, 1768. He was the son of Dr. James Latta, who was a prominent man in the Presbyterian Church in his day. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1794, was licensed by the Presbytery of New Castle, and became pastor of the congregations of Great Valley and Charles- town, Chester Co., Oct. 1, 1799, in which relation he con- tinued until his death, Feb. 19, 1847, a period of over forty-seven years. . .

He was created a Doctor of Divinity by Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. He was a student and a scholar, and his preparations for the pulpit were made with close study and

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

care. In the courts of the church he was highly estecmed, and by appointment of the General Assembly held the office of trustee of that body for many years. He was also a director in the Princeton Theological Seminary. The General Assembly of 1847, in noticing his death, spoke of him as " one of the venerable fathers of the Presbyterian Church." On occasion of the reception of Gen. Lafayette at West Chester, in July, 1825, the Rev. William Latta made a prayer very remarkable for its touching sentiments, fervid eloquence, and patriot spirit.

LAUBAUGH, JOHANNES, was born in Holland, Aug. 3, 1733. Of his early history little is known, but he be- came a sea-faring man, owned a vessel, and traded with China, the American colonics, and England. Having ar- rived at Philadelphia about the commencement of the Rev- olutionary war, he disposed of his ship and cargo and pur- chased a farm in Pikeland, Chester Co. (now owned by Mr. Fagley). He brought over his family, and made a second voyage to Holland to settle up some affairs. By his wife, Anna Catharine, he had eight children,-1. John, m. to Catharine Acker ; 2. Henry, m. to Anne De Frain and Catharine March ; 3. Magdalena, m. to Conrad Acker ; 4. Lewis, settled at New Philadelphia, Ohio ; 5. Margaret, m. to Conrad Keeley ; 6. Elizabeth, m. to John Christman ; 7. Catharine, m. to Peter Stiteler ; 8. Mary, m. to William Sheldrake.

The parents were buried at the East Vincent Reformed Church, of which they were members. A number of arti- cles, the remnants of the last cargo, are held by some of the descendants, consisting of pieces of china, glass, and gold and silver coin.

LESLIE, WILLIAM, married Christiana, daughter of George and Sarah (Hoopes) Hall, and lived in Cecil Co., Md. They had nine children, who all died before their parents except Robert, the eldest, and Margaret, the youngest, the latter being nine years old when her parents died.

Robert married Lydia Baker, and had children,-Eliza, Ann, Martha, Charles Robert, and Thomas Jefferson. Robert was a clock- and watch-maker, and pursued that business in Elkton for some time, but in 1786 he settled in Philadelphia, where he was elected a member of the Philosophical Society. He was very ingenious, and it appears that an act of Assembly of Sept. 7, 1789, gave him (in effect) a patent for an improvement in clocks and watches. His business prospered, and he took a partner in order to allow himself to go to England to purchase the clocks and watches wanted for the establishment. This he did about 1793, taking his wife, his three daughters, and his sister Margaret, who made her home with him after her parents' death. The death of Mr. Price, his partner in Philadelphia, caused his return, and he sailed from Gravesend Sept. 18, 1799, in the . " Washington," an armed merchant vessel, war being then declared between France and the United States. An engagement with a French vessel, " La Bellone," disabled them so that they put into Lisbon for repairs and remained there five months. After a stormy passage, in which some of the masts were lost, they arrived at Philadelphia May 11, 1800, forty-two days from Lisbon.

Robert Leslie died in 1804. Of his children, Eliza was an authorcss, having published a work on cooking and other books. Ann was an artist. Martha married the late Henry C. Carey. Charles Robert, born in London, Oct. 19, 1794, returned thither in 1811 as an art student, and, under the instruction of the noted Benjamin West and Washington Allston, soon acquired fame. His family de- siring to have him reside in the United States obtained for him the appointment of professor of drawing at West Point in 1833, but after a few months he resigned and returned to England, where he died May 5, 1859. His " May Day in the Time of Queen Elizabeth," from the collection of J. Naylor, Esq., was among the English collection at the Centennial Exhibition. He married Harriet Stone, an English lady, by whom he had several children.

