History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 121

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 121

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After his marriage Senator Sutton settled at Har- erford College Station, in Lower Merion township, in this county ; there he built himself an elegant home, and, amidst the most agreeable surroundings, has been blessed with a happy family of eight children, viz .: Howard A., William Henry, Jr., (who died in infancy,) Helen, Isaac C., Grace, Corona, Lucy and Henry Craig. The mother of these children is a lady of culture and refinement, a model wife and earnest church worker. Her home is made attractive by her pleasing manners and open hospitality, while her tender regard for the poor and the interest she takes in all good works en-

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THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS.

to the popularity of her husband, to whom she is a most devoted and worthy help-meet

The Senator has taken an active part in public affairs, and, besides the office be now holds, has re- peatedly been elected in the township as anditor, school director, etc. He is a member of the Me- thodist Episcopal Church and one of the Board of Managers of the Methodist Episcopal Church Exten- sion Society, Tract Society, Home Missionary So- ciety and American Sunday-school Union. During the last General Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, held in Philadelphia during the month of May, 1884, he was president of the Lay Dele- gate Conference. It was mainly through his efforts that the beautiful St. Luke Methodist Episcopal Chapel was erected at Bryn Mawr, and within these walls he has placed two fine memorial windows to the memory of his father and mother. He has been the treasurer of the board of trustees ever since the or- ganization of the church, and was for years the superintendent of the Sunday-school. Although he takes so active a part in all that pertains to the welfare of the church of his choice, he is very liberal and tolerant in his religious views, and has a kind regard for Christians of all shades of opinion, from those of the Roman Catholic Church to those of the Society of Friends. He also stands high in Masonry, being a Past Master of George W. Bartram Lodge, No. 298, of Media, a Past HI. P. of Jerusalem Chapter, No. 3, H. R. A., and the projector and first II. P. of Montgomery Chapter, No. 262, of Ardmore, Pa.

He was elected to the State Senate in 1882 as the nominee of the Democratic party, having a majority of five hundred and thirty-five votes over his com- petitor, William B. Rambo, one of the most accom- plished and popular Republicans in the county, and succeeded Dr. Lewis Royer, a Republican. Since he has been in the Senate he has so acted as to win the approbation of his constituents, irrespective of party. He is a progressive Democrat, in sympathy with all gen- uine reform, has served on a number of important com- mittees and been connected with many prominent bills.

He was the author of the following bills, viz .: "To abolish the office of sealer of weights and meas- ures ; " " Selling by false weights declared a misde- meanor; " " Authorizing the laying of foot-walks along turnpike roads in boroughs; " "Computation of time under statutes, rules, orders and decrees of court, etc. ; " " Authorizing Courts of Common Pleas to decree the satisfaction of mortgages in certain cases, upon payment of amount due in court ; " and he also took an active part in promoting the passage of the following acts, viz .: "To exempt mutual loan and building associations from taxation for State pur- poses ; " " Fixing the compensation of the judges of the Courts of Common Pleas," and "To make the salaries of Orphans' Court judges the same as judges of Common Pleas." For the leading part he took in the building and loan association bill he received from

the Building and Loan Association League, of Pennsyl- vania, a handsomely framed and engrossed set of resolu- tions of thanks. During the session of 1884-85 heintro- duced, among others, bills to "Create a Circuit Court of Appeals," to " Prevent the creation of irredeemable ground-rents," to "Facilitate the trials of actions of ejectments," and a hill "Creating a civil service," etc.

From his youth up the Senator had to work his own way. With energy and perseverance he suc- ceeded in preparing himself for his profession, and since then, by the continuance of those methods which characterized his youth, success has erowned his labors, and now he enjoys the fruits of his own industry.

A member of the Montgomery County bar says : " Mr. Sutton's characteristics as a member of the legal profession are found in his methodical habits of industry, thoroughness in preparation, clear percep- tion as the result of studious application, with a forcible delivery of speech when directed to a jury. In public life, as Senator from this district, he has moved to the front line of his associates in all import- ant matters of debate, maintaining a strict integrity ; and while Democratic in politics, has uniformly ex- hibited in a marked degree the courtesies of official life towards those differing with him in theories of political economy."

