USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania; genealogy-family history-biography; containing historical sketches of old families and of representative and prominent citizens, past and present, Volume I > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89
Isaac Moyer was born May 10, 1815, at Pinedale, Schuylkill county, and learned the trade of tanner with Andrew Boyer at Schuylkill Haven. He also followed boating on the 'old Schuylkill canal until that industry died down, owning a line of boats and also teams. Most of his life was passed at Schuylkill Haven, where he ended his days at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Murphy, dying March 25, 1898. He had lived retired for about fifteen years. He is buried at Schuylkill Haven. As a member of the German Reformed Church he was deeply interested in its welfare, and served as deacon. Politically he was a Democrat. At Schuylkill Haven he married Annetta Buzzard, daughter of Jacob and Rebecca (Derrick) Buzzard, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Mr. Minnich, a German Reformed minister. Mrs. Moyer was born at Reading, Berks county. Children as follows were born to this union: Rebecca, the eldest, became the wife of Leonard William Weissinger ; George, a resident of Manayunk ( Philadelphia), married Chris- tine Hain; Mary, who died in 1908, was the wife of Gottlieb Berger ; James, who married Mary Fisher, died at Schuylkill Haven and is buried there; John married Lucy Schrub, and died at Harrisburg, Pa .; Erma died when five years old; Charles, who died at the age of fifty years, was never married ; Alice is the wife of John Murphy, and they reside at Schuylkill Haven; Catherine married Frank Hummel, and died in 1892 at Schuylkill Haven ; William married Mary Boyer, and they are residents of Schuylkill Haven.
MAJOR HEBER SAMUEL THOMPSON, late of Pottsville, was for years one of the foremost citizens of Schuylkill county, where as manager of the vast Girard Estate he was associated with some of the most important business operations of this section of Pennsylvania. He was born at Pottsville Aug. 14, 1840, the son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Cunningham) Thompson.
The ancestors of this family in America came to this country from County Antrim, Ireland, about 1735. The family, however, is of Scotch lineage, of old Scotch Covenanter stock, which early in the eighteenth century moved from
=
Heber 8. Thompson
33
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
their home in Scotland to Ireland, residing temporarily in that country. John Thompson, Sr., and his brother James, upon their arrival in America, located at Cross Roads, Chester Co., Pa. Then they removed to Hanover township, in the same ( now Lebanon) county, and later to a farm near Derry Church, about ten miles from Harrisburg. Here John Thompson married his second wife, whose maiden name was Slocum, and shortly afterwards removed to a- farm three miles from Thompsontown, which was inherited by his sons, Peter and Thomas, to whom he willed it; when Thomas died his interest went by bequest to Peter, who in turn left it to his son John Peter, who died in 1882. John Thompson, Sr., married for his third wife Sarah Patterson. By his first, whose maiden name was Greenleaf, he had four children, one of whom, William, was the grandfather of Heber S. Thompson.
William Thompson, grandfather of Heber S. Thompson, was born in 1754 in Thompsontown, Cumberland (now Juniata) Co., Pa. During the Revolu- tionary war he served as a soldier in the Colonial cause, and participated in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. By occupation he was a farmer and merchant. He married Jane Mitchell at Chambersburg, Pa., and they had a family of nine children, six sons and three daughters.
Samuel Thompson, son of William, was born in 1792, in Thompsontown, and died March 7, 1851, in Pottsville, Schuylkill county. On Nov. 6, 1827, he married Ann Alricks, of Harrisburg, Pa., who died Aug. 27, 1828, less than a year after their marriage. On Aug. 6, 1833, he married Elizabeth Cunning- ham, of Newton Hamilton, Mifflin Co., Pa., who was born March 3, 1805, and died in her seventieth year, Oct. 5, 1874, at Pottsville. Four children were born to this union. Of these Col. William, born May 22, 1834, served through the Civil war in the 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry, being mustered out at its close as lieutenant colonel, and became a prominent business man of Pottsville, particularly in connection with the Miners' National Bank, of which he was president from 1894 until his death, on July 9, 1903. Lewis Cunning- ham, born Nov. 7, 1835, also a veteran of the Civil war, having served in Company A, 27th Pennsylvania Emergency Regiment, during the invasion of the State by Lee in 1863, is now a prominent merchant of Pottsville. The only daughter, Emily Jane, became the wife of Major Edward C. Baird, and both are deceased. Heber Samuel was the youngest of the family.
