The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1, Part 37

Author: Robson, Charles. 4n; Galaxy Publishing Company. 4n
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Philadelphia : Galaxy Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 908

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Felding L. Williams

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sided over the joint convention of the two houses when Simon Cameron was elected to the United States Senate. In the same year, he was elected President of the State Agricultural Society, and re-elected in the years 1858 and IS59. His administration of the affairs of the society was marked with great ability. Its affairs had been in consider- able disorder; but during his term of service it was rescued from debt and placed in a position enabling it to endow the Agricultural College with some $8000 or $10,000, witli- out impairing its resources. In 1859, he was President of the Republican State Convention, and in the next year was a prominent candidate for Governor of his native State. He was also chosen, in 1860, as Presidential Elector, and se- lected as messenger to carry the vote of his State to Wash- ington. In 1861, he was appointed Paymaster in the United States Regular Army, a position which he still retains. During the twelve years of his incumbency of this office he has had much and varied experience in many parts of the country. He has been on duty in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Omaha, Charleston and Portland, Oregon, and has naturally travelled extensively in his official capacity. In a recent eloquent address,. delivered on a Fourth of July celebration, he alluded to his travels in glowing and picturesque language. " After describing the countries he had seen, from the snowy peaks of British Columbia to the tropical splendors of Cuba, he came to the conclusion that no spot was so dear to him as his native town. He became very prominent during the agitation in favor of temperance, which prevailed in Pennsylvania some years since, and has always consistently maintained, by precept and example, the doctrine of the abolition of the sale of spirituous liquors, both in the Senate and elsewhere. To a commanding presence and great physical strength, he unites a rare gift of oratory, which, with a remarkable memory, exuberant humor and many other valuable qualifi- cations, have singularly fitted him for the numerous and important public positions he has occupied. He was married on May the 5th, 1848, to Annie Cowden, eldest daughter of Colonel John H. Cowden, by whom he has had four children, three of them still living.

ILLIAMS, FIELDING LEWIS, Sugar Refiner, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was born at Lynchburg, Halifax county, Virginia, in the year 1832 ; his parents, Fielding Lewis and Mary Frances Williams, being also natives of that county. With them, he went to Clarksville, Montgomery county, Tennessee, in 1834, remaining till he had attained the age of fourteen years, when he was sent to Sing Sing, New York, for the purpose of completing his education. On the death of his father, his uncle, Howell Lewis Williams-of the firm of Robert & Williams, New York city-was appointed his guardian. This firm carried

on an extensive sugar refining business, being widely known throughout the United States, in commercial circles, for their uprightness, sagacity, integrity and other business qualifications, and it is not hazarding much to say, that the example and precepts of his uncle did much towards the foundation of those principles of rectitude and honorable dealing which, developed in after life, established the high character of his future reputation. On leaving school, he at once entered upon his commercial career, by accepting a clerkship in a sugar refinery in New York city, a position which he occupied for a period of two years, to the entire satisfaction of his employers. At the expiration of that time, he removed to Bristol, Rhode Island, where his know- ledge of the business and his honorable record obtained for him a similar position in a sugar refinery. He dis- charged the duties of that situation for eight years, when he removed to Philadelphia. In that city he purchased a sugar refinery, at the corner of Fifth and Willow streets; com- menced business there on his own account, and still con- tinues it on the same premises. The establishment is very extensive, one of the most extensive in the city. Indepen- dently of his legitimate business, he is President of the Penn Fire Insurance Company, No. 408 Walnut street, and has been a Director in the same ever since its organization ; he is also a Director in the Keystone Bank, of Philadelphia. A shrewd financier and keen business man, he is also pos- sessed of generous instincts, which lead him to take a deep and intelligent interest in all movements calculated to advance the public welfare.

