USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume III > Part 8
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ISRAEL W. DURHAM.
Durham. While others are indulging in extensive and voluminous vocabulary, he labors hard and faithfully for his friends and the party of his fealty. His field of endeavor is wide and ever on the increase, his popularity being almost boundless in his immediate community. As already stated, he holds a high reputation for veracity and upright- ness, and in fair political battles he is admirably looked upon as being worthy of any foeman's steel. Mr. Durham's future contains a wealth of bright promise. In short, Israel W. Durham is a man of wonderful activity, and the constituency which he so well represents, as well as the people of the Commonwealth at large, are fortunate in having so great and energetic a force operating for their best interests.
HENRY EDWIN DWIGHT.
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EW citizens of Philadelphia have gathered about them more devoted friends or won greater honor, respect and emulation than Henry Edwin Dwight, M.A., M.D., D.D., of Philadelphia. Properly fitted through ancestry and training, and possessed of many admirable personal traits, he fills an exalted place in his chosen profession. He started early in life as a teacher and at the age of nineteen was hold- ing the responsible position of Professor of Latin and Greek in the Gymnasium of Brooklyn. After a thorough theological training at Andover, he filled the pulpit of one of the most prominent churches in Eastern Massachusetts. During the Civil War he served his country as its secret diplomatic agent to Germany for the sale of forty- five million United States bonds, thus furnishing a large share of the financial sinews of war for his battling countrymen. Returning to America after ten years, he taught anatomy and physiology in some of the greatest medical institutions of Philadelphia, following which his life has been one of the widest activity in the medical affairs of Pennsylvania's leading city.
HENRY EDWIN DWIGHT is the eldest son of Rev. Dr. William T. Dwight, who graduated from Yale College in 1813, and for the ten years between 1820 and 1830 was one of Philadelphia's most distin- guished lawyers. He is the grandson of ex-President Dwight, Senior, of Yale College, and the great-grandson of President Edwards, of Princeton. Entering the Congregational Church, Dr. William T. Dwight became one of the best-known pulpit orators in New England for over a third of a century. After the son's graduation from Yale in 1852, in a class of ninety-two, with college honors, he was appointed Professor of Latin and Greek in the Brooklyn, New York, Gymnasium,
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now known as the Polytechnic Institute, after being successful in a competitive examination over seventy other applicants. In 1855 he entered Andover Theological Seminary, and after a three years' course of study was licensed by the Andover Association. During the years 1857 and 1858 he preached with great success at Lowell, Cambridge, Medford, South Boston, Cincinnati and Lenox, Massachu- setts, and did much in establishing and strengthening three churches, being called as Pastor to Lowell, Cambridge, Cincinnati and Lenox. He finally accepted a call to the pastorate of the historic First Con- gregational Church at Randolph, Massachusetts, where his energetic efforts were successful in erecting one of the finest church edifices in the neighborhood of Boston.
His ardent nature, however, had led him into too energetic efforts, and, his health having been impaired by overwork, he was forced to take a vacation among the mountains of Switzerland. His strength recruited, he entered the Universities of Halle and Berlin, in Germany, later becoming a member of the University of Paris, from each of which institutions he was the recipient of the highest testi- monials to his scholarship and worth. Upon his return to America the ablest physicians advised that he should undertake a more active profession. Medicine was accordingly selected by Doctor Dwight as the field in which he could be of the greatest service to his fellow- man, and he entered the University of Pennsylvania for a study of the healing art, graduating in 1867 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. After a competitive examination for the position, he was selected over thirty other applicants as Physician to the Philadelphia Hospital, the oldest and largest institution of its kind in the city. Here he had such co-workers as the elder Gross, Pancoast, D. Hayes Agnew and A. Stillé. With this institution he remained as Interne and Externe for ten years.
