at the International Expositions at \^ienna in 1873, and at Paris, in 1900.
He was for many years a member of the Board of City Trusts, which body has
in charge the management of the famous Girard Estate, an active promoter and
director of the Pennsylvania Commercial Museums, of the National Export Ex-
T498 £ LAVA' 5
position of 1899, and for over twenty years a director of the Pennsylvania Rail-
road. He was also in the directorate of many other large corporations, among which
may be named: The Philadelphia and Erie, Schuylkill Valley, and Fort Pitt
railroad companies; the Union Traction Company of Philadelphia, the Consoli-
dated Traction Company of New Jersey, the Metropolitan Traction Company of
New York, the Baltimore Traction Company, the Philadelphia Company of Pitts-
burgh, the West Side and North Traction companies of Chicago, the United Gas
Improvement Company of Philadelphia, the Electric Company of America, the
Electric Storage Battery Company, the Continental Tobacco Company, the Amer-
ican Surety Company, the Fourth Street National Bank of Philadelphia, the Land
Title and Trust Company and Commercial Trust Company of Philadelphia. He
was also a member of the Fairmount Park Art Association, Union League, Art
and Country clubs of Philadelphia, Germantown Cricket Club, Maryland Club
of Bahimore, Manhattan Club of New York, and the Historical, Genealogical,
and Colonial societies of Pennsylvania.
Upon his death, one of the leading newspapers of his home city, thus mentioned
him: "By the death of William L. Elkins, Philadelphia has lost one of its most
widely known citizens. Without any assistance given him at the beginning of
his career other than that which comes from restless energy and the ability to
perform and grasp promising opportunities for advancement, he became one of
the leading financiers of the country and reached the front rank in the direction
of great enterprises. His business versatility enabled him to give personal atten-
tion to very many varied activities, success in any one of which would have stamp-
ed him as a man of remarkable achievement * * * Few Americans have reached
the commanding place he occupied in the business world. In this sphere and in
the wide circle of his devoted personal friendships he will be missed." Mr. Elkins
was an Episcopalian, a pew holder in Christ Church. Philadelphia, and a vestry-
man of St. Paul's, Elkins Park.
He was a quiet but generous giver to charitable and philanthropic objects, and
among his benefactions was the gift of a liberal sum for the erection of the pres-
ent home of the Bucks County Historical Society, at Doylestown. By his will he
made provision for the founding a home in Philadelphia for the orphans of mem-
bers of the Masonic Order, which provision became inoperative under the law
on account of the will being executed within thirty days of his death, but his
family carried out his intentions by erecting "The ^^'illiam L. Elkins Masonic
Orphanage for Girls of Pennsylvania," at Broad Street and the Boulevard, at a
cost of several hundred thousand dollars.
Mr. Elkins married, January 21, 1857, Maria Louise Broomall, born August
30, 1832, daughter of James Broomall, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, by his
wife, Rachel Baker. Mrs. Elkins is descended from John Broomall, who came
to Pennsylvania the same year in which William Penn first arrived, and from
George Maris, many years a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, and in 1693
of the Provincial Council, and Henry Hayes, Esq., also a member of the Assem-
bly, and from 1717 till 1740, one of the Justices of the Courts of Chester County.
Mrs. Elkins is a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Daughters of the
.'\merican Revolution and of the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of
.America, and of various boards of Philadelphia's philanthropic and educational
institutions.
ELKINS 1499
Children of JVilliaat Lukcns Elkins by his Zi'ifc, Maria Louise Brooiuall:
George W. Elkins, b. Sept. 26, 1858; m. Stella E. Mclntire ;
Ida Amelia Elkins, b. Sept. 26, 1859; d. 1904: m., as second wife, Sidney Frederick
Tyler;
ElEanore Elkins, b. Sept. 21, 1861; m. George Dunton Widener;
William Lukens Elkins, Jr., b. Sept. 26, 1863; d. March 13, 1892; m. Kate Felton.
Geokge \\'. Elkins, eldest child of William Ltikens Elkins, after completing
his education, entered upon a business career, and became one of the most active
and prosperous of the younger business men of Philadelphia. Since the death of
his father he has practically withdrawn from business pursuits to care for large
trusts that have devolved upon him, one of these being the management of his
t.ither's estate. He was president of the Elkins Gas and Coal Company and treas-
urer of the Elkins Manufacturing and Gas Company, and is now president of the
Harrett Manufacturing Company, and a director of the Land Title and Trust
Company, the Union Traction Company, the Vulcanite Portland Cement Com-
pany, and of many other corporations, and is a member of the Art, Union League,
Racquet, Bachelors' Barge. Corinthian Yacht, Country, Philadelphia Cricket, and
Huntingdon \'alley Country clubs, and of the Metropolitan Club of Xew York.
