USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 45
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481
WILLIAM B. RAMBO.
among the first to take the initiative in founding the First Na- tional Bank of Norristown, and in 1864 was chosen as its first President, a position he has now held fully fifteen years. In like manner, when the project of constructing a railroad con- nection between Norristown and Doylestown, via the North Pennsylvania road, was broached, he was one of the most lib- eral investors in the undertaking, and was elected the first President of the corporation.
When the lots that remained after building the new bank- ing house for the Bank of Montgomery County, near Main and Cherry streets, were sold, Mr. Hooven purchased two of them, having a front of fifty feet, and proceeded to build perhaps one .of the most complete double mansions of the town, which he still occupies as a private residence.
James and Emeline Hooven had born to them four children, named as follows: Joseph Henry, Alexander H., Jeannette, and Mary. Alexander is intermarried with Kate, daughter of Owen Raisor, deceased; Jeannette is the wife of Geffroy P. Denis, of Philadelphia; and Mary is married to Colonel John W. Schall, the Recorder of Deeds of this county.
In 1872 Mrs. Emeline Hooven lost her health, and after lin- gering some time died. In 1874 Mr. H. married Miss Helen Cushman, of Norristown.
WILLIAM B. RAMBO.
Our souls are ever yearning for the bright And beautiful that shall not pass away ; And wait impatient for the fadeless light Whose dawn shall turn our darkness into day .- L. F. Bittle.
While it is no discredit or evidence of demerit to be unable to point backward to one's ancestry, it is certainly one of the most warrantable sources of pride to be able to say, "I have inherited reputation or blood from some man or nation in the
482
WILLIAM B. RAMBO.
remote past."* Such is the case with the gentleman whose name stands above. We have sketched many lives of persons traced back to England, Wales, Ireland, and Germany, but few, if any of them, antedating the settlement of William Penn, in 1682, except the Swedes, who made settlements upon the Delaware and Schuylkill so early as 1638, nearly half a cen- tury before the great Quaker landed to found his colony. Among these hardy descendants of the "Norsemen" were Peter and Gunnar Rambo, one or the other of whom was the ancestor of our subject. The records of the Court of Upland (Chester) contain an entry that "two hundred and fifty acres of land are- confirmed to Peter Rambo, the same lying on the Schuylkill."
It may be said further in honor of this hardy aboriginal race who, under their war-gods, Thor and Woden, used to invade Southern Europe (and even America, as is believed by some of the learned), that as a people they have never been overrun or subjugated, as other nations have been, and wher- ever they went in their irruptions, they carried their simple- industry and hardy robustness with them.
The Rambo family, while satisfied of their descent from one of the race just named, have not kept a genealogical table; so we have no account of generations to record by name, though our subject must, of necessity, be of the eighth or ninth, in regular order from the emigrants.
William B. Rambo, whose name heads this sketch, is the son of Nathan and Ann Broades Rambo, of Upper Merion township, and was born at Swedesburg, April 15th, 1836. He attended the public schools of his native township until his fourteenth year, and then entered Elmwood Seminary, under the care of Rev. J. R. Kooken, in West Norristown, where he remained not quite two years, when he went into his father's. office as clerk and book-keeper. The latter was then prose-
*On this point we beg to relate the following Irish ancedote : Living a little out of the city of Londonderry was an impecunious old gentleman named Knox, who prided him- self on his aristocratic descent and connections, but who had grown so poor as to be obliged to sell his landed estate at public auction. Accordingly as the bidding pro- gressed, and the property was about to be struck off, the proprietor called out, "Who is the purchaser ?" On being told it was a fat butcher from Londonderry, he exclaimed,. "Stop the sale! I won't convey my domain to any but a blooded man." At this the purse-proud bidder answered in the language of his business, at the same time shaking a bag of gold in the other's face, "Ah, Master Knox! you have the blood, but I've got the suet !" Most of us Americans are anxious to have the "suet," but few are ashamed of good "blood " also.