Thomas Jefferson Leslie, born in England about 1796, was a major in the United States army, married Gertrude Pearson, and had three daughters, now all deceased but one.

Margaret Leslie, the sister of Robert, married John Buckley, from England, son of James Buckley, who came afterwards to this country and died here. They settled at Hamilton village, Philadelphia.

Their only child, Eliza, born fourteen years after her parents' marriage, was but eighteen months old when her father died. She is now the wife of Caleb H. Kinnard, of West Chester. Her mother married, second, Eli Hays, of Newlin.

Charles Robert Leslie, in his autobiographical recollec- tions, says,-

" At my father's death there was so little property left that my mother was obliged to open a boarding-house, and my eldest sister to teach drawing, to support the family.

"My brother and I had been sent to school at the University of Pennsylvania, which then occupied a splendid house in Ninth Street, built by the citizens of Philadelphia to present to Gen. Washington, but which the removal of the seat of government from that city pre- vented his occupying.

" It would not have been in the power of my mother to continue sending us to this school but for the kindness of Dr. Rogers, the Eng- lish professor, a Baptist minister, who abated considerably in his charge for our tuition, and Mr. Robert Patterson, the professor of mathematics, who, having known my father intimately, made no charge whatever. I am sorry to say, however, I did not appreciate this liberality as I ought to have done, but neglected the study of mathematics as much as I possibly could.

" My summers and autumns were at this period regularly spent in visits to my great-uncles, Philip Ward and George Hall, with my eldest sister Eliza, and my kind aunt, Margaret Leslie (my father's sister). These uncles lived in Chester County and were farmers. The scenery about Mr. Ward's house [in Newlin township] was very beau- tiful; the Brandywine Creek ran near it, and one of its tributary streams turned a flour-mill and a saw-mill belonging to my uncle. I shall never forget the kindness I received from my worthy relatives while under their roofs. Their habits were simple and rustic. My uncle Hall performed all the work of his little farm himself; but then he belonged to a volunteer corps of cavalry ; indeed, he had served in the Revolutionary war, and his horseman's boots, cap, eword, and hie blue coat with red facings, which I saw hanging up in hie bedroom, though they never happened to be worn during our visite, gave him great importance in my eyes.

" At Mr. Ward's one of his enne was the working miller, and the other the farmer, and here I became familiar with all the operations of mill and farm. I accompanied my cousin, Tommy Ward, in the fields when he was plowing or edwing, and in the barn when he was threshing or winnowing the corn, and I well remember a grand husk- ing-party (or 'frolio,' as it was called), when the neighbors for miles round came to assist in stripping the Indian corn of its outer covering,

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

and afterwards sat down to a most substantial supper. To the imagery treasured in my recollection of these simple scenes I believe I owe much of the exquisite enjoyment I receive from reading the poetry of Burns. His 'Hallowe'en,' his 'Twa Dogs,' and other poems, in which the lahors and enjoyments of the cottage are described, always transport me to the log houses of my kind-hearted uneles and aunts in Chester County." *

LEONARD, DANIEL, of Kennet, son of George and Christian, was married 3, 28, 1740, at Kennet Meeting, to Ruth Harlan, daughter of Ezekiel and Ruth, of that town- ship. His father lived then or later in Sadsbury, but took up land in Fallowfield in 1714.

Daniel and Ruth had children,-Ezekiel, Daniel, Mary, Ruth, George, Benjamin, and Joseph, whose births were recorded by the meeting.

Ezekiel, born 10, 18, 1740, resided at various places within the limits of Birmingham, Caln, Goshen, and Brad- ford Meetings, but lost his membership by taking an active interest in Revolutionary affairs. In 1786, and again in 1795, he was elected sheriff of the county, serving in all six years in the office. He died near Hockessin about 1822.

