USA > Pennsylvania > Prominent and progressive Pennsylvanians of the nineteenth century. Volume III > Part 9
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THOMAS A. FAHY.
N OTABLE success, achieved through hard work and study under difficulties, is not rare in the United States, many famous men having passed, alfnost unaided, successively through the various degrees and stages of life, from poverty and obscurity in early youth to wealth and position in manhood. Thomas A. Fahy is one of those who have fought their way steadily upward by ability, force of character and diligence. An orphan early in his boyhood and com- pelled to earn his own living, he manfully faced the world, and from the position of a driver of a horse on a canal-boat, rose to prominence as a member of the Bar of Philadelphia.
THOMAS A. FAHY was born in Eastport, Maine, January 17, 1837, and is a descendant of Irish parents, who came to this country early in the century. They moved to Philadelphia when the subject of this sketch was four years of age, where he attended the parochial school of St. Augustine. Two or three years later he entered the public schools, and it is worthy of note that he was, within a comparatively short time, a School Director of the same section and President of the Board (the Eleventh), in which he attended the primary schools, and that he was afterwards appointed to membership in the Board of Education. Mr. Fahy was taken from the public schools at the age of eleven years, then being a pupil of the Madison School, and put to work as a driver of horses on the Delaware and Lehigh Canal, for, his parents having died in 1847, he was dependent upon his own efforts. For more than three years he was thus employed, with no opportunity of obtaining an education. At the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed to learn a mechanical trade, serving his full time. During all that period and for years after until the
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present, in fact, he was a close student, devoting all his spare time to the reading of books and magazines. It was a struggle sometimes to secure books such as he needed, and his early readings were of a desultory character, but he was able to separate the necessary from the unnecessary, the valuable from the useless, and steadily advanced in general knowledge. He was systematic in his studies, going through the various courses, at times laboriously, but with determination and patience. In 1860, at the age of twenty-three years, he started in business, in the meanwhile continuing his studies. In 1863 he was nominated and elected a School Director of the Eleventh Section, being then but twenty-six years of age. He remained an active and influential member of that Board for sixteen years, and for a portion of that time was President thereof. Always earnest, energetic and practical, he assisted very materially during these years in the advancement of the schools. That his services were recognized is evidenced by the fact that he was chosen as a member of the Board of Education, holding that office from 1871 to 1875, during which time he was active in the direction of the educa- tional institutions of his city. Mr. Fahy, in 1875, was nominated by the Democrats for County Commissioner and, on the first Monday of January, 1876, assumed the duties of that office. It was while acting in the capacity of County Commissioner that he determined to fit himself for the practice of the law. He entered the University of Pennsylvania, taking the full course in the Law Department, and shortly afterwards, in June, 1880, was admitted to the Bar. He at once began the practice of law, the next day after his admission being engaged as counsel in court in a case in which his client was accused of larceny, and his client was acquitted.
From the beginning he was uniformly successful. He had the reputation of carefully comparing his cases and presenting them tersely and lucidly to the courts. His rise was rapid. Few members of the Philadelphia Bar have, in a period of eighteen years, worked their way from the humblest to the highest rank. Mr. Fahy did not long confine himself to the handling of criminal cases, but soon entered the higher courts and his name is enrolled among those who successfully prac- ticed there. He is also a member of the United States Courts and
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has conducted a number of important cases in the District, Circuit and United States Circuit Court of Appeals. He has been counsel in several celebrated cases, notably as legal adviser of Mrs. Pitezel in the notorious Holmes multi-murder trial. Mr. Fahy never followed closely in the footsteps of other lawyers; he does not move in the rut of those who have gone before him. The reports of those courts contain many cases in which Mr. Fahy has figured with prominence, and that he is generally successful is largely due to his close study of every case in which he is engaged, as well as to the assiduity with which he looks after details and follows out collateral evidence. Mr. Fahy is a Demo- crat with the courage of his convictions, and is a speaker of unusual force and ability, possessing the faculty of presenting situations in the clearest manner. His unusual breadth of knowledge of national affairs has served him well on the platform. In executive matters his counsel and advice are much sought after and, although a partisan and non- compromising Democrat in purely party conflicts, he is conservative in national affairs. Mr. Fahy is a member of the Catholic Club, the Philopatrian Society, Knights of Columbus, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the Lawyers' Club, Law Association and of several other societies.