Heber S. Thompson received the foundation for his education in the schools of Pottsville and entered Yale College, graduating in 1861 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1871 receiving the honorary degree of Master of Arts from that institution. Just before graduation he enlisted for service in the Civil war, on April 16, 1861, becoming a private in the Wash- ington Artillerists, later Company H, 25th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who, with four other Pennsylvania. companies, were the first troops to reach the national capital in response to the president's call for three months' volunteers. The members of these companies formed the Society of First Defenders, of which Major Thompson served as president and the history of which he compiled. His term of enlistment expired July 29, 1861, and he was honorably dis- charged, reenlisting on Oct. 22d, in the 7th Pennsylvania Cavalry, becoming first lieutenant of Company F: on July 1, 1863, he was promoted to captain of Company I. On March 18, 1864, Captain Thompson was placed on detached service, being transferred to the position of acting inspector general of the Ist Brigade, 2d Cavalry Division, Army of the Cumberland, and he served as such until captured, Aug. 20, 1864, at Lovejoy's Station, Ga. While in the Vol. I-3
34
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Army of the Cumberland, under Generals Buell and Rosecrans, he saw service in many battles and innumerable engagements, including Perryville or Chaplin Hills, Ky., Stone River or Murfreesboro, McMinnville and Shelbyville, Tenn., and Chickamauga, Georgia. At Shelbyville, June 27, 1863, although only a lieutenant, he was selected, because of his tried courage, coolness and judgment, to lead the regiment in the famous charge against Gen. Joseph Wheeler's command which practically annihilated it, and drove General Wheeler into the Duck river. Later, under General Sherman, he took part in the Atlanta cam- paign and in the engagements at Noonday Creek and Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta, Jonesboro and Lovejoy's Station, where he was taken prisoner. He was taken to Macon and then to Augusta, Ga., later to Charleston, S. C., where as nurse for a wounded comrade he remained in the prisoners' hospital at Rikersville, a suburb of Charleston, until paroled, Dec. 18, 1864. Being unable to effect an exchange, he declined to accept a commission as major, which was tendered him, and resigned from the army, receiving his discharge Jan. 24, 1865. He was always active in all the veteran organizations, being a member of the First Defenders Association, Gowen Post, No. 23, G. A. R., Pottsville Encampment of the Union Veteran Legion, and the Loyal Legion of the United States.
After his return from the army Major Thompson entered actively into business life. In 1874 he became engineer and agent of the Girard Estate in Schuylkill and Columbia counties, continuing to hold that position until his death in 1911. He was also general manager of the Girard Water Company. Though the Girard Estate interests engaged most of his attention, he was also active in other business connections, being president of the Edison Illuminat- ing Company until it was absorbed by the Eastern Pennsylvania Railways Company, of which he became a director; a director and at one time president of the Miners' National Bank, and a director of the Schuylkill Valley Division of the Pennsylvania railroad. During 1908-09, in conjunction with the estate of his brother William, he erected at the corner of Centre and Market streets, Pottsville, the Thompson building, which is the largest office building in Schuylkill county. It is six stories in height and a notable addition to the business structures of the town. The wide range of his sympathies and inter- ests is well indicated by his active association with numerous charitable enter- prises. He was a member of the board of directors of the Pottsville Hospital ; president of the board of trustees of the State Hospital at Fountain Springs, an institution for those injured in the anthracite coal regions ; a member of the County Visiting Committee of the State Board of Charities, and a member of the State Committee on Lunacy. For many years he was a school director. He belonged to the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, to the Histor- ical Societies of Pennsylvania and of Schuylkill County, to the American Insti- tute of Mining Engineers and to the Engineers' Club of Philadelphia. His religious connection was with the First Presbyterian Church of Pottsville, which he served as elder, and for many years as superintendent of the Sunday school.
On Jan. 23, 1866, Major Thompson was married to Sarah E. Beck, daughter of Isaac and Margaretta (Pitman) Beck, of Pottsville. They had a family of five children : Emily Baird, widow of J. Parke Hood, of Phila- delphia ; Samuel Clifton, a graduate of Yale University, 1891, and of the School of Mines, Columbia University, 1893, for many years a prominent mining engineer in Johannesburg, South Africa, now a consulting engineer
35
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
in New York; Margaretta, wife of Colonel James Archibald, of Pottsville; Eleanor, deceased; and Heber Harris, agent of the Eastern Pennsylvania Railways Company at Tamaqua, Pa. Major Thompson died March 9, 1911, and is buried in the Charles Baber cemetery, Pottsville.
