History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 180

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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On Tuesday, May 1, 1849, whilst on his way to West Chester to attend the annual meeting of the Chester County Medical Society, he was attacked with apoplexy. He re- ceived prompt medical attendance, but the best efforts were unavailing. He died on the Sunday morning following.

Dr. Pennington was one of the earliest members of the Chester County Medical Society, having participated in its formation in 1828. He was fond of his profession, and took mueh interest in its advancement; was gifted with a strong and comprehensive intellect, and few men possessed a greater degree of firmness of purpose and boldness of hand to execute the trying duties of his calling. In the performance of his social and domestic duties he was ardent and unwearied. He was, indeed, a fond husband and affec- tionate father, a kind neighbor, a skillful physician, and a worthy citizen .*

PENNOCK, CHRISTOPHER, the ancestor of the Pennock family, married, prior to 1675, Mary, the daughter of George Collett, of Clonmell, county of Tipperary, Ireland. After residing there and in Cornwall, England, for some time, he emigrated to Pennsylvania about 1685. He was an officer in the service of King William of Orange, and was at the battle of Boyne, 1690. He died in Philadelphia in 1701. He left three children, two of whom died without issue. His son, Joseph Pennock, was born 1677, in or near Clon- mell, Ireland. In one of his passages to this country in a letter-of-marque he was captured by a French ship-of-war and confined in France as a prisoner upwards of a year, where he endured much hardship. In 1702 he settled in Philadelphia, where he engaged in the mercantile business. About 1714 he removed to West Marlborough township, of this county, and settled on a large tract of land, of which he became proprietor by virtue of a grant from William Penn to George Collett, his grandfather. He there, in 1738, erected a large mansion, " Primitive Hall," in which he died, 3, 27, 1771. He married Mary Levis, and had the following twelve children : Elizabeth, Samuel, William, Mary, Joseph, Nathaniel, Joseph, Ann, Sarah, Hannah, Levis, and Susanna. William married Alice Mendenhall, 7, 26, 1739, and had the following nine children : Moses, Joseph, Hannah, Phebe, William, Caleb, Samuel, Joshua, and Alicc. Samuel, born 11, 23, 1754, married Mary Had- ley, and had the following nine children : Margaret, Simon, Phebe, Moses, Elizabeth, John, Amy, Hannah, and Mary. Moses, born 10, 14, 1786, married Mary Jones Lamborn, daughter of Robert Lamborn and Martha Townsend, and had the following nine children: Thomazine, Jesse, Samuel, Hannah, Barclay, Morton, Edith, Joanna, and Sarah.

SAMUEL PENNOCK was born Oct. 8, 1816, married in September, 1853, Deborah Ann S, daughter of John Yerkes and Catharine Dull, of New Garden, by whom he has three children,-Frederick M., Charles J., and Theo- dore,-who with their father compose the firm of S. Pen- nock & Sons, of Kennet Square, manufacturers of Pen- nock's Patent Road-Machine. Mr. Pennock was raised on the farm, and at eighteen learned the carriage-making busi- ness. During the last year of his apprenticeship his father invented a grain-drill, and he joined his father in perfect- ing and patenting this the first successful one used in America. From this time until the Rebellion he and his brother Morton were engaged in the manufacture of these drills, with other agricultural implements. About 1861 they began to build cars, in connection with other ma- chinery, but in 1867, on the death of his brother, he dis- continued the making of cars. In 1870 the Pennock Manufacturing Company was organized, of which he has been president to this time. Mr. Pennock is a Republican in politics, and was one of the first in the county associated with the Abolitionists in the agitation of the question of slavery. Was born and raised in the Society of Friends, and about 1852-53 was interested in the organization of the Progres- sive Friends at Longwood. His father, Moses, filed the first disclaimer in the U. S. Patent Office in 1822, it being a dis- claimer on a certain part of a horse-rake. Samuel patented the road machine which he and his sons now manufacture. From 1875 to 1879 he resided with his family at Ithaca,

* Medical Reporter, vol. iii. p. 94.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

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N. Y., where his sons were in attendance at Cornell Uni- versity. He is a charter member of Kennet Lodge, No. 475, F. and A. M., and for ten years has belonged to the Masonic order. Kennet Square, when he removed to it, had only thirty-six houses, but is now a thriving borough.