JOSEPH LEONARD, his son, engaged in the iron business at Thorndale, near the present site of Glen Mills, where, in 1816, he married Sarah Edwards, daughter of John and Hannah (Pennock) Edwards, born 2, 27, 1788. She died at West Chester in 1877, and was buried at Middletown Meeting. Joseph Leonard died in Kennet township in 1822, in the thirty-sixth year of his age, leaving two chil- dren,-John E., of West Chester, and Pennock E., of Lon- dongrove.

HON. J. EDWARDS LEONARD, son of John E., above named, was born near Fairville, in Chester Co., Sept. 22, 1845. His education was received at Phillips' Exeter Academy, N. H., and Harvard College, graduating from the latter in- stitution in 1867. He then went to Europe, studied civil law in Germany, receiving the degree of Doctor of Laws at the Heidelberg University. Returning to this country, he was attracted by the advantages offered in the South, and settled in Louisiana, where he began the practice of law in the Thirteenth Judicial District. Within two years he was elected district attorney, and shortly after, in spite of his youth, was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of the State. In 1876 he was elected to Congress from the Fifth District by the largest Congressional majority in the State. At Washington he showed distinguished ability on the floor of the House. When he was sent in 1878 by the President, whose policy he had severely criticised, to Cuba upon an important and delicate mission, it was a high trib- ute to his talents and reputation. While performing this trust he was seized with yellow fever, and died March 15, 1878, at the Telegraph Hotel, Havana. When his death was announced in the House by the Speaker, that body, in respect to his memory, adjourned. He was a brilliant young man, and one of unusual moral stability ; a poet of no mean ability, au able and forcible speaker, and as a poli- tician he commanded the respect of all parties by his intel- ligence and candor in the discussion of public affairs. Hc

married, in 1872, Miss Ella Burbank, of St. Paul, Minn., who died in 1875, leaving two sons.

LEVIS, CHRISTOPHER, of Harby, in Leicestershire, England, by Mary, his wife, had the following children : Samuel, b. 7, 30, 1649; Mary, b. 3, 8, 1652, d. 7, 16, 1764; Richard, b. 10, 28, 1654, d. 4, 23, 1663; Sarah, b. 7, 30, 1663, d. 1, 23, 1701; Hannah, b. 7, 30, 1663, d. 3, 26, 1705. The father was buried 8, 23, 1677.

Sammel Levis, of Harby, and Elizabeth Clator, of Not- tingham, were married 3, 4, 1680. Mary Levis, of Harby, perhaps the widow of Christopher, married Thomas Wright, 3, 4, 1680.

Samuel Levis, with his wife and sisters, Sarah and Hau- nah, came to Pennsylvania in 1684 (see William Garrett) and settled in Springfield township, where he died about 1734. Sarah married Thomas Bradshaw, of Darby, in 1687, and Hannah became the wife of Michael Blunston in 1691.

The children of Samuel and Elizabeth Levis were Sam- uel, b. 12, 8, 1680, m. Hannah Stretch, of Philadelphia ; Alice, b. 8, 7, 1682; Mary, b. 8, 9, 1685, m. Joseph Pen- nock ; William, b. 7, 8, 1688, d. 2, 11, 1747 ; Elizabeth, b. 10, 20, 1690, d. 10, 10, 1777, m. William Shipley ; Christopher, b. 10, 27, 1692, d. 2, 3, 1694; Sarah, b. 6, 31, 1694, m. George Maris.

Samuel Levis and Hannah Stretch, daughter of Joseph, were married 10, 15, 1709, and had four children,-Samuel, b. 8, 21, 1711, m. Mary Thomson, 6, 12, 1742; John, b. 8, 3, 1713, m. Rebecca Davis, 8, 25, 1738; Joseph, b. 11, 29, 1715-6, m. Susanna Waln, 1739; William.

