USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 43
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. but after his marriage settled at Ilamburg. The family consisted of five sons-viz., Thomas, Alexander, Samuel, James, and John-and three daughters, Naney, Susan, and Jane. The children were all born in Berks county, but the sons settled in Schuylkill county at an early day, engaged extensively in business, became widely known and universally respected. Samuel received some
education at Orwigsburg, but left school at an early age to learn the trade of millwright, at which he worked as a journeyman for a short time in Northampton county. Ile was, however, possessed of more than ordinary intelligence, and very soon developed something of the business capa- eity for which he was afterwards remarkable. He was, as a consequence, advanced to a share in the business, as clerk and bookkeeper, which position he filled with eredit to him- self and to the satisfaction of his employer until the year 1825, when, with others, he was attracted to Pottsville, Pennsylvania. . The same kind of exeitement which in 1849 turned the eyes of the world to the gold fields of Cali- fornia and attracted thither bold, enterprising, energetic, dashing men of that day, in 1825, to a more limited extent, found its counterpart in Schuylkill county. Anthracite coal was recognized as an article of commerce, and rugged mountains, until then held in undisputed possession by the bear and wildeat, unmindful of the surveys safely filed in the Land Office at Harrisburg, assumed value. Speeulators flocked from all directions to Pottsville, and a thriving town sprung up as if by magie in the mountains. He possessed energy and ability, but having little other eapital, although attracted by and thoroughly imbued with the spirit of coal enterprise, was unable to engage in coal operations. He resolved to build up from small beginnings, and at once formed a eopartnership with his brother, Thomas Sillyman, and his friend George Fister (afterwards prominent citizens), for the purpose of carrying on the mercantile business. (The firm was successful, and additional means gave to its founder the opportunity he had long desired. In 1839, he engaged in mining coal, and, to a greater or less extent, continued therein with varied fortune until the time of his death. The history of the mining of anthracite coal up to the year 1861, and to some extent since, is that of a con- tinued struggle against adverse fortune, with occasional eras of great prosperity. Notwithstanding his enterprise and business judgment, he was unable, from force of ad- verse circumstances, to weather the financial storm of 1857, and in his old age in failing health was the victim of finan- eial embarrassment. But the reputation he had made for himself was one in no degree dependent on mere financial suecess. ITis character, founded upon a basis of strict in- tegrity, was a compound of energy, perseverance, enthil- siasm and large benevolence. A pioneer in the coal region and in Pottsville, he was thoroughly identified with the progress of the region and the town. For years, eminently successful, he not only aided greatly in developing the mineral resources of the county by individual enterprise, but by well-considered advice; baeked by his personal eredit in very many instances, he assisted in laying the foundation of success in others. As might be expected in thus identi- fying himself with others, he sometimes met with losses, and from such losses, it is said, arose, to a very great extent, his financial embarrassment. In all enterprises for the improve- ment of Pottsville, from the date of hi, first residence to
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the time of his death, he was identified and generally in a leading position. He built on his own account a number of handsome private residences and stores, and was con- nected with the building of three of the largest hotels of the town. He was earnest and efficient in his efforts to move the county seat from Orwigsburg to Pottsville ; was promi- nent upon the building Committee, and a large contribu- tor in the erection of the new Court House. He superin- tended the erection of the old Town Hall. He was an originator and the first President of the Pottsville Gas Com- pany. An enthusiastic admirer of Henry Clay, through his individual exertions and heavy contributions, the first monu- mental statue in the United States erected to the memory of that great statesman now overlooks the borough of Potts- ville. His death, which occurred on October 18th, 1859, caused general regret. On the occasion of the funeral the bells of all the churches and of the Court House were tolled, and places of business closed.
