Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/627

 COLUMBIA AXD MONTOUR COUNTIES one o f its vestrymen, and eight years as ac­ counting warden. He also re(>resentcd the pcirish in the Diocesan Convention in i 6 S4 1856, 18 58 and i860. He was one of the orig­ inators. and president of the board o f tnistces. of the Holmesburg .Athcnaniin Association, and chairnu n of its building committee, which in 18 50 built the town hall, called the .Athcnwum, in which until iQOf* w as housed the Thom as Holme Library. In M ay. 18.(7. he w as elected one of the trustees of the Low er Dublin .Academy, and in t838 its president, an office he held until his death, twenty-six years later. He was the founder of the “ C ris­ pin Burial-Ground Community.” anti prin­ cipally instrumental in obtaining a charter from the I.cgisLiturc for the Crispin Centetery Corporation, while he w as a State senator, in 1840. thus |>erpeliiating the title to the heirs of Thom as Holme, under the care o f a board of trustees, o f which he w as president. Benjam in Crispin married, Oct. 17, t8i6. M aria, daughter o f .Amos and Elinor (T h om as) Foster, o f Collcgcville (so named for the IvOwer Dublin Academy located there. near Holmesburg. The hostcrs came from New England, and the Thom as fam ily from Wales. Benjamin and M aria Crispin began their m arried life at ” Bcllevue.” the old C ris­ pin homestead on the W elsh road, but sub­ sequently removed to a house on Main street, fww F ran kford avenue, com er o f M ill street. Holmesburg, where they continued to reside the remainder of their live s; Benjamin C ris­ pin dying there Jul)j 4, 1864. aged seventytwo years, and his widow M ay 13. 1882. aged eighty-two years. Both were buried in the yard of Emmanuel Church. Holmesburg. Issue of Benjamin and Maria (Foster) Crispin: E d u u rd T. Crispin. Ixjm Oct. 2, 18 17. died in Philadelphia. M arch 29. *8 73: married Sarah Simmons, o f Darby, Delaware county. Pennsylvania, now also deceased. Children: Em ily Crispin marrie<l Martin G uyant. and had issue. Kate Guyant, Edw ard Guyant, Frank Guyant. Sarah Crispin died in early life. H'iUiatn Crispin, bom Ju ly 29, 18 19, died at Holmesburg, M ay 12. 1869: w as for some years a trustee of the I.ow er Dublin .Academy : married M a n ’ Praul (who w as living in 1907. at the age o f cighty-thrce y e ars), daughter o f John Prau l, o f CTnirchvillc. Bucks cou n ty: two <laughtcrs: M aria Ixjuise Crispin m arri«l Jam es C. Sickle (now deceased), and died in March, i 8Ci9. Catharine M. Crispin married Willi.im C lark, son o f Geoi^c and .Anne

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(K c a m c v ) CLirk, of Holmesburg, and an uncle o f George S. Clark, who n urried a granddaughter o f Hon. Benjamin Crispin, and w as conspicuously active in Ihe preservation of the old burial-ground, as heretofore shown. William ami Catharine M. (C risp in ) Clark had issue: William Crispin CTirk, married Gertrude W ilson, o f I'rankford, Philadelphia, and h.i<l issue, Benjamin Crisuin Clark, John Wilson d a r k and William M cIntyre Clark (W illiam Crispin Clark, the father, died in M ay, 1 9 0 0 ); John C'Lirk, living, unm arried; Louis (.ieorge Clark, living, unmarried. lienjam in fra n k lin Crispin, Ixjrn Atig. 2, 18 2 1, o f whom presently. lilfa n o r Ja n e Crispin, bom .Aug. 4. 1823, died unmarried. Tliom as f/olm e Crispin, bom Ju n e 22, 1824, died unnurried. S ila s Crispin, bom at Holmesburg, Sept. 9, 18 2 8; educated at local schools, and the Phil­ adelphia high school; appointed to U. S . M il­ itary Academy at West Point by Hon. Cliarles J . Ingersoll, Al. C ., and entered there Ju ly 1, 1846, graduating Ju ly 1, 1850, with distinction, iKing third in Ins c la ss; w as appointed brevet, second lieutenant in the ordnance department of the United States arm y, and assigned to duty at the arsenal at W atcrvlict, N . Y ,, where he remained two years, subsequently serving at tlic arsenals at Allegheny, Pa.. S t. Louis, Mo., and the f^ v c n w o r th Ordnance Depot, K an ­ sas. In i860 he became .assistant inspector o f arsenals, and w as promoted to captain of ordnance, .Aug. 3. 18 6 1, and scn'cd in that grade in the C ivil w a r; w as fo r a time on the staff o f Gen. George B. .McClellan; was also in charge of the N ew Y o rk Ordnance A g e n cy; commandant o f N ew Y o rk arsenal, and pres­ ident of the Ordnance Bo.ird fo r five years. H e received successive brevets up 10 colonel in the United States arm y at the close of the C ivil w a r; and promotion to actual rank as m ajor o f ordnance, on M arch 7, 18 6 7; lieu­ tenant colonel, A pril 14, 18 7 5; colonel, .Aug. 23, i8 8 i. A fte r the w ar he w as sent to Eng­ land by the government to study the making o f ordnance. H e w as the invnitor o f a brccchloading cannon, called the "C rispin G u n," sev­ eral o f which were made by the government at a cost o f $464XX> each. Colonel Cris])in w as commandant at the Frankford arsenal. Pliiladelphia. Ju n e. 1885. to Ju n e, 1886. and at the Benicita arsenal. California, June, 1886, until shortly before his death, which occurred in New A'ork C ity. Feb. 28. 1889. He was buried from the resiilence o f his niece. M rs. Catharine M. CLirk. daughter o f his brother.