USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 55
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
HAIN, BENJAMIN EVANS, Lawyer, was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, October 15th, 1823. His father, John Chain, was also a native of Norristown, where his ancestors settled more than a century ago. His education was com- menced in the schools of his native town, and continued principally under the care of Eliphalet Roberts until he went to Lawrenceville, New Jersey, to be prepared for college by Hugh and Samuel Hammell. He entered the Sophomore Class in Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1839, and, having graduated in 1842, en- gaged in the study of law with G. Rodman Fox, of Norris- town. Having removed to Easton about January Ist, 1844, he continued bis studies with Hon. James M. Porter until he was admitted to the bar, in November, 1844. On the 220 of the same month, he was enrolled as a practitioner in the courts of Montgomery county, and has since been actively engaged in his profession at that place. He was the first District Attorney elected by the people under the law making it an elective office. Previous to the war of the Rebellion, he had been a prominent Democrat, and during
1
244
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
that struggle gave his whole energy to the maintenance of the Government. Since that time he has taken no active part in political affairs. He is a public spirited man, and has contributed much to the advancement of the public good. Ile was one of the originators of the Gas Company, and for the first ten years of its existence was its President ; he was also one of the founders of the First National Bank, of Norristown, of which he has been a director since its organization.
OSS, THOMAS, Lawyer, was born at Easton, Penn- sylvania, December 3d, 1806. He entered the Ju- nior Class of the College of New Jersey, and be- came a member of the American Whig Society. He graduated in 1825, and commenced the study of the law under the supervision of his father, John Ross, then one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Ile was admitted to the bar, in the county of Northampton, in 1829, and removed to Doylestown, Pennsylvania, where he began the practice of his profession. In 1830, he was commissioned, by Philip Markley, Deputy Attorney General of the counties of Bucks, Northampton and Montgomery, at which time he was but twenty-four years of age. While acting in this capacity, he conducted the trial of Mina and Mrs. Chapman, a leading case in the annals of American poisoning, with such marked ability that from that date he became one of the most prominent lawyers in Eastern Pennsylvania. In IS32, he was nomi- nated by the Anti-Masonic party as their candidate for Congress, but was defeated by a small majority. In 1838, he was appointed one of the Board of Visitors from Penn- sylvania to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and in the same year was nominated by the Demo- cratic party as a candidate to the convention to revise the Constitution of Pennsylvania, but was defeated. In 1848, he was nominated by the Democratic party of the Sixth Congressional District of Pennsylvania as their Representa- tive in Congress, and was elected, being again returned in 1850; in 1852, he declined a renomination. While in Congress, he voted for the Compromise of 1850, against the Wilmot Proviso, and for the Fugitive Slave Bill; al- though representing a district which was Free Soil in its tendencies, he was sustained and re-elected after giving those votes. From 1852 to 1858, hie pursued the practice of his profession, and was in the full tide of a lucrative business when he was attacked with paralysis, at the age of fifty-two, while in the court room, at the close of a laborious session. From this attack, which shattered his whole physical organization, though his mind was unaffected, he rallied in a great degree, and was able to resume his pro- · fessional duties; but, after a lapse of four years, he was at- tacked with softening of the brain, which, without dimin- ishing his intellectual powers, depressed his whole system and compelled him to retire from the active pursuits of life.
He died suddenly, on the night of July Ist, 1865. IIe had a keen, bright, discriminating intellect, that operated with wonderful rapidity, enabling him to arrive at results, as it were, by intuition. He was admirably fitted to perform the duties of an advocate at Nisi Prius, and had few equals as a Nisi Prius lawyer. He was a man of great pride of character, boldness of thought, and fearlessness of expres- sion. He was not a member of any religious denomination, but his whole life was characterized by an honesty of action and integrity of purpose that are rarely manifested. Though actively engaged in politics, and full of ambitious projects, he never sacrificed a single opinion for his own advancement. He was an advocate of free trade in the iron and coal region of Pennsylvania, and the opponent of Congressional legislation upon the subject of slavery, though living among members of the Society of Friends; and indeed, such was his energy of purpose and strength of will, that he controlled, in a great degree, the ideas of his community. In every relation of life, lawyer, politician and citizen, he maintained the reputation of an able and upright man.
