USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > Biographical annals of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical and genealogical sketches of prominent and representative citizens and of many of the early settlers > Part 31
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Henry E. Miller was born Nov. 10, 1831. His
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
carly educational advantages were of the limited : ous edifices for public use. He was one of the or- : ganizers of the Lititz Bank and for years one of its directors. At present ( 1900) he is a member of the directorate of the Northern National Bank of Lancaster. Politically he is a Republican : he and his family are members of the Moravian Church. character at that time afforded by the common schools, and even of these he was deprived at the age of sixteen years by the failing health of his father, which compelled his supervision of affairs upon the farm. He was barely nineteen when his father died and the farm and personalty connected To Mr. and Mrs. Miller two daughters have been born,-Mary Amanda and Bessie Maud. The elder was born June 28, 1866. and is the wife of 1 Tacob G. Rinwold, the proprietor of the "Lancaster | Hotel." She is the mother of four children, Grace. Henry, Chester and Frank. Bessie Maud, the younger daughter, was born June 12. 1869. She married Frank D. Leinbach, of Robesonia, Berks county, a coal and lumber merchant. They are the parents of one son. Louis. therewith were sold. and he, with his mother, erected another house, which was their home for eleven years. His filial devotion was constant and unshaken and its memory is one of his precious recollections as the fading hues of life's sunset be- gin to illumine his later years. On Dec. 23. 1862, he married Amelia K. Miller, daughter of Tobias and Elizabeth H. ( Kautfinan) Miller, and to her unselfish devotion and unwearving aid he attributes much of his success in life. She was born May 20, Mrs. Henry E. Miller is the granddaughter of John and the daughter of Tobias M. Miller. Her grandfather was for many years proprietor of an inn at Marietta. He was born March 14. 1786, and died in his eighty-eighth year. Her father, Tobias M., was one of a family of seven children born to 1842. In the year succeeding his marriage he en- tered into partnership with his brother-in-law. Hiram K. Miller, in the conduct of a general store at Petersburg. At the end of two years the firm dissolved and Mr. Henry F. Miller removed to Sa- lunga, where he opened a store of his own. He | John and his wife. Susanna. Maria. the ellest. married a Mr. Zellers ; Elizabeth died in childhood : John was a traveling salesman for a Philadelphia shoe house and died at Chicago; Samuel (com- monly known as "Captain") was a retired hotel keeper and died in Marietta in 1807 : Benjamin diedi at Newport, Pa. : Henry passed away at Medway, Ohio.
remained there for three years, engaged in trade and holding the office of postmaster, and at the expira- tion of that period returned to Petersburg, where he lived in retirement until 1871, when he removed to Lititz, and has since made his home there. Shortly 'after coming there, he created a store at the inter- section of Broad and Orange streets, which he stocked and personally conducted until 1882. In : Tobias M. Miller, the youngest child of John, i and the father of Mrs. Henry E. Miller, was born March 8. 1815. He was a merchant tailor of Peters- 1 burg, where he carried on business for twenty years. He died Nov. 27. 1856. His wife. Elizabeth H. I Kauffman, whom he married on May 20, 1836, was born Feb. 16, 1816. near Petersburg. The last years 1 of her life were spent with her daughter. Mrs. Henry E. Miller, at whose home she eniered inte rest Oct. 22. 1866, at the age of four score years. that year he disposed of his business, leasing the realty for four years. Still retaining his residence at Lititz, he opened and operated a store at Ephrata, which he successfully conducted for four years. In 1886 he sold this, and. returning to Lititz, resumed business in his old buildling. the lease of which had expired. After eight years, having concluded to retire from business, he once more disposed of his establishment and since 1804 has not been engaged in any active occupation. For three years he and | To Tobias M. Miller and his wife three children his family lived in' apartments above the store. i were born, Hiram K., Mary Amanda and Amelia which he retained for his own use, but in ISo7 he K. Hiram K. was born Dec. 6. 1837; he was a farmer, merchant and tobacco packer of Peters- burg, and died Feb. HI, 1806. Mary Amanda, born March 16, 1839. married on Dec. 6. 