USA > Pennsylvania > The Biographical encyclopedia of Pennsylvania of the nineteenth century. Pt. 1 > Part 66
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TEVENS, RT. REV. WILLIAM BACON, M.D., D. D., LL.I)., Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania, was born at Bath, Maine, July 13th, 1815, and is the youngest son of William and Rebecca (Bacon) Stevens. His father was an officer of the United States army during the war of 1812, and died while the lad was quite young. He was educated in Boston, where the family resided, and from an early age desired to enter Holy Orders. With this end in view, he began a preparatory course in the Theological Seminary at Andover, but owing to a pulmo- nary affection was compelled to abandon this pursuit for a time and turned his attention to medicine. He was also advised to travel, and was absent from home for over two years, making the circuit of the globe, and visiting places out of the ordinary beaten track of travel, such as the Sand- wich Islands, China, and parts of India. During the whole of this time he was actively pursuing the study of medicine, and, while in Canton, gave his services at the American Hospital, then under the direction of the celebrated Dr. Peter Parker. On his return to America he went to Georgia, and continued his medical studies, at first in Savannah, under Dr. Edward Coppee, and afterwards in Charleston, with Dr. Samuel Henry Dickson. In 1837, he received the degree of M. D. at Dartmouth College, and returning to Savannah entered upon the practice of medicine there with great success. In the following year, he received an
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ad eundem doctorate from the South Carolina Medical Col- lege, where also he had been a student. His health being now completely restored, he felt free to carry out his origi- nal intentions. Accordingly, in 1843, he relinquished his medical practice, which had become large and lucrative, and re-commenced the study of theology under Dr. Stephen Elliott, the first Bishop of Georgia, his warm personal friend, and by whom he was ordained Deacon and Priest in 1843-'44. Soon after his ordination, he was elected Pro- fessor of Belles Lettres, Oratory and Moral Philosophy in the University of Georgia, at Athens, where he also under- took the charge of an Episcopal Mission, which speedily developed into a flourishing church. While practising medicine in Savannah, he had been prominently connected with the organization of the Historical Society of Georgia, by which body he had been appointed, with the approbation of the Governor, the State Historian. The abundant ma- terial, collected at great expense both at home and abroad by order of the State Legislature, was placed in his hands, and thus was brought about the inception of his chief lite- rary production, The History of Georgia. Upon this work he has spent years of most laborious research-taking no- thing for granted, but tracing every item to its original source, even in its minutest detail. In 1847, the first volume appeared, and was received with special commendation from the best authorities, taking rank at once as a standard history, and placing its author foremost among State histo- rians. The second volume was published in 1859, the de- lay partly arising from his previous change of residence. He has also produced several other works of an important character, presently to be noticed, but it is on this history that his reputation as an author permanently rests. In 1847, he was elected Rector of St. Andrew's Church, Philadelphia, and he commenced his ministrations there in the following year. In July, 1848, he received the de- gree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Pennsyl- vania. He retained the Rectorate of this celebrated church for upwards of thirteen years, the period of his incumbency being marked by the greatest prosperity in the history of the parish, and by a most lively development of every branch of church organization. During this time his pen was actively engaged in the production of numerous works, an account of which is given at the close of this sketch. In 1861, he was elevated to the Episcopate, being made Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania, succeeding Bishop Bow- man ; and, on the death of Bishop Potter, in 1865, he be- came Bishop of the Diocese. At that time, this extensive See comprised the entire State of Pennsylvania; but, in November, 1865, the Diocese of Pittsburgh was set off, and six years afterwards the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania was'created, so that now three Sees occupy the territory of original jurisdiction. In addition to the care of this im- portant Diocese, he has charge of the American Episcopal Churches on the Continent of Europe, and has-twice visited these parishes, embodying the result of his investigations in