JACOB S. YOST .- The progenitor of the Yost family in Pennsylvania was Philip Yost, grandfather of Jacob S., who was born in Nassau, West Germany, in 1718, and emigrated to America about the year 1740, having married Vronicei Dotterer. He settled near Pottstown, and died in 1804, leaving, among other children, a son, John, who followed the life of a farmer, and resided in Pottstown. The children of the latter by a first marriage were Henry, Philip, Samuel, Polly and Betsey. By a second marriage, to Anna Maria Siewel, were children,-John, Catherine, Rachel, Jacob S. and Sarah. Jacob S. was born in Pottsgrove township, Montgomery Co., on the 29th of July, 1801, on the Yost farm, which has been in pos- session of the family for more than a century. lle became a pupil of the old Fourth Street Academy, in Philadelphia, and after mastering the rudiments became proficient in the higher branches of mathe- matics and surveying. For a brief period he engaged in teaching, but soon embarked in journalistic work, publishing and editing the Lafayette Aurora. He, however, eventually abandoned this enterprise, and, while employing his skill as a surveyor in adjacent portions of the State, followed the congenial pursuits of a farmer on the ancestral land, as had his father before him. He was, in 1826, married to Ann M. Childe, of Pottstown, whose four children were Anna Maria, Thomas W., Jacob A. and Annie R. (Mrs. George H. Gillet). He was again married, Decem- ber 26, 1844, to Mary A., daughter of J. L. and Mary Wood Harrington, of Troy, N. Y., a lady of brilliant intellectual gifts, who survives him. The intelli- gence and activity of Mr. Yost soon brought him

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

prominently before the people, his kindly nature and courtly manners enabling him to win favor with his party. The Democracy of his district, therefore, in 1836, nominated and elected him to the Assembly, to which office he was three times re-elected. Closing his services in the State Legislature in 1839, he was, in 1842, nominated and elected to Congress, and after his Congressional service continued an active pro- moter of the interests of his party, with which he wielded no little influence. On the accession of James Buchanan (his warm personal friend) to the Presidency, he was, in 1857, appointed United States marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which office he held until the breaking out of the

with others, in 1849, organized the First Presbyterian Church of Pottstown, of which he was the first ruling elder. His death occurred at his residence in Potts- town in 1872, in his seventy-first year.

WILLIAM A. YEAKLE, the grandson of Christopher and Susannah Kriebel Yeakle and the son of Samuel and Lydia Anders Yeakle, was born in Whitemarsh township on the 20th of October, 1824, his ancestors on both sides, from the eve of the Reformation, having belonged to the evangelical sect known as Schwenkfelders. The father of Mr. Yeakle gave his son a common-school education, such as was usual many years ago, consisting mainly of the rudimentary branches, to which he more recently added by intelli-

J.d. Cost

Rebellion, in 1861. He then retired from public life, ! and devoted his abilities to the care of his landed estate and his varions business interests. He was president of the West Buck Mountain Coal and Iron Company, of the Pottstown Gas Company, and director of the Philadelphia and Perkiomen Turnpike Com- pany and the Edgewood Cemetery Company. Mr. Yost was a man of wide information, clear judgment, a

judicious manager of business, and domestic in his

gent reading and study. He was early instructed in the various pursuits peculiar to the life of an agricul- turist, and in the spring of 1850 began an independ- ent carcer of farming on the attractive spot known as the family homestead, where he still resides. He was married, on the 25th of January, 1849, to Caroline, daughter of John Hocker, of Whitemarsh township,

and has children,-Annie HI. and Samuel. In 1850

his neighbors elected him a director in the school board of the township, which office he continued to fill for cighteen consecutive years. Ile declined re- election, though still remaining one of the auditors

tastes, regarding home as the most attractive spot on earth. He was religiously inclined by nature, and in early life connected himself with the German Re- formed Church. He later withdrew from it, and, | of the board. He was, in the summer of 1870, nom-

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THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS.

inated by the Republican convention of the county for the office of State Senator. He, however, magnan- imously withdrew from the contest in favor of IIon. Henry S. Evans, and three years later was again nom- inated and elected in a strong Democratic district. He served his term of three years, but declined a re-election. Mr. Yeakle has always manifested a deep interest in everything pertaining to agriculture, and has been for many years a member of the Mont- gomery County Agricultural Society. In 1877 he was chosen to represent that body as a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and on taking his seat drew the one-year term. On its expiration he was chosen for the succeeding term of three years, and again for the third term of equal duration. He en- joys in a high degree the confidence and esteem of

