USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a history, Volume II > Part 5
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Meanwhile, for more than fifty years, Mr. Kite has been a leading spirit in many endeavors which have contributed in great measure to the present prosperity and importance of the communities of Montgomery county. In 1870 he was one of the organizers of the Fame Building and Loan Association of Bridgeport, in which during the entire subsequent period, and at the present time, he is a stockholder. He was one of the organizers and stockholders of the Music Hall Association, in 1873, this body having brought into existence the Grand Opera House of Norris- town. He was one of the organizers and a stockholder of the Citizens'
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Passenger Railway Company, which created the original Main street line of the Norristown street railway service, and was made secretary of this company. One of the organizers and stockholders of the Norristown Electric Light & Power Company, he was for years vice-president of that concern. Mr. Kite has long been treasurer of the Associated Char- ities of Norristown, of which also he was an organizer. He is one of the trustees of the Wright A. Bringhurst bequest, through which the rental of thirty houses in the hands of the trustees is distributed among the worthy poor.
An enterprise in which Mr. Kite has always taken the deepest satis- faction was started in the year 1897, when the borough of Norristown leased the water power at the Wyoming Mills and erected their own electric lighting plant. Mr. Kite was made one of the electric commis- sioners to operate the plant, which was successfully carried forward at a great saving to the borough until the expiration of the lease, in Novem- ber, 1922. A Republican by political affiliation, Mr. Kite has served as school director and secretary of the school board, but has otherwise never accepted political honors or responsibilities. Fraternally he is con- nected with Charity Lodge, No. 190, Free and Accepted Masons, which he served for twenty-one years as secretary, and Norristown Chapter, No. 190, Royal Arch Masons. He has always been interested in out-of- door sports and athletics, and is still a director of the Ersine Tennis Club.
Mr. Kite married (first), October 16, 1877, in West Conshohocken, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, Emma M. Moir, daughter of James and Maria T. (Kent) Moir, who died, leaving the following children : Bessie M., born August 31, 1878, now deceased ; Mary E., born November 28, 1879; James M., born December 7, 1880; Karl K., born January 13, 1883 ; and George E., born April 27, 1885. Mr. Kite married (second) at Norristown, April 6, 1904, Elizabeth D. Gilbert, daughter of Solomon and Anne (Lickens) Gilbert, and they reside at No. 1533 De Kalb street, Norristown.
HENRY MARCH BROWNBACK-For more than forty years Henry March Brownback has been one of the leading members of the legal profession in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He has served as district attorney of that county, as postmaster of Norristown, and as solicitor for numerous county officials, and is well known throughout the eastern part of the State.
Mr. Brownback traces his ancestry to Gerhard Brunback (anglicized into Garrett Brownback), who sailed from Amsterdam in the ship "Con- cord" in 1683, and landed at Philadelphia. Garrett Brownback settled first at Germantown, but later removed to Chester county, where he became a large landholder and the first hotel-keeper in that section. He was also the founder of the Brownback Reformed Church, which is still in existence. He was a prominent and influential citizen in his section of the State, and lived to be ninety-six years of age, his death occurring Mont-3
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about 1757. He married Mary Pepen, daughter of Howard and Mary (Rittenhouse) Pepen, and they were the parents of two sons and four daughters. The sons were: I. Benjamin, who married Mary Paul, and became the father of three sons, Henry, John, and Edward. 2. Henry, who married Magdalena Paul, and became the father of five children, John, Peter, Benjamin, Annie, and Susan. One of the great-grandsons of Garrett Brownback was William Brownback, grandfather of Henry March Brownback.
William Brownback was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, and after receiving a practical education in the public schools of his native district, engaged in farming. He was a loyal and exemplary citizen, and a lifelong member of the Reformed church, in the work of which he took an active part. His death occurred July 29, 1890, at the age of eighty- four years. He married Eliza Wilson, who died in 1840, aged thirty- two years, leaving a family of four children, among whom was James Brownback, of further mention.