EVERIN, JAMES HENRY, Lawyer, was born. April 21st, 1844, in Dover, Delaware. 'Ile is a son of James L. and Priscilla IIeverin, of Dela- ware. After receiving a good elementary edu- cation, he became a student of Princeton (New Jersey) College, and graduated in the class of 1864. Having decided to embrace the profession of law, he repaired to the Law School of Harvard University, whence he graduated in July, 1866. Ile then returned to his native town of Dover, and entered the office of IIon. . Joseph P. Comegys, where he continued his legal studies until his admission to practice, in the fall of the same year, at the bar of Delaware State. A short time after this event, he determined to remove to Philadelphia, as the best field where he might reap success. The desired change of location having been effected, although he was a complete stranger in the city, and without business or family connections, he had not, like most young men, to pass months and years in wearily awaiting for cases and clients, but almost immediately obtained a large and lucra- tive practice. In 1869 and 1870, he held the office of Assistant District Attorney under Furman Sheppard ; but the demands of his own. private practice obliged him to re- sign the position. In 1872, he was nominated and elected as one of the three Democratic delegates at large from the city of Philadelphia to the Convention for amending the Constitution of Pennsylvania. The nomination for this most responsible and honorable position was made in a Convention composed of the leading men of his party in the city, over a large number of competitors, among whom were some of Philadelphia's most distinguished lawyers. . Ile received the second highest vote in the Convention, and next to the largest vote before the people. Although, with
one exception, the youngest member of the Convention, he took high rank in that able body, being more noted, however, for the ability of his addresses than for their num- ber. He is, at present, the youngest of the leading mem- bers of the Philadelphia bar, having in the five years of his connection therewith acquired a practice second in size and importance to but few of the many attorneys and coun- sellors of which that distinguished bar can boast. As a lawyer he is noted for the earnest, industrious, and inde- fatigable care with which he prepares his cases, and for his great success before juries. His style of oratory is fervid and florid, yet thoroughly logical from the premises. He 'is possessed of a remarkable flow of language, and has sin- gular rhetorical power. He commands a wealth of imagery, and great originality in his mode of expression. He is married.
CKEAN, THOMAS, Governor of Pennsylvania, and a Patriot of the Revolution, was born in New London, Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 19th, 1734. On his father's side he was of Irish descent. Ile received his education in Dr. Al- lison's school, at New London; subsequently 'studied law, and was duly admitted to practice at the bar. Ile settled at New Castle, Delaware-then termed in the " three lower counties." He was a member of the Legis- lature in 1762; of the Congress of 1765; and also of 1774; and at this last period he was a resident of Philadelphia. Ile represented the State of Delaware in Congress from 1774 to 1783, yet was at the same time Chief Justice of Pennsylvania from 1777. His signature was affixed to the Declaration of Independence as engrossed on August 2d, 1776, though in the printed journal his name was omitted. He was a member of the Convention of Pennsylvania, and urged the adoption of the Constitution. After holding the office of Chief Justice of the Commonwealth for twenty-two years he resigned the same, having meanwhile been elected Governor of the State, to which he was twice subsequently re-elected, thus continuing in- that office for nine years. After the close of ISOS he retired to private life. In politics he favored the creed of Jefferson. As Chief Justice he was distinguished for the accuracy and profundity of his deci- sions. Ile died June 24th, 1817.
VANS, OLIVER, Blacksmith, was a descendant of Dr. Evan Evans, the first Episcopal minister of Philadelphia, who died in 1728. He was born in that city in the year 1755. Much of our steam invention is chiefly due to him. Ile un- derstood the application of it to wagons, and, in 1787, the Maryland Legislature granted him its exclusive use for fourteen years. Even prior to the Revolutionary
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War he had thought of and experimented on the expansive power of steam, but nobody believed him, and many deemed him insane. Among some of his published writings may be quoted the following :
" The time will come when people will travel in stages, moved by steam engines, at fifteen miles an hour !
"A carriage will leave Washington in the morning, break- fast at Baltimore, and sup at New York on the same day !
" Railways will be laid, of wood or iron, or on smooth paths of broken stone or gravel, to travel as well by night as by day.
" Engines will drive boats ten or twelve miles an hour; and hundreds of boats will run upon the Mississippi and other waters, as prophesied thirty years ago," etc., etc.
