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East and West Vincent Townships
Dr. Bartholomew Fussell Moves to West Vincent
In the late 1830s, Dr. Bartholomew Fussell moved from Kennet Square to West Vincent in northern Chester County where he collaborated with John Vickers and Elijah Pennypacker in keeping escaped slaves in their homes. His first wife died in 1840. Fussell remarried and moved to York but his West Vincent home continued to be operated as a underground station run by his brother. While in York, Fussell arranged for three of the fugitives from the Christiana Riots to be harbored in his Chester County home.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts
Owen J. Roberts was born in Germantown and attended the University of Pennsylvania where he studied in law. After graduating with honors, he was asked to come back to Penn to teach part-time while practicing in Philadelphia. He gained a reputation as a gifted trial lawyer, and was appointed as assistant district attorney for the city from 1903 to 1906. He was later a special deputy US attorney where his job was to prosecute cases under the Espionage Act. Owen was later appointed by President Calvin Coolidge as special district attorney with Atlee Pomerene to prosecute those involved in the Teapot Dome Scandal. His reputation continued to rise such that when a spot on the US Suprema Court opened President Herbert Hoover appointed him to fill the seat in in 1930. Before that appointment he purchased an old farm in West Vincent where he lived for the rest of his life.
Bibliography
Hall, Timothy L. Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary. (New York: Fact on File, Inc., 2001): 295-298.
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