USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 67
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THOMAS H. WENTZ.
The Wentz family appears, by early records, to have been of the eminent German settlers, prominently connected with the Reformed Church ; for on the refounding at or near Cen- tre Point, Worcester (1762), of what was originally known as "Skippack Reformed Church," Jacob Wentz and John Lefevre donated the ground, and Philip and Peter Wentz were of the trustees named in the deed. These statements account for the fact that the edifice and congregation has ever since borne the name of " Wentz's Church."
The earliest recorded member of the family in this locality was Abram, whose son John held the military title of " Col. Wentz," and for a long time also acted as Justice of the Peace, being widely known and distinguished. One of the sons of John Wentz, Esq., was Samuel, who, February 19, 1818, mar- ried Eliza Hart Humphrey. The offspring of this marriage were our subject, Thomas Humphrey Wentz, and one brother, Silas Hough, the latter of whom grew to manhood, became a wholesale druggist in Philadelphia, and died there some years ago. Eliza Hart Humphrey, above named, was the daughter of Colonel Thomas and Euphemia Hart Humphrey, after the former of whom our subject was named. This Colonel Hum-
733
THOMAS H. WENTZ.
phrey was a soldier in the war of 1812, and a very distin- guished man in Montgomery county annals many years ago ; indeed it was rarely that a public meeting of citizens was held that Colonel Humphrey's name does not figure. He and Euphemia Hart were married March 15, 1798. Our subject's paternal grandmother's name was Hannah Nana, whose people came from, or were residents in Delaware county.
Thomas H. Wentz was born May 21, 1820, at Centre Square, where his parents lived, and Samuel Wentz, his father, died when he was but four years of age, leaving his wife a widow with two small children to care for and educate. She gave her boys the best education afforded by country schools of the period, and for a short time our subject had the benefit of attendance at Doylestown Academy. In early youth he was also employed in a wholesale grocery house in Philadelphia, but when somewhat older was engaged by a mercantile house to travel in the interest of the firm South and West, returning through Michigan home.
When nearly grown to man's estate, 1839 or '40, his mother, who was a capable business woman and owned the store-house at Centre Square, started the store again, which had been previously kept by the Reiff Brothers, and her son, Thomas H., then well trained in business, took hold with her as assist- ant or partner, and the latter soon got the business in hand himself, afterwards adding the brick making and dealing in lumber; he was also interested in a stage line running past his store.
Having, as before stated, succeeded to the store business of his mother at Centre Square, his naturally enterprising mind felt cramped by the trade of a small country store, so he soon after opened there a lumber yard and commenced brickmak- ing, as before stated, all of which he drove with energy.
In December, 1846, Centre Square Lodge, I. O. of O. F., was founded and Thomas H. Wentz was elected the first Noble Grand to preside over its work: and the following year, November 20, 1847, he was married to Isabella, daugh- ter of George and Catharine Boyer, of Penn Square, near by, the nuptial ceremony being performed by Rev. George B. Ide, a Baptist clergyman, in Philadelphia. The offspring of this
734
THOMAS H. WENTZ.
union were Henry C. and Silas H., the latter of whom died in infancy.
Mr. Wentz continued driving business at the old place three or four years, but finding the scope of trade too narrow for his restless activity, in the spring of 1850 he concluded to remove to Norristown, where he had a field of effort more commensurate with his capacity.
He formed a partnership with Jesse Bean, as Bean & Wentz, which concern had been founded some years previously by Wager & Bean, it being a well established lumber yard and saw mill near the mouth of Stony creek. In 1857 the origi- nal founders of the " Norris Works" extensive machine shops having stopped business, Mr. Wentz took hold for a time, but soon disposed of it to Michael C. Boyer. He next purchased the large planing mill and lumber yard at the corner of Main street and Stony creek, and with a head carpenter employed, for several years took large building contracts in Norristown and surrounding country, as also in many large towns else- where.
