ALGERNON BROOKE ROBERTS, attorney-at-law and senator from Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, was born at Pencoyd Farm, in that county, August 12, 1875. He is the son of George B. and Miriam P. (Williams) Roberts.

George B. Roberts (father) was for many years the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and was one of the best known residents of Montgomery county. He was born at Pencoyd Farm, on which he resided all his life, and received his professional training in the Polytechnic Institute at Troy, New York. He immediately began life as a railroad engineer, working himself up to the high position which he attained by incessant diligence and superior ability as a civil engineer and railroad manager. He began work as a rodman on the mountain division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and in 1852, while he was still but nineteen years of age, was made assistant engineer of the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad, aiding in the construction and location of the Sunbury and Erie, the North Pennsylvania and other important lines, being employed as chief engineer on several of them.

In 1862 he returned to the Pennsylvania Railroad as assistant to the president, J. Edgar Thomson, continuing in this position for seven years. His service was so valuable that he was made fourth vice-president of the road in 1869. He was soon afterward made a second vice-president, and on June 3, 1874, when Colonel Thomas A. Scott succeeded J. Edgar Thomson in the presidency, Mr. Roberts was promoted to the post of first vice-president. This was a very responsible position, great interests being confided to his care. Colonel Scott died in May, 1880, and Mr. Roberts was chosen to succeed him, and held the position by annual re-election until his death, in 1897.

He was twice married, his first wife being Sarah Lapsley Brinton, and his second wife (mother of Senator Roberts) being Miriam Pyle Williams. George B. Roberts was the son of Isaac Warner Roberts, who married first Emily Thomas, and had four daughters, and married (second) Rosalinda Evans Brooke, and had two sons, Algernon, died November 5, 1868, unmarried, and George B. Roberts, born in 1833. George B. Roberts was of Welsh descent, his ancestor having come from Bala, in Wales, more than two centuries ago. He gave the name to the railroad station near the homestead.

Isaac Warner Roberts (grandfather), born March 15, 1789, died September i9, 1859. He was the son of Algernon Roberts and Tacy Warner, his wife, who had eleven children in all. Algernon Roberts was born in Merion, January 24, 1751. He was lieutenant colonel of the Seventh Battalion, Philadelphia County Militia, 1777, and justice of the peace for upper and Lower Merion townships. He married Tacy Warner, daughter of Colonel Isaac Warner, of Blockley, January 18, 1751. She was descended from William Warner, of Draycott, Blockley parish, Worcestershire, England, son of John Warner, who came to Pennsylvania, prior to Penn's proprietorship of the province. The parents of Algernon Roberts were John and Rebecca (Jones) Roberts, who had twelve children.

John Roberts (great-great-grandfather) was born 4th mo. 26, 1710, and died January 13, 1776. His wife died 12th mo. 8, 1779. He was the son of Robert and Sidney Roberts. Robert

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Roberts was the son of John and Gainor (Pugh) Roberts. This John Roberts was the immigrant, and he was also a very prominent man in the colony. He held the office of justice of the peace. and was elected to the colonial assembly. Where he settled he was almost surrounded by Swedes, who came to the country before he did. He built the old mansion which is still occupied by his descendants. He left for his posterity a very interesting account of his life, for which see Thomas Allen Glenn's Merion in the Welsh Tract.

Algernon Brooke Roberts was educated in the Episcopal Academy, Philadelphia, becoming a student at Princeton University, from which he graduated in 1896, at twenty-one years of age. He then entered the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania, completing the course and being admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1899. He was admitted to the bar of Montgomery county in 1903. Senator Roberts entered upon an active career at the bar, attracting favorable attention from the first. In 1900 he was elected a member of the board of commissioners of Lower Merion township, and the same year was presidential elector-at-large on the Republican ticket for McKinley and Roosevelt. March 18, 1901, he was appointed assistant United States district attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania.

In 1902 he was elected to the presidency of the Lower Merion board of township commissioners, in which position he has been very active in behalf of the public interests of the township in which the family have resided from the earliest colonial times. At the election in November, 1902, Mr. Roberts was elected senator, after a very active canvass, his Democratic opponent being John A. Wentz, who had been elected in 1898. The senatorial career of Mr. Roberts was exceedingly brilliant, he laboring zealously, not only for his constituents but for the interests of the people of Pennsylvania. As the author of the Sproul-Roberts Road bill, providing for state aid to highways, he was its champion in the senate and secured its passage through that body by a practically unanimous vote. He has also devoted much time and effort to the explanation of the workings of the law to the people of the county, making many public addresses at different points. He made also otherwise a splendid record in his first session at Harrisburg. He also took an active part in the Roosevelt campaign of 1904.

