USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > Catasauqua > A history of Catasauqua in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania > Part 26
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He is a member of the Lehigh Country Club, of Allentown : the Northampton Country Club : the Livingston Club of Allentown ; the Manhattan Club of New York City ; the Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia ; and the Elks Fraternity of Allentown. In these organizations he is a leading member.
DAVID R. GRIFFITH. In David R. Griffith Catasauqua owns a citizen of whom she may well be proud. He has been in the employment of the Crane
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THE HISTORY
Iron Company ever since his arrival in this country in September. 1869. He began as a patternmaker, and was promoted from time to time until he became the head of the carpenter de- partment at the furnaces. Mr. Griffith, aided by his devoted wife, raised five sons and two daughters, every one of whom reflects credit upon the sublimity of a true home and a God-fearing parentage. Our friend served twelve years as president of the School Board, and six years as its treasurer. When the Welsh people of the town desired preaching of the Word in their native tongue, and "Mother Thomas" made it possible for them to have a church, Mr. Griffith, who possesses rare, nat- ural endowments as a public speaker, especial- ly along sacred lines, studied hard so that by the fall of 1881 he was ordained at Slatington as a Congregational clergyman. Since this DAVID R. GRIFFITH time he has waited upon his countrymen with the Word of Life in a most acceptable manner.
Rev. Griffith was born at Neath, Glamorganshire. South Wales, January 8. 1845, and is the son of John Griffith and his wife, a born Davies. He was edu- cated in the National Schools of Wales, and was licensed to preach before he was nineteen years of age. Four years before he emigrated to America, March 25. 1865, he entered into matrimony with Miss Hannah, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Thomas. The children whom they brought to maturity are: John P., of Port Henry, N. J .; David, Joseph T., Oliver, and George R., of Catasauqua ; Edith M., wife of Henry Van Middlesworth of Siegfried, Pa. ; and Elizabeth A .. wife of Elbert Green, of Catasauqua.
HENRY H. BUCK. All the people of true sensibility and a just regard for the memory of those who have departed this life cherish the details of the his- otries of those whose careers have been marked by uprightness and truth, and
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whose lives have been filled with aets of usefulness. Such a man was Henry H. Buek, one of Catasauqua's best known and most prominent residents.
He was born October 20, 1838, near Danielsville, Northampton County, Pa .. and died in Catasauqua, November 26, 1913. He was a son of Jacob and his wife Elizabeth (Berlin) Buck. His boyhood days were spent with his parents and he enjoyed such educational train- ing as the village school afforded. A part of his time he spent on the farm and in early manhood he learned the wheelwright trade with Thomas Rover, Cherryville, Pa.
Early in the sixties he went to Parryville, Pa., and in 1863, he enlisted in the Thirty-fourth Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, under James Thomas, the superin- tendent of the Carbon Iron Com- pany at Parryville. Mr. Bnek was also a member of the emergency corps which participated in the Battle of Gettysburg. When the Civil War came to a close, he was honorably discharged and located in Catasauqua where he followed his trade as a wheelwright. He lived retired for the last eight or ten years of his life.
HENRY H. BUCK
Mr. Buck was a consistent member of Emmanuel Evangelical Church and took a deep interest in its welfare. He gave the congregation efficient service as an elder, trustee, and Sunday School superintendent, which last office he held for many years.
He was Judge of Election in the Second Ward for many successive terms. He was a Republican in his political affiliations.
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He was a citizen of whom any community can well be proud and was held in high esteem by all who knew him.
Mr. Buck was married September 10, 1867, to Miss Emma Oplinger of Danielsville. The issue of this happy union was two sons: Abner II., Principal of the High School. South Bethlehem, Pa .; and Harry E., an employee of the Central Railroad of New Jersey at the local office.
JACOB ROBERTS. Jacob Roberts was born in Marbletown, Ulster Coun- ty, New York, October 3, 1832, and died in Catasauqua, Pa., November 18, 1905. Hle enjoyed such educational advantages as the common schools of his boyhood days afforded, a few months during the winter. This training was supplemented by reading standard works on various subjects, chiefly mathematical and mechanical. Having had a mind that was bent on investigation, he filled it with facts which he utilized in a practical way in later years.
Like many prominent men of the coun- try, he taught school for several years, after which he 'entered the ranks of mechanical scientists and spent fifteen years of his life in acquiring a practical knowledge of black- smithing, carpentering, carriage-building. painting and machinery. He was engaged for some years in the carriage-building business, also indoor blind and sash manufacturing, in Brooklyn, New York. For a time he was em- ployed as a mechanical expert and consulting engineer in the cities of New York and Brooklyn.
