USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a history, Volume II > Part 16
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Ralph Fry Wismer was born in Skippack township, November 29, 1881, the son of Lewis B. and Alice (Fry) Wismer, the former actively engaged in the manufacture of tinware in Reading, Pennsylvania, known under the concern name of the Kitchen Specialty Manufacturing Com- pany. Mr. and Mrs. Wismer are the parents of another child, Anna T., a school teacher in Reading. The boy Ralph F. attended the public schools of Collegeville and the Reading High School, from which last-named institution he was graduated in 1901. He then matriculated at Ursinus College, Collegeville, and four years later won from here the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Having in the meantime determined to adopt law as his profession, he entered the office of G. Carroll Hoover, of Norristown, where he read law and was subsequently admitted to practice at the bar of Montgomery county, in February, 1911. In 1913 he established him- self in the practice of his chosen profession at No. 501 Swede street, Nor- ristown, which has continued to be his headquarters up to the present time.
In the presentation of a case, Mr. Wismer's manner, quiet but force- ful, is singularly effective. The papers which he prepares are excep- tionally strong and present the matter under consideration in a manner which admits of little dispute. He has a broad, comprehensive grasp of questions that come before him, and is particularly fitted for affairs . requiring sound legal judgment. He is solicitor for Trappe; the Perkio- men Valley Farmers' Cooperative Association ; Pennsylvania Fruit Pack- ing and Sales Company of Collegeville; the Mutual Auto Insurance Company of Harleysville, and the Collegeville Flag and Manufacturing Company.
Malph 7. Wismer
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BIOGRAPHICAL
A Republican in politics, he takes a lively interest in that phase of politics which makes for the highest good of the community. He is a member of Warren Lodge, No. 310, Free and Accepted Masons, of Col- legeville; the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Norristown Chapter, No. 52, Patriotic Order Sons of America; and professionally belongs to the Montgomery County Bar Association. Mr. Wismer is also a trustee of St. Luke's Reformed Church of Trappe, of which he is a member, and sings in the choir there. Mr. Wismer is unmarried. He is fond of all out-of-door sports, but especially is he interested in tennis, fishing and automobiling.
HENRY GRABER, M. D .- Since 1910 Royersford, Pennsylvania, has numbered among her representatives of the medical profession no abler nor more progressive physician than Dr. Henry Graber, who is daily adding to an already extensive reputation, and any history of the medical profession of Montgomery county would be imcomplete without mention of his name and help of his influence. Dr. Graber, who is the son of a physician, has displayed his influence of heredity wonderfully, and a love of his father's profession is inherent, for he follows it with satisfaction and great success.
Dr. James D. Graber, father of Dr. Henry Graber, was born in Albany, Berks county, Pennsylvania, June 19, 1845, and received the elementary portion of his education in the schools of his native place. After gradu- ating from high school and having in the meantime decided to adopt medicine as his profession, he entered, with this end in view, Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, from which institution he was subsequently graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1870. Immediately after receiving his degree he moved to Steinsville, where he established himself in the practice of his profession and carried on a successful practice here until 1887, when he removed to Trappe, and two years later removed to Royersford, where he resided until his death, which occurred October 17, 1919. He married Emma E. Keeler, a native of Hanover township. Mrs. Graber resides with their only son, whose name heads this review. This short review is a tribute to the memory of a man whose characteristics were great mental and physical strength associated with modesty, kindliness of heart and high ideals. He was free from professional commercialism, and his influence was always exerted for good. He had an instinctive love for his work and he never swerved from duty nor from truth. He measured up to the full stature of a man and to the height of an able, earnest, devoted physician.
Dr. Henry Graber was born in Steinsville, Pennsylvania, June 10, 1880. He attended the public schools of Trappe and Royersford, and after graduating from the high school in the latter named place he entered Ursinus College, from which institution he won the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1903, at which time he matriculated at Johns Hop- kins Medical College, and in 1907 was graduated with the degree of Doc- tor of Medicine, subsequently going to Philadelphia, where for eighteen
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months he was a resident physician of the Presbyterian Hospital and chief resident physician from 1909 to 1910. In the latter year he returned to Royersford and opened his present office, which has been his profes- sional headquarters ever since.
Dr. Graber is a member of the Phoenixville Hospital staff ; the Ameri- can Medical Association ; Pennsylvania State Medical Association; and the Montgomery County Medical Society. In politics he is an Independ- ent, preferring to vote for the man regardless of party choice. Socially he holds membership in the Midnight Sons' Club of Royersford, and fra- ternally he affiliates with Royersford Lodge, No. 585, Free and Accepted Masons. He attends the Reformed church.
