My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES W. RAMBO, dealer in dry goods and notions at 229 High street, Pottstown, was born at Hayesville, Chester county, Pennsylvania, May 15, 1849. He is the son of John W. and Elizabeth (Pine) Rambo.

John W. Rambo (father) was also a merchant most of his life. He was born in Pennsylvania and kept a store at Black Horse, better known as Moscow, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He remained there until 1847, when he removed to Hayesville and engaged in the hotel business for two years. Later he went to Kinzer’s Station to keep a hotel and stayed there for four years and afterwards conducted another hotel at Atglen for three years. He was employed as a clerk at Gap, Lancaster county, for a time and then spent a number of years at Atglen. His next position was as a clerk in a hardware store at Coatesville, and from there he removed to Pottstown in 1874. He was in the hardware store of H. G. Culp & Company for three years and then spent sixteen years with William Wood & Company, manufacturers of cotton and woolen goods in Philadelphia. At the end of that time he returned to Pottstown, where he has lived ever since. His wife was born in the state of New York, and died August 10, 1894, at the age of sixty-eight years and eleven months. She and her husband were members of the Baptist church. He was at one time a Republican, but of late years has become a Prohibitionist. John W. and Elizabeth (Pine) Rambo had eight children, four sons and four daughters, six of whom are now living: Charles W.; Catharine S.; Eleanor, widow of J. Warren Durnall; Anna, wife of N. C. Naylor; Margaret, wife of Henry J. Corbett; and Edgar M.

John Rambo (grandfather) was born at Swedesford, on the Schuylkill, and was a miller and a farmer. His wife was Eleanor (Robinson) Rambo, and they had five sons and three daughters who grew to maturity. He was killed while walking on the railroad, when eighty-three years of age. His wife survived him for a short time and died aged seventy-eight years. They were Presbyterians. He was of Swedish origin, while his wife’s ancestors were Irish.

Jonathan Pine (maternal grandfather) was born in New York state, where he was a farmer. His wife was Catharine (Wood) Pine, whose first husband was Mr. Hanmore. He had three sons and three daughters, and lived to advanced years.

Charles W. Rambo spent his early boyhood in Lancaster and Chester counties and attended the common schools of Chester county. At the age of sixteen he secured a position as clerk in a general store at Atglen, where he remained several years, afterward being employed at Coatesville in the same capacity.

In 1872 he removed to Pottstown and was employed as a clerk by L. and W. C. Beecher for five years, and by Howard Leopold in his dry-goods store. February 1, 1887, he formed a partnership with E. K. Snell and at the end of one year E. K. Ellis bought out Mr. Snell’s interest, the firm becoming Rambo & Ellis. Mr. Ellis died December 21, 1891, and in the following spring Mr. Rambo removed to his present location and has conducted the business ever since, employing at this time five clerks His store is finely appointed, and well stock at all times with seasonable and stylish goods.

April 26, 1877, Charles W. Rambo married Miss Elizabeth Moser, daughter of Charles and Catharine (Whitman) Moser. They had three children: Oscar Naylor, a stenographer in the office of the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company, Philadelphia; Karl Moser, a student in a business college at Pottstown; and John Ralph, who died at the age of seventeen months.

Mr. and Mrs. Rambo are members of the Baptist church, where he is a deacon, and of which he has been financial secretary since 1872. Politically he is a Prohibitionist. He resides at No. 122 Walnut street, where he owns a good home. Mr. Rambo is a self-made man, of quiet demeanor, and one of Pottstown’s highly respected citizens.