A history of Catasauqua in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Part 19

Author: Lambert, James F; Reinhard, Henry J
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : The Searle & Dressler co, inc.
Number of Pages: 440


USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Catasauqua > A history of Catasauqua in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania > Part 19


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Dr. Becker married on November 28, 1888, Ella, the daughter of Daniel Schreiber of Coplay, Lehigh County.


He is a member of the Lehigh Valley Homeopathic Medical Society and of the Alumni Association of the Hahneman Medical College of Philadelphia.


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Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the P. O. S. of A., being a past officer of both bodies. He is president of the Lehigh Building and Loan Association, and a director of the Lehigh National Bank. He is Reformed in religions faith, and a Republican in political belief.


DR. JOHN S. SCHNELLER. John S. Schneller, M. D., the son of Charles W. Schneller and his wife Mamie (nee Schaeffer), was born in 1885. He at- tended the town schools for a number of years after which he was enrolled in the Allentown Preparatory School from which he was graduated in 1902. He re- ceived his degree of Bachelor of Science from Muhlenberg College in 1906. Ilis medical training he acquired at the University of Pennsylvania and received his diploma in 1910. He followed this up with a special course in diseases of children and obstetrics interna at the Allentown Hospital. He opened his office at 532 Second Street in July, 1911, and has developed a very flattering practice.


DR. HECKENBERGER. The Veterinary Surgeon, William A. Hecken- berger opened his office in Catasauqua in 1850. He was born February 26, 1825, in Saulgau. Wurtemberg. Germany. ITis father, Joseph Heekenberger, was sheriff and jailer in his native city and for fourteen years he sojourned in Russia. His mother was Louisa Pocarius also a native of Germany. The subject of our sketch sailed from Antwerp in 1848, and after a voyage of sixty days landed in New York. He sought this section of the country on account of his inability to converse freely in the English language. He was the first veterinary surgeon in these parts. His scholarship (he was a graduate of the German Gymnasium) and his great skill as a Veterinary soon gained for him a wide-spread reputation. He was engaged by the Bethlehem Iron Company, the Crane Company and a number of Coal-mining Companies to look after and treat their horses and mules. He was a member of the Veterinary Medical Association of Pennsylvania; and St. Paul's Ev. Lutheran Church. He died April 5, 1910, at the age of eighty-five years.


Drs. Joseph and Henry Heckenberger were graduated from the Ontario Vet- erinary College, Toronto, Canada. The former entered into partnership with his father in 1880 and continued with signal success until his death, March 17, 1908. The latter set up a practice in Pittston, Pa., where he continued until his


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brother's decease, when he moved to Catasauqua to become the successor to the firm of Dr. W. A. Hoekenberger and Son. Dr. Henry Heckenberger and family ocenpy the old homestead on Front Street above Union. The Doctor is a genial and capable man having had an experience of more than thirty-six years in the profession.


DENTISTRY.


Dr. J. P. Barnes, late of Allentown, was the first dentist who operated in Catasauqua. While a student under Dr. Scholl at Bath, Pa., Mr. Barnes made periodic visits to our town. He carried his tools in a satchel and did a great deal of his work in people's houses. His room was on Church Street. In those days no nareoties, or pain killing drugs, were administered. Patients tried to sit still until a tooth was filed down to the gums and an artificial tooth inserted by a wooden pivot forced into the centre of the root. People were not so ready then to believe that pain is only a delusion.


During the forties Thomas Butz, who farmed the land now covered by the Hokendauqua Furnace, was an expert teeth extractor. People for miles around would implore his services. If men's agonies drove them to him during working hours, they would stop at the Butz farm house, secure "the hook" and carry it to the field where Mr. Butz was at work. Here the latter would plant his patient upon a stump, force the prong of the hook under the root of the tooth, hold his vietim down with his knee upon the thigh, and by a mighty twist pry out the aching offender. Exclamation !!


WESLEY WILLOUGHBY, D. D. S. Although he is a pain producer, he is a convincing demonstration of a Homeopathic principle which says, that like cures like. To find the root of the matter causes pain; but when the pain is scientifically disturbed it ceases to ache. Doctor Wesley Willoughby is the son of Captain John Willoughby and his wife Margaret Ann, nee Armstrong, and was born in Charleston, Canada, September 29, 1871. The Doctor passed through the grades of the schools of his native town. After this he was matriculated in the Orangeville Boys' School. Orangeville High School, the Ontario College, and the Orangeville Collegiate Institute from which he was graduated in 1893. In the fall of the same year he entered the Dental department of the University of


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Pennsylvania from which he graduated in 1896. While taking his course in Dental Surgery, he attended lectures in the Jefferson Medical College for two vears.