Mr. Roberts married, June 12, 1902, Elizabeth Linney Evans, daughter of Rowland Evans, Esq., of the Montgomery county and Philadelphia bars, and granddaughter of Horace Binney, of the Philadelphia bar. They have one son, Algernon, born April 6, 1903.

 

 

B. WILSON COX, well known as a limeburner and business man of Whitemarsh township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, is the son of Charles A. and Margaret H. (Davis) Cox. He was born at Cold Point, in Plymouth township, February 29, 1872. He was educated in the schools of the neighborhood, and also attended the Friends' Central School in Philadelphia, and took a commercial course in Pierce Business College. He then engaged in business at his father's extensive lime quarries and kilns, in Whitemarsh township, and is now the general manager.

He married Miss Ida Jackson, a daughter of Andrew Jackson, of Norristown. The couple have one child, Margaret H., born November 18, 1902. Mr. Cox is an active supporter of the Republican party, although he has never sought or held office, preferring to attend strictly to business. He is a member of the Masonic order, having attained the Commandery, degrees. He and his family attend the Cold Point Baptist church. The Cox family are of English origin, and their ancestors were members of the Society of Friends.

 

 

CHARLES STURGIS WOOD, a retired farmer residing in Norristown, Pennsylvania, was born on the old family homestead on Skippack pike, near Center Square, in Whitpain township, Montgomery county. He was the fifth child and third son of Charles S. and Melinda (Supplee) Wood. The father was a farmer by occupation, owning and operating a tract of land which he converted into a fine farm. He was born in the year 1803, and was the son of James Wood of Horsham township, Montgomery county, where Horace Wood now resides. Having arrived at years of maturity Charles S. Wood wedded Miss Melinda Supplee, and to them were born six children: Jonathan Harrison, born January 7, 1841, married Sallie Hunsicker, a daughter of Garrett and Kate (Rieff) Hunsicker, and lives in Philadelphia. Harriet Supplee, born December 22, 1842, died unmarried. Jeanette, born February 22, 1844, resides in Norristown. Samuel Supplee, born September 9, 1845, married Ella Boyd of Coatesville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, and resides at Elgin, Illinois.

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Charles Sturgis Wood is the youngest of the father's family. In his youth he attended the public school at Center Square, meanwhile assisting in the operation of the home farm. He became familiar with all the duties of the school room. He was thus employed until eighteen years of age, when he entered upon an apprenticeship to the painter's trade, which he followed for nearly eight years. At the same time he remained at home and assisted in the farm work. He succeeded his father in the ownership of the old homestead, purchasing the interest of the other heirs at the time of the settlement of the estate. He then devoted his energies to managing the farm for some years, engaging in the dairy business and in the production of general produce. In his operations he met with a fair measure of success, and as the years passed by accumulated a comfortable competence. He was an active and enterprising agriculturist until the spring of 1902, when he was succeeded by his son, Horace Centennial Wood. He now, resides in Norristown, living retired from further business cares.

Mr. Wood has always taken a deep and active interest in the affairs of his neighborhood, and has given helpful support to many measures for the general welfare. Politically he is a Republican, and has always been a consistent yet conservative worker in the interests of his party. He and his family are members of the Reformed church although in earlier generations his ancestors were connected with the Society of Friends, or Quakers, and held membership with the Plymouth Meeting and that at Gwynedd.

On the 6th of February, 1873, Mr. Wood was united in marriage to Andora Rieff Tyson, a daughter, of Andrew and Elizabeth (Rieff) Tyson of Lower Salford township, Montgomery county. Mrs. Wood was born on the 19th of November, 1846, and by her marriage became the mother of two children: Horace Centenial, born January 1, 1876, married Caroline Knaus, a daughter of Jacob and Sophia (Knaus) Weigner. Two children graced this marriage, Charles Earl, who was born May 24, 1898; and Ruth Mildred, born November 17, 1900. Horace C. Wood and his family now reside upon the old homestead in Whitpain township. Tyson, the younger sots, resides with his parents at Norristown, and assists his father in the butchering and pork-packing business.

 

 

HORACE F. REIFSNYDER, the well-known railroad agent, located at Norristown, is a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he was born January 8, 1852. He is the son of Jonathan H. (deceased) and Mary K. Reifsnyder. He was reared and educated in that county, in the vicinity of Pottstown, in which locality the family had resided for several generations.

The Reifsnyders are of German descent, but have been domiciled in Pennsylvania for a century and a half. John Reifsnyder, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, conducted a general store very successfully in Chester county, and was widely known in that section of the state. He married Anna Harley. The couple had a family of four children, one of whom was Jonathan H. Reifsnyder.

