USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 51
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Of this large family of children, their intermarriages and off- spring may be briefly stated as follows: Elizabeth married Levi Evans, and had five sons and one daughter. Jane married John B. Hahn, and had eight children. Andrew, born June 18th, 1798, studied medicine, graduated at the University of Penn- sylvania in 1825, and on the 12th of November, 1826, married Sarah Hannum, born May 2d, 1807, who was the daughter of James Hannum and Sarah Edge Reese, the two latter having married on the 13th of December, 1803. Andrew practiced medicine in Chester county, Pennsylvania, forty-six years, and died July 7th, 1871, at Lionville, aged seventy-three years. A further account of his family is given elsewhere in this sketch in connection with his son, Morgan R. Wills. We continue the further history of the family of Michael Wills, Jr. William Wills, of Plymouth, was intermarried with Elizabeth Marple, and had a family consisting of the following children: Allen married Hannah Supplee, Andrew married Eleanora Wilhaur, Clarence married Harriet Hogan, William married Sarah Rob- erts, Annie married William E. Cochran, and Lewis is unmar-
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THE WILLS FAMILY.
ried. He died in 1877, and is buried in the cemetery of St. John's Church, Norristown, as is also Dr. Andrew. Mary was married first to John Hunter and afterwards to Francis Parke, but had no children. Ann was the wife of John Gorgas, and left one daughter, Susanna. Rebecca died in her minority. Sarah never married. Allen, who died October 23d, 1873. married Elizabeth H. Evans, and raised six children: Rebecca, married Dr. Samuel Ringwalt, and the latter dying left one son, who lives in Downingtown with his mother; Anna, who married Daniel Baugh, and who has two children living; George, inter- married with Tamazine Zook; J. Hunter, who keeps a store in Downingtown; Abner E., who lives in Philadelphia; and Allen W., the youngest, who resides at home in Downingtown.
Dr. Andrew Wills and wife, before mentioned, had fourteen children: Sarah died at the age of fourteen years; Mary married Washington T. Koplin, of Norristown, who recently died, leav- ing one child; Ellen; Morgan R. married Mary Hitner, daugh- ter of Daniel H. Dager, now deceased, of Whitemarsh town- ship, on the 6th of September, 1860; Edward S. married Fan- nie Homiston, and afterwards Annie Isbell; Clara is the wife of Hunter E. Van Leer; Rebecca married D. Smith Talbot; Andrew was killed at Fort Donelson; Horace died at the age of sixteen; Frances also died young; Ann married T. Lewis Vickers; Elizabeth is the wife of D. Webster Evans; Florence married George R. Hoopes; Susan died in infancy.
Morgan Reese Wills, the editor and proprietor of the Nor- ristown Herald, was born in West Whiteland township, Ches- ter county, on the 21st of October, 1831. He first received a common school training, and afterwards instruction under the tutorship of Rev. George Kirk, at Downingtown, until 1847, in his sixteenth year, when he went to learn printing first with Caleb N. Thornbury, who started a temperance sheet about that time in the office of the Jeffersonian at West Chester. The temperance enterprise not succeeding, however, he came to Norristown and entered the office of the Register, then owned by Samuel D. Patterson, and which was published for him by our townsman William Slemmer. Mr. Wills remained there until April, 1853, when, invited by a cousin, Captain Isaac R.
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THE WILLS FAMILY.
Diller, he went to Springfield, Illinois, and entered the employ of that gentleman, who was postmaster of that city, and there continued till the autumn of that year, when he returned to to Norristown and worked as a compositor and proof-reader until 1859. In January of that year he opened a book, sta- tionery and variety store near Main and Strawberry streets, some time after combining job printing with it.
The war occurring in 1861, and the State being invaded by the Confederates in 1863, Governor Curtin called for "emer- gency men" to protect the State. About the Ist of July of the latter year, therefore, two companies of volunteers were raised in Norristown in two days, and in the ranks of Company I, Forty-third Regiment, Captain Joseph L. Allabough, Mr. W., as also the author, were enlisted as "high privates," serving six weeks on the famous Potomac, and were mustered out at Har- risburg late in August, "with all the honors."
In 1864 Mr. Wills sold his store to Martin Molony, and pur- chased of Mr. Iredell a half interest in the weekly Herald, pub- lishing it jointly thereafter with Robert Iredell, Jr. He also transferred his jobbing business, which had become considera- ble. This arrangement continued till 1865, when the firm be- came Wills, Iredell & Jenkins, the Norristown Republican, owned by Atkinson & Jenkins, being purchased and combined with the Herald, Mr. Atkinson retiring. The Republican was continued for several years, however, as a semi-weekly. About 1869, Mr. Jenkins having left the firm, Wills & Iredell became possessed also of the Lehigh Register of Allentown.