AUX, HON. RICHARD, Lawyer and Politician, was born December 19th, 1819, and is a son of Hon. Robert Vaux, formerly Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, of Philadelphia, and one of the originators of the public school system of Pennsyl- vania. He preferred to educate his son at honie, with the assistance of private tutors, rather than to entrus: him to the care of teachers over whom he could have no control. . It was to his father, therefore, that he owed the thorough development and training of his mental powers. It was the father's wish that his son should adopt the pro- fession of the law ; he accordingly entered the office of William M. Meredith, and was admitted to practice nearly a year before he attained his majority. Soon after he sailed for Europe as the bearer of despatches to the Hon. Andrew Stevenson, who then held the position of United States Minister to the Court of St. James. At the same time that he presented himself to the American Minister, an order arrived directing the gentleman who then held the position of Secretary of Legation to report at Berlin, when the former was appointed to the post, upon the duties of which he im- mediately entered. He held this position for a year, when The was relieved by the Hon. Benjamin Rush. Declining

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the offer of Mr. Dallas of the post of Secretary of Legation at St. Petersburg, he resumed his intended tour of the Con- tinent. He accompanied Mr. Massey to Brussels to super- intend the organization of the American embassy to the court there. On his return to London, he was prevailed upon, at the urgent solicitation of Mr. Stevenson, to accept a position as his private secretary. He remained for some months in the capital, and was brought into intimate asso- ciation with the court and the most distinguished men of that day, a fact which is chiefly noteworthy as indicating the origin of the finished manners and pleasing urbanity for which he is remarkable. He returned to America in the fall of 1843, and was shortly afterwards surprised by the intelligence that he had been nominated as a candidate for the lower house of the Pennsylvania Legislature, he having up to that time taken no active part in politics. In March, 1840, he was chosen a delegate to the Convention which nominated Van Buren and Johnson for President and Vice- President of the United States. In 1841, he was appointed to the office of Recorder of Philadelphia, which position he held for seven years, and it is a fact worthy of mention that no decision rendered by him during that period was ever reversed by the higher courts. A volume of reports of his decisions in this office is extant. In 1842, he was nomi- nated for Mayor of Philadelphia, on the Democratic ticket, and though not elected, his candidacy reduced the prevalent majority of the opposing party from five thousand to four hundred. About the same time, he was appointed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania as Inspector of the State Prison, and soon after was elected to the office so long and ably filled by his father, that of a Controller of Public Schools, thus serving in three important public positions at the same time. In 1847, he resigned the office of Recorder, and resumed the practice of the law, having, in the mean- time, been twice renominated for Mayor. On the consoli- dation of the city, in 1854, he was again nominated and was again defeated, his competitor being Judge Conrad. At the next mayoralty election, however, he ran against Hon. Henry D. Moore, and was successful. On assuming the duties of the position, he found that much remained to be done for the organization of the city government after the consolidation, a work which he was able satisfactorily to complete, and the system which he introduced has ever since been in vogue. In 1858, he was chosen one of the directors of Girard College, and the following year was elected President of the Board. While an incumbent of this position, he introduced into the management a feature which excited considerable comment, and which a change in the control of the body of managers caused to be subse- quently abandoned. Finding that many of the students were incapable of pursuing efficiently the higher branches of the college curriculum, he secured the adoption of a provision requiring such pupils to learn some useful handicraft. While occupying this position he was precluded from any active participation in politics, and from accepting any nomination

for an elective office. Mr. Buchanan being elected Presi- dent of the United States, it was thought that the long and intimate friendship subsisting between the two might cause the President to avail himself of the talents and diplomatic training of his friend. It is related that he was sent for by the President, who wished to induce him to support certain measures of policy which he was not inclined to endorse. After exhausting his resources of reasoning and persuasion, the President is reported to have said : " Richard, remem- ber that William Duane and Samuel D. Ingham were ruined by their desertion of Andrew Jackson." The reply of Mr. Vaux was characteristically acute and bold : " My dear sir," said he, " it will be the greatest mistake of your life if ever you allow yourself to suppose that you are an An- drew Jackson." As would be presumed, he received no appointment from President Buchanan. He remained poli- tically inactive during this presidential term, and also during the period of the civil war, his views being opposed to those of a majority of his countrymen. Yet notwithstand- ing that his convictions in this instance were obnoxious to the greater portion of his fellow citizens, his integrity and honesty of purpose were never doubted, and he has retained the unswerving esteem of all who know him. In 1866, he was elected Grand Master of the Masonic Order in Pennsyl- vania. For years he served as Chairman of the Democratic State Committee.

