USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a history, Volume II > Part 26
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1851, 1852, and 1853, he was chief burgess of Pottstown. For at least two terms he was a member of the Town Council, and at various times held other offices of trust in the gift of the people. In all these offices he served faithfully and efficiently, giving to public duties the same care and the same conscientious attention that he gave to his own affairs.
As a business man he was conservative and possessed a keen, dis- cerning judgment which made him much sought by various business organizations. He was for several years president of the Perkiomen and Reading Turnpike Company, also of the Schuylkill Bridge Com- pany at Pottstown and the Pottstown Gas Company, also a member of the board of directors of the Colebrookdale railroad, all four of which positions he continued to hold to the time of his death. He invested chiefly in real estate and at the time of his death was the largest prop- erty holder in Pottstown. Enterprises planned for the benefit of the community and the town found in him a generous and a wise supporter and helper, and when Trinity Reformed Church of Pottstown, of which he was a member, was built, he was one of the active promoters and gen- erous contributors to the project.
John Christman Smith married Rebecca Maria Pennypacker, daugh- ter of Henry and Elizabeth Pennypacker, of Hanover township, Mont- gomery county, and they were the parents of four children: 1. Sarah E., born October 23, 1842, died February 7. 1912, married William H. Rhoads, who was born August 17, 1855, and died March 5, 1903, and they became the parents of one child, Edna R. Rhoads, now living at Potts- town. Miss Rhoads prizes highly several articles of historic value which were the property of her grandparents. She is very active in Trinity Reformed Church, of which her father also was a member, and few com- mittees are considered complete without her. She has traveled quite extensively in the United States, and is a cultured, benevolent gentle- woman who brings much of happiness and comfort into the lives of many around her. 2. Mary Ann, married Henry G. Kulp. 3. Henry, deceased. 4. Andora P., married Charles F. Sissler.
SIMON CAMERON CORSON-As a civil engineer Mr. Corson has been identified with a great amount of important construction, private, corporate and public, both in the United States and the West Indies. Now that years have taken away some of that enthusiasm which sent him anywhere in the line of his profession he has confined himself to the duties of the position he fills, engineer to the borough of Norristown.
Simon C. Corson is a son of George Norman Corson, grandson of Charles Corson, great-grandson of Joseph Corson, great-great-grandson of Benjamin (3) Corson, son of Benjamin (2) Corson, son of Benjamin (1) Corson, son of Cornelius Corson, who came to Staten Island, New York, in 1685, with a party of Huguenots from Vendee, France, the original name Coursen. Among the children of Cornelius Corson was a son Benjamin (1) Corson, who about 1726 made Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania, his home. His wife Nelly bore him a son Benjamin (2) Corson, who married Marie Suydam, and they were the parents of Benjamin (3) Corson, who married Sarah Dungan.
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Among the children of Benjamin (3) and Sarah Dungan was a son Joseph Corson, who married Hannah Dickinson, and settled at Hickory- town in Plymouth township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where their son Charles was born January 22, 1801. For more than forty years Charles Corson lived on his farm at the junction of Skippack and Per- kiomen creeks in Lower Providence township, Montgomery county, and was of that band of abolitionists who made the "Underground Railway" a success in aiding the escape of slaves. Charles Corson married Sarah Egbert, born March 17, 1801, died August 23, 1864. Charles Corson died May 5, 1878, and both are buried in Montgomery cemetery, Norristown.
George Norman Corson, third son of Charles and Sarah (Egbert) Corson, was born at the homestead in Plymouth township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, March 11, 1833, and until the Civil War was engaged in securing his own education, secular and professional, he becoming a member of the Montgomery county bar. He also taught school during that period and when war broke out between the North and South he was well established in law practice. He volunteered for service with the first "three months men" in 1861, and served his term of enlistment with the 4th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was intending to reenlist, but was thrown from his horse and so seriously injured that further military service was impossible.