In 1869 Robert Iredell, Jr., bought Mr. Wills' interest in the Allentown paper, and removed to that city, the latter purchas- ing the former's share of the Herald and semi-weekly Republi- can. On the 20th of December of that year the latter paper was brought out as the Norristown Daily Herald, and for three years issued as a one-cent journal. In December, 1872, it was enlarged, and the price advanced to two cents, while the weekly was and is continued more for county circulation.
Mr. Wills served one year as a member of Town Council, and was once run for Burgess of Norristown, but defeated by Colonel Edward Schall.
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THE WILLS FAMILY.
His two papers being in the full tide of success, in the sum- mer of 1873 he erected the present capacious and convenient building, which contains all the modern facilities for conducting the printing business. Not needing the entire lot of ground, he shortly after sold the remainder to the Norristown Hall As- sociation, and Music Hall, which adjoins his office, was erected.
About the time of erecting his office, and the construction of Music Hall, the site being springy, great need was felt for underground drainage. Mr. Wills and other citizens advocated building a sewer, and after a sharp contest with those opposed to the project that improvement was completed along several of the principal streets.
The Daily Herald, which was at first thought by some to be a doubtful experiment, through Mr. Wills' thorough business habits and judgment, aided by Mr. John H. Williams, an ac- complished paragraphist and humorist, was placed on a pay- ing foundation.
In 1875, Mr. Wills, accompanied by his wife, made a tour of Europe. They left Philadelphia on the 20th of May in the steamer Indiana, and were gone about four months, in that. time visiting Ireland, Scotland, England, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and France. During their absence their letters of travel, principally written by Mrs. Wills, ap- peared almost weekly in the Herald, and on their return were issued in book form by J. B. Lippincott & Co., bearing the title "A Summer in Europe."
Printing and publishing the long established Republican or- gan of the county, Mr. Wills is necessarily a strongly com- mitted partisan, but his journal is always conducted with such courtesy as to maintain a kindly intercourse with the opposi- tion and the general public.
Finding a growing demand for the Herald from places at a distance, a weekly literary edition was started in 1878, which has a considerable sale to news dealers generally throughout the Union.
The offspring of Mr. and Mrs. Wills are two daughters, Mary D. and Helen D., the former born on the 8th of January, 1863, and the latter on the 24th of July, 1867.
548
J. WARRENNE SUNDERLAND, LL.D.
J. WARRENNE SUNDERLAND, LL.D.
How charming is divine philosophy ! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, But musical as Apollo's lute .- Milton.
In the very fore-front of the educational institutions of Mont- gomery county-which in that department claims to lead the State-stands Pennsylvania Female College, on the Perkiomen, at Collegeville. It was the first college established in our county, and perhaps the first institution of the kind in the United States which by its charter was authorized to confer degrees upon women. This classical school was founded in 1851 by the enterprising and energetic gentleman whose name stands at the head of this sketch. His career has been at once a checkered and yet a successful one. From very meagre notes given by him to us after great reluctance, he having a habitual contempt of parade and self-display, we are able to furnish the following incidents of his early life.
J. Warrenne Sunderland was born February 19th, 1813, at Exeter, Rhode Island, where his parents lived most of their lives, and are buried. His father, Warrenne Sunderland, was of English descent, the family name being derived from Henry Spencer, who was created Earl of Sunderland by Charles I in 1643 for eminent services rendered that ill starred monarch in his wrangles with Parliament before or during the civil wars. This Henry Spencer was killed by a cannon shot at the battle of Newbury, August 20th, 1643. The name Sunderland comes down to America doubtless from the earldom, our subject be- ing a descendant of one of the younger sons, as is the custom in the old world for the untitled ones to go abroad. The mo- ther of Mr. Sunderland was Mercy Sherman, also of English origin, whose ancestors emigrated first to Massachusetts, and thence followed Roger Williams to Rhode Island, where they permanently settled.
Up to his twelfth year our subject enjoyed the advantages of common school instruction, and early evinced a fondness for reading. Like all boys of spirit, he conceived imaginary pro- jects by which he hoped to make a fortune and see the world.
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J. WARRENNE SUNDERLAND, LL.D.
