USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a history, Volume II > Part 6
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Dr. Omwake is a member, and in 1918 was president of The Associa- tion of College Presidents of Pennsylvania ; secretary of education and publicity of the Forward Movement of the Reformed Church in the United States; member of the National Society of College Teachers of Education ; American Academy of Political and Social Science; Penn- sylvania State Education Association (trustee).
In religious work he has long been active, serving Trinity Reformed Church of Collegeville in different capacities, including Sunday school
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superintendent. He is a member of the executive committee of the Lay- men's Missionary Movement ; a member of the General Council of Pres- byterian and Reformed Churches in America ; and in 1918-21 was presi- dent of the Council, and a member of the World Alliance of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches. He was the editor and co-author of "John H. A. Bomberger, Centenary Volume" (1917); "Forward Movement Handbook of the Reformed Church in the United States" (1918) ; and editor of the "Forward Movement Bulletin" (1918 to 1922).
During the World War period, 1917-18, Dr. Omwake served as assist- ant director of the Pennsylvania State Council of National Defense, in charge of work among colleges and universities, and as representative from Pennsylvania on the National Commission for Student War Service. In political principles he is a Democrat, but is an independent voter and never has been a candidate for either appointive or elective office. He is a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and in all these organizations takes a deep and abiding interest. He is not affiliated with any fraternal orders nor a member of any clubs.
Dr. Omwake married (first), June 18, 1902, at Hummelstown, Penn- sylvania, Bessie May Landis, who died February 10, 1904. He married (second), August 28, 1906, at Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Sophie Hend- ricks Casselberry, daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Hendricks) Cassel- berry. Dr. and Mrs. Omwake are the parents of two children: Stanley Casselberry, born March 15, 1908, and Eveline Beaver, born October I, 191I.
RICHARD VAN ZEELUST MATTISON, Ph. G., M. D., also a manufacturer and capitalist, was born in Solebury township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, November 17, 1851, son of Joseph Jones and Mahala (Van Zeelust) Mattison. He is a direct descendant of the well known feudal Scotch highland clan of Mathieson, and his family records are traced back to the time of the Vikings or Norse adventurers, those daring spirits who drove the native inhabitants out of the Ross, Cro- marty and Sutherland counties of Scotland in the fourth century.
Major Mathieson, of the present Scottish division of the family, owns the Island of Lewis on the Hebridean coast, containing 650,000 acres. His father, Sir James Mathieson, established the famous Hebridean herring fisheries, expending more than $2,000,000 for that purpose, after which he donated these great fisheries to the public use. Lady Mathie- son resides at Stornaway Castle, Loch Alsh; Sir Kenneth Mathieson at Ardross Castle, with 400,000 acres, and the family owns other large tracts in the counties of Ross and Cromarty in Scotland.
Mr. Mattison's earliest paternal American ancestor was James Mathie- son, who emigrated from the Island of Lewis, Scotland, in 1683, and settled in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, and subsequently purchased an estate above New Hope along the Delaware river, in Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania, which is still among the possessions of the family. James Mathie- son's wife was Mary (Lee) Mathieson, and through them the line of descent is traced to their son, Richard Mattison, as he spelled the name,
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and his wife, Mary (Pownall) Mattison, who were the grandparents of Dr. Mattison. Dr. Mattison's maternal grandparents were Asher and Mahala Van Zeelust, the latter of Dutch descent. Joseph Jones Matti- son, father of Dr. Mattison, was of Bucks county, Pennsylvania. His immediate Pownall forbears followed William Penn in the good ship "Friends' Adventure" (which was the next ship following the "Wel- come"), in 1681, emigrating with other prominent Quakers from Bucks county, England.
