USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 60
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649
WILLIAM H. WAMPOLE.
Sarah, with Jonathan C. Phillips, already inscribed; James, born 1824, intermarried with Susan Eastburn, have two living children ; Benjamin, born 1826, with Jane Eastburn, have five children; George, born 1827, with Mary Wager, six children ; Thomas, born 1830, with Emily Scott, have five sons living and two daughters deceased; Eliza M., born 1831, with Jona- than Supplee, have three living children; Anna J., with Owen Evans, have five children; Emma J., born 1842, died in her eighteenth year unmarried; Joseph and Ann Abraham had other two children, who died in infancy. He died December 31, 1850, aged sixty-one years, and she March 30, 1873, aged seventy-four.
WILLIAM H. WAMPOLE, DENTIST.
Dr. William H. Wampole, dentist, of North Wales, is the old- est son of Isaac W. and Mary Wampole. He was born Novem- ber 3, 1841, being a member of the fourth generation born on the old Wampole homestead, situated in Towamencin town- ship, one mile north of Kulpsville. This property was held by the Wampole family up to 1868, nearly a century and a quarter. It was purchased of Abraham Lukens by Frederick Wampole, the deed bearing date September 4, 1744. He was the great- great-grandfather of our subject, who, with his brother Henry, emigrated from Germany in 1743. Christ's Church, Lutheran and German Reformed, is located on part of this farm.
This earliest known progenitor, Frederick Wampole, was a capable public spirited citizen, and Supervisor of the township in 1773, being then rated on the tax list for two hundred and twenty acres of land, with four horses. Four years later, Octo- ber, 1777, his house, a stone one built in 1752, was occupied as headquarters by General Washington on his retreat from the repulse at Germantown, and his army was encamped on the farm. Numbers of bullets, silver shoe buckles, bayonets, &c., were found there years after they left. From here it is said General Nash, who had been fatally wounded at the recent
650
WILLIAM H. WAMPOLE.
battle, with three minor officers of the American army, were buried. Their graves are marked by a small monument in the Menonite burying ground near by. Also a deserter was shot while headquarters were here.
Frederick Wampole died February, 1800; his wife, Catha- rine Magdalena, died February, 1805, both at advanced age. He had four sons, Henry, Abraham, Jacob and Isaac, and four daughters.
Jacob Wampole, the third son of Frederick, the emigrant, was born on the old homestead in 1765, and lived there till his death in April, 1818, aged fifty-three years. His wife died the same month in her fifty-second year. In this year, 1818, the old house was rebuilt.
Isaac, the youngest brother of Jacob, born September 23, 1767, left the farm for the city in March, 1788; bought the old homestead and owned it till his death, and willed it to his nephew, Frederick. He was Deputy Recorder of Wills of the city of Philadelphia from July 4, 1791, for eighteen years and three months, and afterwards conveyancer till his death August 8, 1837, leaving estate valued at $74,000.
Frederick, the oldest son of Jacob Wampole, the grand- father of our subject, was born in 1786. He was a director of the old Montgomery County Bank, in Norristown, for nearly twenty years. His wife was Mary Magdalena Leister, who died at the residence of her son, in North Wales, in 1869, aged 77 years. He was an active churchman and Sunday school worker. He died on the old homestead in 1868 in the eighty-second year of his age. And although he inherited this then vast estate from his uncle Isaac, the proverb "Come easy go easy," was fully verified in his case, as he was utterly bankrupt at the time of his death. His brother Jacob, a clergyman, preached, died and was buried at Trappe in 1838, aged thirty-eight years. A son of the above clergyman, Jacob Frederick, is also a cler- gyman at present located at Freeburg, Pennsylvania.
Isaac W. Wampole, the above Frederick's oldest son, Justice of the Peace of North Wales, was born on the old homestead in 1817, and resided there until 1858. He was elected Justice of the Peace when twenty-two years old, a position he has filled
651
WILLIAM H. WAMPOLE.
nearly consecutively for forty-five years, being then the young- est justices in the county as he is now one of the oldest. He removed to North Wales in 1867 from the Pleasant Valley Steam Mills, where he resided for nine ycars. He is regarded as a very capable and trusty business man, and constantly em- ployed by his fellow-citizens in various departments of ser- vice, and has been for eighteen years Secretary and Librarian of St. Peter's Lutheran Sunday school, of North Wales, and for the same time been a member of the church council of said church.