As a scholar he has been crowned with the highest honors and testimonials of Yale, Andover, Pennsylvania, Washington and Lee, in America, as well as Berlin, Halle and Paris, in Europe. Yale College conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Andover that of Bachelor of Divinity ; he was made a member, cum laude, of the Uni- versity of Paris ; Doctor of Medicine came to him from the University
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of Pennsylvania ; and Doctor of Divinity from the Washington and Lee University. Although forced by ill-health to lay aside the active duties of the pastorate, Doctor Dwight has, for thirty years, rendered the most useful services in the cause of Evangelical Christianity by establishing and upbuilding churches, more than twenty-five of which owe their inception and nurturing to him, having first been organized as Sabbath-Schools, then established as churches by the Home Mis- sionary Society of Philadelphia, of which he has been an honored member since 1863.
Doctor Dwight has been very active in literary circles. A volume compiled and edited by him, describing the methods pursued by the Home Missionary Society of Philadelphia, took a prize of one thousand dollars. Among other productions from his pen are the "Life and Writings of Vincent L. Bradford, LL.D., D.C.L.," an eminent lawyer, legislator and railroad president, which draws with it an annuity of $1,200 a year; also the "Life and Character of Edward Gillian Booth," of Virginia, an eminent lawyer and philanthropist. For this work he received $2,000 as a reward. Besides these, he has been the author of many other articles, discourses, lectures and addresses in magazines, encyclopædias and standard works.
Georgest carles!)
GEORGE H. EARLE, Jr.
UALIFIED by a thorough training at the foremost educational institutions of the country and by a suc- cessful career as a member of the Bar, George H. Earle, Jr., on his entrance into financial circles, proved abundantly able to assume the highest posi- tions in the various organizations which were fortunate enough to secure his services. To-day he occupies, with honor, a foremost place in the monetary world.
GEORGE H. EARLE, JR., was born in the city of Philadelphia on the 6th day of July, 1856. He comes from one of the oldest and most distinguished families in the New World. His father was George H. Earle, the descendant of several of those hardy pioneers, who braved the dangers of the deep on the historic " Mayflower " and found homes in the Western World. His mother was Ellen Frances Van Leer, some of whose ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Pennsylvania, having been among the passengers on the famous ship "Welcome," with William Penn himself. She numbered also among her progeni- tors several Provincial Councillors and officers in the Revolutionary War. The genealogical tree of the subject of this biography shows that he is related to Henry Dunster, who was the first President of Harvard College; Benjamin Franklin, the philosopher and diplomat; General Anthony Wayne; two of the nation's most famous Presidents, John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams ; Daniel Webster, Gen. Israel Putnam, James Otis, Capt. Samuel Van Leer, of the Revolu- tion, and many others whose names figure conspicuously in the early annals of the American Republic. His grandfather, Thomas Earle, was the first candidate for the Vice-Presidency of the Republican
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party, then called the Liberty party, its nominees, in 1840, being for President, James G. Birney ; for Vice-President, Thomas Earle.
After careful preparation under excellent private tutors, George H. Earle, Jr., entered Harvard University as a member of the class of 1879. Upon his departure from this institution, following the examples of his father and grandfather, Thomas Earle, he adopted the profes- sion of law and, accordingly, took up its study preparatory to his admission to the practice of his profession. He became a member of the law firm of Earle & White, with which he remained connected for about twelve years. During the time in which he actively practiced his profession, he acquired and still retains the respect and admiration of his associates, not alone for his high personal character, but for his deep knowledge of the governing principles of common and statu- tory law. The records of the Supreme Court show that he won an extremely high percentage of the cases in which he there appeared as counsel, although naturally in this, the highest legal tribunal of the State, he was pitted against some of the most astute legal lights of the Pennsylvania Bar.
During his connection with the firm of Earle & White, Mr. Earle was elected to the Presidency of the Pennsylvania Warehousing and Safe Deposit Company, and also to the responsible post of Vice-Presi- dent of the Guarantee Trust and Safe Deposit Company. The mani- fold duties of these positions soon required Mr. Earle's undivided time and attention, and compelled him to withdraw from the firm of which he was a member, and to retire from the active practice of his chosen profession. His eminent abilities as a financier later led to his election to the Presidency of the Finance Company of Pennsylvania and of the Tradesmens National Bank, and, upon his elevation to these positions, he resigned his post as Vice-President of the Guarantee Trust Company. As an evidence of the shrewdness and foresight he has exhibited in financial affairs, and of his skillful management of the institutions with which he has been connected, it may be stated that, at the time he took upon himself the cares of their management, each of these three companies was under considerable financial stress. Under his guiding hand, and, doubtless, largely as the result of his able efforts, they to-day rank among the best and strongest institutions in
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Philadelphia in their respective lines. Among other successful financial achievements, he was Chairman of the Committee that so successfully reorganized and completed the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad, and a member of the Committee which finally reorganized the Phila- delphia and Reading Railway, the formation of this Committee, known as "The Olcott-Earle" Committee, having been at his suggestion. No undertaking of his, to this time, has failed of entire success.