On June 10, 1911, at Philadelphia, Dr. Henry Graber was united in marriage with Arvilla Whiteman, of Newark, Delaware, and to them have been born three children: Sarah Emma, born in April, 1912; now deceased; Jean, born January 15, 1915; and Martha, born Decem- ber 17, 1918. The family home is at No. 454 Walnut street, Royersford. Mrs. Graber has always taken an active part in affairs of Royersford, being first president and one of the founders of the Women's Club, and very prominent socially.
THOMAS HOVENDEN-Greater love hath no man than he who gives his life that another may live. Such love was shown by Thomas Hovenden, who went to his death to rescue a child from in front of a fast moving train. His effort failed and both were killed, but his deed was indicative of his great heart and his great love for his fellows. Mr. Hovenden was of Irish birth and English parentage, his father tracing his English ancestry to the year 1659. Robert Hovenden married at Dunmanway Church, Ireland, January 3, 1835, Ellen Bryan, and they were the parents of five children: Elizabeth, born February 29, 1836; Jane, born July 10, 1837; John, born December, 1838; Thomas, of whom further ; and Robert, born September 22, 1842.
Thomas Hovenden, fourth child of Robert and Ellen (Bryan) Hoven- den, was born at Dunmanway, County Cork, Ireland, December 28, 1840, was killed by an express train at the Germantown turnpike crossing of the Trenton cut-off of the Pennsylvania railroad, August 14, 1895. He was a student at South Kensington Art School; Ecole Des Beaux Arts, Paris; and the National School of Design, New York City. He came to New York a young man, and here became famous as a painter. His most noted works are: "John Brown Being Led to Execution;" "In the Hands of the Enemy ;" "Breaking Home Ties;" "Chloe and Sam," the last-named a study of negro life ; "Elaine;" "Bringing Home the Bride;" "Jerusalem the Golden;" and "The Founders of a State" (unfinished at the time of his death). "Breaking Home Ties," exhibited at the Chicago Exposition of 1893, attracted a great deal of attention. Mr. Hovenden's wife, Helen (Corson) Hovenden, also was an artist. Her studio at Plym- outh Meeting had originally been used by her father, George Corson, for the purpose of holding anti-slavery meetings. "John Brown" was painted
Tho Houden
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amid the surroundings of that old Abolition headquarters and the setting inspired the brush of the painter. At one time in his career Mr. Hoven- den, with a brother artist, Robert Wiley, founded an American Art Col- ony at Pont-Aven, in Brittany, and there he made many paintings from Brittany scenery and people, two famous paintings being "The Sword Sharpeners," and "In Hoc Signo Vinces." The last years of his life were spent in Montgomery county, his wife's ancestral home, and there some of his most famous work was done.
Thomas Hovenden married, June 9, 1881, Helen Corson, daughter of George and Martha (Maulsby) Corson (see Corson line). Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Hovenden: I. Thomas (2), born at Plym- outh Meeting, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, March 1I, 1882; was educated in the Friends School, of Washington, D. C., graduating with the class of 1898; University of Pennsylvania, B. S., 1903; M. S., 1904; C. E., 1905; and was in the employ of The W. W. Lindsay Company, engineers and contractors, of Philadelphia, from 1905 until his death, September 19, 1915, being then general manager. He was elected an associate member of the American Society of Engineers, July 9, 1912. 2. Martha Maulsby, sculptor, born May 8, 1884.
(The Corson Line).
Mrs. Helen (Corson) Hovenden is a descendant of Cornelius Corson, who to escape persecution fled from France and came to Staten Island, New York, October 18, 1685, and there married and founded the Ameri- can Corson family. The line of descent to Mrs. Hovenden is through the founder's son, Benjamin Corson, of whom further.
Benjamin Corson left Staten Island in 1726 and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Benjamin and Nelly Corson were the parents of a son, Benjamin (2) Corson, of whom further.
Benjamin (2) Corson married Maria Suydam, and to them was born a son, Benjamin (3) Corson, of whom further.
Benjamin (3) Corson married Sarah Dungan, and they were the par- ents of Joseph Corson, of whom further.
Joseph Corson was a merchant and farmer, who located near Plym- outh Meeting, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He married Hannah Dickinson, daughter of Joseph Dickinson, whose ancestor, John Dickin- son, received a patent for land in Maryland in 1658. William Dickinson, a Friend, moved to Plymouth Meeting shortly after Penn's coming, and he was the great-grandfather of Hannah Dickinson, who married Joseph Corson. Joseph Corson's mother, Sarah (Dungan) Corson, was a lineal descendant of Rev. Thomas Dungan, a Baptist preacher, who came from Rhode Island and settled at Cold Spring, near Bristol, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1684. This Rev. Thomas Dungan was the founder of the Baptist church in Pennsylvania, and Mrs. Hovenden may claim descent from the Huguenot Corsons, the Baptist, Dungan, and the Friend, Dickinson.