Charles L. Wampole, youngest brother of Isaac W., an uncle of our subject, purchased the old Godshalk mill prop- erty, in Towamencin township, one mile west of Kulpsville. He was the first person to introduce steam as a motive power in a flour and grist mill in Montgomery county-about the year 1850. He also near that time constructed an incubator to hatch chickens by steam. It was partially successful but was finally abandoned. Now the incubator is a success; then it was in its infancy. He was also for a number of years a Director of the old Montgomery Bank. Finally the first steam mill, which he named "The Pleasant Valley Steam Mills," having also a saw mill attached, was destroyed by fire in 1855 or 1856; he proceeded to reconstruct it on a much larger scale, also commenced the erection of a large mansion, and finally was stricken with sickness, which caused his death at the age of thirty-two years. A financial crash followed, which swept away his and his father's estate. We here take up again the narrative of our subject proper.
Dr. William H. Wampole, when a growing youth, had the misfortune to be attacked with inflammatory rheumatism, which developed into a white swelling, and was not cured until one leg was permanently disabled, but being resolute and persevering he has employed his mental gifts so well that he has mastered the dental profession, which he has followed successfully since 1868. He has resided in North Wales since 1867, having studied and learned the mechanical branches of his profession there, Dr. R. Yost being his preceptor. He had three sisters and two brothers, namely, Sarah, the eldest
652
WILLIAM H. WAMPOLE.
of the family, who was the wife of Jesse Oberholtzer ; she is deceased since February, 1864; Mary Ann, wife of A. A. Delp, and Emily. His elder brother, Isaac, is foreman in E. K. Freed & Co.'s flouring mill, in North Wales, a position he has held for nineteen years, and his younger brother, Harvey, is editor and proprietor of the Malvern Item, Chester county, Pa. Doctor Wampole was married to Anna M. Bright, Feb- ruary 10, 1876, she dying December 20, 1877, leaving one daughter, Alma May. He was married again May 21, 1879, to Lydia N. Scott, who has borne him three children, Charles Scott, Elsie Jennie and William Howard; the last died in in- fancy September, 1886. Dr. Wampole's family attachments have been with the Lutheran Church, but for some years he has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal ; he has .also been a life-long Sunday school worker, as also a prominent temperance advocate, being allied with the Good Templar and Sons of Temperance Orders, which in a great measure caused the change in his church relations, as he could not conscientiously commune where intoxicating wine was used at the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
By close attention to business Dr. Wampole has acquired a large practice in surrounding townships, as also at German- town, Norristown, and other neighboring towns. Being a country dentist, much of his work is done from home, requir- ing considerable traveling, which he does by private convey- ance, thus obtaining the benefit of fresh, pure air, which he regards very conducive to good health. He is also proprietor of "Dr. Wampole's Excelsior Liniment," a popular household remedy.
Dr. Wampole's grandparents, on his mother's side, were Israel and Sarah Yocum, nee Snyder. Israel Yocum owned and lived on a small farm in Hatfield township. He followed the occupation of drover, which in those days, about 1830, was very different from droving now, having no railroads to travel on. Then the man took his money, mounted his horse and rode for weeks, until he arrived in the vicinity where the purchasing was done, which took several weeks more, as large herds, often one hundred head or more, were purchased be-
653
JOSEPH HEACOCK.
fore the home trip was commenced, which took several weeks or a month more. On a trip of this kind, in 1834, when he arrived at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, he was taken sick, died, and was buried there, none of his folks having ever seen his grave, as he was dead and buried long before the sad news could be communicated to his home. His widow survived him many years, and died at her daughter's, in North Wales, in 1867, aged seventy-seven years. They had only two children-daughters-Mary, the mother of our subject, and Margaret, who married Reuben Boorse, who left his home at what is now known as Mainland, on horseback one day, went to Skippackville, and stated there that he was "going to Zieg- lersville to trade horses." He left Skippackville and that was the last seen or heard of him or his horse. It was supposed that he was murdered between Skippackville and Zieglers- ville. A person who lived along the Perkiomen was suspected of being the perpetrator of the crime. But up to this day Reu- ben Boorse's disappearance remains a mystery. Mrs. Boorse died soon after this mysterious event without issue.
JOSEPH HEACOCK.
THE HEACOCK FAMILY.
This family is known to be of English origin, Friends in religious persuasion, and is one of the most widely extended in Pennsylvania, as appears from genealogical records still in the hands of some of its members. The earliest known pro- genitors, Jonathan and Ann Heacock, emigrated from England and settled in Marple township, now Delaware county, Penn- sylvania. They brought certificates of membership from Wol- verhampton Monthly Meeting, in Staffordshire, dated 13th of Twelfth-month, 1710, directed to Chester Monthly Meeting, then Chester county, Pennsylvania. Being probably unsettled for a time, they were not received to membership there until 29th of Seventh-month, 1718. Ann Heacock was the daugh-
654
JOSEPH HEACOCK.
ter of John Till, of Whitegrove, Staffordshire, and belonged to Stafford Meeting. It is recorded of him that in the year 1666 he, with others, was committed to prison for absence from the national worship, and remained incarcerated until 1672, a period of six years, when Charles II. issued his let- ters-patent discharging the people called Quakers from such confinement, when he, with others, was set at liberty.