LEMENT, IRA T., Merchant, was born in New Jersey, January 11th, 1813. He is the posthu- mous son of a soldier of the War of 1812. When three years of age, his mother removed to Sunbury, and thence shortly after to Snyder-town. In a short time an important change occurred in the family, by the second marriage of his mother, and though he was but four years old, he was at this early age duly indentured to a farmer to learn that " art and mystery." The articles of apprenticeship are expressed in the usual quaint style then in vogue, and specify, among other par- ticulars, that he was to serve his master faithfully until the age of eighteen, and that during the many years he should receive " four quarter years of schooling." It is to be pre- sumed that the stipulations were faithfully adhered to. However, when he was free, he was induced to learn the trade of a carpenter, as he disliked the occupation of an agriculturist, and he devoted the remaining three years of his minority to a calling which was more in accordance with his tastes. As early as 1833, railroads had been built and operated in Pennsylvania, and a variety of routes had been selected for the construction of others. Among these was the Catawissa Railroad ; and upon this new improve- meut he secured a contract. Subsequently, he accompanied a corps of engineers in the survey of the Sunbury & Erie Railroad, in the capacity of teamster. The country through which the projected improvement was to pass, though now

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dotted over with cities, towns and villages, with the inter- vening acres carefully and scientifically tilled, was then an almost unbroken wilderness. The company which origi- nated this road soon failed, and were unable to meet their liabilities ; even their laborers were unpaid, and, among others, he lost all his hard earnings. ITis next move was to rent a saw-mill, and after a short season he went into the mercantile business at Sunbury, and built a saw-mill there, which he carried on in connection with the former interest. At the beginning of the war of the Rebellion he withdrew from mercantile pursuits, but within the past two years has resumed his former calling. As partner in one of the principal stores in Sunbury, the proprietor of a large saw and planing mill, the owner of a ferry boat, and pos- sessing a handsome farm, within a short distance of the town, he finds ample employment for his brain and hands. He was married, in IS35, to Sarah Martz, and has a nu- merous family.

PENCER, CHARLES, Manufacturer, was born at Enderby, near Leicester, England, June 12th, 1821. Ifis father, William Spencer, was a trades- man in that town, where his ancestors had lived for many generations; he emigrated with his family to the United States in IS42, and landed in New York May 4th, 1842. The next day they went to Philadelphia, where they found themselves entirely among strangers. After a diligent search for employment, Charles secured a situation to keep books and collect accounts for Samuel E. Cassiday, straw hat finisher, 43 Lombard street, at five dollars per week. IIere he continued until July, 1843, when with his savings of fifty dollars out of his meagre salary he prepared to engage in business on his own account. In the following October he commenced the knitting busi- ness in the garret of a house on Germantown avenue, above IIaines street. After various removals to accommodate his increasing business, he purchased the present site, in 1850, and erected a mill seventy-five by thirty-five feet, to which he has from time to time made the necessary additions, until the works now occupy about two acres of ground. ITis father, William Spencer, was superintendent of the works from their origin until his death, in 1863. He formed a copartnership with his brother, William G. Spencer, January Ist, 1857, under the style of Charles Spencer & Co., and Charles Paulson, who had for many years had charge of the New York warehouse, was admitted January Ist, 1867. Ifis elder son, Robert S. Spencer, became a partner January Ist, 1868, William G. Spencer retired in January, 1869, and his younger son, Charles H. Spencer, was admitted January Ist, 1870. He was married, May 27th, 1845, to Priscilla Smethurst, the sister of Richard and Robert Sme- thurst, of Philadelphia, and a native of Lancashire, England, where her father had been an extensive manufacturer. IIe became a citizen at the earliest opportunity ; but though he lamounting to an annual saving of $50,000 to the people in

has been an earnest advocate of the principles of the Whig and Republican parties, he has never sought nor held a political office. During the war he was an active supporter of the Union cause, and a liberal contributor to the main- tenance of soldiers' families. He is a prominent and active member of various charitable corporations, and a generous promoter of all the benevolent enterprises of the Protestant Episcopal Church, though his liberal religious sentiments enable him to support every effort for the alleviation of suffering or the good of humanity. He is a self-made man, and owes all his success to his diligence, energy and ability. Modest and retiring, he shrinks from notoriety, and liis philanthropic designs are so quietly executed that they only become known subsequently through their comprehensive- ness and liberality.