Berks County, at the expiration of which period he entered the office of Dr. Jacob Treon, of Rehrersburg, in that county, as a student of medicine. He subse- quently attended lectures at the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in the spring of 1843. He began the prac- tice of his profession at Rehrersburg, and some years later removed to Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill Co., Pa., where he remained ten years, making Philadel- phia his residence in 1859, and embarking in the wholesale drug business. In 1867, Dr. Royer returned to Trappe, where he continued to reside until 1884, when Norristown offered advantages which made him a citizen of that borough. He had meanwhile become largely interested in the manufacture of iron and the mining of coal in Huntingdon County, Pa., in con-

Dr. A. Yatche

his constituents, having frequently represented them in county conventions of his party and presided over the annual gatherings. As a legislator Mr. Yeakle represented the most elevated sentiment and feeling of the Republican party, his vote indicating the high moral principle which has actuated both his business and social life.

LEWIS ROYER, M.D., the third son of Judge Joseph Royer, who is elsewhere noticed in this volume, was born March 31, 1822, at Trappe, Montgomery Co., and received during his youth a thorough English education, first at school and later under a private tutor. He then engaged for three years in teaching in

nection with the Rock Hill Iron and Coal Company, and still gives his personal attention to this enter- prise. Dr. Royer married, in 1841, Miss Isabella, daughter of Dr. Jacob Treon, of Berks County, and has children,-Emma (wife of William Jansen, of Cincinnati, Ohio), Bella (Mrs. William Ashenfelter, of Pottstown), Ettie (MIrs. Jacob V. Gotwalts, of Norristown), Horace T. (married to Kate, daughter of Henry W. Kratz) and Louis C. (who married Lille, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Graybill, of Lancaster County, Pa.) Dr. Royer's political affiliations were formerly with the Old-Line Whig party, his first vote having been cast for Henry Clay. Later he became a Repub-

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

lican, was for a term coroner of Schuylkill County, ing the war of 1812 in the company of Captain Peter Hanley, of Pottstown. He became a widower, and was married again, in 1845, to Mrs. Mary Mals- and was in 1878 elected to the State Senate, where he served on various important committees. The doctor is director of the Tradesman's National Bank of | berger. By his first marriage there were six children,- Conshohocken. His religious views are in accord with the doctrines of the German Reformed Church. at Trappe, of which he is a member.

Mary (Mrs. Levi Wildermuth), John C., Elizabeth (Mrs. Rufus B. Longaker), Jacob C., Sarah (MIrs. William Wamback) and Abram C. Smith. By the second marriage there were no children. Abraham Smith died AApril 6, 1878, in his eighty-fifth year.

JOHN CHRISTMAN SMITH, of Pottstown, the subject of thissketch, was prominently identified with the business and political affairs of Montgomery County for nearly John C. Smith was born at Deep Creek, Frederick township, December 1, 1818. His youth was spent in Limerick township, on a farm, with forty years. His father, Abraham Smith, was born in Frederick township March 18, 1794, and was the son of Jacob and Margaret Smith, whose ancestors came from | the limited opportunities for education which the

Luis Reyes,

Germany and were early settlers in Pennsylvania. The schools of those days afforded. He came to Potts- mother of Abraham Smith was left a widow when he town in 1836, and entered into the business of a merchant with his father. The firm prospered for several years, and then Abraham Smith retired there- from. John C. Smith continued the business and that of boating for a long time. He alluded fre- quently and prondly, in his later days, to his life on the tow-path, and to the time when he arose to the dignity of a canal-boat captain and owner. was thirteen months old, and at the tender age of four years he was " bound out" to Jacob Fryer, where he was brought up in a Christian family. 1Ie served an apprenticeship to shoemaking with Michael Sensenderfer, of Limerick township. He was married, September 20, 1816, to Sarah Elizabeth Christman, of Limerick township, and afterwards moved to Deep Creek, in Frederick township, following his tradc. He subsequently engaged in huckstering and farming, and, moving to Pottstown about 1836, commenced the store-keeping business. Mr. Smith enlisted dur-

The question of forming a new county, to be called Madison, with Pottstown as the county-seat, was an exciting one for years, strongly advocated and as bitterly opposed in portions of Montgomery,

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THE PAST AND PRESENT POLITICS.