William Levis settled in Kennet, and married, 10, 14, 1720, Elizabeth Reed, by whom he had children,-Eliza- beth, b. 8, 30, 1721 ; Samuel, b. 9, 18, 1723, m. Elizabeth Gregg ; William, b. 12, 3, 1725-6, m. Jane Ogden and Martha Marshall; Sarah, b. 6, 31, 1728; Mary, b. 2, 10, 1732; Lydia, b. 6, 16, 1734, m. John Lamborn.

LEWIS, ENOCH and ALICE .- Enoch Lewis, eldest son of Evan and Jane Lewis, was born at Radnor, in the county of Chester, now Delaware, Jan. 29, 1776. He was the fifth in descent from Henry Lewis, who, with his family, including his father, Evan Lewis, then an old man, emigrated from Narbeth, in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, early in the year 1682. Evan Lewis is supposed to have died within a few years after his leaving his native country. The family record is silent respecting him after his arrival in Pennsyl- vania. Henry Lewis purchased a tract of 800 acres of land in Haverford township in May of the same year, and was one of the first three landed proprietors in that town- ship who derived title under William Penn. Immediately after the city of Philadelphia was laid out and surveyed according to the plan of the proprietary, Henry Lewis pro- cured a lot in the new city and erected upon it a house, in which he resided during a part of each year. He also erected a dwelling house and farm buildings upon his tract in Haverford, which he cleared and cultivated, and on which he generally spent his summers. He served as fore- man of the first grand jury which sat for the county of Philadelphia, and he was one of the peacemakers appointed for that county. A copy of an old record, still extant, shows that he was a township officer for Haverford in 1682.

# Autobiographical Recollections. Boston, Ticknor & Fields, 1860, p. 364. (Edited by Tom Taylor.)

ENOCH

LEWIS.

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

He was a benevolent man and a public-spirited citizen. He gave much of his time to works of charity and to municipal affairs. His career of usefulness was terminated by death before he attained middle life. He died at his residence in Haverford in August, 1688.

Henry Lewis, the second, born in 1671, was the eldest son of the first Henry. He married in 1692, and had a family of nine children, of whom John Lewis, born May 23, 1697, was the third. Henry resided on the Haverford farm during the whole of his life, and was several times a member of the Colonial Assembly. John married in 1725 Catharine Roberts, who owned an undivided moiety of a farm in Radnor. On his marriage he purchased the other moiety, and having added to the farm a tract of one hun- dred and sixty acres immediately adjoining, he took up his - residence upon it, and resided there till his death, in 1780. He had seven children. Evan, his youngest son, was born in 1740. He married in 1770; his wife dying three years afterwards, he again married, in April, 1775. His second wife was Jane Meredith. She was a woman of superior intellect, fond of reading, and particularly noted for her readiness in the solution of arithmetical problems.

Evan Lewis was a member of the Society of Friends, and more than usually strict in the performance of his religious duties. Though an energetic man of business, be never allowed the operations of his farm or dairy to interfere with the attendance of himself and family at the ordinary week- · day meetings for worship. He was circumspect in his con- duct, and very careful to rear bis family in close conformity with the peculiarities of his sect in dress and manners. At the date of Enoch's birth Evan occupied the farm of his father as a tenant, the father being then old and incapaci- tated for business by loss of sight. On the death of his father Evan became the owner of the whole farm, by pur- chasing the shares or interests of his brothers and sisters.

Enoch was a boy of bright intelligence, and evinced very early a decided passion for figures and an inappeasable thirst for knowledge. He seemed to take to books as by a natural instinct, and learned the alphabet mainly by means of his inquiring the names of the letters ; and having ascertained the letters had a meaning when put together, he learned to spell and to read very much in the same way. His mother patiently answered all his questions, and was interested rather than annoyed by his inquisitiveness. By the time he was old enough to attend school he could read with fa- cility and was master of the first four rules of arithmetie, and had displayed a surprising aptitude in the management of figures. His opportunities of education were extremely limited. They did not excecd those of other farmers' sons of the period. After he had attained the age of eight years his services were needed on the farm, and he attended school only during the three winter months of each year. He used his opportunities, such as they were, so well that by the time he was fourteen his teachers were unable to give him further instruction, and he was employed as an usher in a country school within an hour's walk of his father's residence. The following year he undertook to teach the Radnor school, at which he himself had been a pupil. During the summer of 1792 he assisted his father on the farm, pursuing his studies at such intervals as he