But Mr. Wentz's keen perception of the advantage of pur- chasing material in first hands led him, about 1855, to procure boats and ship his own lumber down the canal from the in- terior lumber districts, which continued until the Reading railroad took the management of the navigation in hand, and discriminated against private shippers. About this time, as Mr. Wentz had become a stockholder in the Montgomery National Bank, he was elected and served several years as a director. He was also chosen a member of Town Council, and as he began to amass capital became a Director of the Gas Company, Water Company, and other local corporations. In the course of his building and real estate operations he be- came possessed of the grounds and buildings of the defunct East Pennsylvania Agricultural and Mechanical Society. These he converted into a vast brick yard, from which nearly all the bricks used at the State Asylum were made by machinery and burned with coal. In the course of his buildings contracts and otherwise, Thomas H. Wentz handled great numbers of val- uable properties, very many of which he held at the time of
735
THOMAS H. WENTZ.
his death, which resulted from pneumonia May 26, 1883, aged sixty-three years and five days.
Thomas H. Wentz was undoubtedly the most eminent and successful business man in various departments that has ap- peared in Norristown during the past quarter of a century. He was a man of considerable public spirit, assisting in most enter- prises of public improvement, such as founding factories, the Stony creek railroad, and such like. He was courteous and pleasant in demeanor, of indomitable will, clear judgment and strict integrity in his dealings. In person he was above the average stature, fair complexion, dark hair, and always oblig- ing to his friends. He was not a member of any church, but his family are Baptists. He left a large property, mainly in real estate, situated in Philadelphia, Norristown and in the surrounding country, much of which his only son and heir (apart from his widow) has been working into profitable shape, he being thought for his age nearly as capable a dealing man as his father was. The widow of Mr. Wentz resides on Swede street, where her husband died, and where her son Henry, wife and three children reside with her. Young Mr. Wentz, who succeeds his father, is now President of the Town Coun- cil, and has been active recently in promoting the organiza- tion of a new company to extend passenger railway travel over the upper streets of the borough. He is married to Kate, daughter of John Harris, of Manayunk.
736
WILLIAM RENNYSON.
WILLIAM RENNYSON.
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As we do not propose to write a full genealogical sketch of the above gentleman, but only record some of his commend- able deeds and business transactions in promoting societary progress, and as indicating his enlarged public spirit, it is therefore only necessary to state that he was born at Pat- erson, New Jersey, March 31, 1841, of Scotch-Irish and Eng- lish lineage, and was married in 1865 to Miss Sallie Bright, of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. They have five children, Nellie May, Charles Edward, Gertrude Irene, Florence Estelle and Harry Bright, and all live at Bridgeport, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Rennyson is a graduate of the law department of Penn- sylvania University, and practiced in Philadelphia for a time, but as he has a polytechnic aptitude for almost all sorts of business and trades, he has been for several years past in the lime business in the Schuylkill valley. He also in 1881 founded the daily and weekly Times, of Norristown, of which he is still part owner and editor. He was besides, when a young man, an officer of New Jersey volunteers, rising to the
command of his company. Very soon after founding the Times it was observed that he brought into active play a very rare quality with newspaper publishers-bold, moral courage. This was seen in his determined contest to free the DeKalb street bridge, at Norristown, and per-consequence all others on the line of the Schuylkill river. In the pursuit of this ob- ject Captain Rennyson encountered much bitter opposition and personal vituperation from interested persons who had ac- quired what they called "their valuable franchise," obtained through long acquiescence of the people. This resolute per- severence shows that Captain R.'s hearty co-operation in ob- jects to promote the public welfare does not belie the genial, benevolent expression of his countenance, which indicates "good will to men." Thus in 1881, on assuming a post of influence, he found a great obstruction standing between sister communities, with no press but his own to fearlessly and per- sistently to plead for its abrogation.
737
WILLIAM RENNYSON.
The author of this book nearly thirty years ago, when edit- ing the Norristown Republican, endeavored to show the un- reasonableness of toll bridges on the Schuylkill, while inland structures for like service were free, being built by public money for public use. But it remained for a bold, fearless public journalist, as William Rennyson proved to be, to set that ball of reform in motion, and keep it going for two years without respite, until nearly all our toll bridges have become the property of the people. Without the interest and influ- ence of the Times in that great public effort, the incubus would not have been lifted from the backs of the people for years to come. Captain Rennyson has evidently adopted, in reference to reform matters, Shakepeare's famous words :
" Our doubts are traitors making us to lose The higher good we ofttimes might attain By fearing to attempt."
Mr. R. has recently, erected of brick with rare judgment, another monument to his enterprise, if not to his benevolence, in removing the antiquated building at Main and Swede streets and founding thereon the first five-story (six with an open basement) business house in the borough. In its de- sign and finish it is so much in advance of former Norristown ventures in the building line that it merits a brief description.