COLONEL JAMES ARCHBALD, of Pottsville, engineer and agent of the Girard Estate in Schuylkill and Columbia counties, in which he succeeded his father-in-law, the late Major Heber S. Thompson, has had a well rounded career, quite typical of all the members of this prominent family. For years the name has been well known among the leaders in the development of coal properties in Pennsylvania, and his talent for engineering has no doubt been inherited from his immediate ancestors, whose cleverness in that and similar lines has added prestige to the high reputation they have borne as business men and managers of large enterprises.
Colonel Archbald is of distinguished ancestry in both paternal and mater- nal lines. James Archbald, his grandfather, was the fourth of his name in direct descent and was also a descendant of Robert Wodrow, the Scotch his- torian. A native of Scotland, James Archbald came to this country with his parents when twelve years old. His life and work made him one of the most prominent men of this section of Pennsylvania in his day. The town of Archbald, Lackawanna county, above Scranton, was named in his honor. He planned, built and managed from 1829 the gravity railroad of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, from Carbondale to Honesdale, the first railroad to enter the Lackawanna region, and later planned the similar railroad of the Pennsylvania Coal Company from Scranton to Hawley. In 1858 he became chief engineer of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad. He married Sarah Augusta Temple Frothingham, a native of New England, and of old American ancestry, being a descendant in the fifth generation from William Frothingham, who came from England in 1630 and settled at Charlestown, Mass. Some of her ancestors served as officers in the Colonial army during the Revolutionary war.
James Archbald, father of Colonel James Archbald, succeeded his father as chief engineer of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad in 1870, and held that position for thirty years. At one time he was general manager of the Barber Asphalt Paving Company, and in later years was engaged in rail- road construction in Mississippi. During the Civil war he served as a captain in the 132d Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He died in Venice, Italy, on Oct. 4, 1910. His brother, Robert Wodrow Archbald, became a judge of the United States District court. James Archbald married Hannah M. Albright, daughter of Joseph J. Albright, the latter a native of Nazareth, Pa., and for many years general manager of the coal department of the Delaware & Hud- son Company. Mr. Albright's early life was spent in the manufacture of iron in Pennsylvania and Virginia, where he owned and operated furnaces. The Albright Library in Scranton was erected as a memorial to him. He was a man of sterling character and strict attention to duty, and a worthy descendant of his Moravian ancestry. He married Elizabeth Sellers, whose family were Friends from near Philadelphia.
Colonel James Archbald was born Feb. 19, 1866, at Scranton, Pa. After a thorough preparatory education he entered Phillips Academy, at Andover, Mass., and then Yale College, graduating in 1887. He began business life with the Barber Asphalt Paving Company, being employed in Scranton and
1153969
1
36
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and during the winters working with an engineer corps. For a short time he also studied law. After 1890 he was for two years man- ager of the Sterrick Creek Coal Co., at Peckville, Pa., and for six years man- ager of the Albright Coal Company at Llewellyn, Schuylkill county. In 1898 he became associated with his father-in-law, Major Heber S. Thompson, as, a civil and mining engineer, and this connection lasted until Major Thompson's death in 1911, when Colonel Archbald succeeded him as engineer of the Girard Estate and general manager of the Girard Water Company, a responsibility for which he had been well fitted by his long association with his predecessor. Colonel Archbald has given a good account of himself as a professional man and in the conduct of his business affairs, and has measured up to the promise of his early career and to the unusual intellectual strength and moral fibre of his ancestry. In addition to his connection with the Girard Estate, he is a director and vice president of the Miners' National Bank of Pottsville, and consulting engineer for various coal interests. He is a member of the Potts- ville Club, of the Outdoor Club of Pottsville, which he organized and of which he was president for ten years and is now a director, and of the Y. M. C. A., of which he has been a director and treasurer for twenty years. He is a mem- ber of the American Institute of Mining Engineers and of the Engineers' Club of Northeastern Pennsylvania. He is a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church.
