William Himrod and Phoebe [2] Vincent

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Husband William Himrod ^{1 2}

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           Born: 19 May 1791 - Turbot Twp, Northumberland Co, PA 1 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 21 Jun 1873 - Erie, Erie Co, PA 3 4
         Buried: 

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         Father: Aaron Himrod (1757/1759-1820) 1 3 5
         Mother: Isabella Kirk (1756/1766-1841) 3

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       Marriage: 9 Jul 1845 4

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   Other Spouse: Aurelia H. Reed (      -1844) 1 - 31 May 1825 1

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Wife Phoebe [2] Vincent ⁶

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           Born: 23 Mar 1803 6
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: Bethuel Vincent (1762-1837) 6 7
         Mother: Martha Himrod (1764-1806) 2 7

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   Other Spouse: Moore B. Bradley, M.D. (      -      ) 6

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Children

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General Notes: Husband - William Himrod

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He was prominent in business and religious circles in Erie, Pennsylvania, for a generation. He was sagacious and foresighted, and comprehended the needed changes that were impending in the fabric of our political system, as well as the possibilities of the future. To the solution of these problems he brought to bear his great natural powers. He was a remarkable man, positive, systematic and energetic. He was a pioneer in the iron industry in Erie. He was one of the firm of Johnson, Himrod & Co., and later Vincent, Himrod & Co., established in 1841. Scores and perhaps hundreds of Erie men owed to his energy the acquisition of a trade and of a home. Their firm erected and operated the first blast furnace in Erie about the year 1843, at the corner of Twelfth and French streets. For the life of a generation he maintained a school for the destitute and colored; for nearly a score of years (including the period of the fugitive slave law) at the peril of imprisonment, he kept a depot for recovering and forwarding fugitive slaves. His home for nearly half a century, with its old-fashioned hospitality and genial welcome, was at the corner of French and Second streets, where his Sunday-school was established December 22, 1839, for the colored and destitute. It is still [1896] maintained and called "The Himrod Mission," under the active supervision of the inheritor of his name, prompted by the same impulses which, for more than half a century, have been conspicuously exercised for the elevation of mankind. [BDHRBEC, 583]

He came to Erie in 1810. He was a carpenter and joiner up to 1840, when he was associated in the establishment of the stove, agricultural implement and engine manufacturing works of Johnson, Himrod & Co., a business which continued to be carried on successively and successfully under the firm names, Vincent, Himrod & Co., Vincent, Tibbals, Shirk & Co., and Tibbals, Shirk & Whitehead, and which eventually had its outcome in the extensive manufacturing plants, the Chicago and Erie Stove Works and the Erie City Iron Works.
He was one of the city fire wardens in 1853; a member of the common council in 1856-7; a director in the branch U. S. bank, and one of the incorporators of the Erie cemetery. He was a pronounced and active Abolitionist at a time when that name was a term of general reproach. Throughout a long term of years he rendered all the assistance in his power to fugitive slaves, often sheltering and providing for numbers of them in his own home until they could have safe convoy to Canada. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, and became one of its elders. Later he severed his connection with that congregation to become a member of the Park Presbyterian Church. His last act before leaving the former church was to subscribe $1,000 to its building fund. He was an elder of the Park Church until his death. [BDHRBEC, 583]

1 —, Nelson's Biographical Dictionary and Historical Reference Book of Erie County, Pennsylvania (Erie, PA: S. B. Nelson, Publisher, 1896), Pg 582.

2 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 1527, 1542.

3 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 1542.

4 —, Nelson's Biographical Dictionary and Historical Reference Book of Erie County, Pennsylvania (Erie, PA: S. B. Nelson, Publisher, 1896), Pg 583.

5 Editor, History of Erie County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1884), Bios 227.

6 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 1527.

7 —, Nelson's Biographical Dictionary and Historical Reference Book of Erie County, Pennsylvania (Erie, PA: S. B. Nelson, Publisher, 1896), Pg 550.