Jonathan H. Reifsnyder (father) was born in 1819, in Chester county, and died there in 1893. After obtaining his education in the schools of the vicinity he engaged for a time in the occupation of teaching, and later turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, in which he was successfully engaged for a number of years. In politics he was a Republican, although he never sought or held office. In religious faith he was a member of the Lutheran church. He married, in 1848, Mary, daughter of Frederick Blink. Mr. and Mrs. Reifsnyder had five children, four of whom survive, as follows: Frank, Irwin, Horace F. and Charles.

Horace F. Reifsnyder, the subject of this sketch, after relinquishing school studies occupied various clerical positions for several years and then became a railroad agent. He finally located at Norristown in 1884, accepting the position which he has held ever since. Mr. Reifsnyder has made many friends by his courtesy, affability and strict attention to business. The interests of the traveling public receive at his hands that consideration to which they are entitled, and he possesses in a remarkable degree, the confidence and esteem of the community.

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In politics Mr. Reifsnyder is an active and earnest Republican. He has served several terms as a school director from the seventh ward, in which he resides, his home being at No. 720 West Marshall street. He served a term as treasurer of the school board, and has ever been a friend of educational progress in Norristown. He and his family are members and he is an official of Calvary Baptist church, at the corner of Marshall street and Haws avenue, Norristown. Mr. Reifsnyder married, May 6, 1874, Allie, daughter of George Alexander, of Chester county. Mr. and Mrs. Reifsnyder have seven children as follows: Carolyn, a teacher in the public schools of Norristown; George, Edgar, Herbert, Emma, Nelson and Eva.

Mrs. Reifsnyder's parents resided in Chester county, where they were for many years engaged in farming. After disposing of their farm her father was occupied in mercantile pursuits, conducting a general store at Pottstown Landing, opposite Pottstown. Mr. Alexander continued in the business until his death.

 

 

JOSEPH BOSLER, a widely and favorably known resident of that section of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, immediately adjacent to the city of Philadelphia, has been during a long and active career prominently identified with various of the most important commercial and financial interests of that region. He has long been an influential leader in the Republican party, to which he has ever adhered, and is held in honor as a type of that excellent class of Americans who engage in politics as a duty incumbent upon the true citizen, and not for sake of personal aggrandizement.

He comes of a family which, as its name indicates, is of German origin. His great-grandfather, who was his immigrant ancestor, on coming to America lauded in Philadelphia. His wife came with him, and their son Joseph was born after their arrival. Joseph Bosler in his young manhood located in the village of Shoemakertown (now Ogontz) and took employment as a teamster, hauling grain to the Cheltenham mills, and later delivering the flour therefrom. He eventually prospered and acquired property. He married Hannah McBride, of Paoli, Chester county, and they became the parents of two sons and three daughters: Joseph, who died June 23, 1828, at Columbia, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged as a contractor and bridge builder; Charles, mentioned at length hereinafter; and Ann, Emma, and Ellen. Hannah (McBride) Bosler, the mother of the above named children died January 16, 1831, and her remains were interred in the Friends' burying ground on Chelten avenue in Cheltenham.

Charles Bosler, second of the sons of Joseph and Hannah (McBride) Bosler, was born August 27, 1810. He attended the neighborhood schools and received an education sufficient for all practical purposes. When he was sixteen years of age occurred the death of his father, whom he succeeded in the business of wagoning flour from the old Cheltenham flour mills at Shoemakertown to Philadelphia and grain on his return trip to the mills. He was eminently successful in this work, and in 1847 was able to purchase the Shoemakertown flour mills, formerly the property of Charles H. Shoemaker, and with the assistance of his sons he operated the same from that time until his death, a period of twenty-six years, and accumulated a considerable estate. He was highly esteemed in the community, and one of its most valuable members. A man of the greatest energy, industry and integrity, his business career was characterized by sound judgment and prompt decision, and he held his verbal obligations as binding as if based upon a bond, the forfeiture of which would bring ruin and dishonor. He was of lively and sanguine disposition, benevolent and kind-hearted, and charitable both in thought and deed.

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In politics he was a Whig until the formation of the Republican party in 1856, when he connected himself with that organization, of which he was thenceforward an earnest and active member, voting for its candidates as a matter of principle regardless of the results at the polls. He married Mary Watson, daughter of William and Hannah Gillingham, of Buckingham, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Their children were as follows: 1. William G., born December 2, 1840. Early in the Civil war period he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, in which he served nine months, being wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He re-enlisted in Captain Samuel W. Comly's company of Cavalry. He was all active Republican, and took a prominent part in public affairs in Cheltenham township, where he was school director and auditor for some time.