Special mention should be made of Colonel Archbald's military career. In 1880 he became a member of Company C, 13th Regiment, Pennsylvania Na- tional Guard, serving under Colonel Henry M. Boies, commanding the regi- ment, Lieutenant Colonel Frederick L. Hitchcock (later colonel), Major Ezra H. Ripple (later colonel and assistant adjutant general of the State), Captain Henry A. Coursen (later colonel) and Lieutenant Louis A. Watres ( later lieutenant governor of the State and recently in command of the 13th Regi- ment), who was then second in the command of Company C. The regiment was noted for its efficiency under these capable disciplinarians and the training was unusually valuable. As a member of the 13th Regiment, Colonel Archbald attended the First Division encampment at Fairmount 'Park, Philadelphia, in 1880. Three years later, when he entered college, he received an honorable discharge, but continued his interest in military matters and kept up his knowl- edge of the drill regulations, so that when the Spanish-American war broke out his services were sought as drill master for a battalion in Schuylkill county. Its services were not accepted, as the National Guard organizations filled up the State's quota, and at the request of the State authorities he organized Company M, 11th Infantry, of the Provisional National Guard, and com- manded this company until the reorganization of the National Guard in 1899, when Company M was consolidated with Company F of the 4th Infantry, and Captain Archbald was chosen captain of the new organization. He at once instituted measures for the systematic training of the company, making it one of the best in the State, and rendered efficient service with it through the anthracite strike in 1900.
Because of business demands, however, he resigned on April 1, 1901, but has always maintained an active interest and close association with his old command, and has never relaxed his efforts for the promotion of its best interests. He resumed his connection with military service on Feb. 4. 1904, having been appointed aide-de-camp on the staff of Governor Penny- packer, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. On Feb. 14, 1907, he was reap-
A
37
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
pointed by Governor Stuart. He retired with the latter in 1911. Colonel Archbald has been a thorough and earnest student of military affairs, and by his ability and zeal has contributed much to the efficiency of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He is now treasurer of the local Armory board.
On Oct. 21, 1897, Colonel Archbald was married to Margaretta Thompson, daughter of Major Heber S. Thompson, and they have a family of four chil- dren, Margaretta Thompson, Sara Thompson, James 7th, and Wodrow.
DR. GEORGE DOUGLASS, late of Orwigsburg, established his resi- dence in that borough over a quarter of a century before his death, and was one of its most estimable citizens. As a gentleman of broad education, cultivated tastes and unusual literary attainments, upholding high ideals in his own career, he quietly but effectively directed his influence to the better- ment of social conditions and living standards in his adopted community. His position as a professional man of the highest repute made his opinions doubly respected. Dr. Douglass was a native of Philadelphia, Pa., born Ang. 8, 1796, and his father, Andrew Douglass, was a prominent merchant of that city, member of the firm of Douglass & Morgan. He also had business relations with Stephen Girard. His wife, whose maiden name was Morgan, was a daughter of General Morgan, of Revolutionary fame. Andrew Douglass died in Philadelphia and is buried there, in the Christ Church cemetery. Douglassville, in Berks county, Pa., was founded by this family and named in its honor.
George Douglass was reared in Philadelphia, and was carefully educated, graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1823. Though only a boy when the war of 1812 broke out, he was a soldier in that struggle.
Dr. Douglass was married at Douglassville to Mary Bannan, who was born Jan. 3, 1795, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Bunn) Bannan, and not long afterwards, in 1830, they settled at Orwigsburg, Schuylkill Co., Pa., where they made their permanent home. Dr. Douglass was a man of means and in a position to indulge his literary tastes, and he led an enjoy- able life of leisure, dying at his home in Orwigsburg Aug. 11, 1858. , His wife survived him many years, passing away in 1888, and they are buried in the Charles Baber cemetery, at Pottsville, this county. To Dr. and Mrs. Douglass were born the following family: Elizabeth Borga Sergeant, born in 1827; Andrew Jackson, born in 1828; Sarah Bunn, born in 1830, who makes her home at Pottsville, with the family of George D. Rosebury; John Bannan, born in 1832; Rachel Pearsol Morgan, born in 1833: George Wash- ington, born in 1834: Victoria, born in 1837; and Rebecca Pearsol, born in 1839. The Misses Rachel, Victoria and Rebecca Douglass occupy the old homestead in Orwigsburg. The family are Episcopalians in religious con- nection. Dr. Douglass was a member of the Masonic fraternity.
HIRAM PARKER, JR., now living retired at Pottsville, was one of the influential figures in control of the industrial situation of that place for over thirty-five years and associated with an establishment which during more than half a century had a distinct place among the vital business forces of the borough. Other local enterprises have benefited by his cooperation, for he has been public-spirited in the very best sense, aiding every project which seemed to promise to advance the general welfare.
