USA > Pennsylvania > Portraits of the heads of state departments and portraits and sketches of members of the legislature of Pennsylvania, 1893-1894 > Part 8
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80
House of Representatives.
W ILLIAM M. KIDD has been one of the fixtures of the Philadel- phia delegation in the House since 1885. He is a native Quaker Cityite, his birth dating back to March 27, 1839. Since 1885 he has continuously repre- sented the Fourteenth ward, his nomi- nations coming to him without fiction or factional dispute. Standing thus in high esteem with the voters of his dis- triet while other candidates of the reg- ular Republican organization have gone down with the angry tidal waves of re- form that have swept periodically over the city during his active identification with a political career, he has stood like a rock on a storm-beaten coast. Mr. Kidd is an excellent product of the public school system of Pennsylvania, being a graduate of the Hancock Gram- mar School of Philadelphia. For many years he was an active member of the volunteer fire department of the city and enjoyed in it a popularity that has lasted him unto this day. He is now one of the leading spirits of the Survivor's Association of the old department. Since the organization of the latter he has participated as an officer in all the parades and its excursions to other cities. For some time he was attached to the Philadelphia custom house. At the session of the Legislature of 1889 he was chairman of the Committee on Centennial Affairs of the House, and it was largely through his executive ability and his mastery of details that made the trip of the Legislature to the Constitutional Centennial in New York city the great success that it was. Mr. Kidd is engaged in the business of photography and has a flourishing estab- lishment at Atlantic City. He is admired and beloved for the social side of his nature, being a boon companion, straightforward, rigid in his honesty and un- flinching in his friendship. To his friends he is known as "Captain " Kidd, a title that he wears with modesty and equipoise.
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81
House of Representatives.
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W ALTON PENNEWILL, who is serving his first term in the House of Representatives from the Fifteenth Philadelphia district, comprising the Fifteenth ward, is a native Philadel- phian, where he was born February 15, 1861. He narrowly escaped being one of the Blue Hen's Chickens, his parents having removed from Delaware to Phil- adelphia at the close of the year 1860. His ancesters had resided in Delaware from the time of its early settlement, and participated in both the wars of the Revolution and of 1812. Mr. Penne- will acquired his education in the schools of his native city, completing the entire course in the public schools, and graduating from the Central High School in 1878. He then entered the LEVI University of Pennsylvania, of which institution he was a graduate of the class of 1881. For an additional year he pursued the study of law, and was ad- mitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1882. He has not heretofore held any public position, but since his admission to practice he has been actively engaged in the duties of his profession. Recently he has succeeded in securing a verdict of $25,000 against the Frankford and Southwark Railway Company ; the largest ver- diet ever recorded in an accident case in the courts of Philadelphia county.
In the present session Mr. Pennewill has made his impress on legislation in the medical examiners' bill. It was not until this session that it has seemed possible to have any such measure which would not have the opposition of one or more of the schools of medicine. Mr. Pennewill had charge of the bill proposed by the Homeopathic Medical Society of Pennsylvania, the principal point of which was the idea of three boards, one each for the allopathic, homeopathic and eclectic schools. In the compromise which followed the offering of three differ- ent bills on this subject, Mr. Pennewill took an active part and secured the adoption of the "three boards" idea in the bill, which has met the approval of all the disagreeing bodies of doctors. He has also been very active in support of the bill to abolish the Public Building Commission, making an effective speech in favor of the measure when it was before the House on second reading. For a new member Mr. Pennewill has been given especially good assignments on com- mittees, having been appointed on the Judiciary General, Vice and Immorality, Labor and Industry, Judicial Apportionment and Constitutional Reform .;
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82
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House of Representatives.