On the 26th of August he opened his Dental parlors in the old National Bank Building on Front Street, where he built up a large patronage. He opened a branch office in Siegfried, Pa., in 1897, but his home practice grew to such pro- portions that he was constrained to close the Siegfried office after but a few years tenure. When the National Bank sold its old property and moved to Second and Bridge Streets in 1903, Doetor Willoughby built his comfortable quarters at number 125 Bridge Street and moved his equipment. His place is home-like to his patients and his practice more than sufficient to tax his robust strength.


Dr. Willoughby was married to Miss Tillie C. Frederick, daughter of Ogden R. and Clara A., nee Fuller, Frederick, September 7, 1898. To this union was born a son named Wesley F.


DR. J. EDWARD REHRIG. That Dentist is most sympathetic with his patients who possesses the requisite skill to know where and how to eut, and has manly courage sufficient to make a finished excavation with the smallest number of strokes possible. These qualifications may be justly predicated of Dr. J. Edward Rehrig.


The Doctor is a son of John C. and Hannah M. (nee Schock) Rehrig, and was born in Mauch Chunk, Pa., August 20, 1884. He attended the public schools of East Maneh Chunk until he was graduated in June, 1900. He was employed as bookkeeper by the New Jersey Zinc Company at Palmerton, where he served for less than a year, when he entered the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia, Pa., and labored as a steam-fitter. In 1903 he returned to Mauch Chunk to engaged in business with his father, who was the proprietor of the American Hotel.


Mr. Rehrig entered the Dental department of the University of Pennsyl- vania in 1905 and was graduated in 1908. He now received the appointment of Resident Dental Surgeon in the Philadelphia General Hospital, where he re- mained one year. He was honored with office of vice-president of the Kirk Dental Society during his senior year. He was the editor-in-chief of the elass


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record of 1908, and was a member of Psi Omega Dental Fraternity.


Dr. Rehrig opened his Dental rooms in the Lehigh National Bank building in Catasauqua, April 1, 1909. On June 1, 1911, he was married to Miss Nellie J. Miller of Bangor, Pa. They are now the prond parents of a little Miss named Dorothy Miller Rohrig.


Socially the Doctor holds membership in the Catasauqua Porter Lodge, No. 284, F. and A. M., and the Royal Arch Chapter, No. 278.


WILLIAM H. GLACE. William H. Glace, lawyer at Catasauqua for 40 years, and a publie official here for a time, was born Feb. 12, 1839, on the farm of his grandfather, John Swartz, situated along the Lehigh River, one mile north of Catasauqua, at Dry Run. He received his education in the public schools of the vicinity, and in Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, Penna.


One year prior to the Civil War, he went to Charleston, S. C., and secured employment as entry clerk in the wholesale house of Thayer Dewing & Co. While engaged here, he saw the weekly sales of slaves in an enclosed yard adjoin- ing Broad Street, the thoroughfare of the city, and he observed the secret prepa- rations which were made there for the "Conflict." A U. S. Arsenal was located in this prominent place, which was being filled with munitions of war by the then Secretary of War under President Buchanan. Great numbers of open boxes with rifles were carried there and this performance at the national deposi- tory attracted much public attention.


Realizing that a conflict between the North and South was apparently im- minent, Mr. Glaee determined to return home while he could do so without embarrassment; and shortly afterward he enlisted as a sergeant in Co. F., 47th Penna. Volunteers. He continued in active service for three years, having participated with his Regiment in all the battles of the Red River Expedition, and also in the numerous engagements of a part of the Northern Army in de- fending the outposts of Washington against the exciting raids by Confederates under General Early.


Upon his discharge from the military service, he became the bookkeeper and paymaster of the C. & F. R. R. Co. at Catasauqua and he filled this position for two years. Then he studied law in the offices of John H. Oliver, Esq., at Allen-


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town, and was admitted to practice in the several courts of Lehigh County. April 13, 1868. Soon after his admission to the Bar, the Auditor General of Penna. (Gen. John F. Hartranft) selected him to be the Assessor of the National Banks in Lehigh, Northampton, and Monroe Counties, and he filled this position for two years from 1868 to 1870. During this time he had begun a preliminary


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WILLIAM H. GLACE


practice of the law at Allentown. While there, in the fall of 1868, he was nomi- nated for the Legislature by the Republican Party, and his popularity was shown by receiving the highest vote of his party.


