Biographical Sketch of John L. JANEWAY (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . Copyright. All Rights Reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************* Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Penn- sylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Philadelphia, PA, 1893, pp. 815-6. "JOHN L. JANEWAY, C. E., a descendant of one of the old and prominent English families of New York city, and who during his professional career has had charge of some very important engineering operations connected with the municipal and industrial development of Pennsyl- vania, New York and South Carolina, is a son of Rev. John L. and Maria (Kane) Janeway, and was born at Flemington, New Jersey, April 18, 1853. "The first Janeway to come to America was William Janeway, who left England and settled on the site of Broadway street, New York city, and farmed on land now occupied by solid blocks of buildings. He brought over the charter for Trinity church, granted by James II. of England. He married, and one of his descendants was Rev. Jacob Jones Janeway (grandfather), who was born in New York city in 1771, and died in Phila- delphia in 1855, aged eighty-four years. He was a very intelligent man and an able minister of the Presbyterian church. He married Martha Grey, who died in 1852, aged sixty-five years. They reared a family of five children: Thomas, president of the Presbyterian board of publi- cation at Philadelphia; William, now dead; Henry, president of the Janeway Paper Manufacturing Company, of New Brunswick; Rev. John L., and Martha, wife of William Van Ness, who is engaged in the wholesale grocery business in New York city. "Rev. John L. Janeway (father) was born in New York city, April 21, 1814, and received his education in Rutgers college, New Jersey, from which he was graduated at the close of his course. He studied theo- logy and entered the ministry of the Presbyterian church, where he was actively engaged until the commencement of the late war, when he left his pulpit to serve his country. He served as chaplain, first of the 3d and afterward of the 35th New Jersey infantry, and became known throughout the army of the Potomac as the 'Fighting Chaplain.' The privations and exposure which he suffered during the war so im- paired his health as to compel him to give up all regular ministerial work after returning home. He is a democrat in politics, and married Maria Kane, of Philadelphia, who passed away at Walnut Hill, this State, on September 21, 1880. They had six children: Jacob J., divi- sion engineer, at Pittsburg (sic), of the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany; Price W., secretary and treasurer of a private corporation in Philadelphia; Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Herman Bergen, of Germantown, this State; John L., Maria K. and Rachel W. "John L. Janeway received his education at the celebrated Phillips academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and then entered a scientific school in New Jersey, from which he was graduated in 1871, with the degree of C. E. After graduation he was successively engaged in civil en- gineering for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the Penn Gas & Coal Company, of Westmoreland county, with Prof. F. S. C. Lowe of Norris- town, and for the United Gas Improvement Company of Philadelphia. From Philadelphia he went to New York, as erection engineer for James S. Price & co., whose employ he left to go to Columbia, South Carolina, where he built the gas works and the street car lines of that city. After the great Charleston earthquake of 1888, he came to Phoenixville, and bought the property of the Phoenix Gas Company. In 1890 he became president of the Downingtown Gas Company, and since then has been actively engaged in different business enterprises. "On February 14, 1882, Mr. Janeway wedded Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Hildeburn of Philadelphia. Their union has been blessed with three children: John L., jr.; Augustine S. and Sybil K. K. "In politics Mr. Janeway is a democrat. He is a member of the Protes- tant Episcopal church of Phoenixville. He has kept abreast of the times in his chosen profession, and is highly respected as a gentleman and a citizen."