About 1852 or 1853, by order of the court, the County Commissioners set about erecting a new court house, which was ordered to be built of Montgomery county marble procured from Upper Merion and Whitemarsh quarries. Mr. Derr secured the contract to supply and dress the stone, and erect the stone part of the building, which was a very heavy job, and was completed in 1854 or 1855. About the same time he received the order for supplying marble for the new banking-house of the then Bank of Montgomery County.

At this time Mr. Derr was a director of that bank, and its issues having been counterfeited, the medallion likenesses of several of its officers were engraved on the new note. The portraits of Mr. Derr graced the ten-dollar bills.

In 1853 Franklin Derr had the melancholy trial to lose his wife by death, leaving him four children, all needing more or less a mother's care.

As his business widened, and contracts became heavier, Mr. Derr felt the importance of quarrying his own stone instead of buying it out of second hands. So, in 1857, he purchased the interest of Samuel Brooks, of the firm of Adams & Brooks, in the Reeseville quarries, Upper Merion. This gave him stock at cost, and his promptness in filling the heavy contracts here having given him a reputation abroad, he began to receive large orders from Philadelphia and elsewhere for marble for building purposes. Among others he furnished most of the blue dressed stone for the Philadelphia post office, which was erected in 1862 or 1863 near the Custom House; and also, at a later period, furnished large quantities for extensions to Girard College. The remaining interest of Brooks in the quarry has been purchased since Mr. Derr's death by the Derr brothers.

In 1856 Mr. Derr was married a second time to Miss Sarah Adle, a lady of rare social and domestic virtues, who survives him. Shortly before or after his marriage he refitted his house, adding a third story, a marble doorway and facing to the front base. A short time afterwards he erected a mill in the stoneyard, driven by steam, thus having in operation all the facilities of the most favored establishments in the land. In 1869

Mr. Derr contracted to erect the Soldiers' Monument that graces the Norristown Public Square, furnishing it completely at a cost of about five thousand dollars. His son Henry was the main designer of the monument, which does credit to all concerned.

It remains only to detail Mr. Derr's efforts of a semi-public nature, and describe his character as a man. Though earnestly devoted to his private business and interest, he was always alive to any project of a public nature likely to promote the business of the town. In this respect his character contrasts favorably with some other of our wealthy men, who scarcely could be induced to invest a dollar for such a purpose.

Accordingly, when the rupture took place between the Old and the New School Presbyterians in 1855, and the latter party were deprived of their house of worship and resolved to build a new one, Mr. Derr, though a Lutheran by sympathy, took hold with a few other wealthy men, and was instrumental in building the Central Presbyterian Church in 1856-7, making himself liable for a time in a considerable amount. When the proposition was started to organize the First National Bank and sustain the new financial policy of the Government, he became a heavy stockholder, and was a director from its start till his death. In the project of making a branch road to connect Norristown with the North Pennsylvania railroad Mr. Derr was the most active man of the town, spending days booking subscriptions to form a basis for the enterprise. Still again, in 1876, when a manufacturer of agricultural machinery proposed to locate in Norristown, Mr. Derr invested in the undertaking while the prospect was not one of certain profit by any means.. He was also active in having sewers constructed to afford drainage for his own as well as the uses of others. He was the agent of the Stony Creek Railroad Company in purchasing the Freedley property to secure it an outlet and an intersection with the Norristown track.

Though a man deeply devoted to his private interest, and making the closest bargains he could, he was always honorable in contracts and engagements to the letter; and while he wanted from his hands an honest day's work, he was never a

harsh and exacting master, that regarded not the interest or feelings of his employes. The best proof of this trait of his character was found in the fact that he employed John Hill as polisher for over twenty years continuously, Charles Dignan as saw-man nearly as long a period, and others in like manner.

When men grow rich through the employment of the labor of others in this way, it is always a satisfaction to bear this testimony in their behalf. Franklin Derr labored, saved, and drove industry for a little over forty years; and without doubt built up the largest fortune ever acquired hereabout by following a mechanical trade. All his early gains certainly were made by industry, saving, and by employing labor, and not by investments in corporations or fixed property. In his later years, however, he became as much an investor as a user of

money.

