USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 3
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The Revolution breaking out, he early took an active part in behalf of his country, and raised a company of soldiers in his vicinity, of which he was commissioned Captain, January 5th, 1776, and placed in Col. St. Clair's Pennsylvania Battalion. He was in the campaign to Canada and in several engage- ments, and for his services was promoted to the rank of Major, September 7th following. He was appointed Colonel of the Third Pennsylvania Regiment in the summer of 1777 ; was in New Jersey in Gen. Poor's Brigade under command of Wash- ington, and was subsequently in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. He remained with the army at Valley Forge, where, under date of April 12th, 1778, he addressed a letter strongly appealing for clothing, showing the destitute condi tion of his soldiers in this respect. In the battle of Mon- mouth his regiment greatly distinguished itself, being in the thickest part of the engagement. After serving throughout the war, on his return, he was appointed in July, 1783, Lieu- tenant of Northampton county.
Montgomery was formed from Philadelphia by an Act passed September 10th, 1784; on the same day he was ap- pointed to be its first Associate Judge, Prothonotary, Clerk of the Courts, and the following year Recorder, all of which
25
GEN. ANDREW PORTER.
.offices he actually held till near the close of 1789. In a letter to President Franklin, dated "Norriton Farm," May 5th, 1788, ,he says that he was charged by the sheriff, Francis Swaine, with opposing the execution of John Brown on the previous 12th of April, and about which there was some excitement. ·" Can it be possible," he writes, " that a man who has served you faithfully from the commencement of the late war to the ·end of it, in order to establish the present Government-a man that has gone forth on every occasion to support the laws of "his country,-I say, can it be possible to suppose him capable .of such an act?" About this matter it appears considerable feeling had been created between him and the sheriff. Wm. Moore Smith stated that Colonel Craig desired Mr. Roberts to inform the sheriff "that he could give no consent to erecting .a gallows on the Farm, but that he would make no objection vor opposition to any place which might be fixed upon at a suf- ficient distance from the town."*
It is probable that after his term of office had expired he shortly removed back again to his native county, where he was elected Major General of the Seventh Division of Pennsylva- nia Militia, which he retained for a number of years. He sur- vived till 1832, when he died at the advanced age of 92 years, with his faculties but little impaired.
GENERAL ANDREW PORTER.
Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Are not his days also like the „slays of a hireling ?- Job rii, 1.
General Andrew Porter was the son of Robert Porter, who emigrated from Ireland early in the past century, and ·settled in Worcester township, where Andrew was born September 24th, 1743. On the breaking out of the Revo- lutionary war, like most Irishmen, or the sons of Irishmen, he
*This agrees with tradition gathered from very old persons still living. Mrs. Eliza- beth Thompson, now a centenarian, very well remembers that Craig said he did not "want the town disgraced by an execution for such a crime."
3
26
COL. ROBERT LOLLER.
was ready for a fight for that liberty so long denied in their native . land. Being at the head of a mathematical school in Philadelphia. in the spring of 1776 he was early enthused with the cry for "Lib- erty!" A few days before the Declaration of Independence he : accordingly offered his services to Congress, received a commission. as captain of marines, and was ordered on board the frigate Effing -- ham, but shortly after transferred to the land service with the same rank, and was engaged in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Brandywine.
At the dreary, suffering encampment at Valley Forge in the win- ter of 1777-8, he was Major of a regiment of artillery, and in va- rious positions continued with the army during the war. At the -. restoration of peace, in connection with his friend and neighbor, David Rittenhouse, he was engaged in surveying, being in 1785 appointed to ascertain the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Virginia, which was satisfactorily accomplished ; and two years later, in 1787, he ran the northern line between us and New York. His fitness for the post was so conspicuous, and his eminent Revo- lutionary services such, that Governor Snyder appointed him Sur- veyor General of the State in 1809, which position he held till his . death in 1813.
Nearly all the sons of General Porter became afterwards distin- guished. David R. was Governor; General James M. Porter has. been a member of Assembly, President Judge of the Twenty-second district, and Secretary of War under President Tyler ; George B. Porter, born at Lancaster in 1791, when the State government was. located there, afterwards became a member of the Legislature, was Adjutant General in 1827, and appointed Governor of Michigan. Territory in 1834, where he died the next year. -
COL. ROBERT LOLLER.
[Contributed by William J. Buck.]