Me married, Xovember 17, 1881, Stella E., daughter of the late Colonel John K.
Mclntire, by his wife, Evaline Von Tuyl.
Colonel Mclntire was a leading banker and capitalist at Dayton, Ohio.
Mrs. Elkins is a member of the Acorn Club of Philadelphia and of the Phila-
delphia Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution.
Children of George W. Elkins by his zi'ife, Stella E. Mclntire:
William Mclntire Elkins, b. Sept. 3, 1883; m. Elizabeth Wolcott Tuckerman, dau. of
Bayard Tuckerman, Esq.. by his wife, Anna Cotton Smith, of Boston, Mass. ; he grad-
uated at Harvard Univ. in 1905; is a member of the firm of Elkins & Krumbahrr,
bankers and brokers, and of the Union League, Markham, Racquet, Harvard and
Huntingdon Valley Country clubs, and has two children — William L. Elkins and
Elizabeth Wolcott Elkins;
Stella Von Tuyl Elkins. b. March 16, 1884; m. George Frederick Tyler, son of Sydney
Frederick Tyler, by his first wife; he was graduated at Harvard Univ. in 1905, and is
engaged in the banking business, and is a member of the Philadelphia, Racquet. Phila-
delphia Cricket. Harvard and other clubs;
George W. Elkins, Jr., b. March 3, 1886; m. Natilie C. Fox, dau. of Caleb F. Fox; is
engaged in farming and is a member of the Union League, Racquet Club and the
Huntingdon Valley Country Club;
Louise Broomall Elkins, b. April 13, i8go.
Ida Amelia Elkins, second child and eldest daughter of William Lukens El-
kins, married, March 8, 1888, Sidney Frederick Tyler, son of George Frederick
Tyler, Esq., by his wife, Louisa Richmond Drake. He was graduated at Har-
vard in 1872; studied law in Philadeljihia and was admitted to the bar in 1878;
later became a financier ; was for six years president of the Shenandoah Valley
Railroad Company, and for several years president of the Fourth Street National
Bank of Philadelphia, of which he was a founder ; was a member of the reorgan-
ization committee of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, the Savan-
nah and Western Railway Company, and the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Rail-
road Company ; a director in many large corporations, and a member of the Soci-
ety of Colonial Wars, Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution, Alilitary
I500 ELKINS
Order of the Loyal Legion, and of the Philadelphia. Rittenhouse, and numerous
other clubs.
Eleanore El kins, third child and youngest daughter of William Lukens El-
kins, married, November i, 1883, George Dunton Widener, son of Peter A.
Browne Widener, Esq., by his wife, Hannah Josephene Dunton. Mrs. Widener
serves on the board of several of Philadelphia's charitable institutions, and is a
member of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America, and the
Acorn Club of Philadelphia. Mr. Widener, upon the completion of his education,
identified himself with the vast railway and other corporate interest in which his
father was engaged, and has come to fill a prominent position in the business and
financial world. He is president of the Philadelphia Traction, Union Passenger,
and Continental railway companies of Philadelphia, and is a director of the Phila-
delphia Rapid Transit, the Union Traction, the Land Title and Trust, and the
Electric Storage Battery companies, of Philadelphia, the Twenty-third Street
Railway Company of New York, the American Tobacco Company, and of numer-
ous other corporations, and is a member of the Art, LTnion League, Racquet, ^ose
Tree Hunt, Country, Germantown Cricket, and Corinthian Yacht clubs, of Phila-
delphia, the Huntingdon Valley Country Club, and the New York Yacht Club.
Mr. Widener is also active in philanthropic work, and supervises the management
of the Widener Memorial Home for Crippled Children, one of the most unique
and valuable charities of Philadelphia, founded by his family as a memorial to
his mother.
Children of George Dunton Widener by his zi'ife, Eleanore Elkins:
Henry Elkins Widener, b. Jan. 3, 1885 ; was graduated at Harvard Univ., in the class of
1907, and became there a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, Phi Delta Psi, D. K. E.,
Institute of 1770, and the Fencing Club; he is also a member of the Grolier Club of
New York, the Bibliophile Society of Boston, the Philobiblon, Union League, Racquet
and Harvard clubs of Philadelphia, and the Huntingdon Valley Country Club;
George Dunton Widener, Jr., b. March 11, 1889;
Eleanore Elkins Widener.
