My Genealogy Hound

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FAMOUS is a member of a well known family long resident west of the Schuylkill river. He was born in Tredyffrin township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, at the locality known as “The Eagle.” He is the son of John and Susanna (Shenaman) Famous.

When he was of the proper age he attended the public schools of the district, assisting at the same time in the farm work at home. Mr. Famous married, on March 7, 1874, Hannah Elizabeth Davis, who was born in Camden, New Jersey, June 9, 1856, only daughter of Charles Gordon and Anna McDowell Davis. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Franklin Famous have eight children, as follows: Thomas McDowell, born March 17, 1875; Benjamin Franklin, born December 17, 1876; Anna Louise, born January 17, 1878, who married Albert Momme, and has two children, Benjamin Theodore and Marion Elizabeth; Emma Catharine, born January 25, 1881; Oscar Ernest, born June 6, 1883; Smedley Darlington, born February 8, 1886; Caroline Troubat, born August 26, 1888; Clarence, born November 24, 1895.

John Famous (father) was a farmer by occupation, and was prominently associated with others of his community in general improvements. He served for some time as a supervisor of public roads of Tredyffrin township, where he died in 1885, in his seventy-ninth year, his wife having died in 1859, in her thirty-ninth year.

Charles Gordon Davis (father of Mrs. Benjamin F. Famous) was born July 24, 1828, at Branchtown, in Philadelphia. He was the son of Henry and Louisa Gordon Davis, now deceased. Charles Gordon and Anna (McDowell) Davis’ other children, besides Mrs. B. F. Famous, were Charles Thomas, George Henry and Phineas Louis. Mrs. Famous’ mother, Anna McDowell, was a direct descendant of Toby Leach, who came with William Penn.

Benjamin Franklin Famous, Jr., married Lydia L., daughter of William and Lydia Keech Meigs, on April 4, 1901. They have two children: Emanuel Bollinger, born March 15, 1902, and Benjamin Franklin, third, born August 11, 1903. The farm of the Famous family in Whitpain township is known as “The Willows.” It contains seventy-seven acres of rolling land in a high state of cultivation, and is well located. The principal interest of Mr. Famous is his dairy. Among the cattle found at The Willows, are strains of Alderney, Guernsey and Holstein stock.

In religious faith, Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Famous and family are Lutherans, attending St. John’s Lutheran church. In politics Mr. Famous is a Republican and was supervisor for eleven years in Tredyffrin township, Chester county. His father and two of his brothers had also been supervisors of that township.