1901.] XATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. O 



Philadelphia ancestors were amnug the original party with William 

 Penn and, like the founder of the city, strong believers in the 

 doctrines of the Society of Friends. Little can be learned of his 

 early life. He was born November 1, 1820, and seems to have 

 had especial care and oversight from his mother, to whom he Avas 

 deeply devoted through life, and by whose side in Laurel Hill Ceme- 

 tery he was placed Avhen his own time of rest arrived. He proba- 

 bly received his rudimentary education in Philadelphia, and at the 

 age of fifteen was sent to the boarding-school of Westtown, near 

 this city. It was here, as he related to his friend Dr. Porter, that 

 he acquired his fondness for botany, through the influence of one 

 of the instructors. He remained here three years, when he became 

 attached to an engineer corps, engaged to survey for a railroad from 

 Blossburg to Corning, in New York. He became the superinten- 

 dent of the railroad, and later of the Bloomsburg coal mines, 

 though he had scarcely attained his majority He returned to 

 Philadelphia in 1842, and established the Fairmouut Rolling Mill. 

 This was not a financial success, from the fact, as he believed, 

 that cooperation throughout the whole iron trade was needed to 

 place the industry on a firm footing. He sold it out in 1846. 



About this period an event occurred that had a material influ- 

 ence on his future life. In 1844 a fierce antagonism to Roman 

 Catholicism arose. A number of churches were burned. The 

 ^Nlayor called on all able-bodied citizens to arm in defense of law 

 and order. " The Quaker youth Avent out with a cane, but in the 

 excitement of the riot some one put a musket in his hands, and 

 he patroled the streets with it for seven nights. For this violation 

 of the principle of non-resistance he Avas called on to express 

 regret, and to give a pi-omise of strict conformity to the rule 

 thereafter. Believing himself harshly treated, he refused to do 

 so and Avas expelled from the Society. He at once dropped the 

 garb and language of the Friends and associated with other 

 bodies. He never married, and if the event detailed had aught to 

 do Avith the fact, the secret Avas faithfully kept to the last. 



For a short time subsequent to 1846 he became manager of the 

 Rensselaer Iron Works, at Troy, N. Y. , in Avhich railroad iron 

 Avas being manufactured. He returned to Philadelphia in 1849, 

 to inaugurate a convention of iron men. The poverty of the con- 

 stituency forced the association to be content with inferior printing 



