USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 6
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From 1838 to 1853, a period of fifteen years, he was in no public employment, but attended to his store and assisted neigh- bors by counsel in matters of law and business. It is related to his credit in this connection that he squelched many law suits among his neighbors by bringing them together and per- suading them to compromise their disputes. It is further re- lated of him that while very shrewd and devoted to his own interests in buying, selling, and attending to his concerns, he
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HON. JACOB FRY, JR.
was never known to take advantage of opportunities for pecu- niary gain afforded by office or while dealing in behalf of others. With such qualities of mind and habits of industry it is not surprising that his estate at the time of his death was considerable. It was during this long period that he acquired. from his confiding friends the familiar title of "Honest Jacob Fry."
In 1853 he was elected to the lower house of Assembly, and! was re-elected the next year, thus completing a legislative term according to party usage. A short time previous to this his brother Daniel, no doubt under his patronage and by his as- sistance, started the Montgomery Watchman, which was pub- lished at Norristown many years, and finally incorporated with the Register. It is thought that the establishment of that paper looked to the presentation of his claims for Governor as against the aspirations of Mr. Sterigere, who owned and controlled the Register. Be that as it may, in 1856, just about the time of his rival's death, he was nominated for Auditor General, was elected, and served the full term, commencing May 5th, 1857, and ending in 1860. His administrative supervision of State- finances was, like all his other fiduciary trusts, discharged withi scrupulous honesty and care.
From the close of his public life in 1860, to 1866, when he died, on the 28th of November, he was engaged in his store, thus, like an old-fashioned German as he was, ending life at work in his native village, after a long and useful career, and his remains lie buried in the cemetery of Augustus Lutheran Church, of which for many years he 'had been an honored member and President of its vestry. He died of dropsy of the: chest, aged 64 years, 5 months, and 18 days.
In person Mr. Fry was rather above medium height, stoutly built, and of grave demeanor, which was made more conspicu- ous by generally dressing in black and wearing a white cravat,. thus making him resemble a clergyman in appearance. His- complexion was darkly florid, with jet black hair. His air and the contour of his features bore a striking resemblance to. Governor John F. Hartranft.
Francis R. Shunk, whom he greatly resembled in moral and
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REV. HENRY ANTES.
social traits, and the subject of our biography were life-long friends, the latter presiding over the convention that nominated the former for the Chair of State in 1844. The Governor usually spent nearly a week each summer at the house of his friend. He was devotedly attached to the doctrines and usages of the Lutheran church, and was on intimate terms with many of its most prominent clergymen. In early life, while teach- ing school, he was for a time organist of the church.
A vein of dry humor was natural to him, but neither sar- casm nor bitterness ever fell from his lips. The writer of these lines, though heartily antagonizing his political opinions during and subsequent to his Congressional service, had frequent in- terviews with him, and bears witness to the firmness yet cour- tesy with which he defended his own political views. His widow died in 1872.
REV. HENRY ANTES.
Religion! what treasure untold Resides in that heavenly word ! More precious than silver or gold, Or all that this earth can afford .- Cowper.
The subject of this biography, originally a pious layman of Frederick township, Montgomery county, was probably born in Germany, and emigrated to Pennsylvania during the first quarter of the last century. Church records inform us that about 1736 he was known in the upper end as " the pious Re- formed layman and farmer of Frederick." Being a man of deep and earnest religious feeling, he felt a lively interest in the Germans and their descendants, who at that day had few opportunities of divine worship. Accordingly he undertook to supply the lack of a licensed ministry by gathering the peo- ple together wherever he could do so, praying with them, and addressing them on religious matters. Hence he acquired the title of "the pious farmer and teacher of Frederick."
On the invitation of John Adam Gruber, a Moravian brother,
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GEN. HENRY SCHEETZ.
he went to Bethlehem and joined the community there. From 1745 to 1750 he was entrusted with most of the secular affairs of the settlement, and frequently accompanied the celebrated Zinzendorf in his missionary journeys abroad. In the latter year, however, finding the "brethren" disposed to introduce the wearing of a white surplice at the administration of the sacrament, and thinking it a backward step toward Rome, separated himself from them and came back to his farm in Frederick. Two years after, however, he accompanied Bishop Spangenberg and two others to the wilds of North Carolina, with a view of purchasing a tract of land upon which to found a new Moravian settlement. Late in the summer of that year he died, and was buried on his farm in Frederick. Ten of the brethren from Bethlehem carried his remains to the tomb, and Bishop Spangenberg preached a funeral sermon on the occa- sion.
