The house of worship needing repairs, and being located out of the centre of membership, it was resolved to build at Jeffersonville the Centennial Presbyterian Church. This edifice was completed in 1877, having been dedicated in 1876. In early life Mr. Collins' education also comprised a partial course of anatomy and medicine, including the study of medical electricity and physiology. He also devoted much attention to music, being almost a born musician. At twelve years of age he was able to perform on a number of instruments; at seventeen was an active member of the Philadelphia Sacred Music Society; was one of the founders of the Handel and Haydn musical association, and was honored with the title of Professor of Music for several published works on that subject and for compilations of hymns. Mr. C. is a poet of considerable reputation, his effusions appearing from time to time in the religious press of the country and in the Norristown Herald. Rev. E. M. Long, in his work on "Hymns and Their Authors," gives Mr. C. credit for about three hundred. As a preacher Mr. Collins is always solemn and earnest in manner, usually extemporizing from a text employed to enforce a particular doctrine or used as a motto to illustrate some point in morals, in the course of which he introduces very striking observations and experiences that have fallen within his notice in life. He is a good reader and elocutionist, often illustrating his discourses with original poetry. Mr. C. was married on the 25th of December, 1850, to Miss Eugenia Elvira Nutt, of Philadelphia, and they have four children: Eleanor M., William C., Charles C., and Addison B. HON. E. L. ACKER. Remember, man, the Universal Cause Subsist not in the good of one but all.-Pope. Ephraim Leister Acker, a member of the Forty-second Congress, is the son of Peter and Esther Acker, and was born in Marlborough township, Montgomery county, on the 11th of January, 1827. When young he sought an education under many difficulties, attending first the academy at Sumneytown while working mornings and evenings for his board, and was thus enabled in 1844 to enter, half advanced, the Freshman class of Marshall College, graduating with honor in the fall of 1847Teaching two or three years, part of which as principal of the Norristown grammar school, he commenced the study of medicine, and graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1852. In 1853, before beginning practice, he bought the Norristown Register, and thereafter, up to 1877, published it according to the strictest doctrines of the Democratic party. In 1858 he purchased the Montgomery Watchman, uniting the two papers. About 1874 he issued a daily edition till, as he alleges, the Register and Watchman was very unjustly sold from him, in the midst of hard times, when it was impossible to collect his abundant means, for a debt incurred in purchasing the latter journal. Mr. Acker claims as a plea for his involvement in debt that he was persuaded to buy and join the Watchman to the Register for the purpose of securing a harmonious party unity. This debt was what finally sacrificed a newspaper property that cost him ten thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars for the paltry sum of fifteen hundred. His pluck and perseverance under his pecuniary reverse, however, is worthy of all praise. Prevented by an injunction from issuing a paper under the old name, he began publishing the Weekly Gazette, which he still continues. Being a shrewd, active politician, in 1870 he obtained a nomination for Congress, and was elected. During his term he moved a general amnesty law and some other important acts. Previous to his Congressional career he had been County School Superintendent for six years, and has also filled the post of School Director in Norristown for a number of years. In 1860 he was appointed postmaster at Norristown by President Buchanan, and served about eleven months. He was a candidate for Congress in 1872, but owing to a split in the party was not elected. Dr. Acker is married to Sarah Markley. His brothers and sisters are the following: Henry L., married last to Mrs. Caroline Drake, daughter of Philip Dotterer; Sarah, to William Sassaman; Esther; William, to Sarah H. Keesey; Benneville, deceased; Mary, to Camillus McKinstry; Hannah, to Henry W. Kramer. JOHN S. SHRAWDER, M. D. His desire is to do good, and he searcheth out the occasion thereof; in removing the oppression of another, he relieveth himself. From the largeness of his mind he comprehendeth in his wishes the happiness of all men, and from the generosity of his heart he endeavoreth to promote it.