The ground covered is one hundred and six by twenty-nine feet with a twelve-foot depth of cellar beneath the whole, and having an open area the whole length of the front. The ground floor is divided into two parallel stores on the Main street and across the rear runs a partition, making a very large storage room; second story is divided into six front offices (two fronts) and an immense store-room in rear; third story into five convenient offices and a large square hall for balls, fairs and such like assemblages; the fourth story contains a long, wide lodge room or public hall, seventy-nine by twenty- six feet, with small ante-rooms adjoining. The rear of the fifth or mansard story contains an immense circular tank of capacity to hold three thousand gallons of water, and the re- maining space is divided into a large lodge room, as also small ante-rooms, all well lighted by windows on both streets; and from the front corner rises a circular tower ten or fifteen
738
JOHN COWDEN.
feet higher, affording one of the best lookouts in Norristown. The mansard walls are covered with tin, interlaced in slate style.
But the crowning excellence of this building is seen in its steam-driven elevator, which runs to the top of the building, and the immense boiler, engine and steam heating pipes, which last perforate every hall and chamber. It was erected by O. Howell, Jr., for "The Philadelphia Exhaust Steam Ventilator Company." The drainage also is admirable, con- veying all refuse matter into the sewer by immense iron pipes. The engine supplies all power and heats every room and chamber.
Captain Rennyson has here not only extensive rooms and conveniences for his newspapers, but a building that must yield beside a large rent roll.
JOHN COWDEN.
The person named at the head of this memorial is briefly noticed on page 168 of the book in a sketch of his father, Thomas Cowden ; but in order more fully to record his sub- sequent business career, as also collateral branches of his sons' and daughters' families we repeat his paternal connections briefly, and then give those of his wife and children more in detail, including their affinities or relatives by marriage: The eldest of the name was Samuel, a Revolutionary soldier, who served through the war of Independence, died 1792, and with his wife lies buried in Providence Presbyterian church yard. His son Thomas was our subject's father, born 1775, died 1847. His wife was Hannah Couch, who died 1850. Their children were Samuel, William, Hester, Ellen, Charles, George, John, Mary and Ann.
John Cowden's father was a blacksmith and farmer, resid- ing in Plymouth township, near Hickorytown, and the son learned both trades with him. Being the youngest son, he continued to farm for his father till his marriage, in 1836, and
739
JOHN COWDEN.
afterward for some years, his chosen wife being Charlotte, daughter of Jacob and Mary Zimmerman, of Whitpain town- ship. The following were the names of Lottie Cowden's bro- thers and sisters : Elizabeth, Ann, Job, Nathan, John, Isaac, Hannah, Susanna, David, Charles and William. Job and Hannah died in infancy or early life. Nearly all the others, except the two elder sisters, have, or left, families.
While John and Charlotte Cowden lived in Plymouth they had the following children : Mary J., born December 14, 1837; Charles Henry, September 27, 1839; John F., July 16, 1841, (died in infancy); Hannah A., born January 25, 1843 ; Samuel L., March 4, 1848. The intermarriages and deaths of these are narrated further on.
From the period of our subject's marriage he continued to farm his father's place, as before stated, regularly attending Philadelphia market, and a short time before the latter's death, 1847, purchased a small lot of land on the opposite side of the turnpike, where he erected buildings and removed to it a little thereafter, farming and droving in a small way, until he was elected County Commissioner, in 1853, and for a short time after. At that period the county was erecting new public buildings and much of his time and attention was therefore needed at Norristown, so he removed his family to the county seat, where he was constantly kept busy for three years, till out of office, in 1856 or '57. He had in the meantime pur- chased the corner lot at Airy and DeKalb, together with the vacated " engine house" a few doors below, which he refitted for a dwelling and store room, the latter for his daughter, and another store room, where he afterwards kept a grocery, be- ing assisted in that calling by his eldest son Charles.
After the completion of his term as County Commissioner he was appointed by the Town Council Street and Road Com- missioner, which office he filled a year or two. About that time, or soon after, he was left executor of the will of Jacob Teany, an elder of the Central Presbyterian Church, who de- vised considerable estate which required careful management. He was also employed for an interval in other trust settle- ments, which occupied his time partially. He also started and prosecuted the grocery business by the help of his eldest
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740
JOHN COWDEN.
son, Charles H., which he continued until the son lost his health, and died April 17, 1865, in his twenty-sixth year.