We do not certainly know, but it is highly probable that Frederick Antes, who figures in Revolutionary annals, was a son of Rev. Henry Antes. The former was one of the dele- gates to the Revolutionary convention or congress which met at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, in 1775, and also of the one that met the year following. His name appears associated with Colonel John Bull, also of our county, during the war, as a pur- chaser of army supplies.
GEN. HENRY SCHEETZ.
"I have had many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have been able to place in God's, I still possess."-Martin Luther.
One of the most prominent and influential citizens of Mont- gomery county fifty years ago was Brigadier General Henry Scheetz, of Whitemarsh township. Without doubt the family is of German origin and Protestant, probably of the emigra- tion which came to Philadelphia about 1686 under Francis Daniel Pastorius, and settled "ye Garmantown." This is made the more probable by the fact, stated in Colonial or State
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GEN. HENRY SCHEETZ.
archives, that " Johan Jacob Scheetz owned 428 acres of land in Germantown, being part of a tract of 5350 acres bought for the German Land Company by Pastorius."
Henry Scheetz was the son of Henry and Catharine Scheetz, of Whitemarsh, and no doubt was born near where, as a farmer, he lived all his life, and probably on the land above described as being in Germantown. His father was a capable and influ- ential man, as shown by the fact that he was appointed one of the five Associate Judges of Montgomery county as early as 1784. His grandfather, also named Henry, who came from Germany, was the owner of a mill on Sandy run, in White- marsh or Springfield township.
General Henry Scheetz was born in 1761, and in his youth received a common school education. He married Elizabeth Hocker, who lived near Camp Hill, she being eight years younger than he. They had nine children, to-wit: Henry, Catharine, George, Margaret, Ann, John, Jacob, James, and Eliza. The intermarriages and offspring of these, so far as can be ascertained, are as follows:
Henry married Sarah Campbell; children, George, Eliza- beth, Margaret, Sarah, and James. Also intermarried with Margaret Zimmerman; issue by second wife, two children, Amanda and William.
General Henry and Elizabeth Scheetz's second child, Catha- rine, was the second wife of Daniel Hitner, Sr., of Marble Hall, and their children were Daniel Otto, Henry Scheetz, Marga- ret, and Catharine.
Their next child was Margaret, married to Jonathan Wentz; children, Henry, Elizabeth, Catharine, and George.
Their third child, George, was married to Margaret Trap; offspring, Eliza, Charles, Sarah, Catharine, Samuel, George, and Jacob.
Ann was intermarried with Jacob Harmon, but left no child- ren.
John H., who studied and practiced law in Norristown many years, and was Clerk of Courts in 1830, was married to Mar- garet Plumstead, and had two children, Henry and Ellen.
Jacob married Christiana Acuff, but they had no heirs.
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GEN. HENRY SCHEETZ.
James was intermarried to Hannah Wentz; they had three children, Henry, Eliza, and Caroline.
Eliza, the youngest daughter and the only one of General Scheetz's children still alive, married William Acuff, who, when an old man of 90, was accidentally killed near his dwelling, on September 11th, 1878, by a passing railroad train, while at- tempting, in a carriage, to cross the track. The children of William and Eliza Acuff are James S., Alfred S., and Margaret G. These children of the third generation are in- termarried as follows: Alfred S. to Mary Marshall; issue, Eliza, John, Willie, and Margaret. Margaret G. is married to David Thomas, and their children are named William A., Harry, and James.
General Henry Scheetz, after the death of his first wife, mar- ried the widow of Peter Dager, of the same township, who had died some years previous. Mr. S. and his family were bred in the tenets of the Reformed church, and most of them were members of the same. Their remains lie buried in the ceme- tery of the church of that name in Whitemarsh. Mrs. Eliza- beth Scheetz, the first wife of General Scheetz, died in 1825, aged 56 years. He survived her twenty-three years, dying of pleurisy, in 1848, at the age of 87.
