History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 176

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 176

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).

firmities induced him to retire from the active duty of the ministry. He was a good preacher, and the fact of having been a hard Bible student did much in establishing this character for him. As a man, he was plain, grave, and re- served, and in the pulpit solemn, affectionate, natural. He is said to have preached the first temperance sermon in this county. His ordinary plan of sermonizing was textual. He was strictly Calvinistic in doctrinal views, and wove a strong warp of doctrines in all his pulpit discourses. Few men have passed through so long a life with a character so free from blot or stain.

His character as a man, as a Christian, and as a minister was irreproachable. His memory is embalmed in many hearts as a good and devoted minister.

His children were nine in number, viz .: Eliza B., Sarah, Robert, Lydia, Margaret, William C., Gideon F.,

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

665

Charles, and Hannah Jane. His son Robert married Ra- chel Smedley, and left five children,-Charles C., Thomas M., Gideon S., Francis J., and Leonard K. Moore, all of whom now reside in Upper Uwchlan township, Chester Co., and own adjoining farms.

DR. JOSEPH MOORE was the second son of Nathaniel and Hannah Moore, and was born about the year 1758, in the township of Goshen, Chester Co., Pa. His mother was the widow of Henry Collins, her name previous to her first marriage being Hannah Hunt. We are unable to learn anything definite with regard to his education, either pre- liminary or medical. From what is known of him, how- ever, we have reason to believe he obtained a tolerable English education, and that he attended the lectures at the medical school in Philadelphia ; but, as was usual at that day, he took no degree. His preceptor was Dr. Kennedy, of East Whiteland township, Chester Co. After com- pleting his studies he commenced the practice of medicine, residing in the same house in which he was born. In the year 1780 he married Sarah Jefferis, daughter of Emmor and Elizabeth Jefferis, of East Bradford township, Chester Co., and by this connection he had five children,-four sons and one daughter. Their names were Joseph, Emmor, Jefferis, James, and Eliza. Joseph studied medicine with Dr. Jacob Ehrenzeller, and emigrated to Mississippi, where his other brothers and sister, who married Passmore Hoopes, also in a few years took up their abode. About the year 1792, Dr. Moore removed from Goshen to West Chester, where he continued the practice of his profession until within a short time of his death, which took place about the 5th of July, 1799, of consumption. His wife survived him about one month. Dr. Moore was a man highly re- spected, and he was considered skillful in his profession, much esteemed as a citizen, and kind, attentive, and popu- lar as a physician. He died at the age of forty-one years, deeply lamented by his numerous friends.

MORGAN, JACOB B .- James Morgan and his wife, Jane, with their children, Margaret, John, Evan, and James, natives of Nantmeal, Radnorshire, Wales, set sail for this country in 1691. Both of the parents died at sea, and the captain of the vessel having been prevailed upon to enter a Maryland port, they were buried at the head of the Bay of Bohemia. All of the children settled in this county, and James and Evan subsequently became distin- guished as clergymen. John purchased a farm near Morgan's Corner, in Radnor township, now Delaware County. His grandson, Mordecai Morgan, was appointed a lieutenant of the Pennsylvania militia, July 15, 1776, participated in the battle of Brandywine, in September, 1777, and died in 1794, leaving eight children. Of these, Dr. Mordecai Mor- gan became a surgeon in the United States navy, and at the time of his death was fleet-surgeon of the West India Squadron. He was a man of literary taste and culture, and made translations of several of the Italian poets. In " Hazard's Register" may be found a biographical sketch of the noted Dr. John Davis, written by him. John Mor- gan, another brother, was born in Radnor township in 1786, and learned the trade of a carpenter. In 1808 he re- moved to Charlestown township, and opened a store at the Fountain Inn. Soon afterwards he built the General Pike

tavern, at which place he was for a number of years post- master and justice of the peace. About 1818 he purchased a farm, a large portion of which he retained until his death in 1871, and until a populous town had grown up around and beyond it. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1828 and in 1839. He was president of the Phoenixville

JACOB B. MORGAN.

