History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 203

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 203

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).

until the land on which they stood was taken by the . purchased from the Swedes, at Swedes' Ford. A short city for park purposes.

In 1876, Mr. Wheeler re-entered and held a con- trolling interest in the firm from which he had re- tired twelve years previously,-that of Morris, Tasker & Co. Not content, as yet, with the vast business cares which he had taken upon himself, Mr. Wheeler, in 1878, entered, as senior partner, the firm of John Farnum & Co., of 233 Chestnut Street, one of the heaviest dry-goods firms in the city. This step was taken in order to carry out the wishes of Mr. Farnum (then deceased), whose daughter, Susan, Mr. Wheeler had married in 1866.

Mr. Wheeler was a man of strictest integrity and of thorough business education and character, possess- ing, in a remarkable degree, the faculties of quick perception, keen discrimination and ready judgment. He was a kindly, genial man, of a warm and gener- ous nature. In person, he was tall and erect, of com- manding presence and distinguished appearance. His health was excellent, and continued apparently unimpaired until his death, which occurred, sud- denly, in New York, on the 16th of August, 1883.

At the time of his death Mr. Wheeler was the directing head of two of the largest business-houses of Philadelphia, and of one of its leading financial in- stitutions. Besides these, he held positions in the boards of direction of the North America and Girard Insurance Companies, the Lehigh Coal and Naviga- tion Company, the Cambria Iron Company, the Pottstown Iron Company, the Seaboard Bank of New York, and the First National Bank of Bradford, Pa. The remarkable executive ability of Mr. Wheeler was attested by the impetus which his labors gave to the | chased from the estate the homestead farm, where he several mercantile, manufacturing and financial con- cerns with which he was associated, and especially by the success which followed his efforts to create, in- corporate and establish the Central National Bank.

In his polities Mr. Wheeler belonged to the party

distance below that place, on the west side of the Schuylkill, was the homestead farm of Andrew Craw- ford, a son or grandson of this first Crawford family, who was living there prior to the beginning of the present century. He had one daughter, Elizabeth, who became the wife of Hugh Long, and four sons,- Samuel, Andrew, William and Joseph, who was the father of him to whom this biographical sketch has especial reference. The wife of Joseph and mother of John Y. Crawford was Hannah Yocum (originally Jocum), a descendant of a Swedish family of that name, who came to Pennsylvania before the time of William Penn, and were among those of their coun- trymen who formed the settlement at Wicaco. After- wards the Yocums were settled at Swedes' Ford, and thence the different branches of the family became spread out and extended through various localities in the country between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers.

John Y. Crawford, one of the family of six children of Joseph and Hannah Crawford, was born at his parents' home, Prospect Hill, in the northwest part of Lower Merion township, May 14, 1822. His educa- tion, commenced in the common schools of the town- ship, was continued at the somewhat celebrated school of Joshua Hoops, at West Chester, and finished by a full course of study at the Treemount Seminary, Nor- ristown, under the Rev. Samuel Aaron. On leaving school he decided to engage in the business in which he had been reared, and which best suited his tastes and inclinations, that of farming. He entered upon it with energy, and at the death of his father pur-

continued to live until his death. In his chosen vocation he was progressive, conducting his business in accordance with intelligent and advanced ideas, and ever ready to adopt well-tested improvements in methods of agriculture. With these characteristics,

Tomas Wheeler

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LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP.

it was almost a matter of course that his extensive , Orphans' Conrt. To settle so large an estate in so farming should result, as it did. in success.

short a time, dividing it amicably among so many heirs, was justly regarded as a remarkable business achievement.