1856. Benjamin Metz, of Clarence Centre, Erie Co., N. Y. Amelią K .. Mrs. Henry E. Miller, was born May 29. 1842: erected a handsome, modern residence on Broad ! 1 street, which is his domicile to-day. About the same time he sold the store property in which he had so long carried on business and which had been for so many years his dwelling place. In addition to con- ducting a general store. Mr. Miller was for two vears largely interested in packing tobacco, and has JOHN F. LEECH, long and favorably iden- tified with the agricultural interests of Bart town- ship, Lancaster county, where he made an enviable reputation for himself as a practical and successful farmer, was born in Sadsbury township. Oct. 4. 1837, and is a son of John G. and Maria ( Rockey ) Leech. The father was born in Lancaster county, in 1707, where the mother also was born, in 1801. They were married in this county in 1820, and located int Sadshury township, where the father followed the butcher business until he purchased the family home in Bart township in 1840. This farm he greatly im- been to a considerable extent engaged in buying and selling horses, being exceedingly fond of a good steed and an extremely good judge of equine ex- cellence. He has, moreover, erected several build- ings of his own, thereby gaining an experience which admirably qualified him for the supervision of the public buildings, a task which he has been frequently called upon to perform ; for nine years he served upon the school board and for six years was a member of the municipal council, and in these capacities had charge of the construction of numer-
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
proved, building him a stone house and a fine barn, : ily: Susan, Malinda. Mary, Sarah and ficorge. Mr. and there he remained until his death in 1869. His widow made her home with her son, john F., until her death in 1890. Leech married for his second wife Miss Emily Pow- ers, of this county, and returned to Ohio. where he still lives. Of the four children born to this union, Maggie is the only one living.
John G. Leech was the son of George and Eliza- beth ( Hastings ) Leech, who were both born in Gap. Lancaster county. He was a son of Francis Leech. who came from Ireland before the Revolution, and settled at Gap, where he married Isabella Griffith. who belonged to a wealthy Quaker family of Lan- caster county. They settled at Gap, where he owned a fine farm property. George, their son, and the grandfather of John F., built the hotel property, which is still in use in Gap; there he died, leaving five sons and two daughters. (I) William died a single man. (2) George, born at Gap, married a Miss Caldwell, of Curwensville, Clearfield county, where he lived and died. He was a prominent lumberman. and at one time served as sheriff of the county. He was father of the following children: George, Hi- ram. Hugh, James, Robert. Mary J., Amelia and Susan, all of whom are married and settled in Clear- field county, with the exception of Mary, who mar- ried and moved to the West. (3) Francis married i and moved to Jefferson county, where he died. (4) Thomas married a Miss Rockey, a sister of the
( 10) Johanna Leech, born in Bart township in mother of John F .. and settled on a farm in Sadsbury : 1341, married Charles Wright, of Bart township where they now reside.
township, where he died, leaving a family, all of whom are now dead. 15) Anna Leech and (6) Elizabeth Leech were unmarried, and died at Gap, both at the advanced age of ninety years.
(7) John G. Leech. the father of John F .. left a family of ten children. (1) William was born in 1821, married Mary Homsher, and settled in Phila- delphia, where he was engaged in a contracting and building business for many years. Later in life he moved to Pomeroy, Pa., where he was engaged as a merchant and a general business man until his death in 1890. One of his sons is the agent of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad at Pomeroy. The children of this family were: John S., of Pomeroy : William H., of Philadelphia : Lewis, of Pomeroy; Emma, who died at Pomeroy, a young woman of character and cul- ture.
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(2) Jacob Leech, born in Sadsbury township in 1823, married a Miss Griffith, of Philadelphia, where they lived at the time of her death. His second wife was Miss Margaret Watson, of Chester county. They still reside in Philadelphia, where he is engaged in business. Their children are as follows: Susan. who married Harry Bailey : AAnna, the wife of John Phenegar, of Philadelphia : Belle, the wife of Charles Stacey, residing in Philadelphia; Emily, who mar- ried Harry Kendrick, of Philadelphia : Thomas. mar- ried and living in Philadelphia, where his brother George also lives.