James Brownback, son of William and Eliza (Wilson) Brownback, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 4, 1833. He received his education in the public schools of his native district, and upon the completion of his school training, engaged in farming, which occupation he successfully followed for several years. In 1865, however, he sold out his farm and some other interests, and engaged in business as an iron founder at Linfield, Montgomery county, under the firm name of the March-Brownback Stove Company.
James Brownback married, in 1857, at Lawrenceville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, Ellen March, daughter of Michael and Susan (March) March, and they became the parents of three children: Aida E., who died November 13, 1899, wife of Henry G. Kulp, of Pottstown; William M., who married Annie Yocum, of Bryn Mawr, where the family reside ; and Henry M., of further mention.
Henry March Brownback, son of James and Ellen (March) Brown- back, was born in East Vincent township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, December 17, 1860, and removed to Linfield, Montgomery county, with his parents, when he was seven years of age. He attended private schools, then entered Ursinus College, at Collegeville, Pennsylvania, later read- ing law in the offices of his uncle, Franklin March. After passing the examinations he was admitted to the bar December 4, 1882, and at once entered into a partnership with his uncle and preceptor, Franklin March, under the firm name of March & Brownback. This connection was maintained until January 1, 1893, when the partnership was dissolved, Mr. Brownback continuing practice alone. In 1909 he removed his offices to the People's National Bank building, at No. 41 East Main street, and there he has continued to the present time. He is well known as an able attorney and a wise counsellor, and he has won the confidence and esteem of both his professional associates and of his large clientele, as well as of a host of personal friends. Along with his professional activities he has found time for public service. In 1889 he was nominated
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by the Republican party of his district to serve as district attorney for Montgomery county, to which office he was duly elected the following November, and that public office he filled with marked ability and faith- fulness for a period of four years, from January 1, 1890, to January I, 1894. In July, 1899, he was appointed postmaster at Norristown, by President Mckinley, and in January, 1903, his four-year term having expired, he was re-appointed to that position by President Roosevelt. During his term of service free rural delivery was instituted, and it was also during his term of service that the movement for the erection of a public building in Norristown was carried to a successful conclusion. On February 1, 1914, Mr. Brownback was elected a borough solicitor of the borough of Norristown, and that official position he has held contin- uously to the present time (1922). He is a member of the board of directors of the Montgomery Trust Corporation, of Norristown, Penn- sylvania ; director in the March-Brownback Store Company, and Bram- cote Land Company, both of Pottstown, Pennsylvania; and solicitor for the Bryn Mawr Trust Corporation, and for the Bryn Mawr National Bank. Fraternally he is affiliated with Charity Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; and with Lodge, No. 714, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Norristown. His clubs are the Norristown Club, the Penn Club, of Philadelphia, and the Plymouth Country Club. He is also a member of the Historical Society of Montgomery county.
On July 2, 1880, at Norristown, Pennsylvania, Henry M. Brownback married Augustine Marguerite Lowe, daughter of Professor T. S. C. Lowe, then a resident of Norristown, but later of Pasadena, California, where he has been largely interested in railway construction, and of Leontine (Gashon) Lowe. Mr. and Mrs. Brownback are the parents of two sons: I. Henry Lowe, born January 13, 1891, who enlisted for service in the World War one week after the United States entered the conflict, and served as first lieutenant in the Air Service, Aircraft Pro- duction Department, Detroit, Michigan. He was sent to France to observe the aeroplanes on the field of combat and also to observe the different types of foreign planes in France, Italy and England. He served at Kelly Field, Texas, and Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, as instructor in machine gunnery and aero dynamics. 2. Russell James, born October 1, 1893, who enlisted the day war was declared, on April 6, 1917, and was commissioned a first lieutenant of infantry, and is still (1923) adjutant of the Third Battalion, 316th Infantry, United States Reserves. At the time of his enlistment he was senior at the University of Pennsylvania, and was commissioned at Fort Niagara, New York, and stationed at Camp Lee, Virginia, as chief personnel officer of the mus- tering office, and in partial command of the demobilization office; was also at Camps Meade and Mcclellan previous to going to Camp Lee.
