Middletown Township.

purchase of adjacent lands considerable additions were made to the homestead farm, which Mr. Pratt cultivated and greatly improved. He was the pioneer in a branch of industry which has since grown to large proportions in the county, - that of the manufacture of ice cream. This was made on the farm and shipped before the completion of the railroad by boat from Chester to Philadelphia, where a ready market was found. The enterprise proved so profitable as to have induced many others to embark in the business. Mr. Pratt retired from active labor some years before his death, and ultimately removed to Media, where he died on the 5th of March, 1882. He was a Republican in politics, active in the defense of the principles of his party, and a strong and outspoken Abolitionist. He served a term as commissioner of the county, and also held various minor offices. He was for several years identified with the Delaware County Mutual Insurance Company as its president. He was a member of the Delaware County Institute of Science, and a life member of the Pennsylvania Training-School for Feeble-Minded Children, both of which institutions commanded his warmest interest. His influence was ever given in the cause of temperance, both by precept and example. He was one of the board of trustees of the Charter House, in Media, a body with whom he met but a few days prior to his death. He was also one of the early projectors of the Farmers' Market of Philadelphia, now so successfully established. Mr. Pratt was from childhood a member of the society of Friends, and devoted to the faith he espoused.

Humphrey Johnson, the great-grandfather of the subject of this biography, resided in Chester township, Delaware Co. Among his sons was Joseph, who married Amy Rogers, and had the following ten children: Ann, Humphrey, Robert R., Phineas, Abram, Amy, Mary, Jethro, Sarah, and Hannah. Humphrey, of this number, was born in Delaware County, and when sufficiently advanced in years learned the trade of carpenter. He later abandoned this occupation for the healthful employment of the farmer, and removed to Cecil County, Md. He married Mary, daughter of John Slaughter, to whom were born children, - Jemima (Mrs. Thomas Donegha), Joseph, Charles, Anna M. (Mrs. I. P. Dutton), and Amy Charles, of this number, was born Nov. 9, 1817, in Cecil County, Md., and in early youth removed to Delaware County. Here he enjoyed but limited advantages of education, and having chosen the trade of blacksmith, on completing his apprenticeship, followed it successfully for seventeen years. In 1855 he purchased a farm in Middletown township, and has since been devoted to its cultivation and improvement. Mr. Johnson, on the 16th of March, 1842, married Mary S., daughter of Joseph Mancill, of the same county, and has had children, - Clementina M. (Mrs. William H. Pratt), Anna Mary (Mrs. Evans Eachus), H. Winfield, L. Emma, Charles, William A. (who is deceased), and Laura F. (Mrs. Albert P. Ogden). In politics Mr. Johnson usually fraternizes with the Republican party, though he may with propriety be regarded as independent in his political views. He has held the important office of treasurer of Delaware County, and served as county commissioner and in minor township positions. He was instructed in youth in the belief of the society of Friends, and still inclines to that faith.

John Sharpless, of Ratherton, in the county of Chester, England, married Jane More, of the same place, in the year 1662. With their seven children they embarked for America two months previous to the arrival of William Penn, in 1682, landing at Chester on the 14th of June of the same year. Joseph Sharpless, the youngest son, married Lydia Lewis, and settled in Lower Providence, on part of the original purchase of one thousand acres, and later removed to four hundred acres in Middletown township. His nine children were Susannah, Benjamin, Samuel, Lydia, Nathan, Jane, Abraham, Jacob, and William. Samuel married Jane Newlin, daughter of John and Mary Newlin, of Concord, and settled on part of the original purchase. They had twelve children, - Mary, John, Thomas, Lydia, Abigail, Samuel, Hannah, Susanna, Phoebe, Rachel, Samuel, and Joel. Samuel Sharpless died in 1790, and his wife, Jane, in 1798. Their son, Joel, married in 1784, Hannah, daughter of Joshua and Lydia Mendenhall. They finally settled upon two hundred acres, the larger portion of which is now embraced in the farm of the subject of this sketch, on which his residence, "The Hermitage," stands. His three surviving children were Samuel, Joshua, and Lydia, who were early left orphans. Samuel married Ruth Iddings in 1808, and had children, - Beulah, Joel, Hannah, Lydia, William, Amy, Sarah, Thomas J., Ruth Anna, Tamzen, Matilda, and Samuel. All these children were born at "The Hermitage," in Middletown, and all but one survive. The birth of Joel, the second child, occurred March 9, 1810. He was from childhood accustomed to labor, and received only such an education as could be obtained during the winter months after attaining his tenth year. At the age of nineteen he taught school, continuing this vocation at intervals for a period of several years. On the 25th of December, 1841, he was married to Miss Hannah, youngest daughter of Abel and Lydia Minshall, of Middletown. Mrs. Sharpless died on the 10th of October, 1845, leaving one son, Minshall, whose death occurred in 1864. Mr. Sharpless was a second time married on the 6th of May, 1847, to Sarah Ann, daughter of Abel and Sarah Green, whose children are Josephine, Robert,