Besides his agricultural operations, he was also engaged in other business enterprises, which proved profitable. During the prosperons times which pre- In matters relating to public improvements and the welfare of the community in which he lived, Mr. Crawford was as progressive in his ideas, and as energetic in action, as he was in the prosecution of his private business. Perhaps the most forcible illustra- tion of this was presented in the attitude which he as- sumed with regard to the improvement of the high ways ceded the financial panic of 1873 he made quite heavy investments in various company stocks, which afterwards [appreciated in value to an extent that added largely to his wealth. He was one of the original stockholders of the First National Bank of Conshohocken, and a member of its board of directors from its organization until his death. With reference | in his part of the township. When he became pro- to his promptness and executive ability in matters of prietor of the property which had been his father's,

Police B. Compras

business, the following facts are related : His bach- on Prospect highlands, scarcely a mile from the elor uncle, Andrew Crawford, in his old age, wishing Schuylkill, there was no way by which the river could be reached with a wheeled vehicle of any kind with- out great difficulty. The road (if road it could be called) leading to West Conshohocken was little more than a rude cart-path, passing, for a great part of its length, through a rugged ravine, along the course of a small, rapid stream and over rocks and other obstrne- tions, which made it almost impassable at all times and it became entirely so when the stream was swol- len by freshets. Under these circumstances Mr. Crawford determined to procure the construction of a new and serviceable road to the river ; but he soon to he relieved of the care of his large property, placed it in the hands of his nephew, John Y. Crawford, constituting him his attorney in fact for its manage- ment, and afterwards making a will and appointing him executor. In 1870 the uncle died at his nephew's house, at the age of ninety-four years, and within three months from the day of his death the executor, Mr. Crawford, had settled the estate (amounting to about two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars), dividing it among the nine heirs to the entire satis- faction of all, and had filed his final account in the

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

found that in this he was to meet a general and stub- born opposition, even from those who would be greatly benefited by the improvement. He caused the mat- ter to be brought before a jury, where he himself made a strong and convincing argument against able coun- sel who had been employed by the opposition. The jury reported favorably, but the opposition continued, and it was not until after nine successive juries had made favorable reports that the road was finally laid out and built. Very few, if any, who are acquainted with the history of that broad, smooth and solid high- way will now deny that for its construction, and for the advantages which have resulted from it, the publie are chiefly indebted to the good judgment, energy and perseverance of John Y. Crawford.

Mr. Crawford was married, September 19, 1867, to V. Virginia Wright, daughter of Archibald and Jane Wright, of Philadelphia. Their children are Mary Virginia, Annie Elizabeth, John Yoenm and Andrew Wright Crawford. Mr. and Mrs. Crawford were pro- moters and liberal patrons of the Mount Pleasant Sun day-school whose meeting-place was in the commodi- ons stone sehool-house, standing within a few rods of their dwelling, and which was built chiefly by his generous donations. Annually, for several years, the teachers and pupils of the Sunday-school (as also many who were not members of it) were invited to Mr. Craw- ford's house and grounds for the enjoyment of the "strawberry festival," at which they were always pro- fusely entertained at his expense. At one of these festivals at Mr. Crawford's grounds (in June, 1873) fully three hundred persons were in attendance. In a report of it, furnished for publication by one who was present, the writer said : "Ilere we found a happy group, the scholars and friends of the Mount Pleas- ant Sunday-school, with a host of other friends. Here was music and flags, singing by the school and strains of music by the Independent Band, of Mana- yunk. . As we wandered around among the . large assemblage we could scarcely decide who were the happier, the friends invited by the generous giver of the festival, the children laughing and romping in the very exuberance of joy or Mr. Crawford, the au- thor of the occasion. Here was a literal fulfillment of the text 'It is more blessed to give than to receive ;' for if the guests enjoyed the occasion, he who planned and executed this most successful festival had a double joy. . . It was a gala-day long to be remembered by all present."

In 1874, Mr. Crawford's health became impaired so seriously as to induce him to journey South for its re- covery. He visited the White Sulphur Springs, in Virginia, where he remained some time with appar- ently good results, but some time after his return it was found that the improvement had been but tempor- ary ; his malady came back upon him, and he died at his home on the 15th of April, 1875, in the fifty-third year of his age. His remains were interred in the Mont- gomery Cemetery, at Norristown. He left no will, and

the estate was administered on by his widow, Mrs. V. V. Crawford, who is now residing in the family man- sion. The landed estate of Mr. Crawford consisted of the homestead farm property, and two other farms in Lower MMerion township (aggregating four hundred and nineteen acres), and a farm of one hundred acres in Chester County. Inclu led in the Lower Merion lands was the Brookfield property of two hundred and thir- teen aeres, which has since been sold to the Hon. Wayne McVeagh.

DAVID MORGAN.