J. ELMER PORTER, M. D .- Probably there is no physician better known in the field of surgery in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, than Dr. Porter and yet, too, we may say of him that he ranks first among
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the financiers as well. It is seldom that we find a man who has made a name for himself in two fields so far removed, but such is the case with the subject whose name heads this review.
The Porters are of Irish descent, but have long been residents of Pennsylvania. John Porter, grandfather of Dr. Porter, was a native of Philadelphia, and a blacksmith by trade. He married Elizabeth Hook, and to them were born five children, among them Samuel H. Porter, of whom further. David Rittenhouse Porter, governor of Pennsylvania in 1840, was a cousin to John Porter.
Samuel H. Porter, father of Dr. Porter, was born in South Coventry township in 1830, and died in 1909, having spent his entire lifetime in Coventry, where he followed agricultural pursuits. He married Martha Greenoff, of Sumneytown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, whose father, Thomas Greenoff, came to this country from England and settled in Chester county, where he was proprietor of a large woolen mill. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H. Porter were the parents of four children: John W., a resident of Wichita, Kansas; Samuel H., a druggist of Pottstown; J. Elmer, of further mention ; and Adella.
J. Elmer Porter, son of Samuel H. and Martha (Greenoff) Porter, was born in Chester county, South Coventry township, August 12, 1865. There he lived until he was twelve years of age, when he came to Potts- town to school, graduating from the high school there in 1882. He then returned to Chester county, where he taught school for one term, subse- quently entering the drug store of John M. Cunningham, where he acquired a knowledge of the drug business. Having in the meantime determined to adopt medicine as his profession, and with this end in view, he studied with Dr. Kellar of Pottstown and then matriculated at Jefferson Medical College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, April 2, 1886, with honors at the age of twenty. The following year Dr. Porter was resident physician in Blackley Hospi- tal, Philadelphia, after which he returned to Pottstown and permanently established himself in the practice of his chosen profession. Three years later Dr. Porter went to London, England, where he spent six months in study under Sir William Lang, eye specialist at Moreland Hospital ; with Sir Morrell Mckenzie, throat specialist at Golden Square Hospital ; and under Sir Frederick Trieves, Royal Surgeon at London General Hos- pital. With a vast amount of theoretical and practical knowledge obtained from the best sources, he returned to Pottstown to engage in active practice, and it is needless to say that with such equipment, together with an inborn talent for the work, that the years which have intervened have brought him rich rewards, both from a professional and a remunerative standpoint.
Professionally Dr. Porter holds membership in the American Medical Association, of which he is a fellow; the Montgomery County Medical Society; and the Pennsylvania State Medical Association; he is presi- dent and chief surgeon of the Pottstown General Hospital, having held these offices since 1900; was appointed medical instructor of the post-
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Aubrey Anderson 1
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graduate school of the University of Pennsylvania in 1921 ; president of the Pottstown Board of Health; member of the Health Commission; member of the Senior Medical Reserve Corps of the United States in the consultation branch ; life member of Jefferson Medical College Alumni; life member of the American College of Surgeons, of which he is a fel- low ; and surgeon of the Philadelphia & Reading railroad.
It is hard to believe that it is possible for any one who has reached such a height in the medical world to have found the time to devote himself to financial affairs, but Dr. Porter has done just this thing, and in January, 1922, he was made president of the Pottstown Security Trust Company, of which he had been a director since 1910. He is also a director of the Pottstown Cold Storage Company ; president of the Potts- town Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; and president of the Boyertown Gas Company.
In politics, too, this busy man has also taken an active part, having held the chair of burgess, 1903-04 and 1905, and was made a member of the local school board in 1901. He is a Democrat in politics, and a Presbyterian in religion.
Dr. Porter married (first), on June 13, 1894, Ada Elizabeth Kehl, who died January 14, 1902, leaving one child of this union, Martha, who was born October 9, 1900, and who graduated from Chevey Chase, Wash- ington, class of 1921. Dr. Porter married (second) at Royersford, Penn- sylvania, in November, 1908, Annela Newborn, daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Hamilton) Newborn, and they are the parents of one child, Mary Newborn, born January 8, 1911. The family home is at No. 344 High street, Pottstown. Dr. Porter devotes what little time is left to him from his professional and financial cares to reading and writing, and has accomplished a prodigious amount of literary work for medical journals.
