USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a history, Volume II > Part 20
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Wallace M. Keely was born at East Greenville, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, October 18, 1881, and received the elementary portion of his education in the public schools of his native place, after which he entered Perkiomen Seminary, where he prepared for Lafayette College at Easton, from which latter institution he won the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1905. That same year he entered the law department of the University of Pennsylvania and after completing the course he graduated with the class of 1908 and won the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Through-
Salhace In. Kelly
Henry Long stretch
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out his school and college years he had proved himself an intelligent and painstaking student, and at the close came to the opening of his career unusually well equipped, both with natural gifts and a training that was the result of long and conscientious effort. Immediately after gradu- ating he practiced for two years with J. Howard Reeber, at Chestnut and Tenth streets, Philadelphia. Then he removed to Norristown and opened his present office, where he has carried on successfully ever since, hand- ling many important cases and proving himself to be a most capable and conscientious attorney. He is solicitor for the boroughs of East Green- ville, Pennsburg and Franconis township and of the East Greenville Building and Loan Association ; a director of the Penn Trust Company of Norristown ; affiliated with Sigma Nu fraternities of Lafayette College and the University of Pennsylvania; and Norristown Lodge, No. 620, Free and Accepted Masons of Norristown. Of a social and athletic nature he holds membership in the Plymouth Country, Norristown City and the Ersine Tennis clubs of this borough. Mr. Keely attends the Trinity Reformed Church and officiates there as an elder.
On August 7, 1911, in Souderton, Pennsylvania, Wallace M. Keely was united in marriage with Anna H. Reiff, daughter of Allen G. and Harriett (Hartzell) Reiff, the former, president of the Union National Bank of Souderton. Mr. and Mrs. Keely are the parents of one child, Allen Reiff, born July 4, 1915. The family resides at No. 1024 De Kalb street.
SARAH (HUNSICKER) LONGSTRETH, daughter of Jacob and Mary (Bechtel) Hunsicker, and widow of Henry Longstreth, still resides on the property in Collegeville, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, that farm her birthplace and first owned in the family by her grandfather, Jacob (1) Hunsicker. For fifty-three years she has been a widow, but five years of happy wedded life having been allowed her. She is a great- granddaughter of Henry Hunsicker, who was a descendant of Valentine Hunsicker, who came from Switzerland, the family in that country being farmers and mechanics, and members of the Mennonite church, some holding the office of elder and bishop.
Henry Hunsicker, on coming from Switzerland, settled in Skippack township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. Among his children was a son, Jacob Hunsicker, born in Skippack township, who settled on a farm in Perkiomen Valley, near Collegeville, in 1811. He remodeled the house on the farm, made many other improvements, and there resided until death. He was reared in the Mennonite faith, was a Whig in politics, and later in life a Republican. Among his children was a son, Jacob (2), of whom further.
Jacob (2) Hunsicker built his home near the old homestead in which he was born in 1813, and there died, December 1, 1879. He was a farmer all his life, and a Whig, but later a Democrat, in politics. He married Mary Bechtel, who died in September, 1878. Children: Sarah, of further mention ; Anna Jane, who married Warren Grater, and died in 1875, aged thirty ; Ella M., who died at the age of forty-three, unmarried.
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Sarah Hunsicker, daughter of Jacob (2) and Mary (Bechtel) Hun- sicker, was born on the farm in Collegeville, Montgomery county, Penn- sylvania, owned by her grandfather, Jacob (1) Hunsicker, November 20, 1842, and yet resides, at the age of eighty, on a portion of that farm, which had been retained by her father since the sale of the farm itself. She is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Female College, and after com- pleting her own education, Miss Hunsicker taught school. The Pennsyl- vania Female College, which was located at Collegeville, was the only educational institution of its kind in the State of Pennsylvania, and at the time of her graduation was under the charge of Professor J. Warrenne Sunderland.