Bridge Company, a street bears his name, and he died at the advanced age of eighty-seven years, possessed of wealth and universally respected. His second son was Jacob B. Mor- gan, born in 1814, who was educated in the common schools and West Chester Academy. He subsequently taught school and entered a store. He was postmaster of Phoenix- ville under the administrations of Presidents Pierce and Buchanan. In 1868 he was elected cashier of the National Bank of Phoenixville, which position he has held to the present time, and his management of the bank has been marked by a large increase of his business and a great ex- tension of public confidence. He was married in 1849 to Lavina C., daughter of John Vanderslice, by whom he has had four children. He has served as justice of the peace, been five times chief burgess of the borough, a di- rector in the school board, and treasurer of the same. In 1873 the teachers gave him an elegant testimonial for his ability, suavity of manner, and general conduct in his ad- ministration as a school director. He has served in the borough council (1857), and was vice-president of the Per- severance Building and Loan Association. He was cashier of the Bank of Phoenixville, organized under State law on March 12, 1859, and which he held until it was merged with the National in 1868, when and in which he held the same position, and which he now so efficiently fills. He is a fine business man, conspicuous for his straightforward conduct in life and for his constant efforts to aid in every- thing tending to improve the borough and its people, by whom he is universally loved and respected.

MORRISON, JOHN A., M.D., is of Scotch-Irish de- scent. His great-grandfather, Gabriel Morrison, came to

666

HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

this country from Ireland about the year 1735, and settled near where his great-grandson, John A., now resides, who was born in 1814, in the southern end of Lancaster County, Pa., but who for forty-four years has been a resi- dent of Chester County, located in Cochranville. His life has been employed in the practice of medicine and in the pursuit of agriculture and the mercantile trade, with the exception of a few years spent in public life. He repre- sented Chester County in the Thirty-second Congress, from 1851 to 1853, and was eight years in the customs service in Philadelphia, a portion of the time as United States special drug examiner, and afterwards as United States appraiser. He is now retired from public life, although maintaining his relations to the Democratic party and interested in both local and general affairs; and now, at the age of sixty-seven years, is enjoying that unobtrusive repose which he prefers to the turmoils of politics or the vexations of office.

MOWRY, CHARLES, was a native of Litchfield, Provi- dence Co., R. I., where he was born in 1777. His career in Chester County as editor and publisher of the Temperate Zone and American Republican is given in the article on newspapers.

On his removal to Harrisburg, after disposing of the American Republican, he purchased the Harrisburg Re- publican, the publication of which he continued under the title of the Pennsylvania Intelligencer. This paper he eventually disposed of to Simon Cameron, who had been associated with him as journeyman and co-partner in its management, in order that he might assume the duties of canal commissioner, to which he had been appointed, and which he held during the administration of Governor Shulze. During his career as editor he acquired con- siderable celebrity as a political writer, and exercised a marked influence upon the policy of his party. Mr. Mowry's wife was Mary, daughter of George Richmond, of Sads- bury township, to whom he was married March 31, 1812. He died July 29, 1838, leaving six children,-three sons, since deceased, and three daughters, one of whom is the widow of Samuel D. Young, and another, the youngest, the wife of Hon. David Fleming, a leading member of the Harrisburg bar.

MORTON, JOHN, one of the most sterling patriots of our Revolutionary era, was born in the township of Ridley, Chester (now Delaware) Co., in the year 1724. His fam- ily was of Swedish origin. He was chosen a member of Assembly in 1756, in which situation he was continued nearly twenty years; and wherever good service was re- quired in any important department of the government, so long as he lived there we are we are pretty certain to find the name of John Morton. When the day of trial came on the great question of independence, the Pennsylvania dele- gation to the Continental Congress, on the 4th of July, 1776, stood four in favor and five against that momentous proposition. The delegation consisted of the following members, viz. : John Morton (Speaker of the Assembly at the time of their appointment, Nov. 4, 1775), Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, James Wilson, John Dickinson, Charles Humphreys, Edward Biddle, Thomas Willing, and Andrew Allen, Esquires. The first four were in favor of

the measure, but, being in a minority, the State appeared to be against it.

There were but five of the Pennsylvania delegation, however, occupying their seats on the occasion of the final vote. These were Franklin, Wilson, Morton, Humphreys, and Willing. The first three voted in favor of the Declara- tion and the last two against it, and thus the vote of Penn- sylvania, which, on the adoption of the resolution of inde- pendence on the 2d of July, had been cast against it, was now cast in favor of the Declaration, and the unanimity so important was secured.