Charles H. Cowden was a young man of rare amiability of character, upright and pious in all his intercourse in the church (Central), of which he was a member, and toward all others, and his death was deeply mourned by family and kindred, as also by the Sunday school, of which he was a teacher. The general sorrow was marked and demonstrative at the funeral.
The death of his faithful son led to the closing of the gro- cery, after which for a short time he was employed in further settlements and collections, when, 1868, he obtained the post of Warden of the prison, which he held two years, a position of great responsibility and care, which taxed his health greatly.
While he resided there his eldest daughter, Mary J., was married to Ellis W. Baily, of Short Creek, Ohio. The fruit of that union was two children, Florence Grace, who lives with her grandmother in the West, and another who died in early infancy, the mother dying soon after, December 21, 1871, and was brought home and lies in Montgomery Cem- etery. Several years before this his second daughter, Hannah A., was married to J. Jones Wright, of Norristown ; she died 1874, leaving one son, C. Carroll, who at this writing is grow- ing into a promising young man. The death of his three children in the freshness of early life and the disease in his own system, contracted while Prison Warden, had under- mined his health, but he bore up under it, and having pur- chased what was many years ago called the "Sterigere lot," which the latter designed for a town reservoir, he proceeded to build a double brick mansion upon it beside St. John's Church, which he occupied at first in connection with his younger daughter's family, and where he died September 3, 1876, at the age of sixty-two years, leaving his estate to his widow during her lifetime. Charlotte, his widow, surviving, remained in part of the house until June 7, 1882, when she also died, and as all the other deceased members of the family had been, was interred in the family lot at Montgom- ery Cemetery.
741
JOHN COWDEN.
John Cowden had been from a young man a member of the Norristown Presbyterian Church and his wife almost from her childhood to the Methodist Episcopal, of Oak street con- gregation, at the time of her death. John Cowden was a man of resolute purpose and great uprightness of character, and his wife distinguished for christian meekness and sweetness of temper.
John and Charlotte Cowden's youngest son, Samuel L., at the proper age was apprenticed to the plumbing business, which, soon after his majority, he set up in a small shop at Airy and DeKalb streets April 1, 1868, continuing there until 1873. About that time his father purchased a lot fronting on DeKalb, a few doors above Main, where he erected a plumb- ing shop, and his son Samuel L. formed a partnership with S. S. Jones, which existed until 1879, when the latter retired and S. L. C. continued the business alone with increasing trade, until 1884, when he purchased the property, and finding the place too small and inconvenient, he in 1886 purchased more depth to his lot, enlarged the building into a deeper store-room below and workshop above. The building was raised by a Mansard third-story, with all the modern improve- ments pertaining to his business. It is now one of the most complete stores and workshops combined in the county. Here Mr. Cowden, who is a man of indomitable will and energy, is pushing his business at this writing with assured success.
Samuel L. Cowden is the sole surviving child of John and Charlotte Cowden, and was married March 9, 1871, to Miss Lidie A., daughter of William and Hannah A. Keiger, of Bridgeport. They have two children well grown, Lottie and Harry, and at this writing reside in the old homestead. Mrs. Samuel L. Cowden is a member of the DeKalb street M. E. Church. As we have given in this memorial those connected by ties of affinity with the elder branches of the family, so we add those of Lidie A. Cowden also.
George Keiger, the earliest known ancestor, was a German, and served in our army during the Revolutionary war. His wife's name was Margaret. His son Andrew, born near Spring Mill February 4, 1788, married Eliza Harrison, lived many years at Bridgeport and died there, 1849, aged sixty-
742
CHARLES W. MARTIN.
one. He left the following children : William, intermarried with Hannah A. Vandergrift, who left the following children : Ellen V., wife of Morgan Bechtel; Henry P., intermarried with Hettie Mauger; Lidie A., already noted; William J., who is also married, Emily R., deceased ; John A., Ellen and Harry, also deceased. George W. married Hannah Evans, and has children Andrew and Camilla. Colbert Keiger is married to Rebecca Welsh ; children, Florence F., Frank M., Eugene V., Colbert H. Julia Ann, wife of Charles Rodgers, had one daughter, Mary. John A., intermarried with Ann Vandergrift; children, Colbert, Clementine and Lilian. Eliza married Thomas Widdecomb, have children William, Calvin, Robert and George.