The father of David Morgan, of Lower Merion township, was William H. Morgan, who was a son of Welsh parents, born in London, England, on the 27th of February, 1780. At about the age of fifteen years (his mother being then dead) he came to America with his father, who made his home in Philadelphia, and died there a few years after his arrival. The son, William H., learned the trade of gold-beater, and after a time commenced business for himself as a manufacturer of gold-leaf and of gilt frames for pictures and looking-glasses. To this business he also added that of publisher of children's books, printed illus- trations of patriotic subjects, land and naval battles of the Revolution and war of 1812, and portraits of Presidents, generals and other distinguished men of the United States. His location was on the south side of Chestnut Street, between Third and Fourth Streets,- the same site now occupied by the building of the Guarantee Trust and Deposit Company. It was then numbered 114 Chestnut street, and was the first busi- ness stand opened on that street between Third and Fourth, the square having previously been entirely taken up by dwelling-houses. The building was Mr. Morgan's residence as well as his place of business, and the property remained in his possession until his death.

About 1827, Mr. Morgan removed from Chestnut Street to the north side of Market Street, just above Seventh, the number being then 709, which he also purchased and continued to own until his death. At that plaee he lived and carried on his business for about fourteen years. His wife was Sarah Colflesh, daughter of Henry Colflesh, one of the oldest resi- dents of Montgomery County, whose residence was at Flat Rock Heights, in Lower Merion township. About 1838, Mr. Morgan closed his business and removed from Philadelphia to the farm which had been occupied by his father-in-law, at Flat Rock Heights. That farm continued in the ownership of Mr. Morgan until a few years before his death, when he sold it to William W. Hubbell. Within the past two years it has been purchased by Percival Roberts, Esq.

Mr. Morgan continued to live at the Lower Merion farm until about 1848, when he returned to the city and recommeneed business on a property which he had purchased on Arch Street, above Fifth. There

939

LOWER MERION TOWNSHIP.

he resided, and continued the business until his death, which occurred on the 25th of January, 1863, in his eighty-fourth year. His wife had died more than six years before him, November 10, 1856. Both were buried in the family vault, near the Fifth and Arch Streets corner of the ground of Christ Church, of which both had been members, Mr. Morgan having joined its membership soon after his arrival in Philadelphia.

David Morgan, son of William H. and Sarah (Col- flesh) Morgan, was born May 1, 1817, in Philadelphia, at his father's house, located (as before mentioned) on Chestnut Street, where now stands the building of the Guarantee Trust and Deposit Company. Until about the age of eighteen years he attended the schools of the city and learned his father's trade of gold-leaf manufacturer. At about the age mentioned he re- moved to Lower Merion township and commenced the gold-leaf business on his father's farm at Flat Rock Heights. He remained there until the latter part of 1844, when he purchased about eight acres of land adjoining the property on which he lives, on the Blockley and Merion turnpike, about half a mile from Merion Station and the same distance from Elm Sta- tion of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Mr. Morgan was married, May 31, 1846, by the Rev. H. G. Jones, of the Lower Merion Baptist Church, to Catharine H., daughter of Abraham Levering, of Lower Merion township. They have had three chil- dren,-Emma C., married, December 31, 1868, to Wil- liam Simpson. Jr., of Philadelphia; Fannie, died May 30, 1875; and David, who died in infancy. For about four years after his marriage Mr. Morgan lived on the small property which he purchased as mentioned. He then purchased and removed to the homestead farm. which he has occupied from that time to the present, though doing business in Philadelphia. Hle was one of the corporators of the Blockley and Merion Turn- pike Company, one of its original and principal stockholders, was secretary and treasurer of the com- pany for about twelve years, and has been one of its board of directors from the time of its first organiz- ation.

He was one of the original members of the Church of the Redeemer, at Bryn Mawr; was present at the first meeting held for the purpose of organization in Temperance Hall (on which occasion Bishop Potter preached the first sermon to the congregation) ; was a member of the building committee having charge of the erection of the church edifice, and a liberal con- tributor to the building fund, and he held the office of rector's warden in that church. Mr. Morgan was also largely instrumental in the organization of St. John's Church, in Lower Merion. He has been a vestryman and warden in that church from its formation, and was (with Isaac Hazlehurst and others) a principal contributor towards the erection of the church build- ing in 1862. Since that time it has been enlarged, more ground has been purchased, and a Sunday-school building and a parsonage built, bringing the value of !

the church property up to the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars.

