Biographical Sketch of George W. RAPP (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, 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. 612-3. "GEORGE W. RAPP, who has been engaged in the milling business for over a quarter of a century, is the senior member of the enterprising firm of G. W. Rapp & Sons, proprietors of the Snyder flouring mills, of East Pikeland township. He is a son of Joseph H. and Margaret (Supplee) Rapp, and was born on the present site of Phoenixville, Schuylkill township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 31, 1837. His paternal grandfather, Barney Rapp, was born near Valley Forge, in Schuylkill township, and followed his trade of blacksmith in connection with farming, and was a well-to-do man for his day. He married and reared a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters: Barney, John, Joseph H., Hannah Bane, Esther, Rachel Boyer and Benjamin, the latter now eighty-five years of age, and the only one of the family living. "George [sic: JMM-should be Joseph) H. Rapp (father) was born in January, 1801, and died in March, 1883, aged eighty-two years. He was a coachmaker by trade, and followed coachmaking successively at Phoenixville and Kimber- ton, and then near the former place. He worked most actively at his trade during the early part of his life. He was an old-line whig in political opinion, and a consistent member of Phoenix Baptist church, in which he had served as a deacon for many years before his death. He married Margaret Supplee, a daughter of Peter and Hannah (Easton) Supplee. Mr. and Mrs. Rapp were the parents of six children, five sons and one daughter: B. F., Joseph E., George W., Silas S., Peter, and Eliza J. Townsend, now dead. "George W. Rapp, after receiving a good English education, left home and learned the trade of miller with Benjamin Prizer. He then worked at milling in various places until 1867, when he rented the Thomas Snyder mill for twelve years, and at the end of that time, in 1879, he purchased the mill and the farm on which it stood. He immediately refitted and enlarged the mill, and has since remodeled it at a cost of about seven thousand dollars. The mill is situated on French creek, and has excellent water power. It is four stories high, forty by fifty-five feet in dimensions, and fully equipped throughout with first-class machinery. The capacity of the mill is fifty barrels per day. He uses the roller process, and is a wholesale and retail dealer in and a manufacturer of roller flour and all kinds of feed. He has a large amount of custom, runs a flour wagon to Spring City and Phoenixville, and ships constantly to Philadelphia, where his brands are well known and in good demand. His farm contains seventy-five acres of fertile and well-watered land, which is productive. He has erected on it two fine brick residences, which are occupied by his sons, Joseph P. and U. S. Grant. Adjoining his mill he has built a wheelwright shop, which has a water motor, whose base of supply is French creek, which passes through his farm. "On December 28, 1862, Mr. Rapp married Andora Yeager, daughter of Peter Yeager, of East Pikeland. To their union have been born three children, two sons and one daughter: Joseph P., U. S. Grant and Anna Margaretta. Joseph P. Rapp married Mary, daughter of John Brower, of Pottstown, Mont- gomery county, is a miller by trade, and has been for some time a member of the milling firm of G. W. Rapp & Sons. U. S. Grant Rapp married Mary Detwiler, and is also a member of the above named milling firm. Anna Margaretta Rapp married Irvin Moyer, a farmer of East Vincent township. "G. W. Rapp is a republican in politics. He is a man of great business ability and enterprise, and has made such valuable improvements on his farm as to make it one of the most desirable properties in the township. He is regarded as one of the foremost citizens of his community."