In the Fall of 1869, he was nominated for Justice of the Peace at Catasauqua,


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and of the four candidates on the ticket he received the highest vote. He was commissioned for five years, and, at the end of his term, this time was extended to the spring of 1875 by the new State Constitution of 1874, and he was com- missioned accordingly. He was elected Chief Burgess of the Borough and officiated for the year 1876. He subsequently served as Auditor for six years, as Borough Solicitor for seven years, and as School Solicitor for three years; and he also acted as a Notary Public for 28 consecutive years.


In the practice of the law he directed his attention chiefly to the settlement of estates in Catasauqua and the surrounding townships, the examination and transmission of title to real estate in these distriets, and the investment on reli- able security, in all of which he became a safe adviser and recognized authority. During the past twenty-five years he prepared the last wills of nearly all the prominent men of the community. His practice in the respects mentioned be- eame very extensive, which evidences the large volume of business transacted by him. After a continuous practice of forty years, he retired from the active duties of professional life.


While a student at law at Allentown, Mr. Glace became a member of the first post of the G. A. R. in Lehigh County, which was organized shortly after the close of the Civil War. He has been a member for many years of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia.


In 1870, Mr. Glace organized the Catasauqua Loan and Building Associa- tion, and notwithstanding the financial panic which extended from 1873 to 1877 and seriously affected this community, he directed its affairs in such a successful manner that it was dissolved in eleven years and all the shareholders received their money.


In 1906, Mr. Glace with other persons at Catasauqua, organized the "Lehigh National Bank," which embarked in the banking business and it has since been conducted in a successful manner. He was selected as its first president and officiated two years.


Mr. Glace, having been prominently identified with the history and develop- ment of the community, published. in February. 1914, a compilation entitled "Early History and Reminiscences of Catasauqua" as a historieal contribution


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towards the proper observance of "Old Home Week" which the citizens de- termined to celebrate.


In 1874, Mr. Glace was married to Mary Jennie Stark, a great grand- daughter of Aaron Stark, who fell as a sacrifice in the awful "Massacre of Wyoming" in 1778, and whose remains repose under the historic Wyoming Monument.


Mr. Glace's father, Samuel Glace, was a native of Reamstown, in Lancaster County. He was born in 1805 and when two years old his parents removed to Conyngham, Luzerne County. He was educated in the English schools of the village. and when he became of age he located at Mauch Chunk, where he entered the employ of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. Shortly afterwards he went to Lehigh Gap and was the first person to manufacture hydraulic cement in the Le- high Valley, a special paper on this subject having been prepared by his son (the subject of this sketch) for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In 1830, he took up his residence at Biery's-Port upon receiving the appointment of division superintendent of the canal from the "Slate Dam," at Laury's, to the "Allentown Dam," and he filled this position for ten years; and afterward he served the Crane Iron Co. as mining agent for many years. He lived in retire- ment nearly twenty years at his residence. No. 307 Bridge Street, and he died in 1892, at the advanced age of 86 years. He was married to Isabella Swartz. daughter of John Swartz, and they had two children : William HI. (the subject of this sketch ), and Amanda E .. married to Dr. Daniel Yoder.


Ilis mother's great-grandfather on the maternal side was John JJacob Mickley, a Huguenot. Upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, his parents. with numerous other countrymen, were obliged to flee from France and locate in the Palatinate where he was born, and in 1733, he emigrated to Pennsylvania. After landing at Philadelphia, he immediately proceeded up the Delaware and Lehigh rivers and settled in the vicinity of Egypt on a tract of land four miles north-west of Catasuaqua. In 1763, while three of his little children were hunting chestnuts near their home, two of them were murdered by the Indians. Other persons were also murdered during the Indian invasion. The Historical Society of Lehigh County in the Fall of 1913, set up a stone "marker" in Whitehall Township, about a mile from Egypt, to indicate the locality of the


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massacre, and the names inseribed on this "marker" include those of the two Miekley children. Three sous of this early settler were enlisted in the Revolu- tion, and one of them brought the "Liberty Bell" from Philadelphia to Allen- town, where it was secreted for a time in the cellar of Zion's Reformed Church.