Chester and Berks Counties. John C. Smith became a leader in this movement, contesting the ground inch by inch, with many other friends of the measure, for many years. Mr. Smith was a stanch Democrat of the Jacksonian school, and soon became a " war- horse " in his party in Montgomery County. In the fall of 1852 he was nominated for State Senator, but after a most exciting struggle, in which politics was almost lost sight of and the friends and enemies of "Madison County " were arraigned against each other in the contest, Mr. Smith was defeated by thirty-two votes, by Benjamin Frick, Whig. In 1861 he was again nominated for State Senator and elected by seven hundred and sixty-seven majority over Henry W. Bonsall, a prominent member of the Montgomery County bar. He served in the sessions of 1862, 1863 and 1864, with such eminent men as Heister Clymer, Henry S. Mott, W. W. Ketcham, A. K. McClure, Morrow B. Lowrey, William A. Wallace, Harry White, William Hopkins, Benjamin Champneys and others. His term in the Senate was during the most trying period of the war for the Union. He participated in the election of Hon. Charles R. Buckalew as United States Senator in 1863, when the Democrats had but one majority on joint ballot in the Legis- lature. He was also a member during the famous deadlock session of 1864, when General Harry White, a Republican member, was absent, being held a prisoner by the Confederates at Richmond, and which left the Senate with sixteen Republican and sixteen Demo- eratic members.

Mr. Smith served on several important committees and was an active, attentive and influential Senator. For the third time, in 1872, he received his party nomination for Senator ; but the district was then com- posed of Montgomery, C'hester and Delaware Counties. Although his popularity ran him largely ahead in his own county, he could not overcome the strong majorities of the other counties, and William B. Waddell, Republican, of West Chester, was elected. John C. Smith was chief burgess of Pottstown in 185], 1852 and 1853. He also served two or more terms in the Town Council, and held various other honorable positions in the borongh. He was for several years president of the Perkiomen and Reading Turnpike Company, also of the Schuylkill Bridge Company at Pottstown and the Pottstown Gas Company, also a director of the Colebrookdale Railroad, holding these four positions up to the time of his death. As a busi- ness man Mr. Smith was careful and far-sighted, investing chiefly in real estate. He was for a consider- able period prior to his decease the largest property- holder in Pottstown. As a political leader he was untiring, making hosts of friends, who stood by him in every political struggle. He was connected with various enterprises having for their object the benefit of the town and community. When Trinity Reformed Church, of Pottstown, of which he was a member, was built, he gave a very liberal sum to aid in its

erection, and continued a generous contributor to the different benevolent enterprises of the church up to the time of his decease. He was widely known among the leading men in business and State affairs in Pennsylvania. John C. Smith was married to Rebecca Maria, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Pennypacker, of New Hanover township, Montgomery Co. To them four children were born,-Sarah E. (Mrs. William f. Rhoads), Mary Ann (Mrs. Henry G. Kulp), Henry (deceased), Audora P. (Mrs. Charles F. Sisler). His wife survives him. He died on the 21st day of July, 1882, in his sixty-fourth year.

Election Districts in Montgomery County .- Prior to the year 1777 the entire city and county of Philadelphia (a portion now Montgomery) held their general elections at the State-House, in the city of Philadelphia.

At an election held at the State-House in Philadel- phia October 3, 1775 the following is the vote of the entire county and city for sheriffs, coroners and representatives,-Representatives : John Dickinson, Esq., had 3122 votes; Michael Hillegas, 3111 votes; George Gray, 3107 votes ; Thomas Potts, 3103 votes; Samuel Miles, 3098 votes ; Joseph Parker, 3077 votes : Robert Morris. 1882 votes ; Jonathan Roberts, 1700. Sheriff's : William De Wees, 2985 votes; John Bull, 1338 votes. Coroners : Robert Jewell, 2213 votes William Moulder, 1602 votes.

At a general election held for Governor in Novem- ber, 1875, one hundred years later, on the same territory, Philadelphia City and Montgomery County, the vote stands as follows,- Philadelphia : Hartranft had 65,262 votes; Pershing had 47,980 votes; Brown had 647 votes. Montgomery County : Hartranft had 8364 votes ; Pershing had 8339 votes; Brown had 647 votes. Total vote in the two districts, 120,836.

An act of the General Assembly was passed June 14, 1777, dividing the city and county of Philadelphia into three election districts.

The freemen of the townships of Cheltenham, Abington, Moreland, Upper Dublin, Horsham, White- marsh, Springfield, Plymouth and Lower Merion were to constitute the Second Election District, and were ordered to hold their general elections at the public- house formerly kept by Jacob Coleman, Germantown.