HAMILTON EGBERT.

Hamilton Egbert, a well-known citizen of Lower Merion township, in which, as a school-boy, mer- chant, farmer and conveyancer, he has lived for more than sixty years, is a descendant of the first Egbert who came to America in 1664 with the expedition under command of Admiral Carre and Governor Richard Nicolls to expel the Dutch from New Neth- erlands and establish the authority of the Duke of York. That ancestor made a settlement on Staten Island, where the family remained and increased during several generations, and where many of the name are still living.

Lawrence Egbert, grandfather of the subject of this memoir, moved to Montgomery Connty, Pa., before the Revolution and settled in Plymouth township, where his son, David N. Egbert, was born in 1788, and where Hamilton Egbert, son of David N. and Maria Egbert, was born September 18, 1821, he being the fourth in a family of twelve children, of whom only three are now living, namely,-Hamilton, Nor- man and Emily, wife of William Davis, of Consho- hocken.

The mother of the family was Maria Yocum, who was married to David N. Egbert in 1815. She died in August, 1834. She was a daughter of John Yocum, of Lower Merion, and a granddaughter of John Yo- cum, Sr., who was a descendant of a Swedish family of that name, who came to America about 1655, and were among those who formed the settlement at Wicaco. Some of them were soon afterwards living at Swedes' Ford. More than a century later, in the time of the Revolution, the Yocums were numbered among the most prominent and patriotic families in the vicinity of Philadelphia.

In April, 1823, David N. Egbert removed from I'lymouth to Merion Square, where for some years lie held the office of justice of the peace, and where he continued the business of merchant and lumber-dealer until the year 1846. His son, Hamilton, worked in the store in the summer season, attending the common schools in winter, and for a term of about six months was under the tuition of Joshua Hoops, at his school in West Chester, where he gained an excellent knowl- edge of mathematics. In his nineteenth year he be- came a partner with his father, and in 1846, at the age of twenty-five, he, with his brother Norman, suc- ceeded to the entire business, his father then retiring from it. Their business was that of a general store, and they made it a point to be always able to furnish any article whatever that might be called for.

The labor of such a business (to which was added that of the postmastership of the place for a term of twenty years) was so severe and incessant that at the end of nineteen years from the time when he first be- came a partner with his father in the store Hamilton

940

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Egbert found his health so completely prostrated as to compel him to relinquish the business. He did so in 1859, and removed to a tract of seventeen aeres of land which he then purchased, and which is the same that he now occupies as his homestead. There he began a new mode of life as a farmer and conveyancer. The change entirely restored his health, and he has continned in those vocations to the present time. He has always declined to accept any publie office, but he holds the position of president of the Bryn Mawr Loan and Building Association, and is also a director in the First National Bank of Conshohocken.

listown, at which he continued until 1841, when he went to Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., and engaged in the eoal business, and in 1843 came to Lower Merion, Montgomery Co., where he commeneed farming and continued in that business until 1859, when he retired to private life.

In 1848 he married Rebecca E. Pechin, daughter of Peter Pechin, of Radnor township, Delaware Co. They had four children-one son, who died when quite young, and three daughters, who are still living.

Joshua Ashbridge has always been a stanch Re-

Joshua Aghbridges

JOSHUA ASHBRIDGE.

Joshua Ashbridge, son of Thomas and Phœbe Gar- rett Ashbridge, was born in Willistown township, Chester Co., Pa., Seventh Month, 10th, 1806.

Joshua Ashbridge was the fourth in descent from George Ashbridge, who belonged to the Society of Friends, and arrived in Philadelphia Fifth Month, 5th, 1698, from England, and settled at Edgemont. He mar- ried, Eighth Month, 23d, 1701, at Providence Meet- ing, Mary Malin, of Upper Providence. He died in 1748. Joshua Ashbridge received a common-school education, then went into the wool manufacturing business with his father, Thomas Ashbridge, in Wil-

publiean, adhering firmly to his party, and for thirteen years represented his distriet as committeeman.