From his return from the army until his passing in 1902, George Nor- man Corson was engaged in law practice and ably served his day and generation both as lawyer and citizen. He was a man of brilliant mind and high attainment, a writer of marked ability and as a lawyer noted for capacity for work and study in preparing his cases. George Norman Corson was one of the first men of Montgomery county to ally himself with the Republican party and for years he was a leader in party poli- tics, no campaign lacking his eloquent pleas for his party's success. In 1862 he was appointed notary public by Governor Curtin, there then being but two in all Montgomery county. In 1863 he was appointed register in bankruptcy for Montgomery and Lehigh counties and no decision he rendered while holding that office was reversed. In 1869 he was nominated by acclamation for law judge of Montgomery and Bucks counties and in 1873 was a member of the Pennsylvania Constitu- stitutional Convention. He was active in the work of the Convention and first moved the elimination of the word "White" from the consti- tution that the colored citizen might not be discriminated against. He contributed a series of newspaper articles descriptive of the Convention. and drew "Pen Portraits" of the leading members. He was a volumi- nous writer for the press during his career, his quality of wit and humor blending beautifully with his grave side.
George N. Corson married, September 29, 1859, Maria Hurst, who died September 21, 1899, her husband surviving her until March 12, 1902. To Mr. and Mrs. Corson five children were born: 1. Georgine, married J. S. Singer. 2. S. Cameron, of further mention. 3. Rosalie, married George N. Weaver. 4. Harold, of Norristown, married Carrie Gautier (deceased) ; then he married Mable Nyce. 5. Chalfred, married Bertha Eckhardt.
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S. Cameron Corson, eldest son of George Norman and Maria (Hurst) Corson, and named for his father's close friend, Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, was born in the family home at the south corner of Main and Cherry streets, Norristown, Pennsylvania, February 12, 1863. After completing public school study he entered Treemount Seminary, here continuing until 1881. In the latter year he began a two-years' term of study and service in the office of a Philadelphia architect, leaving on July 1, 1883, to enter the employ of the engineer corps of the Pennsyl- vania Schuylkill Valley Railroad, as rodman. He continued in the work of building the Valley road until 1885, when he became assistant to Alan W. Corson, then engineer to the borough of Norristown. He continued in that position until 1887, being principally engaged in laying out West Norristown.
In 1887 he reentered the employ of the Pennsylvania railroad, being located in Baltimore, Maryland, engaged in the construction of piers, docks and warehouses at Canton, adjoining Baltimore, in elevated rail- way surveys and in line changes north and south of Baltimore. In June, 1889, he was ordered to the scene of the Johnstown flood, with all other available company engineers to repair damage done to railroad property by that mighty rush of water. On February 1, 1890, he was transferred to the maintenance of way department and stationed as assistant engi- neer at Altoona, Pennsylvania, in the office of the general superintendent. On August 1, 1890, he was sent to the Tyrone division of the Pennsyl- vania railroad, but in March, 1891, he resigned and until November, 1891, was with the Philadelphia and Reading employ, stationed at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, as assistant supervisor.
In November, 1891, he was made assistant engineer of construction of the Sigua Iron Company, of Santiago, Cuba, where railroad, iron pier, and inclined planes were built. After his return from Cuba Mr. Corson was again with the engineering corps of the Pennsylvania railroad sta- tioned at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Altoona, then from January I, 1894 until September, 1897, he was in private engineering practice with an office in Altoona. During that period he was engineer for the bor- ough of Juniata, special assistant engineer in the construction of the fourth district sewer of Altoona, and assistant engineer in the construc- tion of the new reservoir for the city of Altoona. He made the first surveys for the Lewiston Water Company and was busily engaged until 1897, when he returned to the Pennsylvania railroad with head- quarters at Atlantic City, where he was in charge of the rebuilding of all bridges and culverts between Egg Harbor City and Atlantic City.