J' TOHN B. DEVELIN, one of the mem- bers from the Fifteenth district. Philadelphia, was-born in Mountville, Lancaster county, March 15, 1845. He attended the public schools at West Hempfield six months a year, and when he was old enough he spent the other six months of the year in his father's store until he left school, after which he devoted all his time to his clerical duties until 1868. In that year he went to Lancaster and entered the newspaper business, acting as clerk and business manager of the Lancaster Inquirer until 1875. In the following year he engaged with the Carriage Monthly, the organ of the wagon build- ers and carriage manufacturers, which was published in Philadelphia, taking up his residence in the Quaker City to be near his new occupation, and for several years he acted as business manager of this journal until he went into the paper business with the late J. G. Ditman. When the business was transferred to A. G. Elliot & Co., Mr. DeVelin continued with the new firm until his election to the Legislature in November, 1892. This is Mr. DeVelin's first term as a mem- ber of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He has never held public office before, but in his short term as a servant of the people he has given evidence of a thorough acquaintance with public matters. He is quick at grasping the subject under discussion, and unhesitatingly enters a debate and supports his position with clear and concise arguments which commands the attention of his fellow members whether favorable or opposed to the views he advances. He is a member of the Committee on City Passenger Railways, Committee on Printing, Committee on Legislative Apportionment, Committee on Federal Relations and Committee on Manufactures. Mr. DeVelin has introduced a number of bills during the session, the most important being the bill for the removal of the Eastern Penitentiary, which is located in his district, and a bill to reduce the rates for telephone service. The latter was introduced at the instance of the Trade League of Philadelphia, but was defeated in the Senate. Mr. DeVelin is a prominent member of the Order of American Mechanics, being a Past Counsellor, and held the position of Deputy State Counsellor for several years. He is also a Past Grand Master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
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83
House of Representatives.
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W TILLIAM FRANCIS STEWART, the senior member of the Philadel- phia delegation, is a native of Williams- port, Lycoming county, having been born in that city August 5, 1843. His parents lived on a farm and, when Wil- .liam was three years of age, were killed by a stroke of lightning while engaged in family prayer on Sabbath evening at their home near Williamsport. Their remains lie in the old Newberry cem- etery, Lycoming county. Mr. Stewart was educated in the public schools of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Montgom- ery county. He was formerly engaged in the dyeing and scouring business but for the past thirty-seven years he has been holding a responsible position in the cirenlating department of the Public Ledger, Philadelphia. He has seen the Ledger grow from a small four-page newspaper to one of the largest and most readable journals in the world. In these many years he has been an earnest worker for the success of the Ledger and has contributed in no small degree to the wonderful success it has attained. Mr. Stewart has been a member of the House of Representatives continuously since 1881, proof of the confidence and high esteem with which he is held by the elec- tors of the Sixteenth district, which he has represented these many years. He is one of the most active and intelligent members of the House, is chairman of the Committee on Banks and a member of the Committees on Ways and Means, Ap- propriations, Mines and Mining, Fish and Game and Retrenchment and Reform. Many of the most important bills now on the calendar were introduced by Mr. Stewart. Among them are the following : Empowering councils in the cities of the first class to revise and establish the line for wharfs and piers and low water or bulkheads line on the Delaware river ; authorizing corporations to grant pen- sions to employés for faithful and long-continued service ; making appropriations for university extension, House of Refuge, Penn Asylum for Widows, for base of monument of William Penn ; to provide for the better security of life and limb in case of fire in hotels and other buildings ; to exempt building associations from taxation ; to prevent exemption from levy and sale when the claims are for wages for labor done ; for the removal of the island in the Delaware river opposite Philadelphia and appropriating $200,000 therefor ; for the better protection of the electors of the commonwealth ; for the better protection of insane persons confined in private asylums ; defining the rights of landlord and tenant in relation to the erection of fire-escapes. Mr. Stewart was a soldier during the late war, serving in company K, Twentieth Pennsylvania volunteers and company K, Two hundred and Thirteenth Pennsylvania volunteers. He was promoted to lance sergeant for good conduct at Monocacy Junction, Md., April, 1865.
81
House of Representatives.
E LIAS ABRAMS, of the Sixteenth ward of Philadelphia, is serving his second term as a member of the House. During these sessions Mr. Abrams, by reason of the alphabetical construction of his name, has led the roll-call and thereby . has led his party in that respect. Com- manding that position in the Legisla- ture, Mr. Abrams has enjoyed the most confidential relations with his party, the House watching for the cue given by his vote. The occupation of Mr. Abrams' father was that of a carpenter. When a youth Representative Abrams was ap- prenticed to a coachmaker. He mas- tered this trade but drifted into poli- tics. He was appointed to a position in the mint under the administration of President Garfield. He was subse- quently appointed general superintend- ent of the third sub-bureau of water of the municipality of Philadelphia. Mr. Arbams bears the distinction of repre- senting a strong Democratic ward, which attests his popularity and his influence. He was born on November 4, 1852. He is a graduate of the public school system of his native city. His father was an active and influential Whig in the old dis- trict of Kensington. Mr. Abrams represents the Sixteenth and Eighteenth wards. On both occasions when he ran for the House he led his ticket. At the session of 1893 lie served on the following committees : Insurance, Centennial Affairs, Cor- porations and others.
