History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 129

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

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

tract for the sale of real estate. The most important criminal case was that of the Commonwealth vs. Murphy et al. indicted for the murder of Thomas Faulkner, in which Mr. Dickinson was associated with the Hon. B. M. Boyer for the defendants.

MILLER D. EVANS, son of William Evans, was born November 3, 1836, at Downingtown, Chester Co., where he received his rudimentary and academi- cal education. He studied law in the office of Henry W. Smith at Reading. In November, 1864, he was admitted to the bar in Montgomery County, and located as an attorney at Pottstown, where he still remains in practice. He is solicitor for the borough of Pottstown, for the National Bank of Pottstown and for the Warwick Iron Company.

JOSEPH FORNANCE, son of the Hon. Joseph For- nance, of Norristown, was born in April, 1841, in Washington, D. C., where his father was then residing as a member of Congress for the district embracing the county of Montgomery. Joseph Fornance, Jr., was educated at Treemount Seminary, Norristown, then under charge of the Rev. Samuel Aaron. After leav- ing that school he was engaged in teaching for several years, and in 1864 commenced reading law in the office of G. Rodman Fox, Esq. He was admitted to the bar in April, 1866, and from that time to the present bas been engaged in the practice of his pro- fession at Norristown.

HENRY U. BRUNNER, son of Frederick Brunner, was born in Worcester township December 23, 1840. He received his preparatory education in the common schools and at the Trappe Academy, and in Septem- ber, 1860, entered Franklin and Marshall College, where he was graduated in July, 1864. He then be- came a teacher in the academy at Irwin Station, Westmoreland Co., Pa., where he remained about one year, reading law at the same time in the office of Gen. Henry D. Foster. He was admitted to prac- tice at Greensburg, Pa., in August, 1866, and in Sep- tember following was admitted in Montgomery County, and began practice in Norristown, in the same office which he still occupies. In the trial of Thomas F. Curley for the murder of Mary Ann Whitby, Mr. Brunner was counsel for the defense. Previously (October, 1871) he had been elected district attorney, and served for the term ending in January, 1875.

HENRY R. BROWN, a native of Philadelphia, was horn on the 15th of December, 1844. Having received his preparatory education in the public and private schools of that city, he (in November, 1863) entered as a law-student the office of the Hon. Dan- iel M. Smyser, at Norristown, where, in Novem- ber, 1866, he was admitted to the bar, being soon afterwards admitted in Philadelphia, where he then commenced the practice of his profession, though at the same time residing in Norristown. After about four years' practice in Philadelphia he engaged in mercantile pursuits in that city, and so continued

until November, 1874. He then removed to California, where he remained two years, during which time here- ceived from the controller of the currency the appoint- ment of national bank examiner. In the fall of 1876 he was called to Washington, and was afterwards sent to Kansas as receiver of a national bank at Wichita, in that State. At the conclusion of this service he returned East, and early in 1877 commenced the practice of his profession at Norristown. He is now a member of the Law Library committee, and has been a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, being elected in the spring of 1881 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Wallace J. Boyd.

JACOB V. GOTWALTS is an attorney of nearly eighteen years' practice at Norristown, where he located in the business of his profession immediately after his admission to the bar, in August, 1866. He was solicitor for the borough of Norristown one year, and district attorney for three years following his election to that office in 1875. During that time, in pursuance of the duties of his position, he prosecuted and procured the conviction of three persons for murder in the first degree, viz .: Thomas F. Curley, for the murder of Mary Ann Whitby, in Upper Provi- dence; Blasius Pistorius, for the murder of Isaac Jaquette, of Norristown; and a young man named Wahlen, for the murder of Max Hugo Hoene, at Elm Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, in 1876. Of these murderers, -all of whom were convicted on cir- cumstantial evidence,-Curley was executed, Wahlen committed suicide in jail after conviction, and Pistorius is now serving a life sentence in the East- ern Penitentiary, he having been granted a new trial with change of venue to Philadelphia, where he was again convicted in the first degree and received the corresponding sentence, which was afterwards com- muted by the Board of Pardons to imprisonment for life.