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not : stand before mean men .- Proverbs xxii, 29.
Col. Loller was of Scotch-Irish origin, born in 1740, and it is sup- posed within the present limits of Montgomery, then Philadelphia county. He was undoubtedly a man of education, and this would: seem to show that the means of acquiring knowledge were not.
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COL. ROBERT LOLLER.
neglected in his youth. In the year 1772 we find him engaged in teaching a school at Chestnut Hill. How long he taught at that place is not known ; but early in the commencement of the Revo- lution he resided at Hatboro, then better known as the " Crooked Billet." He married Mary, the daughter of Archibald M'Clean, Esq., who resided in Horsham near where is now the village of Babylon. Dr. Archibald M'Clean, who was a poet, wit, and no less than six feet four inches in height, was a brother-in-law.
After leaving his school he set up the business of surveying and conveyancing, in which he became quite successful. From speci- mens transmitted to us we know that he was a neat and ready writer and skillful draftsman. Major Loller early espoused the cause of the Revolution, and with Joseph Blewer, John Bull and William Coates, was elected, June 18th, 1776, delegate from Phila- delphia county to consider the resolution of the Continental Con- gress, passed the 15th of May previously, recommending the several Colonies to adopt governments adapted to their peculiar circum- stances. This convention framed the Constitution of Pennsylvania, which was agreed upon the following 28th of September. He soon after joined the army under Washington, and was in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, and Germantown.
The Supreme Executive Council appointed Colonel Loller on the 25th of March, 1777, paymaster of the militia of Philadelphia county, which office he held till in the spring of 1781. He was selected on July 24th, 1777, to make a survey of the shore of the river Delaware from Christiana creek downwards for the purpose of having a better knowledge in carrying on the proposed operations against the enemy. In November following he was, with four others, appointed Commissioner for seizing on the personal estates of those who had resided in the county and abandoned their fami- lies or habitations to join the royal army. He was elected to the Assembly the same year, also in 1779, and continuously from 1784 to 1788. He became a member of the Hatboro Library February 3d, 1787, and the following year was elected one of its directors, in which office he was continued for several years. He was ap- pointed by Governor Mifflin one of the Associate Judges of Mont- gomery county September 25th, 1789, and also to the offices of Re- corder of Deeds and Register of Wills as successor to Col. Craig. The two last he held till June 24th, 1791, but the former office we believe he retained to the time of his death. Being afflicted with a painful malady, he was taken from his residence at Hatboro to
.
28
COL. ROBERT LOLLER.
Philadelphia, and on the Ioth of October, 1808, had the operation of lithotomy performed on him, but without relief, and died on the 2Ist of said month.
Knowing that his disease would likely prove fatal, Judge Loller prepared himself accordingly in his temporal affairs. Not having children, and being a man of property, the idea fortunately occur- red of making his fortune prove a blessing to the present and future generations of his neighborhood. In that day education was not diffused among the body of the people ; those who did not possess the means labored under great disadvantages, such as we in this day of knowledge and books can scarcely realize. His wife died October 2Ist, 1810. By provision he had ordered £50 to be paid for the use of the Academy at Norristown, £50 for the Abing- ton Presbyterian church, and £20 to the Library at Hatboro, and after appropriating various sums to relatives the balance to be ap- plied to the erection of an institution of learning to be called after his name, which was built in 1811-12 on his estate, at a cost of up- wards of $11,000, besides an annual endowment of $283 for its sup- port. In the order of time "Loller Academy" was the thirty-fifth incorporated in Pennsylvania.
In connection with Judge Loller's last visit to Philadelphia the following curious incident is associated. About the year 1850 the Legislature very properly passed a law requiring banks and other incorporated companies to publish by advertisement in the news- papers all unclaimed moneys, dividends, etc., in their possession, with the names of the depositors. In consequence of this it ap- peared that the sum of $350 had been deposited in the Philadelphia Bank by him on his arrival there, for the defrayment of his ex- penses, without the knowledge of his friends. On learning this, application was made by the Trustees of the Academy and the amount duly received and placed in the endowment fund in ac- cordance with his will.
