Biographical Sketch of Jesse H. GARRETT (1893); Chester County, PA 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, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp. 694-5. "JESSE H. GARRETT, the present superintendent of the Westtown school farm, is the eldest son of Aaron and Sidney (Hawley) Garrett, and was born Feb- ruary 26, 1838, in Willistown township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He was principally reared on the farm owned by his father in that township, and received a good English education in the public schools and at West- town boarding school. After completing his studies he engaged in farming in his native township, where he successfully followed that occupation for a period of fifteen years. He was energetic and enterprising, with enough of that rare quality called common sense to enable him to strike a happy medium between the antique methods that served in former times and the wild vagaries of modern agricultural cranks, who imagine that in every new and untested scheme lies the solution of the old problem of 'how to make the farm pay.' He demonstrated by practical experience that the road to success runs along the middle ground, some distance from either extreme. About 1881 he removed to Birmingham township, and for four years conducted a farm there. In 1885 he came to Westtown and assumed the duties of superintendent of the Westtown school farms, to which position he had been appointed by a committee in charge of that institution. He still occupies that post, and has given entire satisfaction in his administration of the affairs of this farm, which comprises six hundred acres and practically deals with all phases of diversified agriculture. In politics Mr. Garrett is a republican, and in religion a leading member of the Society of Friends, being connected with Birmingham meeting, which he is now serving as overseer. "On January 5, 1865, Mr. Garrett was united in marriage to Susan Cope, youngest daughter of Darlington and Sallie (Thomas) Cope, of West Chester, this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Garrett has been born a family of ten chil- dren, three sons and seven daughters: William S., a carpenter by occupa- tion, who married Lillie White, and now resides in the city of Portland, Oregon; Sallie C., Elizabeth, Alice M., Anna C., Howard T. (deceased), Bertha S., Lillian J., Abigail H. and Charles C. The latter and all the daughters are living at home with their parents. "The Garretts are descended from English Quaker stock, and have been resi- dents in Pennsylvania since 1684, when William, son of John Garrett, came from Leicester, England, with his wife, Ann, and settled at Darby. Their children were Ann, Mary, Samuel, Hannah, Sarah, Alice, William, Thomas and John. William Sr., died at Philadelphia in 1724, and his wife in 1722. The eldest son, Samuel, married Jane Pennell, of Middletown, in 1698, and they had nine children: Mary, born April 7, 1699, married first Thomas Oldman and second Obadiah Eldridge; Joseph, born February 25, 1701, mar- ried Mary Sharpless in 1822 (sic); Hannah, born July 18, 1704, married William Lewis in 1728; Samuel, born October 20, 1706, died January 19, 1707; Samuel (2), born August 1708, married Sarah Hibberd in 1731, and settled in Willistown, where he died January 29, 1747, leaving four chil- dren - Josiah, Jesse, Samuel and Aaron; Nathan, born December 13, 1711; James, born April 17, 1714; Thomas, born October 26, 1717; and Jane, born April 20, 1719. "Aaron Garrett, son of Samuel, was born December 27, 1746, married Rachel Cox in 1769, and died March 18, 1815. His wife died February 4th of the same year. Their children were: Levi, Amos, Aaron, Sarah, Robert and Mary. This Aaron Garrett, Jr., was the paternal grandfather of the sub- ject of this sketch, was a native of Chester county, and lived most of his life in Willistown township, where he died in 1808. He was a farmer by occupation, a whig in politics, and a Quaker in religious belief. He married Jane Hoopes, a daughter of Jesse and Rachel Hoopes, and by this union had a family of six children: David, born November 28, 1803, and died October 17, 1868; Rachel Y., Betsy, Jesse H., Aaron and Jane. "Aaron Garrett (father) was born in Willistown township, this county, in 1811, where he grew to manhood, was educated and spent most of his life. In 1872 he removed to Edgemont township, Delaware county, where he passed the closing years of his life, dying there in 1877, at the advanced age of sixty-four years. While yet a young man he learned the trade of tanner and followed that occupation for a time, but his chief business was farm- ing. He was a man of deeply religious character and a life-long member of the Society of Friends. Politically he was a whig until about 1856, when he identified himself with the Republican party and ever afterward yielded it a loyal support. In 1833 he married Sidney Hawley, a daughter of Ben- jamin Hawley, of Goshen township, and by this union had a family of four children, two sons and two daughters: Elizabeth, now deceased; Jane, who married William P. Smedley, and resides in Media, this State; Jesse H., whose name heads this sketch; and Robert, who married Sarah H. Cope, and is now a prosperous farmer of East Goshen township, this county."