AMES, BUSHROD W., M. D., Physician, was born in Philadelphia, in 1836. He is the eldest son of Dr. David James. He was educated in the public schools of the city, and eventually graduated from the Central High School. Hav- ing selected the medical profession as his future calling, he matriculated at the Homeopathic Medical Col- lege, and graduated therefrom at the age of twenty-one years. He had ever been a close student, an ardent reader, and a steady inquirer after new theories, hypotheses, and scientific discoveries, as was natural to one of his tem- perament. He commenced at once to practise his profes- sion, which has become more and more lucrative with each successive year. As a surgeon, he has attained great reputation. ITis practice in this department is conserva- tive, when possible, rather than operative, but he is firm and skilful when occasion demands an operation. Through his instrumentality the Homoeopathic Medical Society of Philadelphia was inaugurated, in which he servedl for seven years as Recording Secretary, and now holds the honorable position of President. He is connected with a number of scientific and literary associations in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Ile has travelled extensively through Europe and America. Being a close observer of men and things, he has of late acquired a high reputation as a lec- turer, and has ably described the scenes through which he passed while abroad. His extensive practice, beside other professional duties, have prevented him from appearing before the public, although frequently solicited to do so. In 1867, he was selected as a delegate to represent the American Institute of Homeopathy in the World's Con- gress of Physicians attached to that school, held in Paris.
Galaxy tul 02. Bland1
Cd: Pippo.
ok exeir
245
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆEDLA.
He is an active member of the Executive Committee of the Institute, created for the purpose of arranging and develop- ing plans for a similar convention to be held in Philadelphia during the approaching Centennial of American Indepen- dence. As a writer, he is widely known. He is Surgical Editor of the American Observer, of Detroit, and for two years was Surgical Critic for the Medical Investigator, of Chicago. He is a contributor to the Hahnemannian Monthly, of Philadelphia, and also to numerous other medical journals.
IPPE, ADOLPHUS, M. D., Physician, is a native of Germany, and was born at the family estate of "See," May 11th, 1812. He is the eldest son of the late Count Ludwig and Countess Augusta zur Lippe. He was educated at Berlin, and is a graduate of that university. He was originally destined by his parents for the profession of law, and, while prosecuting his legal studies, taste and opportunity attracted him to the more congenial pursuits of medicine, and at the close of a year he devoted himself thereto. He emigrated to the United States in 1839, and presented himself to the only homeopathic school there sustained, at Allentown, Pennsylvania. After a critical examination, he graduated at that institution, receiving his diploma from the. Presi- dent, Dr. Constantine Hering, July 27th, IS41. IIe located at Pottsville, and practised his profession with suc-' cess and growing ability until called to a larger field at Carlisle. There the prevalent epidemics of the Cumber- land Valley gave him a new distinction, by means of which he was, six years later, induced to settle in Philadelphia. Here he speedily attained a distinction that needs no pub- lication and cannot be overthrown. Aside from his strictly professional labors, he has been a regular contributor to the literature of his school. He filled the chair of Materia Medica in the Homeopathic College of Pennsylvania from 1863 to 1868 with distinguished success and universal ac- ceptance. He also translated valuable Italian, German, and French homeopathic essays and treatises that are now. standard; augmented and improved Homeopathic Materia Medica, and, by his clinical reports, has shown how this may be rendered practically available and utilized in the application of homoeopathic knowledge and principles. Having adopted homeopathy after careful examination, when qualified to institute and conduct it; believing it to be progressive, rather than stagnant; and having devoted the best years of a prosperous life towards establishing its claims in America, he has rejected all solicitations that re- called him to Germany. Defending the school in its in- fancy, and nurturing it through a crescent youth, he has had the rare felicity of witnessing the realization of his best lopes, and enjoying a success to which his labors have contributed a full share. Unwilling to abandon results he did so much towards securing, hopeful of farther progress tended tour to Europe and the Holy Land, whence he
and more decisive victory, when all but the last blow seems won, and supported by both pupils and patients, he is continuing his career in the field of its greatest triumphs with undiminished energy, and an ability that is increased by every day's labor, study and experience. He is assured of an honorable niche in the American chapter of homco- pathic history, and may eventually challenge a foremost position.
