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Subject: [PaOldC] Joshua HARTSHORNE biography
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 21:20:33 EST
Cyndie has published this bio of Joshua Hartshorne at
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/chester/bios/hartshorne-j.txt
and
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/md/cecil/bios/hartshorne-j.txt
John
Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl-
vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley
and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Philadel-
phia, PA, 1893, pp. 674-5.
"HON. JOSHUA HARTSHORNE, now deceased, who served in the State
assembly in 1839, and afterward became a wealthy iron master, was a native
of Cecil county, Maryland, where he was born June 17, 1808. His parents
were Jonathan and Mary (Gillespie) Hartshorne, the former of English and the
latter of Scotch-Irish descent. The founders of the Hartshorne family in
America came over from England and settled in Cecil county, Maryland,
about the beginning of the eighteenth century. They secured a large grant
of land, engaged in agricultural pursuits and took an active part in the
affairs of the colony and in the war of the revolution. John Hartshorne,
uncle of the subject of this sketch, entered the colonial service as a
member of the 3d regiment of the Maryland line, and served through the
entire contest, being discharged as colonel of his regiment at the close
of the war, November, 1783. The sword which Colonel Hartshorne used
during that struggle is still in possession of the family, and is cher-
ished as a priceless heirloom.
"Joshua Hartshorne was the third son and fourth child of his parents, and
had the misfortune to lose his father while yet a child. He received his
education under the instruction of the learned Rev. Dr. Magraw of West
Nottingham academy in Cecil county, Maryland, and subsequently removed
with his brother James to Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he engaged
in merchandising. He located first at Chatham, but shortly afterward
removed to Cochranville, where he remained until 1846. In 1839 he was
elected on the Democratic ticket as a member of the lower house of the
Pennsylvania legislature, although the opposition was largely in the
majority in the county, and served one term with distinguished ability.
In 1844, at the election succeeding the exciting presidential campaign
between Polk and Clay, he was chosen a member of the State board of
railroad and canal commissioners by the democrats, and served as such
for three years, being president of the board. On retiring from the
office, in 1848, he removed to Baltimore, Maryland, and engaged in the
iron business, which he successfully conducted in that city until 1870,
though he removed his family to West Chester, this county, in 1865. He
owned a fine farm at Cochranville, and continued to be a resident of
this county until his death, August 9, 1884, when in the eighty-first
year of his age.
"On November 4, 1846, Mr. Hartshorne married Martha Rogers, youngest
daughter of Isaac Rogers, an ironmaster of Harford county, Maryland. To
Mr. and Mrs. Hartshorne was born a family of five children: two sons and
three daughters: Walter Rogers, the youngest, is now a resident of Fair-
field, Connecticut. One of the daughters, Caroline, married Hollingsworth
Whyte, of the city of Baltimore; and another, Mary Rogers Hartshorne, is
now living with her mother in West Chester. The others are: Mrs. McGraw
and Allen Stanley Hartshorne. Hon. Joshua Hartshorne was a Presbyterian
in religious faith, and a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity
nearly all his life.
"Isaac Rogers, father of Mrs. Martha Hartshorne, was a native of Chester
county, born April 9, 1797, and reared and educated here. His father,
William Rogers, was a son of Joseph Rogers, who came over from England
with Lord Vincent. William was a member of the Society of Friends, and
settled in Chester county. His son, Isaac Rogers, father of Mrs. Harts-
horne, was reared in this county, from which he afterward removed to
Maryland, where he engaged in the manufacture of iron, and finally became
a wealthy ironmaster in that State. On the grandmother's side the family
was of old revolutionary stock. Mrs. Martha (Rogers) Hartshorne was born
and educated in Chester county. She is a member of the Presbyterian
church, and now resides in her elegant home at West Chester."
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