Being also somewhat addicted to mechanical studies, at the age of twelve years he devised a machine for spinning wool directly from the cards, which the celebrated Seth Boyden after- wards perfected, patented, and sold for a large sum of money. At thirteen he went aboard ship, and made a flying trip to the West Indies. At fourteen he sailed up the Mediterranean Sea, and managed to get on board the flag-ship Asia, Admiral Cod- rington, and was present when the allied fleets (English, French and Russian) attacked and sunk the entire Turkish squadron in the harbor of Navarino in 1827. That decisive battle as- sured Greek independence. This event forms an incident in his life in which perhaps no other American shares to-day.
Having seen somewhat of the world for a boy, he found his way home again, and in 1830, when seventeen years of age, en- tered the Methodist Academy at Wilbraham, Massachusetts, to prepare himself for college. In 1832 he entered Wesleyan University, and graduated in 1836, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Very soon after finishing his college course he entered upon the professorship of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in McKendree College, Illinois, to which he had been elected some months before. He filled that position nine years. In 1845 he was appointed to a professorship in Kem- per College, Missouri, which had been founded by Bishop Kemper, of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Two years later he was called to a professorship in O'Fallon University, St. Louis, now known as Washington University. Mr. S. came to Montgomery county in 1848, and engaged as principal teacher in Freeland Institute, a seminary for young men, estab- lished by Rev. Henry A. Hunsicker. After filling this posi- tion three years, a building being erected for him, Professor Sunderland founded Montgomery Female Seminary in 1851, at Perkiomen Bridge, which two years later was chartered a regular "college for the liberal education of young ladies."
In 1847 the University of St. Louis conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws. From the time of the founding of the female seminary to the present time, with a short interreg- num, when it was rented, Dr. Sunderland has maintained the college now nearly thirty years with eminent success. Dur-
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550
DAVID SCHRACK, M. D.
ing all this time he, in conjunction with his fellow-citizens, has been forward in most public movements, and is always known as a man of liberal sentiments and remarkable business shrewd- ness. In the organization of Ursinus College, at Freeland, by the Reformed church, he took an active part, affording material and advisory aid, and for the space of two or three years occu- pied a professor's chair therein. He still retains a seat in the Board of Direction.
In 1842 Professor J. Warrenne Sunderland married Lu Anna Munson, of western New York, and there were born to them four children, three of whom died young. The surviving one is Mrs. Dr. Helffrich, of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania.
DAVID SCHRACK, M. D.
"Tis immortality our nature solves; Without it, half our instincts are a riddle : Without it, all our virtues are a dream .- Young.
The Schrack family, as stated in the life of James W. Schrack, is of the Protestant German emigration of 1717, settling near the village of Trappe, and doubtless were Lutherans, as the following are among the oldest inscriptions in the cemetery of Augustus Lutheran Church:
"In memory of Jacob Schrack, who died February 22d, 1742, aged 63."
"Here lyeth the body of Hannah Schrack, who was born April 17th, 1722, and died December 9th, 1736."
"John Schrack, who departed this life in his 62d year, on ye 11th of April, 1772."
Silence* Schrack, in her 66th year, December 11th, 1777.
We have not learned the names of the descending offspring of the above Jacob Schrack, who must have been born in Ger- many in 1679, before Penn planted his colony, and doubtless was the head of the family. The subject of our notice must be the sixth or seventh in descent from him.
*This would be regarded as a most auspicious christian name in some families, and anost unfortunate in others.
55I
DAVID SCHRACK, M. D.
john Schrack, born in 1780, and the grandfather of him whose name heads this sketch, had three sons and one daugh- ter, David, Norris, John, and Eunice. David, who is a farmer living in Norriton, married Elmina, daughter of Christian We- ber, and they have two daughters, Kate and Elmina; the latter was intermarried with William Porter, now deceased, and has two children, David and Elmina. Norris, also a farmer, living near, married Harriet, daughter of Rev. Sylvanus Haight, for some years pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church; they have three sons, David (our subject), John, and Charles Nor- ris. John, the youngest son, studied medicine in the office of Dr. Benjamin Johnson, of Norristown, graduating at Jefferson Medical College, and for many years enjoyed a lucrative prac- tice in Norriton, Providence, and Worcester townships; being now advanced in years, however, he has mainly retired from business. Eunice, the daughter, married Colonel Augustus W. Shearer. The children of this union were Mary, intermarried with E. B. Moore, Esq., the former of whom is now deceased , leaving one son, Augustus; Kate, married to William Owen; John Schrack, to Martha Ambler; Naomi, to George W. Long- aker; Eliza, to Dr. Daniel Brower; Lydia, to J. Roberts Rambo.