The preliminary education of Richard Van Zeelust Mattison was received in the public schools of Bucks county, Pennsylvania. In 1872 he entered the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and in the following year was elected president of the senior class, having been also the presi- dent of the summer class during this semester. Immediately after gradu- ation he was elected a trustee of the college, which position he has con- tinuously filled for the past forty-five years, serving during a large por- tion of this period as vice-president. He was graduated at the Philadel- phia College of Pharmacy in 1873, winning the pharmacy honors by obtaining the highest average of any of his competitors among the hun- dred odd members of the graduating class. He was graduated with high honors at the University of Pennsylvania, medical department, in 1879, with the degree of M. D. Upon graduating from the College of Pharmacy he formed a partnership with his classmate, Henry G. Keasbey, to engage particularly in the manufacture of pharmaceutical chemicals, and this co-partnership was succeeded by the corporation, the Keasbey & Mattison Company, upon the retirement of Mr. Keasbey in 1892. Dur- ing the preceding twenty years, the manufacturing firm greatly increased its business until, at the date of incorporation, the plant covered nearly four acres, with more than fifteen acres of floor space. The extensive manufacturing plant incidentally includes a large machine shop, a tin- smithery, carpenter's shop, and blacksmith's shop, and employs one thousand hands. The continued and signal success of this enormous industry, the manufacture of magnesia insulations and asbestos textiles, is due in a great measure to the untiring efforts of Dr. Richard Van Z. Mattison. He has been in close touch with all the details of the busi- ness since its organization in 1873, and upon its incorporation in 1892 he became its president and general manager.
The firm of Keasbey & Mattison and its successor, the Keasbey & Mattison Company, have from their inception enjoyed a high reputation among pharmacists for the honesty and integrity both of their prepara- tions and of their treatment of their customers. This policy has been well appreciated by the trade, and the books of the company bear upon their pages the names of many thousands of the most progressive and successful merchants and manufacturers in the United States. Dr. Mat- tison is also president of the Bell Asbestos Mines, a mining corporation located at Thetford Mines, Province of Quebec, Canada; Asbestos Shingle, Slate and Sheathing Company, Ambler Spring Water Company, Upper Dublin Water Company, and has been vice-president of the Phil- adelphia College of Pharmacy, president of the Philadelphia Drug Ex-
Royal Mallison
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change, president of the First National Bank of Ambler, four-fifths of the capital stock of which he still retains, and is actively interested in vari- ous other industrial, financial and commercial institutions in Ambler, Philadelphia, New York, Montreal, Quebec Province, and other places.
He is a member of the American Pharmaceutical Association, the National Wholesale Druggists' Association, the Association of Ameri- can Manufacturers, and of the Union League, Church, Country, and Manufacturers' clubs, of Philadelphia. From 1873 to 1883, in addition to his manufacturing pursuits, Dr. Mattison, at the request of the mem- bers of the alumni, acted as instructor for several years in theoretical and practical chemistry at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Throughout this period, and for years afterward, the columns of the col- lege publication, the "American Journal of Pharmacy," were frequently filled with emanations from his pen, new ideas were advanced, and con- troversies engendered, all serving to make his name still more widely known to the profession throughout the country.
As a memorial to his deceased daughter, Esther Victoria, he erected, furnished and presented the Diocese of Pennsylvania with Trinity Memorial Protestant Episcopal Church, of Ambler, erected and equipped at a cost of $150,000, a Gothic type of ecclesiastical architecture, which contains the series of windows which are so marvelous in their artistry that the church is known in architectural circles throughout the country as "The Church of the Beautiful Windows." This church is visited by artists from all parts of the United States, the windows being considered the most harmonious series of church windows in this country. Dr. Mattison is noted for his forcefulness and good judgment, and his advice is constantly being sought by many people in all walks of life.
Dr. Mattison married (first), at Hightstown, New Jersey, November 4, 1874, Esther Drafter, daughter of James Drafter, of Cranbury, New Jersey, a veteran of the British army service. Among children born to Dr. and Mrs. Mattison were two sons, both married : Richard Van Z., Jr. (1879), vice-president and general manager of the Keasbey & Mattison Company, and of a number of other industrial concerns; and Royal, a sketch of whom follows.
After the death of his wife, Dr. Mattison married (second), April 27, 1920, Mrs. Eleanor Cottrell Seger, of Princeton, New Jersey, daughter of John R. Cottrell. Mrs. Mattison is of French Huguenot descent and of prominent New Jersey family, Cottrells having served in the Revolu- tion under General Washington, fighting at the battle of Trenton and in other engagements of that war. The family home is "Lindenwold," in Ambler, and the summer home, "Bushy Park," is at Newport, Rhode Island.
ROYAL MATTISON, who was born and reared in Ambler, Pennsyl- vania, has been a lifelong resident of this county, and now, as one of the leading executives of an important group of industrial organizations, he is taking a leading place in the affairs of the community. Mr. Mattison is a member of an old Montgomery county family, and is a son of Dr.