Although Mr. Earle has taken a deep interest in political affairs and in all that concerned the proper government of the municipality, State and Nation, he has never consented to accept a political office or any governmental position within the gift of his fellow-citizens. He has, however, taken an active part in such reform movements as have had for their object the improvement of the conditions govern- ing the administration of the municipality's affairs, notably as one of the Committee of One Hundred, which, as is well known, was a non- partisan effort in aid of good government. During the Presidential campaign of 1896, Mr. Earle made several addresses to large audi- ences in support of the cause of sound money, proving himself here, as at the Bar, an effective and persuasive public speaker of a rare logical type. He is well known as one of the best informed numis- matists in Philadelphia, and, as becomes a country gentleman, takes an intelligent and active interest in perfecting the breed of horses in his section of the State, having been the winner of many prizes at the annual fairs held at Devon. He is a member of the Mayflower Society and of the Sons of the Revolution, to membership in both of which organizations his distinguished ancestry entitles him. In January, 1898, Mr. Earle was appointed Receiver for the Chestnut Street National Bank, and, with Richard Y. Cook, assignee of the Chestnut Street Trust and Saving Fund Company. In these capacities he exercised a careful supervision of many of the late William M. Singerly's financial obligations, and has become a member of the Board of the Record Publishing Company and is active in its manage- ment. As an illustration of his capacity for work, Mr. Earle is at the present moment actively performing the duties of President of the Finance Company of Pennsylvania ; of the Tradesmens National Bank ; of the Pennsylvania Warehousing and Safe Deposit Company ;
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GEORGE H. EARLE, JR.
is Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Choctaw Railroad Com- pany ; a Director of the Equitable Trust Company, every one of them great and powerful institutions. He is also Assignee of the Chestnut Street Trust and Safe Deposit Company, Receiver of the Chestnut Street National Bank, is a Managing Director of the Record Publish- ing Company, to which he gives much attention, a member of the Board of Brokers, and owns one of the largest stock farms in Penn- sylvania, in addition to attending to his private interests, which are large.
In 1881 he married Katherine Hansell, who was the daughter of the late Clayton French and Catharine Ann Hansell. They have six children, and reside during the winter at their delightful home at Devon, Pennsylvania, and in the summer at their country seat, " Broad-Acres," near the Radnor Hunt.
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E. B. EDWARDS.
O the gallant men who braved the dangers of the then almost unknown waters and came to the New World to build a powerful State in an almost impregnable wilderness, and to their no less enterprising descend- ants, Philadelphia owes the proud position it now occupies as one of the foremost cities of the Union. The same indom- itable spirit of enterprise and endeavor that prompted these hardy pioneers to brave the dangers which beset them, is still the guiding spirit which inspires the present generation to lose no opportunity to better the condition of their city and State, and to develop their mar- velous resources. In promoting the prosperity of Philadelphia, few men have been more conspicuous than E. B. Edwards, the subject of this biography.