The wife of John Schrack, Sr., and mother of David, Norris, Dr. John, and Mrs. A. W. Shearer, was a lineal descendant of the celebrated Quaker family named Norris, after whom Norriton township and Norristown are named. The patrimonial estate, which the two elder brothers now own and occupy, has thus descended to them through their mother as part of the old Norris estate. The history of the property is thus briefly stated. The manor of Norris, being originally the whole of Norriton township, including the site of Norristown, was conveyed by William Penn to his son, William Penn, Jr., in October, 1704. The latter, a few days after receiving it, sold it to Isaac Norris and William Trent, Quaker merchants of Philadelphia, for eight hundred and fifty pounds sterling, or about four thousand dol- lars. After selling considerable of the land jointly, Norris, in 1712, bought Trent's share, and thus a large plantation on the Schuylkill, south of Jeffersonville, now divided, is in the hands of the Schracks as the descendants of the Norris family.
552
GEORGE SHANNON.
We return now to the subject-proper of this sketch. David Schrack, Jr., M. D., after receiving a good education, studied. medicine with his uncle, Dr. John Schrack, graduated at Jeffer- son Medical College in 1865, and at once commenced practice,. having his office at his father's residence in Norriton. He has. fallen heir to most of his uncle's practice, and has besides ex- tended his own to distant points, being, for a young practitioner, very successful. Some years ago Dr. D. Schrack united with the Centennial Presbyterian Church of Jeffersonville, and a few years later was elected and ordained to the eldership of the: same.
GEORGE SHANNON.
What nothing earthly gives or can destroy, The soul's calm sunshine, and the heartfelt joy, Is virtue's prize .- Pope.
The Shannon family in eastern Pennsylvania belong to. Montgomery alone, none of the name being settled in neigh- boring counties so far as we know. It is probably Irish or Scotch in origin. The earliest account we have of it is in 1784, now nearly a century ago, when Henry Pawling, Jr., Jonathan Roberts, Sr., George Smith, Robert Shannon, and Henry Con- rad, in the act erecting Montgomery into a county, were named commissioners to purchase ground on the Schuylkill near Stony creek, and erect upon it a court house and prison for the use of the new county. This Robert Shannon without doubt was. the great-grandfather of our subject, and must then have been a man of intelligence and social standing among his fellow- citizens. We have no exact account of the second generation, counting the said Robert as the first, though of the third gen- eration we have the names of the following three families, who were cousins to each other: Robert Shannon, the father of Charles P. Shannon, who still resides on the homestead at Shannonville, where the former died some years ago; John
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553
GEORGE SHANNON.
Shannon, who for many years lived in Norriton, recently dicd in Norristown at the age of ninety-four, and whose widow (his second wife), Hannah Evans Shannon, died in the same town on the 29th of March, 1879; Samuel Shannon, the other cou- sin, was the father of the subject of this notice. This Samuel resided in Norriton township till about 1840, when, becoming advanced in life, he removed with his family to Norristown, where the daughters are still engaged in business. He was the son of James and Elizabeth Shannon, and was born April 16th, 1781, dying March 18th, 1859, aged seventy-eight years. His widow, born December 1 1th, 1785, died March 20th, 1879, in her ninety-fourth year.
The children of Samuel and Elizabeth Harner Shannon were James (now one of our most estimable Norristown business men), Ann, Rose, George (our subject), John, Joseph, and Sam- uel Lane. The latter three are deceased. We come now to the subject-proper of this notice.
George Shannon, Cashier of the First National Bank of Nor- ristown, was born in Norristown on the 5th of November, 1821. His education was mainly received in the Norristown Acad- emy, under William M. Hough and other tutors. In 1842, when about twenty-one years old, he entered the Bank of Montgomery County as clerk, and soon rose to the post of teller, which place he held till March, 1855. The year follow- ing he erected a steam mill on Ford street, in the lower part of the town, and commenced the manufacture of linseed oil, which he pursued successfully for five years. He was then out of business till 1864, when he was chosen Cashier of the First National Bank, which position he still holds.