The remains of Judge Loller, with those of his wife, repose be- neath the same stone in the grave-yard attached to the Presbyterian church at Abington. His executor was the Hon. N. B. Boileau, long his near neighbor and friend, who wrote for him the following epitaph : "To the memory of ROBERT LOLLER, Esq., this stone is dedicated. He departed this life October 2Ist, 1808, aged 68 years. In the American Revolution he took an early and active part in de- fending the rights of his country. As a Patriot, Soldier and States- man, he acted with honor and usefulness, and in the practice of
29
CASPER SCHLATER.
every domestic and social virtue was highly exemplary. A Literary Institution, called by his name, was erected and endowed in the village of Hatborough. Abi Lector, ejus virtutes, si poteris imitare."
From his will we learn that he had brothers, James, Alexander and William ; and a sister, Grace Townsend ; a nephew, Joseph M'Clean ; and nieces, Mary Stephens and Mary Iredell. To the last he bestowed his share in the Hatboro Library, to Samuel Hart his surveying instruments, and to N. B. Boileau his telescope.
CASPER SCHLATER.
Nor love thy life nor hate; but what thou livest, live well. How long or short, per- mit to heaven .- Milton.
Among the prominent men of Montgomery county sixty years ago was he whose name stands at the head of this memorial. He was the son of Casper and Barbara Schlater, who arrived at Phila- delphia from Rotterdam in the ship Thomas Coatman on Septem- ber 22d, 1752. Casper Schlater, who is the subject of this notice, was born July 13th, 1759, in Upper Dublin township, Montgomery county, and married Mary, daughter of Nicholas Seltzer. He was a man of education and business capacity, and a leader in the Demo- cratic party, filling the offices of County Treasurer and Commis- sioner for the years 1817-18 with public acceptance; besides, was frequently called to act as executor, administrator, arbitrator, and in adjusting disputes between neighbors. He was a member of Boehm's Reformed Church, and filled the offices of elder, deacon, and trustee, holding the elder's office at the time of his death, July 14th, 1835, having held official position therein since 1790. In his will he donated $800 to the church.
30
HON. BIRD WILSON, D. D., LL.D.
HON. BIRD WILSON, D. D., LL.D. [Contributed by William J. Buck.]
Thy praise, O, Charity! thy labors most divine; thy sympathy with sighs and tears and groans: thy great, thy God-like wish to heal all misery .- Pollok.
His father, James Wilson, was born near St. Andrews, in Scotland, about the year 1742. Having completed his educa- tion, he turned his thoughts to America, and arrived in Phila- delphia in 1766. He first became connected as a tutor with the college there, and afterwards studied law with the cele- brated John Dickinson. He commenced practice at Reading, and subsequently removed to Carlisle. In 1775 he was elected to Congress, and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His son, Bird Wilson, was born at Carlisle on the 8th of January, 1777, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1792, at the early age of 15 years. He shortly afterwards applied himself to the study of the law, and was admitted to practice at the bar in Philadelphia in March, 1797.
For a time he held a position of trust in the office of the Commissioner of the Bankrupt Law, his next appointment be- ing President Judge in 1806 of the Court of Common Pleas in the Seventh circuit, comprising the counties of Bucks, Mont- gomery, Chester and Delaware, in which he succeeded Wm. Tilghman. As soon as he had entered on the duties of this office he made Norristown his residence, and thus became one of the most active workers in the building of St. John's Epis- copal Church, which was commenced in 1813 and finished the following year; being the first house of worship erected there, of which he was one of the wardens. At this time he also edited an edition of the "Abridgement of the Law," published in Philadelphia in seven octavo volumes. In speaking of this work Judge Story says that he "has enriched it with many valuable additions." A murder was committed near the pres- ent town of Media, in which a young man of very respectable family connections was implicated, and who was arraigned before him October 20th, 1817, which led to his conviction in the first degree. But the Judge was unwilling to sentence him. After several postponements he finally concluded to
3I
HON. BIRD WILSON, D. D., LL.D.
resign the position, Judge Ross taking his place April 13th, 1818, and the condemned received his sentence from the latter .*
Judge Wilson now devoted himself for the ministry, and studied under Bishop White, by whom he was admitted a Deacon in March, 1819, and soon after chosen Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church at Norristown and the charge of St. Thomas's church at Whitemarsh, which he held till in the summer of 1821. Having been appointed a Professor of Sys- tematic Divinity in the General Theological Seminary at New York he removed there. In 1850 he became Emeritus Pro- fessor of the same, which position he filled till near the close of his life. In 1829 he was elected Secretary of the House of Bishops, in which capacity he continued until 1841, when he · declined re-election. His Memoir of the Life of Bishop White was published in 1839, which contains also the early history of the Episcopal church in this country. The degree of D. D. "was conferred upon him by the University of Pennsylvania in 1821, and of LL.D. by Columbia College in 1845. He died . April 14th, 1859, aged 83 years, and was buried in the ground belonging to Christ church, at the corner of Fifth and Arch streets, Philadelphia.
