Joseph Earlston Thropp was born at Valley Forge, in Chester County. His father, Isaiah Thropp, and Sarah, sister of Sir William Wood, came to America at an early age, where he married Anna Virginia, daughter of John Workizer, of Howellville, and granddaughter of Colonel Christian Workizer, an accomplished German officer, who served with distinction on the staff of General Wolfe during the French and Indian war. He was educated at the Pennsylvania Polytechnic College, a civil engineer. The death of his mother brought him East. In 1873 he married Caroline F., daughter of his partner, Joel B. Moorhead, and twin sister of Mrs. Jay Cooke, Jr. When but twenty-eight years of age a committee of his neighbors waited upon him and requested him to permit the use of his name as a candidate for Congress. He thanked them, but declined, expressing the opinion that his time had not yet come. He represented his district in county and State conventions, always taking a prominent part. His leadership in the judiciary convention stamped him as an orator, his brief but eloquent speech carrying the convention and nominating Mr. Swartz. In 1882 he was tendered the independent nomination for Congress in the district, but declined. He moved into the adjacent farm-house; the furnace was immediately put in repair, and started in one of the dullest periods known in the history of the iron trade. While thus engaged, and having had no vacations or relaxation for years, the strain upon his overtaxed body broke him down, and for weeks his life was despaired of under an attack of typhoid fever. As soon as he was able to be about, and in opposition to the wishes of his physician, he resumed charge of the business.