George Corson, fourth son of Joseph and Hannah (Dickinson) Cor-
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son, was born at Hickory Town, in Plymouth township, Montgomery county, January 4, 1803, died November 18, 1860. He was noted in his youth for his mathematical talent and led the school as a student. He entered the employ of Jonathan Maulsby, at Plymouth Meeting, whom he succeeded in business, purchasing also the homestead and limestone quarries. A strong Abolitionist, he threw himself whole-heartedly into the cause and kept open house for every active worker in the anti-slavery cause, even building on his own premises a good sized hall in which to hold meetings. That hall, to which came the friends of slaves and the oppressed, later became the mecca of the art lovers, painters, sculptors and writers. When Thomas Hovenden, the historic painter, was com- missioned to paint a picture of John Brown, he came to the house of George Corson, and the hall at this station, on the "Underground Rail- road," became most appropriately the studio in which Mr. Hovenden painted his great picture, "John Brown Being Led to Execution."
George Corson married Martha Maulsby, January 24, 1832, she the daughter of Samuel and Susan (Thomas) Maulsby. Mrs. Corson was a descendant of William Maulsby, the founder of the Maulsby family of Pennsylvania, he coming from Nottinghamshire, England. He married Mary Rhoades, of Ripley, in Darbyshire, July 9, 1689, and appears to have come to Pennsylvania without his wife, but bought a home in Phil- adelphia, August 6, 1698, for the reception of his family, then consisting of four children : John, born March 4, 1690; Mary, born January 7, 1692; Elizabeth, born October 25, 1694; and William, born October 18, 1695. Merchant, Sr., another child, was born at sea on the ship "Bristol Mer- chant," November 7, 1698; and David was born in 1700. Samuel Maulsby, son of Merchant Maulsby, Jr., and grandson of Merchant Maulsby, Sr., was born in the year 1768 and died July 12, 1838. He mar- ried, November 15, 1799, Susan Thomas, who died August 22, 1818, daughter of Jonathan and Alice (Jarrett) Thomas. He built the house in which Mrs. Helen (Corson) Hovenden now resides, her father, George Corson, purchasing the Maulsby homestead after the death of Samuel Maulsby, his father-in-law. George and Martha (Maulsby) Corson were the parents of seven children : Mary, died in infancy ; Susan ; Dr. Marcus Heilner, died in his twenty-third year; Samuel Maulsby, an educator, died August 7, 1881; Dr. Ellwood M., a physician; Helen, of further mention ; Ida, a graduate of Vassar College.
Helen Corson was born at the homestead in Whitemarsh township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and was given an artistic education beginning in the Philadelphia School of Design. She spent several years in art study in Paris, then returned to her home in Plymouth Meeting, making the old hall her studio. She married, June 9, 1881, Thomas Hov- enden (see Hovenden).
WILLIAM H. BROWN, A. B .- With unusually comprehensive preparation for his professional career, Mr. Brown has added to his suc- cess as an educator a record of attainment in journalism, in which line
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of activity he is at present engaged. As the editor of the "Interborough Press," he is giving to the work of shaping and guiding the public thought the same energy and high purpose which made his influence a force for progress in the class room. Mr. Brown is a native of the State of Pennsylvania, and is a son of E. H. and Mary (Fager) Brown, now residents of Sanatoga, Pennsylvania.