a published address of great merit, entitled, A Glimpse at the Religious Aspects of Europe. In 1869, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Union Col- lege, New York. As a preacher, he is thoroughly logical, practical, and evangelical, with a graceful and impressive delivery. As a writer, his style is correct, highly illustrated, and though ornate never heavy. As a historian, he pos- sesses the rare faculty of filling up the outline of historical facts with lively description, and full and appropriate illus- tration. He is an active leader in the missionary work of the church, and in the great social and moral reforms of the day. In 1864, he was applied to by Hon. Asa Packer, of Mauch Chunk, with reference to the founding of some educational institution in the Lehigh Valley, for whose es- tablishment he proposed to give a large sum of money. To the development of this idea the Bishop devoted con- siderable time and attention, and thus was commenced what has since become the Lehigh University, one of the noblest academic institutions in the United States ; and he is Presi- dent of its Board of Trustees. The following list includes all the more important of Bishop Stevens' writings : Dis- course delivered before the Georgia Historical Society, Sa- vannah, February 12th, 1841 ; Treatise on the History of the Silk Culture in Georgia, contributed as an appendix to Harris' Memorials of Oglethorpe, 1841 ; History of Georgia from its first Discovery by Europeans to the Adoption of the present Constitution in 1797; The Parables Practically Unfolded ; Consolation ; The Bow in the Cloud ; Home Ser- vice, a Manual for private Worship, with appropriate Ser- mons ; The Lord's Day : its Obligations and Blessings ; The Past and Present of St. Andrew's; a record of ten years' labor in that Parish; The Sabbaths of our Lord ; Discourse on the Life of Bishop Potter ; The Undeveloped Powers of the Church, being the charge to his clergy, 1864 ; The Relations of the Clergy and Laity, charge in 1870. In addition to the above he has published a great number of sermons, religious tracts and contributions to periodi- cals. IIe has edited two volumes of the Georgia Ilis- torical Collections, beside contributing to it much original matter. This production is scarcely second in importance to his Ilistory of Georgia.
OCHRAN, JOIIN, Operator in Real Estate and Insurance Agent, was born in Chester, Pennsyl- vania, October 25th, 1824. His father, also named John Cochran, was born in Scotland, but his mo- ther was a native of America. He attended the or- dinary schools of Chester, but he is to a great ex- tent self-educated. Having left school, in IS42, he en- gaged in agricultural pursuits, and married Catharine, daughter of Samuel Johnson, of Springfield, on June 6th, 1849, and removed to Marcus Hook, in 1851, where he also engaged in farming. He returned to Chester, in IS52, and
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entered upon mercantile business until 1857, since which | his ambition or draw him away from his office duties ; on time he has been prominently engaged in the real estate and insurance business. He is the projector and proprietor of the new town of Norwood, on the Philadelphia, Wil- mington & Baltimore Railroad, and has contributed largely to the growth of Chester and vicinity. He has never sought or held public office, having devoted himself assi- duously to business. He is a ruling elder in the Presby- terian Church. He was also an originator of the company formed for the erection of the buildings now occupied by the Pennsylvania Military Academy. He is full of energy and public spirit, giving his sympathy and aid to every enterprise for the promotion of the best interests of the people.