When the Spanish-American War was on, Mr. Corson volunteered his services as an engineer in Cuba but Washington red tape could not be unwound before the war was ended. On March 1, 1889, he became engineer to the borough of Norristown and in that capacity has been in charge of all borough street, sewer and public improvement and has given entire satisfaction, being returned year after year during the near quarter century which has since elapsed. Norristown has the distinction of the best paved and sewered of any borough in Pennsylvania, that being the highest praise that could be given Mr. Corson and the borough
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engineering department. The opening of Markley street from Main to Roberts street where it joins the Old Swedes Ford or State Road, is one of Mr. Corson's permanent improvements which deserves partic- ular notice as an engineering work. Elmwood Park was also laid out and beautified under his supervision. In fact all improvement of the past two decades in Norristown have been inspired or carried forward by Mr. Corson as borough engineer. He has no interest greater than his desire to improve and beautify Norristown while adding to the bor- ough's desirability as a residence community. The hand-book which he prepared for the use of the officials of the boroughs is an accumula- tion of valuable and interesting statistical information which is greatly appreciated and highly valued.
Mr. Corson is a member of the American Society of Municipal Im- provement, a contributing member since 1908 and now a member of the finance committee ; also a member of the Gravel Foundation Committee ; was a member of the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia; Norristown Lodge, No. 620, Free and Accepted Masons. In politics he is a Repub- lican ; in religious faith an Episcopalian.
Mr. Corson married, July 19, 1899, Anne Eliza Ramey, of Altoona, Pennsylvania, daughter of Frederick and Mary (Taylor) Ramey, grand- daughter of David K. and Catherine (Leamer) Ramey, great-grand- daughter of Frederick and Martha (Keller) Ramey, and great-great- granddaughter of Francis Remme, who came from Alsace-Lorraine, in 1788, and settled near Huntington, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Corson are the parents of five children : I. Mary Pauline, born August 10, 1900, died October 11, 1918. 2. David Ramey, born September 13, 1902, now a student at Drexel Institute. 3. Frederick Ramey, born September 16, 1904. 4. S. Cameron (2), born May 18, 1907. 5. Alfred Read, born August 2, 1910, and died May 19, 1916. The family home is at No. 1439 Powell street.
The memorial flagpole, in Elmwood Park, Norristown, erected to her sons who served in the wars waged by the United States both before and since becoming an independent nation, was designed by Mr. Corson, who was also the originator of the idea of such a memorial. It was erected in 1922 at a cost of twenty-five hundred dollars, raised by local subscription, and is greatly admired.
JESSE ROY EVANS-One of the successful attorneys of Potts- town, Pennsylvania, and a man who has already made a name for him- self in the public life of this region, is a native son, his birth having occurred here February 14, 1883. He is a son of Jesse William and Ellie Gordon (Reifsnyder) Evans, the former a wholesale tobacco dealer of Pottstown.
Mr. Evans received the elementary portion of his education at the public schools of Pottstown until he had completed the high school course. Having in the meantime determined to adopt the law as his profession, he accordingly matriculated at the law school of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, having previously attended the Hill School at Pottstown. After completing the prescribed course at the university
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he graduated with the class of 1906 and won the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Throughout his school and college years he 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 train- ing that was the result of long and conscientious effort. Immediately after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, he returned to Pottstown, passed his bar examinations, October 1, 1906, and established himself in the practice of his chosen profession. He opened an office at 264 High street, and this has remained his headquarters ever since. He has built up an excellent practice and has handled many important cases, proving himself a most capable and conscientious attorney.
Besides his legal activity, Mr. Evans has interested himself in the conduct of public affairs in the community, as well as in its social and business life. Since 1909 he has been Borough Solicitor. He is also solicitor of the several Pottsville townships ; and has been solicitor of the Pottstown National Bank since 1909. During the World War Mr. Evans was active as chairman of the Four-Minute Men, for aiding the securing of funds to "carry on."
He is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, being a member of Stichter Lodge, No. 264, of Pottstown; Pottstown Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Nativity Commandery, Knights Templar ; Rajah Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; and the Krishma Grotto of Pottstown; is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Madison Lodge, No. 466; Improved Order of Red Men ; Empire Hook and Ladder Company ; Brookside Country Club, and the College Club of Pottstown. The activities of the church have also received his attention and time for many years, and in the St. Paul's Reformed Church, at Stowe, he is superintendent of the St. Paul's Sunday school.
