Worrest, Alfred H.

ALFRED H. WORREST1, son of Henry W. and Hannah (Sweigart) Worrest, was born July 28, 1855, in Salisbury township, Lancaster county, Pa. Henry W. Worrest, (a son of Peter and Margaret Fierree) Worrest, the former a farmer, was born at Parkesburg, Chester Co., Pa., in 1822, and died in 1884. Hannah (Sweigart) Worrest, daughter of Isaac and Leah (Reidenbaugh) Sweigart, farming people, was born near New Holland, Lancaster Co., Pa., in 1825, and died in 1898.

 

Alfred H. Worrest comes of two of the old families of this section, both his grandfathers having operated teams between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pa., before the days of railroads. Some of the family have dropped the “re”; and spell the name Worst.

Henry W. Worrest, father of Alfred H., was well and favorably known in the district in which he lived. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, his wife was a Lutheran; both are buried in St. John's cemetery, Compassville, Chester Co., Pa. Their children were as follows: Alfred H., living in Lancaster, Pa.; Harry, deceased; Charles S., a farmer, living in Nebraska; Miss Lizzie L. and Miss Annie M., of Pequea, Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania.

 

Until he was twenty-one years of age Mr. Worrest remained with his father, assisting on the farm, and receiving remuneration in board and clothes. Any time that he could get off from the farm work was spent in selling agricultural implements to the farmers of the neighborhood. The following year he was employed by his uncle, John P. Sweigart, at the “Mansion House”; at Gap, Lancaster Co., Pa. The succeeding two years he spent in raising tobacco and selling agricultural implements, having associated himself the second year with his cousin, T. K. Sweigart, under the firm name of Worrest & Sweigart, Pequea, Pa. They then sold a full line of these implements. This firm was dissolved in 1882, by mutual consent, Mr. Worrest having accepted a position with the Genesee Valley Manufacturing Company, of Mt. Morris, N. Y., to represent them as general agent for eastern Pennsylvania and adjoining States. This position he held for eight years, during which time he invented what is known as the Royal Fertilizer Feeder for grain drills, and which is used by this company on their drills, they having a license under the patents to manufacture it. After severing his connection with the above mentioned company Mr. Worrest settled on a farm in Glenloch, Chester Co., Pa. During that year he sold the farm to Henry Geisse, and the following spring returned to Lancaster, accepting a position with the Deering Harvester Company, of Chicago, Ill., and remaining with them one season, representing them in Lancaster, Chester and Delaware counties, Pa. In this year (1891) he invented the safety buggy, which he had manufactured for him by D. A,. Altick's Son, of Lancaster, under the name of the Safety Buggy Works, and which he sold for three years. During this period he had been several times approached on the subject of forming a stock company to manufacture the Safety Buggy on a larger scale, which proposition he accepted in 1894, and the Safety Buggy Company of Lancaster, Pa., was organized. The concern has one of the largest, if not the largest, carriage works in Lancaster county, for five years Mr. Worrest was manager of and a director in the company, when the business was sold to B. G. Dodge, who has continued in its management.

 

After this Mr. Worrest invented the Standard Shaft and Pole Coupler, and the Standard Body Loop, both of which are for use in the construction of carriages. The Coupler he manufactured and sold under the name of the Standard Coupler Works, Lancaster, Pa. The Body Loop is made by the Keystone Forging Company, of Northumberland, Pa., who manufacture it under the patents and a license from Mr. Worrest. In 1900 the Coupler business having grown beyond the expectation of the inventor, it was bought by the Metal Stamping Company of New York City, for a cash consideration and a royalty on the future sales during the term of the patents. Both of these inventions are well known to the carriage trade and have very large sales. At this writing Mr. Worrest is busily engaged in introducing his latest, and what he considers his best, invention, “The Standard Ball Axle”; for carriages and all other vehicles.

 

At the parsonage of St. John's Episcopal Church, of Compassville, Pa., by Rev. Mr. Tullidge, Alfred H. Worrest was united in marriage with Katherine F. Wanner, who was born July I7, 1859, in Salisbury township, Lancaster county, Pa., daughter of Martin and Martha (Mast) Wanner, farming people of Salisbury township. Children as follows have been born to this union: Minnie E., Grace E. (deceased), Elsie M., Edgar W., Harry (who died in infancy), Warren W. and Howard A.

 

Mr. Worrest was reared in the faith of the Episcopal Church, of which his daughters are communicants, and of which he is a supporter. His political affiliations are with the Republican party, while fraternally he is associated with the Knights of Malta; I. 0. 0. F.; Jr. 0. V. A. M.; and K. of P. His genius has made him known to the manufacturing world over a large territory. At his home he is still the quiet, studious man, whom his friends have known for years as the good neighbor and first-class citizen, ever anxious for the welfare of family, city and State.