Sarah Hunsicker married, January 14, 1865, Henry Longstreth, born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, January 6, 1838, died at his farm near Linfield, Limerick township, Montgomery county, August 25, 1870. He grew to manhood at the old Longstreth farm at Trappe, and was edu- cated in public schools and in Freeland Academy. Later he taught school during the winter terms, but continued his father's farm assistant during the summer months. This continued until 1862, when on August 4 he enlisted in Company I, Benjamin F. Bean captain, 129th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He served his term of enlistment of nine months, and was honorably discharged May 18, 1863. He was later called out for emergency service in 1863, but saw no front-line service. In 1867 he moved to a farm in the Schuylkill Valley, near Linfield, and there spent the three remaining years of his life engaged in farming, very successfully. He was a man of education and of broad, progressive mind, a Republican in politics, and a man universally respected. His parents, John and Catherine (Kline) Longstreth, were Pennsylvanians by birth, he born in Chester, his wife in Montgomery county, he of Eng- lish ancestry, she of German. To Henry and Sarah (Hunsicker) Long- streth two sons were born: Ernest H., and Mayne R., both of further mention.
Ernest H. Longstreth was born August 22, 1866. A graduate of Ursinus College, he entered the employ of the First National Bank of Norristown, and later was in the employ of the Manufacturers' Bank of Philadelphia. Later he became secretary-treasurer of the Security Trust Company of Camden county, New Jersey, and there died, March 30, 1900, just at the threshold of a brilliant career as a financier.
Mayne R. Longstreth was born on the Linfield farm, February 27, 1869. He graduated with honors from Ursinus College in 1889, later graduated from the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, and also had one year of law at Yale. He located in Philadelphia, where he has risen to eminence in his profession. Mayne R. Longstreth mar- ried, November 16, 1907, Elfreda Bower, of Newville, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, who died July 21, 1921, at Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, daughter of Adam and Rebecca Bower, her parents both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Mayne R. Longstreth were the parents of two children: Sarah, born March 10, 1909; and John, born November 15, 1910; both are pupils at the Friends Select School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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FRED SMITH-An Englishman by birth and a member of a family that has long been domiciled in Yorkshire, Mr. Smith was born at Low Moor, Bradford, England, April 28, 1891, son of Oliver and Martha Hannah (Helliwell) Smith. His father, who was a shoemaker by trade, was born in 1862, and died at the early age of forty-two years. Mr. Smith's mother is still living and is now a resident of Bridgeport, Penn- sylvania, where she lives with her only daughter, Sarah Smith. In addition to this sister, Mr. Smith has a brother, Charles, older than him- self, who is a resident of Bradford, England.
The town of Bradford, it will be remembered, is one of the centers of the English woolen industry and is one of the most important industrial towns in Northern England. Encircled by crags of limestone and chalk, it lies near Leeds, on the high moors of the Pennines. In the early days thousands of sheep were bred on the dry Eastern slopes of these hills and their wool was shipped to the Low Countries, where it was in great demand by the Flemish weavers. In that period fine broadcloth was worth more than gold because it could only be produced by the master weavers of the Continent, and the rough frieze and homespun of the primitive English loom could not compare with it. For this reason the English kings, with their marked love of rich stuffs and sumptuous housings, brought Flemish weavers to England and encouraged them to remain there and to spread the knowledge of their art among the inhabi- tants. As a result of this policy, weaving in England began to take an upward trend and, in time, cloth woven in England by the imported Flemish weavers and their English apprentice hands began to make its appearance on the Continent. Tailors were the merchant princes of commerce in those days, at least so far as cloth was concerned, and it was the practice of members of their guild to hold rich stocks of woolen goods and velvets in their storehouses at Amsterdam and elsewhere. As the vogue for English broadcloth increased, the Flemish weavers who had settled in Yorkshire flourished and the industry laid hold on life with a grip that has never slackened. Most of the Flemish weavers who came to England set up their looms in the region west of Leeds and Bradford. There they found great quantities of clean wool and countless streams for bleaching and dyeing. When the steam engine was invented, the weav- ing towns of Yorkshire still further expanded because they were con- tiguous to an abundant supply of coal. As time went on, each town began to have a specialty. Bradford, the birthplace of Mr. Smith, spe- cializes in plush ; Halifax concentrates its attention upon baizes ; Hud- dersfield makes cloth of so fine a texture and of such suppleness that it rivals the best silk in the beauty of its appearance. Leeds produces all kinds of woolen goods and thus supplies material for its extensive clothing factories, from which finished ready-to-wear garments are shipped in large quantities to all parts of the kingdom and the colonies. As the woolen manufacturing industry in the United States has been the gainer by the addition to its ranks of many workers from Bradford and Leeds and the surrounding district, these facts should be recalled in appraising
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the career of an English weaver who brings the inherited skill of his craft to America and places it at the service of the woolen industry in this country. In the trade it is well understood that a Yorkshire weaver is the equal of any on earth, but by the general public, the fact is not as well understood as it should be.