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Richard Van Zeelust and Esther (Drafter) Mattison. Dr. Mattison has for many years been a manufacturer of asbestos materials, and is presi- dent of the Keasby & Mattison Company, one of Montgomery county's foremost concerns of international reputation.
Royal Mattison was born in Ambler, Pennsylvania, June 21, 1892. Following his elementary studies in the public schools, he attended William Penn Charter School, at Philadelphia, from which he was gradu- ated in the class of 1910. He then entered the University of Pennsyl- vania as a member of the class of 1914, but remained for only two years, laying aside his studies to take a position in the plant of which his father was the head. It was in 1913 that Mr. Mattison became identified with the Asbestos Shingle, Slate & Sheathing Company, and familiarizing him- self with the various departments of production and distribution, pre- pared himself for the responsibilities of executive activity by the practical method of experience. He is now vice-president and general manager of the above concern, also vice-president of the Keasby & Mattison Com- pany and all of the various subsidiaries of the organization.
Mr. Mattison is a director of the First National Bank of Ambler, and is a member of the Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia. Fraternally he is widely prominent, holding membership in Fort Washington Lodge, No. 308, Free and Accepted Masons; Fort Washington Chapter, No. 220, Royal Arch Masons, of which he is king; Mary Commandery, No. 36, Knights Templar ; Philadelphia Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scot- tish Rite ; and Lu Lu Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is affiliated with the Episcopal church, while Mrs. Mattison is a member of the Baptist church.
Royal Mattison married, in Ambler, Pennsylvania, April 20, 1914, Florence Estelle Stiver, daughter of William Conrad and Caroline (Benezet) Stiver, and they have one son, Royal, Jr., born February 17, 1915.
MATTHIAS LEVENGOOD MARCH-For nearly two hundred years the family of which Matthias L. March is representative has been domiciled in Pennsylvania. The line of descent on the maternal side is from Ulrich Levengood (originally Leibenguth), who was born in the Palatinate of Germany in 1689, and came to Pennsylvania with his wife and his son Adam in 1733, in the ship "Charming Betsey," landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in October, having sailed June 28, 1733. They settled at Faulkner's Swamp, a short distance from the present city of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where Ulrich Levengood bought land, on which he settled.
Adam Levengood, son of Ulrich Levengood, born in Germany in 1716, settled in New Hanover township, Montgomery county. He was seven- teen years of age when he arrived in Pennsylvania, where he became a landowner, and later, by inheritance, acquired the old homestead. Not- withstanding the fact that he was long past the age of military service during the War of the Revolution, he shared the hardships of its cam-
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paigns, and during the Revolution, when the Continentals were encamped at Fegleysville, with his team and wagons aided in transporting wounded soldiers to the hospitals in Reading, Pennsylvania. He died at a great age. Adam Levengood married, and had a son, Matthias (1), the great- grandfather of Matthias Levengood March. Matthias (2) Levengood was born on his father's homestead in Montgomery county, and was married at Trappe, Pennsylvania, in the edifice which has now become an object of great historical interest as the oldest Lutheran church in the United States. The Rev. Harry Melchior Muhlenberg performed the ceremony, and the couple, so happily married, had a long, prosperous and success- ful life, the mother living to the great age of one hundred and one years and seven months. She was the mother of Matthias (2) Levengood, who married Elizabeth Reinert, and they were the parents of sixteen children, one of whom was Sarah Levengood, the wife of Isaac F. March, and the mother of Matthias Levengood March of this review. This line of descent is thus summarized: (I) Ulrich Levengood, the American ancestor; (II) Adam Levengood, who came from Germany with his parents; (III) Matthias (1) Levengood; (IV) Matthias (2) Levengood ; (V) Sarah Levengood, married Isaac F. March; (VI) Mat- thias Levengood March.
Mr. March thus represents the sixth, and his children the seventh generation of a family whose life is woven into the very fabric of the nation. From homesteads lying among the green meadows and valleys of Berks and Montgomery counties, its sons and daughters have gone forth to help make America great, and whenever the call has come for either lives or treasure to support the nation's cause, the family has freely given both. Within the last decade two sons of Matthias L. March have worn the United States uniform in active service, one as an officer of the 108th Field Artillery, overseas, the other as a member of the United States Marine Corps.
