My Genealogy Hound

PHILIP WILLIARD, farmer, banker and accountant, is one of the best known residents of Trappe. He was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, September 24, 1830, and was reared to the business of farming and tanning. He was educated in the neighborhood schools and graduated at Jefferson College. He is a son of John and Elizabeth (Lindesmith) Williard, he of Frederick county, Maryland, she of Somerset county, Pennsylvania. They married in Ohio. John Williard was the son of Philip and Catharine (Knouff) Williard, both natives of Maryland, who removed to Ohio in 1805 and settled in the Wilderness Woods, where he made a farm on which he lived until his death. He never sought for notoriety but was a highly respected man. He died at the age of eighty-seven years. He was a member of the Reformed church. His children were: Elizabeth (Mrs. J. Fox); John (father); Catharine (Mrs. A. Anderson); Rosanna (Mrs. H. Loughlin).

John Williard (father) was born in Maryland and went to Ohio with his father’s family and settled. His father established a tannery and employed a man to instruct his son John who afterwards conducted it, attending to farming in connection with his other business. He was an active Democrat and filled the office of justice of the peace for thirty years, being widely known as Squire Williard. He enjoyed the respect of the whole community. He died at the homestead at the age of ninety years. His wife died twenty years earlier at the age of sixty-five years. She was the daughter of Jacob and Susan (Crissinger) Lindesmith. They were of Somerset county, Pennsylvania, but removed to Ohio, where he was a farmer, his acres being heavily timbered. He died at sixty-five years of age, his wife at ninety-two. Their children: Elizabeth (mother), Hannah, Mary, Rachel, Peter, Benjamin, David, Jacob.

The children of John and Elizabeth Williard: Elias, Jacob, Philip, subject of this sketch; John, George, Joseph, Peter, Adam, Susanna, wife of Rev. Mr. Hays, a Presbyterian minister; Rosanna (Mrs. D. Patterson); Catharine (Mrs. Jonathan Niswonger); Elizabeth (Mrs. James Kennedy); Matilda, died unmarried; Mary, died unmarried. All grew to maturity and all married except the two last mentioned.

Philip Williard remained with his father until he had grown to manhood. He was educated for the ministry, but his health failed and he taught school several years. He continued his study for the ministry until 1864, teaching some in Pennsylvania. He then entered the employment of the Excelsior Coal Company, Mr. Kingsley, of Boston, being the principal of the firm, and was the trusted confidential bookkeeper and cashier of the firm for thirty-seven years or more, when he retired. He went through all the “Molly Maguire” troubles, but had no difficulty himself as he confined his attention strictly to business. In 1860 he married, and during the time he was engaged in the Northumberland county coal operations his wife remained at Trappe. He bought a home and later the homestead farm where he still lives. He retired from the coal business in February, 1902, and is now enjoying a life of rest. He is a self-made man, as he started out in life with five dollars.

He married Anna E. Prizer, born at Trappe, in 1832, the daughter of Henry and Catharine (Dewees) Prizer, both of prominent families. Henry Prizer was a highly educated man and the instructor on the piano of the first academy of this country. He was also a civil engineer and did a great deal of surveying in Montgomery county. Some of the foremost men in the county were educated by him, but he was cut off in his useful life and died at the age of thirty-eight. His wife reared the family with credit. She was the daughter of David Dewees, who was prominent in the politics of Montgomery county, serving as high sheriff and in other capacities. The children of Henry and Catharine (Dewees) Prizer were: Mary C., wife of Rev. John R. Kooken, a well known minister, a pioneer educator of Pennsylvania, and at one time a professor at Millersboro Academy, Pennsylvania, who also established and conducted the second seminary of Montgomery county, near Norristown, (Freeland being the first), and after many years of teaching and preaching in the Reform church, he accepted the appointment under President Buchanan’s administration of consul to Trinidad, where he continued until the change in the administration, when he returned to Pennsylvania, and when the Civil war commenced he raised a company and served as captain until killed in battle at Fredericksburg, where he is buried in the national cemetery; Anna (Mrs. Williard); Margaret, died unmarried.

Philip and Anna Williard had the following children: Percival D., a farmer on the homestead, who married Anna Showalter and has one child, Andrew R.; Mary C., the wife of William Cromer, who is a prominent clothing manufacturer of Schwenksville, has three children, Ruth A., Williard and C. Harrold; Chester K., formerly a clerk in a store at Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, and now employed by a traction company in Philadelphia, married Mary Ellen Raup and has one child, Mildred E. The family are members of the Reform church. Politically Mr. Williard has always been a Democrat and was the first treasurer of Trappe borough. He is a stockholder, vice- president and director of the Royersford National Bank, and has been an elder in his church for twenty-five years, and school director at Trappe for fifteen years. Mrs. Williard died in February, 1900.

The Williard family were French Huguenots and were driven from their native country by religious troubles. They settled on River Rhine, from where they emigrated to this country, settling first in Maryland and then in Ohio.