Mr. Gotwalts is a native of Lower Providence township, Montgomery Co., born May 13, 1841. He received a preparatory education at Frecłand Semi- nary, and in September, 1856, entered Dickinson College, where he was graduated in June, 1860, being anniversarian of the Union Philosophical Society. In the fall of 1860 he went to Cape May, where for one year he was employed as a private tutor. For two years following this he was in charge of a private school at thesame place, and was afterwards principal of the High School at Cape Island City, in which position he continued till 1865, when he removed to Norristown, and was employed as a teacher in the Treemount Seminary for about one year, during which time he commenced the study of law with the Hon. George N. Corson, under whose preceptorship he afterwards con- tinued until his admission to practice.

THEODORE W. BEAN,1 the subject of this sketch, was born in Norriton township, Montgomery Co.,

1 Ry M. Ange.

Theo MBram

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THE BENCH AND BAR.

Pa., May 14, 1833. He was the youngest son of pursued a methodical course of self-culture from and William and Mary Bean. His father, eldest son of Jesse Bean, was born November 11, 1788, and died .January 29, 1855. Jesse Bean, the only child of John Bean, was born January 26, 1761, married Hannah, daughter of Edward Lane, and died July 28, 1847. His father, John Bean, died 1799, at the age of seventy-six years. It is known that John was born in America, and it is believed that his parents, James and Mary, emigrated to this country from Wales about 1700.

Jesse Bean settled in Norriton, on the "Cold Spring" farm of three hundred acres. He was su- perintendent of the Ridge Turnpike Company for many years, and elected to the State Legislature from 1811 to 1813. His son William succeeded him in the occupaney of the same premises, and was elected a member of the State Legislature from 1840 to 1843, inclusive. He was prominently associated with the agricultural interests of the county until his death. The family were connected with the St. James' Epis- copal Church, at Evansburg, where repose the remains of four generations.1

Mary Weber Bean, mother of Theodore W., now surviving at the age of ninety years, was the only daughter of John Weber, and was born November 18, 1794. John Weber, her father, died 1815, aged forty-six years, and was the son of Christian Weber, who was born April 20, 1744, and died June 20, 1815. This Christian was the son of Christian Weber, who was born in Amsterdam, Holland, 1697, and mi- grated to this country in the ship "Good Will," Captain Crocker commanding, sailing from Amsterdam March 6, 1727, and reaching Philadelphia September 6th fol- lowing. The emigrant father settled in Worcester township, and became a landholder in 1732, taking the oath of allegiance to the British erown in 1734. He died June 15, 1773, The Weber (or Webber) an- cestry of Christian have been traeed to Bavaria, from whence they migrated to Holland in the fifteenth century. Christian Weber, the maternal great-grand- father, was identified with the patriots of the Revolu- tion, having served with the Pennsylvania troops in that struggle. John Weber, the maternal grandfather, was prominently connected with publie affairs, serv- ing in the State Assembly from 1808 to 1811, and elected Speaker of that body during the last year of his term.

Theo. W. Bean was educated in the common schools of his township, and at the age of seventeen (May, 1850) he apprenticed himself to Isaiah Richards, then earry- ing on the smithing business at Jeffersonville. After serving his time (three years) he commenced business for himself at the Trooper village. Ile continued here until 1859, when he purchased the Richards homestead. where he had learned his trade. Mr. Bean

after his apprenticeship, having in view the practice of law. He was married January 4, 1860, to Hannah Heebner, youngest daughter of John Heebner, of Lower Providence. Mrs. Bean's paternal ancestry is of German nativity. Her father, John Heebner, was born January 9, 1802; married Susannah Barndollar, January 7, 1827, and died June 8, 1850. He owned and operated the Perkiomen Mills, now located at Yerkes Station, and was a school director in Lower Providence township for many years, being an active supporter of the common-school system. His father, Christopher Heebner, died August 21, 1827, aged fifty- eight years, and his grandfather, Christopher Heebner, died August 21, 1827,-the same day and year. David (Huebner) Heebner, the emigrant ancestor, and his wife, Maria, came to Pennsylvania in 1734. He died December 27, 1784, and his widow June 11, 1793.

The war for the Union swept our subject, with thousands of others, into the ranks of the army. He and his brother, Edwin A., enlisted in Company L, Seventeenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, August, 1862, re- cruited by Captain D. B. Hartranft, He was ap- pointed first sergeant upon the muster in of the com- pany at Harrisburg, and subsequently elected second and first lieutenant before the command left the State. He was promoted to captain May 30, 1863. The com- mand entered the Army of the Potomae in the winter of 1862, and participated in all its subsequent campaigns. The Fifth Squadron of the regiment to which his com- pany was attached was called, by order of General John Buford, to division headquarters, soon after the battle of Gettysburg, for escort and special duty. Captain Bean served on the staff of General Buford until the death of that officer, February, 1864, and on the staff of Buford's successors, Generals Torbet and Merritt, being with the latter while in command of the cavalry corps Army of Potomac at the battle of Five Forks, and in the pursuit of Lee until the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox, April 9, 1865. Hle was breveted major and lieutenant-colonel for " gallant and distinguished service " in the army.

