THEODORE
P. HARVEY
THEODORE
P. HARVEY, for a quarter of a
century an expert telegraph operator, was born in
Doylestown township, February 18, 1833, being a son of Joseph and
Ann (Horner) Harvey.
Mr. Harvey was reared on
the farm and received such education as could be attained at the public
schools, and afterwards was a pupil of Rev. Silas M. Andrews
in a private school at Doylestown. He
was an apt student and acquired a good education.
He studied telegraphy and learned the manipulation of the key under
Thomas H. Walton, of
Doylestown, when seventeen years of age, and soon became an expert
operator. After filling the
position as operator at Doylestown he was called to
Allentown
,
and from there to
Norristown
.
At the latter place he also conducted a drug store.
In 1858 he went to
Cincinnati
,
where he filled a responsible position for one year, during which time he
was called upon to transmit a presidential message, which he did
accurately and expeditiously. In
1859 he returned to Doylestown and assumed the management of th elocal
telegraph business, and continued in that capacity until his death, on
February 5, 1886. He was
interested in several local enterprises, and was at one time joint owner
with the late James Kane of the
Doylestown Gas Works. He was a
careful business man, a good accountant, and faithful and efficient in all
trusts reposed in him. He was
a member of Doylestown Council, No. 166, Jr. O. U. A. M., and the
treasurer of that institution for many years prior to his death.
In politics he was a stanch Democrat.
He was married in 1861 to Lydia A. Shearer,
daughter of Jesse W. and Margaret (Kneedler)
Shearer, of Doylestown township, who survives him, and is a resident
of Doylestown.
Jesse Shearer, father of
Mrs. Harvey, was born in
Montgomery
county in 1808. In early life
he was a school teacher, and later was a clerk in Polk’s store at
Whitehallville (now Chalfont), for some years, and then went into the
mercantile business for himself at
North Wales
.
After successfully conducting the store there for several years, he
removed to a farm in
Warrington
township. Several years prior
to his death he removed to Doylestown, where he died
June
3, 1886
. His
wife, Margaret Kneedler, was
born in
Montgomery
county in 1815, and died in Doylestown in 1882.
They, as well as their daughter, were members of the Presbyterian
church. Mrs. Harvey was their only child.
Text
taken from pages 488-489 of:
Davis,
William W.H., A.M. History of
Bucks County
,
Pennsylvania
[New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company,
1905] Volume III
Transcribed
February 2004 by Thera Schwenk-Hammond; tsh@harborside.com;
http:// www..rootsweb.com/~schwenk
as part of the Bucks Co.,
Pa.
, Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html
Published
April 2004 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/ |