RIZER, ENOS, Journalist, was born at Lawrence- ville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, June 17th, 1826. His father, Frederick Prizer, being a farmer in rather moderate circumstances, he was at an early age thrown upon his own resources. When about eight years of age he left his home- stead and went to live in the family of Mrs. Strautz, then proprietress of the hotel in Lawrenceville. Here he was employed with the usual farm labor, and made himself generally useful about the hotel. During his stay with the family, which lasted for a number of years, a strong feeling of affection grew up between him and Mrs. Strautz, and he regarded her as sacredly as his own mother. Owing to the kindly interest which she manifested towards him, she determined that he should learn a trade suitable to his tastes. Accordingly, when about fifteen years of age, he entered the Village Record office, at Westchester, as an apprentice to the printing trade, much, however, against the wishes of his parents. His services to his employer during his mi- nority were not limited by the terms of an implied obliga- tion, but were rendered unsparingly and untiringly ; and when in the course of years he became foreman and chief business manager of that establishment, his energy and ap- plication made him an invaluable assistant. During his stay at Westchester he formed the acquaintance of Sarah Levis, to whom he was married on the ISth of February, 1852. About one year afterwards a partnership was formed between him and Henry T. Darlington, an associate of the Record office. The Bucks County Intelligencer, published by John S. Brown, at Doylestown, was then purchased by them, and upon February 15th, 1855, the new firm assumed the management of the paper. His career as senior editor of the Intelligencer was an exceedingly prosperous one. He exerted his every energy to make the paper one of the leading journals of the county. Unfortunately, when just at the very prime of his manhood, it became manifest that his physical system had become undermined by consump- tion, and that the disease was making inroads upon his health with fearful rapidity. This did not in the least daunt
the other hand, it seemed to be an impetus for increased activity and renewed exertion. When at last he had be- come so overpowered by the disease as to be too feeble to walk to the office, he insisted that a carriage should be brought for him. Even though assistance was required to lift him in and out of the vehicle, he continued going to the office until the day previous to his death, which oc- curred on the 25th of November, 1864. In his public re- lations he was widely and favorably known. As a politician, he was ever a hearty and steadfast adherent and advocate of the great cause of union and liberty. Called upon by reason of his vocation to take an active interest in public affairs, he never descended to any act of a dishonorable or unworthy nature. Candid and honest in his political as well as business relations, he commanded at once the attach- ment and confidence of . his party friends, and the respect and esteem of the opposing side.
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OOD, GEORGE B., M. D., LL.D., Physician and Author, was born in Greenwich, Cumberland county, New Jersey, March 13th, 1797. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated, in 1815, with the degree of A. B., and, in ISI8, with that of M. D. He was Pro- fessor of Chemistry in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy from 1822 to IS31; Professor of Materia Medica in the same college from 1831 to 1835; Professor of Materia Medica in the University of Pennsylvania from 1835 to 1850; Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the same from 1850 to 1860; and a physician in the Pennsylvania Hospital from 1835 to 1859. He is the author of numerous and valuable works, chiefly relating to his profession, which rank among the classics of the me- dical sciences. His first important work, The Dispensatory of the United States, was written in conjunction with Frank- lin Bache, M. D., and the original edition was published in Philadelphia, in 1833 (8vo., 1073 pp.). This at once stamped him as a man whose research and knowledge of his profession were of the highest order ; it was thoroughly exhaustive in its description of the many medicinal agents peculiar to American practice, indicating minutely their various properties and effects. It has gone through thirteen editions, the last being in 1870 (Svo., pp. xii. 1810), about 150,000 copies having been sold. Before 1830 there had not been any United States Pharmacopoeia or standard list of medicines and their preparations whose authority was generally recognised. In the year mentioned two such lists were offered to the public, one prepared in New York, the other chiefly the work of Dr. Wood. In a severe review Dr. Wood completely demolished the first of these, and by writing the United States Dispensatory caused the authority of the other to be univesally acknowledged. In 1847, he
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published a Treatise on the Practice of Medicine (2 vols. 8vo.). It ran through six editions, the last being in 1867. Ile also published, in 1856, a Treatise on Therapeutics and Pharmacology, or materia medica, which had three editions, the last being issued in 1868 (2 vols., 8vo., pp. 1848), and a volume containing twelve lectures, six ad- dresses and two biographical memoirs, in 1859. It consisted of lectures and addresses on medical subjects, delivered chiefly before the medical classes of the University of Pennsylvania. Ile has also written The History of the Pennsylvania Hospital ; History of the University of Pennsylvania ; Biographical Memoirs of Franklin Bache, etc. In the first and last of these pamphlets will be found an account of Wood and Bache's Dispensatory and United States Pharmacopcia, of which he, in connection with Dr. Bache, and others, was editor of the editions of 1831, 1840, 1850, and 1860. In 1872, these memoirs, with the addition of the History of Christianity in India, of the British In- dian Empire, of the Girard College, and other papers, were collected into a volume entitled, Memoirs, Essays, and Addresses. In 1865, he endowed the Auxiliary Faculty of Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania, consisting of five chairs ; one of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, one of Botany, one of Geology and Mineralogy, one of Ilygiene, and one of Medical Jurisprudence; all of the subjects to be especially considered in their relation to medicine.