J. AUBREY ANDERSON-Among the successful members of the legal profession in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, is J. Aubrey Anderson, who has been successfully engaged in general practice in Norristown for more than sixteen years, and who besides being officially connected with several banking institutions, among them the Bridgeport National Bank, of which he is president, has found time for service as a public official.
Mr. Anderson is a member of an old Pennsylvania family which traces its ancestry to James Anderson, who came from Scotland and settled in Chester county. He bought land of William Penn and this farm is still in the Anderson family, being handed down to the youngest son of each generation. Numerous descendants of the early family have settled in various parts of the United States, but especially in Pennsyl- vania and New Jersey, the home of the earliest representatives of the family.
J. Aubrey Anderson was born in Gulph Mills, Upper Merion town- ship, September 14, 1882, and received his education in the public schools
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of his native district and in the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed his law studies. He was admitted to the bar in 1906, and since that time has devoted himself to his profession, engaging in general practice in Norristown and in Philadelphia. He has practiced in all the courts, has always practiced alone, and has made for himself a reputation as an able attorney and a resourceful advocate.
Besides his responsibilities in his large and important general prac- tice, Mr. Anderson holds the office of president of the Bridgeport National Bank and as such has become well known as a successful executive. He is a member of the board of directors of the Montgomery Trust Company of Norristown and for many years was a member of the directors' board of the First National Bank of Conshohocken. Politically he gives his earnest support to the Republican party, and takes an active part in the affairs of the organization. In 1915 he became district attorney and served in that office for four years ; in 1916 he served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention ; and for many years has been solicitor for the borough of Conshohocken, as well as being solicitor for the school districts of that borough and the township of Upper Merion. Frater- nally he is a member of Fritz Lodge, No. 420, Free and Accepted Masons of Conshohocken ; professionally a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association ; and socially holds membership in the Norristown Club, the Plymouth Country Club and the Valley Forge Historical Society. It is fitting to note here that Mr. Anderson's chief interest is in the above last-named organization, for it is in this that he was one of the charter members and now (1923) is one of the society's vice-presidents.
On November 20, 1907, at Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania, J. Aubrey Anderson was united in marriage with Liddie Walker McFarland, daughter of Arthur and Anna (Walker) McFarland, and they are the parents of one child, Mary Corona, born July 2, 1918.
GEORGE LESLIE OMWAKE-The founding in this country of the Omwake family of which George L. Omwake, president of Ursinus College, is representative, constitutes an interesting chapter in the history of that ancient family. The American ancestor, Leonhardt am Weg, was a member of the original band of German pietists who gathered in the region of Schwartzenau in Hesse Cassel to propagate a form of faith and practice which was to be in strict accord with the teachings of the New Testament. Since this involved a change in administering the rite of baptism, this became in the popular mind the distinguishing feature, and the new sect became known as the Taufer brethren. The authorities were intolerant toward them and the company became broken up in 1719, when a number of them came to the Province of Pennsylvania and settled in Germantown. Others went down the Rhine and found tem- porary residence in Holland, but in 1729 they were able to charter the ship "Allen," James Craigie, master, and on July 7, 1729, that vessel sailed from Rotterdam with thirty families (126 persons) on board, among them Leonhardt am Weg, his wife Magdalina and, John Michael,
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their son, a lad in his teens. Seventy-one days later the "Allen" arrived at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the evidence seems to establish the fact that the family above mentioned settled in Lancaster county. John Michael am Weg, twenty-five years after the landing in 1729, obtained title to a tract of three hundred acres in that county near the present Reinholds Station, and about the year 1800 Jacob (2) am Weg, son of Jacob (1) am Weg, and grandson of John Michael am Weg, settled in the Cumberland Valley of Pennsylvania in the southern part of Franklin county. There among the Scotch-Irish the name, which had now become contracted to Amweg, became Omwake, a change accepted by the family who, rejoicing in their citizenship in a free land, did not resent the change of name.