From 1871 to 1874 he served as transcribing clerk in the state senate. For a number of years he was in partnership with his father in the milling business, under the firm name of Charles Bosler & Son. After his death, which occurred March 19, 1871, and on January 1, 1872, his brother Joseph took his place in the firm, which was continued under the same name. 2. Joseph, who is further referred to hereinafter. 3. Charles, a twin brother of Joseph, who died in infancy. 4. Hannah, born January 22, 1848. Charles Bosler, father of the children above named, died August 11, 1873, and his remains were interred in the Friends' burying ground at Abington, where those of his willow, who passed away January 3, 1899, were laid beside him.

Joseph Bosler, second child of Charles and Mary (Watson) Bosler, was born February 24, 1846. He acquired his literary education in the public schools of Cheltenham township, the Abington Friend;' School, and the Friends' Central School in Philadelphia, located at Fifteenth and Race streets. He then completed a commercial course in the Philadelphia Business College, from which he was graduated in 1864, at the age of eighteen years.

He shortly afterward engaged in a lumber and coal business at Shoemakertown, now Ogontz, which he successfully conducted until January 1, 1872. Since that date he has devoted his attention to the operation of the old Cheltenham flour mills, which was formerly conducted by his father and brother. Mr. Bosler was elected township auditor of Cheltenham in 1871, and has consecutively served as a member of the board up to the present time. He is also actively connected with various financial institutions, among them the Jenkintown National Bank, in which he is a director, the National .flank of Germantown, Philadelphia, and the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in which he is a member of the board of trustees.

For many years he has been a member of the Commercial Exchange of Philadelphia, and he also holds membership in the Union League of that city. In his community he is a leader in every movement conducing to the public interest, and is known as a man of sound and stable judgment, a wise counselor, and a sympathetic and helpful neighbor. He has ever been a stanch advocate of Republican principles, and has taken a prominent part in every important political campaign since entering upon the duties and privileges of citizenship, but without thought of personal advancement, and he has never sought a public office.

He has been a delegate to numerous county, congressional district and state conventions, and was either a delegate or an alternate in the national conventions of 1884, 1888, 1892, 1896, 1900, and was nominated in 1904 for presidential elector from his district. It is scarcely necessary to add that the calling of one individual to so many consecutive national bodies is a most unusual distinction, and emphasizes in the strongest possible way the worth and usefulness of him who is so honored.

Mr. Bosler was married, October 6, 1860, to Cynthia G. Comly, who was born October 8, 1844, a daughter of Watson and Mary (Lester) Comly,

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well known Friends of Byberry, Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania. Born of this marriage were the following named children: Mary who is the wife of Walter S. Comly; Caroline C., who is the wife of Davis L. Lewis; Charles W., a civil engineer, residing at Altoona, Pennsylvania; and Lester C., who is a student in the University of Pennsylvania.

 

 

GEN. JOHN F. HARTRANFT. Among those who were brought into prominence by the war for the Union, forty years ago, there was none who achieved greater distinction, or attained a more brilliant career than John Frederic Hartranft, the typical soldier-statesman of Pennsylvania.

Descended from that German ancestry which transmitted so many of its admirable traits to the people of Montgomery county, he inherited also the steadfastness and simplicity of the Schwenkfelders, that historic band who withstood persecution and oppression in the maintenance of their religious principles. An earnest patriot, unselfishly devoted to the idea of national unity, he might, had he lived longer, have risen to still higher honors and filled a higher niche, if possible, in the temple of fame.

The first of the name in this country was Tobias Hartranft, who came with other followers of Schwenkfeld to Pennsylvania, refugees from intolerance in their native land. Tobias married Barbara Yeakle and had several children as follows: Maria, second wife of Melchior Schultz, who died in 1799; George, married, but had no son and died in 1759; Abraham, married Susanna Shubert, who came in the same ship, and died in December, 1766. his widow marrying Michael Seidle in Philadelphia; Melchior, married. and died in 1760, aged thirty-four years, without male offspring; and Rosina. Tobias Hartranft died in 1758, aged seventy-four. and his wife, Barbara, in 1764.

Abraham, the second son, who married Susanna Shubert, had the following children: Christopher, born in Philadelphia, October 5, 1748, married and had five children; Abraham, born in April, 1750, married and lived in Montgomery county, having twelve children; Barbara, born in December, 1751, married, lived in Philadelphia, and had four children- John, born in April, 1753, married three times, and had thirteen children; Leonard, born in 1757, died in infancy; Leonard, second, born November 6, 1759, married Christiana Player, lived in Montgomery county, having fifteen children, and died at Tamaqua on August 28, 1841, aged eighty-two years, he being the great-grandfather of Governor John F. Hartranft; Maria, married Conrad player, a brother of the wives of Leonard and William, lived in Philadelphia, and had five children; William, died in infancy; William, second, married Barbara Mayer, a sister of Leonard's wife, had four children, and resided in Berks county.