On February 21, 1859, Mr. Fahy and Margaret Gile were mar- ried, the latter dying in 1873. In 1875 he married Emma M. Wolff, who died fifteen years after their union. Two sons resulted from this marriage, J. Eugene and Walter T. On October 26, 1893, Mr. Fahy and Mary Emily Pugh were united in marriage. She is a descendant of one of the early Welsh settlers, who secured a very large tract of land direct from William Penn in what was known as the Welsh tract, Montgomery Township, now Montgomery County, Penn- sylvania. There are no children by this marriage.
ABRAHAM D. FETTEROLF.
HILE it is impossible for all persons, even in this highly W favored land, to attain to the highest positions of trust, responsibility and influence, yet the unique character of our institutions is such that every American youth may hopefully seek the prize of honorable office. In gaining places of trust, honor and responsibility few men have been more conspicuously successful than the subject of this review.
ABRAHAM D. FETTEROLF was born near Collegeville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1850. His parents were Esther and the late Gideon Fetterolf. The Fetterolfs were one of the good old Pennsylvania German families, given to agriculture, and originally of Berks County. Mrs. Esther Fetterolf, née Hunsicker, was a daughter of the late Mennonite Bishop, Abraham Hunsicker, the founder of the village of Freeland, now the Borough of Collegeville; of Freeland Seminary, now Ursinus College; of the Christian Society, now Trinity Reformed Church; and, with Prof. J. W. Sunderland, LL.D., the foun- der of the Pennsylvania Female College. Abraham D. Fetterolf has two younger brothers, Andrew Curtin Fetterolf, of New York City, now holding a responsible position with the Brooklyn Wharf and Warehouse Company, and Horace G. Fetterolf, assistant treasurer of the firm of J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia. Gideon Fetterolf, their father, was twice married, his first wife being Elizabeth, the daughter of Menno- nite Bishop John Hunsicker, the oldest brother of Bishop Abraham Hunsicker. By Gideon Fetterolf's first marriage, Abraham D. has two brothers still living-Capt. Henry H. Fetterolf and A. H. Fet- terolf, LL.D., President of Girard College. Mr. Fetterolf never received a liberal education. The busy practical world has always been to him a great school, in which, by close observation and varied
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experiences, he learned the higher and more valuable lessons of real life. He attended for several years at Freeland Seminary, during the principalship of his brother, A. H. Fetterolf.
Mr. Fetterolf, at the age of sixteen, became a public school teacher, and for several years followed that calling. When he attained his majority he went to Philadelphia to engage in mercantile pursuits. From 1871 to 1875 he was a lumber inspector, and then formed a partnership with a young friend in the flour and feed business. From 1888 to 1890 he was a member of the firm of the Roberts Machine Company at Collegeville, Pennsylvania. In 1882 he was elected Justice of the Peace of Upper Providence, Montgomery County, and served as such until he resigned to accept a county office. In 1885 he was appointed Transcribing Clerk of the House of Representatives, and the following year was promoted to Speaker's Clerk. In 1889 he was Journal Clerk, and, in 1893, Resident Clerk of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In 1895 he was elected Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives, and was elected Resident Clerk in 1897, notwithstanding the fact that the wing of the party with which he was the more closely identified had lost the chief control. In 1886 and again in 1896 he was Delegate to the Republican State Conven- tion. In 1890 he was nominated for Register of Wills of Montgomery County, but failed of an election by the small majority of seventy-seven votes, given to his personally popular Democratic opponent. He was appointed Deputy Clerk of the Courts of Montgomery County in 1891.