Mr. Shannon was for eleven years a very industrious and efficient school director, and for about the same length of time was in Town Council. On the 16th of April, 1850, he married Miss Arabella Steinmetz. The offspring of this union are a daughter and son. The former, Flora, was intermarried with J. Roberts Howell, now deceased; she at present lives with her parents, but has no issue. The son, Walter, a book-keeper in the bank, is married to Elizabeth, daughter of Atkinson F. Jarrett, and has one child.
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354
LOUIS W. READ, M. D.
Mr. S. is one of the trustees named in the will of Wright A. Bringhurst, who bequeathed sixty-seven thousand dollars to the borough of Norristown. This sum was directed to be invested in tenement houses by the trustees, and the rents used for chari- table purposes.
In concluding this notice we may remark that Mr. S., by reason of his firm yet mild, courteous demeanor and obliging disposition, is eminently fitted to preside over a moneyed in- stitution.
LOUIS W. READ, M. D.
The body is but the clog and prisoner of the mind; tossed up and down, and perse- euted with punishments, violences, and diseases .- Seneca.
There are few persons in our State, civil, military or profes- sional, who by middle life have had such varied experience as the gentleman whose name stands above. He is the eldest son of Thomas and Sarah Corson Read, and was born in Ches- ter county, near Phoenixville, on the 5th of July, 1828. His mother, as elsewhere recorded in this work, was the daughter of Joseph Corson, and a sister of Drs. Hiram and William Cor- son, of Montgomery county. He has three sisters and two brothers, Sarah, Hannah, Mary, Joseph C., and Alan W. Jo- seph C. Read has located in Fernandina, Florida, where for some years he has been extensively engaged in lumbering and forwarding to distant markets the finer sorts of lumber. Alan W. studied dental surgery, went to Europe about twenty years ago, and is successfully established in his profession at Copen- hagen, Denmark. His eldest sister, Sarah, was intermarried with Charles Jones, of Conshohocken, and Mary with John Roberts, of Norristown. Both of these men are now dead.
Some of Dr. Read's early years were spent at what is known as "Read's mill," situated near the Schuylkill, in Upper Merion township, which concern his father owned for some time. His rudimentary education was obtained in the common schools of he locality, after which he was a pupil for a considerable time
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LOUIS W. READ, M. D.
:at Treemount Seminary, under Rev. Samuel Aaron. At a very early age he entered, from the school, the office of his uncle, Dr. William Corson, in 1845, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1849, about the time of his majority.
The great war between Russia and Turkey and the allies of the latter breaking out, Dr. Read, young and enterprising, of- fered his services to the former power. Bearing the requisite credentials, he sailed for Russia, entered her service in 1855 as ·surgeon, and remained there during the war and through the terrible siege of Sebastopol. After the war he spent six months in the hospitals of Paris as an addition towards the completion of his medical education.
In the autumn of 1857 he opened an office in Norristown and commenced the practice of medicine and surgery. His recent extensive opportunities in the latter branch of his pro- fession, joined to his gentle, sympathizing deportment with the ·sick, soon gave him the lead in that branch of practice.
In 1858 Dr. Read married Georgine, daughter of Alfred Hurst, and there have been born to them two children, Nina B. and Alfred H.
On the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, although in the possession of a first-class and lucrative practice, Dr. Read ·offered his services and experience to the government, and in May, 1861, was appointed Surgeon of the First Pennsylvania Reserves, the first three years regiment. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Surgeon of United States volunteers in October, and assigned to duty as Medical Director of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, Third Division, Fifth Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, which place he filled until No- vember, 1864, when he was relieved of duty in the field and placed in charge of the McKimm United States General Hos- pital at Baltimore. He continued at that place until the re- turn of peace, or till March, 1866, when the institution was closed and the officials mustered out of the United States ser- ·vice.
It may be related in connection with Dr. Read's service as army surgeon that in all human probability he was the means of saving the life of General Hancock while the latter was at
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LOUIS W. READ, M. D.
his father's house in Norristown and the doctor at home on; a brief visit to his family. The General's wound had been re- peatedly probed for the ball to no purpose, and he was in de- spair of any recovery from the wound, when Dr. R. happened to visit him and volunteered to make a search for the bullet that had never been found. By considering the attitude of General H. when he was wounded, and probing in the proper direction, the ball was at once removed, the General rapidly recovered, and the next year was well enough to swoop down on the rebellion at Spottsylvania and give it the coup de grace. This providential relief of General Hancock was more than an accidental achievement, and well corresponds with the enter -- prise and self-reliance that at twenty-two years of age led him to enlist in a distant foreign army with a view of obtaining the highest qualifications in his profession.
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