472 



BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Humphrey, Charlks, the son of 

 Daniel and Hannah Humphrey, was 

 bcrn in Haverford about the year 1712, 

 and died in 1786. He was brought up 

 to the milling business, and being a 

 joint owner with his brother, Joshua, 

 of the Haverford mill, he carried on 

 that business extensively for many 

 years. He was a man of fine talents, 

 and at one time was very influential in 

 the county. In 1764 he was elected to 

 the Provincial Assembly, and was re- 

 elected to that office, annually, till 

 1775, when he was chosen a member 

 of Congress. In that body, though he 

 had contended, with all his energies, 

 against the oppressive measures of 

 Great Britain, he thought the time had 

 not come to sever our connection with 

 the mother country, and voted against 

 the Declaration of Independence. He 

 has been censured for this vote, but in 

 giving it, he represented the views of a 

 large majority of bis constituents at the 

 time it was given. He retired to pri- 

 vate life, and though he took no part 

 in the great struggle for liberty, his 

 sympathies were on the side of his 

 country. He was a kind neighbor and 

 was serviceable in settling disputes in 

 his neighborhood. No one ever ques- 

 tioned his integrity either in public or 

 private life. 



HrMi'HUEY, JosHt'A, the son of 

 Joshua, and grandson of the immi- 

 grant Daniel Humphrey, was born in 

 Haverford township in the year 1751. 

 His mother was Sarah, the daughter of 

 Edward and Elinor William, of Block- 

 ley. His ancestors were thoroughly 

 Welsh, and all of them Quakers. With 

 only the advantages of such an early 

 education as the common schools of the 

 country aHbrded at that day, Joshua 

 was ap])renticed at a tender age to a 

 8hip-car[)enter of Philadelphia. Before 

 the completion of his apprenticeship 

 his instructor died, but Mr. Humphrey 

 bad made such good use of his oppor- 

 tunities in perfecting himself in his 

 trade, and at the same time by his good 

 conduct had secured the confidence of 

 the family so fully, that he was at once 

 placed at the head of the establish- 

 ment, and managed the whole business 

 for the widow during several years. 



Being possessed of a comprehensive 

 and philosophical mind, he soon came 

 to be regarded as the first ship.wright 



in the country. So much was this the 

 case, that after the adoption of the 

 Constitution, and when it became ap- 

 parent that our government must be 

 possessed of a navy, Mr. Humphrey 

 was consulted, officially, and his views, 

 which had been communicated to the 

 Hon. Robert Morris, in a letter dated 

 January (-■'th, 1793, but more in detail 

 to Gen. Knox, then Secretary of War, 

 were, in the main, adopted. [Lives of 

 Eminent Philadelphians, p. 588.] The 

 leading ideas of Mr. Humphrey were: 

 " That as our navy must be for a con- 

 siderable time, inferior in the number 

 of its vessels, to the navies of Europe, 

 to compensate for this deficiency in 

 number, our ships should be formida- 

 ble from their character, and larger in 

 size and armament, and stronger in 

 construction than those of Europe of 

 the same class." He was the first 

 Naval Constructor of the United States, 

 and several of our first ships of war 

 were built under his immediate direc- 

 tion. The marked superiority of our 

 vessels in combats with those of Eng- 

 land, of the same class, during the War 

 of 1812, was mainly owing to the adop- 

 tion of Mr. Humphrey's suggestions. 

 He may justly be called The Father of 

 the American Navy. 



The last thirty years of his life were 

 spent on a part of his patrimonial 

 estate in Haverford. Here he died in 

 1838, at the advanced age of eighty- 

 seven years, his mental faculties being 

 almost unimpaired to the last. 



Hunt, James, arrived at Philadelphia, 

 from Kent, England, in 1684. During 

 the following year he purchased three 

 tracts of land in Kingsessing, from 

 Lasse Cock, and settled upon one of 

 them that bordered on Minquas Creek. 

 This tract had been occupied by the 

 Swedes ever since the arrival of Go- 

 vernor Printz, and no doubt our new 

 settler found improvements ready made 

 to his hand. He had been married in 

 England manj' years before he left that 

 country, and probably had lost his wife 

 some time before he emigrated. Be- 

 sides two daughters, E]lizabeth and 

 Mary, who came with him, it is not 

 known that he had uny other children. 

 Towards the close of the year 1686 he 

 was u)arried "at ye house of John 

 Blunston " to Elizabeth, the daughter 

 of Richard Bonsall, of Darby. By this 