William H. Brown was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1889. Receiving his early education in the public schools of that city, he was graduated from the Pottstown High School in the class of 1907. Thereafter entering the Perkiomen Preparatory School, he was graduated from that institution in the class of 1911, then spent two years at Prince- ton University with the class of 1915. He finished his arts course, how- ever, at Ursinus College, at Collegeville, in this county, receiving his degree of Bachelor of Arts from this institution upon his graduation in 1918. During the following school year he took post-graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania, finishing in the spring of 1919. Mean- while Mr. Brown's career was begun in 1913, when he began teaching at Stump Hall, in Worcester township, in this county, where he demon- strated his natural fitness for pedagogy. For two years thereafter Mr. Brown filled the office of principal at Trooper, in this county, after which for two years he acted as supervising principal at Rockledge, Pennsyl- vania. Then for a period of three years he was engaged at Barnegat, New Jersey, in a similar capacity. On July 1, 1921, Mr. Brown became identified with the progress of the borough of Royersford and Spring City, through the purchase of the "Interborough Press," and the printing plant which handles its publication, purchasing this prosperous and growing interest from Mrs. Trinna F. Moser, whose late husband founded the paper. The "Interborough Press" is a weekly sheet of eight pages, alert to the many branches of advance along which the community, the commonwealth and the nation are constantly moving, and Mr. Brown is placing the stamp of his high ideals and forceful personality upon its pages. Now in the second year of his ownership the circulation has been materially increased, and covers the greater part of both Chester and Montgomery counties. Mr. Brown's policies, as uttered through the medium of the paper, are considered sound and progressive, and his influence is esteemed broadly wholesome in its relation to the public welfare and the future development of this section, both materially and in an esthetic sense. In fact Mr. Brown is looked upon as one of the coming leaders in the affairs of this county and the neighboring county of Chester, if not of a much wider field of public service. Fraternally Mr. Brown is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a member of Vincent Lodge, of Spring City ; is also a member of Warren Lodge, No. 310, Free and Accepted Masons, of Collegeville ; and of Norristown Forest, No. 34, Tall Cedars of Lebanon. He is a member of U. S. Grant Council, No. 352, Order of Independent Americans, of Pottstown, and is a member of the Princeton Club, of Philadelphia.
Mr. Brown married, on August 12, 1918, Pearl Conway, of College-
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ville, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Conway, and they have one daughter : Elaine Conway. The family home is at No. 440 Bridge street, Spring City, Pennsylvania.
WILLIAM DERSTEIN HEEBNER-Among the notably successful and well known business men of Lansdale, Montgomery county, Penn- sylvania, is William Derstein Heebner, owner and manager of Heebner & Sons, manufacturing company, a concern which is engaged in the manufacture of farm machinery and implements, and which sends its products to all parts of the world.
The Heebner family is one of the oldest of German descent in Mont- gomery county, tracing their ancestry to David Heebner, who came to Pennsylvania with the great body of Schwenkfelders in 1734, most of them settling in Montgomery county. The Schwenkfelders were fol- lowers of Kaspar Schwenkfeld, a German theologian of Ossing (1490- 1561), who, though a Protestant, disagreed with both Luther and Zwingli concerning the value of the "outward means of grace" such as the min- istry of the word and the sacraments, maintaining that not these outward symbols but the inner life of the spirit was the essential thing. He dis- tinguished between an outward word of God and an inward, the former being the scriptures and perishable, the latter the divine spirit and eternal. He also departed from both Luther and Zwingli in his belief concerning the humanity and the divinity of Christ. He held that though Christ was both God and man, he only attained his complete deification and glorification by his ascension, and that it is in the state of his celestial glorification that he is the giver of divine life to those who by faith par- take of his nature. Because of these beliefs he was persecuted by the followers of Luther and the followers of Zwingli, and because he was a Protestant he was persecuted by the Catholics, but at the time of his death his adherents were to be found scattered throughout Germany. In Silesia they formed a distinct sect which has lasted to the present time. In the seventeenth century they were associated with the followers of Jacob Bohme, and were not disturbed until 1708, when an inquiry was made as to their doctrines. In 1720 a commission of Jesuits was sent to Silesia to convert them "by force" if necessary. Most of them fled from Silesia into Saxony, and from there to Holland, England, and North America. Frederick the Great, of Prussia, when he seized Silesia, extended protection to those who had remained in the Province. Those who fled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1734, formed a small com- munity and were known as Schwenkfelders. Their descendants are still living in Pennsylvania, and the views which they hold are similar to those of the Quakers.
David Heebner, one of the group, was accompanied by his wife, Mary, and children: Christoph; Susanna; Rosanna, born May 9, 1738; and George, of whom further. David Heebner, the father, died December 27, 1784, his wife surviving him until June 11, 1793.
George Heebner, son of David and Mary Heebner, was born June 21,
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1744; he was the great-grandfather of William D. Heebner. George Heebner married Susanna Heydrick, daughter of Balthasar Heydrick, April 26, 1769, and their only child was Balthasar Heebner, born June 12, 1770. The wife and mother died a week later, and the father married a second time, and reared a large family of children.