The freemen of the townships of Douglas, New Hanover, Limerick, Frederick, Marlborough, Upper Hanover, Upper Salford, Worcester, Providence. Perkiomen, Skippack, Lower Salford, Franconia, Hat- field, Towamenein, Whitpain, Norriton, Upper Merion, Montgomery and Gwynedd were to constitute the Third Election District, and were ordered to hold their general elections at the house of Jacob Wentz, in Worcester township.

By an act of the Legislature passed September 10, 1784, Montgomery County was taken off of a part of Philadelphia, and is the same to-day as when first laid out.

The new county was now formed, and it became

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

necessary to change the places of holding the general elections. An act of the Legislature was passed September 13, 1785, which divided the county into three election districts, as follows :

The freemen of the townships of Norriton, Plym- outh, Whitpain, Upper Merion, Lower Merion, New Providence (now Upper and Lower Providence), Worcester, Skippack and Perkiomen, being the First District, were ordered to hold their general elections at the court-house, in the borough of Norristown.

The freemen of the townships of Whitemarsh, Springfield, Cheltenham, Abington, Moreland, Horsham, Upper Dublin, Gwynedd, Montgomery, Hatfield, Towamencin, Lower Salford and Franconia, being the Second District, were ordered to hold their general elections at George Eckhart's tavern, in the township of Whitemarsh. The freemen of the town- ships of Limerick, New Hanover, Douglas, Upper Hanover, Marlborough and Upper Salford, being the Third District, were ordered to hold their general elections at Michael Krepse's tavern, in New Hanover township.

By the aet passed March 31, 1797, the county was again divided into five election districts, as follows :

First District, composed of the townships of Norri- ton, Providence, Worcester, Plymouth, Whitpain, Upper Merion and Lower Merion, were ordered to hold their general elections at the court-house, in the borough of Norristown.

Second Distriet, composed of the townships of Whitemarsh, Springfield, Upper Dublin and Horsham, were ordered to hold their general elections at the house of Philip Riffert, in Whitemarsh township.

Third District, composed of the townships of Abing- ton, Cheltenham and Moreland, were ordered to hold their general elections at the house of William MeCalla, in Abington township.

Fourth District, composed of the townships of Gwynedd, Montgomery, Towamencin, Hatfield, Fran- conia, Lower Salford, Upper Saltord and Skippack, were ordered to hold their general elections at the house of Christian Weber, in Towamenein township.

Fifth District, composed of the townships of Limer- ick, New Hanover, Upper Hanover, Douglas, Marlborough and Frederick, were ordered to hold their general elections at the house of Catharine Snyder, in New Hanover township.

By aet of April 8, 1799, the Sixth District was thus formed: "That the township of Limerick, and such parts of the townships of Douglas and New Hanover as lie southwest of a line beginning where the line of Berks County crosses the Fox Hill. in Douglas town- ship aforesaid ; thence extending along the sunimit of said hill until it intersects the road leading through Falkner's Swamp to Philadelphia, near the house now occupied by the Rev. Frederick Wyereland ; then extending down the same road to the line of Limerick township aforesaid, being a part of the Fifth Election District in Montgomery County, and shall hold their

general elections at the house now occupied by George Pfleiger, in Pott's town, in the township of Donglas. And the township of Upper Hanover, Marlborough and Frederick, and so much of the townships of Douglas and New Hanover as lie northeast of the line of the Sixth Election District, being a part of the Fifth Election District, shall hold their general elections at the house of Henry Creps, in New Han- over township."

By the act of January 19, 1802, the Seventh Elec- tion Distriet was formed as follows :

" The townships of Limerick, Skippack and Per- kiomen, and that part of Providence which lies west of Skippack and Perkiomen Creeks, shall be called the Seventh District, and shall hold their general elections at the house now occupied by David Dewees, in the township of Providence. And the townships of Upper Hanover, Marlborough, Upper Salford and Franconia shall be called the Eighth District, and shall hold their general elections at the house now occupied by John Scheid, in Summeny-Town, in Marlborough township."

Act of March 31, 1806: " That the township of Lower Merion be formed into a separate election district, to be called the Ninth, and shall hold the elections at the house of Titus Yerkes, in said township." The township now (1883) is divided into four separate elec- tion districts, and at the election held in November last polled in the aggregate 1136 votes for Governor.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 121

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534