could snatch from ordinary labor. Those studies were prin- cipally mathematical. He also read considerably of history and poetry, and began to practice English composition. He wrote verses, some of which found their way into the newspapers, and were praised doubtless beyond their de- serts by his friends and associates. Among other things he wrote a monody on the death of a young lady with whom he had some acquaintance, and to whose attractions he was not insensible. This production was rewarded by her grateful mother with a legacy of fifty dollars.

His experiment in teaching was entirely successful. . After a short engagement at the Radnor school, during the winter of 1792-93, he went to Philadelphia early in the spring for the purpose of placing himself under the instruc- tions of William Waring, who was at that time teacher of mathematics in the Friends' academy on Fourth Street. Waring was an admirable instructor, combining thorough knowledge with a happy faculty of demonstration and an ardent love of mathematical science. With him Enoch Lewis remained not quite six months, taking lessons one- half of each day and teaching a class of pupils of his own the other half. The yellow fever, which visited the city in 1793 as an epidemic, proved fatal to his instructor, and he afterwards pursued his studies unassisted. Having pro- cured a copy of Dr. Halley's " Treatise on Astronomy" in Latin, and being unable to find a copy in English, he set himself to work to master the Latin, and soon acquired a sufficient knowledge of the language to read Halley's book with facility.

In the following spring he happened to meet in the hall of the Philadelphia Library Maj. Andrew Ellicott, who, seeing him engaged in perusing Newton's " Principia," in Latin, entered into conversation with him, and was so struck with the accuracy and extent of his knowledge as to seek his acquaintance. Maj. Ellicott and Gen. Irwin had then been lately appointed commissioners, under an act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, to lay out certain towns in the western part of the State, and Enoch Lewis was invited to join the expedition as an assistant surveyor, After consulting his parents the invitation was accepted. As the Indians on the frontier had given indications of hostility, a small military force for the protection of the party was placed at the command of the commissioners, and accompanied the commission. The Indians, however, did not interfere with the expedition, though at one time an attack was expected and arrangements were made to repel it. One night the company lay upon their arms. True to his principles as a non-combatant, Enoch Lewis determined that he would take no part in the expected affray, even in self-defense, and rather than owe his protection to arms he would trust himself in the woods unarmed and alone. He therefore, taking a blanket with him, left the camp, and, going beyond the light of the watch-fires, lay down and slept beneath the branches of a tree, by which he was par- tially protected. The commissioners were both military men, and the persons with whom he was associated were as little like Friends as possible, yet in dress and language he adhered uniformly to the usages of the society. The com- pany finished its labors about Christmas, and Enoch re- ceived his discharge, having gained in a high degree the

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

respect and confidence of the commissioners, who had re- peatedly trusted him, though the youngest man in the party, with the command of detachments for special service. Maj. Ellicott furnished him unsolicited at parting with a strong recommendation as a teacher, and soon after his return he was appointed to take charge of the mathematical school in Friends'. academy ou Fourth Strect, where Wil- liam Waring had previously taught. His thorough knowl- edge and facility in explaining the most difficult problems made him successful as a teacher, and his school was soon filled to overflowing; but it was broken up by the yellow fever in the latter part of the summer of 1798, and the pupils were tardy in returning after the epidemic was passed, many of them having fled to the country to escape its ravages.