Finally, he published his bet of three thousand dollars, engaging "to make a carriage to run upon a level road against the swiftest horse to be found." His iron foundry, steam factory and mill were located at Philadelphia. He died at New York April 15th, 1819. He published the " Miller's and Millwright's Guide," 1795 ; the " Young En- gineer's Guide," 1805. The former work was patronized by Washington, Jefferson, and others.
combination among the journeymen and a strike, which left him without workmen for several months. This difficulty was no sooner adjusted than a strike was made against the apprentices, whereupon, determined to be master of his own business, he discharged the conspirators, and selected other workmen not affiliated with the Trades Union, and has had no trouble with the workmen since. He has now a large number of excellent workmen, many of whom have been in his employ from twenty to thirty five years. Some of the finest stone fronts and interior marble work of houses in Philadelphia and other cities are the product of his work- shops. Notwithstanding the earnest attention which he bestows upon his calling, he has found time for other pur- suits. He was one of the originators of the " Young Men's Institute," whose hall is located at the northeast corner of Chestnut and Eighteenth streets, of which he has been the vice president from the commencement. He was also for many years a director of the Franklin Institute for the Pro- motion of the Mechanic Arts. On the breaking out of the rebellion he joined the Gray Reserves, a regiment composed of the leading citizens of Philadelphia; he also equipped nine of his apprentices at his own expense. In 1862 he was elected to represent the Eighth Ward in Select Coun- cil, and at the end of his term was appointed chairman of the committee to pay the re-enlisted veterans and one hun- dred day-men. At the time of the invasion of Pennsylvania by the rebels, previous to the battle of Gettysburg, he raised an independent company of eighty men, who offered their services, and were accepted for the defence of the city. In 1864 he accompanied the expedition against Fort Fisher, and subsequently travelled over a large portion of the Southi- ern States. He has recently returned from an extended tour through portions of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and has written an interesting account of his journeyings. Although over sixty years of age, he has all the activity and appear- ance of a man in the prime of life. He was married to Susan Virginia Major in 1831, and is the father of Lieuten- ant-Colonel John T. Greble, who was killed at Big Bethel, Virginja, June 10th, 1861, being the first man to fall fighting in the Union cause. Edwin Greble, his surviving son, was a volunteer in the Union army during the war, and devoted his whole pay to the objects of the Sanitary Commission, refusing to receive a money recompense for his loyalty.
¿REBLE, EDWIN, Master Mechanic and Marble Mason, was born in Philadelphia, October 13th, 1806. Ilis ancestors were Germans, and among the original Reformers contemporaneous with Martin Luther. His grandfather, Andrew Gre- ble, was a native of Saxe Coburg Gotha; at an early age emigrated to America, in the year 1742, and set- tled in Philadelphia, where he married a lady of German birth, by whom he had five sons, all of whom, except the youngest, entered the Revolutionary Army, and fought in inany of its battles. Edwin received a liberal English education, and was desirons of embracing the profession of arms, but at the request of his father, placed himself with a marble mason, with whom he remained, without indenture, until he attained the age of twenty-one years. He then went to New York city, in order that he might acquire a knowledge of some of the finer branches of the trade. Re- turning to Philadelphia, he commenced business in the lower part of the city. Soon his operations became so ex- tended that he found the place too small; he therefore pur- chased a large lot and steam saw mill on Willow street, west of Twelfth street, and erected other buildings and ma- chinery for supplying the trade with building material. By AIINESTOCK, BENJAMIN A., Physician and Capitalist, was Lom at Berlin, Adams county, Pennsylvania, on July 8th, 1799. After a careful elementary education, during which he displayed considerable ability, he was placed at Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he ac- quitted himself with great credit. After graduating. hono- rably, he began the study of medicine with Dr. Luther, the explosion of the boilers in 1849, the mill and machinery were much injured ; damages were repaired, but in the course of a few weeks the whole was destroyed by fire, in- volving him in heavy loss, he having only a small insurance thereon. His next removal was to Chestnut street, west of Seventeenth, where he erected his present works, adding machinery for the preparation of stone for the facing of buildings. The introduction of this machinery caused a [ of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His kind and sympathizing