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85
House of Representatives.
JOHN H. FOW, the. popular and ver- satile Representative from the Seven- teenth district, Philadelphia, was born in that city June 23, 1851. He is a great-grandson of Matthew Fow, who served in Captain Harmar's company of Colonel De Haas' regiment, the first Pennsylvania battalion raised by order of Congress in Philadelphia, October 12, 1775. His mother's grandfather, Lewis Gerringer, was a soldier in the German battalion of Pennsylvania line, and his great uncle, ex-Judge Tyson, was a judge and a representative in Congress from New York. Mr. Fow's mother is still living at the advanced age of eighty-one years. His aunt, the celebrated Catherine Sharp, whose death occurred recently in Philadel- phia, lived to be one hundred and fifteen years old. Mr. Fow is a graduate from the law office of ex-Judge F. Carroll Brewster, and has been practicing at the Philadelphia bar since May 4, 1878. He has twice represented the Seventeenth ward in councils. He was chairman of the sub-committee of the bi-centennial celebration of the settlement of the State, and was likewise a member of the committee having in charge the celebration of the constitution in 1887. Mr. Fow was the first president of the State Democratic League. and was vice-president for the years 1888, 1889 and 1890. During the years 1882 and 1883 he was a member of the State Democratic Committee. He is one of the Democratic leaders in Penn- sylvania.' Mr. Fow has been correspondent of the Philadelphia Evening Star since 1888. He is a bright and entertaining writer. He wrote the pamphlet for Presi- dent Cleveland upon the right of the President to remove Federal officials, for which Mr. Cleveland sent him a personal letter of thanks. Mr. Fow made his initial appearance as a member of the House in 1889, and has since been con- tinuously re-elected. He is famous for his quaint speeches, humorous quips and energetic manner in which he advocates all measures enlisting his attention and support. He is a clear and decisive debater, and his powerful arguments bear the undeniable impress of earnest conviction. He labors untiringly in behalf of Philadelphia. In the Seventeenth ward, Philadelphia, where Mr. Fow resides, no man is a greater favorite. He is a man to bitterly oppose crooked tran- sactions whether attempted in the chamber of councils or the halls of the Legis- lature. As a lawyer and legislator he has met with marked success. He is a member of the most important committees of the House and also of the executive committee of the Democratic caucus.
.86
House of Representatives.
JOHN ANDREW JACKSON ENNIS, of the Thirty-first ward, Philadel- phia, was born January 20, 1843, in that section of Philadelphia known be- fore consolidation as the district of Spring Garden. He comes from a dis- tinguished family. His great-grand- father, Richard Ennis, was a soldier in the Continental army, was born in Vir- ginia and participated in several battles of the Revolution. His mother's family were born in the Spring Garden district and his father's people came from Bucks county, Pa. Mr. Ennis secured his education in the public schools of his native city. He passed through the Binney primary school on Tentli street, below Giriard avenue, the secondary at Eleventh and Thompson, the grammar at Eightlı and Thompson, and in 1856 was transferred to the Randolphi Street school, which he left in 1857 to begin the battle of life. He was apprenticed to the trade of a ship carpenter in the famous ship-building yards of Kensington. Although but a youth when the war of the rebellion broke out, Mr. Ennis' patri- otic nature was stirred in defense of the Union and when but eighteen years of age he enlisted, September 15, 1861, in company F, Ninety-first Pennsylvania volun- teers. The hardships of the service were too great for his nature and he was dis- charged from the service on January 12, 1862, for disability. He resumed his occupation in the ship yards. For twelve years past he has been foreman of the ship-fastening department for Charles Hillman & Co., ship-builders of Philadel- phiia. Mr. Ennis has been identified with the Republican party since he has had a vote and has taken an active interest in its affairs. He has been a member of his ward executive committee and for five years its vice president, and repeatedly has been a delegate to its city and district conventions. In 1888 he was elected a member of the Legislature and has twice been re-elected. He possesses the confi- dence of the leaders of his district in a marked degree and has always been a pop- ular member of the Philadelphia delegation.