In an old account book kept by Jonathan Heacock we find the following entries and memoranda, evidently in his own handwriting, the same being still in the possession of the mem- bers of the family. The following are specimens:
"Sent a letter on 19th of Second-month from Belfast Lough, in Ireland, by the Nepten Brigeteen, bound for Liverpool, and come from Barbadoes."
"Jonathan Heacock, Second-month 27, direct for Joseph Heacock at Jonathan Harrison's, in Trione Corte, Red Lyon street, Spittalfields, London." "Sent a letter on 20 instant from Ireland to Staffordshire."
"Jonathan Heacock and Ann, his wife, went on board the Three Sisters the 13th of Third-month, 1710, bound to Belfast, in Ireland, the 14th inst. Left Ireland the 23d, and came to Loughrane, Scotland, on the same day, about I o'clock in the afternoon. Sailed from thence 26th at I o'clock in the morn- ing."
As appears also from accounts kept with individuals, he was a dealer in or purchaser of wool, and manufactured worsted, drugget, taminy, &c. At first he rented, but afterwards pur- chased a tract of land in Marple township, then Chester county, upon which he settled. The following are the children of Jonathan and Ann as we find their names entered in an old Bible now in possession of one of the family:
SECOND GENERATION.
Mary, born 26th of Third-month, 1712; married Robert Penrose; died Third-month 21, 1795. John, born 23d of Ninth- month, 1713; married Sarah Taylor; died Eleventh-month 13, 1794. Jonathan, born Third-month 10, 1715; married Susan- nah Morgan; died Second-month 16, 1765. William, born
655
JOSEPH HEACOCK.
First-month 13, 1717; married Ann Roberts; died Fourth- month 12, 1800. Ann, born Twelfth-month 11, 1719; married James Morgan; died Twelfth-month 28, 1797. Joseph, born 3Ist of Third-month, 1722; married Hannah Massey; died Third-month, 1774.
The descent is next counted through William Heacock, the third son and fourth child, who was a millwright by trade, and settled in Rockhill township, Bucks county, and who married Ann Roberts, of that locality.
They were married according to the order of the Society of Friends, "with the approbation of Gwynedd Monthly Meet- ing." He purchased a tract of land, containing two hundred and forty-four acres, of the proprietaries, Thomas and Richard Penn, in the year 1739, and erected upon it a saw and oil mill, and near them a grist mill. The former two were said to have been erected about 1739, and at that time the oil mill was thought to be a great curiosity. William and Ann Heacock had nine children, as follows;
THIRD GENERATION.
Jeremiah, born 8th of Eighth-month, 1742; married Sarah Morgan; died First-month 1, 1797. William, born Third- month 22, 1747; married Meriam Thomas; died Eighth-month, 1814. Ann, born Fourth-month 19, 1750; married Joseph Rawlings; died Eighth-month 28, 1823. Mary, born Fifth- month II, 1752 (N. S.); married Thomas Strawhen; died Third-month 14, 1770; Jesse, born Second-month 20, 1754;
died 1763. Alice, born Second-month 7, 1756; married Henry Wilson and Josiah Dennis; died Fourth-month 22, 1835. Jane, born Second-month II, 1758; married Amos Dennis; died Eleventh-month 20, 1815. Jonathan, born Fourth-month 11, 1760; married Hannah Davis; dicd Twelfth- month 21, 1828. Jesse, born Second-month 16, 1763; married Tacy Thomson; died Ninth-month 30, 1841.
The descent continues through Jesse, the youngest son and child of William and Ann Heacock, who married Tacy, daughter of Jonah and Tacy Thomson, as above written, and
656 .
JOSEPH HEACOCK.
settled on the homestead in Rockhill. After his father's death he purchased the farm and mill.
At his own demise, which occurred in 1841, he left the pro- perty, as set forth by will, to his fourth son, Joel, he holding the same until his death, which took place in 1853. The pro- perty then descended by law to his only child, Joel Levi, who held it until 1866, when he sold all but eleven acres. The children of Jesse and Tacy Heacock were as follows :
FOURTH GENERATION.