Mr. Smith received his education in an English preparatory school. He completed the eighth standard, which corresponds to the third year of high school in the United States. The death of his father interrupted the plans that had been made for his education and, at the age of thirteen years he left school to shoulder the heavy burdens of life. Under the influence of Bradford's great industry he entered a woolen mill to learn the trade of a spinner and weaver. He was engaged in this occupation from the time he was thirteen years old until he reached his sixteenth birthday. His progress was rapid, and a special aptitude for work which required a quick eye and hand stood him in good stead and helped to make up what he lacked in physical strength. At the age of sixteen, realizing that the road before him was an unusually thorny one, and having a great desire to render his mother the fullest and most complete assistance in the family struggle for existence, he decided to leave Brad- ford, where the whole of his brief life had been spent, and to come alone to America, in the hope of finding work in one of the American woolen mills at better wages than those prevailing in England. This decision and the prudent and careful manner in which, as a lad, Mr. Smith carried it out, showed a resolute and steadfast character. When the English goodbyes had been said and the lonely sea voyage accomplished, he found his way to the Limerick Mills, of Limerick, Maine, where he had no difficulty in obtaining employment. His courage, his youth, and his remarkable ability won all hearts and he soon became very popular with his fellow workers. To his employers he was always a figure of great and appealing interest. So secure was his position that he might have spent the rest of his life at Limerick if he had not received an attractive offer from the Erben Harding Worsted Company of Philadelphia. This offer he could not afford to decline and he left Limerick in 1911, at the age of twenty, after a continuous residence of five years in Maine, and moved to Philadelphia to begin an entirely new phase of his career. He spent over a year with his new employers and then accepted an offer from James Lees & Sons Company, of Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, to become foreman of the spinning department of their Bridgeport plant. Mr. Smith served the firm in this capacity until 1917, when he became superintendent of the Philadelphia mills just starting at this time to accommodate the increased business. In 1921, after nine years of con- tinuous service with the company, he was offered and accepted the superintendency of their Bridgeport mill and in this way he became a resident of Montgomery county. The success that has attended Mr. Smith's career has been due to a high order of human courage, loyalty to family ties, and workmanship learned in a school second to none, that of the English manufacturing woolen industry. He brought these gifts
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to America and, in the opinion of those who are best acquainted with his business achievements, he stands as an impressive and instructive example of what a citizen by adoption may accomplish in this country.
Although he began to bear the burdens of life at an unusually early age and was a worker during the years when most boys are immersed in games and sports, Mr. Smith as a boy did not neglect physical training. He spent his leisure hours in the open air as far as possible and, while he lived in Maine, he enjoyed the hunting and fishing, which are among the best features of life in that State. He also learned the American game of baseball and became an enthusiastic baseball fan. His favorite sport is soccer and he never misses an opportunity to witness a game.
A naturalized citizen of the United States, and a Republican in poli- tics, Mr. Smith is keenly interested in the social and economic problems of the day. He is an advocate of conservation and a great admirer of Gifford Pinchot, the Governor-elect, whose disinterested services to the nation in the matter of forest and wild life and water conservation have always been an inspiration to him. Mr. Smith is a member of the Phil- adelphia Building and Loan Association and also of the Norris Building and Loan Association, and is a director of the Lees Building Association, which was organized January 1, 1923. In religious faith he is a member of the Presbyterian church of Bridgeport. At present Mr. Smith holds office as president of the board of trustees of the church, and he takes an active part in all the humanitarian and religious activities of the parish. He is a Mason, and holds membership in Freedom Lodge, at Limerick, Maine. He is also a member of the Managers and Overseers' Club of Philadelphia, and takes a great interest in the work of this organization.
