My Genealogy Hound

JACOB L. HALLOWELL, a well known farmer of Cheltenham, is the son of Abel S. and Tacy (Livezey) Hallowell. He was born in Abington township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, April 8, 1839.

Abel S. Hallowell (father) was a son of George and Sarah Hallowell, both natives of Abington township, where they spent their entire lives. Their children: Elizabeth, who married the late William Harper; Mary, deceased; Sarah, who married the late Abraham Chilcott, of Jenkintown; Susan, married Charles Lefferts, deceased; Jacob L., subject of this sketch; Isabella, wife of George Evans; Tacy, married Henry Warner, who is now deceased; Georgianna, married J. Thomson Roberts, both now deceased; Abel S., Jr. John Thomson Roberts left five children..

Jacob L. Hallowell was educated in the public schools of Abington township, and in Abington Friends’ School. He has been engaged in agricultural pursuits throughout his life. For the past thirteen years he has been a resident at Cheltenham township. On July 29, 1861, shortly after the breaking out of the rebellion, he became infected with the patriotic war spirit and enlisted in the Cameron Dragoons, an organization which later became the Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Cavalry. He served throughout the year as second lieutenant, until December 23, 1862, when he resigned on account of disability. Mr. Hallowell is a member of Ellis Post, No. 6, Grand Army of the Republic, of Germantown; of Peace and Love Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Jenkintown; and also of Jenkintown Lodge, No. 476, Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Hallowell married, at Frankford, in Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, July 12, 1865, Rebecca R., born March 11, 1845, daughter of Richard and Catherine (Thomson) Roberts. They have two sons: Richard R., born November 27, 1866, and William L., born April 19, 1870, married Margaret Rollins, and has one daughter, Rebecca K. Hallowell, born August 28, 1903. Richard Roberts, father of Mrs. Hallowell, belonged to an old family. He was born 4th-mo. 19, 1812, and died 12th-mo. 27, 1891. The children of Richard and Catherine (Thomson) Roberts were: 1. Charles, who married Hannah Chandler, and they have a daughter Eva. 2. J. Thomson, deceased, married Georgeanna Hallowell, and their children were: George Franklin, who married Mary Jones, and has two children; Helen and John T. Roberts; Catharine, who married Joseph Shoemaker, and has three children: Nellie R., Leslie and Charles O. Shoemaker; Susan L., who married Charles Obnecht, and has three children: Franklin R., John and Alice Catharine Obnecht; Abel H., who married Etta Cuckle, and has one son, Linford C. Roberts; William, deceased. 3. Benjamin Franklin, who died in infancy. 4. Rebecca R., who married Jacob L. Hallowell, the subject of this sketch. 5. Jane T., deceased, who married Abel Hallowell, and has one child, Theodore H., born June 2, 1883.

Richard Roberts, grandfather of Mrs. Hallowell, was the youngest child of Thomas, Jr., and Letitia Roberts, of Quakertown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He married first, Tacy Shoemaker, daughter of George and Martha Shoemaker, of Cheltenham, and after her death married, second wife, 9th-mo. 10, 1804, Rebecca Jones, born 6th- mo. 18, 1777, died 8th-mo. 19, 1825. Richard and Rebecca (Jones) Roberts had ten children, from whom have sprung a very large family connection, mostly resident in the lower section of Montgomery county, especially numerous in the townships of Abington and Cheltenham. By the first marriage, Richard Roberts had three children. Thomas Roberts, Jr., was the son of Thomas and Alice Roberts, early settlers at Richland (now Quakertown), Bucks county, Pennsylvania. (For further particulars of the Roberts and allied families, the reader is referred to Ellwood Roberts’ “Old Richland Families,” a work which exhausts the subject). The Roberts families as well as the Hallowells were all members of the Society of Friends, and have become connected by intermarriage with many of the prominent families of Eastern Pennsylvania.