In 1892 Mr. Fetterolf was unanimously elected Chairman of the Republican County Committee of Montgomery County, and that he successfully conducted the campaign was evidenced in the fact that the entire Republican ticket, with a single exception, was elected. He resigned the Chairmanship of the County Committee to accept the Secretaryship of the Republican State Committee, during the cam- paigns of 1893 and 1894. Since July, 1889, he has held the Secretary- ship of the Perkiomen Valley Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He was also Secretary of the Perkiomen Valley Building and Loan Asso- ciation, and was for some years a Director of the National Bank of Schwenksville. Mr. Fetterolf is at present a Director of the Times
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Publishing Company of Norristown, of the Keystone Telegraph and Telephone Company, and others. He is Secretary of Warren Lodge, No. 310, Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of Royal Arch Chapter, No. 190, and Hutchinson Commandery, No. 32, of Norris- town. Early in life he joined what is now Trinity Reformed Church, of Collegeville, and is a generous contributor to all its interests.
Mr. Fetterolf was twice married. On May 23, 1872, Sallie E., daughter of the Rev. Henry Graybill, a leading minister in the River Brethren Church, was married to him, and they had four chil- dren. The living are Clement G., now in the general office of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and Horace, a boy of thirteen years, at home with his parents. He was married the second time to Bertha C., the only daughter of the late Rev. John R. and Mary Prizer Kooken. Mrs. Fetterolf's father was a minister of the Reformed Church, and was one of the founders of the Reformed Church of the Ascension, of Norristown ; her mother being the daughter of the late Henry Prizer, the first Principal of what was long known as Washington Hall Boarding School, in the historic village of Trappe, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Fetterolf owns and occupies a very neat home in the rising borough of Collegeville. He is perfectly at home among his neighbors and enjoys to a high degree the esteem and confidence of those who know him best. Personally, he is modest, unobtrusive, peaceable and courteous, and his success in life is to be attributed largely to these qualities and to his probity. Judging by his past record, and con- sidering that he has not yet reached the half-century mark, it is among the strong probabilities that new and yet higher positions in the affairs of his State may be reached by him.
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ADAM H. FETTEROLF.
IGH and peculiar qualifications are demanded in the government of Girard College, the greatest individual charity on the Continent. The standing as loco parentis to over fifteen hundred orphan boys is attended with great responsibility, requiring execu- tive ability of a singular order to successfully direct the destinies and control the actions of so many mental and physical organisms. That the subject of this sketch, Adam H. Fetterolf, is eminently fitted for the position is thoroughly demonstrated by the grand results achieved, forming an interesting chapter in the history of that famous insti- tution.
ADAM H. FETTEROLF was born at Perkiomen, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, November 24, 1841. He is the second son of Gideon and Elizabeth Fetterolf, and is descended from a long line of Swiss and Dutch ancestry. On the maternal side his great-grandfather, Valentine Hunsicker, emigrated to America from Switzerland in 1717. His son, Henry, and grandson, John, were both Bishops of the Men- nonite Church, and were noted for their intelligence and piety. . The early years of Doctor Fetterolf's life were spent upon his father's farm, and there was nothing, either in the circumstances of his birth or his surroundings, to indicate that he was destined for a remarkable work. From his father he inherited those elements of a vigorous but modest character which he has manifested throughout his career. He began attending school about the time when Pennsylvania adopted a free educational system. When he was fourteen years of age his father removed to Collegeville, where he had the advantage of a good school- ing at the Freeland Seminary. By alternately teaching and studying he made himself master of mathematics, Latin and Greek, and at the
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age of twenty was appointed Professor of Mathematics in Freeland, a position which he filled with great credit. He was a progressive teacher, keeping himself posted in all the latest methods and creating a marvelous spirit of enthusiasm and interest among his pupils. He subsequently became Principal of the Seminary and conducted it suc- cessfully for five years, when the buildings and ground were purchased for Ursinus College. Later, on leaving Collegeville, Doctor Fetterolf associated himself with the Rev. Doctor Wells in the ownership and management of Andalusia College, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. After the death of Doctor Wells, in 1871, he assumed full charge and continued at the head of the Academy until 1880, when he was elected by the Board of City Trusts of Philadelphia to fill the chair of Vice-President of Girard College. Two years later, upon the death of President William H. Allen, he was chosen to succeed him and has held the position of President ever since, discharging the manifold duties with the utmost confidence of the Board and the full approbation of the public. The College of which Doctor Fetterolf is President, as is well known, was founded by Stephen Girard, who had amassed an immense fortune as a shipping merchant and banker in Philadelphia, where he had arrived from France to begin business in an humble way. At his death, Mr. Girard bequeathed two million dollars and the residue of his estate, after paying certain legacies, for the erec- tion and support of the College for Orphans, in which there are admitted as many poor white male orphans, between the ages of six and ten years, who are residents of Pennsylvania, as the endowment can support.