Mr. Smith married, on March 11, 1915, at Philadelphia, Edith Annie Craven, daughter of Leonard and Mary A. (Pollard) Craven. Mrs. Smith's father, who lives at No. 1905 Madison street, Philadelphia, is the overseer of drawing at the Cleveland Worsted Mill of Philadelphia. Her mother is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one child, Marion, who was born February 3, 1920.
T. EDMUND WILLS, M. D .- As an able and faithful physician as well as a public-spirited citizen and a highly esteemed friend and asso- ciate, Dr. T. Edmund Wills is well known in Pottstown and vicinity, where for more than twenty-seven years he has been engaged in general practice.
Thomas R. Wills, father of Dr. Wills, was born in England, in 1834, and came to the United States in 1850, landing in New York City, and died at New York City in 1889. He married Mary Wells, who was born in 1832, descendant of an old Pennsylvania family, dating back to early Colonial days, one member of which, Klein Wells, fought in the Revolu- tionary War. She died at Pottstown, December 28, 1910, mother of four children : Mary E., of Pottstown; T. Edmund, of whom further; and George and Annie, both deceased.
T. Edmund Wills was born at Pottstown, Pennsylvania, February 6,
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1871, and received his early education in the public schools of his native city, graduating from the high school there. He studied medicine under local instructors while working to earn funds to complete his college course, and then entered the Medical College of the University of Penn- sylvania, from which he was graduated with the class of 1895. For about three years after his graduation he widened his experience and increased his knowledge and skill by practice in different clinics, and at the end of that time engaged in general practice in Pottstown. During the more than twenty years which have elapsed since that time, he has built up a large and important clientele, giving special attention to general surgery. In addition to his own general practice, he has given valuable service as a member of the staff of the Pottstown Hospital, which he also serves as attending surgeon, and from 1898 to 1905 he also served as United States pension examiner.
With all his professional responsibilities, Dr. Wills has found time for only a few non-professional activities. He is a member of the board of directors of the Security Trust Company of Pottstown, the Mont- gomery County and State Medical societies, and the American Medical Association. He is industrial surgeon at McClintic, Marshall & Com- pany's works of Pottstown, Pennsylvania. During the World War Dr. Wills served as assistant medical examiner for local boards. Politically he gives his support to the Republican party, but although he has many times been requested to accept public office, has always steadfastly refused because all his time has been devoted to his practice. Fraternally he affiliates with the Pottstown Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he is also a member of the Brookside Country Club.
On June 30, 1897, Dr. T. Edmund Wills married Mary Willauer, daughter of Peter and Margaret (Crawford) Willauer, of Pottstown, and descendant of an old family. Her father, who was a contractor in con- struction work, formerly a railroad engineer, was prominent in local public affairs. He served two terms as councilman.
C. RUSSELL CORSON-Among the younger members of the legal profession in Montgomery county is C. Russell Corson, who has been engaged in practice since 1915, and has specialized in real estate law. He has been notably successful and holds official position in several financial organizations.
The Corson family comes of very old Colonial stock, tracing its ancestry to Cornelius Corson, who emigrated to America in 1685, on a vessel bound for South Carolina, the passengers being principally French Huguenots from Vendee, France, but for some unknown reason the vessel landed at Staten Island. Among his children was a son Benjamin, who removed from Staten Island to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, about 1726. He married Nelly Corson (maiden name not known), and they were the parents of Benjamin (2), who married Maria Sedam (or Suydam), and among their children was Benjamin (3). Benjamin (3) Corson married Sarah Dungan, and their son, Joseph Corson, born in Dublin township,
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Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, March 15, 1764, married Hannah Dickinson. Among their children was Charles, grandfather of C. Russell Corson.
