Biographical Sketch of Hon. Joshua HARTSHORNE (1893); Cecil County, MD Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** 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 Jon- athan 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."