Balthasar Heebner, son of George and Susanna (Heydrick) Heebner, and grandfather of William D. Heebner, was a minister of the Society for many years, continuing his service in that capacity to the time of his death, which occurred April 29, 1848, at the age of seventy-seven years, . ten months, twenty-one days. The genealogical record of the Society of Schwenkfelders was preserved by him in the German manuscript until about 1846. In the earlier years, to 1804, a few records had been kept, but the practice was abandoned about that time. He conceived the idea of combining all in one record, and accordingly copied all that he could find, continuing the work almost to the close of his long life. To his industry and foresight we owe much valuable material which would otherwise have been lost. Exemplifying in his character and his con- duct the principles which he preached, Rev. Balthasar Heebner was greatly loved and respected by the community to which he ministered, and his habits of industry seem to have been transmitted to his descend- ants in generous measure. His wife died March 22, 1848. He married May 20, 1794, Susanna Schultz, daughter of Christopher Schultz, and they were the parents of eight children: George, born in 1795, died in infancy ; a daughter, born in 1796. died at the age of two days; Anthony S., born in 1798; Anna, born in 1800; Maria, born in 1803, died at twelve years of age; Catherine, born in 1806; David S., father of William D., of whom further ; and Lydia, born September 8, 1812.
David S. Heebner, son of Rev. Balthasar and Susanna (Schultz) Heebner, was born June 25, 1810. He received his education in the public schools of his native district and then engaged in farming, at which occu- pation he continued until 1840, when he began in a small way the manu- facture of agricultural machinery, at Norritonville, a few miles from Norristown .. He was one of the pioneers in this field, and the business grew rapidly. He made it a point always to be a trifle in advance of the times in the matter of producing farm machinery, and as the clumsy and ineffective tools of the old system gave way to labor-saving devices of the new way of tilling the soil, the business of David S. Heebner grew wondrously. Where he saw a need, and his experience as a farmer had shown him that there were many needs, he set himself patiently to work to devise a new machine or improve an old one, and when his sons, Isaac Josiah and William Derstein, were old enough, they shared the deep interest of their father and added their energy to his in the work of pro- ducing for the farmers of the country and of the world, machinery which would multiply their producing power and minimize the laborious work of the farm. In 1872 he went into partnership with his sons, who had established an agricultural machine-making plant in the village of Lans- dale, and this connection, under the name of Heebner & Sons, was con-
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tinued until October, 1887, by which time the small beginnings, made by him in the little village of Norriton in 1840, had developed into one of the most extensive and successful of its kind in the country. Mr. Heebner was actively interested in the affairs of the community in which he lived, and in 1891 was commissioned postmaster of Lansdale by President Benjamin Harrison. This position he held for four years, discharging the duties connected therewith with notable ability and faithfulness. Politically, like most of the Schwenkfelders, he was first a Whig and then a Republican. David S. Heebner was twice married. He married (first) Anna Derstein, daughter of Henry Derstein. She died June 8, 1853, and he married (second) Regina Schultz, daughter of Rev. Christopher Schultz. To the first marriage nine children were born: Joseph, born June II, 1833, died April 3, 1838; James, born August 6, 1836, died April 8, 1838; Mary Ann, born April 2, 1839; Isaac Josiah, born January 18, 1841; Addison, born June 18, 1843, died two months of age; Jonah, born July 5, 1844; Jacob, born August 10, 1846; William Derstein, of whom further ; and David, born August 22, 1851, died June 15, 1852. To the second marriage, one child, Abram S., was born May 22, 1857, now deceased.
Hon. William Derstein Heebner was born September 27, 1848, and received his formal education in the public schools of his native district, which he attended until he was fourteen years of age. He then went into his father's machine shop, where for a period of seven years he served as an apprentice, learning the business of manufacturing agricultural imple- ments and machines in all its branches. In 1870 he left his father's plant and became associated, as a partner, with his brother, Isaac Josiah, in the founding of the plant at Lansdale. Two years later, in 1872, the father became associated with the sons, under the firm name of Heebner & Sons, and under this name the connection was continued until 1887, when William D. Heebner purchased the entire plant, which he has continued to successfully operate to the present time (1922). Every department was thoroughly organized, and though a young man at the time he became sole owner, Mr. Heebner showed ability of a high order in the choosing of the "right man for the right place." From year to year the business has increased. New inventions have constantly been added to the list of machines produced, automatic devices for handling the work of production have been installed, and the efficiency of the workmen as well as the organization of the various departments has been steadily improved. Not only the wonderfully improved machines are the inven- tions of members of the firm, but many of the devices used in the manu- facture of the machines are the productions of the skill and genius of the Heebners. The aim is constantly to have every piece of machinery turned out at the works thoroughly up-to-date and perfect in workman- ship. Its specialties are leaders in the particular class to which they belong, and again and again Heebner & Sons' productions have won first prizes in the World expositions held in Europe and in America. They make threshers, cutters, feed cutters, with or without the crushing or
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