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87
House of Representatives.
JAMES CLARENCY, one of the three
Representatives of the Eighteenth district, Philadelphia, was born at Alle- gheny, Pa., April 1,1849. His father was a small farmer and died March 10, 1856, when James was seven years old. The same year the family removed to Phila- delphia where they have since resided. Mr. Clarency attended the old Harrison Grammar school, on Master street, above Second, in 1858 and 1859. Day schooling ceased in the latter year. During the years 1868, 1869 and 1870 he attended night school at the same building. He also attended the even- ing Icctures at the Wagner Free Insti- tute of Science during the winters of 1874 and 1875. He served in the Phila- delphia fire department from January, 1872, to September, 1874, when he re- signed to accept a commercial position. In October, 1879, he entered the house of John Wanamaker and has been em- ployed there continuously ever since. When a young man he identified himself with building association interests and is at present secretary of four building and loan associations in Philadelphia, the president of another and a director of three others. For a number of years he has written a weekly letter on this ques- tion for the Philadelphia Evening Star. He was elected a member of the Legisla- ture in 1892 and is a member of the Committees on City Passenger Railways, In- surance, Banks, Accounts, Legislative Apportionment and Retrenchment and Re- form. A number of important bills on the calendar were introduced by Mr. Clar- · ency. Among them are the following : Empowering citics and boroughs to ap- propriate money for the payment of firemen in service and of firemen not in ser- vice disabled in the performance of their duties ; a supplement to the insurance laws of the state requiring the insurance companies or associations not incorpo- rated under the laws of the state to pay to the firemen's relief associations organ- ized in the cities, boroughs and townships, an annual bonus on premiums on the insurance effected within the limits of such cities, boroughs and townships and regulating the collection thereof ; to protect the holders of mortgages which are not first liens against real estate and to preserve the heir thereof in default of notice of any sheriff's rule on a writ of execution issued upon a judgment obtained in a suit in a prior judgment or mortgage or unlevied on bond or warrant accompany- ing a prior mortgage ; appropriating $10,000 to the several Day Nurseries in Phil- adelphia ; appropriating $25,000 to the Kensington Hospital for Women. All of these, except that relative to the holder of mortgages, etc., were passed. Of these . measures the first two deserve special mention and have endeared Mr. Clarency to the firemen of the state. During his service in the Philadelphia fire department, having taken his share of the risks incidental to such an occupation, he became impressed with the extraordinary dangers to life and limb which are encountered by men following this class of work, and accordingly he is found at the first ses- sion d which he is a member, introducing and advocating hills for the relief of his old comrades and their successors in the fire service.
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88
House of Representatives.
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ALFRED H. RAVEN, of the Eight- eenth district of Philadelphia, which embraces the celebrated manu- facturing wards of that city, the Nine- teenth and Thirty-first, and which are conceded to represent the greatest tex- tile industrial center of the world, was born in the far-famed district of South- wark in that city, a section which has given to Philadelphia so many men of prominence and fame in every walk in life, on the 27th day of November, 1850. At that time the district of Southwark was one of the several districts of the city having an independent govern- ment, and which continued until the act of consolidation was passed by the Legislature in 1854. Mr. Raven ob- tained a common school education in the public schools of his native city, and was subsequently apprenticed to
the trade of shoemaking which he followed with success. He became a resident of the Nineteenth ward while still a young man, and entered politics there as a division worker. His services brought him to the notice of the party leaders, who had him appointed, in 1887, to the position of meter inspector in the gas depart- ment. His usefulness to his party caused him to be selected, in 1892, from a large field of aspirants, as a candidate for the Legislature, and he polled a flattering vote. Mr. Raven was appointed by Speaker Thompson on the Committees of Elections, Public Buildings and Labor and Industry.
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89
House of Representatives.