Dickinson and Morris, who had voted against the reso- lution of independence on the 2d of July, were not present on the 4th of July, when the final vote was taken, or if present did not occupy their seats. It is said by some writers that they were not present, and that their absence was brought about by the influence of Samuel Adams, one of the warmest friends of independence. Thomas Mckean, one of the delegates from Delaware, in a letter written in 1817, says that they were present, but did not take their seats on that day. At all events, they did not vote, and thus permitted the Declaration to be adopted. The proba- bility is that, seeing that all the colonies except Pennsylva- nia had now a majority of delegates in favor of independ- ence, and that the Declaration would certainly be adopted, they were not willing by their votes to place Pennsylvania in the position of being the only colony in opposition to it, and hence, although they doubted the expediency of the measure, withdrew, and permitted the vote of the delega- tion to be cast in its favor.

John Morton lived in a section of the country which was very hostile to independence. His neighbors and friends, almost to a man, entertained views on this subject different from his own, some because they were favorably disposed to the crown, and others because they believed the day of reconciliation had not passed, and that the time had not come when the colonies could safely sever their connection with the mother-country. When the subject was before Congress, they sought to induce him to vote against the measure, and admonished him of the disastrous results which would inevitably follow if the colonists should fail, as in their opinion they undoubtedly would. Their efforts, however, were of no avail, and he enrolled his vote in favor of independence, and thus secured that unanimity so essen- tial to the success of the cause.

John Morton did not live to see the result of the effort to achieve independence. Having affixed his signature to the immortal document, he closed his valuable life in the month of April, 1777, at the age of fifty-three years. He was so conscious that he had performed an act which would commend him to posterity that on his death-bed, when the censure of his friends was strongly present to his mind, and when the cause of the colonists was gloomy in the ex- treme, he sent to them this prophetic message : " Tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowl- edge it to have been the most glorious service that I have ever rendered to my country."

As a private citizen, he possessed an unusual share of es- teem ; his moral character was above all stain, and every act of his life, of which we have any knowledge, shows that

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

667

he possessed that rarest of mental faculties,-good judg- ment. He was the first of the signers of the Declaration who died.

It may be added that when the British army passed through the neighborhood of his late residence, after the battle of Brandywine, they despoiled his widow and children of property to the value of three hundred and sixty-five pounds,-Pennsylvania currency, nearly equal to one thousand dollars,-a very considerable sum in those days.

ROBERT W. MORTON .- James Morton emigrated from the northern part of Ireland, near Belfast, just previous to the Revolutionary war. He first settled near Hoopes' Mills, in Honeybrook township, and married, after his ar- rival in Chester County, Isabella Mann, who was born in his native place in Ireland. To them were born six chil-

section of the county, and does a very large business, and has the entire confidence of the business world and public generally. He was married April 16, 1846, to Jane, daughter of John Robinson, Esq., of Salisbury, Lancaster Co. He has served three terms of three years each as school director, and is very active in school matters. He is strongly attached to the principles of the Republican party, but has always refused to be a candidate for office. He is of Scotch-Irish extraction on both sides of his family, and comes of the old Presbyterian or Seceding element. He owns a farm in Lancaster County, on which is a saw- and clover-mill, also a farm in Honeybrook township, on which is a grist-mill. He is a man highly esteemed in the business and social world.

JOHN W. MORTON .- Robert Morton, son of James, the

DR. If Morton

dren,-three sons and three daughters,-of whom Robert was the eldest. He was born Oct. 2, 1779, and married Elizabeth Moore (his first wife), by whom Robert White- hill Morton was born, Oct. 2, 1817. He worked on his father's farm until he was twenty-one, and was educated at the neighborhood subscription schools, working in the sum- mer and attending school in winter. He studied surveying with Squire Beynard Way, a noted surveyor of that day. He began farming on his own account in 1842, in which he continued to 1855 on the old farm. He then farmed in Lancaster County until 1869, during which time he was ten years justice of peace, and engaged in conveyancing and surveying. The First National Bank of Honeybrook was organized February, 1868, with $100,000 capital, and he was in April following elected its cashier, which position he has held to this time. This is the only bank in this

emigrant, from near Belfast, Ireland, married for his second wife Nancy Walker, by whom he had only one child, John Walker. He was born April 29, 1824, in Honeybrook township. He spent his boyhood on the farm, and received the usual educational advantages the country schools then afforded. He was married Nov. 27, 1862, to Victoria, daughter of William E. Lewis. She died April 12, 1876. He was the second time married, March 12, 1878, to R. E. Dorlan, daughter of Samuel B. Dorlan, of Dorlan's Mills, Upper Uwchlan township, by whom he has had one child, John Ralph, born March 13, 1879. He owns, in the southern part of Honeybrook township, one hundred and fifty acres of land, a part of the original Morton homestead tract. In 1879 he was elected a justice of the peace for the term of five years; the same office his father, Robert, and his two half-brothers, Robert W. and William, once filled.

