History of Bucks
County, Pa Volume 3 by William H. Davis
Names and Page # Index
THEODORE CORSON SEARCH |
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THEODORE CORSON SEARCH, of Philadelphia, who for the past thirty-five years has been eminent in the manufacturing and business circles of that city as well as of the county at large, was born in Southampton township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. March 20,1841, and is a son of Jacob Miles, and Nancy (CORSON) SEARCH, both of whom are deceased. Christopher SEARCH, the grandfather of Theodore C., was born in Bucks county in 1764, and died in Southampton in 1842. In early life he was a blacksmith in Northampton township, but in 1797 purchased the old Banes homestead in Southampton, and followed the vocation of a farmer until 1838, when he retired to a lot in Southampton, where he died. He was twice married, his first wife being Amelia TOLBERT, daughter of James and Hannah (BURLEIGH) TOLBERT, of Upper Makefield, by whom he had five children, viz.: William; James T.: Samuel; John, and Sarah T., who married William H. SPENCER. His second wife was Ann (MILES) BANES, widow of William BANES of Southampton, who was born August 4, 1776, and died December 23, 1865. The children of the second marriage were: Miles, born July 5, 1807, died young; George W., born March 20, 1809, died in Newtown, Bucks county; Jacob Miles, born December 2, 1810, died October 11, 1893; Margaret M., born September 22, 1811, married Elias LEFFERTS; Anthony T., born August 16,1814; Christopher, born February 3, 1816; Ann Miles, born March 22, 1818, married Casper G. FETTER; and Griffith MILES, born April 2, 1822. Jacob Miles SEARCH was born and reared in Southampton township. He purchased the homestead farm upon which he had lived some years prior to his father’s decease, and conducted it until 1876, when he erected a house on part of the farm near Southamptonville, where he lived retired until his death on October 11, 1893. He was always actively interested in educational matters, and served for many years in the school board of Southampton township. He was for many years trustee of the Southampton Baptist church. He married in 1837, Nancy Marple CORSON, born in Southampton, September 29, 1818, died April 6, 1898. She was the third child of Richard and Elizabeth (BENNETT) CORSON, the former of whom was born in Bucks county, December 4, 1768, and died October 29, 1845, and was the fifth son of Benjamin and Sarah (DUNGAN) CORSON. Benjamin CORSON was born March 6, 1743, and was a son of Benjamin and Maria (SUYDAM) CORSON, both natives of Long Island, the former being a son of Benjamin and Nelly CORSON, who came to Bucks county in 1726, when their son Benjamin was seven years of age. The children of Jacob Miles and Nancy (CORSON) SEARCH, were: Elwood, born September 22, 1838: Theodore C., the subject of this sketch, Henry Lott, born September 8, 1840, living near Yardley, Bucks county, Pennsylvania; Erasmus N.M., born March 7, 1851; and Ann Elizabeth, who married Edwin W. ROBERTS. Theodore Corson SEARCH was born and reared on his father’s farm in Southampton, and attended the country school there until his seventeenth year, when he entered the First State Normal School at Millersville, Pennsylvania, and afterward entered the Crozier Normal High School, from which institution he graduated after taking a three years course. He served one season as a teacher at Fallsington, Bucks county, and resigned to accept the position of principal of the high school at Middletown, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, which he filled for two years, and later filled a similar position in the Middletown Academy at Middletown for two years. In 1866 he came to Philadelphia and was for two years an instructor in the Quaker City Business College, and one year principal of the National Commercial Institute, and then began his business career in the employ of Davis, Fiss & Banes, wholesale wool merchants. Four years later he became a junior partner in the firm under the name of Fiss, Banes, Erben & Co., manufacturers of worsted and woolen yarns. In 1883 the firm became Erben, Search & Co., and took a high rank as manufacturers. The business capacity of Mr. SEARCH was universally recognized, and his advice and services were sought by mercantile and financial institutions. He became a director of the Bank of North America, a position which he has filled for over twenty years. He was elected president of the Colonial Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and has filled many other responsible positions. It was, however, in the organization and perpetuation of associations for the protection, development and improvement of American manufacturing interests that Mr. SEARCH has been especially prominent. He was for many years a member and president of the Philadelphia Textile Association, and a director of its successor, the Manufacturers’ Club; was vice-president of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, of Boston; and of the American Protective Tariff Association of New York. As president of the National Manufacturers’ Association, for five years he did effective work in the molding of public opinion in favor of and shaping legislation for the protection and fostering of American manufacturing interests. He was the originator of the Philadelphia Textile School, later merged into the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, to which he has given much time and attention, serving as vice-president and chairman of the industrial committee of the latter institution for many years, and for the last eight years as its president. In 1892 he became treasurer and executive head of the John B. STETSON Company, which position he resigned after seven years of service. He has also been interested in numerous other manufacturing and business institutions. He was for many years a member of the committee on science and art of the Franklin Institute; treasurer of the Baptist Orphanage; and president of the board of trustees of the Baptist Memorial Church, of which he and his family have long been members. Mr. SEARCH married, December 25, 1862, Anna L. WHITE, daughter of Ephraim WHITE, of Newtown, Bucks county, who was born in 1841. Their only child, Ida May, married Professor Howard CLIFF, principal of the Philadelphia Normal School, now treasurer of the De Long Hook and Eye Company, and has one daughter, Anna Search CLIFF.
Text taken from page 592 to 593 of:
Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III Transcribed September 2006 by Joan Lollis as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html Published September 2006 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/
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