May 9, 1799, he married Alice Jackson, sixth daughter of Isaac and Hannah Jackson, of New Garden, Chester Co. The frequent recurrence of the yellow fever in Philadelphia, and the liability of his school being interfered with by it, induced him to give it up in the spring of 1799, and he immediately removed to Radnor and took charge of his father's farm. In the fall of the same year he was invited to assume direction of the mathematical department in the large boarding-school then recently established at Westtown by the Yearly Mceting of Friends of Philadelphia. He accepted the invitation, and continued to teach there with reputation and success till the spring of 1808. His father- in-law, Isaac Jackson, having, in the mean time, died, he purchased of the heirs a part of the farm, including the mansion building, and removed thither about the 1st of April of that year. He subsequently acquired title to the whole of the landed property of his father-in-law, consisting of about 230 acres. The summer was occupied in enlarg- ing the dwelling and providing accommodations for pupils, and Oct. 1, 1808, he opened his boarding-school at New Garden. His intentions were to give instruction only in mathematics, and he limited the number of his pupils to sixteen, but the pressure to exceed that number soon be- came irresistible, and his school increased to twenty-five, which was as many as he could accommodate. As the school increased, it became less exclusively mathematical than at first, and reading, English grammar, geography, and experimental philosophy became subjects of instruction. A telescope, microscope, and a considerable quantity of philo- sophical apparatus were purchased, and during the long evenings of winter frequent lectures were delivered, and experiments exhibited expounding the laws of gravitation, mechanical action, light, heat, and electricity. Mrs. Lewis frequently taught the reading and grammar classes. She was an admirable reader, and had a well-cultivated and ele- gaut taste in art and literature and a familiar acquaintance with the best authors. She had a sweet, flexible, orotund voice and a remarkable command of language, and could explain, with rare felicity, her views on any subject on which she chose to descant. Her person was tall and some- what stately, her manner graceful and even queenly, and at the same time most kindly. Every face brightened the moment she entered the school-room, and in her presence there was no indifference or inattention. In whatever she undertook to instruct she inspired an interest, and there

was no pupil but was desirous of winning her approbation. With many amiable qualities, which endeared her to all with whom she came in contact, she united great energy. In all respects she was a superior woman, and to her excel- lent management of her department much of the great suc- cess and popularity of the school during her lifetime was owing. In April, 1812, she contracted a severe cold, which settled on her lungs and terminated in confirmed consump- tion. She died Dec. 13, 1813, universally lamented. In the Society of Friends she had become distinguished for her eloquence as a minister, and she was greatly admired, wherever she was known, for her attractive conversation and engaging social qualities. In the year 1806 she intro- duced into the Yearly Meeting of Friends in Philadelphia, . in a speech of great power, the consideration of the ques- tion as to how far it was consistent with the testimony of the society against slavery to use the produce of slave- labor, or to be concerned in dealing in such produce. The speech made a profound impression at the time and caused considerable discussion. The formation of a free-produce society followed some years later, and was doubtless the re- sult of the attention of Friends being thus drawn to the subject. Between 1808 and 1812, Mr. Lewis, though ex- ceedingly busy with his farm and school, found time to re- vise for publication an edition of Bonnycastle's " Algebra," and an edition also of Simpson's "Plane and Spherical Trigonometry," adding to the original text some new demon- strations. The sickness of his wife suspended, in a great degree, his mathematical studies, and banished from his mind all thoughts of authorship. The loss of his wife was most keenly felt, and the immediate effect was a serious loss of health. At the pressing instance of his friends, on the 1st of April, 1814, he dismissed his school, uncertain whether he would ever resume it. A few weeks after, he received an invitation from Jesse Kersey, an eminent min- ister in the Society of Friends, to accompany him on a visit through the Southern States, to ascertain the sentiments of the leading men of the South on the subject of negro slavery. After an absence of five weeks he returned home, without having completed the thorough tour of the South that was contemplated, his companion and himself having become well satisfied that by the intelligent portion of the Southern people slavery was felt and acknowledged to be a dreadful curse, and the only question seemed to be how it should be got rid of.

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 167

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