My Genealogy Hound

REV. HARVEY SHEAFE FISHER, S. T. B., has been the rector of S. John’s Church, Norristown, Pennsylvania, since the 27th of November, 1895. S. John’s parish is the oldest church organization in the borough of Norristown and received its charter from the supreme court of the state on January 11, 1813. The original vestry mentioned in the charter are the following well-known Montgomery county men: Francis Swaine, Bird Wilson, Levi Pawling, Henry Freedley, Matthias Holstein, John Zeber, George W. Holstein.

The present church edifice, although modernized and enriched by improvements and alterations, is still essentially the same building which was completed in 1815, and consecrated by the first Bishop of Pennsylvania, the Rt. Rev. William White, D. D. The autograph letter of consecration from Bishop White is one of the most highly valued treasures of the parish. The rectors of S. John’s from its organization to the present time have been: The Rev. Jehu Curtis Clay, 1815- 1817; Rev. Thomas P. May, 1817-1819; Rev. Bird Wilson, 1819-1822; Rev. Jehu Curtis Clay, 1822-1832; Rev. John Reynolds, 1832-1838; Rev. Nathan Stem, 1839-1859; Rev. John Woart, 1860-1863; Rev. Eaton W. Maxcy, 1864-1867; Rev. George W. Brown, 1867-1869; Rev. Charles E. McIlvaine, 1869-1872; Rev. Isaac Gibson, 1872-1898; Rev. Harvey S. Fisher, 1898. The Rev. Mr. Fisher is therefore the twelfth rector of this historic parish.

Mr. Fisher was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, September 2, 1865, and received his early education in the private and public schools of that borough, until he entered a military school at Reading, Pennsylvania, then known as Selwyn Hall. Here he was prepared for the classical course at the Lehigh University, which he entered in 1883, and from which he was graduated with honors in 1887, receiving the degree of A. B. During his college course Mr. Fisher became a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity, and at graduation he was also elected to the Phi Beta Kappa. He also won in his sophomore year the Wilbur Scholarship awarded annually to the student of highest rank in the sophomore class. Upon leaving the university, Mr. Fisher pursued his studies at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City, from which he was graduated in 1890. The degree of Bachelor of Sacred Theology was given to Mr. Fisher by this institution of sacred learning in 1892, in recognition of his high standing during his seminary course. Mr. Fisher, while a student in New York, was also the successful competitor for the Seymour Prize for proficiency in extempore speaking.

Ordained to the diaconate in 1890 at Trinity Church, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, by the then Bishop of Central Pennsylvania, the Rt. Rev. Nelson Somerville Rulison, D. D., LL. D., Mr. Fisher began his active ministry as curate of the parish of the Nativity, South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, of which the present Bishop of Georgia, the Rt. Rev. C. K. Nelson, D. D., was then the rector. In the spring of 1891 Mr. Fisher was advanced to the priesthood by Bishop Rulison, at the Pro-Cathedral in South Bethlehem, where he remained as curate until the fall of the same year; He then accepted a call to the curacy of S. Luke’s church, Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he was largely instrumental in building up an important mission at Olney, now known as S. Alban’s. In 1895 Mr. Fisher accepted a call to the rectorship of S. Andrew’s Parish, Buffalo, New York. His incumbency of three years in Buffalo was notable chiefly for two things-the enlargement of S. Andrew’s church edifice, and the appointment of its rector as chaplain of the Sixty-fifth Regiment New York National Guard, at the time that it was preparing to enlist for service in the Spanish-American war. During the spring of 1898 Mr. Fisher was with the regiment at Camp Black, Long Island, and there enlisted for service in the volunteer army with the regiment on May 3, 1898. The regiment was soon removed to Camp Alger, Virginia, where it remained until its return to Buffalo in the fall. The Rev. Mr. Fisher was the first of the volunteer chaplains invited to act as chaplain of the House of Representatives at one of the regular sessions. Mr. Fisher was mustered out of service with his regiment on October 6, 1898. On November 27th of the same year he accepted the call of S. John’s Parish, Norristown, to became its rector.

The Rev. Mr. Fisher is descended from a distinguished line of ancestry both on his father’s and mother’s side. Judge Michael Fisher, the founder of the family in this country, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 1702 (o. s.) and came to. this country in 1720 (o. s.) settling in Gloucester county, New Jersey. On November 3, 1730 (o. s.), he married, in the old Presbyterian church of Philadelphia, the Rev. Jedidiah Andrews officiating, Charity Chew, daughter of John Chew, the son of Richard Chew, who at one time owned large tracts of land at Flushing, Long Island, then known as Nassau. To Michael and Charity Fisher were born four sons and three daughters. The son Joe1,of their eldest daughter, Christiana, who was married to Abraham Roe, was killed in the battle of Long Island. The eldest son of Judge Michael Fisher and his wife Charity, born February 20 (o. s.), 1736, was named Charles and married Anna Flaningham, May 30, 1770, at Philadelphia, the Rev. John Ewing, minister of the Old Presbyterian church, officiating.