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nature rendered the heroic practice of that day uncongenial to him. For this reason he abandoned the active practice of his profession, and commenced a large enterprise in the town of Chambersburg, where he remained for some years. About 1829 he removed to Pittsburgh, where he established the well known drug house of B. A. Fahnestock & Co., with branches in New York and Philadelphia. In this business he accumulated a greater part of the large fortune which he so liberally disbursed in acts of friendship and benevolence. A gentleman, whose scientific and literary tastes were of the highest order, he was specially devoted to botany and horticulture, and also encouraged the im- provement of poultry and live stock at a time when those subjects were not sufficiently considered in his immediate neighborhood. At his beautiful country-seat, " Oakland," near Pittsburgh, his gardens and poultry yards were a great attraction to visitors. IIe was an earnest and active Chris- tian. In Pittsburgh he was a ruling elder of the Third Presbyterian Church ; and upon his removal to Philadel- phia, he connected himself with the Arch Street Presbyte- rian Church, under the pastorate of Rev. Charles Wads- worth, where he continued serving the church in the arduous duties of the eldership until his death, July 11th, 1862. He was a great traveller; his latest journey, taken in com- pany with his accomplished wife, the daughter of C. Wolff, of Chambersburg, embraced the tour of Europe and the traversing of the Holy Land. During it her care and re- sponsibility were very considerable, her husband being already an invalid. His death followed shortly upon their return to their native land.
AHINESTOCK, GEORGE WOLFF, Merchant and Bibliopole, was born in Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, on September 23d, 1823. He was the son of Dr. Benjamin Falmestock and Anne Maria Wolff, a member of one of the oldest and best families of Pennsylvania. He was edu- cated at Washington College, Pennsylvania, and selected a mercantile life; but the drudgery and detail of business being uncongenial to his tastes, he from his earliest youth sought and found pleasure in scientific pursuits. For a while he busied himself as a naturalist, bringing together a collection of insects and reptiles. Then he took up geolo- gical studies, and made a rare cabinet of minerals. Con- chology also engaged his attention, and he succeeded in bringing together numerous rare specimens of shells. Botany again was a special pleasure to him. While still quite a youth, his varied and technical knowledge was a matter of great surprise to the numerous visitors who fre- quented his father's residence; his botanical researches, especially, rendering him ever ready with scientific descrip - tions and a resume of the characteristics of any plant, from the choicest in the forcing house to the simplest in the fieldl.
Ile devoted some time to literary pursuits. " The Alarm Bell," " The Ilistory of his Maternal Family," and " Memo- rial of the Wolff Family," from his pen, attracted much attention at the time of their publication. His later life was occupied in accumulating a library of rare books, and more particularly in the formation of a full and complete collec- tion of pamphlets upon all subjects, which he bequeathed to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Historical Societies of Pennsylvania and Minnesota ; also a Manager of the American Sunday School Union and Academy of Natural Sciences, Director of City National Bank of Philadelphia and the Enterprise Insurance Com- pany. He filled the position of Trustee of Lafayette Col- lege, Easton, Pennsylvania, and was a member of the Executive Board of the Orphans' Home at Gettysburg. Active and honorable in his public career, his private life was of spotless purity, and distinguished by its domestic vir- tues. He died December 4th, 1868, on the Ohio river, in consequence of the collision of the steamers "America" and " United States."
