Biographical Sketch of William H. SAYLOR (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp. 432-3. "WILLIAM H. SAYLOR, postmaster at Kenilworth, this county, and a prosper- ous business man of that village, is the sixth child and third son of Adam F. and Hannah (Hetzel) Saylor, and a native of Pottsgrove township, Mont- gomery county, Pennsylvania, where he was born October 10, 1856. He grew to manhood on his father's farm there, and received a good practical edu- cation in the public schools of his neighborhood. After leaving home he learned the milling business and followed that occupation some four years, when he became manager of a creamery in Pottsgrove township, Montgomery county, and was thus engaged for three years and six months. In 1887 he removed to Chester county, and settled at Kenilworth, North Coventry town- ship, where he embarked in the lumber, coal and feed business, in which he has been very successful, and now enjoys a large and increasing patronage. Politically he is a republican, and shortly after located at Kenilworth, was appointed as postmaster at that place, a position he has acceptably filled ever since. He is a prominent member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and also a member of the Patriotic Order Sons of America. "On September 11, 1884, Mr. Saylor was united in marriage to Hattie Funk, a daughter of Jacob L. Funk. By this union he has four children: Ralph J., born July 1, 1885; Laura M., born February 24, 1887; Clyde T., born June 18, 1889; and Eveline Sue, born January 2, 1892. "The Saylors trace their trans-Atlantic origin to Germany, where Frederick Saylor, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born about 1793. He was reared and educated in his native land, and there married Cynthia Shaw. Some time during the first quarter of the present century he, with his wife and two children, bid farewell to the Fatherland, and crossing the Atlantic, settled in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. There he passed the remainder of his days, dying near Parker Ford, in Pottsgrove township, that county, in 1861, at an advanced age. He was engaged in farming after his arrival in this country, and became prosperous and well- to-do. He was a democrat in politics, and a strict member of the German Lutheran church. He was the father of three children, two sons and a daughter: Sarah, Adam F., and Capt. John C., whose sketch appears else- where in this volume. "Adam F. Saylor (father) was born October 29, 1819, in Germany, and was brought by his father to America when quite young. He was principally reared in Montgomery county, and received a good common school education, after which he engaged in farming, and spent most of his life in that occupation. For a time he was steward of the Montgomery county home, and now lives in Pottstown, that county, retired. He married Hannah Hetzel, a daughter of John Hetzel, of Pottsgrove, and by this union had a family of twelve children: John C., who married Mary Royer, and is now a prosper- ous farmer and truckster of Pottsgrove township, Montgomery county; Rosa, died young; Caroline, also dead; Kate, now the wife of A. L. Ebert, of Pottstown; Adam F., Jr., who married Rosie Snyder, and is engaged in farm- ing in Montgomery county; William H., the subject of this sketch; Frank- lin, married Ellen Meyers, and resides in the State of Florida; Elmer E., wedded Annie Munshower, and is engaged in the grocery business at Royer's Ford; H. Stephen, dead; Rachel, the wife of Sumner Frick, of Pottstown; Lizzie, now deceased, who married John Stauffer, of Royer's Ford; and Harry C."