Charles Corson was born at Hickorytown, Plymouth township, Mont- gomery county, January 22, 1801, and resided for more than forty years on a farm located at the junction of Skippack and Perkiomen creeks, in Lower Providence township, Montgomery county. He was a public- spirited citizen, and, being an earnest opponent of slavery, took an active part in the operations of the "Underground Railroad," as did also his brothers, George, Hiram, and Alan. Charles Corson married Sarah Egbert, who was born March 17, 1801, and they were the parents of eight children : Richard R., who married Louisa Williams; William E., who married Hannah Highley ; George Norman, who married Hannah Hurst; Adelaide, who married Albert Crawford; Susan Rogers, who married Felix F. Highley ; John J., of whom further ; Mary Francis ; and Lawrence E. Charles Corson, father of these children, died May 5, 1878, aged seventy-six years. Both were buried in Montgomery cemetery, at Nor- ristown.
John J. Corson, father of C. Russell Corson, was born January 5, 1840, and received his education in Ursinus College, and then engaged in the real estate and insurance business. He served under General Gregg in the Civil War, his term of service being just a little short of three years, and was highly esteemed among a very large group of friends and associates. His death, which occurred December 2, 1911, was deeply mourned by a host of friends. He married Rebecca Pauline Freedley, and among their children was C. Russell Corson.
C. Russell Corson was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, April 25, 1887, and received his education in the public schools of Norristown, in the Chestnut Hill Academy, and in the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 1912 with the degree Bachelor of Science. Meantime, in 1911, he had matriculated in the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, and three years later, in 1914, he received from that department the degree Bachelor of Laws. He at once became associated with the Montgomery Trust Company of Norristown, as assistant in the title office, and this connection he maintained until 1918, when he enlisted, July 18, for service in the United States army. He was held at training quarters in this country, finally being located at Camp Zachary Taylor, the officers' training camp at Louisville, Ken- tucky. He was discharged December 1, 1919, and after his return to civil life assumed control of the John J. Corson real estate and insurance business. which is located at the corner of Main and Cherry streets, suc- ceeding his two brothers, Jay J. and Henry F. The business has con- tinued to grow and prosper, and he has associated with him in the busi- ness Clarence G. Laud, continuing, however, to operate under the old name. In addition to his responsibilities and interests as manager of the real estate business, Mr. Corson is a member of the board of directors of the People's National Bank; of the Excelsior Saving Fund and Loan
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Association ; of the Star Loan Association; of the Economy Fire Insur- ance Company ; and of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company, holding the office of secretary in the four last named. He is a member of the Mont- gomery County Bar Association. Politically he gives his support to the Republican party. He is a member of the Delta Theta Phi college fraternity, and of the Protestant Episcopal church.
CHARLES HEBER CLARK-Under the nom de plume "Max Adeler," Charles Heber Clark, one of Montgomery's best loved citizens, endeared himself to thousands upon thousands that he never saw, for his readers and admirers were found at home and abroad. He was well known in journalism, his career embracing service on the editorial staff of three leading newspapers of Philadelphia, the "Inquirer," the "Bulle- tin," the "North American," the ownership of a trade journal "The Tex- tile Record," and the editorship of "The Manufacturer."
Charles Heber Clark was born in Berlin, Maryland, July 11, 1841, son of Rev. William J. Clark, an Episcopal clergyman of a Philadelphia family, and his wife, Annabelle (Mccullough) Clark, of an old Delaware family. Charles H. Clark died August 10, 1915, greatly beloved and deeply mourned. He obtained his education in the schools of George- town, D. C., and at the age of fourteen located his home in Philadelphia, where he became a salesman for a dry goods store. After serving in that capacity in several stores, he became convinced that his true voca- tion was journalism, and about 1867 became a member of the staff of the Philadelphia "Inquirer" as a cub reporter. He rose rapidly, becoming in three months the city editor of that paper, continuing until with others he had purchased the "Evening Bulletin" of Philadelphia, of which he was editor for several years. Some years afterward he sold his interest in the "Bulletin" and became editor and owner of "The Textile Record" and also editor of "The Manufacturer," the trade journal of the Manu- facturers' Club of Philadelphia. He conducted "The Textile Record" until 1906, when he retired from newspaper work.
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