John, born Eighth-month 28, 1786, married Christiana Strawn, afterward Rachel Kelley; died Ninth-month 5, 1868. Jonah, born Second-month 18, 1788, married Abigail Warner ; died Sixth-month 14, 1861. William, born First-month 19, 1790, married Lavinia Penrose; died Twelfth-month 7, 1877. Ann, born Twelfth-month 27, 1791, married Samuel M. Foulke; died Eighth-month 1, 1885. Joel, born Third-month 26, 1794, married Abigail Roberts ; died Third-month 19, 1853. Margaret, born Third-month 27, 1796, married John Good, afterwards Jonathan Carr ; died Second-month 15, 1884. Jesse T., born Sixth-month 12, 1798, married Elizabeth Reese; died Second-month 25, 1873. Joseph (our subject), born Eighth- month 26, 1800, married Esther Hallowell; died Third-month 22, 1883. Enos, born Twelfth-month 20, 1802, married Sarah , Foulke; died First-month 21, 1882. Nathan, born Fourth- month 27, 1806, married Eliza Hallowell; died Third-month 15, 1879. Aaron, born Seventh-month 27, 1808, married Hannah M. Wood.
Joseph Heacock, as stated above, married Esther, daughter of John Hallowell, Twelfth-month 30, 1824. He was a black- smith, and during the early part of his life conducted that business at the village of Jenkintown, but in 1842 went to farming and later settled on a thirty-acre farm at Chelten Hills station, on the North Pennsylvania railroad, where, as above stated, he died in 1883.
Joseph Heacock was an industrious, temperate man, always enjoying good health, and faithful in attendance at Abington
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JOSEPH HEACOCK.
Friends' Meeting, where he belonged and where his remains are interred.
Joseph and Esther Heacock had eleven children born to them, as follows :
FIFTH GENERATION.
John, Eliza, Gayner, William, Edward, Elwood (who died in infancy), Annie, Jane, Martha, Joseph and Henry S. These have formed the following connections and are located, at this writing, as follows : John, the eldest, is intermarried with Kate Shaub and resides in Cheltenham township, near the Phila- delphia line, on the North Pennsylvania railroad, where he has erected a neat dwelling.
To this modest record the author begs to add that he has known John Heacock intimately for many years as a very earnest anti-slavery and temperance advocate. He recalls the fact also that he was some time in the territory of Kansas, while the "Border Ruffians" were striving to make a slave state of it, and doubtless did good work for freedom while re- siding there. Also during the war was Superintendent of a plantation in South Carolina under General Saxton. At pres- ent he is engaged in collecting taxes and other claims; also as Superintendent of Broad and Columbia avenue market for ten years past. William is married to Julia A. Overholtzer, of Skippackville, and they reside in Philadelphia, where he is in business. Their children are recorded as follows: Esther, who died in her fifteenth year; Elwood, a clerk in the Girard Bank ; and Alice, an adopted daughter. Edward was married to Jeanette Isabella Andrews, of Camden, Ohio, and they set- tled at St. Louis, Missouri. He is a carpenter by trade, and served three years and three months in the Union army. His wife Jeanette has one child, Annie Minerva, and the mother died Eighth-month 10, 1868. Edward married a second wife, Helen N. Whitmore, Fifth-month 3, 1870, and they have had one son, Joseph.
Joseph married Elizabeth B. Walker, of Chester Valley, and they are settled on the homestead farm at Chelten Hills. They have had children as follows : Fannie and Mary B., who died in infancy; James, Esther, Priscilla and Edward R. Of Joseph
658
THOMAS ATKINSON.
Heacock's remaining children, Eliza and Jane are living in Washington, D. C .; Gayner, Annie and Martha, at this writing, are residing at the family homestead keeping a select school. Henry S. is living at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
THOMAS ATKINSON.
John Atkinson, the great-great-great-grandfather of Thomas Atkinson, left no record of himself or wife or children so far as known, except a certificate from Lancaster Monthly Meeting of Friends, England, dated 3-2, 1699, giving himself and family a favorable recommendation "to our Friends in ye Province of Pennsylvania."
On the voyage over John and his wife, Susanna, died, pre- sumably of small-pox, and they were buried at sea.
There were probably other Friends from Lancaster Monthly Meeting on the way to Pennsylvania in company, who cared for the three orphan children: William, Mary and John.
The certificate mentioned was presented and read in Mid- dletown Monthly Meeting, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, 9-2, 1699, and the children were brought up under the care of this Meeting. John, the third child of the emigrant, was born 8-22, 1695, in England, and married Mary Smith, the daughter of William and Mary Smith, of Wrightstown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. They were married at the house of Stephen Twining, in Newtown. After his marriage he bought two hun- dred acres of land in Makefield township-part of the London Company's tract. Soon after their marriage John and his wife settled down in the wilderness, and raised a family of six sons and two daughters. 4
At this time, one hundred and sixty-nine years after the date of the deed for the farm, over two-thirds of the tract is still owned and occupied by his descendants, and has never been out of the family or name.