On November 1, 1909, Jesse Roy Evans was united in marriage with Mary E. Bliem, daughter of William and Salome Bliem, of Pottstown. Mr. and Mrs. Evans are the parents of three children : Ruth Bliem, born June 3, 1913; Mary Bliem, born October 19, 1914; Rebecca Bliem, born February 24, 1919. The family home is at No. 242 Beech street, Potts- town. Mr. Evans is still a young man, but his ability has carried him forward into important professional relations and his many friends do not hesitate to predict for him a brilliant future.
RALPH HAROLD EVANS-There is now and then a man who after he has passed away lives in the minds of many not only by reason of results accomplished, but also in consequence of a singularly forceful personality. So survives the memory of the late Ralph Harold Evans, who throughout his entire business career was engaged in newspaper work, and at the same time "constantly planning and doing things for the advancement of his friends, his paper, his city and its institutions, and his country."
Ralph Harold Evans, son of Jesse William and Ellie Gordon (Reif- snyder ) Evans, was born June 26, 1886, at No. 50 King street, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and died July 8, 1920, at his home in Alliance, Ohio. He
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attended the public schools of his native place, and after graduating from the Pottstown High School in 1903 attended the famous "Hill School" until 1905. It was while in high school that he founded his life work.
In 1902 he established the "Blue and White," the school paper of Pottstown High School, which is still being published. In 1905 with a friend he published the "Alumni Echo," and was its editor. Shortly after this Mr. Evans began his real newspaper career at Lancaster, Ohio, as a reporter on the "Lancaster Gazette." In 1906 he returned to Potts- town as a reporter on the "Pottstown News," later becoming its editor. Resigning in 1908 for a position on the "Williamsport Gazette," he soon left to accept a place on the staff of the "Philadelphia Record," which he held until 1910, when he again resigned in order to become editor and general manager of the "Alliance Leader." Five years later when the latter was absorbed by the "Review," he became editor of "The Alli- ance Review and Leader," holding this position until his fatal illness.
The intense enthusiasm of Mr. Evans' nature was applied to his newspaper work and made it a marked success. His heart was in his career and each change of position was a promotion. It is interesting to note here that while he was on the staff of the "Philadelphia Record," he was given several very important assignments, among them being to make the annual trip of the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce through the State of Pennsylvania. His editorial writings as well as his con- versation proved him to be a shrewd political observer, and the strength and beauty of his writings were carried on to his public speeches, many people in Alliance, where he resided, considering him the best public speaker in the city. Throughout his entire lifetime Mr. Evans was a member of the Trinity Reformed Church of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, having become a member on Good Friday, 1902.
On July 26, 1906, Ralph Harold Evans was united in marriage to Madeline La Wall, a native of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and to them were born Allan, November 19, 1911, and Eleanor, June 26, 1913.
It has been said of Mr. Evans that he was an inveterate joker up to the last day of his life, his friends always finding in him a constant flow of humor which was maintained in spite of the fact that he suffered severely every waking minute for his last five years on earth. "Without ambition for personal glory, zealous that his own work be done per- fectly, Ralph Evans did his every task well, performed his public duties without fear or favor, and passed on beloved by all who were fortunate enough to known him, without an enemy in the world. A rare flower, one of God's chosen few."
Perhaps the best expressions of his worth can be found in the follow- ing extracts, the former from the address of W. M. Ellett in behalf of the Masonic lodge, and the latter from the address of Dr. F. J. Bryson, in behalf of the Rotary Club, of Alliance:
He had a most unusual love of home. Then he had a wonderful love of friends. I doubt whether I have ever known a man who so greatly desired the love of friends. His was without doubt the most appreciative soul I have ever known. Ralph Evans was a sublime hero. The man who faces the shot and shell of the cannon has an inhibition of excitement, of the stress of conflict, but the man who faces what Ralph
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Evans with his acute intellect and his imagination faced, had none of these things to help out his courage. In a conversation in my garden as we were watching the setting of the sun, he expresses satisfaction that he had offered himself to the very limit, almost beyond human ability to risk, suffer and endure, to take every possible chance known to medical and surgical science in order that he might be spared to his family, his friends and his community. But with an affliction so rare that the great surgeons of John Hopkins could only find fifty-six cases of similar kind recorded in all medical history it was not to be. With more than a hero's courage, with more than a martyr's fortitude, he faced the inevitable hour and crossed the unexplored land.