483
WILLIAM B. RAMBO.
cuting a heavy lime trade, just as his son, who succeeded, is doing now. On arriving at his twenty-first year, in 1857, Mr. Rambo took his father's quarries, kilns and fixtures, and en- tered upon a business well established. On the Ist of March, 1858, his father died, aged forty-seven years, and William B. continued the business with renewed .earnestness, quarrying stone, burning lime, and shipping both to places near and distant, which has now been continued for over twenty years. His quarries are near the river, and at the exact point where the great limestone valley strikes the Schuylkill. Here he has also eighty acres of the most productive valley-land in the county, with inexhaustable masses of limestone, easy of access, and much of it above the water level. He runs his own boats, some of them rigged for sailing down the bay and along the coast; others of inland construction run directly to New York, the East, the coal regions, and other places. In his lime-works proper, he employs on an average about eighty hands. Mr. Rambo is probably the largest lime and stone operator now in Montgomery county, and has, without doubt, the most com- plete facilities for carrying on the business to profit. He is a man of enlarged public spirit, a stockholder and director of the Montgomery National Bank, as also of several other of our local corporations.
Upon reaching his twenty-fourth year Mr. R. was married on the 29th of April, 1860, to Elizabeth A., daughter of Rob- ert J. Arundel, Esq., a prominent lawyer of Philadelphia. Of this union four children have been born, to wit: E. Pauline, William A., Evelyn and A. Sidney. The third is now deceased.
Just after commencing business Mr. Rambo found time and opportunity to study law, and was admitted to the bar in 1861. This was only designed to enlarge his mind and afford the fullest qualifications in conducting his business; so he has- never opened an office or commenced practice.
Mr. Rambo has always been a moderate Republican, and in 1862 his party ran him for Assembly, but at that time with- out prospect of success against an adverse Democratic major- ity. Mr. Rambo and his family are members of Christ's (Swedes) Episcopal Church, Upper Merion, and he has been
484
GEORGE W. ROGERS, ESQ.
for several years one of its vestry, and a zealous assistant and advisor of the rector.
We close this sketch with a fuller account of William B. Rambo's near relatives. His grandparents on the father's side were Jonas and Ann Rambo. They had but two children, a daughter and son. The former, Mary, was intermarried with Benjamin B. Hughes, of Bridgeport; she is now many years deceased. Jonas and Ann Rambo's son was Nathan, who married Ann Broades on March 5th, 1833, and their off- spring are the following named children: Eliza Ann, mar- ried to Matthias P. Walker, of Great Valley, Chester county. They have offspring as follows: Nathan R., Anna B., John O., William, Thalia, Winfield, Mary, and Matthias. The second child, the proper subject of this notice, has already been recorded. The next child of Nathan and Ann Rambo was Mary, the wife of David Schall, now some years deceased. The fourth, Rebecca, is married to J. P. Hiester Jones; they have two sons, John Pringle and William Muhlenberg Heis- ter. The fifth child, Emma P., is the wife of Thomas P. Mer- ritt. The sixth is Nathan, intermarried with Clara, daughter of Thomas Walker; offspring, one son, Harry. The last is Thomas J., who is unmarried.
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GEORGE W. ROGERS, EsQ.
He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antago- mist is our helper .- Burke.
A man's enemies are as useful to him as his friends if he knows how to make use of them .- Anonymous.
George W. Rogers, the well known counsellor and advocate of the Norristown bar, claims a New England origin, affirming that his earliest American ancestor came over in the Mayflower, and afterwards settled in Connecticut, where his great-grand- father, Dr. David Rogers, was born and resided. The descent
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485,
GEORGE W. ROGERS, ESQ.
is traced through his son, William Charles Rogers, who was. born May 28th, 1776. When a young man the latter removed from the East and settled for a time in Philadelphia, where at the age of twenty years he married Mary Hiltzheimer. From that city he shortly after removed to Warrington township, Bucks county, and engaged in farming. There were born to them nine children, one of whom was David Rogers, the father of the subject of this notice. William Charles Rogers, before named, was a Brigadier General during the war of 1812-15, and held a command in the volunteer militia stationed at Mar- cus Hook as a protection to Philadelphia and the ports on the Delaware against British invasion. After the war he was a Justice of the Peace for many years.
The paternal grandmother of our subject, Mary Hiltzheimer, has the following notable record : She was the daughter of Jacob Hiltzheimer, and was born March 16th, 1771, at a public house at Seventh and Market streets, Philadelphia, in the building in which Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, and which was owned by her father. It is still standing, and in 1874 was the property of three of her nieces. This Jacob. Hiltzheimer was at one time a member of Congress. The William Charles Rogers previously mentioned raised five children, the other four dying in infancy. Of the former was. Jacob H., many years a Justice of the Peace resident in Bucks. county, and General William F., who resided at Doylestown, was a member of the Senate of Pennsylvania for two terms, and also Speaker of the same. Two of the daughters married and removed to the far West. The last of the children of William C. Rogers we shall record is David, who first lived at Warrington, Bucks county, and afterwards at Pleasantville, on the county line between Bucks and Montgomery. Here he followed farming till 1858, when he removed to Norristown, where he now resides retired from business. He married Cyn- thia, daughter of Benjamin Watson, who was of Irish descent.
