Benjamin Johnson Crew (1827-1885)

He was educated at Haverford College and the University of Pennsylvania, becoming a pharmacist and chemist. He wrote "Petroleum" the first book on refining oil, and "Our Jewels and the Work of Resetting Them". In partnership with his brothers (Jacob and Benjamin), Crew Brothers & Co., built two factories for manufacturing chemicals in 1861. They then built an oil refinery, but it burned down just two years later (1864). They replaced it with the Belmont Oil Works, which was then the largest of its kind in the United States and the oil it produced won the Medal of Merit at the Paris Exposition. He was also the Secretary of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children from 1876 until 1885. They lived at 210 North 17th Street in Philadelphia before moving to Atco, New Jersey.