W TILLIAM H. KEYSER, Represen- tative of the Nineteenth Phila- delphia district, was born in the dis- trict of Spring Garden, Philadelphia, on May 19, 1855. His father, Andrew J. Keyser, was a joiner and worked at his trade in the Philadelphia Navy Yard from 1860 until shortly after President Cleveland's first inaugura- tion ; he was removed from the posi- tion of master joiner of the yard at League Island. James Smallman, who built the engine for Robert Fulton's first steamboat, was an ancestor of the Representative. Young Keyser was a pupil of the Wyoming Grammar school. After nine years attendance in the pub- lic schools he struck out, when less than fifteen years old, to earn his own living. Hs was employed from 1870 to 1879 in Leary's Old Book Store, Philadelphia, where among his fellow sales-clerks was Edwin S. Stuart, now mayor of that city and proprietor of that store. Mr. Keyser next established at Tenth and Arch streets the widely-known firm of William H. Keyser & Co., wholesale dealers in school books, whose store is now at No. 938 Market street. He was elected to the House of Representatives in November, 1884, and has served there with marked ability ever since. He was chosen a member of the State Committee in 1888 and in subsequent years. He was secretary of the city convention that nominated Magistrate Develin, and has long been a leader in the politics of the Twentieth ward, his residence having been continuously in the Twenty-ninth division. In the State Convention that nominated Henry K. Boyer for State Treasurer, and also in the convention that nominated John W. Morrison for State Treasurer and General D. McM. Gregg for Auditor General, and the State Convention which named Judge John Dean for the Supreme Bench and General William Lilly and Alexander McDowell for Congressmen-at-large, Mr. Keyser was a hard-working delegate. He was chairman of the committee appointed by the State Convention of 1891 to elect delegates-at-large for the proposed constitutional convention. Mr. Keyser's first effort to be a Representative, in 1882, was made unsuccessful by the movement that elected Robert E. Pattison Governor. Mr. Keyser and Samuel A. Boyle, now assistant district attorney, being defeated for the House by Messrs. Hall and Abbett. In the legislative session of 1887 Mr. Keyser was distinguished as chairman of the Insurance Committee, and engineered the bill that gave Phila- delphia an additional orphans' court judge (Ferguson). He is and has been for three terms chairman of the Committee on Passenger Railways. In 1889 he suc- cessively piloted among, other bills, those giving wheelmen right of way, and enabling foreign steamboat and transportation companies to hold real estate ; also the bill known as the general street passenger railway act, to remedy defective and narrowly-drafted laws. The sheriff's fee bill, defeated in 1883 and 1885, was, through Mr. Keyser's energy and influence, made a law in 1887. A special tribute to his sagacity and trustworthiness was paid in 1885 when he was the only mem- ber of the Judiciary General Committee who was not a lawyer. Other com- mittees of which he is now a member are the Ways and Means, Insurance, Edu- cation and Geological Surveys. His characteristics are bed-rock common sense, tireless industry and vigilance and fidelity to his friends.
90
House of Representatives.
J JOHN H. RIEBEL, one of the two Representatives from the Twentieth ward, Philadelphia, was born in the old district of Northern Liberties on tlie 7th day of January, 1845. He was edu- cated in the common schools and then went to a trade. Two months after the Confederate guns had shelled Fort Sumpter, inaugurating the war of the Rebellion, Mr. Riebel hastened to the defence of the Union. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on the 3d of June, 1861, and served throughout the entire war. After his enlistment he was attached to the sloop of war St. Louis, of the North Atlantic Squadron, which was detailed for duty at foreign stations in the blockade service at the beginning of the strife. He subse- quently saw service on the southern coast and in 1864 participated in the re- occupation of the rebel Fort Sumpter and the raising of the stars and stripes over that stronghold. He was honorably discharged on December 12, 1865. Returning to the pathis of peace, Mr. Riebel embarked in the cigar manufacturing business, which he has followed since. He has been an active Republican and a loyal lieu- tenant of David H. Lane, the well-known state and city leader. He has been a member of the ward executive committee for many years and has constantly been elected a delegate to his party convention. It was the unwritten law of his dis- trict, prior to his election to the Legislature, that two terms should constitute a legislative career, but the subject of this sketch has now broken the law twice, having been a member since 1887, which included four sessions. Mr. Riebel is esteemed for his rare social qualities and his obliging disposition, two qualifica- tions required for success in politics. He is a member of the Masonic order, also of the Senior Order of American Mechanics, the Knights of Pythias and the Junior American Mechanics and Ancient Order of United Workmen. He also holds membership in the E. D. Baker Post No. 8, G. A. R., Union Veteran Legion No. 20, the Fidelity Club, the Union Republican Club and the Republican Club of the Twentieth ward.
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