Biographical Sketch of Thomas WICKERSHAM (1881); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Candace Roth . *********************************************************************** 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/ *********************************************************************** From THE HISTORY OF CHESTER COUNTY, by Futhey and Cope (1881); pg. 763 WICKERSHAM, Thomas, of Bolney, in Sussex, England, came to Pennsylvania in 1700, bringing a certificate from the Monthly Meeting held at Horsham, in that country, 7,11,1700. This ancient document is now in possession of Caleb P. Wickersham, of Kennet Square. He settled in East Marlborough, and there died in the 4th month (June), 1730. His first wife, Ann, was probably related to Humphrey Killenbeck, who gave land to her children. His second wife, Alice Hogg, came with him, but her children were born here. The children of Thomas by both wives were as follows: Humphrey, b. 1687, died young; Thomas, b. 7,19,1691, m. Abigail Johnson, and died in 1726, leaving children; John, b. 9,4,1693, married and left children; Ann, b. 2,27,1696; Alice, b. 7,14,1701, m. William Wilton; Richard, b. 8,11,1703, m. Catharine Johnson, 7,16,1730, and Elizabeth mcNabb, 1,14,1740; William, b. 2,3,1706, m. Rachel Hayes, 3,26,1730; Elizabeth, b. 11,13,1708/9, m. Hugh Harry, 1,4,1731; James, b. about 1712, d. 4,12,1804; Rebecca, b. 4,1,1715; Isaac, b. 1,28,1721. James Wickersham, of East Marlborough, inherited the homestead on payment of legacies. He married 2,22,1736, Ann Eachus, of Springfield, daughter of Robert, deceased, and Elizabeth, of Goshen, by whom he had the following children: Abel, Enoch, Jesse, James, John, Thomas, Samson, Abner, Priscilla, and Elizabeth. William and Rachel (Hayes) Wickersham had sons,--William, b. 7,20,1740, d. 8,2,1822, and Peter, b. 2,16,1743. William Jr., married Elizabeth Pusey, daughter of William, of West Marlborough, and settled in Newlin township. His children were Caleb, Mary, Rachel, William, Amos, Thomas, Enoch, Hannah, Reuben, Elizabeth, and Jane. Caleb, the eldest, born 2,25,1765, married 11,5,1789, Rachel Swayne, of East Marlborough, daughter of Samuel and Hannah. Their children were Hannah, Joshua, Ann, Caleb, b. 12,10,1796, d. 1874, m. Abigail Pyle; Phebe, Esther, Samuel, Nathan, Eliza, and Swayne. Caleb and Abigail (Pyle) Wickersham had children,--James P., Henry N., Louisa, Charles B., Swayne, Sarah, William H., Lydia B., Morris, and Edward. James Pyle Wickersham, LL.D., was born in Newlin township, Chester Co., March 5, 1825. He is the son of Caleb Wickersham, the fifth in descent from Thomas Wickersham, who bought a tract of land in Marlborough township in 1700, and soon after settled upon it and built a house, which is still standing, one of the oldest, if not the oldest house in the county. His mother was a daughter of James Pyle, also of old Quaker stock. His education was obtained mainly in common schools and at the Unionville Academy. At the age of sixteen he began to teach school, and while he taught he worked harder than any of his pupils, and by the time he was twenty he had become a good general scholar, being well versed in mathematics and in some of the natural sciences, and reading with facility several of the ancient and modern languages. As a teacher, Mr. Wickersham's success was marked from the beginning. The common schools he taught were considered among the very best. In 1845 he became principal of the Marietta Academy, Lancaster County, in which position he was very successful, and remained ten years. Upon the establishment of the office he was elected county superintendent of schools in the county where he lived, and a year thereafter founded the Normal Institute, at Millersville, out of which has eventually developed the first State Normal School in Pennsylvania, and, in fact, the whole normal school system. In 1856 he became the permanent principal of this school, and made it, in the ten years he remained at its head, one of the most flourishing institutions in the county, running the number of students in attendance up to a thousand. In 1866 he accepted the position of State superintendent of common schools, tendered him by Governor Curtin, and until the present year remained in charge of the school affairs of the Commonwealth, receiving appointments successively from governors Geary, Hartranft, and Hoyt, and always being confirmed unanimously by the Senate. During his administration Pennsylvania has made great progress in her school affairs, and is now the acknowledged peer in this respect of any State in the Union. The educational exhibition made under his direction at the Centennial was unequaled by that of any other State or nation. While holding his place as State superintendent, he has been repeatedly offered positions of an honorable and lucrative character in other States and abroad, among them that of Minister of Public Instruction in the Argentine Republic, under President Sarmiento, who was his personal friend. Mr. Wickersham helped form the Lancaster County Teachers' Association, the Pennsylvania State Teachers' Association, the National Education Association, and the National Superintendents' Association, of each of which he was among the earliest presidents. Some of his addresses before these bodies have been widely circulated in this country and translated into other languages and published abroad. The two works he wrote while principal of the Normal School, "School Economy" and "Methods if Instruction," have been more widely read at home than any other books of their class, and the "School Economy" has been translated into the French, Spanish, and Japanese languages. In addition to these works, he has written largely for the educational press, and has prepared and published fifteen volumes of common school and nine volumes of orphan school reports. Since 1870 he has been editor of the 'Pennsylvania School Journal,' the most widely circulated educational magazine in the country. Mr. Wickersham has been active outside of his chosen field of labor. In 1863 he raised and commanded a three months' regiment of soldiers. Soon after his return from the army he prepared, at the request of Governor Curtin, the original bill providing for the education and maintenance of the destitute orphan children of soldiers; and in 1871 the Legislature placed the whole care of the soldiers' orphans in his hands, and he has expended in their behalf four millions of dollars. He is a member of the State Board of Agriculture, a trustee in the boards of three or four colleges, and a director of several large business enterprises.