In 1883 he purchased the Hudson River Rolling Mill at Poughkeepsie and, in company with Charles Miller and the Crossman Broth- ers of New York City, organized the Phoenix JACOB ROBERTS Horseshoe Company and began the manufacture of horse and mule shoes. These products found a ready market and the business was a success. In August, 1889,
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Mr. Roberts severed his connection with the Phoenix Company and became super- intendent of the Bryden Horseshoe Works. He came to Catasauqua and took charge of the Bryden, manufacturing the Boss horse and mule shoes. The manufacture of these shoes has met with phenomenal success, having found ready sales in the market of the world. More than once has the Company been obliged to double the capacity of their works in order to meet the demand of the trade while Mr. Roberts was superintendent of the Bryden.
September 18, 1855, Mr. Roberts was married to Miss Catherine L. Relyea of Clintondale, New York, and their married life was blessed with five children. Mrs. Frances D. Simonson of Newark, N. J., William Roberts of Easton, Pa., Mrs. Austin A. Glick of town, Eva M. and Ida T., both of whom died in infancy.
Mr. Roberts was a devoted member of Grace M. E. Church and one of its most liberal contributors. He was a man of commanding presence and fine social qualities. It was always a pleasure to meet him. He possessed to a marked de- gree the faculty of making a person feel at ease in his presence.
RICHARD O. KOHLER. Richard O. Kohler was born in Chemnitz, Ger- many, October 27, 1872, and died October 30, 1913. Ile was educated in the schools of his native town. These afforded him great educational advantages by which he profited to such an extent, that, when he started in life for himself, he was intellectually well equipped for the vocation of his own selection, that of a business career. In June, 1893, Mr. Kohler came to America and found em- ployment as clerk in the Unicorn Silk Mill. He subsequently engaged with the Bryden Horse Shoe Company, and for several years he was general manager of the Catasauqua Casting Company. For a short period he acted as general sales agent of the Lehigh Clutch Company and traveled extensively in locating their sales. He and his family spent three summer months preceding his death in traveling in Europe and in visiting his brother, who resides in Chemnitz.
Mr. Kohler was married October 31, 1902, to Miss Grace Williams and their home was graced with an only daughter, Anna HI. He was a prominent official of the Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church and a member of Porter Lodge No. 284, F. and A. M., and of the Catasauqua Club. Mr. Kohler enjoyed the esteem and confidence of an extended circle of social and business acquaintances.
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HENRY J. SEAMAN. The pioneer of the Seaman family in this country came from an English stock and located on Statan Island, N. Y., at some time ante dating the Revolutionary War. The father of our townsman was Henry J. Seaman. His mother, Maria A., a daughter of Charles Augustus Luckenbach, was a descendant of an old Moravian family. Mr. Luckenbach was an organizer and the first president of the Thomas Iron Company, and an early director of the Bank of Catasauqua.
Henry J. Seaman, the subject of our sketch, was born in Trinity County, Cali- fornia. When he was past three years of age his parents came to Bethlehem, where he attended the Moravian Parochial School. He took a course in Chemistry at Lehigh Uni- versity and was graduated in 1879, when he went to the mining district of Leadville, Col- orado, where he served as chemist of a large Smelting Company. On account of severe ill- ness he returned home in December of the same year. In February, 1880, he succeeded James Gayley as chemist at the Crane Iron Works. He was promoted to Furnace Mana- ger, January, 1886. In June, 1889, he accept- ed the position of Superintendent of the Car- HENRY J. SEAMAN bon Iron and Steel Company at Parryville, Pa. In February, 1892, he became Superintendent of the Atlas Cement Company, which was in process of organization.
At a later date he was elected to the position of General Superintendent of the Atlas Portland Cement Company, of which he has been a director since its organization. He was largely instrumental in perfecting the rotary process of manufacturing Portland Cement, and invented and commercialized a process of burning pulverized fuel, now used almost exclusively in the manufacture of Port- land Cement.
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Mr. Seaman is Vice-President and General Superintendent of the New York and New England Cement and Lime Company, and a director of the National Bank of Catasauqua. He holds membership in: The Engineers' Club, of New York; The Railroad Club, of New York; The Livingstone Club, Allentown, Pa. : The Lehigh Country Club, Rittersville, Pa .; The American Institute of Mining Engineers ; The American Society for Testing Materials ; and The American Con- crete Institute.