HANAFELT, REV. ANDREW FULLER, Cler- gyman, was born in McConnellstown, Hunting- don county, Pennsylvania, March 10th, 1832. In 1836, his father, Nicholas Shanafelt, with his wife, Keziah, and little family, removed to Clarion county, Pennsylvania, then called the west. His parents were persons of exemplary piety, and his father was for forty years a prominent member and a deacon of the Baptist Church. His paternal grandfather was a native of Germany, and served with honor in the Revolutionary army, being with Washington at Valley Forge, and wounded at Brandywine. Two uncles also served in the War of 1812. Ilis maternal ancestors were English. His father being engaged in gunsmithing, then a lucrative employment, he grew up in the business, and at sixteen was a very expert mechanic and rendered his father valuable assistance. Having been convinced of the truths of Christianity, in January, 1851, in the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he subsequently became a member, he felt that he was called to preach the gospel. He accordingly spent a year in the academy at Clarion, and then pursued his studies for a similar period in Alle- gheny College, designing to enter the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His views of doctrine having changed, he united with the First Baptist Church, of Meadville, Pennsylvania. Subsequently, the infirmities and solicitations of his parents induced him to return home and assume the management of his father's business. He married Eliza S. Potter, of Clarion county, December 23d, I852; but still feeling the irresistible call to the ministry, he entered the University at Lewisburg in 1853, whence he graduated, with his brother, John R., July 30th, 1856, and entered the Theological Department of the same insti- tution, supplying adjacent churches during his theological course. Having graduated July 27th, 1858, he was or- dained pastor of the churches at White Hall and Derry on the 29th of the same month. He. resigned that charge in 1864, and accepted a call to the Logan's Valley Baptist Church, of Blair county, Pennsylvania. A call was ex- tended to him by the First Baptist Church of Chester, Pennsylvania, in November, 1866, and having been ac- cepted in December, he entered upon his duties as pastor in March, 1867, and still labors with great acceptability and efficiency. He left home June Ist, 1873, for an ex-
246
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
.
returned November 17th following, and afterward gave many interesting discourses upon subjects suggested by his travels. He is a member of the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Baptist State Association, and has sustained a relation to many other boards of the State. Of his three brothers, two are graduates of the University of Lewisburg and ministers of the Baptist denomination, while the third is a worthy and exemplary deacon. Ile has been emi- nently successful in his work, having baptized over 500 persons. Ile founded a new church at White Hall, Mon- tour county, Pennsylvania, and has been a prominent preacher of dedicatory, installation and ordination sermons. Ilis literary attainments are of a high order, and his pres- ence in the social circle is ever hailed with pleasure. :
HIOMAS, AMOS RUSSELL, M. D., Physician, was born at Watertown, New York, October 3d, 1827. He is the son of Colonel Azariah Thomas, who served under General Jacob Brown, on the Northern Frontier in the War of 1812. Thrown upon his own resources at an early age, he ac- quired his education, both literary and professional, by his unaided individual efforts. Living in the country until. nearly twenty years of age, by manual labor upon a farm, he acquired a robust and vigorous physical constitution. His love for books led him to devote his evenings and other intervals of leisure to study, and in. this manner he qualified himself, and commenced teaching school in the western part of New York, in 1846. Four years after, he engaged in mercantile pursuits in Ogdensburgh, New York, but finding this employment an uncongenial one, he turned again to his books, and resolved to devote his future to a professional pursuit. By getting possession of an old Indian skull, which had been exhumed in making an ex- cavation near his place of business, and borrowing a work on Anatomy, for the purpose of studying this skull, he be- came so much interested as to engage at once in the study of medicine. He entered the Syracuse