THOMAS G. LODGE.

Thomas G. Lodge is a substantial land-owner, and now one of the oldest citizens of Lower Merion town- ship, where he has lived for more than fifty years on the homestead farm, which he owns and occupies. His father was John Lodge, a farmer of Kingsessing township, Philadelphia Co., and his grandfather on the parental side was Abel Lodge, a descendant from ancestors of the same family name, who came

941

LOWER MERION TOWNSIIIP.

from England to Pennsylvania with the earliest settlers about the year 1682.

Thomas G. Lodge, son of John and Elizabeth (Reid) Lodge, was born at Kingsessing, March 23, 1811, he being the youngest, and now the only sur- vivor of a large family of children, of whom only two besides himself lived to maturity, viz .: Abel, the eldest, born in 1794 and died in 1869, and Mary, who was born in 1796, married John S. Davidson, of New Jersey, and died in 1882.

In his youth, like most other farmers' sons of his time, Mr. Lodge enjoyed only such means of educa-

ing-place and his home. Mr. Lodge still owns the Kingsessing homestead.

WILLIAM MILES.

William Miles, of Ardmore, Lower Merion town- ship, is a descendant of a Welsh ancestor of the same family name, who came with the earliest emigrants from Wales to America, and settled in Chester County, Pa., and from whom sprang the many Miles families who are now seattered through all the eastern part of the State, and less numerously through the states of the South and West. Among the descendants of this

Oh. Loage

tion as were afforded by the common schools of his vicinity. Soon after reaching his majority he com- menced the business which he had determined upon and which he has followed through all the succeeding years of his life,-the pursuit of agriculture. On the 20th of December, 1832, he was married to Susan Evans, daughter of Joseph and Mary Evans, of Lower Merion township, Montgomery Co., and a little more than a year later, in the spring of 1834, he re- moved from Kingsessing to the farm of his wife's parents (occupying a part of their house), which, hav- ing since been enlarged and improved by him, is now, as it has been for more than half a century, his dwell-

Welsh emigrant were three or fonr Miles brothers, who, eighty years ago, were living on farms in the vicinity of Radnor Church, in Delaware County, and one of whom was the father of the elder William Miles, to whose son William this biographical notice has especial reference. On the maternal side, the grandfather of the present William Miles was Christo- pher Taumiller (subsequently changed to Miller), who, with his brother Tobias, came from Germany to Penn- sylvania more than one hundred years ago, and settled in what is now Lower Merion township, where they became well known as substantial farmers and good citizens. Both were original members in the organiza-

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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

tion of the Lutheran Church, now of Ardmore, and were among the most liberal of its early supporters. Christopher Taumiller's place of settlement was on lands now of the estate of Charles Wheeler, deceased, north of Bryn Mawr. About 1810 his daughter Mary was married to William Miles the elder, and they be- came the parents of a large family of children, of whom only four lived to mature age,-John, who died in the summer of 1884; William, now living at Ard- more ; Charles, who resides at Manchester, N. J. ; and Catharine, wife of John Austin, of Norwood, Delaware Co., Pa.

for about seventeen years. In 1861 he gave up the work of his trade, and commenced at White Hall as a dealer in coal, lumber, lime and such other com- modities as are usually kept in a business of that kind. He remained at White Hall until the Pennsylvania Railroad Company began building their straightened line by way of Bryn Mawr and Rosemont. Having purchased land at the latter place, he donated a part of it to the company, thus securing the location of the Rosemont Station, to which he then removed his coal and lumber business, and there continued to prosecute it steadily and profitably until the spring of 1884,

How Miles

William, son of William and Mary Miles, was born October 15, 1818, in Lower Merion township, on the farm a part of which his mother inherited from her father, Christopher Miller. He received ouly a com- mon-school education, and at the proper age was ap- prenticed to learn the trade of carpenter. His appren- ticeship was finished about six months before he be- came of age, and from that time till he was about twenty-six years old he worked as a journeyman at Manayunk, at Roxborough and in Lower Merion township. He then commenced business for himself at Athensville (now Ardmore), in which he continued !

when he retired permanently from active business to live in ease and independence on his property at Ard- more, which he purchased for a homestead many years ago, and which was the first real estate he ever owned.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 203

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