ALMER, ROBERT M., Lawyer, was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey, in 1820. IIe was a son of the late Judge Strange N. Palmer, who having settled in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in 1829, was for the space of thirty-six years a resi- cent of that place ; and a grandson of Hon. Nathan Palmer, a lineal descendant of Miles Standish, who, born at Plainfield, Connecticut, in early manhood removed to Pennsylvania, and served in the Senate of his adopted State for three years, having been chosen thereto by his consti- tuents of Luzerne and Northumberland counties, as holding the views and political faith of Thomas Jefferson. He also had been previously commissioned by Governor Mckean, whose election he had warmly seconded, as Prothonotary of Luzerne county. Robert was but nine years of age when his father removed to Pottsville, and inherited the same tastes as his parent and grandfather, both of whom had been connected with the typographical art and editorial fraternity. IIe served successively in various positions in the printing office, and finally reached the editorial chair of the Emporium. While so occupied, he studied law, and, in 1845, was admitted to practice. In his political faith, he was a firm supporter of the principles of the Demo- cratic party, and so continued until 1854. Previous to this date, namely in 1850, he was elected District Attorney of Schuylkill county, for the term of three years, and from that period took a high position as a criminal lawyer, and stood subsequently in the front rank of his profession in the Commonwealth. In 1854, he allied himself to the " People's Party," which opposed the pro-slavery dogma of the modern Democracy. In 1856, he was a member of the Union State Central Committee, and Chairman pro tem. of the Committee to arrange the Electoral ticket. In 1858, he was elected to the State Senate from Schuylkill county, and during his term, and mainly through his exertions, that county received more local legislation of a reformatory character than any other in the State outside of Philadelphia,

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taxes. IIe was elected Speaker of the Senate during his last year of service, and filled the chair with distinguished ability. A half century before, his grandfather had occupied the same position. In the spring of 1861, he was appointed by President Lincoln Minister to the Argentine Confede- ration, and sailed for that country in May of the same year. His health was not good during his residence, and, in less than a year, he resolved to return home, his physicians trusting that the sea air might be of benefit to him. Ile died April 26th, 1862, on the thirteenth day out, and on the following day his remains were committed to the deep. He left a widow and six children, four of whom are living. Ilis eldest son, Dr. Charles Thomas Palmer, after serving for two years as Resident Physician of Wills' Hospital, Philadelphia, returned to Pottsville, and, in 1871, was elected Coroner of Schuylkill county, which position he yet holds.

ACHE, ALEXANDER DALLAS, Scientist, was a great grandson of Benjamin Franklin. He was born July 19th, 1809, in Philadelphia, and was educated at the Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from that institution with the highest honors. In 1825, he was commis- sioned Lieutenant of Engineers, and was ordered to aid in the construction of fortifications. Two years later, he oc- cupied the Chair of Mathematics in the University of Pennsylvania ; in 1841, he organized the High School of Philadelphia, and filled the position of Principal during that and the following year. In 1842, he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, and, in 1843, he assumed the Presidency of Girard College. In the same year, he was called to fill a still larger and more important field of use- fulness as Superintendent of the United States Coast Sur- vey. This position he occupied until his death ; and the services which he rendered the country by the efficient man- ner in which he organized the Survey Bureau and carried of its complicated operations can scarcely be over esti- mated. Under his superintendence the work of surveying our extensive coast was conducted in such a manner as to elicit the most cordial commendations from all quarters, and the charts prepared by the Bureau are acknowledged to be models of excellence which have no superiors. IIe was a voluminous writer on scientific subjects, and a frequent contributor to the different scientific publications of this country and of Europe. In 1839, he published a very valuable work on the Educational Systems of Europe, the result of a trip across the Atlantic for the purpose of inspecting the schools of England and the Continent. He also edited, with notes, Brewster's Optics, and published in three large volumes, with plates, Observations at the Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory of Girard Col- lige. The Annual Reports of the Coast Survey, which