On the paternal side descent is traced from Isaac March, a descendant of the famous March family of Scotland and England, who are of frequent mention in history and romance, Sir Walter Scott frequently using char- acters of the March clan. The family settled in Chester county, Penn- sylvania.
Isaac F. and Sarah (Levengood) March settled in Douglas town- ship, Berks county, Pennsylvania, and there Matthias L. March, their eldest son was born. They were also the parents of seven other children, all of whom are living: Ellsworth; Irvin, married Anna Knapp; Isaac, married Annie Nagle; Delila, married Harry Koch; Morris, married; Harvey Linton, married Leah Hoffman; and Mary E., married John Haas.
Matthias Levengood March, eldest son of Isaac F. and Sarah (Leven- good) March, was born in Douglas township, Berks county, Pennsyl- vania, July 10, 1862. He attended the public schools of the district and spent his youth at the home farm. He studied bookkeeping and busi- ness methods under a private tutor and soon he was made his father's
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HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
assistant, beginning in the first mill which Isaac F. March owned and operated as one of his several business activities. He had been familiar with the mill from early boyhood and when he began regularly to learn the miller's trade and business he advanced rapidly. At the age of eighteen he was trusted with full charge of the mill during his father's absences.
At about this time the young man, with his father's consent, traveled through Western Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, spending one year at Little River, Kansas, a year of most interesting experiences. Notwithstanding the great slaughter of the buffalo on the plains of Kansas and Nebraska, they were not extinct, and a single skin could yet be bought for as little as five dollars. The cowboy was in his heyday; great herds of long horns were feeding on the ranges, and Indians, in full regalia, were common sights in the border towns. The "round-up" was a regular event, and twice a year the wranglers appeared driving before them droves of wild bronchos destined to find purchasers in the rapidly-filling towns along the new railroad. Land was cheap and plentiful and long strings of covered wagons were continually crossing the prairie on their way to new government homesteads. Mr. March has always regarded his year on the Kansas prairie as one during which he was privileged to see history in the making. He returned to Pennsyl- vania with new ideas and a firmer and more resolute belief in the future of his country.
Upon his return to Pennsylvania Mr. March found his father about to embark in the lumber business and he at once joined him in his new enterprise. The business thus founded was carried on at Monocacy, Pennsylvania, under the name of Isaac F. March, from 1881 to 1883, inclusive. At the end of the year 1883 the business was moved to Birds- boro, and in 1886 was reorganized as I. F. March's Sons and permanently located at Bridgeport, Pennsylvania. During the early years of the busi- ness Matthias L. March's interest was chiefly that of a son anxious to be of assistance to his father, but for his own account he taught school at Monocacy for five years with success and continued as a teacher at Birdsboro for the year succeeding the transfer of the March business to that town. In 1886 he gave up teaching and entered the firm of I. F. Marsh's Sons at Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, and then began his long career as a business man. From the beginning the business of I. F. March's Sons grew steadily and has now reached large proportions, the firm dealing in coal, lumber and building materials, with a large volume of yearly sales. The firm plant at Bridgeport comprises a large lumber and coal yard, a two-story planing mill, and a one-story box factory, with modern equipment and offices. Mr. March is an expert in the selection of the raw materials in which he deals; is a trained lumberman able to appraise timber lands at sight; and is an authority on the Pennsyl- vania lumber industry. His interest in coal is equal to his interest in lumber, and few men in Pennsylvania have a more exact knowledge of this great mineral fuel. An advocate of conservation, he believes the
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public should be instructed in regard to the intelligent use of coal, as, in his opinion, a great deal of anthracite has been wasted by consumers who have used it for purposes for which a lower grade fuel would have served as well.
Isaac F. March held the office of treasurer of Berks county and from him the son inherited a talent for public finance. For twenty-five years he has been president of the Fame Building and Loan Association of Bridgeport, an association that has helped many small investors to become property owners. He is a director of the Montgomery National Bank of Norristown ; the Norristown Trust Company ; Norristown Water Company ; and the Norristown Brick Company. Highly-regarded in the business, social, and commercial circles of Montgomery county, he stands for that which is best in national life, and to his constructive citizen- ship, good fellowship, and indomitable energy, his fellow-townsmen have more than once paid tribute in gratitude and esteem. Mr. March has served as a director of schools for ten years, and for one year, 1887 to 1888, he was burgess of Bridgeport. Mr. March is a member of Charity Lodge, No. 190, Free and Accepted Masons of Norristown, of which he is a past master ; is a companion of Norristown Chapter, No. 190, Royal Arch Masons, of which he is a past high priest; is a Sir Knight and past eminent commander of Hutchinson Commandery, Knights Templar; and a member of Philadelphia Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He is a member of the Philadelphia Lumber- men's Golf Club and the Plymouth Country Club, and seldom misses an opportunity to engage in his favorite sport on the beautiful links of these organizations. He also holds membership in the Norristown Club and in the Ersine Tennis Club.