He entered into matrimony with Miss Minnie Boyer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Boyer, in 1885. Their children are: Louise, wife of Paul Miller, and Harry J., both of Catasauqua.
GEORGE E. HOLTON. George E. Holton was born in London, England, April 24, 1868, son of George and Hope Mary Holton, and died February 10, 1913. He was educated in the schools of Norwood and London, England. He came to America in 1886 and was naturalized in the early 90's.
Mr. Holton entered the employ of the Pencoyd Iron Works. In 1889 he be- came inspector for G. W. G. Ferris & Co. of Pittsburg, in the eastern territory, and had charge of the inspection and testing of the east iron segments used in the construction of the first tunnel under the Hudson River, now known as the Hoboken Tunnel, originally undertaken by Pearson & Co. of London, England. His abilities as an iron expert was easily recognized by the late Oliver Williams, the president of the Bryden Horse Shoe Co., who employed him as a salesman for the company. Mr. Holton established sales agencies in all parts of the country and secured large orders for them. During stagnation in the American market, he secured large orders from England in competition with English manufacturers during the English-Boer War in Africa, and thus kept the local works steadily employed.
Upon the death of Mr. Williams, he succeeded him as president of that Company and general manager of the Works. At the time of his death, he was president and treasurer of the Bryden, president and treasurer of Emanuel & Company, a director of the National Bank of Catasauqua and a director of the Cementon National Bank of Siegfried.
Mr. Holton was married to Miss Jessica Williams, youngest daughter of
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THE HISTORY
Oliver Williams, and the issue of a happy union is a son Oliver, and two daugh- ters, Catherine and Jessica.
Mr. Holton was a member of Town Council from the Second Ward; a member of the Catasauqua Club; vice-president of the Lehigh Country Club; vice-president of the Lehigh Valley Symphony Society; a member of the North- ampton Club. Bethlehem: Livingston Club. Allentown; Bryden Gun Club: Engineer's Club, New York City. He was a member of Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church. In all of these organizations he took a prominent part and is greatly missed.
Mr. Holton was a man of splendid executive ability, personal magnetism, pleasant address, greatly attached to his home and friends. He enjoyed the con- fidence and esteem of his employees as well as of all who knew him.
LEONARD PECKITT. A citizen who is wide awake and truly interested in the wel- fare of the community which he has chosen as his home. is Leonard Peckitt. He is the son of Leonard F. Peckitt and his wife, Frances, a born Quickfall. He was born at Carlton Hall, Yorkshire. England, April 17, 1860, and was given his early training by a private tutor. Later he matriculated at the Masham Gram- mar School, which was followed by a four years' course in Chemistry under Prof. W. F. Stock, County Analyst of Darlington.
He came to America in 1882 and accept- ed a position as chemist at the Reading Fron Works, where he remained six years. For two LEONARD PECKITT years he was chief chemist at the Crane Iron Works, and, since 1890, he was successively Assistant Superintendent, Superintendent, General Manager, Vice-President, and President of the Crane Iron Company. In 1899, Mr. Peckitt took an active part in the formation of the Empire Steel and Iron Company, which took over
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the Crane Iron Works and other properties in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsyl- vania. Hle was the first President of the Company and is still serving in this capacity.
The interests of Mr. Peekitt are large and varied and his judgments, being well matured, are constantly solicited. He is related as follows: Director. National Bank of Catasauqua; Vice-President and Director, Pottstown Iron Company ; Director, Catasauqua and Fogelsville Railroad ; President and Diree- tor. Victoria Coal and Coke Co., C'apetton, W. Va .: President and Director. Crane Railroad Co. ; President and Director. Davies and Thomas Company : Vice- President, Mt. Hope Mineral Railroad Co., Wharton, N. J .: Director. Bryden Horse Shoe Company: Director, Consolidated Telephone Co. of Pa., Hazleton, Pa .; Trustee, St. Luke's Hospital. So. Bethlehem, Pa .; Trustee, appointed by Gov. Tener, Homeopathic State Hospital for the Insane, Rittersville, Pa. ; Fellow of Chemical Society of London, England; Member of the Iron and Steel Insti- tute of Great Britain ; Member of the American Iron and Steel Institute; Mem- ber of the American Institute of Mining Engineers: Vice-President, Lehigh Country Club. Rittersville, Pa. : President. Old Home Week Association, Cata- sanqua, Pa.