CHARLES W. MARTIN.
The worthy man whose name stands above, claims a Ger- man ancestry. His grandfather was Nicholas Martin, who emigrated from Baden, Germany, before the Revolutionary war when a boy, and who was indentured to a farmer near Fairview, in our county, to serve a term of years. Before serving out his term, however, the war of Independence broke out, and he was offered and accepted his discharge on the condition of enlisting in the Pennsylvania line of the Conti- nental army, thus serving about five years, and was at the battles of Germantown, Trenton, and probably the previous one at Brandywine.
Nicholas Martin, living near Fairview all his life and dying there in 1832, had eight children, named, Henry, John, Abra- ham, Elizabeth, Catharine, Mary, Sarah and Sophia. His second son, John, married Sarah, daughter of Devault Wan- ner, of same township, and had the following children, named as follows : Charles W. (our subject), Harriet, Tobias, Eliza- beth, Kate, Mary, Charlotte, John, Angeline and Emma. There are at this writing but four of the above, the two eldest and two youngest, living.
743
CHARLES W. MARTIN.
Charles W. Martin was intermarried with Miss Susan, daughter of John Wilson, October 4, 1849, and there have been born to them eight children, named, Mary, Anne, Sarah, Mary, Martha, Martin L., Ida and Anne. The five first named are deceased. Martin L. is married to Anne, daughter of William® and Elizabeth Moore, of Conshohocken, and have children, Sallie, Ida, Charles W., Laura and C. Wright ; the first and last named only survive. The daughter Ida is inter- married with Nathan Hallowell, and at this writing have one child, Susan M. Anna is the wife of B. F. Novioch, of Norristown, and have one infant son, Paul.
Charles W. Martin has been a life-long farmer and horticul- turist, commencing when a boy in Worcester, and after his marriage began farming for Joseph and Jonathan Conrad, in Upper Merion, and soon after started trucking on the same property, and followed it there, supplying Norristown market about twenty years, in that time gaining a thorough knowl- edge of the whole business. Mr. Martin was the first person who made a specialty of trucking for Norristown market. He left the business a little later, and for a short time engaged in carpenter jobbing in West Conshohocken and Lower Merion, of which he had some knowledge, for five or six years, when he was induced to return to trucking again at the place of Frederick Fox, on the northern border of Norristown.
Charles W. Martin is extensively known and esteemed for his mild, courteous demeanor, honest dealing and industrious habits. The foregoing plain family narrative is given to be recorded by the father of the family, that children and grand- children may not forget their ancestry, but emulate their hum- ble, unassuming virtues.
744
JESSE R. EASTBURN.
JESSE R. EASTBURN.
The name Eastburn is one of the earliest and most re- putable in eastern Pennsylvania. Neither records nor tradition, however, settles the doubt as to whether it is English, Welsh or Scotch in original nationality. The affix "burn" or "bourn" in North British or Scotch, signifies river or boundary. The family appears to have settled where its members still reside, immediately above Bridgeport, on the Schuylkill, ever since April 21, 1742, now 145 years; as Mrs. Jesse R. Eastburn has the original deed of that date conveying several hundred acres from Benjamin to John Eastburn, who was probably the great-grandfather of our subject, said deed setting forth that it "is part of the Letitia Penn's manor of Mount Joy," which is known to have extended from the present western line of Bridgeport up the river to Valley Forge, possibly to Pickering creek. The deed bears the signatures of James Logan and William Logan, Penn's deputy governor and attorney, although the grantor named in the instrument is Benjamin Eastburn, who, from other papers also in her possession, was "surveyor general" under John, Thomas and Richard Penn, so early as I733.
Mrs. Eastburn has also found an "agreement" made No- vember 12, 1726, between Isaac Norris and Benjamin East- burn, for the purchase and sale of several hundred acres of land. This may have been the very tract they afterwards se- cured, possibly including Barbadoes island, which latter, being a part of the "Williamstadt manor," deeded first to William Penn's son, and afterwards sold to Norris, as is well known. On early records Benjamin Eastburn's name is found as a land- holder in Marion as early as 1741, and from the aforesaid agreement it would appear for several years earlier still.
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