In religious faith Mr. March is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Trinity at Norristown, of which he was formerly a deacon, now an elder, and for twenty years superintendent of the Sunday school. He is president of the Church Council; a trustee of the Lutheran Thelogi- cal Seminary at Mt. Airy, and of the Orphans' Home at Germantown.
On February 2, 1883, Mr. March married (first) at Amityville, Berks county, Pennsylvania, Sarah J. Ludwig, daughter of Hiram E. and Ellen (Lorah) Ludwig, her father a farmer of Berks county, now deceased; her mother still living. Mrs. March, born in 1861, died September 5, 1888, at the age of twenty-seven years. Like her husband, she was a devoted member of the Lutheran church and was tireless in her efforts to further the activities of the parish. She left two children: I. William A., born January 1, 1884, who is now in business with his father, and is general manager of the March box factory. He has served for many years in the Pennsylvania National Guard, and during the World War period, 1917-18, was commissioned major of the 108th Field Artillery and served overseas with the Twenty-eighth Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. At the present time he is colonel of the Second Regiment of the Pennsylvania National Guard, located at Philadelphia. 2. Ethel Naomi, born March 13, 1885. She married Walter Jamison, and
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resides in Dayton, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Jamison are the parents of five children : Helen, Matthias March, Eleanor, Geraldine and William.
On October 23, 1894, Mr. March married (second) at Norristown, Lila May Kieger, daughter of John and Annie (Vandergrift) Kieger, both deceased, her father a wheelwright at Bridgeport, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. March are the parents of six children : 1. Matthias Russell, born June 30, 1896, who is associated with his father in business and has charge of the March lumber yard. During the war with Germany he enlisted for service in the Marine Corps and was assigned to duty in the United States. The signing of the armistice put an end to hostilities before he received orders to go overseas and he was honorably discharged without having reached the front, to his great disappointment. He married, June 1, 1921, Alice Forrest, daughter of John W. and Elizabeth Ann (Rhoads) Forrest, of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. 2. Anna Leven- good. 3. John Ellsworth. 4. Robert Irving. 5. George Kieger. 6. Eliza- beth May.
J. FRANK BOYER-Among the leading business men of Norris- town, Pennsylvania, is J. Frank Boyer, president of the J. Frank Boyer Plumbing and Heating Company. It is not this organization alone that has brought Mr. Boyer's name into prominence in this county seat of Montgomery, however, for he is and has ever been the effective head of many corporations, and has ever interested himself in whatever promised to advance the welfare and prosperity of Norristown, his home town.
Michael Boyer, father of J. Frank Boyer, was a native of Upper Salford township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred there May 28, 1821. He attended Washington Hall Collegiate Institute at Trappe, and engaged for a time in the occupation of teaching. He was a Democrat in politics and having secured his party's nomination for sheriff of Montgomery in 1852, he was elected to that office, serving for three years. After the expiration of this term, Mr. Boyer remained in Norristown and was for many years one of its active business men and manufacturers. He formed a partnership with William Schall, for making nails, and afterwards became interested in the Norris Iron Works, a successful establishment which employed more than one hun- dred and fifty hands. Mr. Boyer was the inventor of many patentable articles, for more than fifty of which he secured patents, among them being the Boyer Hoof Liniment, a company being formed to make and sell it. Mr. Boyer married Mary Ziegler, and to them were born the following children: Jesse, who died in 1922; Katie, deceased, formerly the wife of Daniel Jacoby, a lawyer of Norristown; Wallace, deceased ; Horace G., who is identified with a trust company of Philadelphia; H. Wilson, a mason contractor of Norristown ; Michael, deceased ; Howard C., deceased ; Harry Z., who died in 1920; Mary L., deceased ; J. Frank, of further mention ; and Charles, deceased. Michael Boyer died October 10, 1891, and his wife passed away April 1, 1910.
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