E. B. EDWARDS was born on the 10th day of April, 1822, in Phila- delphia, his parents being Edward Edwards and Agnes Craft. His genealogy runs into an old American family of Welsh origin, his great- grandfather, a Welshman, having been one of those thrifty settlers who were the first to seek freedom beyond the seas. He came to this State with the famous expedition of William Penn and was foremost among the pioneers. Mr. Edwards' education was gained in the excel- lent private schools of his native city, the public school system having not yet been established. He was next sent to the Park Boarding School, where his application to study was so earnest that he was soon able to enter Haverford College, then, as now, a widely-known educa- tional institution. In 1841 he began his career in the commercial world, starting in the flour and grain business, which he pursued for fifteen years, during which time he acquired a thriving trade and laid a good foundation for the ample fortune which he now enjoys. He
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abandoned the sale of flour and grain, however, and engaged in the lumber business, which continued to demand the greater part of his attention until 1872. During the more than a quarter of a century in which Mr. Edwards was actively engaged in commercial pursuits, he achieved a notable reputation for business sagacity, honesty and fair dealing, and, devoting considerable of his attention to outside financial and railroad enterprises, soon became as widely known in corporation as in commercial circles. He was one of the first to appreciate the possibilities of the street railways, and, on January 3, 1859, he was elected Treasurer of the Girard College Railway Company. By 1860 his abilities had become so conspicuous that he was elected President of the railway company and continued in that office until September I, 1892, uninterruptedly. On March 8, 1872, the Girard College Railway Company became consolidated with the Ridge Avenue and Manayunk Passenger Railway Company, under the name of the Ridge Avenue Passenger Railway Company. Mr. Edwards was elected President of the companies consolidated. After almost forty years of continuous service he still remains at its head. Besides this conspicuous position, Mr. Edwards has extensive interests in a number of other street rail- ways of the city, and has frequently been honored with the highest offices within the gift of the stockholders of the lines with which he has at various times been connected. While the President of the North- western Bank was enjoying a tour through Europe, Mr. Edwards was called upon to occupy his place, which he did with signal success. In 1862 Mr. Edwards was elected Treasurer of the Baltimore City Pas- senger Railway Company, in consequence of a defalcation of the Treasurer, and straightened out the difficulty. In the course of a few years he resigned the position and handed over the office to his suc- cessor, who was elected by the Board.
On the 21st of October, 1841, about the time of his entrance into commercial circles, Mr. Edwards was married to Lydia Ford, a daughter of a prominent New Jersey family. He has had three sons and one daughter, all of whom, except one son, are living and married. One son is now making a career for himself among the mountain peaks of Colorado, and is well known among the enterprising citizens and successful men of that rapidly developing State.
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E. B. EDWARDS.
Mr. Edwards is a typical gentleman of the old school. Business cares have weighed lightly upon him and years have not diminished his brightness of eye, his appreciation of merriment, or his spirit of energy. Despite the fact that he is a great-grandfather, he is as jovial as a college boy, and there is a halo of hearty good cheer always within the circle of his presence. He has long been an active member of the Union League, one of Philadelphia's most prominent social organiza- tions, to which he was elected August 9, 1863. He has been, since his youth, a staunch supporter of the principles of Republicanism, and a firm believer in the greatness of his native land and the brilliant future of the city of his birth. Ever jovial and merry, he is referred to by his friends as the man "seventy-five years young," and a more courtly, genial gentleman does not live. In January, 1889, Mr. Edwards was elected President of the Board of Presidents of Passenger Railways of Philadelphia and continues to occupy that position.
WILLIAM HENRY EGLE.
ILLIAM HENRY EGLE is a native of Harrisburg, W Pennsylvania. His ancestors settled in Pennsylvania prior to 1740, coming, on the one side, from Switzer- land, and, on the other, from the Palatinate, Germany. A great-grandfather served as an officer in the French and Indian wars. His paternal grandfather and great-grandfather served in the War of the Revolution, while his maternal grandfather served in the War of 1812-14. His parents were John Egle and Elizabeth von Treupel, both natives of Pennsylvania. The father dying when the son was four years of age, the latter made his home with his paternal grandmother. He was educated in the public and private schools of Harrisburg and at the Harrisburg Military Institute, under the famous Capt. Alden Partridge. In 1848 he was tendered the appointment of Midshipman in the United States Navy, but declined the honor. He spent three years in the office of The Pennsylvania Telegraph, during most of which time he was foreman of the establish- ment, subsequently having charge of the State printing. In 1853 he undertook the editorship of the Literary Companion, as well as the Daily News, the latter afterwards being merged into one of the news- paper ventures of Harrisburg. In 1854 and the following year he was an Assistant Teacher in the Boys' School and part of the time Mailing Clerk in the Post Office, which latter position he held until the fall of 1857, when he resigned to enter the Medical Department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, graduating in March, 1859. The same year he established himself in Harrisburg, and was practicing there, when, in 1862, he went to Washington to assist in the care of the wounded. In September he was commissioned Assistant Surgeon of the Ninety-
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William Henry Egle .