Mr. Peckitt entered into matrimony with Miss Hattie Madeline, daughter of Emanuel Weidler and wife of Stony Creek, near Reading, Pa., in 1899. Their son. Leonard Carlton. is now in Arizona.
MRS. ELLEN CAROLINE GILBERT. At the time of her death, but fif- teen days before the beginning of the Old Home Week Celebration. Mrs. Ellen ('aroline Gilbert was the oldest native resident of Catasauqua. She was born in the lower section of the town when it was called Biery's-Port, JJanuary 25, 1831. Her father, Daniel Tombler, was a native of Hope. N. J., while her mother. ('atherine, nee Hartzell, was born at Wind Gap, Pa. These parents moved to Biery's-Port in 1821. Mr. Tombler conducted the old mill that stood on the site of the present Mauser & Cressman property, and for twenty-three years collected toll at Biery's Bridge. During the re-erection of the bridge, destroyed by the flood of 1841, Mr. Tombler met with an accident which resulted in his death.
In the days of Ellen's childhood all the children of the Burg attended
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THE HISTORY
Deily's School located near the old Taylor residence. Mrs. Gilbert also at- tended the old Presbyterian Church on Church Street, in whose Sunday School Allie Thomas, daugh- ter of David Thomas, was her teacher. Sylvester Tombler, now of Allentown, is the only surviving member of that family of ten children.
She was married by Rev. Eberhard February 6, 1855, to Edwin Gilbert. Edwin Gilbert was also a native of town ; and, during the Civil War served his country as Captain of Company F., Forty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. He died, Jan- uary 2, 1894, as a member of St. John's U. E. Church to which the family belonged.
Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert, Mrs. Ellen Caroline Gilbert of whom the following survive: David W., of Cata- sauqua ; Alice C., wife of Sylvester Minnich of Allentown, Pa .; Edwin D., of Philadelphia, Pa .; Euphemia, widow of Wm. Ritter of Catasauqua; Ellen C., who lives with her brother David.
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CHAPTER XII .- REMINISCENCES-
Conditions have changed since the balmy days of long ago. In 1853, while David Thomas was Burgess, an ordinance to this effect was deemed necessary. "No person shall ereet any hog pen on that part of any lot within the Borough adjoining any street or alley thereof without enclosing and separating the same from the street, by a close fence of boards, at least seven feet high." Hogs, as of the suilline genus, were banished altogether by Council, June 13, 1893, while hogs as genus porci are still admitted.
In 1853 it was also declared that the sale of cakes and beer, strong drinks, cordials or cider, on any "public day" in any of the public streets of the Bor- ough. was a nuisance and punishable by fine.
The Ordinance from which we are quoting also sets forth that, " If any per- son or persons shall travel on horseback or in a vehicle faster than at the rate of six miles an hour through any of the streets, lanes or alleys of this Borough. every person or persons so offending shall forfeit and pay one dollar fine."
Town Council passed an Ordinance under Burgess John W. Hopkins, August 6, 1888. declaring that there "shall be a Public Street Market on the south side of Bridge Street, from Front to Second Streets, between the hours of four and eight o'clock A. M., every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of each and every week during the months" of April to October, inclusive. The Chief of Police was constituted Market Master, and was directed to collect ten cents per day from every "wagon, hand-cart or vehicle" from which produce was sold, and five cents per day from a person who brought produce in a basket which he carried. Children were exempted from making payments. It was unlawful to buy or sell any produce except meat, milk, ice, and bread in any part of the town during market hours on market days, except at the established markets.
Crane Iron Works, Dec. 11th, 1839.
Mr. David Bowen, Aberdare, South Wales, England.
My Dear Friend :- I have taken my pen in hand to write you a few lines
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from this wide western hemisphere. I am in perfect health and good spirits and all my family are the same who join me in hoping this brief letter will find you and your family also enjoying good health and happiness. I suffered much on the voyage and after I came here from sickness, which you no doubt have heard ; but my health and strength have now recovered amazingly, and I am now flattered by those who knew me before that I look better than I did some years ago.
We have been treated here with much kindness. My employers have done everything in their power for my comfort ; they have built me a very good house. with garden and every convenience that one could wish, and I have reason to be- lieve they are satisfied with me. I have under my care about 100 men with proper foremen to look after every department; I give the orders and pay them.