OWNING, ROBERT W., President of Select Council of Philadelphia, and Assistant Controller of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, was born in Philadelphia, January 22d, 1835, and is a son of James and Elizabeth Downing. Ile was edu- cated in the Public Schools of Philadelphia, and subsequently in the High School, which latter institution he left at the age of sixteen, after having acquired an ex- cellent scholarship in the various studies there pursued. During his youth he was a frequent attendant at his father's shop, and being gifted with a certain amount of mechanical ingenuity, by constant practice he familiarized himself with the various details of his father's calling, the carpenter and joiner's trade. After leaving school he entered the em- ploy of Robert Wood & Co., as an errand boy, but when he grew older he turned his attention to accounts, so that he eventually became their bookkeeper. At the age of twenty he effected an engagement with John Naglee, Jr., as accountant, and regularly adopted the profession of bookkeeper as his business for life, but with the determina- tion to obtain a perfect knowledge of the art in all its de- tails, and the various methods pursued in different establish- ments. After a faithful service in this house, he left to ac- cept a similar position with the firm of Lindsay & Blakiston, publishers of medical works, thus varying his experience,
and at the same time gaining useful and valuable informa- tion, which he could not have arrived at had he continued in one situation. Ilis next engagement was as a bookkeeper in the Bank of the Northern Liberties; and while in this institution he varied the monotony of his duties by succes- sively filling every position of trust and responsibility ex- cept that of paying teller. Ile thoroughly enjoyed his occu- pațion, beside giving perfect satisfaction during the entire period of three and a half years that he there remained, in- cluding also the time that he represented the bank in the Clearing House Association. The financial storm of 1857 caused a change in his business relations, and for a short time he held a temporary position in the Western Bank of Philadelphia, but soon was tendered the office of Auditor of the National Saving Fund and Trust Company, of which the late Henry L. Benner was President, and here also his many talents as a superior accountant were apparent. At the outbreak of the Rebellion, in 1861, he volunteered as a private soldier in the " three months' service," and was a member of Company F of 17th Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Frank Patterson. After he was mustered out of the service, and in the autumn of 1861, he accepted the position of Assistant to Henry L. Benner, Paymaster United States Army, and on the death of this officer he transferred all the accounts, papers and moneys to Major-General Wool, settling up every item of business to the entire satis- faction of the Government, and then reported to Washing- ton for further orders. On his return to Philadelphia, in 1862, he accepted the position of Auditor to Captain A. Boyd, Assistant Quartermaster United States Army, which he filled until this officer resigned, in 1864, when he was appointed Chief Clerk to Captain George R. Orme, the successor of Captain Boyd, and continued to fulfil the du- ties of this station with the utmost faithfulness for several months after the close of the war. During the entire period of his connection with the Government, he handled in vouchers and cash over fifty millions of dollars, with- out the discrepancy of a single dollar. The amount of labor was immense, but by his untiring energy all the details were accomplished with credit to himself. After a short season of rest, he became connected with the " Howard Ex- press Company," and when this was consolidated with the " Ilope Express Company," of New York, together with Harnden's Express, the whole became the " Central Ex- press Company," of which he was unanimously elected Cashier. He remained in this capacity until 1871, when he resigned to accept the management of Hall & Garrison's Moulding Factory and Store. On February Ist, 1872, he was tendered the position of Assistant Controller of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, which corporation is now operating 1574 miles of track in the States of Pennsyl- vania and New Jersey. He still retains this office, and gives his best energies and talents to the onerous duties de- volving upon him. He early manifested a partiality for the volunteer military organization, and became an active
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member of the Artillery Corps of Washington Greys, serving | in that organization the prescribed term of seven years, and being now an honorary member of that body. He has been a School Director for three years, and was appointed a mem- ber of the Board of Public Education for two terms. He has represented the Fourteenth Ward in Select Council of the city for the past four years, and is now (1874) the presiding officer of that body. He also is prominent as a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is connected with lodge 67. IIe was married, in 1854, to Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Susan Addis, of Philadelphia.