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WILLIAM HENRY EGLE.
sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and arrived at his post on the eve of the battle of Antietam.
In the summer of 1863, during the Gettysburg campaign, Doctor Egle was appointed Surgeon of the Forty-seventh Regiment, Pennsyl- vania Volunteers. At the close of service with the latter command, he resumed his profession, but, in August, 1864, accepted the appoint- ment of Surgeon of Volunteers by President Lincoln, and was ordered to Camp Nelson, Kentucky, to examine the colored regiments then being raised in that State. He was subsequently detailed with the battalion under Col. James Brisbin and Col. James F. Wade, in the ill- fated attempt to destroy the salt works in southwestern Virginia. Upon his return he was ordered to the Department of the James, under General Butler, as Surgeon of the Eleventh United States Colored Infantry, subsequently assigned to the Twenty-fourth Army Corps as Executive Medical Officer, Gen. William Birney's Division. He ren- dered other efficient service until the close of the War. In 1867 Doctor Egle was appointed Medical Examiner for Pensions, a position he retained four years. For twenty years he was annually elected Physician in the Dauphin County Prison, which he resigned in March, 1887, when Governor Beaver appointed him State Librarian. Governor Pattison re-appointed him in 1891, and again in March, 1894, when he was con- firmed by the Senate and commissioned by Governor Hastings.
Upon the organization of the National Guard, in 1870, Doctor Egle was appointed Surgeon-in-Chief of the Fifth Division, with rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and subsequently, in the consolidation of the commands, transferred to Surgeon of the Eighth Regiment. As a medical officer he was on duty during the so-called "Sawdust War" of 1871 and the railroad riots of 1877, as well as the Homestead fiasco of 1892. In 1885 Doctor Egle was appointed Surgeon-in-Chief of the Third Brigade, which military position he now holds. He is Senior Medical Officer of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, having passed his twenty-seventh year of service with the Guard. In December, 1865, Doctor Egle commenced the preparation of his "History of Pennsyl- vania," published in 1876, of which 12,000 copies were sold, when a second edition was issued in 1883. Chief among his other histor- ical publications are : "The Historical Register," two volumes (1883-
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1884); "History of the County of Dauphin" (1883); "History of the County of Lebanon " (1883); "Centennial, County of Dauphin and City of Harrisburg" (1886); "Pennsylvania Genealogies, Scotch, Irish and German" (1886, reprint 1896) ; "Harrisburg on the Susquehanna" (1892) ; "Notes and Queries, Historical, Biographical and Genea- logical, Relating to Interior Pennsylvania," first and second series, two volumes (1878-1882), reprint two volumes (1894-1895); third series, two volumes (1887-1891), reprint (1895), three volumes ; fourth series, two volumes (1891-1895); annual volumes, 1896 and 1897. He has also written a large number of biographical sketches for "Appleton's Encyclopædia of Biography," sketches of the members of the Consti- tutional Convention of 1776, and of the delegates to the Pennsylvania Convention to Ratify the Constitution of the United States, published in the "Pennsylvania Magazine of History." Doctor Egle was co-editor of the " Pennsylvania Archives," second series, and editor of the third series.
Lafayette College, in 1878, conferred upon Doctor Egle the hon- orary degree of Master of Arts. He has also been honored by being elected corresponding member of a number of historical societies of the United States, and several learned societies in France and England. He was one of the founders and first presiding officer of the Pennsyl- vania German Society, and is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army of the Republic. By his eligi- bility through being an original member of the Society of the Cincin- nati, he is one of that illustrious body ; a member of the Society of Colonial Wars ; of the Society of Sons of the Revolution ; Society of Foreign Wars, and of the War of 1812-14. In addition, Doctor Egle preserves his membership in the American, State and Dauphin County Medical Societies; is a member of the Academy of Medicine at Harrisburg, and an active member of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. He was one of the founders of the Dauphin County Historical Society, and is its present President, and is also a member of the Genealogical and Colonial Societies of Pennsylvania and American Historical Association.
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