BARCLAY PENNOCK, born in East Marlborough, Ches- ter Co., Jan. 26, 1821, died March 9, 1858, at the place of his birth, was the son of Moses and Mary J. Pennock. He early manifested an ardent desire for knowledge, and the early defects of his education were supplied by the exertions of a life devoted to study. Beginning at the school in the neighborhood, established by, and then under care of, the Kennet Monthly Meeting of Friends, of which society his parents were members, with Samuel Martin as his first teacher, he thence passed to the academy in Ken- net Square, where, under Joseph B. Phillips, he studied the higher mathematics and began Latin and French. Afterwards, in company with his friends, Joseph B. and John B. Phillips, he sought instruction in Greek and Latin and in general literature at Kinderhook, N. Y. He spent two years in Europe, studying the language and literature of Germany, Italy, and France and visiting places of his- toric interest, as one of the traveling-party led by Bayard Taylor, the story of which tour is so familiar to the reader of "Views Afoot."

In October, 1851, he again went to Europe, and after a short visit to Germany spent the winter in Copenhagen, studying the language of Northern Europe,-Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic. Here he enjoyed the personal acquaintance and friendship of Hans Christian Andersen and Mr. Goldsmith, another literary celebrity of Denmark.

For two months in the following spring he was in the 86

family of Count Frys, a Danish nobleman, on his landed estate, " Frysenborg," on the peninsula of Jutland, where he had been kindly introduced by Mr. Goldsmith. The count and countess had studied English, and were intelli- gent and sociable, and much facilitated Mr. Pennock's acquaintance with the domestic and social life of the better classes of the people.

Mr. Pennock then journeyed through the interiors of Sweden and Norway, chiefly on foot, and going as far north as Drontheim, where the nights in summer are only a pro- longed twilight. In this tour through the country among the peasantry, Mr. Pennock formed a high opinion of the brotherly kindness, manliness, and thrift of the people whom he met and observed at their every-day occupations and in their humble homes. At Stockholm he met some interesting personages, and among them Frederika Bremer, who had then recently returned from her American tour.

From Stockholm Mr. Pennock carried an introduction from the United States Minister there, Mr. Schroeder, to Mr. Willard Fisk, an American student at the University of Upsala, afterwards a professor at Cornell University, at Ithaca, N. Y. After visiting the porphyry quarries and copper-mines of Elfdal, he crossed the Dovrefield Moun- tains on foot. From Drontheim, going southward, " by fiord and by fell," he halted at Bergen, Christiania, and other prominent points, reaching Upsala again in the fol- lowing autumn.

After five years' study and observation he returned home, where he engaged in literary pursuits. He trans- lated " The Religion of the Northmen," a work written by Professor Keyser, of Christiania, Norway, which he pub- lished, with an elaborate " Introduction" by himself. This work met the approval and welcome of scholarly men.

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HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Mr. Pennock left ready for the press two other translations, one a romance of Iceland about the time of the introduction of Christianity there, which contains a description of the struggles attendant on the change from an old faith to a new one, together with descriptions of scenery, pictures of do- mestic life among the Icelanders, etc .; the other work is a volume of fireside legends, or " folklore," of ancient Scan- dinavia.

Barclay Pennock was married, Feb. 8, 1857, to Miss Lydia A. Caldwell, of Cayuga Co., N. Y., a lady of re- finement, literary acquirements, and intellectual force, who had published some poems of great merit, which lady died April 13, 1857. This was a terrible blow to Mr. Pennock, whose own health was impaired. In his well-kept diary, in the space allotted to that day, without a word, he drew with his well-skilled hand a mound with a cross at the head. He survived his wife less than one year.

Mr. Pennock had an active brain, a correct eye, and a deft hand; was fond of the principles of mechanism, and possessed of such skill in drawing as to have at one time considered whether to make it and engraving the profession and business of his life; but the bent of his mind was towards the scientific knowledge of mental phenomena. He was ambitious of a learned and noble manhood, but not of fame,-not for the vain glory of "a great name rattling behind him,"-but held for his motto :

" Do what all men, if they knew it, Could not choose but praise ; Then, should no one know you do it, Better price it pays."