William Lukens Elkins, Jr., youngest child of William Lukens Elkins, was
educated at Swarthmore College, and after leaving that institution, actively and
successfully engaged in business. In 1886 he organized the Pennsylvania Iron
Works, of which he was president, and also became president of the Pittsburgh
Gas and Coke Company, the Philadelphia Gas and Manufacturing Company, and
vice-president of the New England Gas and Coal Company of Boston. He was
also a director of the Third National Bank and the Seventeenth and Nineteenth
Streets Passenger Railway Company of Philadelphia, the Syracuse Gas and Coal
Company of New York, and of other large corporations, and was a member of
the Union League, Racquet, Philadelphia Gun, Germantown Cricket, and Cor-
inthian Yacht clubs of Philadelphia, and the New York Yacht Club. He married,
April 18, 1888, Kate Felton, who survives him. She is a daughter of Hon. Charles
Norton Felton, who served as treasurer of the United States Mint in San Fran-
cisco, member of the legislature of California, member of Congress, and member
of the United States Senate.
Children of William Lukens Elkins, Jr., by his zeife, Kate Felton:
Felton Broomail Elkins, b. March 23, 1889;
Marie Louise Broomail Elkins, b. -'\ug. 24, i8g^.
MOON FAMILY.
The Moon family long resident in and about Bristol, England, were among the
early converts to the principles of the Society of Friends. John Moone (as the
name is universally spelled on the early English and American records), was mar-
ried at a Friends Meeting in Bristol, June 17, 1666, to Sarah Snead, and on the
records of that meeting is recorded the births of four of their children, Joseph,
Sarah, John and Elizabeth, the last on April 22, 1676. The names of others of the
tamily also appear on the records of Bristol Meeting at these and succeeding dates.
John Moone came to Philadelphia with his wife and children about 1682, and was
a member of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, a Justice of the Peace, and member
of Provincial Assembly. He removed to Bedford township, Gloucester county.
New Jersey, where he died leaving a will dated October 8, 171 5, which mentions
his home farm on Mantoes Creek; children, Joseph (absent out of the province),
John, Elizabeth Gibson, Thomas, Edward and Charles.
Another John Moone, a member of the Friends Meeting at Horslydown, or
Southwark, England, appeared before that Meeting, September 17, 1684, and
requested a certificate to Pennsylvania, which was granted and signed by the
Meeting. The records of Philadelphia Monthly Meeting show that the other John
Moone was active in its affairs before this date, making it clear that he was a differ-
ent individual. We have no further record of the Southwark John Moone.
James Moone, the first American ancestor of the subject of this sketch, came
to Pennsylvania from Bristol, England, at about the same date that John Moone,
first above mentioned appears in Philadelphia, and located near the falls of the
Delaware in Bucks county. He had married at Bristol, England, about 1663, Joan
Burgess, and was accompanied to America by several children, of nearly adult
age. When he purchased a tract of land in Falls township in 1695, his son, James
Moone. Jr., was named as one of the grantees, the title to vest in him when he
arrived at the age of twenty-one years.
There is little doubt that John Moone, of Philadelphia, was a brother of James,
of Bucks, they were both witnesses to the will of Joseph Siddal. of Bucks county,
which was probated in Philadelphia, May 5. 1704.
James Moone was actively associated with the afifairs of Bucks county, his name
frequently appearing on the early records of the courts of that county after 1685,
as a member of Grand and Petit Juries, and as serving in various capacities by
appointment of the court, up to the time of his decease in September. 1713.
Joan Burgess, wife of James Moone, received a legacy from her parents or
other relatives in England in 1695, and obtained a certificate from the Bucks
County Court on December 11, 1695, to enable her to receive it. the court entry
of which is as follows :
"A Certificate of Joan, the wife of James Moone. being alive Signed in Court
shee being then there present."
She survived her husband over a (juarter of century, dying December. 1739, in
her ninetieth year, at the home of her son, Roger, the old home plantation in Falls,
the title of which had been transferred from James, Jr., to his father and by the
latter to Roger in 1706.
I502 MOON
The children of James and Joan (Burgess) Moone were Sarah, Jasper, James.
Roger, Jonas, and Mary. Jasper, the eldest, located in New Jersey and died in
Burlington county, letters of administration being granted to his widow, Susannah,
April 29, 1728; the records of that county show that he was resident there as
early as 1704. James, Roger and Jonas Moon remained in Bucks county, and
have left descendants. James was Deputy Sheriff of the county in 1714.
