Joel Barlow Moorhead

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Joel Barlow Moorhead, son of William and Elizabeth (Kennedy-Young) Moorhead, was born at Moorhead's Ferry, Pennsylvania, April 13, 1813. Associated with his brother, James Kennedy Moorhead, he joined in the work of constructing the Pennsylvania canal, and was also connected with the building of the Philadelphia & Columbia and the Portage railways, the development of the Monongahela Slack Water Navigation Company, and the building of the earliest bridges over great waterways. In 1843 J. Barlow Moorhead became interested in the improvement of the navigation of the Monongahela river by a series of pools, dams and locks, popularly known as "slackwater navigation," a work which he completed in 1844. He opened up a vast extent of territory to the advantage of navigation, the locks being of sufficient capacity to transport great steamships; and he was one of the largest stockholders of the enterprise which is now owned by the Monongahela Navigation Company. In 1850 he effected a contract with the Sunbury & Erie Railway Company for the construction of a line from Sunbury to Williamsport, which was finished in 1855.

In 1856, J. Barlow Moorhead moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in the year following became interested in the iron business at Conshohocken, purchasing the Merion blast furnace from Stephen (Merion) Caldwell. In 1872 he added a new furnace and in this business he became very successful, acquiring a large fortune. He was vestryman of the Church of the Holy Trinity of Philadelphia, and was one of the founders and builders of the beautiful Holy Trinity Church, in Spring Lake, New Jersey, where was his summer home. A Democrat until 1861, he became a Union Republican when the Civil War broke out, and remained attached to the Republican party during the remainder of his life. His death occurred in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1889.

J. Barlow Moorhead married. February 7, 1837, Elizabeth Hirons, who was born April 4, 1813, and died February 7, 1890; she was the eldest child of John and Ann Ferris (Gilpin) Hirons.

Issue of J. Barlow and Elizabeth (Hirons) Moorhead:

1. Charles Hirons Moorhead, born January 31, 1840, died January 7, 1905; married Lucy Phelps Hickman; issue: J. Barlow Moorhead, Jr., died aged twenty-one years.

2. Ada Elizabeth Moorhead, born December 10, 1843; married. November 26, 1867, George Clifford Thomas.

3. Clara Alice Moorhead, born March 13, 1846: married, April 23, 1868, Jay Cooke, Jr., of Philadelphia; died December 16, 1912; banker.

4. Caroline Frances Moorhead, born March 13, 1846; married Joseph Earlston Thropp, of Philadelphia.