were filled with scientific data, were issued under his super- intendence ; and from 1849 to 1858, he published a large number of valuable papers in The Proceedings of the Ameri- can Association for the Advancement of Science. He also contributed to The Journal of the Franklin Institute ; The Transactions of the American Philosophical Society; The American Journal of Science, and The Proceedings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. For a number of years the Annual Reports of the Treasury De- partment on Weights and Measures were prepared by him. Ile was a member of nearly all of the principal scientific societies in America and Europe, and, in 1858, he was the recipient of the medal of the Royal Geographical Society of England. He died in 1867.

UNCAN, C. M., Lawyer, was born May 28th, 1831, at Cashtown, Adams county, Pennsylvania. His early education was thorough, and after due preparation, he entered Franklin and Marshal College, at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from which institution he graduated with high honors. IIe immediately applied himself to the law, and pursued his professional studies in the office of Ilon. Wilson Reiley, completing them under the auspices of Hon. J. McDowell Sharpe. Upon his admission to the bar, he commenced practice in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and quickly made for himself a reputation as a gentleman of refined instincts, a successful lawyer, and a keen politician. In 1865, he was elected to the State Senate, from the district composed of the counties of Adams and Franklin. The eminent quali- ties for the service of the State which he possessed ; his thorough devotion to the best interests of his district, as well as the entire country; his ready sacrifice of selfish and sectional feeling to the general welfare, and his fearless maintenance of the high demands of virtue and right, amid the strife and tumult of party warfare, and all the engross- ing anxieties of secular concerns, were duly recognised by his constituents. In 1868, he was renominated, and, though opposed by a competitor of high standing, was re-elected. On all the great questions which regarded the substantial and important commercial and industrial interests of the State, while a member of the Senate, he took a position prominent and decided. He is a ready and able debater, forcible and eloquent. In the debate which took place, during his term in the Senate, upon the question of pay- ment by the State of the losses and damages sustained by the people of the border counties during the war of the Rebellion, he particularly distinguished himself, and the success of the appeal was largely due to his efforts. His term of service in the Senate having expired, he declined re-election, and returned to the practice of his profession in the town of Chambersburg. There he still resides, conducting a large and lucrative practice, and enjoying the high esteem of the community.

1 5

Un Hall Warler .

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AXLER, WILLIAM HALL, Lawyer, was born in the Twenty-third Ward, of Philadelphia, De- cember 13th, 1837. ITis family were among the oldest settlers in the State, and his father, John Waxler, was a progressive farmer in Oxford Township. During the earlier period of his boy- hood he attended the public schools, but finished his edu- cation at Port Royal Seminary (a mathematical and classi- cal institute), near Frankford. His natural mathematical genius led him to devote great attention to that branch and to look forward to civil engineering as his profession in life, but, considering the wider field offered by the law, he entered the Law Department of the University of Pennsyl- vania, in 1858. He became a student in the office of George W. Biddle, about April 1st, 1859; graduated from the University July 3d, 1860; was admitted to the bar January 19th, 1861, and at once energetically engaged in practice. He was married to Fannie E. Galligher, formerly of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on April 8th, 1862. IIe is a prominent member of, and ruling elder in, the Presbyterian Church. He was one of the originators and Secretary of the Frankford & Philadelphia Passenger Railway Company, afterward merged into the Second & Third Street Road, and is an officer in various other local corporations, includ- ing the North Cedar Hill Cemetery Company, of which he is a Director and an originator. He has-been anDele- gate to every Republican Judicial Convention held in Phila- delphia since he became a voter, but has uniformly eschewed : politics and devoted himself to his profession, in which he' has achieved great success by the power of superior intellect and inherent energy.

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The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1, Part 37

Author: Robson, Charles. 4n; Galaxy Publishing Company. 4n Publication date: 1874 Publisher: Philadelphia : Galaxy Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 908

Author: Robson, Charles. 4n; Galaxy Publishing Company. 4n
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Philadelphia : Galaxy Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 908