It only remains to narrate his services as a public man. As appears by the files of the county papers during the early years of the century, the name of Henry Scheetz is very prominent, frequently occurring in connection with Democratic meetings, as also with the county militia. So early as 1805 he was elected to the lower house of Assembly, and once nominated for Senator, but failed of an election by a few votes. In 18II he was Director of the Poor; and in connection with John B. Sterigere and others, though in his 77th year, was chosen in 1837 a member of the convention to revise the Constitution of the State. Previous to 1825, and for several years thereafter, he was at times chosen a director of the Bank of Montgomery County. Shortly after the breaking out of the war of 1812, Henry Scheetz marched to the camp established at Marcus Hook, on the Delaware, designed to defend DuPont's powder works, near Wilmington, from destruction by the British. We
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HARMAN YERKES.
'have not learned his rank there, though it is certain he held 'some command, as for many years after he was designated as ‘General Scheetz, having finally reached the rank of Brigadier.
In person the General was tall and stoutly built, of dark ‹complexion, but not black hair; dignified and manly in bear- ing, and wielding a marked influence in his party and on the : general public till the time of his death. His influence in the Democratic party was such that in 1826, when a hitch occurred in making the nomination for Congress, he had sufficient ad- dress to get his young friend and protege, John B. Sterigere, Esq., on the ticket, and secure his election two or three years ibefore he was admitted to the bar.
HARMAN YERKES.
While he, from all the stormy passions free That restless men involve, hears, and but hears, At distance safe, the human tempest roar, Wrapt close in conscious peace .- Thomson.
Harman Yerkes,* merchant and farmer, of Whitemarsh, was born May 21st, 1774, in Mooreland township, Montgomery county. His father, John Yerkes, was a farmer, who finding his son Harman a delicate boy, hardly strong enough for his ·own calling, placed him at an early age with Samuel Livezey, · of Plymouth, as a store help, where he remained a number of years. Having saved of his earnings fifty pounds, he con- ·cluded, under the advice of his patron friend Livezey, to start · a store for himself at Spring Mill. The manner of his going
*The Yerkes family made their appearance in Bucks county, settling in Warminster, about a hundred and fifty years ago, when Harman Yerkes bought one hundred and eighty-one acres of the Noble tract, on the Street road. The name is of Germant origin, and has been variously spelled Jerghes, Gerjhes, Gerches, Yerkas, Jerghijes, Sherkes, .and otherwise .- Davis' History of Bucks County.
+From the various spellings, and consequent rough pronunciation, much more likely "to be Dutch than German, especially as a large part of the settlers of that part of Bucks county are known to have been Hollanders.
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HARMAN YERKEŞ.
into business is given in his own words, as related to the writer many years ago: "Samuel said I had served him faith- fully, and he would assist me. He went with me to town and introduced me to the merchants, and said to them, 'Harman is poor, but he is honest. If he wants a little credit, trust him; but don't trust him too much, for much trust ain't good for a young man.'" He soon, however, had little need of trust from: anybody, for till his death he was known in Philadelphia as the "money-down" buyer. After continuing several years at Spring Mill he removed to the store and farm so long known by the . name of " Yerkes' Corner," now Harmanville, at the intersec- tion of the Ridge turnpike road and the Spring Mill road, where he died, universally respected, on March 15th, 1845, at the ripe old age of 71 years.
Harman Yerkes was eminently a merchant of the olden time, disposing of everything at exact and uniform prices, and at very small advances. He would as soon have thought of sell- ing with a short yard-stick or false bushel as to retail goods on the modern sensational style-one article at less than cost, and another, not so well known, to the buyer, at threefold profits. If goods would not bring their price they remained on the shelves as mementoes or as caution not to buy more. This, perhaps, was not best, but it was his way. Consequently, when his stock was finally closed out, very many things, well kept, were sold to buyers as curiosities of a former age. He was scrupulously honest to the half penny. If a half cent was due a customer on an account or in change, he would, if no half cent were at hand, give a half row of pins, or the like, to make precise: settlement. With equal exactitude and conscientiousness he expected it if due him. In his later years he became wealthy, and loaned considerable money on bonds and mortgages, and, as may be supposed, knew or cared nothing for "bonuses" in placing loans. Though living with Friends nearly all his life, and attending their meetings with tolerable regularity, he was never a member of the society.
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HARMAN YERKES.