Of John and Mary's eight children, Thomas, the great-grand- father of the subject of our sketch, was the third, having been
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THOMAS ATKINSON.
born 3-5, 1772. Eighth-month 8, 1744, he married Mary Wildman, a daughter of Jacob and Sarah Wildman. She was a preacher in the Society of Friends. Thomas died in 1760, and his son Thomas, born 8-19, 1751, was the one child who survived him. This Thomas married 3-10, 1779, Sarah Smith, a daughter of Timothy and Sarah Smith, at Buckingham Meet- ing House. They had seven children, of whom Jonathan, born 3-9, 1782, was the second. Thomas, the father, died I-29, 1815, and Sarah, his widow, 10-19, 1830.
Jonathan Atkinson married, in 1807, Esther Smith, the daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Smith, of Buckingham. Jonathan died 11-7, 1852. Of their eight children four are living at the present time: Phœbe S., Thomas, Edward and Sarah.
Thomas Atkinson, the third child of his parents, was born at Wrightstown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, on 1-23, 1813. He married, 2-11, 1836, Hannah, daughter of James and Mar- garet Quinby, of Amwell township, Hunterdon county, New Jersey.
The subject of this sketch was born on a farm, and at the usual age was apprenticed to a wheelwright at Newtown, and afterwards worked at his trade in Wrightstown, and at the vil- lage of Concord, in Buckingham township, at which place he began housekeeping, and his oldest child, Emma E., was born.
In 1838 he bought a farm on the Neshaminy, in Warwick township, which he worked very successfully, having greatly increased its fertility and productiveness, until 1849, when he removed with his family, now consisting of wife and five child- ren, two daughters and three sons, as follows: Emma E., Mary Anna, James Q., Wilmer and Albert, to Upper Dublin township, Montgomery county, to a farm purchased of Ed- ward Beans, being a part of the Shoemaker tract. Upper Dublin Friends Meeting was built on one corner of this farm, on land donated by Phoebe Shoemaker. Here, as in Warwick, he and his amiable and devoted wife set about improving their land, which was at the purchase somewhat run down, and soon brought it up to a high state of productiveness. Here they devoted their best energies to the rearing and education of
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JESSE EVANS
their children, to the encouragement of every good word and work in the neighborhood and in the nation at large. Both were active helpers in the temperance and anti-slavery reform, and sometimes acted as station agents on the "Underground Railroad" in the passage of fugitive slaves from the South to freedom in Canada, and both were always ready with hand and purse to relieve persons in distress in their neighborhood.
Several years ago the more active duties of the farm were transferred to their sons, James Q. and Albert, while they as- sumed a dignified retirement, occupying a part of the old homestead, though the habit of being useful and busy con- tinues, and probably will continue to the close of life.
On 2-1I, 1886, surrounded by their five children and twenty- four grand-children, they celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, both in the enjoyment of a well earned com- petence, excellent health, and that peace of mind which comes from a temperate, busy and unselfish life.
The author begs to add of his own knowledge and recollection that forty years ago "Thomas Atkinson's woods " was a famous place for the gathering of advanced thinkers and reformers to consult on the best means to promote the two kindred causes, temperance and anti-slavery, Thomas A. always being on the lead in such matters, and for such uses his grove was ever open.
JESSE EVANS.
Jesse Evans, late of Pottstown, was born in East Nantmeal township, Chester county, 1806. His grandfather, Abner Evans, came to America from Wales in 1697, landing at Ches- ter, on the Delaware, and subsequently purchased what was long known as "the Abner Evans tract" in Nantmeal. The patent for this purchase bears date of 1708. The subject of this memorial, born on the homestead just described, was united in marriage 1829 to Mary Young, of Coventry, an ad-
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JESSE EVANS.
joining township, and by that marriage had five children, three sons and two daughters. Of these Ner Evans is a farmer, residing at Marsh, Chester county, and Horace Y. is a physician, practicing his profession on West Green street, Philadelphia; Angeline, now deceased, was the wife of E. B. Freece, of Pottstown; and Clara, intermarried with Simon Snyder, of Royersford.
Jesse Evans acquired an excellent education for the time, and as a farmer and surveyor resided on part of the original homestead tract for sixty-four years, but after he had advanced in life removed to Pottstown, Montgomery county, in 1870, and died there in 1872.
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