668

HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

J. W. Marton

He served in the 47th Regiment of Pennsylvania militia (three months' men) in the summer of 1863, in the Rebellion. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a ruling elder in the same, as was his father before him. He has been Sunday-school superintendent. He is a Republican in politics, and has ever been active for his party. He re- moved in 1878 from his farm to the borough of Honey- brook, where he now resides in easy retirement, renting out his fine farm. His father, Robert, died April 11, 1852, aged seventy-two years; his mother, Nancy (Walker), died May 10, 1865, aged seventy-six years. He enjoys the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens.

MOYLAN, STEPHEN, a Revolutionary officer, was col- onel of the 4th Pennsylvania Regiment of light dragoons. He was born in Ireland in 1734, and at the breaking out of the Revolution offered his services to Gen. Washington. He was at Germantown, Oct. 4, 1777, with Wayne in the expedition to Bull's Ferry, July 20, 1780, and in 1781 accompanied Gen. Greene to the southward. Nov. 3, 1783, he was made a brigadier-general by brevet. The following particulars appear in Saffell's " Records of the War," page 51: "Sept. 30, 1779, Paid by Mr. Pierce to Patrick Bennett, for recruiting the 4th Regiment of Light Dragoons, to be accounted for by Colonel Moylan, $5000." Col. Moylan's name also appears in the list of officers of the Continental army entitled to half-pay .- Safell, p. 427. Col. Moylan was appointed register and recorder of Chester County on the 7th of April, 1792, to succeed Persifor Frazer, de- ceased, and resided on a farm in the township of Goshen, in said county. He held those offices until Dec. 13, 1793, when he was succeeded by Col. John Hannum.

NEWLIN, NICHOLAS, a gentleman in easy circum- stances, with his wife and children, emigrated from Mount- mellick, in the county of Tyrone, Ireland, in 1683, and settled in Concord, (now) Delaware County.

It is claimed by some of his descendants that he was an English gentleman of ancient family, and that he was de- scended from the De Newlandes, who were manor lords under the early Norman kings of England. Be this as it may, he was a member of the Society of Friends, and brought with him to this country a certificate of member- ship, in which the meeting expresses dissatisfaction with his intended removal, and intimates that he was fearful of suffering there for the testimony of Jesus, or that he coveted worldly liberty .* Whether the intimation therein

* This certificate of membership is as follows :

" At the request of Nicholas Newland, we do hereby certify that the said Nicholas Newland acquainted our Mens' Meeting with his in- tention of removing himself and his family out of this nation into New Jersey or Pennsylvania, in America, and we have nothing to charge against him or his family, or to their conversation in the world, since they frequented our Meetings, but has walked honestly among men for aught we know, or can hear of by enquiring, which hath been made; but our Friends Meeting are generally dissatisfied with his so removing, he being so well settled with his family, and having suffi- cient substance for food and raiment, which all that profess Godliness in Christ Jesus ought to bo content with, for we brought nothing into this world, and we are sure to take nothing out, and he hath given us no satisfactory reason for his removing; but our Godly jealousy is that his chief ground is fearfulness of sufferings here for the testi- mony of Jesus, or coveting worldly liberty, all which we certify from our Mens' Meeting at Mount Mellick, 25th of 12mo., 1682.

"And we further certify, that enquiry hath been made concerning the clearness of Nathaniel and John Newland, sons of said Nicholas Newland, from all entanglement of marriage, and that they are re- leased for aught we find.

669

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

conveyed as to the cause of his removal was correct or not, his conduct here showed him to be a man firm in the per- formance of what he believed to be his duty under all circumstances.

In 1685 he was appointed to a seat in the Provincial Council, and was for a time one of the justices of the courts of Chester County. He had a large estate in Concord and Birmingham, and built a mill at the former place in very early times. Friends' meetings were held at his house as early as 1687, and after his death were continued for a number of years at his widow's. He died at Concord in May, 1699, and was there buried. Elizabeth Newlin, his widow, died in 1717. Their children were Nathaniel, John,-who died unmarried,-Elizabeth, and Rachel.

