My Genealogy Hound

MRS. HELEN HOVENDEN, of Plymouth Meeting, is the eldest daughter of George and Martha (Maulsby) Carson. She was born at the homestead in Whitemarsh township. After taking a course at the School of Design in Philadelphia, she studied later in Paris. Since her return from Europe she has resided at the family homestead, at Plymouth Meeting. She married, June 9, 1881, Thomas Hovenden, son of Robert and Ellen (Bryan) Hovenden, of Dunmanway, county Cork, Ireland.

Thomas Hovenden was an artist whose paintings won him world-wide fame. His death was due to an accident at a grade crossing, since abolished, where the Trenton Cut-Off Railroad intersected the Germantown Turnpike, within a half-mile of his home. In attempting to cross with other passengers on a trolley car he was struck by a train which had not been seen as it approached, and instantly killed. His remains were interred in Plymouth Friends’ burying ground. His death occurred in August, 1895. The loss was severely felt by his wife and family, as well as by a large circle of friends whom he had won by his talent as an artist, and his kindly and lovable disposition. His sympathies were with the down-trodden and oppressed, and the topics he chose for the paintings he executed touched a popular chord. Among them were the following: “John Brown Being Led to Execution,” “In the Hands of the Enemy,” and “The Breaking Home Ties.” Those were all on exhibition at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893, and they attracted the public as much as any that were exhibited on that occasion. His pictures appeal to the finer sensibilities of human nature. He had entered upon the painting of a western scene a short time before his death, and thus left unfinished what would probably have been one of his greatest works.

Thomas and Helen (Corson) Hovenden had two children, Thomas Hovenden, Jr., born March 11, 1882, and Martha Maulsby Hovenden, born May 8, 1884. They reside with their mother at Plymouth Meeting.

George Corson was the fourth son of Joseph and Hannah (Dickinson) Corson. He was born January 4, 1803, at Hickorytown in Plymouth township. He was educated in the school of his brother, Alan W. Corson, and, being an apt pupil, associated with the brightest minds brought together from different sections of the county and neighboring counties, he was a leader in the studies of the school. On leaving school he entered the store of Jonathan Maulsby at Plymouth Meeting, and on January 24, 1832, he married Martha, daughter of Samuel and Susan (Thomas) Maulsby. On the death of his father-in-law, George Corson purchased the homestead and limestone quarries and continued the business successfully until his death, November 18, 1860, in the fifty-eighth year of his age. He was a strong temperance and anti-slavery man, and influential in his neighborhood. He was a very active laborer in the cause of the slaves, throwing open his house to all who were interested. William Lloyd Garrison, Lucretia Mott, the Burleighs, Mary Grew and Abby Kelly Foster, were all entertained by him at his hospitable home when on their speaking tours in which they were endeavoring to rouse the conscience of the nation to the wickedness and crime of slavery.

The children of George and Martha Corson: Susan, died of consumption in her fifteenth year; Mary, died in infancy; Dr. Marcus Heilner Corson, died in his twenty-third year of consumption. Samuel Maulsby Corson, their oldest son, studied in the University of Pennsylvania, and then studied law, and practiced for a time in Philadelphia, but the profession was distasteful to him, and he became a teacher in Whitemarsh township. He was greatly beloved by his pupils. He delighted in historical research, and became a member of the Montgomery County Historical Society, being one of its founders. He died August 7, 1881, in his forty-third year. The three surviving children of George and Martha Corson are Dr. Ellwood M. Corson, of Norriston, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work; Mrs. Hovenden, and Ida. The last named is a graduate of Vassar College. She married William A. de Caindry, and resides in Washington, D. C.

(For the ancestry of Mrs. Hovenden see “The Corson Family” elsewhere in this work.)