Anna Flaningham, according to tradition, was a beautiful woman, of superior intellectual attainments, vivacious manner, and a charming personality which created for her a wide circle of devoted friends. When a youth Charles Fisher was accustomed to call frequently at the house of Mrs. Flaningham, the mother of Anna. On one such occasion, Mrs. Flaningham, pointing to the child in the cradle, said to him: Charles, you may have Anna for your wife.” When Anna had reached the age of sixteen years, Charles offered himself, but found that she was already betrothed to James Jaggard, to whom she was shortly married. In the course of a few years Mr. Jaggard died, and after a suitable interval Charles again offered himself to Anna. His answer was: “Charles, you are again too late.” Anna then was married to Samuel Pierce. When Mr. Pierce died, Charles attended his funeral, and on the way home, having entered the carriage of the widowed Anna, so it is said, made his third proposal, and was graciously accepted. His former experiences justified his apparently unseemly haste to secure the charming Anna.

The result of this union was two sons, Michael Chew, born September 30, 1772, and William, born June 17, 1776. William died in boyhood. Michael Chew Fisher (the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch) and Rebecca, daughter of Samuel and Abagail Blackwood, were married by the Rev. Andrew Hunter, October 1, 1795. Abagail died in 1804. His second wife was Ann, daughter of Joseph and Ann Clement. Ann died in 1814. In 1818 he married his third wife, Mary, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Reeves. Michael Chew Fisher died August 15, 1862, near ninety years of age. He had been a judge of the court of common pleas (Gloucester county, New Jersey) for a number of years.

The eldest son of Judge Michael C. Fisher and Rebecca Blackwood, Samuel Blackwood Fisher, was born in Woodbury, New Jersey, September 21, 1796. He married Eliza Hinchman, daughter of James and Sarah Hinchman, on February 23, 1820, at Salem, New Jersey. Samuel Blackwood Fisher (the grandfather of the Rev. Mr. Fisher) moved to Orwigsburg and thence to Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and became the pioneer engineer and geologist of the anthracite coal regions. His eldest son, born at Woodbury, November 8, 1824, was educated in the excellent private schools at Pottsville. He married Charlotte Ann Lord Sheafe on August 25, 1853.

Howell Fisher was admitted to the Schuylkill county bar in 1846, at the age of twenty-two. Mr. Fisher was a man of great versatility. In addition to the practice of the law he was an expert civil and mining engineer, skilled geologist, extensive coal operator and practical iron manufacturer. In 1859 he was nominated for district attorney on the Republican ticket, and elected by a handsome majority over his opponent, Mr. George De B. Keim. Again nominated for the same office in 1862, he was defeated by the opposing nominee, Mr. Franklin E. Gowen. During the time of the rebel invasion of Pennsylvania, Mr. Fisher, who was then operating a furnace at St. Clair, “at once stopped the works, and taking most of the men and horses, and receiving horses from others, organized a cavalry company of over one hundred men and horses, and, being sworn in at Pottsville, left for service.” “Besides the horses, etc., furnished, incidental expenses of raising this company and the support of many of the men were furnished by Mr. Fisher, and cost him several thousand dollars. This, with loss of three months’ work at the furnace in the best season, which also amounted to a large sum, made him a money contributor to the war probably far heavier than any single individual in the county.”

In 1864 Mr. Fisher was the regular Republican nominee for congress, and again in 1878. Immediately after the war Mr. Fisher was employed by eastern capitalists to investigate the coal fields of Nova Scotia. Upon his recommendation two collieries were open, one in Cape Breton and the other at New Glascow, both of which were successful operations. In 1870 he published a valuable paper on “Agricultural and Mineral Resources of Virginia and West Virginia.” He was the pioneer in the opening and working of coal mines and the building of coke ovens and furnaces at Lynchburg, Virginia, and was also placed in charge of the establishment of a rolling mill at that place. The town of Quinnimont, Fayette county, West Virginia, was founded and named by him. During the latter years of his life the Hon. Howell Fisher resumed the practice of the law at Pottsville, where he died on July 2, 1879, when his son, the Rev. Harvey S. Fisher, was fourteen years old.