PENNYPACKER .- This family, which the Hon. Isaac Anderson, in his sketch of Charlestown township, written more than fifty years ago, said was " rich, respectable, and numerous," had its origin in North Brabant, in Holland, and members of it still exist at Waalwyk, near Hertogen- bosch. About the year 1650 some of them went up the Rhine to Flomborn, a village near Worms, and became Germanized, changing their Dutch name Pannebakker (tile-maker) to Pfannebecker. The Weissthum, a manu- script record of this village from 1542 to 1656, signed by Johannes Pfannebecker, one of the town officers, is now in the possession of Samuel W. Pennypacker, Esq., of Phila- delphia. About 1699, Heinrich Pannebecker, born in 1674, came to Germantown, and from there moved to Skip- pack, where he died in 1754. He was the first German surveyor in Pennsylvania, and a large land-owner. Several of his grandsons crossed the Schuylkill into Chester County, -Jacob to Perkiomen Junction in 1772 ; Matthias to the Pickering, in 1774 ; Harman, John, and Benjamin to the Chester Springs in 1792, 1794, and 1796; and Henry to Vincent in 1794.

Nathan, son of Jacob, born March 2, 1771, died July 9, 1833, was a farmer, living on the Schuylkill, and an active Federalist and Anti-Mason. He was nominated for the Assembly in 1811, 1812, 1813, 1814, and 1830, and in the years 1812, 1814, and 1830 was elected ; but whether successful or defeated he always led his party ticket. In 1814 he was one of the conference committee to select a member of Congress, and in 1832 was on the Anti-Jackson electoral ticket.

Matthias, born Oct. 14, 1742, died Feb. 13, 1808, was a wealthy farmer and miller, and a bishop in the Mennonite Church. He was the first preacher in the old church at Phoenixville, and used the German, English, and Dutch languages. While the army was at Valley Forge a num- ber of officers were quartered at his house, and in 1777 the British committed a great deal of destruction at his mill. In 1784 he was appointed by the Assembly one of the commissioners to provide for the navigation of the river Schuylkill, and in 1793, when Philadelphia was ravaged by the yellow fever, he sent $240 for the relief of the poor in that city.

Several of his descendants have been people of note in Chester County. Elijah F., born Nov. 20, 1804, was elected to the Assembly in 1831, 1832, 1834, and 1835. During a part of this time he was chairman of the com- mittee on banks, and he was instrumental in having the Bank of the United States, after its charter had been with- drawn by the general government, incorporated by the State. During the session of 1832-33 he presented the bill for the incorporation of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and he was chairman of the committee having the matter in charge until it became a law. He was asso- ciated with Thaddeus Stevens in the organization of the public school system. He was elected secretary of the board of canal commissioners in 1836 and 1837, and a member of the board, with Stevens, in 1838. A sketch of his life as an early Abolitionist, and in connection with the Underground Railway, may be found in Still's " History of the Underground Railway." He was president of the Anti- Slavery Society of Chester County, and of the State society. He was the candidate of the Temperance party for State treasurer in 1875, and for many years president of the school board of Schuylkill township, and president of the Mutual Insurance Company of Chester County.

URIAH V. PENNYPACKER, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Pennypacker, was born in Schuylkill township, Oct. 6, 1809. He inherited a great love of humor and a taste for discussion and investigation. At an early age he be- came a member of a debating society that met at the Union school-house, in Charlestown township, and there displayed so much ability that his father induced him to commence the study of the law with his uncle, Matthias Pennypacker, at West Chester. Meantime he had been a pupil at Jona- than Gause's school, and had written many articles for the newspapers of the day. He was admitted to the bar, and at once became noted for his diligent study of the law and his close attention to his profession. In a few years he was admitted to the Supreme Court, where for many years thereafter he achieved some of his greatest triumphs. Of marked personal appearance (being six feet seven inches in height), and gifted with a fund of anecdote and illustration, he attained success as a political speaker, and was an active Whig as long as that party existed. He was one of the founders of the First Baptist Church of West Chester, and an incorporator of the Central Union Association, and its treasurer for twenty years, and was burgess of West Chester in 1845 and 1848. In 1855 his health declined and he was compelled to relinquish active work, and on the 16th day of August, 1867, he died from a stroke of apo-

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BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL.

plexy, and is buried in the Oaklands Cemetery. In all the relations of life he was faithful, honest, and true, and had the confidence and respect of the profession and people. He left four children, among them

Charles H., born April 16, 1845, a prominent lawyer, amateur scientist, and active politician, has been concerned in many important cases in Chester County, notably the Udderzook murder trial and the cases originating in the Pickering Valley accident in 1877.