We live in a very fertile country where every sort of grain, vegetable and fruit is very abundantly grown. The climate is very healthy ; and the weather has been hitherto very good. The people are hospitable and kind, chiefly from German origin. There is much of that language spoken here, which I am learn- ing very fast. The children can talk it better than I can.
Places of worship and schools are numerous. Many denominations are sup- ported by voluntary contributions; the schools by a tax, every State appropriat- ing so many thousand dollars for the use of schools. There is one built in my neighborhood where every one can edneate his children for ahnost nothing, to any branch of science or literature.
The government is Democratie, and chiefly in the hands of the most mimer- able part of the community, which in my opinion is the worst part of their policy, and the most likely to injure the permanent progress of America. Your radicals, with riotous chartists. I think would have enough of universal suffrage only for them to witness the abuse of that suffrage as applied here. I have seen with regret the riotous affair of the chartists at Newport, and I am afraid from the appearance of the English newspapers that you are going to have more of it.
The population of this district is not very thin. It is peopled as thickly as ('armarthenshire. The towns are six to ten miles from one another and some of them have from 3,000 to 12,000 people. Philadelphia is 54 miles and New York 93 miles, to either of which places we can go from here in one day. Traveling here is very expeditions, as there are canals and railroads in every direction. The town nearest to us is Allentown which is three miles from our works.
The natural resources of this country are numerous. All sorts of minerals are very abundant ; provisions are very cheap, in fact, everything for the use of man is very moderate except woolen cloths, which are about double of those bought in England. Calico and cotton prints are as cheap here as you can get them there, and cotton goods of every sort are very cheap.
I do not think the cattle in this country are as good as in the old country ; but horses are equally as good, if not better generally. Pigs are very cheap and abundant. Pork is very cheap, selling in the market at 9 shillings 1 pence per ewt. and the best bacon fed upon Indian corn (which is very plentiful here) for 12 shillings 6 pence per cwt. of your currency ; best flour is $5.50 per barrel or 550 half pence of your currency, weighing 196 pounds. I had a barrel last week which makes bread pretty nearly as white as this sheet of paper I am writing upon ; good black tea 1 shilling 6 pence to 7 shillings 6 pence per pound ; coffee, best, 15 shillings, 1% pence, but very good for 4 shillings 1/2 pence per pound : loaf sugar is 7 pence, if good season, 61/2 pence ; burnt sugar for 312 pence to 5
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pence per pound of your currency ; and indeed everything in that way is very cheap.
The people here only eat three meals a day; breakfast at 6 in the morning, dinner at 12, and supper or tea at 6 in the evening. They have plenty of meat on the table for each meal whatever house you go into. All classes cat very much alike and about the same times.
Poverty is rarely known here except among the intemperate or idle. Old people, widows and orphans are very well taken care of. The law of the land is very lenient to the actual poor, but very much otherwise to impostors. I have ouly seen three people begging, two of them Irish and one a German.
Since the time I left, is there any fresh duty? They do not know what duty is here, only on goods imported. The farmers in this country are usually free-holders. There is not one farmer out of a hundred but what lives on his own land, and they are generally very wealthy. Manufacturers are increasing very fast here; they are short of hands and capital, both increasing very fast. We have had some very bad times this autumn in the money market, but it is improv- ing again very fast.
In about three weeks from this time our furnace will have fire in it. We are going to build another in the spring.
John Thomas is here and he is a good boy, very strong and industrious. He sends his best regards to his mother.
Please address your letter to David Thomas. Crane Iron Works, near Allen- town, Lehigh Co., Pa.
I am, my dear old friend,
Your sincere old friend, DAVID THOMAS.
Some day. long ago, Morgan Emanuel heard that a countryman by the name of David Thomas was running the Crane Works at Catasauqua, and so he determined to come to town in quest of a job. When he walked down Front Street he met Mr. Thomas some where near Lawall's Drug Store and accosted him in Welsh. "Are you Mr. Thomas?" Mr. Thomas replied. "Yes, and who are you ?" "Fam Morgan Emannel and came from the coal regions, in the hope that you would give me a job. " Mr. Thomas said. "I am sorry, my friend. but we do not have much work at present." "Oh, that is all right, I do not need much work. " Upon this rejoinder Mr. Thomas employed him at once.
A few years ago, when steam vapor or hot water heating systems were rap- idly supplanting antiquated methods in use, a contractor in his line as steam fitter called upon a certain clergyman in town to interview him with reference to the introduction of a steam heating plant in his church. The contractor asked. "What do you have in your church ?" The parson said, "Hot air."
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