President Fetterolf has the charm of a quiet, well-balanced char- acter, with a pleasant address, an impressive presence and that subtle faculty which wins the confidence of boys. He is the fourth President of the College. The first presided over only two hundred boys; the second year five hundred assembled at chapel ; the third witnessed a roll lengthened to eleven hundred, and now Doctor Fetterolf has over fifteen hundred under his charge. From his boyhood his leading char- acteristic has been application, and his life illustrates the relation between application and success. He is a Christian gentleman and has built up a staunch character. He had an object in life and has
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bent all his energies toward its accomplishment. In speaking of his school days one of his teachers has said of him that " he was most diligent, patient and persevering," and these are the qualities which have helped to make him an excellent instructor and successful presiding college officer.
Doctor Fetterolf has always been an ardent Republican, and, dur- ing the Civil War, saw service for a while as a member of the Thirty- fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Militia. In May, 1887, the State Legislature passed an Act authorizing and requesting the Gover- nor to appoint a commission of five citizens of the Commonwealth in order "to make inquiry and report by bill, or otherwise, respecting the subject of industrial education." Governor Beaver placed Doctor Fetterolf on this commission, his already extensive knowledge of the subject making the selection especially valuable and appropriate. His talents have also had numerous recognitions from the faculties of other colleges, among which are the conferring upon him of the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy by Lafayette College, and of the title of Doctor of Laws by Delaware College.
Doctor Fetterolf has been twice married. His first wife was Annie, daughter of George Hergesheimer, of Germantown. In 1883 he married Laura M., daughter of William D. Mangam, a prominent New York merchant. He has two sons, Dr. George and Edwin H. Fetterolf, both graduates of the University of Pennsylvania.
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FRANK J. FIRTH.
G ERMANTOWN has few citizens who have taken a deeper or more sincere interest in whatever tends to the advancement of that beautiful section of Philadelphia than Frank J. Firth, the subject of this review, who is widely known, not only as an eminently public-spirited citizen, but as a man who has won a prominent place among the transportation managers of the State.
FRANKLIN JONES FIRTH was born in the city of Philadelphia on the Ist day of October, 1842. He is the son of Thomas Thompson Firth and Ann Jane Robb, his wife. Thomas T. Firth was a direct descendant of the Thomas Lloyd, of Dolobran, Wales, who joined William Penn in the colonization of this State, and who was Deputy Governor and President of the Council between the years 1684 and 1693. The great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch was Ezra Firth, who married Elizabeth Carpenter. Her grandmother was Rachel, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Lloyd. Ezra Firth's father came from England in 1705 and settled in Salem, New Jersey. Frank J. Firth's paternal grandmother was Ann Thompson, a descendant of the Thompson, Woodnutt and Hedge families, well known in the annals of Salem. Major Thomas T. Firth, the father of the subject of this biography, was the second Secretary and the second Treasurer of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, holding the latter position from January, 1855, until March, 1873. He also figured prominently in the early military history of the State, having been commissioned Brigade Inspector on the 7th day of November, 1842; Lieutenant-Col- onel and Aide-de-Camp on the 7th day of January, 1849; Brigade Inspector on the 4th day of June, 1849, and Acting Brigade Inspector,
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under orders of Major-General Cadwalader, on the 14th day of May, 1860.