In 1803 he married Elizabeth Weaver, of Germantown, by whom he had four sons, Joseph, Reuben, Hiram, and Nathan- iel, and five daughters, Miriam, Susan, Mary, Martha, and Anna. Mary intermarried with Daniel H. Dager, who had extensive marble works near by. Mrs. Dager resides in Nor- ristown with her daughter, Mrs. Morgan R. Wills, wife of the editor and proprietor of the Herald. Miriam, the eldest daugh- ter, has been deceased some years, as also all the sons. Joseph was married three times. His first wife was Hannah Davis, daughter of John Davis, of Plymouth, by whom he had two children, Elizabeth Y., intermarried with J. H. Cooper, and Hettie Y., wife of Caleb R. Hallowell; second wife, Mary Harry, daughter of David Harry, of Conshohocken, by whom he had three children, Annie H., widow of William Wilson, Mary H., wife of Hon. Alan Wood, Jr., and David H., killed at the battle of the Wilderness; third wife, Elizabeth Marple, of Philadel- phia, by whom he had two children, Evan M. and Hiram, who reside in Philadelphia.
Reuben was twice married, but left no children. Nathaniel, the youngest son, married Sallie J. L. Leedom, and there were born to them three children, James C., Susan W., and Willie S., who, with the mother, survive the father, the latter dying in 1870, aged 53 years.
Daniel H. and Mary W. Dager, the former of whom has been deceased many years, have also a son, Robert P. Dager, who is intermarried with Mary D. Hitner, daughter of Henry S. Hitner, of Marble Hall; also a daughter, Elizabeth Y. Dager, married, in 1866, to Hutchinson P. Yerkes, of Doylestown, where they now reside. They have no children.
Elizabeth, the venerable relict of Harman Yerkes, lived at the old homestead till April, 1877, when she departed, almost a centenarian, at 96 years.
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HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS .*
Constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fixed and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament. The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks,- They are all fire, and every one doth shine; But there's but one in all doth hold his place .;- Shakspeare.
Justly, therefore, was Cato entitled to admiration; when other citizens were fright- ened at labor and enervated by pleasure, he alone was unconquered by either, not only when young, but when old and gray-haired .- Plutarch.
Jonathan Roberts, United States Senator from Pennsylvania, was born on the 16th of August, 1771, at Swamp Vrass Farm, Upper Merion township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He was the lineal descendant of John Roberts, of Pennychlawd,Denbighshire, North Wales, who about the year 1682 emigrated to America and settled in what is now Lower Merion township. He was a mill- wright by occupation, and erected upon a tract of two hundred and fifty acres of land, which he purchased from John Ap John and Thomas Wynne, the third mill which was built in the province of Pennsylvania. This ancestor, unmarried, had attained the age of threescore when he reached America. Some time thereafter he mar- ried a young woman named Elizabeth Owen, aged 18. The latter died early, leaving her husband three young children, two sons and a daughter. The youngest of these three children was Mathew Roberts, the grandfather of the subject of this biography. His father, the emigrant, died when Mathew was quite young, bequeath- ing to him the " Plantation lying back in the woods," as it was then called, but since known as Swamp Vrass. This property is now owned and occupied by William B. Roberts, a lineal descend- ant, and has never been out of the family. Mathew, the grand- father of Jonathan Roberts, had learned the trade of a blacksmith, and carried on that business in connection with his farm. In 1727 or 1728, at the age of 30, he married Sarah Walter. This marriage produced five children, who survived their father. Jonathan Rob- erts, the father of the subject of this sketch, being the eldest, re-
*This biography is compiled from voluminous Memoirs left by the subject in the hands of his family.
¡The distinguishing characteristics of Jonathan Roberts were moral courage and in- flexible purpose to do what he thought right. In a recent interview of the author with the venerable Simon Cameron, the latter gave as his earliest recollections of Mr. R. his boldly standing up alone, or nearly so, in the caucus of the Pennsylvania Legislature, against the nomination of Andrew Jackson for President in 1824.
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HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
ceived all the advantages of education which were at that time at- tainable. Of him his son has said: "His conversational powers were ready, seasoned with judgment and sound reflection. I have often felt admiration, when of mature age, at the justness of his views and the weight of his reasoning. To the close of his life I could discover in him no decay of mind. He was always a great reader, and delighted in books."