Charlotte L. Fisher, the mother of the Rev. Mr. Fisher, was the youngest daughter of Jacob Sheafe and Mary Haven, both of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Both the Sheafe and Haven families have been prominent in New England for many generations. Jacob Sheafe, who died in 1848, went to Pottsville, Pennsylvania, as the agent for the Girard estate. He was born in 1784. His father, Jacob Sheafe, of Portsmouth, was born in 1745, and died in 1829. He married Mary Quincy, sister of Dorothy Quincy, the wife of John Hancock, the signer of the Declaration of Independence. The distinction of the Quincy family is too well known to need more than reference. It was the above of whom mention is made in the following extract from “Rambles about Portsmouth” (page 333). “At a meeting of freeholders of the town of Portsmouth, December 16, 1773, it was resolved to resist the importation of tea. Six resolutions were drawn up, and it was therefore voted that the Hon. John Sherburn, John Pickering, Esq., George Ganes, Jacob Sheafe, Samuel Cutts, Esq., Samuel Hale, Esq., and Captain John Langdon, or any three of them, be a committee for the purpose aforesaid.” The said Jacob Sheafe was one of the signers of the following: “In consequence of the resolution (March 14, 1776) of the Honorable Continental Congress, and to show our determination in joining our American Brethren in defending the lives, Liberties and Properties of the inhabitants of the United Colonies, we the subscribers do hereby solemnly engage and promise that we will do the utmost of our power at the risque of our lives and Fortune with arms to oppose the hostile proceedings of the British fleets and armies against the United American Colonies” (Rambles about Portsmouth, p. 215).

This Jacob Sheafe was the great-grandfather of the Rev. Mr. Fisher. His father was also Jacob Sheafe, born 1715, died 1791, the son of Sampson Sheafe, born 1684, died 1772, and Sarah Walton. Sampson Sheafe’s father, Sampson Sheafe, born 1650, married his second cousin, Mehitable Sheafe. This Sampson’s father, Edmund Sheafe, born 1605, married Elizabeth Cotton, daughter of Sampson Cotton, of London, England. Edmund was son of the Rev. Thomas Sheafe, canon of S. George’s, Windsor, where his brass is still to be seen, and Maria Willson, daughter of another canon. Edmund’s cousin Jacob was the father of the above mentioned Mehitable. It is this Jacob Sheafe who died in 1658 and whose name is now inscribed on the bronze tablet on the Tremont street gate of the King’s Chapel Burying Ground, Boston, Massachusetts. He married Margaret Webb, only child of the richest man then in Boston, and thus laid the foundation of the family fortune always since then considerable. The father of Jacob was Edmund Sheafe, born 1559, of Cranebrook, County Kent, England, who married, May 30, 1586, Elizabeth Taylor, of London, and then Joan Jordan, the mother of Jacob, who migrated with him. There are several tombs of the Sheafe family in Rochester Cathedral, and the Sheafe coat-of-arms is there to be seen, carved on a ledger stone.

Edmund Sheafe and the Rev. Thomas Sheafe, were sons of Thomas and Mary Sheafe, and he of Richard (born 1510, died 1557), and Elizabeth. In the pavement of the nave of the old church at Cranebrooke, England, is the record of Mary’s death at the age of seventy-three in 1609. “Mary Sheafe the wife of Thomas Sheafe, who lived together near XLV years and had issue between them IX sons and XI daughters, she a grave and charitable matron dyed LXXIII years of age, Nov. 1609. Imposuit E. S.” The family were all of Cranebrooke, Kent, for generations. Thus the Sheafe family is readily traced back to the beginning of the sixteenth centurv.

The Rev. Mr. Fisher’s maternal grandmother, Mary Haven, was the daughter of the Rev. Samuel Haven, D. D., of Portsmouth. Of him the “Rambles about Portsmouth” says: (p. 325-6) “Dr. Haven during the Revolutionary war was a genuine son of liberty, giving the whole weight of his character, influence and exertions to the American cause. When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Portsmouth, he sat up a good part of the night with his family making bullets, and when in the next year an alarm was given in the night that the enemy was approaching, he shouldered his fowling-piece, and with his parishioners went to share in the toils and dangers to which they might be exposed.” He also made saltpetre for the army, which explains the following certificate signed by two physicians of Portsmouth given two months before the Declaration of Independence. “This is to certify that we the subscribers, by the request of the Rev. Dr. Haven, have examined a quantity of saltpetre made by him, and have weighed off three hundred and eight pounds, which we judge to be sufficiently pure and dry. Portsmouth, May 13, 1776.” Signed by J. Brackett, M. D., and Hall Jackson, M. D.

The Haven genealogy has been compiled and published, and is to be found in the libraries of Portsmouth and other New England towns. Two interesting documents in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Fisher are the old family Bible of the Fishers, containing the family record, the original property of Charles Fisher, the son of the founder of the family in America (the Bible was published in 1760) and the elaborate chart of the Sheafe family and its branches in the United States.

Through the Quincys, a distinct Dutch strain enters the family, Mary Quincy’s grandmother, Eliza Wendel, being of pure Dutch extraction. Other distinguished ancestors of the Rev. Mr. Fisher of the seventeenth century are Philippe du Trieux, marshal of New Netherlands; Thomas Willett, first mayor of New York under the English; Major-General Daniel Gookin, the friend of “Apostle” Elliot and of the Indians, tolerant in an intolerant age, “the noblest Roman of them all.”