Medical College in 1852, and graduated in February, 1854. IIe thence re- paired to Philadelphia, and, after attending a course of lectures, again graduated in the Penn Medical Uni- versity. He was immediately offered the position of Demon- strator of Anatomy by this medical school, which he accepted, and made Philadelphia his home. In 1856, he was appointed to the chair of Anatomy, which position he filled for ten years. In the same year, also, he was chosen Lecturer on Artistic Anatomy in the Pennsylvania Aca- demy of the Fine Arts, where he delivered annual courses of lectures to artists and art students, up to the time of the sale of the old Academy buildings, on Chestnut street, with the exception of two years during the war. These lectures were the first of the kind ever given to art students in
America. In 1863, he was appointed lecturer upon the same subject in the School of Design for Women, where he has since delivered annual courses. After the second battle of Bull Run, during the late war of the Rebellion, he volunteered his services as surgeon, and was assigned a position in the Armory Square Hospital, at Washington, where he remained in charge of one of the wards until the wounded from that disastrous field were cared for. Be- coming interested in an examination of the merits of homceopathy soon after settling in Philadelphia, he was finally led to adopt that system of practice. In 1867, he was called to the chair of Anatomy in the Hahnemann Medical College, of Philadelphia, which position he still holds. As a lecturer on Anatomy, he has acquired a repu- tation for clearness and accuracy, and for an impressive manner, which at once attracts and retains the attention of the student. In addition to attending to a large profes- sional business, he has found time to contribute a number of important papers to the medical journals, besides writing a work on Post Mortem Examinations and Morbid Ana- tomy, which has been highly commended by the medical press, and also to act as General Editor of the American Journal of Homeopathic Materia Medica. He has two children, a son and daughter; his son, Charles M. Thomas, .M. D., having recently returned from a two and a half years' course of study and travel in the Old World.
HARSWOOD, GEORGE, Lawyer, and Judge of . the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, was born in the city of Philadelphia, July 7th, ISIO. After receiving a thorough academical and classical education, he matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania, from which institution he gradu- ated, A. B., in July, 1828. Having determined to embrace the legal profession, he entered the office of the late Joseph R. Ingersoll, pursued the usual course of study, and was admitted to practice in September, 1831. His tastes led him to devote himself exclusively to the civil courts. He was elected as one of the Representatives of the city in the Legislature, for the session of 1837-'38. At the following October election, he was nominated and elected a member of Select Council, and served for the term of three years as a member of that body. In the autumn of IS41, and also of 1842, he was again elected a member of the Legislature, where he represented the (old) city for two years. In April, 1845, he was commissioned, by Governor Shunk, a Judge of the District Court of the city and county of Phila- delphia, and, in February, 1848, was appointed President Judge of the same. Shortly after this period, the office of Judge of the various courts throughout the Commonwealth was made elective, and, in October, 1851, he was elected Iby the people President Judge of the same court for the
A. R. THOMAS, M.D.
A. R. Thomas,
PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY IN THE HAHNEMANN MEDICAL COLLEGE OF P'HILADELPHIA
247
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
period of ten years, and at the election in October, IS61, was re-nominated and re-elected to the same dignity. Be- fore his term had expired, he was chosen, in October, 1867, as Judge of the Supreme Court of the State. He is noted for his learning, the copiousness and perspicuity of his charges, the ability and thoroughness with which he takes hold of the subject matter in litigation, the faithfulness and impartiality which mark his decisions. IIe is the edi- tor of numerous legal works, issued from the press during the past thirty years, all of which have been well received by the profession in this and other States.