The events in the life of Galusha, born June 1, 1842, colonel of the 16th U. S. Infantry, and brevet major-general U.S.A., the hero of Fort Fisher, and the youngest general officer during the Rebellion, have been detailed elsewhere in this volume, and may be found in all the histories of the war. His rapid elevation, due solely to gallantry and intel- ligence, from the rank of a private to that of a full briga- dier at the age of twenty-two; his seven wounds in eight months, and his five promotions within a year ; his gallant and hopeless charge at Green Plains, and his leadership, flag in hand, over the traverse at Fisher into the very face of Death, whom all thought he had met, signalize what in some respects was the most remarkable career of. that great struggle.

Matthias, born Aug. 15, 1786, died April 4, 1852, a farmer and miller on the Pickering, was elected to the As- sembly in 1826 and 1827. In 1837 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention. In 1831 he was chairman of the organization of the leading men of Chester County which made the first move towards the construction of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and he was one of the corporators of that road.

Dr. Isaac A. Pennypacker was born in Schuylkill town- ship on July 9, 1812. His father was Matthias Penny- packer, and his mother Sarah Anderson, a danghter of Isaac Anderson. He read medicine with his maternal uncle, Dr. Isaac Anderson, and Prof. William E. Horner, and graduated in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, March 26, 1835. He established himself in the practice of his profession in Phoenixville in 1836, and continued in the performance of its active duties until 1854, when he became Professor of the Practice of Medi- cine in the Philadelphia College of Medicine.

During his residence in Phoenixville he was active in plans for the improvement and incorporation of the town, of which he was burgess in 1849, 1851, and 1853, and for the dissemination of knowledge among its inhabitants. A portion of his leisure time was spent in giving lectures upon various literary and scientific subjects, and in gather- ing material for a history of Schuylkill township and Phœ- nixville.

In his professorship he displayed all the energy, manliness, integrity, and sagacity, as well as professional competency, which a laborious life of country practice had matured. As a teacher of medicine he was clear, thorough, and prac- tical, combining a due valuation of works of authority with ample exemplifications from his own experience. As a pro- fessor, as a man and a friend, he was beloved by his pupils, perhaps as much as any who ever occupied a similar sta- tion. He was endowed by nature with a noble and gener- ous heart, mild and affable in his manners, affectionate and

kind in his deportment, with a mind well stored with prac- tical knowledge always at command.

On May 9, 1839, he married Anna Maria Whitaker, eldest daughter of Joseph Whitaker, Esq., then a resident of Phoenixville.

Dr. Pennypacker died Feb. 13, 1856, and was interred in the Mennonist society's burying-ground in Phoenixville.

Dr. Matthias J., of Schuylkill, born Sept. 10, 1819, was elected to the Assembly in 1855.

Dr. Nathan A., of Schuylkill township, born Oct. 20, 1835, was captain of Co. K, 4th Penn. Reserves, during the Rebellion. In 1865, 1866, and 1867 he was elected to the Assembly. He was one of the commissioners to erect the State Hospital for the Insane at Norristown in 1877, and is a lieutenant-colonel on the staff of Governor Hoyt. For several years he has been president of the school board of Schuylkill township.

Samuel W., lawyer in Philadelphia, was born at Phoenix- ville, April 9, 1843. He is a Bachelor of Laws of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, and in 1867 was elected president of the Law Academy of Philadelphia. For several years he has been one of the editors and proprietors of the Weekly Notes of Cases, the leading law journal of Pennsylvania, and he is one of the compilers of a digest of the " English Common Law Reports," which was commenced by Chief Justice Sharswood. He has also given considerable atten- tion to local historical investigation. In 1872 he published the " Annals of Phoenixville," and in 1880 a paper on the "Settlement of Germantown." He was one of the Congress of Authors, who, on invitation, wrote sketches, which were deposited in Independence Hall July 2, 1876. Some of his articles have been cited with approval by scholars in England, Germany, and Holland.

Isaac R., born in Phoenixville, Dec. 11, 1852, and one of the editors of the Morning News, of Wilmington, Del., has written some local poetry, which attracted the attention of Longfellow, Whittier, and Whitman. Two of his poems, " By the Perkiomen" and " The Old Church at the Trappe," may be found in Longfellow's " Pocms of Places."

Want of space prevents us from giving more than a meagre sketch of this family, which has a history outside of Chester County. Its members held, Oct. 4, 1877, a reunion at Pennypacker's Mills, the site of Washington's camp, from which he marched to Germantown. The pro- ceedings were printed.