Upon his return to eivil life he immediately resumed business and study, and was admitted to the bar of Montgomery County March, 1869, when he entered upon the duties of his profession. In March, 1870, he was appointed deputy escheator for the county of Montgomery ; was solicitor for the county treasurer from 1872 to 1877, solicitor for the borough of Norris- town for the year 1880, and solicitor for the sheriff's office from 1880 to 1884.

Colonel Bean brought with him to the bar mature years, experience and self-possession, with pleasing address and tireless industry. He is fertile and exhaustive in effort, and never hopeless in a cause which he espouses. To these qualities as a law- yer must be added that of a public-spirited citi- zen. His fondness for historical truth and logical deductions has made him a popular orator with

1 Major James Bean, who served throughout the Revolution, was a collateral relative of Jesse Bean, and is also buried at St. James'.

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the masses. Among his best efforts may be named the "Historical Oration " at the Valley Forge centennial, June 19, 1878; General Zook memorial, Gettysburg, Pa., July, 1882; and Memorial Day ora- tion, Lancaster, May, 1883. His writings, some of which are noted in Mr. Buck's bibliography, page 350, are mostly of a historic character, the last of which being the "History of Montgomery County," for which this outline of the editor's life and family is furnished. Colonel Bean and family now reside in Norristown, He has three children,-William Heebner, now a cadet at the United States Military Academy, West Point ; Mary L., the only daughter ; and Lane S., in his seventh year.

J. WRIGHT APPLE, son of John D. Apple, Esq., who for many years was one of the most prominent men of the upper portion of Montgomery County, was born in Marlborough township December 30, 1845. After a rudimentary training in the local public schools, he attended Frederick Institute and Freeland Seminary (now Ursinns College), where his education was completed. In 1867 he commenced the study of law in the office of George N. Corson, and at the conclusion of his course was admitted to the bar, August 17, 1869, immediately after which he began the business of his profession in Norristown, and soon acquired a good practice. In 1872 he re- ceived the appointment of prison inspector, and served in that office three years. On the 1st of Janu- ary, 1876, he was appointed solicitor for the commis- sioners of Montgomery County, and at the general election in 1877 he was chosen district attorney for the term of three years. Soon after assuming the duties of that office it became his business to assist Henry S. Hagert, Esq., district attorney of Philadel- phia, in the second trial of Blasius Pistorius for mur- der, in the courts of that county, to which the case had been carried on a change of venne, and where the trial resulted in a second conviction of the prisoner. In 1880, Mr. Apple was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, in which his fellow-townsman, General W. S. Hancock, was nominated for the Presidency.

NEVILLE D. TYsox was born at Baltimore, Md., October 11, 1846. His education was commenced under private tutors, and completed under the pre- ceptorship of William Arrott, at Penllyn. During the war of the Rebellion, in the years 1863 to 1865, he was in the naval service of the United States, as captain's clerk in the steam frigate " Minnesota," flag- ship of Admiral Lee (on whose staff he served), and afterwards in the sloop-of-war " Canandaigua," of the South Atlantie blockading squadron. In 1867 he com- menced the study of law in the office of his brother, Carroll S. Tyson at Norristown, and was admitted to the bar in August, 1869. One of the most important cases in which he has been engaged during his fifteen years' practice at Norristown, was that of Meyer and Dickinson, assignees, etc., 78. Beekman Remington ;

which was argued twice before Judge Ross, once before Judge Stinson and once before Judge Boyer. Directly connected with this, and a part of the same matter, were the following-named cases, viz .:- John Fallon, trustee, vs. Joseph Shaw et al., bill in equity ; and the Beneficial Saving Fund Society of Philadel- phia, assignees, etc., rs. John R. Barker, Jr., adminis- trator of James H. Bryan, in both of which Mr. Tyson appeared as counsel.