Frank J. Firth was twelve years old when his parents moved to Germantown, in 1854, and he has since (except during the years between 1860 and 1868) made his home in that section of Philadelphia. He graduated from the Polytechnic College, Philadelphia, in June, 1860, with the degree of Civil Engineer, and in August of the same year entered the engineer corps in charge of locating and constructing the East Brandywine and Waynesburg Railroad, connecting with the Pennsylvania Railroad at Downingtown, Pennsylvania. In March, 1862, Mr. Firth went to Buena Vista (now Wilcox), Pennsylvania, as Assistant Engineer on the location of the Philadelphia and Erie Rail- road, a few months later taking charge of the construction work of the Summit Division of that line. In April, 1863, he moved to Renovo as Engineer-in-Charge of the construction of the railroad shops at that place and at Sunbury, under the late George B. Roberts, then Assist- ant to the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In September, 1864, he left Renovo to take the position of Assistant Superintendent to Col. Joseph D. Potts, then General Manager of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad. In July, 1865, Mr. Potts left the service of that company to organize and manage the Empire Transportation Com- pany and Mr. Firth went with him, first as Auditor of the company and later as its Vice-President, taking a similar position with the Erie and Western Transportation Company. In September, 1877, the Pennsylvania Railroad acquired the property of the Empire Transpor- tation Company (Empire Line), which was then dissolved by order of the Court, on application of its management and shareholders. Mr. Firth became, on the Ist day of October, 1877, General Manager of the Empire Line under its Pennsylvania Railroad ownership, also retaining the Vice-Presidency of the Erie and Western Transportation Company. On January 1, 1879, he resigned the post of General Manager of the Empire Line, and on June 7, 1881, on the resignation of Col. Joseph D. Potts, succeeded to the Presidency of the Erie and Western Transportation Company, a post which he still holds. The Erie and Western Transportation Company (Anchor Line) operates a fleet of vessels on the Great Lakes and furnishes the lake terminal
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and vessel facilities used in connection with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Erie.
In 1868, on removing from Williamsport to Philadelphia, Mr. Firth joined his brother-in-law, the late William M. Lloyd, in founding the lumber and coal firm of William M. Lloyd & Company, which, on Mr. Lloyd's death, in 1887, was incorporated and continues to operate under the well-known title of William M. Lloyd Company, Limited.
Mr. Firth has always been deeply interested in everything tend- ing to advance the welfare of Germantown. For many years he has been one of the Trustees of the Germantown Academy, one of the Board of Managers of the Germantown Dispensary and Hospital, and a Vestryman of St. Michael's Protestant Episcopal Church. He was one of the incorporators and the first President of the Germantown Real Estate Deposit and Trust Company, and is still a member of its Board of Directors.
As Chairman of the City Organizations Filtration Committee, composed of representatives from all the prominent commercial, charitable, civic and other organizations, Mr. Firth has given a large amount of time and attention to the local pure water problem, visiting and inspecting the typical filtration plants in this country and Europe. He is an uncompromising advocate of the purification of the city water supply by filtration, under city ownership and management, and has vigorously opposed all plans for interesting individuals or private corporations in this important municipal work.
On October 1, 1867, Mr. Firth married Annie Lloyd, daughter of Samuel H. Lloyd, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Three children were born to this union : Henry Heberton Firth, Samuel Lloyd Firth and Annie Robb Firth.
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STANLEY G. FLAGG.
T is well for a man to find his proper sphere early in XXX- life, for then, through ability and industry, he may fill it with great credit to himself and to the thorough satisfaction of his associates, as well as the admiration of the general public. Such has been the career of the subject of this review, Stanley G. Flagg. He pinned his faith to working in iron, and he has made his mark in the manufacturing circles of the country. Previous to his entrance into this field, all gas, steam and water-pipe fittings had been made of brass. He found a way to manufacture them of malleable iron and his discovery led to a veritable revolution in this line of work. Great economy in pipe-fittings was effected by his invention, and his business increased so rapidly that repeated additions were made to the original plant, until the firm of which he is the head became known as one of the largest of its kind in the world. Mr. Flagg is a thoroughly representative Pennsylvanian; he takes an active interest in politics, being a staunch member of the Republican party.
STANLEY G. FLAGG was born on March 13, 1830, at Whitesboro, New York State. His parents were Samuel G. and Harriet (Maxwell) Flagg. His father came from an old Connecticut family, his great- grandfather having been one of the first doctors in the United States to inoculate sufferers from the dreaded disease of small-pox. He was a great practitioner in Hartford, Connecticut, and enjoyed the reputa- tion of being one of the most learned medical men and one of the founders of the State Medical Society of his day, not only as a local physician, but as a man who devoted his studies and his talent to bene- fiting all mankind. Mr. Flagg's mother came from a Vermont family, her ancestors taking a prominent part in the fight for independence.
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