-Knigge's Philosophy. John S. Shrawder, M. D., was born in Lower Providence, Montgomery county, on the 16th of August, 1839, and is the son of Joseph and Catharine Custer Shrawder, of that township. The paternal ancestry is doubtless of German origin, and the same as that spelled Shroeder. His grandparents on his father's side were Daniel Shrawder and Elizabeth Ellis, the former German and the latter Irish, and his maternal grandparents were Levi Custer and Elizabeth Zimmerman, both of German descent. Dr. Shrawder's brother and sisters are the following: Levi C., deceased; Elizabeth, intermarried with H. V. Johnson; Hannah, the wife of George W. Kibblehouse; Mary, married to Charles Evans; and Kate. John S. Shrawder, M. D., having been born and raised adjacent to Mount Kirk Seminary, owned and taught by Rev. H. S. Rodenbough, has had, in addition to a good common school education, an academical if not classical training. After studying closely while a youth, shortly after passing his majority he entered himself as a student of medicine in the office of Dr. John Schrack, of his native township. After remaining there a time he left, and continued his studies with Dr. William H. Pancoast, at Eleventh and Walnut streets, Philadelphia, graduating at Jefferson Medical College in the class of 1865. In a short time afterwards he opened an office and commenced topractice near Mount Kirk, and while there was elected a School Director, which office he filled efficiently, being a man of enlarged public spirit, and taking a deep interest in anything anď everything that affects the welfare of society. Very soon after graduating he became a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society, in whose meetings he takes a lively interest. Not long since he wrote and delivered at one of the sessions an elaborate paper on "Hernia," which was very highly commended. Several years ago Dr. Shrawder married Sarah J., daughterof Andrew and Ann Rebecca Morgan, of Fairview; their living children are Larrie E. and Joseph. A few years ago, after a short interregnum, he located himself at the village of Ambler, in Upper Dublin township, where he is enjoying a growing practice. He possesses qualities as a man and physician that must ultimately give him a leading position in the profession-public spirit and devotion to the study of his call ing.* Dr. Shrawder is not only a man of benevolence, intelligence and public spirit, but he wields a piquant and trenchant pen, which is often used in bringing matters of general concern to popular attention. He is a frequent contributor to the columns. of the North Wales Record and other papers of the county. *An incident of late occurrence is worth noting here to his credit. A colored woman on a visit to Quakertown, about to become a mother, started to join her husband in the city of Philadelphia by way of the North Pennsylvania railroad. On reaching Ambler she became very sick, left the train, and in her extreme necessity sought shelter with several families of the village. With the usual response of selfishness, however, all refused, saying, "We can't accommodate you." While thus applying she was directed to the office of Dr. Shrawder, who, acting the Good Samaritan, took her in, and hired a woman to attend to her wants and necessities. After the birth of her child, and when she was sufficiently recovered, he sent her on her way in joy and peace, An incident like that ought to be worth as much as a year's practice to a young physician, for the profes-sion is eminently one of mercy and fidelity to the sick. CHARLES P. SHANNON. · Charles Porter Shannon, the genial and well known gentleman whose name stands at the head of this page, is the second son of Robert L. and Elizabeth Porter Shannon, of Shannonville, Lower Providence township, Montgomery County, and was born March 27th, 1809, in the village and mansion in which he at present (1879) resides, the former taking its name from the family which has resided there and owned the property for nearly or quite a century. His father, Robert L., was a grandson of Robert Shannon, who was one of the five Commissioners to fix upon a site for the new county of Montgomery in 1784. This appointment shows that the Shannon family was of the highest respectability and capacity at that early date, its members being attached to the Episcopalian faith and form of worship, and members of St. James' Church, Evansburg, for perhaps a century and a half, or since its foundation. The subject of this notice, Charles P. Shannon, though not in early life a communicant, has been for about twentyfive years past an active member, and for many years also one of its vestrymen and frequently a lay delegate to Diocesan conventions of the Church. His interest in the old mother church at Evansburg may be inferred from the fact that some sixteen years ago he invested a sum of money in its name which yields about a hundred and forty dollars annually to aid in making it self-supporting. Besides being a man of leisure, means and religious impulses, he has been active in promoting the growth and success of St. Paul's Church, Upper Providence, a prosperous mission church mainly under the patronage of Mrs. Gumbes, near by. He has been a member of its vestry also since its organization, in which he took an active part. Having given the religious affiliations of our subject, we turn aside to state more at length the personal history of his branch of the Shannon family. His father, Robert L. Shannon, lived all his life in his native village, where for many years he was a successful merchant. He was early in life married to Elizabeth Porter, a niece of General Andrew Porter of Revolutionary fame. She was one of nature's noblest women, and survived her husband (who died at the age of 59 in 1844) in widowhood twenty-one years, dying |