REAS, PHILIP RAPIN, Journalist, was born at Marble Hall, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, February 22d, ISog, and is descended from ancient and honorable families. Ilis paternal grandfather was from Saxony, and uncle to Jacob Frederick Fries (the correct orthography), the founder of a philosophic school in Germany, and a Profes- sor at Heidelberg in 1805. He was a man of profound learning, and the author of numerous scientific and philo- sophical works. The maternal side claims descent from the celebrated Paul de Rapin de Thoyras, an eminent his- toriographer, born in Languedoc, in 1661, who fled to England soon after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Ile subsequently went to Holland, and entered the military service, but returned to England with the Prince of Orange (afterwards William the Third), under whom he served with distinction at the battle of the Boyne and at the siege of Limerick. He was also for some time tutor to the Earl of Portland's son; but, in 1707, he retire.l from public ser- vice, and devoted the last seventeen years of his life to the History of England, which he brought down to the Acces- sion of William and Mary, in 16S9. This work he pub- lished in eight volumes .. In America, the collateral branches of the family have borne themselves nobly, and especially in times of public danger. Philip Rapin, a mater- nal uncle of Major Freas, and whose name he also bears, was a commissioned officer in the Revolutionary War, and fell at the battle of Germantown. Daniel Rapin, another uncle, is still remembered as the first Mayor of Washing- ton City, and was afterwards appointed Justice of the Peace by President Jefferson. He was also the first and only bookseller at the Federal Capital for many years. In ISI4, he had the distinction of having his dwellings, store and stock of books burned by the British, on the ground that he held office under government. He was Postmaster of the House of Representatives at the time of his death, in 1825. Like many other men who have won honorable distinction, the early educational advantages of Major Freas were small, and ended at sixteen. He then entered the printing office of the Norristown Herald, where he served an apprenticeship of five years. On the day he at-
tained his majority (February 22d, 1830), he went to Ger- mantown, for the first time, and saw it as a stranger. He was unheralded and uninvited, yet he resolved to make in it his abiding place. He had but little capital, save his heart and brains, his industry, energy and perseverance. Ile turned at once to journalism as his natural task, and forthwith arranged for the issue of a weekly family and agricultural paper. It should be remarked that this had been the dream of his life from childhood until he reached the measure of a man. A secret and powerful purpose seems to have urged him on from the very beginning. The printing materials were obtained from Jedediah Howe, a type founder, on a credit of sixty days, without note, se- curity, or reference of any kind whatever. When after- wards asked why he had been so liberal of credit to an entire stranger, the type founder simply answered, that all he required was an honest face. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the obligation was discharged on the day it was due. The first number of the Germantown Telegraph was issued March 17th, 1830; and it may be mentioned, as an evidence of its wide and lasting success, that during the forty-three years of its intervening history, it has been en- larged no less than six times. The favor which greeted its first appearance has known no abatement, but has gone on, steadily increasing. As a weekly visitor to the fireside of a large constituency, it has held its own in the presence of near and formidable rivals; and its reputation as a leading family and agricultural paper rests upon a solid and endur- ing basis. Its proprietor is a true and worthy representa- tive of the Franklins of the American printing press, and his name should go down side by side with a host of others, who have won their laurels on the same field of useful and honorable exertion. As long as such qualities as a stead- fast and enduring purpose, a strict integrity, an unflagging industry, an editorial independence, a high sense of per- sonal responsibility and a great practical intelligence shall be deemed worthy of public recognition, his name and fame may be safely held aloft as a just example and incen- tive to those who follow after.
OSS, JOIIN, Lawyer, was born in Solebury town- ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, February 24th, 1770. Ile was a son of Thomas Ross, a well- known and influential preacher of the Society of Friends. After receiving such education as the schools of his day afforded, he studied law under the care of his cousin, Thomas Ross, of West Chester, and was admitted to the bar. Ile settled at Easton, Penn- sylvania, in the practice of law, in 1792. On November 19th, 1795, he married Mary Jenkins, of Jenkintown, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and on this account was disowned by the Society of Friends, she not being a member. He was elected Prothonotary of Northampton
1
L
248
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
county, and served for several years ; he was a member of | the first to successfully apply it. In 1847, he was commis- the State Legislature from 1812 to 1816, and represented his listrict in Congress from 1816 to ISIS. In the latter year he received an appointment as Judge of the Common Pleas, and held the scales of justice upon the same bench now occupied by his grandson, Hon. Henry P. Ross, until April 16th, 1830, when he was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and filled the position with honor until his death, on January 31st, 1834. The clearness of his searching intellect, together with his ster- ling integrity and high sense of justice, eminently qualified him for the exalted position to which he was elevated.
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.