EAR, GEORGE, Lawyer, and Banker, was born in Warwick township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania, February 16th, 1818. He is the son of Robert Lear and Mary Meloy, who were of mixed Celtic origin, and was educated at the country schools of the county, finishing with a term at the Newtown Academy. He was raised on a farm, and at the age of thirteen assumed the responsibility of directing his future, unaided from any source. Engaged in such pur- suits as a laborer usually finds in an agricultural community until the age of nineteen, he then became a teacher of pub- lic schools, in which vocation he continued four years. At the end of that period he went into a country siore, devot- ing his spare time to the study of the law, under the pre- ceptorship of E. T. McDowell, of Doylestown, an eminent · lawyer, and a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1837-'38. He removed to Doylestown in April, 1844, en- tered the office of his preceptor to pursue his legal studies, and was admitted to the bar of Bucks county, November 16th, 1844. In August, 1848, he was appointed Deputy Attorney-General by IIon. James Cooper, was re-appointed by Hon. Cornelius Darragh his successor, and held the position until 1850, when the office of District Attorney was created, and that of Deputy Attorney-General superseded. Since March, 1865, he has been President of the Doyles- · town National Bank, but continues in the active practice of his profession, where he has risen by the force of indus- try and intellect to a proud position among his colleagues. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1872-'73 from the seventh Senatorial District, but did not sign his name to, nor vote for, the Constitution adopted by the Convention, because he believed in the people and their capacity for self-government. And, while he advocated and sustained all the important measures of reform in the Convention, he believed that the instrument as finally adopted contained such encroachments upon the rights, and restrictions of the powers, of the people as to deprive the Government of that flexibility, and power of adaptation to the varying necessities of a progressive and free people, as to render it inconsistent with a republican form of govern- ment. Ile was an early and persistent advocate of the
temperance reform and contributed much to advance its interests. He married Sidney White, in January, 1845, and has three children, one son, Henry, and two daughters, Cordelia and Mary. His son is associated with him in the practice of the law.
OORE, JOSEPH, Wire Manufacturer, and Presi- dent of the Bank of the Northern Liberties, was born in Halifax, England, February 20th, 1816, and is the fourth son of Abednego and Sarah Moore. When four years old he came with his parents to America, landing in New York, where they remained one year, and then settled in Philadelphia. IIis father had been largely engaged in the manufacture of woollen goods, and possessed an excellent education, which he was able to impart to others, especially to his son. He had been an ardent politician attached to the fortunes and creed of the Radical Reformers, and was a leader of that party, frequently rousing them to action by his eloquent and argumentative addresses. He partly instructed his son, as before mentioned, who completed his education in the school of Rev. William Metcalfe, a celebrated minister of the "Christian " Church, whose peculiar tenets consist in the disuse of animal food. His inclinations from boyhood had been in favor of machinery, particularly thie steam en- gine, and when he was but seventeen years of age he con- structed one entirely by himself, for which the Franklin In- stitute awarded him a premium. His aspirations in this direction, however, were controlled by his father, who taught him his own business, that of wire-drawing, in which he became thoroughly proficient. In 1838, a year after he had attained his majority, he started in this manufacture on his own account, having first constructed a steam engine for use in his factory, which was so carefully and solidly constructed as to be constantly used by him for the twenty- five years that he carried on his establishment. He was very successful in his calling, and by his uniform and steady course of life, and persevering industry, amassed a com- petence. In this connection, it may be remarked, that his father was the first to establish this business in the United States, and that the son was the first manufacturer of insu- lating wire used for the magnetic telegraph. All the copper wire used by Professor Morse in the construction of the experimental line from Washington to Baltimore, first laid down in 1846, was fabricated at his works. At a later period in life he turned his attention to his first love-ma- chinery-and assisted in the construction of several steam engines. In 1854, he was elected a Director of the Bank of the Northern Liberties, which position he occupied for ten years, when he was chosen its President, an office he still continues to hold. The bank was originally chartered by the State in ISIo, although it did not go into operation until 1814. It has stood firm amid the various financial storms which have shaken the country, although it did not
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