This Benjamin Watson was a patriotic soldier in the Conti- nental army, and served during the whole war, being in Cap- tain Beattie's company and Proctor's regiment of the Pennsyl- vania line. He was in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown,
486
GEORGE W. ROGERS, ESQ.
Trenton, Stony Point, and Cowpens. This Revolutionary sol- dier was one of those detailed to apprehend and execute the Tories who betrayed to the British some of our soldiers con- cealed near "The Billet." They did so, and overtook and hanged one to a walnut tree, near Montgomery Square. At the end of the war he was discharged at Charleston, South Carolina, and as the paymaster did not pay him, for the want of funds he walked home to Philadelphia barefooted. He died at the age of seventy-seven, and was interred at Neshaminy Presbyterian Church, Bucks county.
David and Cynthia Rogers have had three children, George W., William C., and Mary. The last is the wife of Henry B. Hibbs, of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. The second son gradu- ated in medicine, and is at present Surgeon of the steamship Illinois, sailing between Philadelphia and Liverpool. The first named, George W., of Norristown, was born June 15th, 1829, in Warrington, Bucks county, receiving his first instruction in the common schools of the place, and later at a private semi- nary in New Britain township, in the same county. He began the study of law in 1852 with Joseph Fornance. The latter dying soon after, he entered the office of Hon. David Krause, and was admitted to the bar on the 24th of January, 1854. He was soon after elected Burgess, and served one year. In 1856 he was nominated by the Democracy and elected District At- torney of the county. During his term as Commonwealth's officer it was his duty to manage the prosecution of Alfred Hop- ple, who had been indicted for manslaughter as the conductor of the wrecked excursion train on the North Pennsylvania rail- road. This was a prosecution that elicited great public inter- est. He also managed the case against Kilby Bayletts, of Upper Merion, who had killed his wife in a fit of mania-a-potu, and who was convicted and sentenced to twelve years.
Very soon after his admission to the bar Mr. Rogers mani- fested an energy in prosecuting law cases, and especially an aptness in handling witnesses on the stand, that brought him rapidly into notice as a leading attorney. So when his party came to select a candidate for Additional Law Judge of Bucks and Montgomery counties, in 1874, he was nominated, but de-
487
JOSEPH E. RAPP.
deated by a very close vote by Judge Watson, of Bucks county.
In 1858, a few years after coming to the bar, he was married to Cara C., only daughter of Jesse Bean, lumber merchant, of Norristown, and there have been born to them four children: ·Cara, D. Ogden, G. Austin (died February Ist, 1877), and Jes- sie. George W. Rogers and wife are members of the First Presbyterian Church, and have been for many years.
JOSEPH E. RAPP.
The joys of earth ean never last ; Like autumn leaflets in the blast, They're seattered from us far and fast, And leave us all neglected .- L. F. Bittle.
A busy life has been that of the kindly unpretending gen- tleman whose name stands above.
Joseph Eastburn Rapp was born in Schuylkill township, Chester county, May 17th, 1834. His parents' names are Jo seph H. and Margaret Supplee Rapp, and doubtless are of German extraction paternally. In his early years Joseph had 'but the advantage of common schools till well grown, when he was sent one winter term to the boarding school of Jesse Phillips, and one at Treemount under Rev. Samuel Aaron. When grown to proper age he learned the wheelwright trade with his father, and followed it, including the time served, five years. He taught school during the fall and winter of 1858 and 1859, and in the spring of the latter took the " gold fever" and joined an emigrating party destined for Pike's Peak, which was then the El Dorado of all enterprising adventurers. This was an exciting but tiresome journey, overland by ox-teams, and camping out in the midst of savages, who being kindly treated did not molest them. After a tedious journey the peak was reached, but voted a humbug, and Mr. Rapp jour- neyed on to California to inspect the extreme Occident, after a journey of six months. Looking about for a season, he after- wards tried his hand at California farming. The last year he
488
JOSEPH E. RAPP.
was so extensively engaged that in company with John and' , Jesse Christman he raised twenty-seven hundred bushels of wheat, eight hundred bushels of barley, and one hundred tons of hay. This was in Santa Clara Valley, near the Alameda quicksilver mines. Not liking the Pacific region, however, he started near the close of 1863 on his return by way of the Isth- mus, the railroad through Central America, and thence by the ill fated steamship Ariel, which on her outward voyage had been captured and plundered by the pirate Alabama, of all her treasure and supplies. He, however, arrived safely at home in time to spend Christmas and attend the wedding of a younger brother.