The estate was very large at the time of his death, and dying intestate it was administered to by his sons, assisted by James Hooven, Esq., President of the First National Bank. His children and heirs are the following: Henry A., intermarried with Ellen, daughter of Florence and Ann Sullivan, of Norristown; Annie E., wife of Charles W. Holmes; John J., married to Elizabeth West, daughter of George West.

In person Franklin Derr was stoutly built, rather under than over the average height, fair complexion, dark hair, round, pleasant features, and a very genial companion. Though not having much book learning, he was a man of wonderful shrewdness and good sense.

He was a life-long Democrat in politics, but would occasionally break out of the ranks when unsuitable men were nominated. He died March 16th, 1877, in his 62d year, and his remains lie buried in Montgomery Cemetery, where his children have erected a square, fluted column or obelisk of white marble some twenty-five feet high above the pedestal. It is the most imposing monument in the enclosure, and bears near its base the name "Derr."

CHARLES BOSLER.

A good conscience is a continual feast, and a peaceful mind the antepast of heaven. -Reynolds.

The Bosler family of Shoemakertown, Montgomery county, as the name indicates, is of German origin. The grandfather of the subject of this biography, with his wife, came from Germany to Philadelphia, where Joseph, the father of Charles Bosler, was born. Joseph Bosler, when a young man, removed to Shoemakertown, and engaged in the business of hauling grain and flour to and from the mills at that place. He married Hannah MacBride, of Paoli, Chester county, by whom he had two sons and three daughters: Joseph, Charles, Ann, Emma, and Ellen. Their eldest son, Joseph, died June 23d, 1828, and his widow January 16th, 1831. They are both buried in Friends' burial ground on Chelten avenue, Cheltenham.

Charles, the second son of Joseph Bosler, Sr., and the subject of this biography, was born August 27th, 1810, and received a good common school education. He married Mary Watson, daughter of William and Hannah Gillingham, of Buckingham, Bucks county. They had four children: William G., born December 2d, 1840; Joseph, born February 24th, 1846; Charles, a twin brother of Joseph, died in infancy; and Hannah.

William G., the eldest son of Charles Bosler, was well educated. He was a man of patriotism and enlarged public spirit. Accordingly, when the great rebellion broke out, he enlisted in 1862 as a private in Company C, One Hundred and Thirtieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served for nine months, the full time of enlistment. He was promoted during the period to the position of Sergeant Major of the regiment, and also to Lieutenant of his company. He saw considerable service in his short term, being wounded in the battle of Fredericksburg, and, for so brief a period, left the army with a very notable record. The next year, when Governor Curtin called upon the people for "emergency" men to repel Lee's invasion, he again enlisted, this time in Captain Samuel W. Comly's cavalry company, serving about two months, till the raid was

Fromended. the time he returned from the army until the

period of his death, he was a very active and influential Republican, on one or more occasions acting as secretary of county conventions. In 1868, because of his public spirit and eminent fitness for the place, he was chosen transcribing clerk of the Senate at Harrisburg, serving three years in that capacity till January, 1871, when he returned home, and died on the 19th of March following, leaving no heirs, as he had never been married.

At the time of his death, as some years before, he had been in partnership with his father in the milling business, which he learned in his youth. Shortly after his decease his brother Joseph took his place in the firm, and it was still in form as before, "Charles Bosler & Son." In about two and a half years after the death of William G. Bosler, in the fall of 1873, the father died also, leaving the concern in the hands of Joseph Bosler, his second son. The latter, on the 8th of October, 1869, had married Cynthia G., daughter of Watson and Mary L. Comly, of Byberry, Philadelphia. They now (1878) occupy the old family homestead, and have had born to them two children, Mary W. and Carrie C.

Having given most of the family history, including the youngest generation, we will return to detail some interesting incidents of the life and character of the late Charles Bosler, the subject of this biography. When his father died, in 1831, encouraged by friends, he at once took his father's place in hauling the grain up and the flour down to Philadelphia, till March, 1847, when he had so thriven that he was encouraged to buy of Charles Shoemaker the flour mills at Shoemakertown. From this to the time of his death, a period of twenty-six years, he pushed the merchant milling business with great energy. He received but a common school education, yet quickness in accounts was his distinguishing characteristic in dealing. This, added to industry and excellent judgment, were guarantees of

success.

From a small boy he was known among the neighbors (and particularly to Charles Shoemaker, from whose mill he hauled back and forth) as a lad of truth, industry, and promise. So it is related that when his father died, in very limited circum