ISPHAM, SAMUEL, Merchant, was born in Philadelphia in 1796. ITis father was a hatter, and in moderate circumstances. In 1798, when the city was visited by that terrible scourge, the yellow fever, he took his family to a farm, near Moorestown, New Jersey, where he remained until his demise, in 1SOS. When but a small child, Samuel was sent to market with produce, and it was while vending butter, eggs, etc., in the midst of the bustle of Market street, that he adopted a resolution to become a merchant. The death of his father threw the lad on his own resources, and when but twelve years of age, he sought employment in the grocery store of William Carman, on Market street, above Front. Here he remained two years in the capacity of errand boy. In 1810 he entered the grocery store of John Snyder, on Market street, below Ninth. At this period the trade between Philadelphia and the West began to assume importance, the traffic being carried on by means of the great, lumbering Conestoga wagons, and transportation was extremely slow and expensive. His employer was engaged in this trade, and he had ample opportunities for learning its mysteries and appreciating its difficulties while serving an apprenticeship as book-keeper and salesman. Always nursing his ambition to achieve to high position in the busi- ness world, he economized his earnings, and cultivated habits of attention, promptitude, and industry, so that when, in 1815, he determined to embark in business on his own account, he had a small capital, excellent qualifications, and considerable experience to strengthen his confidence. He entered into partnership with Jacob Alter, the firmn opening at 825 Market street under the style of Alter & Bispham. They started vigorously in the trade with the interior and the West, and were so successful that soon there was,
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scarcely a house upon the great road between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in which the firm of Alter & Bispham was not known. They continued to prosper and to enlarge their sphere of business operations until 1830, when the senior partner retired, and the remaining one took the busi- ness entirely under his own control. In 1833 he purchased the building now No. 629 Market street, below Seventh, and moved his establishment to that structure, where he has remained until the present day. In 1851 Samuel A. and John I. Bispham were taken into partnership, and the style of the firm was changed to Samuel Bispham & Sons, by which it is still known. He is the oldest grocer in Philadelphia, having been engaged in this branch of trade about sixty years. Of all the grocery houses that existed here at the time he began business on his own account, not one is left. IIe has been director of the Bank of Penn Township, to which institution he was one of the original subscribers ; is a member of the Board of Managers of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, and a director of the Reliance Insu- rance Company.
ORRIS, ROBERT, Superintendent of the Finances of the United States, was a native of Lancashire, England, where he was born June, 1734. While a lad of thirteen years, he accompanied his father to America, and about 1749 entered the counting- house of Charles Willing, an eminent merchant of Philadelphia, after whose death he was taken into part- nership by his son, Thomas Willing. The co-partnership lasted from 1754 to 1793, a period of thirty-nine years. At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, the firm of Willing & Morris was the most affluent in the city, and their enterprise and credit have rarely been equalled. In 1776 the junior partner was a member of Congress, and as such his name is affixed to the Declaration of Independ- ence. In the beginning of 1781 he became manager of the finances, and the services he rendered his adopted country were of the utmost benefit : indeed, it was owing to his exertions that the decisive operations of the campaign of 'SI were not impeded or defeated from the want. of sup- plies ; for he had pledged his private fortune to raise the means to purchase articles of the most absolute necessity for OGAN, GEORGE, M. D., United States Senator from Pennsylvania, was born at Stanton, near Philadelphia, September 9th, 1758. He was the son of William, and grandson of James Logan, the secretary of William Penn, and founder of the Loganian Library of Philadelphia. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and after gradua- tion, returned home in 1779. He applied himself to agri- culture, and made experiments with gypsum as a fertilizer. He was a member of the State Legislature for several years. In June, 1798, he sailed for Europe for the sole purpose of preventing a war between this country and France. On the army. He originated the scheme for a national bank, which was incorporated . December 31, 1781. The army depended principally upon Pennsylvania for flour, and he himself raised the whole supplies of this State, on being assured that he would be re-imbursed from the taxes which had been levied to accomplish this object. The position he occupied was a most thankless one, for when, in 1782, the public resources failed, and he was obliged to struggle with the greatest difficulties, the unsatisfied claimants complained of his mal-administration. He resigned his position, after holding it about three years. During this period he was ably assisted by Gouverneur Morris (who was no kinsman : his arrival in France, the American Minister, Gerry, had
of his), and who, after the war terminated, engaged with him in commercial enterprises. After the dissolution of the firm of Willing & Morris, he engaged in land speculations, whereby he lost his immense fortune, and in his last years was confined in prison for debt : that penalty for a misfor- tune, and not a crime, not being removed from the Statute Book of Pennsylvania for many years thereafter. He died May 8th, 1806, aged 71 years. His wife was the sister of Bishop White.
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