Mr. Parker was born in Pottsville Oct. 4, 1841, and belongs to a family
38
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
of English origin which has been on American soil from the Colonial period. We give some record of the earlier generations. His great-grandfather, born in February, 1711, took up a tract of land at Masonville, N. Y., where he did some clearing and erected a sawmill which he operated for many years. His death occurred there. His wife, Ruth, was born in February, 1712 (?). Their son, Josiah Parker, born Jan. 31, 1771, followed farming in New York State, and died Nov. 23, 1857. On June 6, 1796, he married Mary Haskill, who was born Sept. 2, 1774, and died Dec. 4, 1832, and their children were born as follows: Mary, Aug. 27, 1797 ; Josiah, Jr., June 16, 1799; Adolph, June 23, 1801 ; Rebecca, April 13, 1803; Hiram, Oct. 3, 1805; Erastus, June 4, 1808; Israel, Jan. 22, 1813; Ruth H., Jan. 22, 1815.
Hiram Parker, son of Josiah, was born Oct. 2, 1805, in Massachusetts. He first learned the trade of carpenter, but after following that occupation for a short time turned to tailoring, which continued to be his calling through- out his active years. He came to Schuylkill county, Pa., in young manhood, in 1830 locating at Port Carbon, where he lived in a log house, and under the primitive conditions characteristic of that day here. In 1831 he removed to Pottsville, and established himself in business as a merchant tailor, building up a large custom trade in the borough and vicinity, where his reliable work- manship and satisfactory service to all his customers kept him in popular esteem as long as he worked at his calling. He died in Pottsville March 8, 1891. Mr. Parker was an earnest member of the Presbyterian Church, which he served many years as ruling elder. He married Sarah P. Craft, who was born Feb. 12, 1803, in Massachusetts, daughter of Joseph Craft, and died April 16, 1876. They had a family of five children, three sons and two daughters : Mary Elizabeth, born April 5, 1831, died young; Harriet Jane, born Jan. 26, 1836, died young ; Samuel H., born Jan. 24, 1838, is a farmer of Maryville, Nodaway Co., Mo .; Hiram is mentioned below; Charles H., born May 6, 1844, died in 1905.
Hiram Parker was given a public school education at Pottsville, and for a year or two after leaving school clerked in a store. He then learned the trade of machinist, serving his apprenticeship in the Philadelphia & Reading railroad shops, at Reading, Pa. The first year of the Civil war he enlisted in the navy, which he joined in 1861 as assistant engineer, assigned to the gunboat "Ka- nawha," in the Gulf squadron, under Farragut and Porter, being with the blockading squadron off Mobile and in the Gulf and lower Mississippi maneuvers. After one year of such service he was detailed to take a prize vessel from Mobile bay to New York, where he was examined and promoted, and assigned to the gunboat "Louisiana," in the North Atlantic squadron, with headquarters at Newbern, N. C. As the "Louisiana" was to be used as a floating mine at Fort Fisher he was detailed to another gunboat, the "Tacony," just before the action at Fort Fisher, which took part in the bombardment there and also in the second battle, when the fort was captured. He remained on the "Tacony" to the close of the war. During the Cuban filibustering which gave so much trouble at that period he was chief engineer on the monitor "Manhattan." He also saw three years' service on the "Dacotah," in the South Pacific squadron, and three years on the flagship "Lancaster," of the South Atlantic squadron, principally on South American coasts. With a year on shore duty his connection with the navy covered over twelve years, during which he visited nearly every port in the civilized world and. had a wide experience which assisted him greatly in his subsequent business operations.
39
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
He resigned from the navy in 1876, and became associated with Jabez Sparks, his father-in-law, in the boiler and machine business. ( The latter had begun it in 1855, on the site of the present Reading railroad station, with John Sparks, his brother, and Edward Greathead. It was started for the manufacture of steam boilers, smoke and ventilating stacks and ventilating mine fans, as well as general machine repairing. Mr. Greathead was killed in 1857, and John Sparks retired in 1860.) Jabez Sparks, William G. Sparks and Hiram Parker were members of the firm, which was organized in 1876 under the name of Sparks & Parker, and the plant was known as the Schuylkill County Machinery Depot, and operated under that name until the death of Jabez Sparks, after which William G. Sparks and Hiram Parker were the constituent members of the firm. The business prospered without interruption under the regime of Sparks & Parker until the death of W. G. Sparks, in 1898. It was then continued under the same name by Mr. Hiram Parker, who became sole owner. He retained his interest until his retirement from active business, in 1912. Mr. Parker has always been regarded as one of the foremost manu- facturers in his line in the county, and his practical familiarity with machinery was not only a help in the management of the shop but gained confidence among its patrons, and made him a competent adviser.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.