The ancestry of General Hartranft is continued through Leonard, the sixth child, who married Christiana Mayer. Their children: Jacob, born in May, 1780, married Maria Geiger, lived in Ohio and died in 1862, Ephraim and John Hartranft, of Pottstown, being his grandsons; Rebecca, married John Beidman, and had three children: Leonard (grandfather) married Elizabeth Engle, had eight children, living in Northumberland county, where he died about 1842; Maria, born in 1784, married John Fox, and resided in Berks and Lebanon counties, having children; Susanna, born in 1786, married Andrew Maurer, and lived at Boyertown, having eight children, and dying in 1861; John, born in 1788, married Miss Bucher; David, born in 1789, married bliss Bickel, and had five children, marrying again and having five other children; Anthony, born in 1791, died in childhood; Margaretta, born in 1793, married Conrad Rhodes: Henry, born in 1795, married Mary Ann Gresh, living in Berks county and Philadelphia, and having twelve children; Catharine, became the wife of James Coates; Amos, born in 1799, married Mary Haberstein, lived in Schuylkill county, and had three children; Sarah, born in 1801, married Jacob Gilbert, and had three children; William, born in 1801; Christiana, born in 1807, was the wife of Jacob Lutz, and had seven children.

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The line of descent is continued through Leonard, who married Elizabeth Engle; his children Henry, born in 1804, who lived in Northumberland county, and had a large family of children; Samuel Engle (father); John, married, and had a family, who lived in Michigan; Susan, the wife of Mr. Weinberg, also lived in Michigan: Eliza, married to Mr. Hiles, lived in Michigan; Abraham, married, had a family, and resided in Lycoming county; William, married, and had children, living in Clinton county; David, married, and lived in Michigan.

John F. Hartranft was married on January 26, 1854, to Miss Sallie D., daughter of William L. and Ann Sebring. Their children: Samuel Sebring, born October 30, 1855; Ada, born March 4, 1857; Wilson, born December 1, 1859; Linn, born June 28, 1862; Marion, born September 19, 1865; Annie, born February 7, 1867. Ada died March 17, 1862, and Wilson on the 22d of the same month.

John Frederic Hartranft was the only child of Samuel Engle and Lydia Bucher Hartranft. He was born in New Hanover township, Montgomery county, December 16, 1830. When his parents removed to Norristown in 1844 he was a school boy of fourteen years of age. For several years he attended Treemount Seminary, under the care of Rev. Samuel Aaron, a celebrated teacher. He passed a year at Marshall College, at Mercersburg, where he prepared for entering Union College, at Schenectady, New York, at which institution he graduated in 1853.

His first employment after leaving college was assisting to locate a railroad from Mauch Chunk to White Haven, and other work in that line. Sheriff Michael C. Boyer appointed him his deputy, and he served also in the same capacity for three more years under Sheriff Rudy, Boyer's successor. Having in the meantime studied law, on October 4, 1860, he was admitted to the bar, and immediately opened an office.

Some time previously young Hartranft had joined the Norris City Rifles, being chosen lieutenant, and afterward captain. At the nest election held by the county militia he was chosen colonel. There were five companies in the vicinity of Norristown, and these formed the nucleus of the regiment. When the so-called Confederates fired upon Fort Sumter in April, 1861, and President Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 men, Colonel Hartranft went to Harrisburg, leaving his company commanders at home to proceed with recruiting, and offered the services of his regiment to the government through Governor Andrew G. Curtin. The Fourth Regiment was accepted. It consisted of seven companies, and reached Harrisburg on the twentieth of the month. In a day or two the men were on their way to the national capital, by Perryville and Annapolis.

The order to advance on Bull Run did not issue till the day the Fourth Regiment was ordered to the rear to be mustered out. Few, however, were willing to go into the fight as volunteers, among them Colonel Hartranft, who was accepted as a volunteer aide to Colonel Franklin, who spoke of him in his report in words of Commendation. He passed through the fray unhurt and returned home to recruit a regiment for three years. He had no difficulty in completing arrangements for the formation of the Fifty-first Regiment. Five of the companies of the regiment consisted of Montgomery men and five from eastern and middle counties of Pennsylvania. The regiment was organized at Harrisburg late in September, and was at once assigned to the command of General Burnside, to undertake a winter campaign in North Carolina.

The expedition left Annapolis by sea early in January, 1862, and on the 10th of February Colonel Hartranft led his men into the first battle in the swamps and thickets. of Roanoke Island. Foster's and Reno's troops, of which the Fifty-first was a part, not only carried the works on the first assault, but captured nearly all the garrison. At the attack on Newbern, a few days later, Hartranft's forces were held as a reserve at first, but soon participated in the final assault, which carried the works of the enemy.