(3) George Leech, born in Sadsbury township in 1824, married a Miss Catherine Phenegar, of Bart township, who moved with him to Ohio during the Civil war, and there died, leaving the following fam-
(4) Anna E. Leech, born in Sadsbury township in 1820, married Albert Rhea. They lived and died in Philadelphia. Their son. Sylvester, still lives in that city.
(5) Mary T. Leech, born in 1830, died in an early and promising young womanhood.
(6) Thomas J. Leech, born in 1832, married Miss Prudence Wilson, of Philadelphia, where he is now living a retired life, after a very successful career as a business man. They had four children ; Jefferson, Frank. Louella and Gertrude.
(7) Catherine Leech, born in 1834, is the wife of Williami Ashby, of Chester. Delaware Co .. Pa .. and is the mother of Emma; Lillie, the wife of Caleb Cantnell: Ella, the wife of Robert Stainton ; and Anna. all of Chester.
(8) Susan Leech, born in 1836. married Joseph Miller, of Russellville, Chester county ; she has since died, leaving one son, Joseph Dewees.
(0) John F.
John F. Leech was reared in Bart town- ship, where he secured his education in the home schools. Until 1850 be remained on the home farm. when he went to Columbus, Ohio, where he engaged in business. In 1860 he came back to the old home in Bart township, and in INot enlisted in the Union Army, as a member of Co. B. 79th P. V. I., at that time under the command of Col. Ham- bright, of Lancaster. The regiment was mustered into service at Camp Curtin, joined the Army of the Tennessee, at that time under Gen. Thomas, and later served under Gen. Sherman in his celebrated March to the Sea. Mr. Leach was engaged in the battle of Perryville and in a number of minor skir- mishes. After Bragg's retreat from Kentucky. the 79th was in active service until it brought up at Nashville, after much heavy fighting all through that campaign. It fought seven days continuously at Murphreesboro, and was in the thickest of the battle at Chattanooga. In the first day's fight at this last battlefield. Mr. Leech was wounded in the groin by a minie ball. On account of this injury he was de- tained for a long time in the military hospital at Nashville. On rejoining his regiment Mr. Leech was again wounded at Bentonville by shell, and his re- covery was regarded as little less than a miracle. Until the close of the war he was under treatment in the military hospital at Goldsboro, North Carolina, when he was sent to Washington in time to partici- pate in the grand review with his regiment. Mr. 1.cech was mustered out in that city.
Mr. Leech returned to the old home, and took
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
charge of the farming operations, caring for his aged parents as long as they lived. Ile was married Dec. 13, 1866, to Miss Rachel Davis, of Paradise town- ship, a daughter of Walter and Rachel ( Ferree) Davis. She was born in Sadsbury township, near Gap, Dec. 1, 1839, and was educated in the Bart schools. Her father, who was born in Ireland, came to this country when a young man, and married Miss Rachel Ferree, the daughter of Phillip and Elizabeth (Slaymaker) Ferree. These families may be traced back to the early days of the country. Walter Davis settled in Paradise township, where he spent the greater part of his life in farming. In his later years he moved to Bart township, where he resided at the time of his death in 1833. His widow lived until June, 1886. Five of their children are still living. . Mrs. Leech is a descendant of one of the first white families to reach Lancaster county. Mrs. Mary Ferree was a widow who came from France with her children in 1704, and is supposed to have been the first white woman that settled in Paradise township. Of the children of the Davis family still living, Eliza- beth is Mrs. Jacob Rife, of Bart township: Sarah Davis married William Hamer of Bart township. and removed to Harrisburg ; Joseph F. Davis is now a resident of Paradise township: Rachel is Mrs. Leech : Susannah Davis is the wife of Daniel Shees- ley, of Harrisburg, and has a family of five children.
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After the marriage of John F. Leech he became the possessor of the old Leech homestead, where he and his wife have lived to the present time. They have a family of six children.
(1) Amy, born in Bart township, in January, 1868, was educated in the local schools, and grad- uated from the Millersville State Normal School. For eleven years she has been a successful teacher in the Lancaster county public schools.