Her great-grandfather, on the paternal side, was Nicholas Swartz, who settled in Longswamp Township. Berks County, in 1750, and in 1787 his son Christian migrated to the Irish Settlement in Northampton County, where he then built a large stone dwelling house along the Lehigh River near the outlet of Dry Run : and it was here that Mr. Glace's mother, as well as he himself, was born.


The residence of Mr. Glace is at 307 Bridge Street, Catasauqua, Pa., where he has resided almost continuously since 1855.


R. CLAY HAMMERSLY. R. Clay Hammersly was born in Dillsburg, York County, Pa., January 29, 1834, and died in Catasauqua, Pa., November 20, 1898. In his youth his father moved to Gettys- burg. Pa., where he obtained his edu- ration in the public schools and in Gettysburg College from which he was graduated. After teaching for several years in his native county, he came to Allentown, Pa., where he taught school. While teaching in this city, he reg- istered as a law student and entered the office of James S. Reese, being subse- quently admitted to the bar with Capt. A. B. Swartz.


R. CLAY HAMMERSLY


He did not engaged in the practice of law at once, but came to Catasauqua where he taught several terms in a Gram- mar school. In 1863 he was elected Principal of the High School and continued in this position for two years. He was Borough Solicitor and was elected Justice


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of the Peace for the Second Ward, which office he held for many years. During these years he became prominent and took a leading part in the affairs of Cata- sauqua. He was one of the original members of the Fairview Cemetery Associa- tion, and was elected a member of the School Board in 1866, continuing in this office for a period of seven years. He was also a Notary Public and did an ex- tensive business in life and fire insurance. He was a member of the Episcopal Church.


Mr. Hammersly was married to Miss Annie M. Welty of Gettysburg and from this union issued the following children: Dr. William Hammersly of Phila- delphia ; Miss Alice, a trained nurse : and Miss Annie, who at the time of his death, lived at home.


OSCAR J. STINE. Oscar J. Stine. Esq., was graduated from Muhlenberg College in June, 1882, and three years later received the degree of M. A.


Mr. Stine read law with E. H. Stine, Esq., at Allentown, Pa., and was ad- mitted to the Lehigh County Bar, June 7, 1886.


He practiced law with David R. Horne, Esq., then located at Wichita, Kansas, for one year.


He returned to Lehigh County in the fall of 1887 and became the junior member of the law firm of Stine and Stine, the senior member being E. H. Stine, Esq.


In 1900 Mr. Stine came to Catasauqua and entered the employ of Stine and Kramlich, the wholesale liquor dealers, whose successor he has become.


ALEXANDER N. ULRICH. The patriarch of this branch of the Ulrich family in this country was a native of Alsace, France, and emigrated to America in 1708. He settled at Annville, Lebanon County, Pa. A grandson of this pioneer was a prominent lawyer of Lebanon County, and, during the Revolution- ary War, served as adjutant of a Pennsylvania regiment.


The grandfather of our subject, the Rev. Daniel Ulrich, D. D., was a prom- inent Lutheran clergyman who served the Ulrich's Church of Lebanon County as pastor for many years. His son, Daniel Ulrich, was a man of fine qualities. After graduation from Princeton he went to Jefferson Medical College, Phila-


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delphia, Pa. Having received his degree as a doctor, he opened an office in Reading. Pa. He was an able physician and above all a clean and courteous gentleman, which developed for him a tremendous practice not only in the city but also in the country surrounding Reading.


The mother of our subjeet was of Scottish origin. She was born in Fairfax County. Virginia, and was a daughter of Alexander Nesbitt, a native of Penn- sylvania, a graduate of Dickinson College and a successful lawyer of the Old Dominion. Her grandfather, Charles Nesbitt, was Provost of the University of Edinburg, Scotland, and is reputed to have been the most learned Greek scholar of all Europe in his day. When Diekinson College was founded, Charles Nesbitt was urged to become its first President. He accepted the proffer, and his fame assured the success of the institution.


Charles N. Ulrich, the son of Dr. Daniel Ulrich and Henrietta, nee Nesbitt, was born at Gettysburg. Pa., February 10, 1853. He was educated in Reading. After graduation from the High School he was sent to some school in New England. In 1871 he came to Catasauqua, where he became a teacher in the public schools. In 1873 he was elected principal of the schools, which office he held for six years.