Colonel Hartranft, learning that two of his children were dying, obtained leave of absence for a few days and returned home to find them already buried. While he was thus absent twenty days from his command, it was sent under Lieutenant-Colonel Bell on the expedition to Camden, South Carolina, on April 16, a movement undertaken as a feint to draw the attention of the enemy from the attack of General Wood. It was entirely successful, though it cost the Fifty-first fearful hardships and some losses, the killed, wounded and missing numbering thirty men. Camden was the only engagement in which Hartranft's command participated at any time from which he was absent.

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Early in August Burnside's force of eight thousand men was suddenly ordered to come northward to the rescue of McClellan's disorganized and dispirited army, which had just been repulsed before Richmond. Here Reno's brigade, including Hartranft's regiment, did efficient service, covering the retreat of the army on Washington and the north. At Chantilly, on September 1, two days after, they gathered. fresh laurels, effectually guarding the capital from attack and compelling Lee to make a long detour in his advance on Maryland and Pennsylvania.

At Antietam the Fifty-first won undying fame, but at a frightful cost. In the charge on the bridge the three principal officers dashed over with their men, but with the loss of Lieutenant-Colonel Bell, killed, and Captain William J. Bolton, desperately wounded, and also the sacrifice of many other valuable lives.

The actual casualties were twenty-one killed and fifty-eight wounded, whose names are in the report, although the official account places the number of both at one hundred and twenty-five. In making his report to McClellan, Burnside commended Hartranft's bravery, skill, and faithful service, and strongly urged that he be promoted to the rank of brigadier-general.

The army now lay encamped on the Rappahannock through the winter. Early in the spring of 1863, General Burnside, at his own request, was relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac, and with the Ninth Corps, temporarily under the orders of General Parke, was sent to make a diversion in favor of General Grant. who was then besieging Vicksburg.

Accordingly Colonel Hartranft and the Fifty-first started west by railroad early in April, via Cincinnati, and for a short time were posted in detachment at various points in Kentucky to protect Unionists against guerrillas. In June, Hartranft and his regiment were ordered to the Mississippi to operate on the Big Black in the rear of Vicksburg, to keep the Confederate General Johnston from relieving that city. During the subsequent marches of General Sherman against Jackson, Colonel Hartranft, then in command of the brigade, was prostrated by the enervating climate and compelled to go to the hospital.

The regiment was quickly recruited by new men and the re-enlistment of veterans. The regiment assembled at Annapolis, where in the absence. of Burnside the corps, to the number of twenty thousand men, was assigned to Colonel Hartranft, to whom all new regiments were ordered to report, and to whose supervision was committed the work of equipment and reorganization. Grant was placed at the head of the whole military force of the Union, and in person assumed the command of the army of the Potomac. Burnside's Ninth Corps, to which Hartranft's command was attached, was half composed of raw troops. This independent force, though not recorded as an integral part of that great invading army, was placed between Hancock's Second and Warren's Fifth Corps, on the Rapidan, and, advancing down the peninsula, encountered Lee for the first time on May 6, in the battle of the Wilderness.

Commanding a brigade, Hartranft was acting under Wilcox, and, being ordered to attack the unseen enemy, he perceived the impossibility of accomplishing anything to repay the sacrifice of life. He conveyed his views to Burnside, who seeing the reason for it, countermanded the attack. During this battle Hartranft was everywhere in the front. About this time Hartranft became a brigadier-general. At the battle of Spottsylvania, a few days later, it became the duty of Hartranft's brigade to check large reinforcements which the enemy threw on that part of the line. This involved desperate fighting, always at a disadvantage, and his losses were heavy in killed, wounded, and a few prisoners taken by the enemy. In these two encounters the Fifty-first lost nearly two hundred men in killed, wounded and missing.

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At Cold Harbor Hartranft's brigade was ordered to charge and take a line of works, which was accomplished. At this battle Colonel Schall was killed, also Captain Bisbing and many others. On the 16th of June, Grant's army crossed the James. The extent to which Hartranft's brigade had been used appears when, by June 18, out of one hundred and five officers, sixty-five were dead, crippled or injured; of eighteen hundred non-commissioned officers and privates, seven hundred and thirty had been killed, wounded, or struck from the rolls for disability.

After crossing the river, General Hartranft was wounded in the arm by a bullet. The losses of his brigade in all these operations just described were very severe; but now, having arrived before Petersburg, which was prepared for a siege, his force was placed to cover the engineers and workmen while excavating the celebrated mine which was sprung and exploded on July 30. In order to cover this secret movement his men were kept almost constantly firing at the enemy night and day for nearly six weeks previous, and losing several daily from constant exposure. On August 18 General Warren's corps captured the track of the Weldon railroad near Petersburg.