PHILIPS .- Joseph Philips was born in Wales in 1716. His wife, Mary, was born in 1710. In 1755 he came to this country with his wife, Mary, and three children,- David, John, and Josiah. A fourth, Joseph, was born after their arrival. The first place of settlement was near the present West Chester, but subsequently he purchased the farm now of Frederick Bingaman, in Uwchlan, on which he built a two-story log house. He was a weaver by occupation, and carried on the business in the unpreten- tious ways of those times. As the family grew up the business increased, until there were three shops, with three looms in each shop. Joseph Philips wore the small-clothes of the olden time, buckskin breeches with buckles. His native language was Welsh, which was spoken by all the family. He was of medium height, portly in appearance.

HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

e family lived with the simplicity which then prevailed, ng wooden trenchers at table. At first they attended Great Valley Baptist Church, thirteen miles distant, ; in 1771 a new church-the Vincent-was constituted .rer to their homes, of which they became members at organization. Joseph Philips died May 18, 1792, and wife, Mary, died Dec. 26, 1792. In the Revolution the nily were patriots. David, the oldest son, was a captain ; hn was taken captive in the Jerseys, and held in confine- nt in the prison-ship at New York, and Josiah was a itenant.

David and Joseph (2) emigrated to the western part of nnsylvania, and settled south of Pittsburgh. David be- ne a Baptist clergyman, and was pastor of Peter's Creek urch forty years. He died March 5, 1829, at the age eighty-seven years. He had thirteen children, and his scendants are scattered over Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, nnessee, and westward to the Pacific. Joseph Philips ed Sept. 3, 1832, at the age of seventy-eight. He had e children. He was for many years a justice of the ace.

John Philips settled on the old Lancaster road, near wningtown. He had seven children,-three sons and ir daughters. Some of his descendants were constituent embers of the Glen Run Baptist Church, near Penning- oville, now Atglen, and many of them now reside in At- en and its vicinity. Some of the principal branches of is family are Pettit, Miller, Young, Chalfant, Osborn, d Chamberlain. John Philips died May 22, 1790, at the e of forty-five.

Josiah Philips settled on the old homestead in Uwchlan. e had nine children,-five sons and four daughters. He Is a man of deep piety and fidelity to conviction. He ed March 1, 1817, at the age of sixty-six. Among his scendants are the surnames of Philips, Brenholtz, Joncs, vern, Dowling, Guest, Griffith, Bingaman, Rapp, Miller, ame, Lungren, Perkins, Smith, Tustin, Fussell, Trickett, ennithorne, Miles, Stiteler, Heffelfinger, Davis, Kiter, iches, Still, and Brinton.

The descendants of Joseph and Mary Philips are so imerous that it is impossible to give any detailed account them. It is estimated that they now number over seven- en hundred.

One characteristic of the family is its longevity, another that of a strong religious element. There are at present t less than fifteen ministers in the connection. Another ature is its strong intellectual vigor. From 1797 to the esent it has been a race of teachers. It has furnished llege professors, principals of academies and seminaries, d teachers of all grades. At the present time G. Morris iilips is a professor in the university at Lewisburg. In litical life its members have been justices of the peace, dges, and legislators, and have filled various other posi- ons. In their religious convictions they are almost en- ely of the Baptist faith and polity.

PHILLIPS, DR. JOHN BARNARD, son of Mahlon and nah (Barnard) Phillips, was born in Kennet in 1821, d died in 1877. He settled at St. Paul, Minn., where was a practicing physician, and held various positions of nor and trust,-acted as assistant Secretary of State, com-

missioner of statistics, and member of the State board of examining pension surgeons.

In 1851 he entered the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1855; in the mean time he had spent two years in study at Heidelberg, Paris, and Vienna. In pass- ing through Basle (Switzerland) in 1854 he was arrested and incarcerated on suspicion of being the Italian patriot Mazzini, who was at that time an object of vigorous search on account of a recent uprising at Milan. For this indig- nity the United States Government interfered, and he was reclaimed and compensated.

Dr. Phillips possessed qualities of a high order. He was an eager student of literature, science, and art. He was fond of music and poetry, and excelled in both. He translated German poetry, and, preparatory to publishing a volume of lyrics, visited New England authors and pub- lishers in 1876, and was cordially received by Longfellow, Holmes, Whittier, and others.

He died suddenly at St. Paul in his fifty-sixth year. The deceased was a great-grandson of Richard Barnard the third.

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History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, with genealogical and biographical sketches, Part 180

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