JOHN W. BICKEL is a native of Pottstown. He was educated at the State Normal School at Millers- ville, from which he graduated in 1864, and soon afterwards commenced teaching in Schuylkill County, in which he continued for two years, holding the position of principal of the public schools at Port Carbon. He then began the study of law in the office of the Hon. Francis W. Hughes, at Pottsville, and at the conclusion of his course was admitted to the bar of Schuylkill County, being afterwards (October 1871) admitted in Montgomery County. He entered practice at Pottsville, where he remained until April, 1875, when he returned to his native county, and located in business in Norristown. He has held the position of solicitor for the sheriff and for the pro- thonotary, and now holds the office of district attorney, to which he was elected in 1883.

JAMES W. SCHRACK was born in Norristown May 4, 1851, and was educated at Franklin and Marshall College, where he was graduated in 1871. He studied law in the office of George W. Rogers, Esq., and was admitted to practice in November, 1873. In that year he was presiding officer of the Chi Phi college fra- ternity of the United States. From the time of his admission to the bar he has been located in the prac- tice of his profession at Norristown.

J. P. HALE JENKINS was born January 13, 1851, in Hatfield township, Montgomery Co .; was educated in the public schools and at Lexington Seminary, and is also a graduate of Crittenden's Commercial College. In April, 1872, he entered as a law student in the office of the Hon. George N. Cor- son. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1874, and immediately commenced practice in Norristown. He is now solicitor for the directors of the poor of Mont- gomery County, having held the position since 1881 ; has been solicitor for the Excelsior Saving Fund and Loan Association of Norristown, also solicitor for the borough of Norristown from 1882, and is solicitor for the Line Lexington Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany. He is also one of the directors of the Stony Creek Railroad Company. He was the delegate for the Seventh Congressional District of Pennsylvania in the Republican National Convention of 1884.

AARON S. SWARTZ was born in Towamensing town- ship February 24, 1849. His early education was obtained in the public schools and in Freeland Sem- inary, after which he entered Lafayette College, at Easton, Pa., and graduated at that institution in 1871. He then taught in the schools of Phoenixville one

Mit Largelove

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year, and in 1872 he became a law pupil of G. Rod- man Fox, Esq. He was admitted to practice in May, 1875, and commenced business in Norristown, at the same time holding the position of deputy clerk in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to which he had been appointed be- fore his admission. This position he resigned in 1877, when he received the nomination for the office of district attorney. He was also the Republican nom- inee for the judgeship in 1881. He is now solicitor for the board of commissioners of Montgomery County, having held the position since 1882. The most important of the earlier cases in his practice was that of the Commonwealth against Moses Sutton (colored), for the murder of Mrs. Roeder, of Blue Bell. In this case (which was tried in 1878) he appeared as junior counsel, with B. E. Chain, Esq., for the de- fense. The trial resulted in the acquittal of the pris- oner.

IRVING P. WANGER is a native of Chester County, born in North Coventry township March 5, 1852. After receiving a rudimentary education in the com- mon schools he became a student in the Hill School, at Pottstown, where he remained until June, 1869. He then engaged in teaching until August, 1870, when he became a clerk in the office of the prothonotary of Chester County. In February, 1871, he was advanced to the position of deputy prothonotary. In January, 1872, he commenced the study of law in the office of Franklin March, Esq. On the 1st of December, 1872, he was appointed deputy prothonotary of Montgomery County, and thereupon removed to Norristown, where he was admitted to the bar in December, 1875, and immediately afterwards began practice as an attorney. Since that time he has held for two years the position of solicitor for the School Board of Norristown, has held, by election, the office of burgess of the borough, as also that of district attorney for three years snc- ceeding his election in 1880.

LOUIS M. CHILDS was a law student in the office of G. Rodman Fox, Esq., from 1874 until his admission to the bar, in March, 1876, immediately following which he began the business of his profession in Nor- ristown, where he has remained in practice to the present time. He held for one year the position of solicitor for the Borough Council of Norristown, and is now solicitor for the prothonotary. Mr. Childs is a native of Norristown, born August 19, 1852; re- ceived his preparatory education at the public schools, then entered the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1872. After that time, and before his commencement of the study of law, he was inter- ested and engaged in iron manufacture in Adams County, Pa.

SAMUEL MOONEY, JR., studied law under the pre- ceptorship of the Hon. B. Markley Boyer ; was ad- mitted to the bar December 16, 1876, and commenced practice in Norristown, where he was born, April 8, 1854, and where, in its public schools, he received his

education preparatory to his entrance into the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, in which he was a student prior to the commencement of his law study.

