HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



525 



corporated existence, and prepared and 

 read a history of the library at the meeting, 

 also arranged a condensed history of the 

 institution which was published with various 

 illustrations as a souvenir of the occassion, 

 and conducted the exercises during the day 

 and evening, June 14, 1902. 



Dr. Dana married, June 3, 1872, Fanny 

 Pawling of an old Norristown (Pennsyl- 

 vania) family related to the Muhlenberghs 

 Heisters, the Biddies, and others of promi-* 

 nence in early Pennsylvania and New Jer- 

 sey history. Dr. and Mrs. Dana have one 

 son, Sylvester. 



LUCY WHARTON DREXEL. On the 

 historic Bristol Pike, in Bensalem township, 

 in a mansion hardly less historic, lives a 

 representative of one of the oldest and 

 most prominent families in Pennsylvania. 

 Lucy Wharton Drexel, widow of the prom- 

 inent banker and philanthropist, Joseph 

 Drexel. 



Mrs. Drexel is a descendant of Thomas 

 Wharton, the first acting executive of the 

 infant commonwealth when she had joined 

 her sister colonies in the effort to throw 

 off the yoke of the mother country. He 

 was a deputy from Philadelphia to the first 

 provincial convention, July 15, 1774, a mem- 

 ber of the committee of safety in 1775 

 and 1776, and the first "President of the 

 Supreme Executive Council of the Com- 

 monwealth of Pennsylvania, and Captain 

 General and Commander-in-chief in and 

 over the same," on March 5, 1777. He was 

 a merchant in Philadelphia, and was a 

 leader in the patriotic cause from the start. 

 He died at Lancaster in 1778, while iilling 

 the office of chief executive of the state, 

 at the age of forty years. He married 

 Susannah Lloyd, a descendant of Thomas 

 Lloyd, the first acting provincial Governor 

 of the province of Pennsylvania, by virtue 

 of his office as president of William Penn's 

 first council, from September, 16S4, to Feb- 

 ruary 9, 1688, and was deputy governor 

 under Penn, 1690-1. A rare distinction in 

 one individual, a lineal descendant of the 

 first executive of the province and of the 

 first executive of the commonwealth, is 

 enjoyed by the subject of this sketch. 

 Kearney Wharton, the oldest son of 

 Thomas, and the granfather of Mrs. 

 Drexel, was a lawyer, but followed chiefly 

 the business of a merchant in Philadelphia. 

 He was a member of the council of the city, 

 and its president at one time. His wife 

 was Maria Salter, of Tacony, Philadelphia 

 county, whom 'he married November 11, 

 1795. Their children were : Thomas Lloyd; 

 John; Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Mor- 

 ris ; George, and James. Kearney Whar- 

 ton died January 4, 1848, at the age of 

 eighty-four years, and his widow survived 

 until 1867, aged ninety-two years. She 

 was a member of the Society of Friends. 

 Her family were of the Church of England. 



Thomas Lloyd Wharton, the father of 



Mrs. Drexel, was born in Philadelphia in 

 1799, but was reared on a farm near Tacony, 

 where he later became the owner of a fine 

 farm. He was employed in a bank in 

 Philadelphia, being prominently connected 

 with the Philadelphia Bank for forty years. 

 He died in 1869 at the age of seventy years. 

 His wife was Sarah Howell Smith, daugh- 

 ter of Richard R. and Sarah (Howell) 

 Smith, by whom he had two children^ 

 namel}' : Fanny, born in 1843, wife of 

 Brigaciier General Guy V. Henry, and 

 Lucy Wharton, the subject of this sketch. 

 Mrs. Wharton died in 1846. Lucy Whar- 

 ton was born in 1841. She was educated 

 at St. Mary's Hall, Burlington, New Jer- 

 sey. In 1865 she married Joseph W. Drexel, 

 a member of the well known banking firm 

 of Drexel & Company, of Philadelphia. 



Joseph W. Drexel was a son of Francis 

 M. Drexel, a native of Austria, who in 

 early life was an artist and protrait painter. 

 He located for a time in South America, 

 where he attracted the attention of General 

 Simon Bolivar, the distinguished hero and 

 patriot of South American Independence, 

 whose protrait he painted. Under the pat- 

 ronage of General Bolivar he started the 

 bank in Philadelphia, with money loaned 

 by him. The venture proved a success 

 from the start, and soon became one of the 

 most prominent banking institutions of the 

 country. The firm as first organized in- 

 cluded Francis M. Drexel and his son 

 Francis, and soon after its establishment 

 the other two sons, Anthony and Joseph 

 W., became members of the firm. In 1871 

 Joseph W. Drexel went to New York city 

 and established a branch banking house 

 which he conducted for five years, when 

 he retired and devoted the next twelve 

 years to philanthropic schemes for the bet- 

 terment of the condition of mankind. 



He organized several plans for the bene- 

 fit of the poor, and carried them into effect. 

 One of his successful projects was the 

 incorporation of Klej Grange upon a large 

 tract of land in Maryland, where he induced 

 poor families to settle by keeping them 

 without charge for one year and then sell- 

 ing them the land on easy payments. He 

 also owned Cedar Hill Farm in New Jer- 

 sey, where unemployed poor were fed and 

 clothed until employment could be found 

 for them elsewhere. Many other projects 

 for the employment and improvement of 

 the poor were carried into effect in Phila- 

 delphia, New York, and elsewhere. Mr. 

 Drexel was a musician of talent, and an 

 eminent patron of the higher arts. On 

 every Thursday a musical quartet was en- 

 tertained at his house, and he was presi- 

 dent of the Philharmonic Society at the time 

 of his death, as well as a member of several 

 other musical organizations. He was one 

 of the organizers of and a life member of 

 the Metropolitan Art Museum. Mr. Drexel 

 died in 1888. He left four children : Kath- 

 erine, wife of Charles B. Penrose, of Phila- 

 delphia ; Lucy, wife of Eric B. Dahlgren ; 

 Elizabeth, wife of John V. Dahlgren, of 



