Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-04-30
OBITUARY.
Death OF Thoophilus Fam

county, yesterday morning, of old age and
general debility. His remains will be
inferred in Harrisburg beside those OF his
wife. The following sketch of his life
from the Patriot will be recognized by his
Lancaster acquaintances as faithful
Theophilus Fem was the son of James
Fem, esq, and Lois Sedgwick, daughter
of Benjamin Sedgwick, merchant of the
town of Canaan, Litchfeld county, Con-
necticut, who was the brother of Judge
Theodore Sedgwick, of Stockbridge, Mas
sachusetts, for many years chief justio0 Of
the supreme court Of that state and one of
its most renowned jurists, and of General
John Sedgwick, of Cornwall, Connecticut,
of Revolutionary fame, and who, was the
grandfather of the late Maj. Gen. John
Sedgwick of the war of the rebellion. His
ancestors settled in the New Haven col
ony in the early part of the seventeenth
century. His grandfather, Theopilus Fem,
the youngest of seven sons, was born
in the town of Wallingford, near New
Haven, Conn.,, in the year 1747,
served as orderly sergeant in the American
forces under Gen. Wolfe in the Canadian
campaign and at the storming and capture
of Quebec in 1765, and raising . company
at the outbreak of the Revolutionary war
of arms, reaching Concord Just little too
late TO participate in the engagement,
fought bravelv at the head of his command
at Bunker Hill, where he was wounded SO
as to disable him from further service dur
ing the war. He died in 1886, aged eighty
nine years. His father, James Fem, was
farmer by occupation, but for some
thirty consecutive years, until he would
not serve any longer, represented the town
of Canaan in tho Connecticut General
Assembly, and he also for many years hold
the Office of magistrate, dying in 1858, at
tho age of eighty-three years, his wife
having preceded him a few years. His
parents had seven children, Frederick.
James. Tbeophilus, Benjamin, Sedgwick,
Julia E., Frances P, Elizabeth and Caro-
line.
Theophilus Fem was brought up on
his fathers farm, but early evinced q
desire for learning and obtained special
instructions from the late Bishop Brown
we'll, of Connecticut, and afterwards
attended the famous Gleason academy at
Stockbridge, Mass. In 1926 he went to
the state of Maine with view to locating
upon the upper waters of the Kennebec,
then great numbering region !; but his
attention having been drawn to Pennsylva-
MIA, he came to Philadelphia in August,
1926, subsequently reaching Lancaster,
Pa, where he was induced by BENZ. &.
Eshleman, Nathaniel Ellmaker and others
to embark in journalism. He accordingly
entered into a business partnership with
DR.. Thomas w. Veasey, son of the then
governor of Maryland, located at New Hol.
land, Lancaster county, in the practice of
his profession ; and in June, 1927, the first
issue Of the Anti-lasonic Herald was
issued at tho latter place, where it was
published until the following April, when
Mr. Fem purchased DR.. Veasey's interest
of Lancaster. The anti Masonic Herald
tho state devoted to the anti-Masonic
cause, and was established at time
of great political excitement over
the whole country between the
partisans of John Quincy Adams,
then president, and General Andrew
Jackson, who was q candidate for the
presidency. Mr.. Fem boldly attacked
what he styled the corruptions of Ma.
sonry. and in the face of the fiercest oppo-
sitiOn organized the anti Masonic party,
and within two years had forged it to the
front as the ruling party in Lancaster
county. His success there caused great
pressure to be brought upon him to
remove to Harrisburg and start an organ
for the party at the capital. He finally
consented, and in the spring of 1881 sold
his office to DR.. Y. F. Charles and removed
to Harrisburg, where in September of that
year he started the PsnnsyluaniG Isle
gr0ph, now called the Harris6urg 7ele
graph. which he continued to publish and
edit until January 1, 1854, when he sold
out and returned to Lancaster and pur-
chased the Independent Wing and Inland
Daily office, which he sold out in 1858, re.
turning again to Harrisburg, where he
resided until the fall of 1874. when he re-
moved to Marysville, Perry county, which
he had laid out upon property which he
had purchased from the Haldeman heirs
Dec. t. 1860, the first lot having been sold
and building erected thereon early in the
following spring, from which beginning
the now flourishing town of Marysville
sprapg. To his energy and generosity in
donating some 12 acres of ground to the
Northern Central railway company for
round house and machine shops its present
prosperity is chiefly due.
Mr.. Fem, during his long editorial ca
reer sustained reputation for unim-
peachable integrity, untiring devotion to
WnaC ne conceived 10 10 ElXuI, lEOm Iuo
advocacy of which he could not be swerved
by any fear of personal harm. He was
generous and liberal to the poor with a
heart that sympathized with the down
trodden and unfortunate of all races, and
his pen was ever welded in their defence,
he was known as a great friend of the
negroes in the days of slavery. He was
the contemporary of Thaddeus Stevens,
Thomas II. Burrows, Charles B. Penrose
and Ex-Governor Ritner, and while
he edited tho Pennsylvania Telegraph
he influenced the policy Of the anti
Masonic and Whig parties in the state, and
later when at Lancaster he edited the
Independent Wing, Inland Weekly and
Inland Daily. he was likewise felt in the
councils of the Republican party. And it
may be safely said that to his untiring and
self sacrificing efforts in the building up
of the Republican party in this state is
greatly due its present success as party.
Mr.. Fenn married Margsretta D.,
daughter of Dr. James G. Verbeke, of
Harrisburg, Pa. March 20, 1874, who died
December, 6, 1880. He leaves eight chill
dren, five sons and three daughters, and
three grandchildren.
BAsEBALL.