My Genealogy Hound

THOMAS FOULDS, son of John and Ann (Geldred) Foulds, was born at Colne, Lancashire, England, March 31, 1847. He was the seventh child and oldest son of his parents. John Foulds was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, and spent his entire life in his native land. He was connected with his brother James in the manufacture of yarns. He served as inspector of the Constabulary of Rochdale district, in the county of Lancashire. The paternal and maternal ancestors of Thomas Foulds were all natives of Yorkshire, England.

Thomas Foulds attended the private schools of the locality until his sixteenth year, when he became a pupil teacher in the school, which position he held for three years, and at nineteen years of age was apprenticed to the trade of a gardener at Ravenhead Hall, the seat of Sir Billings Blinkhorn, near Liverpool, where he remained until his twenty-first year. He then became chief gardener to Mr. W. W. Schofield, member of Parliament, a large manufacturer, who had extensive estates in that neighborhood, with whom he remained for nearly two years. He then decided to try his fortune on this side of the Atlantic, and came to the United States in 1869, landing at Castle Garden, New York. Thence he went to Walloomsack, near North Adams, Massachusetts, where he worked for a short time as a gardener, going thence to North Adams, Massachusetts. There he was engaged at the same occupation until the fall of 1869, when he decided to go west. He did not stop until he had reached Council Bluffs, where he found that there was little employment for men of his calling in life, and he at once set about doing whatever he could find at hand. Soon afterward he went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he found employment in a railroad yard in making up trains of cars to be dispatched to various sections of the country. He also found at that place several of his countrymen who were of great value to him, one being the superintendent and the other a foreman for the company for which he worked. He was given the place of a fireman, and later that of engineer on a switch engine, and eventually was given employment as a driver on a train that ran between Omaha and North Platte, a position which he held for about eighteen months, when, on account of the breaking out of hostilities between the Indians and the settlers of that region, he relinquished the work as too dangerous for one who had a family in England dependent upon him. He decided to remain no longer in that employment, and started in the direction of Kansas, doing odd jobs on his way as he found them. He labored diligently to accumulate a fund which might be used to send for the loved ones he had left behind him in England, who were anxiously awaiting his ability to establish a home for them in this country.

Mr. Foulds was much impressed with the advantages of Humboldt, in Allen county, Kansas, and he purchased a tract of ten acres in the suburbs of that town, on which he established a home for his family, whom he brought from England in 1870. He had married in England, in 1867, Mary Ann, daughter of James and Elizabeth Uttley, of Bamoldwick, Yorkshire, of an old family in that part of England. Their children were: Clara, deceased; John, who married Mary, daughter of Samuel and Margaret Hoover, of North Wales, Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of one son Howard; Prudence, who married William H. Campbell, and lives at East Hampton, Massachusetts, the couple having two children, namely: William Thomas Foulds, born April 25, 1898, and Prudence Margaret Selina, born December 18, 1900; Thomas, Jr., unmarried, was born March 17, 1876, and resides in Philadelphia; Frederick Mason, born April 28, 1878, who married Hannah Tarbottom. John Foulds resides at Gwynedd, and assists his father at the Gwynedd Rose Nurseries.

In 1875 Mr. Foulds removed with his family from Humboldt, Kansas, to Paschallville, Delaware county, Pennsylvania, where he established himself as a jobbing gardener, and in 1876 became chief gardener to Charles H. Rogers, at Branchtown, with whom he remained until 1882, managing with great skill the extensive interests involved in the care of that place. In that year he became superintendent of the Mount Airy Nurseries for Messrs. Miller & Yates, with whom he continued for two years, when he became head gardener for the late William M. Singerly, on his extensive farms at Franklinville, in Whitpain township.

Mrs. Foulds having died, Mr. Foulds married a second time, the ceremony being performed July 15, 1884. His second wife was Sarah H., widow of Mr. Warren, and daughter of Charles Marple, of Philadelphia, and his wife Elizabeth Greer Marple. Their children were: Margaret Emily S., born March 15, 1885, unmarried, and resides with her parents; Dora Hopkins, born March 27, 1886, died March 13, 1889; Edna Haldeman, born May 4, 1890, died July 6, 1892; Horatio Schofield, born February 6, 1892, deceased; and Selina Horsefield, born May 18, 1898.

Mr. Foulds remained with Mr. Singerly until 1888, when he removed to Nicetown, Philadelphia, to manage the nurseries of Hugh Graham, with whom he remained until March, 1890, when he removed with his family to the location now known as Gwynedd Rose Nurseries, which he established on a tract of land containing eighteen acres which he bought from John Canby in 1888. Gwynedd Rose Nurseries has grown, as the reputation of its products has become more and more widely extended from year to year, they being sent mostly to the Philadelphia market. The seven large houses embracing 22,000 feet of glass in all attest the success of the business established by Mr. Foulds.

Mr. Foulds and his family are members of the Episcopal Church of the Messiah at Gwynedd, in which he has served for some years as one of the vestrymen. In politics Mr. Foulds is a Republican, taking an active interest in the success of its nominees for public position and the triumph of its principles. In local affairs he is also much interested, and especially as a member of the township school board in educational work. He has served in this capacity or several years, and is now its secretary. Mr. Foulds is another instance of the triumph of native ability and strength of character over the most unfavorable circumstances in the conflict of life. He is emphatically a self-made man, and enjoys the esteem of the community in which he is a useful and valued member.

Thomas Foulds, the great-grandfather of Thomas Foulds, was a native of Halifax, Yorkshire, England, where he was engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods. He married Nancy Higginson, and had three sons: Simon, Esket and John. Simon Foulds, the grandfather of Thomas Foulds, was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England. He spent the greater portion of his life in his native town, where he was a dealer in cotton waste, and subsequently removed to Bolton, Lancashire, England, where he engaged in the manufacture of yarns. He died in Bolton. His children were: John, James, William, Ann and Betzie.

Esket Foulds was also born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England. He emigrated to America in early manhood, engaged in the wholesale liquor business in the south, but nothing is known of him since 1864. He never married.