His father was taken from him just as he had reached his twenty-second year, and, owing to unfortunate speculations in lands, left his family dependent. As a consequence Dr. Wil- son remained unmarried and provided for the wants of his three brothers and two sisters through his own unaided exer- tions. Habits of prudent, careful living thus early, made im- perative by the circumstances in which he was placed, enabled him in after years to acquire a handsome competency. It was a daily practice, after his studies or recitations, to take his walks for exercise and recreation, sometimes extended to five miles, and often in the same direction. On the Sabbath and rainy days these would be taken either in his back yard or in . some shelter. Here was one of the secrets of his uniform good health and length of life. A memoir of his life was written by
*This was John H. Craige, a dissipated blacksmith, who shot his neighbor, Edward Hunter, Esq .. who had been instrumental in writing his father-in-law's will, thereby · disinheriting him, and thus ineurred his enmity. Craige shot him as he was standing in .his stable, and was hanged for it at Chester, June 6th, 1818. His confession was one of the first pamphlets the author read in his youth.
32
HON. SAMUEL GROSS.
William White Bronson, and published in 1864, to which we" are indebted for a portion of the information contained in this sketch.
To the foregoing, furnished by Mr. Buck, the author cannot" omit to add the following anecdote in further illustration of Judge Wilson's kindness of heart, which was proverbial about" Norristown at the time of his residence here. It was commu -- nicated to the author by Mrs. Dr. Huddleson before her death. She said: "The Judge lived on the eminence east of the town, his mansion occupying the site now of Oakland Female Insti- tute. In the evening, when the maids were milking, the lawn" or cow-yard would be thronged with cats waiting for their rations, because, as was understood, the kind-hearted Judge would not allow the kittens bred about the premises to be drowned, as is the custom. He would, however, as a partial remedy for over-cat population, order his black man-of-all- work, "Jupiter," to transport the young felines in' a bag and drop them in the neighboring village."
This story aptly illustrates the tender sensibility of the man above described, who rather than sentence even a deliberate murderer to death preferred to resign his seat on the bench.
HON. SAMUEL GROSS.
Among the men of early prominence in our county was he: whose name stands at the head of this article. He lived in! Upper Providence township, and was a Democrat of great in -- fluence in the early years of the century. In 1803 he was; elected to the Assembly in company with Nathaniel B. Boileau, Henry Scheetz and John Mann, and served the session of 1803-4, and also the two following sessions. By the record" of proceedings he appears to have been Mr. Boileau's "right -- hand supporter," as it is published that when Mr. Boileau of -- fered his resolution for the Pennsylvania Legislature to invite- President Jefferson to allow his name to be used for re-election,
33
HON. SAMUEL GROSS.
Mr. Gross seconded the motion. It was adopted, and a hand- some address put forth. At that time Mr. B. was the Icader of the House, and wielded great influence in the Assembly. In 1807, in addition to being renominated, he was placed chair- man of the committee of correspondence of the party, and in 1810 was one of the committee named in the bill to sell the stock of the Reading and Perkiomen Turnpike Company. In the fall of 1811 he was elected from Montgomery county to the State Senate. In this office we have not found any record of his doings, but as he was nominated by his party and elected to Congress in 1818, four years after the completion of his Senatorial term, it is presumable that he was up to the full standard of Jeffersonian Democracy.
In 1818 the question of the admission of Missouri, with slavery existing therein-as it had been when ceded by France in 1803-arising in Congress, public feeling ran very high on the subject, both North and South, the former resisting and the latter advocating the measure. The North contended for the application of the Ordinance of 1787, a compact between the United States and Virginia for the exclusion of slavery from all the Northwest Territory, and the slaveholding States resisting it. The matter was debated in Congress during nearly all the time Mr. Gross was a member, and when the question finally came up for decision in 1820, on what was called the Missouri Compromise line, i. e., all territories south of 36-30 degrees to have slavery and all north to be free, Mr. Gross, under the advice of the Legislature of the State, as Jonathan Roberts in the Senate under instruction, voted against the ad- mission of Missouri because of its slave constitution. He en- joyed the honor of a renomination and election to Congress in 1820, at the close of which term it is presumed he retired from public life.