It seems incredible that Ralph has gone. Only yesterday we clasped his hand, lis- tened to his voice, fed our souls on his optimism and his cheer and bade him good-bye. We remember it distinctly, it was a lovely June night in a little cottage he loved so well, and it was a pleasant half hour or so, that last half hour with him; and his talk was not that of a sick man, but that of a man alert and wide awake. He said, "Come back again in August in your vacation time, and linger a time with me before our paths permanently diverge." His was a brave, courageous spirit, he was not deceived, he knew his end was near, and he faced it with a smile and with a word of cheer. There is no mystery, friends, why we mourn for him, the memory of his loving kindness and of his life of service shall abide with us, and eternity can not make us forget, and I believe that we might say of him to-night that were all those to whom he did some loving service to bring a flower to his grave, he would sleep to-night in Pennsylvania covered with flowers.
EVAN DAVIS JONES-Among those who have contributed a worthy share to the life of Montgomery county and then passed out of the lives of their associates, leaving their influence and their works to live after them, is Evan Davis Jones, who during the entire period of his active life was identified with the lumber business in Conshohocken.
Mr. Jones comes from old Colonial families on both the maternal and the paternal sides. Isaac Jones, grandfather of Evan D. Jones, resided in Plymouth, where he followed the occupation of farming, and was known as a skillful and successful agriculturist. He was three times married, first, to Elizabeth Yerkes, by whom he became the father of seven chil- dren : John; William; Jonathan, of further mention; Ann; Susan, who married Thomas Hopkins; Charles; and Elizabeth, who married Charles Sheppard.
Jonathan Jones, son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Yerkes) Jones, was born January 10, 1800, in Whitemarsh township, and received his education in the public schools of his native district. When school days were over, he gave his whole time and attention to the cultivation of his father's farm, until the time of his marriage at the age of twenty-five years. He then removed to the farm owned by his father-in-law, in Plymouth, and this he continued to cultivate for twenty-one years, removing to the Davis homestead upon the death of his father-in-law, and there residing during the remainder of his life. Jonathan Jones was a man of large ability, possessing along with excellent judgment and great sagacity, a keen sense of justice and firm integrity of character. These qualities caused him to be much sought as an arbiter in disputed questions and as a guardian and trustee, in both of which capacities he frequently served. In connection with his farm he conducted a successful lumber business at Conshohocken, and was well known in that place as an able business man and a public-spirited citizen. Politically he was a Whig in early years and a Republican during the later years of his life, but he did not
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seek political office. He was born into the congregation of the Friends, and throughout his life remained true to the tenets of that faith and was an active worker in its ranks to the time of his death, October 5, 1867.
He married Eliza Davis, daughter of John and Anna Davis, and they were the parents of seven children: Anna J., who married Samuel Foulke; Evan Davis, of whom further ; Elwood, deceased; Esther ; Eliz- abeth J., who married William Webster ; J. Davis, deceased ; and Rachel, deceased.
Evan Davis Jones, son of Jonathan and Eliza (Davis) Jones, was born January 3, 1828, and died February 8, 1890, at Conshohocken. He received his education in the public schools of his native district and in Professor Aaron's Boarding School, at Norristown, Pennsylvania, and then assisted his father on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age. He then, in association with his brother, Elwood, established a lumber business at Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and this business he continued to successfully conduct during the remainder of his life. Located at the corner of Hector and Cherry streets, the business has continued to grow and prosper, and is still being conducted by members of the Jones family. In addition to his responsibilities as manager of a prosperous lumber business, Mr. Jones was president of the First National Bank of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and a large shareholder in the organization, and was also president of various building and loan associations. He, too, was by birthright a member of the Society of Friends, and was known and loved for those qualities which have ever made the "Friend" so desirable a member of the community in which he lives.
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