After remaining through the spring of 1863 at his father's, and assisting him in his business and to build an addition to his residence, he followed the brothers' example by marrying on the 7th of May, Miss Rachel Anna Phillips, daughter of Jesse Phillips, late County Treasurer of Chester county, the latter of whom is a brother of Rev. Josiah Phillips, now of North Wales.
In February, 1864, Mr. Rapp came to Norristown to engage in business. About this time the late John Potts, Esq., who for some years had been pursuing the coal business at the foot of Lafayette street, on Stony Creek, was appointed Internal Revenue Assessor for Norristown, and desiring to close out Mr. Rapp bought his coal, stock and fixtures, and purchasing the yard of Mr. Wentz began the retail coal business with great spirit and energy. In less than two years thereafter a devastating flood occurred in Stony Creek, which almost in a: moment swept away his coal, fixtures and nearly all his capi- tal, the savings of years, and the visitation nearly cost him his life also, which was at one time in imminent peril. Kind friends stepped in and offered to contribute by subscription to. his relief, but he declined, preferring to build up again from the foundation as before. Having good credit he was enabled to go on as at first, and soon repaired his losses.
Accordingly without any delay Mr. Rapp rented from the heirs of Jesse Bean, deceased, the former site of Bean & Wentz's saw mill, at the foot of Washington street, where he fitted up
489
JOSEPH E. RAPP.
under cover, and on the line of the railroad, perhaps the most complete coal yard in the borough, where also, till the present time, he has pushed with great vigor the coal trade, wholesale and retail. On the rear of this capacious yard, which fronts on Stony Creek, he erected a large ice-house, in 1877, thus adding another source of income to his business, as also em- ploying his hands and teams through the dull season of winter.
In the spring of 1869, Mr. Rapp bought out a brick-yard, established by Haws & Rittenhouse, at Marshall and Stan- bridge streets, and since then has carried on both the coal and brick business with great energy and success. Mr. R. has all the qualities needful for a successful dealing man, to wit: in- dustry, perseverance and integrity joined to great suavity and kindness of manners.
Being a stockholder and patron of the Western Market Company he was elected Treasurer in 1875, subsequently Sec- retary and Treasurer of the same, which he fills at the present time.
Mr. R. has never been a politician, though always a con- sistant Republican and temperance man. His fellow citizens placed his name in nomination, however, and elected him a School Director, a post he filled with fidelity and usefulness three years, but declined re-election as he could not, as he thought, attend to public duties without neglecting his own proper calling. While filling this office he was actively in- strumental in enlarging Sandy street school-house, assisting to beautify the surroundings of several of the school buildings with iron fence, shade trees, and the like, as also reducing the aggregate of the school debt.
Mr. Rapp and wife united with the Baptist Church of Nor- ristown by letter soon after settling with us, and he has been for several years on its Board of Trustees, and a teacher in the Sunday school.
Joseph E. Rapp and wife have had five children, named Margaretta, Eleanor, Hannah A., Mary Elma, Joseph Lewis, and Jesse Phillips. It only remains to add that Mr. R. has proved himself a public spirited, benevolent citizen, ever ready to co- operate in all enterprises of public or private concern.
32
490
CAPTAIN JESSE B. DAVIS.
CAPTAIN JESSE B. DAVIS.
Honor and shame from no condition rise; .
Act well your part, there all the honor lies .- Pope.
Jesse Bean Davis, of Norristown, more familiarly known as " Captain Davis," has an honorable record in his family as of himself that well befits our book. The Davis family, like that of the Jones, is so universally Welsh in origin, and so widely spread over Chester, Montgomery and Bucks counties, that little need be said of it generally. Politically most of its mem- bers since the time of Jefferson have been Democrats. The grandfather of our subject, Hon. Roger Davis, who was bred a physician, and practiced in Charlestown township, Chester «county, represented that district in Congress two terms, from 1812 to 1816, having been elected in 1811, and taking his seat just before the declaration of war against England in the ses- sion of 1812. Of his public acts little is now known. It is sufficient, however, to state that his constituents returned or re-elected him, as they did his immediate successor, Dr. Wil- liam Darlington, who at that time was Democratic, and sus- tained, as his predecessor had done, President Madison's ad- ministration and the war for free commerce and sailors' rights.