Thus the family came to Pennsylvania and to the Omwake name. John Omwake, son of Jacob (2) am Weg, succeeded to the homestead established by his father in the Cumberland Valley, and had a son Henry, born in 1830, who married Eveline Beaver, daughter of Squire John Beaver, an early and famous school master, who later located in Indiana. Henry Omwake and his bride located in a neighboring township, Antrim, where he taught school, a profession he followed for nineteen years. Later they possessed the old Whitmer homestead near Greencastle. They were the parents of eleven children, eight sons and a daughter reach- ing maturity, and for forty years, until the death of the father, death did not enter that home. This review deals with the career of the seventh son, George Leslie Omwake, since 1912 president of Ursinus College. Henry Omwake, the father, died January 4, 1910, having served his county as commissioner, and his township in various offices. He was a successful farmer and a man of influence in his community, his religion the faith of the Reformed church. His wife, Eveline (Beaver) Omwake, died June 13, 1914.
George Leslie Omwake was born on the homestead farm near Green- castle, Pennsylvania, July 13, 1871. His education was begun in the public school of his district. Developing some skill in free hand draw- ing, his father considered placing him under an artist to have his talent developed, but instead, after completing high school study, he taught school for two terms. He then entered Shippensburg State Normal School, whence he was graduated in the class of 1893. He taught for one term after graduation, then entered Mercersburg Academy where he completed college preparation and continued an extra year, covering college first year work, and at the same time earned his way at the Acad- emy by teaching elementary Latin and English, and editing the Academy monthly.
In the fall of 1895, he entered Ursinus College in the sophomore year, there continuing until graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1898. The influence of home training and a sincere desire to be of service to his fellowmen led him to choose the ministry as his pro- fession. He pursued regular courses in theology at Yale Divinity School, and some special courses in the department of philosophy in the Graduate
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School, and was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1901. He was sought by the president of Ursinus, his alma mater, during his last year at the Divinity School and induced to accept a minor posi- tion on the college teaching staff, and to assist the president in his admin- istrative work. Regarding this as but a temporary step that would aid him in eventually securing a pastorate in the Reformed church, Dr. Owwake accepted the position. From his entrance upon his duties the logic of events led him to a field of service akin to, but apart, from the ministry and he was never ordained.
The oldest member of the faculty of Ursinus, a graduate of Yale, class of '59 had been serving as dean, and at the age of seventy he resigned. The faculty chose its youngest member as the old professor's successor, and thus another link was forged in the chain of events that was to keep Dr. Omwake in the service of Ursinus College. He was created a full professor upon being made dean, an office which he held for six years (1903-1909) and filled the chair of the history and philosophy of edu- cation. In 1909 he was elected vice-president, and in 1912 came to the presidency of his alma mater. He was inducted into office October 7, 1913, with fitting ceremonies in which representatives of the leading colleges and universities of the country took part. Franklin and Marshall College conferred upon him, in 1910, the degree of Doctor of Pedagogy, and in 1923 the degree of Doctor of Laws. He is a recognized authority on matters educational.
During his first years in office alterations and improvements were made to the college buildings. This enabled Dr. Omwake to take an advanced position on the subject of student domestic life and to estab- lish higher standards of proficiency in college work. His tenure of office continues (1923) and Ursinus has wonderfully prospered during his decade of administration.
Dr. Omwake has met to the limit of his ability the popular demand for his professional service outside the college. For several years he had given himself freely to the work of Teachers Institutes in Pennsylvania, and was a factor in elevating their standards and increasing their useful- ness. As a trustee of the Pennsylvania State Education Association he has aided in making that body more efficient and helpful to the cause, and he has written and lectured extensively. Articles from his able pen have appeared in journals and publications, but the burden of his literary work has been done on the publications issued by Ursinus College, having for eighteen years been editor of the college publications.
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