The next day, or rather in the night, General Mallone, being ordered to retake it, broke through the Union line, and Hartranft's brigade was ordered to reinforce the point attacked. This he successfully did, repulsing the enemy, while his horse was killed under him and a staff officer beside him wounded, losing his horse also. Hartranft's brigade participated in the battles of Ream's Station, Poplar Springs and Hatcher's Run. By the commencement of winter his brigade, though reinforced with three new regiments, had been reduced from three thousand effective men in May to less than one thousand in November.

About the 1st of December, therefore, General Hartranft was assigned to the command of six new Pennsylvania regiments of one year men. These new troops he at once set about organizing into a division, which was designated the Third Division, Ninth Corps. Before day on March 25, the enemy made an assault on Fort Steadman, and such was the suddenness and impetuosity of their charge that our men were captured and driven out, the enemy advancing their front beyond our line and taking possession of some rifle-pits abandoned by our soldiers. This was the status at four o'clock in the morning, when Hartranft, who was lodging about a mile away, hearing an unusual noise, arose and learned that Steadman, situated near the Appomattox, was taken. General Hartranft determined to advance immediately to the assault which he did, leading the attack himself. The enemy, not expecting the tables to be so soon turned upon them, were driven back after a stout resistance, with the loss of many killed, about three thousand prisoners, and the fort retaken.

The victory was complete, and the rebels set about arranging for their final evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. This famous assault, partly with new recruits, if we except the sweeping charge of Hancock at Spottsylvania, was perhaps the most brilliant achievement of this celebrated siege. The action was the crisis of Hartranft's military career, as also of the War of the Rebellion.

Just a week after this achievement, April 2, General Grant ordered an assault all along the line. In this attack General Hartranft commanded the Third Division of the Ninth Corps, and all of his old brigade except the Fifty-first Regiment, which covered the ground previously occupied by the entire brigade. Colonel Bolton, of Wilcox's command, ordered his skirmishers to advance towards the city, when it was found that the enemy were evacuating the town. Thus the commands of Wilcox and Hartranft were in Petersburg by early dawn. The General, with his division, pursued the retreating enemy as far as Nottaway Court House.

General Hartranft was detailed under the order of President Johnson to guard the assassins of President Lincoln during their trial and execution. He was shortly after mustered out of the volunteer force with his troops, but the government, desiring to retain his valuable services as a military man, conferred upon him unasked the

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rank and appointment of colonel of the Thirty-fourth Regiment, Regular Infantry, then stationed in Kentucky, which position the General declined.

Republicans of Montgomery county urged his claim for auditor-general at the convention that assembled at Harrisburg on September 17, 1865, which was recognized, and on the second ballot he was unanimously nominated, being elected by 22,660 majority at the ensuing election. In 1871 Hartranft had then filled the post of auditor-general so fully to the acceptance of his party that he was nominated almost by acclamation. On the 9th of April, 1872, he obtained the gubernatorial nomination on the first ballot. He was elected over Buckalew by the plurality of 35,627. He was inaugurated governor on January 22, 1873, with much ceremony. In 1874 he was reelected by the largest majority ever cast for the Republican ticket in Pennsylvania.

As Governor, John F. Hartranft performed his responsible duties with that sincere regard for the public welfare which characterized him in every situation in which he was placed. He selected wise counselors who represented the different sections of the state. Eighty-two vetoes of private bills were returned in one day to the legislature. It was during his administration that the present pardon board system originated. He was a warm friend of the public school system, and of the plan for separate confinement for insane convicts. It was owing to his recommendation that new safeguards were provided against fraudulent insurance companies and the like. He also suggested the forestry legislation which was enacted later. His urgent appeals in behalf of the insane resulted in the erection of the Norristown and other hospitals, in which these unfortunates receive rational and effective treatment.

He was the father of the National Guard of Pennsylvania, the riots which occurred in the great railway strike of 1877, in which fifty civilians and five soldiers were killed and a hundred more wounded, and millions of dollars worth of property destroyed, suggesting the necessity of some safeguard of this kind. He favored the arbitration of differences between employers and employed. On January 21, 1879, he was succeeded by Governor Hoyt, who nominated him at once for the vacant post of major-general. He afterwards filled other public positions, including that of postmaster of Philadelphia, and collector of the port of Philadelphia for four years. In the autumn of 1889 he became ill, his ailment refusing to yield to treatment. He passed away on October 17, and his remains were interred in the south corner of Montgomery cemetery, on an eminence overlooking the river for a long distance, a handsome monument being erected on the spot a few years later by contributions from the National Guard of the State.