Elizabeth Newlin, in 1683, married Thomas Burton, of Rasenagh, Queens Co., Ireland. They had children,- Mary, Elizabeth, Rebecca, and Martha. She married a second husband, William Pagett. Her father devised to her 250 acres of land in Birmingham.

Rachel Newlin, in 1685, married Ephraim Jackson, of Edgmont. They had nine children,-John, Joseph, who died young, Joseph, Nathaniel, Josiah, Samuel, Ephraim, Mary, and Rachel.

NATHANIEL NEWLIN, son of Nicholas, was born about the year 1660, and emigrated from Ireland with his father in 1683, and April 17, 1685, married Mary Mendenhall, who came from Wiltshire, England. He resided at Con- cord, and was quite a prominent person, both in the meetings of Friends and in the community at large. In 1698 he was elected to the Provincial Assembly as a repre- sentative from Chester County, and continued in that body at different times for several years. In 1700 he was one of the committee to consider and draw up a new frame of government and to revise the laws. He was subsequently appointed one of the proprietaries' commissioners of prop- erty, and a justice of the county courts. In 1722 he be- came one of the trustees of the general loan-office of the province, which position he continued to hold till the time of his death, when he was succeeded by Justice Richard Hayes.

He continued to reside in Concord as long as he lived, and owned a large amount of real estate there as well as elsewhere. A brick dwelling-house, which he erected at Concord in 1699, was standing until within a few years past. In 1724 he became the owner of over 7000 acres in one tract, since known as Newlin township. It was in relation to the occupancy of this tract that he had the dispute with the Indians.

Although advanced in life, he married again, 2, 17, 1729, Mary Fincher, and his death occurred in May of the same year. His widow removed to Londongrove, where she died the next year. Nathaniel Newlin was the only son of Nicholas Newlin who left issue. His children were,-1. Jemima ; 2. Elizabeth ; 3. Nicholas ; 4. Nathan- iel ; 5. John ; 6. Kezia ; and 7. Mary.

1. Jemima Newlin was born 12, 9, 1685-6; married 10, 4, 1712, to Richard Eavenson, of Thornbury.

2. Elizabeth Newlin was born 1, 3, 1687-8; married in 1713 to Ellis Lewis, of Radnor, and left four children,- Robert, Mary, Nathaniel, and Ellis. They resided in Kennet.

3. Nicholas Newlia (2) was born 3, 19, 1689 ; married, in 1715, Edith, daughter of Nicholas and Abigail Pyle. She was born 1, 20, 1695, in Bethel. He became the owner of 250 acres in Birmingham which had belonged to his grandfather, Nicholas Newlin (1), but he continued to reside in Concord.

4. Nathaniel Newlin (2) was born Jan. 19, 1690-1, and in 1710-11 married Jane, daughter of Richard and Jane Woodward, of Middletown. He served in the Provincial Assembly for a number of years as a representative of Chester County. He resided at Concord, where he died in February, 1731-2. His widow died in 1737. They left nine children,-Nathaniel, Joseph, Nicholas, Nathan, Ra- chel, Elizabeth, Jane, Mary, and Martha.

5. John Newlin was born 12, 28, 1691; married, in 1711, Mary, daughter of Richard and Jane Woodward, of. Middletown. She was a sister of his brother Nathaniel's wife. He died in 1753. His widow, Mary Newlin, of Concord, died 11, 24, 1790, having attained the great age of one hundred and one years. She preserved all her facul- ties to the last moment of her life. They had children,- Nathaniel, John, Jane, Rebecca, Mary, and perhaps others. His sons appear to have settled in Newlin township, but their parents continued to reside in Concord.

6. Kezia Newlin was born 12, 22, 1695-6, and married William Baily, of Kennet.

7. Mary Newlin was born 2, 2, 1699, and in 1724 married Richard Clayton, of Concord. She left no chil- dren, and her property was inherited by her eldest brother, Nicholas Newlin.

Nathaniel Newlin (3), son of Nathaniel (2), married Esther Midkiff, who survived him. His son, the Hon. Nathaniel Newlin (4), was a member of the State Senate, and of the Convention which framed the constitution of 1790. It is said he was offered a seat in Congress by the dominant party on several occasions, but refused it.

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 Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 176

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