Samuel Gross was born November 10th, 1774, and died March 19th, 1844. His wife, Mary Gross, died November 16th, 1812, aged 35 years. Their tombs are together in the cemetery of Augustus Lutheran Church, Trappe.
Samuel and Mary Gross left three children : John E. Gross, Mary, the wife of Hon. Jacob Fry, Jr., and Thomas Jefferson
34
HON. FREDERICK CONRAD.
Gross, who for many years had been assistant clerk at Harris- burg, a position given him and retained by the influence of Mr. Shunk. Mr. T. J. Gross was an admirable expert in assisting the routine of legislation, and remained about the State capital nearly all his later life.
All the immediate children of Samuel and Mary Gross are deceased; but John E. Gross, the eldest, left five children, all living, and the youngest, Thomas Jefferson, six, also living. One of the latter is Charles H. Gross, Esq., attorney-at-law, of the law firm of Barger & Gross, No. 242 S. Fifth street, Phila- delphia, to whom we are indebted for some facts concerning the family.
HON. FREDERICK CONRAD.
Was born in Worcester township, Montgomery county, near Centre Point, on a farm which he inherited from his father, and where he lived most of his life. His father, Frederick Conrad, was married to Mary Hartman. They were either German emi- grants or of the first generation after, as the date of the emi- gration of the family is not recorded. The subject of our biography was married first to Catharine Schneider, of Long Swamp, New Hanover township, and they had seven children, as follows : Elizabeth, Mary, Catharine, Frederick, Henry, Su- san, and Christiana. Of these, Elizabeth married Jesse Weber; Mary, Philip Hoover, the father of Judge Hoover; Catharine, Frederick Foust; Frederick, Elizabeth Anslee; Henry, Eliza- beth Kendall; Susan, Abraham Wanner; and Christiana, John Kline. All the immediate children of Frederick Conrad, Sr., are dead, but numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren are found nearly all over Montgomery county, and many are doubtless scattered elsewhere. Elizabeth, the relict of his eld- est son, and mother of Mrs. William P. Cuthbertson, died at the residence of her daughter, in Norristown, at an advanced age, a few years ago; and within the last thirty years, the widow,
35
HON. FREDERICK CONRAD.
or second wife of the elder Frederick Conrad, died in Norris- town, where she resided with her step-daughter, Elizabeth Conrad. Hon. Frederick Conrad himself died in Norristown .also, having removed to it late in life.
There is no record of his having other than a good common ·school education, but he must have been a man of superior mind, well improved by reading and study, for we find he was elected to the Assembly as early as 1798, and re-elected the two following years, making three terms. In 1804 and 1805 he was Paymaster of the Fifty-first Regiment of Pennsylvania Militia, and filed and published the settlement of his accounts in the papers. In 1803 he was elected to Congress on the Federal ticket from the district composed of the counties of Montgomery, Bucks, Northampton, Wayne and Luzerne, his coadjutors being John Pugh of Bucks and John Ross of North- ampton. He was re-elected in 1805, thus serving two terms, or four years. The last time he was nominated was at a meet- ing of conferees at Nazareth, September 25th, 1804. In 1809, on the transference by Governor Snyder of Nathaniel B. Boileau from the House to be Secretary of the Commonwealth, a spe- cial election to fill the vacancy was held, when Mr. Conrad was nominated, doubtless by the Federals, but beaten by Richard T. Leech, Republican. He had been previously appointed Jus- tice of the Peace, however, in 1807, and it is presumed he might have held the office as long as he lived, for at that time the office continued during " good behaviour."
Towards the close of Governor Mckean's second term of service he (the Governor) became rather unpopular with his party (the Republicans, as they were then called), and party spirit ran very high. Many Republicans charged him with being aristocratic, and not feeling in harmony with established institutions, and Simon Snyder was brought forward in oppo- sition to him. Boileau, Jonathan Roberts, Richard T. Leach, Samuel Gross, and other prominent men, opposed Mckean's re-election, while Frederick Conrad, General Francis Swayne, .and others of our county, adhered [to him. From that time both Conrad and Swayne were thrown into the ranks of the opposition, and doubtless so remained while they lived. From
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