Hartranft s successful career was due largely to his ability to grasp the opportunities presented to him. He inherited from a virtuous ancestry qualities which fitted him for the various emergencies in which he was placed. In war and in peace he made a reputation that is enduring, and he stands high among the sons of Montgomery county, whom its people delight to honor.

 

 

WILLIAM LUKENS, a well known lumber merchant of Philadelphia, whose country residence is located in Plymouth township, near Plymouth Meeting, is descended from one of the oldest colonial families. Their ancestor was Jan Lucken, who emigrated from Holland to this country in 1683, and settled in Germantown. among his sons was Abraham Lukens, who was the father of John Lukens, who was the associate of David Rittenhouse, the celebrated astronomer, and assisted him in observing the transit of Venus at his observatory in Norriton township in 1769. He was a skilled mathematician, and became surveyor general of Pennsylvania, succeeding Nicholas Scull.

Mr. Lukens has been twice married. He has one daughter by the first marriage, and a son by the second marriage. His present wife, Sybella (Thacher) Lukens, is descended from an old New England family, of whom Anthony Thacher was the first ancestor in this country. He was a brother of Rev. Peter Thacher, a distinguished English clergyman. Anthony Thacher came from Salisbury, England, bringing with him a nephew, Thomas Thacher.

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After remaining a short time at Ipswich, he and his wife embarked for Marblehead, August 11, 1635, the vessel in which he sailed being wrecked off Cape Ann, and all on board drowned except Anthony and his wife. His cousin Avery had received an invitation to preach at Marblehead, and he and Anthony with their families were on their way to that place when the dreadful shipwreck occurred. Twenty-one persons in all were drowned, including the Joseph Avery family, eleven in all; Anthony Thacher's children, five; William Elliott, and four mariners. The desolate island on which the catastrophe occurred, was called "Thacher's Woe," and the rock which the vessel struck "Avery's Fall." Whittier has written a beautiful poem, "The Rock of Avery's Fall." The colonial authorities granted Mr. Thacher the island on which he found safety as his personal inheritance.

The second wife of Anthony Thacher was Elizabeth Jones, whom he married six weeks previous to sailing to America. Their children were John, Judah and Bethian.

Of these sons, John was the ancestor of Mrs. Lukens. He was born March 17, 1639, and became a prominent man in the colony of Massachusetts. He married, November 6, 1661, Rebecca Winslow, daughter of Josiah Winslow, and niece of the first governor, Winslow. A remarkable circumstance in connection with Mr. Winslow's marriage is handed down in the family. On his return home with his bride they stopped at the house of Colonel Gorham, of Barnstable. An infant three weeks old was introduced with the remark that she was born on such a night. He answered that it was the very night on which he was married, and, taking the child, presented it to his bride, saying, "I wish you would kiss her, as I intend to have her for my second wife." Mrs. Thacher did so, saying, "I will, to please you, but I hope it will be a long time before you have that pleasure." This jesting prediction was verified, for the wife died, and the child, Lydia Gorham, arrived at mature age by that time, actually became his wife, January 1, 1684. It is also related that John, after the death of his first wife, while riding in Barnstable, saw a horse belonging to his son Peter tied in front of the Gorham residence, and, finding that he had advanced considerably in his suit with Miss Lydia, whom the father had prophetically declared would be his second wife, he took Peter aside and offered him ten pounds in money and a yoke of black steers to resign his claims, which offer the son appears to have accepted. John and Miss Lydia were duly married. John Thacher had in all twenty-one children, nine by the first wife and twelve by the second.

One of those by the second marriage of John Thacher, was Judah, born August 20, 1693, died January 8, 1775. He was a prominent merchant in Yarmouth, and married Sarah Crosby, June 4, 1725. She died October 20, 1771, aged sixty-nine years. They had eight children, of whom David (great-great-grandfather) born March 14, 1730, inherited and lived on his father's place. He was a prominent man in the colony being representative, senator and judge. He married and had six children, only one of whom, David the youngest, reached maturity. He died November 9, 1801. His widow, Mrs. Abigail Thacher, died April 25, 1803, aged seventy-six years.

David Thacher (great-grandfather) was educated at college and a leading man in Yarmouth. He failed in business on account of the embargo of 1812. He removed to Egg Harbor, New Jersey, and died there in reduced circumstances. He married, first, Sarah Gray, of Yarmouth, July 4, 1786. She died July 21 1793.

Their children were Sallie, David, died in infancy. He married, second wife, Eunice Wells Noble, June 12, 1796. Their children: David, Oliver N., Henry, Frederick, Arthur, Abigail, Lucy W., Alfred, Cyrus, Eunice Noble, Charles Fox, and Martha P.

Mr. and Mrs. Lukens have spent a considerable part of their time recently at Beaufort, North Carolina, where Mr. Lukens has extensive lumber interests.