Charles Hartshorne
1.Charles HARTSHORNE[1] was born on 2 Sep 1829, Merion, Montgomery, Pennsylvania. He andnd Caroline Cope YARNALL were married on 8 Jun 1859 in Philadelphia Quaker Meeting House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They lived at the home they called Holmhurst. It was located in Lower Merion, on Hazlehurst Avenue, near Wynnewood Avenue and Merion Station. “The ample and beautiful dwelling of stone and slate was designed by Addison Hutton, and constructed of Trenton brownstone. It was finished in 1886 and occupied at once by Mr. Hartshorne. About twenty acres of ground are in the property. About six acres are wooded, and one entrance is a rustic drive through the grove. On a part which originally belonged to the tract Edward Y. Hartshorne, son of Charles Hartshorne, is just completing a house of stone and frame, of antique design, with a hipped roof." [Historical Documentation of Place in Greater Philadelphia, Bryn Mawr University]
He was buried in Nov 1908 in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pa.His biography read:[2] Charles Hartshorne, the vice-president of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, was born at Philadelphia, Sept. 2, 1829. He is a son of the late Dr. Joseph and Anna Hartshorne, and a descendant in the seventh generation from Richard Hartshorne, who settled in New Jersey in 1665, nearly twenty years prior to Penn's settlement on the Delaware. His grandfather, William Hartshorne, of Alexandria, Va., was treasurer of the first Internal Improvement Company in this country, of which Gen. Washington was president.
Mr. Hartshorne was educated at Haverford College and at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating from the latter in the class of '47.
Mr. Hartshorne's early tendencies were in the line of railroad enterprises, which began to take a strong hold upon the attention of capitalists and of the public about the time of his emergence from college life into the more practical experiences of business and public affairs. Having embarked in railroad interests, Mr. Hartshorne has continued therein to the present time as an active and influential participant in various important transportation movements. In 1857 he became president of the Quakake Railroad Company; in 1862 he was chosen president of the Lehigh and Mahanoy Railroad Company; in 1868 he was elected vice-president of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and in 1880 was elevated to the presidency, but in January, 1883, resumed the position of vice-president to make room for a son of the late Judge Packer, whose estate holds a controlling interest in the company. In addition to his important railroad interests, Mr. Hartshorne is connected with a number of commercial organizations, notably the Provident Life and Trust Company and the Western National Bank, in each of which he is a director.
He is also officially connected with a number of public enterprises of an educational and charitable character. Among such may be mentioned Haverford College, Bryn Mawr College, and the Pennsylvania Hospital, of each of which he is a member of the board of managers.
Although engaged in a number of enterprises of great magnitude, and burdened with a multiplicity of responsible duties, Mr. Hartshorne was found time to indulge in a considerable amount of domestic and foreign travel, having visited Europe in the years 1852, 1868, and 1882.
On the 8th of June, 1859, Mr. Hartshorne was married to Miss Caroline Cope Yarnall, a daughter of Edward Yarnall and a granddaughter of Thomas P. Cope. As a result of this alliance there have been five children, - two sons and three daughters.
Charles Hartshorne entered Haverford College in 1843 and the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1847 and receiving his MA degree there in 1850. His long employment with the railroad began in 1857. It was that year that he became president of the Quakake R.R. and was president of the Lehigh & Mahanoy R.R. until it merged with the Lehigh Valley R.R. From 1868 to 1899, he was Vice-president of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. During that time, he was president of the Choctaw Coal & R.R. Co. and vice-president of the Reading & New England R.R. He oversaw the development of the railroad's continued growth in the Anthracite Coal Areas. Under his management, a major railroad was built in southeastern Oklahoma to carry coal being mined there. It is believed that the town of Hartshorne, Oklahoma was named after him.
He was a trustee of Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges and Lehigh University. Other service included membership on the board of managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital and the Provident Life and Trust Society. He became Vice-president of Bryn Mawr in 1904, rising to President and Chairman of the Board, until his death.
His obituary, which appeared in The Hartshorne Sun, Thursday, November 12, 1908, read: “CHARLES HARTSHORNE” Charles Hartshorne, formerly president of the Lehigh Valley railroad and for several years vice-president of the Choctaw railroad, and the man who named our town Hartshorne, died Friday at Peorion [sic-Merion], Pa, aged 79 years. Mr. Hartshorne was a prominent in the financial and business world of Philadelphia for many years. He retired from active life ten years ago. He began his career in railroad service and had been engaged in railroad business for 42 years. He was an important factor in the building of the Choctaw railroad and being so pleased with the town site it was named Hartshorne. Many of the early settlers remember Mr. Hartshorne as a kindly gentleman of great hustling ability and one of the men who kept pushing things lagged in the building of the Choctaw. [courtesy of the Pittsburg County Archives]
To get a grasp on the character of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and its operation, one has to take a look at the family tree of this railroad, once known as the Route of the Black Diamond. Some of the short line railroads that went into forming the Lehigh Valley Railroad included the following: 1.Beaver Meadow Railroad (1830) 2.Hazleton Railroad (1830) 3. Delaware, Lehigh,Susquehanna & Schuylkill RR(LV's original name) 4.Lehigh and Mahanoy 5.Pennsylvania & New York Canal and Railroad 6.Delaware, Schuylkill & Susquehanna Railroad 7.Geneva,Ithaca & Sayre Railroad 8.Southern Central Railroad 9.Elmira,Cortland & Northern Railroad All of which, once built and operating, formed the basis of the Lehigh Valley Railroad as it evolved into the form that it would take well into the 20th Century. [The Railfan Network]
Caroline Cope YARNALL (daughter of Edward YARNALL and Rachel COPE) was born on 30 Jan 1835, Overbrook, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She died in 1886 in Merion, Montgomery, Pennsylvania. She was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pa..Charles HARTSHORNE and Caroline Cope YARNALL had the following children:
+2 i. Mary HARTSHORNE, born on 29 Apr 1860, Overbrook, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; married Samuel Burns WESTON, on 8 Oct 1891, Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Pennsylvania; died on 22 Oct 1944, Bryn Mawr.
+3 ii. Eward Yarnall HARTSHORNE, born on 11 Oct 1861, Overbrook; married Clemintina Borie RHODES, on 15 Oct 1896, St. Mary's Church, Ardmore, Pennsylvania; died on 24 Dec 1941, Haverford, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
+4 iii. Anna ["Nannah"] Cope HARTSHORNE, born on 27 Jun 1863, Overbrook; married Walter L SHELDON, on 18 May 1892; married Percival CHUBB, on 25 Jul 1910; died on 2 Oct 1957, Haverford.
+5 iv. Rev. Francis Cope HARTSHORNE, born on 4 Oct 1868, Overbrook; married Marguerite HAUGHTON, on 25 Apr 1895, Bryn Mawr; died on 16 Apr 1950, Cynwyd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
6 v. Amy HARTSHORNE was born on 17 Dec 1870, Overbrook, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She died on 5 May 1947 in Haverford and was buried in Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr.
[1] Historical Documentation of Places in Greater Philadelphia Brynmawr University, No. 17, pg. 62.
[2] History of the Counties of Lehigh And Carbon, In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Chapter II, pg 604, 605.
Derick S. Hartshorn - ©2008
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