Roger Moon, son of James and Joan (Burgess) Moone, was born in England in
or about the year 1679. He received, as above stated, a deed from his parents
in 1706 for the plantation of one hundred and twenty-five acres in Falls township,
about one and a half miles from the present borough of Morrisville, where he
spent his whole adult life, dying there February 16, 1759. He was a consistent
member of Falls Monthly Meeting of Friends and took little part in public affairs.
His descendants take pride in the fact that he lived for seventy years in one place,
and "had never discharged a gim or quarrelled with any man."
Roger Moon married (first), October 23, 1708, Ann Nutt, like himself a native
of England, and had by her seven children, James, John, Elizabeth. Roger, Isaac.
William and Ann. John died in 1732 at the age of fifteen, and Isaac in 1748, at
the age of twenty-four. James, the eldest son, located in Middletown, and was
the pioneer of the family in the nursery business, still extensively carried on by his
descendants in Fall, Lower Makefield and Middletown townships.
Roger Moon married (second), in April, 1734, Elizabeth Price, daughter of
Reese and Mary Price, and of Welsh ancestry. They had seven children, John,
Mary, Sarah, Timothy, Samuel. Jasper and Hannah. Samuel was a chair-maker
and resided in Fallsington until his death, July 5, 1813, at the age of seventy-seven
years. Jasper was a soldier in the Bucks County Battalion, commanded by Colo-
nel John Keller, in the company of Captain Robert Patterson, and saw consider-
able active service in the Revolutionary War.
John Moon, eldest son of Roger Moon, by his second wife, Elizabeth Price,
was born on the old homestead in Falls township, February 28, 1734-35, and died
in the same township, January 6, 1788. No record appearing of his purchase of
real estate it is presumed that he continued to reside on the homestead in Falls
until his death. Letters of administration were granted on his estate to his widow.
Margaret, his brother, Samuel, being one of her sureties. His wife, Margaret,
was not a member of the Society of Friends, and at a Monthly Meeting, held at
Falls, May 6, 1761, "John Moon having some time since went out in his marriage
with a woman that was not of our society notwithstanding he was precautioned," a
committee is appointed to prepare a testimony against him. This committee pro-
duced their "testimony." July i, 1761. when it was read approved and signed and
John Nutt was appointed to deliver a copy thereof to the said John Moon, and
acquaint him with his right of appeal. He appears to have made no effort to
retain his membership, and at the Meeting, August 5, 1761, it appearing that he
had not yet been served with a copy of the "testimony," Friend Nutt is desired to de-
liver it to him before the next meeting. Nothing more appears on the record in
reference to him and he was probably disowned from membership without any
protest on his part. The maiden name of his wife. Margaret, has not been as-
certained. He was probably a soldier in the Revolution as well as his brother,
Jasper, but the incomplete rolls make no mention thereof. Neither is there any
record of distribution of his estate or other means of ascertaining who his children
MOOX 1503
were, other than his son, William, whose date of birth appears in his own family
Bible. It is thought, however, that Elizabeth, the wife of Joachim Richards, of Falls
township, who died in 1845, at the age of seventy-seven years was a daughter.
William Moon, son of John and Margaret Moon, was born in Falls township,
Bucks county, Pennsylvania, October 16. 1776. This date together with that of
the birth of his nine children was entered by himself in a family Bible, still in pos-
session of his grandchildren. From the same source we learn that his wife's
name was Margaret, but her maiden name is unknown to her descendants. By
deed dated September 26, 1825, William Moon purchased of William Wharton,
and Ann, his wife; Henry Richards and Jane, his wife; William Richards, of
Philadelphia, and Ann, his wife ; and John Richards, of Xorthern Liberties, a
small lot in Falls township, of which Joachim Richards had died seized in 1812, leav-
ing the above named Ann, Henry, William and John, as his only children and heirs.
The property had been purchased by Joachim Richards of the estate of Robert
Kirkbride in 1806. Here William Moon resided until his death, February 22,
1845, i" the si.xty-ninth year of his age. He died intestate and letters of adminis-
tration were granted on his estate to his sons, Mahlon and Joachim R. Moon.
