My Genealogy Hound

JOHN WILLIAM LODGE, M. D., of Lower Merion township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, where he was born on February 12, 1838, is descended on the paternal and maternal sides of the family from early settlers of the state of Pennsylvania, and is a son of Thomas Garrett and Susan (Evans) Lodge.

Abel Lodge, ancestor of Dr. John W. Lodge, was a native of England, and came to this country with William Penn on his second visit to the province. He settled at Kingsessing, where he purchased a large tract of land, a portion of which is still in the possession of his descendants.

John Lodge, grandfather of Dr. John W. Lodge, was a native of Kingsessing, received a common school education, and during the active years of his life followed the occupation of farming. He was united in marriage to Elizabeth Reid, at the old Swedes’ church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by the Rev. Nicholas Collin, May 29, 1793, and among the children born of this marriage was a son, Thomas Gerrett Lodge.

Thomas Garrett Lodge, father of Dr. John W. Lodge, was born at Kingsessing, March 28, 1811, and was the youngest of a family of several children. After receiving a good education in the schools of the neighborhood he followed his father’s pursuit, that of farming, in which he was highly successful. He was a man of exemplary habits, and was well known for his rectitude and probity of character. He was one of the organizers of St. John’s Protestant Episcopal church of Merion, in 1861, and served as vestryman up to the time of his death. On December 20, 1832, he was married to Susan Evans, daughter of Joseph and Mary Thomas Evans (a descendant of John ap Thomas, who with Dr. Edward Jones was the agent through whom many of the early settlers purchased their land from William Penn), and ten children were the issue of this union, five of whom still survive.

One of their sons, Joseph Evans Lodge, was first lieutenant in the Third Regiment United States Cavalry, and another son, Louis K. Lodge, was for many years superintendent of the central division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and also held an important position in the service of the company at Altoona, Pennsylvania. The first ancestor in this country of the Evans family, of whom Mrs. Susan (Evans) Lodge was a member, was Robert David, who came from Wales with a colony from Merionethshire during the early settlement of Pennsylvania. Before emigrating to this country he purchased two hundred and eighty acres of land in Merion township, then a part of Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania, and a portion of these lands deeded by William Penn to Robert David, by deed dated March 18, 1681, is still in possession of the family. His granddaughter Elizabeth Roberts married John Evans, who came from Wales in 1711, and their son Nehamiah Evans was ensign in the 4th Company, 3rd Battalion, Revolutionary army. Thomas Garrett Lodge died January 23, 1894, and his wife Susan (Evans) Lodge died in the year 1880.

Dr. John W. Lodge, only surviving son of Thomas G. and Susan (Evans) Lodge, was born at the family homestead in Lower Merion. He was educated at Lower Merion Academy, the West Chester Academy, and at Charleston (South Carolina) College. He graduated in his medical studies in 1859, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession. In 1861, at the breaking out of the rebellion, he was commissioned captain and assistant surgeon of the Second Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Reserve Corps, and was sent to Easton, Pennsylvania, to organize a camp and military hospital, which to be established at that place for the Pennsylvania Reserves. In August, 1861, he was ordered to the command of General Nathaniel P. Banks, on the Upper Potomac, and later he served with his regiment in the Army of the Potomac. For a time he was medical officer on the staff of General John F. Reynolds, and in August, 1862, he was appointed executive officer of the military hospital at Hestonville. In 1864 Dr. Lodge filled a similar position at the south hospital, and was acting surgeon of the United States Volunteers.

After the war Dr. Lodge was elected one of the consulting surgeons of the Philadelphia Hospital. At the present time (1904) he is one of the physicians of the Bryn Mawr Hospital, and one of the surgeons of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. During the many years of his professional career he has taken an active interest in all organizations that have for their object the advancement and ethics of the profession. He has had a wide experience in hospital and general practice, and stands high among the medical practitioners in his section of the county. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.

Dr. Lodge was married April 4, 1866, to Miss Sarah J. Simmons, born September 5, 1839, a daughter of Anthony Hathaway and Sarah (Davis) Simmons, and granddaughter of Colonel Anthony Simmons, one of the judges of the district court of Philadelphia. To this marriage was born one daughter, Carolina Alexander. Mrs. Lodge died November 23, 1901.