He devoted much of his spare time to the study of law so that by 1885 he was admitted to the Bar at Allentown. From that time until his death he devoted himself entirely to his chosen profession. He was elected JJustice of the Peace on the Republican ticket in 1883 and re-elected in 1888 and 1893. He was a member of the Lehigh County Bar Association. Miss Irene Fuller became his bride July 11, 1878. He departed this life December 29, 1910. His wife preceded him in death.


Charles F. Ulrich, the only child of this union, was educated in the Cata- sauqua schools, and Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., from which institution he was graduated in June, 1905. He studied law at different places and was finally admitted to the Lehigh County Bar in 1908. He fell heir to the beautiful and commodious law offices of his father on Bridge Street, and enjoys the advantages of a remarkably well chosen library.


AUSTIN A. GLICK, ESQ., is the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Glick,


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who owned and cultivated a fine farm in the vicinage of Howertown, Northamp- ton County, Pa. Later they moved to Catasauqua and took up their residenee on Front Street, now the home of Thomas B. Glick, a brother to the subject of this sketeh. Mr. Glick was graduated from the Catasauqua High School in the spring of 1876. After a course of preparation, he entered Muhlenberg College from which he was graduated in June, 1882.


He read law with John Rupp, Esq., and was admitted to the Lehigh County Bar on March 3, 1886. He immediately opened his office in the old building of the National Bank of Catasauqua, on Front Street, and later he moved into the P. O. S. of A. building on Bridge Street. Besides the general practice of law, Mr. Glick was Borough solieitor from 1893 to 1895 inclusive, and is Secre- tary of the Board of Health since its organization.


He is also engaged in the fire insurance business. His genial and encourag- ing helpmate is a daughter of the late Jacob Roberts and his wife, a Miss Relyea.


WILLIAM H. SCHNELLER. William H. Schneller graduated from the Catasauqua High School in 1898, and for a period of three years thereafter was engaged in the laundry business with the Empire Steam Laundry of Catasauqua, Pa. In September, 1901, he entered the Sophomore Class at Schuylkill Seminary, Reading. Pa., taking up the Classical Course and graduated and received an A. B. degree in 1905. In October of 1905 he entered the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania and graduated and received his L. L. B. degree there- from in June, 1908. Mr. Schneller registered as a Stu- dent-at-Law with the Honorable James L. Schaadt, of Allentown, Pa., and on motion of the Honorable James L. Schaadt on March 15th, 1909, he was admitted by the Honorable Frank M. Trexler, President Judge, to practice in the several Courts of Lehigh County. On the 18th day of October, 1909, on motion of E. J. Fox, WILLIAM H. SCHNELLER Esquire, of Easton, Pa., he was admitted by the Honor- able Henry J. Scott, President Judge, to practice in the several Courts of Northampton County. On April 1st, 1909, he opened his law


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office in The Lehigh National Bank Building, Catasauqua, Pa., and has continued there ever since. On March 18th, 1912, on motion of Ulysses S. Koons, of Philadelphia, he was admitted by the Honorable D. Newlin Fell, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, to practice as an Attorney and Counsellor of the said Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. On the 15th day of March, 1909, immediately after his admission, he tried his first ease in the Lehigh County court. at Allentown, Pa., and a month thereafter tried his first ease in the United States District Court at Philadelphia ; and has been actively engaged in the general practice of law in the various District and Appellate Courts of Pennsylvania and of the United States continuously since. At present he is the solicitor for the North Catasauqua School District, of the Recorder of Deeds of Lehigh County, and of the Lehigh National Bank of Catasauqua, as well as of var- ious other corporations and business firms.


KOONS AND SON. Abraham F. Koons was born at Berlinsville, Pa .. August. 1863. When but eight years of age he was left an orphan and as such enjoyed the most meager schooling possible. He had a good mind which, coupled with a willingness to serve, soon brought him into demand for clerkship in country stores.


When a young man, he drifted into Coplay where he managed a general store for Levi Haas, then Superintendent of the Coplay furnaces. In 1856 he came to Catasauqua and entered into a partnership with Clinton Breinig at the corner of Front and Race Streets, later the property of Owen Romig and now in the hands of August Hohl.


After the Civil War this partnership was dissolved and Mr. Koons estab- lished his business at Front and Mulberry Streets, now the Heekenberger Drug store. Here he took up insurance and the real estate business. In 1868 he quit the mercantile business. In February, 1875, he was elected Justice of the Peace for the Borough of Catasauqua, to which office he was elected for five consecutive terms, and in which he served with an enviable record until his death, February 15, 1898.




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