In 1771, the year of the birth of his son Jonathan, the subject of this biography, he was chosen a member of the Colonial Assembly, and returned four successive years, until that body ceased to meet. The first period of his public service terminated with the Declara- tion of Independence. He participated in measures which, before the final rupture with the Crown, were technically treasonable. When the controversy between England and the colonies became a san- guinary struggle, he, being a member of the society of Friends, was constrained to retire from public service. He continued, however, in his political sentiments a non-militant Whig. In 1784, after the close of the Revolutionary war, he took great interest and a promi- nent part in having the county of Montgomery organized and separated from Philadelphia, and was much from home on that business at a time when his own concerns needed his presence and oversight. He had a full share in fixing the seat of justice at Nor- ristown. It was a warmly contested point, and required, to effect it, both firmness and address, which he displayed with eminent success.
He was one of the five commissioners named in the act to pro- cure the construction of the original public buildings for the county. In 1788 he was elected a member of the convention for Montgomery county to act upon and ratify or reject the Constitution of the United States, for the State of Pennsylvania. He voted for the ratification, but not without feeling its imperfections ; for, with all its defects, he regarded it as being preferable to the old Articles of Confederation. In 1790 he was elected to the House of Represen- tatives of the United States, under the old Constitution. The old Whig and Tory parties existed no longer as such. Those questions had been put at rest by the peace of 1783. He continued, how- ever, to favor every measure which tended to the establishment of a free and progressive government and the adoption of a liberal and tolerant policy. His votes were conclusive in settling some of the questions arising out of the measures adopted by the Federal Gov- ernment. In this he acted independently of political association.
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HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
He felt strongly the defects of the State Constitution of 1776, and exerted himself to have a convention called to remodel it. The con- vention met, but its labors failed to accomplish the results desired. The judicial tenure of office, the uncontrolled appointing power in the Governor as well as the pardoning power, and the long tenure of service in the Senate, were objectionable to him. In his course in the National Legislature he took a decisive stand with the anti- Federalists against the Federalists, who favored a strong executive- government. Those with whom he acted were soon known as Re- publicans. Montgomery county was originally in the hands of the. Federalists. With the close of the session of the House of Repre- sentatives in 1791, his public service terminated. He lived in re- tirement for more than twenty years thereafter, and at the age of 82 passed to the higher life, a worthy example to his children and their descendants.
The maternal grandfather of Jonathan Roberts, jr., as the subject of this memoir was for many years called, was David Thomas, a native of Wales. He married Anna Noble, who was his third wife and the grandmother of the subject of this biography. Thomas was a man of influence, but of unpretending modesty. His third wife was a woman of great force of character, and from her, through his. mother, Jonathan Roberts inherited some of his most marked traits. From these parents sprang the mother who gave him birth. Of her the son wrote, in describing her to his children: " Her mind was- active and discriminating, and owed more to exercise than early cultivation. Her perceptions were quick, clear, and her taste and appetite for knowledge very strong. She possessed uncommon firmness and nerve when their exercise were needed. Her sympa- thies and affections were ardent, though well regulated and tem- pered with tenderness. Early impressions and subsequent interrup- tions of health had strongly impressed her mind with the religious tenets of Friends; but her piety, though sober, was not tinctured with gloominess. She had a high relish for the stoic philosophy, and with true catholicism held that it taught much in the spirit of truth. Even at a late age she relished the sturdy morals of Seneca. She held the teachings of the Grecian sages in not less veneration than those which have come to us from the Hebrews. She cher- ished exalted notions of the value of good faith and integrity of character."
Such was the ancestral line from which sprung Jonathan Roberts. He was the fourth of six children that were raised to adult age. As
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HON. JONATHAN ROBERTS.
before stated, he was born August 16th, 1771, and at the tender age of five years put to school, his teacher being Lawrence Bathurst, a nephew of Allen Lord Bathurst, one of the English nobility. He continued under the charge of Mr. Bathurst until he reached the age of ten. The latter had received a liberal education at West- minster school, England, and his influence over his youthful pupil was permanently impressed upon him. Bathurst was then an elderly man, having in his early manhood taught the father in the same building, which was situated on land of the old family homestead. Under his old tutor he learned to read, write and cipher with con- siderable credit, although, as he admitted, with little gratification in his studies. Even then his services upon the farm became an object of importance, and he performed his part with such diligence as to win the approbation of his father, whose habits of industry made him less indulgent to idleness than is usual with parents. The habit of useful occupation, thus early acquired, never left him, and his appreciation of the value of time became keener as he grew in years. He frequently repeated the lines :
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