GEORGE G. HOOVER, a nephew of Judge Hiram C. Hoover, and a law pupil of the Hon. Charles Hun- sicker, was admitted to practice in Montgomery County June 18, 1877. He is a native of Gwynedd towuship, in this county, born May 28, 1853; was educated at the Norristown High School and at Treemount Semi- nary under Professor John W. Loch, and afterwards graduated at the National School of Elocution and Oratory iu Philadelphia. From the year of his admis- sion to the present time he has been engaged in the practice of his profession at Norristown.

NICHOLAS HENRY LARZELERE .- When Louis XIV., for political reasons, October 22, 1685, revoked the Edict of Nantes, France lost by the Huguenot ex- pulsion a half-million of her best citizens. The broth- ers Nicholas and John Larzelere emigrated to Amer- ica and settled upon Long Island. Nicholas after- wards removed to Staten Island, where he raised a family of four children. The eldest son was likewise named Nicholas, who, in 1741, moved into Bucks County, this State, and settled in Lower Makefield. He raised a family of eight children, died at the age of eighty-four and was buried in the Episcopal grave- yard at Bristol. His eldest son, also Nicholas, was born on Staten Island in 1734, married Hannah Britton, of Bristol, and moved into Bensalem, where he owned a large estate and raised ten children. He fought in the Revolution and died at the age of eighty- four. The eldest son of the last Nicholas was Benja- min, who married Sarah Brown, of Bristol, and moved into that township, had eight children and died at the age of eighty-four. On the old homestead the pres- ent borough of Bristol is partly built. Britton, the youngest son of the third Nicholas and brother of Benjamin, fought in the war of 1812, and in 1878 died in Philadelphia at the advanced age of ninety-six.

The eldest son of Benjamin was Nicholas, who came into Montgomery County about the year 1825 and settled in Abington. He married Esther, dauglı- ter of Colonel Jeremiah Berrell, of Abington, had twelve children, died at the age of sixty-seven and was buried in the burial-ground of the Presbyterian Church at Abington. His widow still survives at the age of eighty-two. Of his twelve children, eleven are still living. The second eldest son was Benjamin, the father of the present Nicholas, who was born on the 7th of March, 1851, in Warminster township, Bucks Co.

The genealogy on the maternal side is not so clearly traceable. His mother was Mary Maxwell, eldest daughter of Henry Maxwell, of Moreland, who mar- ried Ann Buskirk, eldest daughter of Jacob Buskirk, whose father came from Holland in the latter part of the seventeenth century and married Elizabeth Law- rence, eldest daughterof Jonathan Lawrence, who was the eldest son of John and Mary Lawrence, who emi-

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grated from England to America in the year 1713 and settled in Massachusetts Colony. Mary Lawrence was the daughter of Charles Townley, of Lancashire, England, and the genealogies of the Townleys of Lan- cashire run back to the reign of Henry VIII.

The subject of this sketch grew up on his father's farm in Warrington township, Bucks Co., whither he had removed. He attended the public schools in the winter-time, and worked on the farm through seed- time and harvest, after the fashion of farmer youths. At eighteen he entered the Doylestown English and Classical Seminary, where he prepared for college, teaching part of the time; was matriculated as a member of the freshman class in Lafayette College in September, 1871, and graduated in 1875. During his junior year he won the first honors in the junior oratorical contest between Franklin and Washington Halls. In his senior year he was elected the represent- ative of Lafayette College to the inter-collegiate ora- torical contest which took place in the Academy of Music, in New York City, on the 13th of January, 1875. In this contest Amherst, Princeton, Williams, Cornell, College of the City of New York, Columbia and Lafayette strove for honors. In September, 1875, he entered the law-office of George Ross, Esq., of Bucks County, and after reading under his direction for one year, entered the office of Hon. B. Markley Boyer, of Norristown, and was admitted to the bar of Montgomery County September 28, 1877. In the practice of his profession he rapidly gained distinc- tion, and now enjoys a large and responsible practice. Among the more important cases in which he achieved success was Bradfield et al. versus Insurance Company, and the Gaffey manslaughter case. He was also the solicitor of the Free Bridge Association, which, after one of the fiercest contests ever waged in the county, was successful in throwing open to public travel, free of toll, the De Kalb Street bridge, which crosses the river Schuylkill at Norristown.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 129

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