Dr. Roger Davis was married to Sarah Jones, and their eld- est son, after the Welsh custom, was named Jones Davis. He was born in Charlestown township, Chester county, on the 7th of March, 1788. After receiving a good education, he studied medicine, and was graduated at an early age. His younger brothers, Roger and Thomas, also studied medicine, the latter afterwards becoming eminent as a practitioner at Trappe, and since at Evansburg, where he still resides at an advanced age. He married Sarah Reiff, and they have one daughter, Mary A. Dr. Roger Davis, the youngest, also engaged in practice, but died of Asiatic cholera in 1832.
As soon as he had graduated, and immediately after the de- claration of war, Dr. Jones Davis offered his services, and was appointed by President Madison as surgeon's mate. His com- mission is signed by the President, and bears date July 6th, 1812, which shows that he sprang into the service within a
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491
CAPTAIN JESSE B. DAVIS.
month of the declaration of war. He was attached to the Sixteenth Regiment of Regular Infantry, and at once marched by land to the Canada border. He was in service at Lundy's Lane and at the sortie at Fort Erie under Colonel (afterwards General) Scott, and aided to dress the wounds the latter received in the action there. He was with the brigade when it marched to Lake Champlain, where the tide of war rolled. After being a short time at the famous Fort Ticonderoga, and serving two years, he returned from the army, and commenced practice near Pughtown, Chester county. About this time, in March, 1814, he was married to Charlotte, daughter of Jesse Bean, of Norriton township, Montgomery county. The offspring of this union were as follows:
Jesse B., the subject of this notice, who was born June 9th, 1815, and married Eleanor A., daughter of John and Hannah Shannon, of Norriton. They have two children, John S. and Lottie E.
The second, Samuel J., was accidentally killed on a railroad. He married Mrs. Emery, and they had one son, Jones.
The third was William B., who died young.
Hannah Matilda, the fourth, was intermarried with William B. Shupe, of Lower Providence, now deceased.
The fifth, John R., is now a coal operator at Scranton, Penn- sylvania. He married Miss Corson, and they have three child- ren, Jessie, Annie, and Eugenia.
The sixth is Charles Thomas, intermarried with Hannah Slingluff. Their children are John R., Elizabeth Charlotte, Tillie, and Saralı Ellen. Charles Thomas Davis is a farmer, and resided for many years after the death of his father upon the homestead near Shannonville.
The last of the family is Sarah Ann, the wife of Jackson Miller, of Jeffersonville. Their children are Emeline, Eliza- beth Ellen, Eliza, and several deceased in childhood.
We return now to give a fuller account of the business and public life of Dr. Jones Davis. After practicing and following other employment in Chester county for a number of years, he removed with his family in 1824, to Norriton township, near Jeffersonville, about which time his son, Jesse B., was
492
CAPTAIN JESSE B. DAVIS.
placed in Mantua Military and Classical Academy to receive an education, and where he graduated in 1832 with the rank of Second Lieutenant. On leaving school he was employed two years as book-keeper in the wholesale grocery of Marshall & Kellogg, in Philadelphia.
Being an active Democratic politician, Dr. Jones Davis was nominated in 1828 and elected Sheriff of Montgomery county,. and commissioned by Governor Shulze for three years, which. he served. During part of this time, in addition to his official duties, he ran the Pawling grist mill, at the foot of Swede street, Norristown. In 1832 he removed to Lower Providence, and in connection with his brother, Dr. Thomas Davis, was. extensively engaged in the practice of medicine, having his residence on a farm north of Shannonville, which was at that time worked by his son, Jesse B. In 1842 Dr. Jones Davis was elected Prothonotary, to succeed Josiah W. Evans, Esq., and served three years as such, having James B. Evans as his deputy. Dr. Jones Davis was a very jovial and capable man, possessing a great flow of animal spirits, and thus continued a moderately active life till September 18th, 1860, when he died, in his seventy-third year. He was buried at the cemetery of St. James' Episcopal Church, Evansburg, of which he and his wife had been members for some years. The latter died on the 20th of October, 1845, aged fifty-one years.
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