By deed dated March 31, 1846, Mahlon Moon and Eliza Ann, his wife; John
Jones and Catharine, his wife; Aaron L. Moon and Maria B., his wife; Paul
Troth and Elizabeth, his wife; Joachim R. Moon and Sarah .'\nn, his wife; Ben-
jamin C. Tatum and Mary, his wife; James C. Moon and Elizabeth, his wife;
and John ;\Ioon, heirs and representatives of William Moon, deceased, conveyed
the above mentioned lot to William Bowers.
The children of William and Margaret, as shown by the above mentioned Bible
record, were: Mahlon, born March 25, 1802; Catharine, born February 27, 1804;
William, born June 15. 1806; Aaron L., born February 10, 1809; Elizabeth, born
August 30, 181 1 ; Joachim R., born October 17, 1813; Mary, born March 12,
1816; James Kimmons, born July 30, 1818; and John Moon, born July 4, 1821.
All of these, e.xcept William, lived to mature age, as shown by the above deed.
Aaron Lippincott Moon, second surviving son and fourth child of William
and Margaret Moon, was born in Falls township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania,
February 10, 1809. He received a good education and adopting the profession
of a teacher in early life, he became an eminent instructor of youth. The greater
part of his life was spent in Burlington county. New Jersey.
He married, in 1842, Maria Braddock Osborne, daughter of Abraham and
Catharine ( Snyder ) Osborne, of Burlington county. New Jersey, and had five
children, two of whom died in infancy, those who survived being, William, who
died in 1879; Catharine Osborne, wife of Thomas A. Havens, of Bordentown,
New Jersey, and Reuben O. Moon, the subject of this sketch.
Hon. Reuben Osrorne Moon, second son and third child of Aaron Lippincott
and Maria (Osborne) Moon, was born in Burlington county. New Jersey, July
22, 1847. He was educated under the supervision of his father, and at the Shoe-
maker National College of Elocution and Oratory, Philadelphia, graduating from
the latter institution in 1875. He filled the chair of literature and expression in
his alma mater, for a time, then engaged in the mercantile business for a short
time and again accepting a position on the faculty of his alma mater, also took up
the study of law. At the death of Professor Shoemaker in 1880, he assumed the
management of the college, was elected its president and filled that position until
1504 MOON
1884, when he was admitted to the Philadelphia bar and began the practice of
his profession in that city. His rise in his chosen profession was rapid. Combin-
ing with a good understanding of the fundamental principles of the law, an extra-
ordinary power of expression, lucidity, and eloquence in expounding it, his con-
vincing style and winning personality made him a power as an advocate, and he
won many notable cases in both the criminal and civil courts. He was counsel
for a number of large corporations and identified with prominent and important
litigation, and was long recognized as a leader of the Philadelphia bar. He was
admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1886, and the
United States Courts in 1890.
Gifted with an eminent talent for oratory, perfected and polished by careful
and diligent training, he became widely known as a lecturer and instructor, and
delivered a great number of orations and public addresses that attracted wide
attention.
Reluctantly consenting to become a candidate for a seat in the National House of
Representatives, he was elected to the Fifty-eighth Congress from the Fourth
District in 1903, to fill a vacancy, and was re-elected to the Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth
Congresses.
Familiar as a practitioner, and indefatigable student, with the cumbersome and
conflicting nature of the national code of laws, by reason of experimental and un-
systematic congressional enactments covering a period of a century, Mr. Moon,
soon after taking his seat in the House, turned his attention to this branch of
national legislation, and he is the author of more constractive Federal legal legis-
lation than any man in Congress for half a century. He was made chairman of
the Committee on the Revision of Laws, and determined to bring about a revision
of the national code, which congress had made two inefifectual attempts to accom-
plish. In December. 1906, he introduced a resolution demanding a report of the
Committee on Revision, on the revision of the criminal code, which was adopted.
He was made chairman of the joint committee of the Senate and House to under-
take the revision, and was the leading spirit in the work of codifying the national
laws, and the chief author of the bill reported by the joint committee. His speech
in reporting the bill to the House gave such lucid explanations of the need of the
proposed legislation, the conflicts and discrepancies that existed in the old laws,
that the necessity of the proposed legislation was clearly apparent to even the lay
members of the House, so that they were enabled to vote intelligently upon the
measure and its passage was secured. He held the floor of the House for twenty-
two days to the exclusion of all other business, and his speech was one of the
gems of the session. He succeeded in satisfying the conflicting interests of dif-
ferent sections of the Union, magnified by sectional and partisan jealousies and
ambitions among the representatives and his new code was adopted in March,
1908, and went into efifect January, 1910.
In recognition of his work in codifying the national law, Mr. Moon was given a