(2) Ella, born in July. 1869, married Frank Trout, of Bart township. They now live in West Virginia, where he is engaged in business as a mer- chant. They have two children, Marian and Will- iam Ferree.
(3) William Ferree, born in April, 1872, became a machinist, and is now employed in the oil fields of California. (4) Jacob H. Leech died when nine- teen years of age. He was born in 1874.
(5) Anna M., born in 1876, was educated in the home schools, and later was a student in the Phila- delphia Shorthand University where she became adept in shorthand and type-writing. She has spent sometime as shorthand writer in different offices of Philadelphia.
(6) John M., born in 1879, was reared at home, and became a clerk in the Nickel Mines store for some time. Later he was a shipping clerk in Lan- caster, and is now carrying on a store of his own at Buyerstown. He is unmarried.
Mr. and Mrs. Leech are members of the Method- ist Church of Georgetown. In politics he has al- ways been a Republican, and for seventeen years has been school director in Bart township. He was ap-
pointed by the Government to look after the inter- ests of indigent soldiers in this district. Mr. Leech is regarded as a man of sterling worth and genuine character, and enjoys a host of friends.
JOHN A. BURGER has for many years been known as one of the most prominent contracting builders, not only in Lancaster and vicinity, but throughout the State. Although not actively en- gaged in business now, as in previous years, he is still interested in building as the head of the firm of J. A. Burger & son.
Mr. Burger is a native of Allendorf, Prussia, born Dec. 20, 1828, His father, Philip Adam Burger, whose birth occurred in the same province. was a farmer, and followed that occupation till called to his reward. He married Elizabeth Seel- bach, who was born in the same locality, and to their union came five children. John A. Burger, the only member of the family now living, was reared in his native land, where he received a good educa- tion. At the age of thirteen and a half years he was apprenticed to learn the carpenter's trade, at which he served two and a half years, and later worked as a journeyman carpenter. He contrived to escape the military draft. For a year he was em- ployed in Dusseldorf, on the Rhine, and in the spring of 1849 he embarked on a sailing vessel, leaving Bremen Feb. 24th, and landing in New York City on the Ist of May. For about three weeks he worked in the metropolis, and then came to Lan- caster county. Pa., and engaged to work with B. B. Martin, in Millersville. In 1852 he became a con- tractor and builder, and for eighteen years was engaged in erecting barns and residences for the settlers of Manor township. He put up the largest barn in the county, a two-story building, 90x120 feet in size, on the farm belonging to Christian B. Herr. In 1869 Mr. Burger came to settle permanent- ly in the city of Lancaster, and soon became recog- nized as the most prominent builder and contractor in the city. Among other buildings which he has erected in Lancaster are two of the largest school- houses, and six other school buildings; and four market houses, situated in the castern, western, southern and central parts of the town, respective- lv. Two churches, and many ware-houses, store and office buildings, show marks of his handiwork. He erected the Trust Company's building and the People's Bank, both of which are as fine struc- tures of their kind as are to be found in the State : and he also built a number of the residences of the leading citizens, among them those of the late John Keller, John D). Skiles, B. B. Martin, B. F. Fshleman, William D. Sprecher, D. P. Locher and George D. Sprecher. He also built the "Stevens House." Between the fall of 1875 and the follow- ing year Mr. Burger erected fifteen buildings for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, besides which he put up the large Opera House on Broad street, Affenbach's garden and the dwelling of
John Delam Burger
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
Ar. Lockard, superintendent of the Pennsylvania railroad. During that summer he had in his em- ploy about five hundred men, and the superintend- ence of so many buildings in course of construc- tion at the same time told severely on his health. He has since taken life more moderately, and has not engaged in works of such magnitude and im- portance. He built the place known as Burger's Block, in which he still owns five buildings, and also other property in different parts of the city. In 1889 Mr. Burger's son, Adam N., became a part- ner in the business. They have built an industrial school in Port Deposit; the Thome Institute; the Soldiers' Orphans' School at Scotland, Franklin Co., Pa .; the new Chester County Insane Asylum : and, during 1901, erected large buildings in Har- risburg and Coatesville.
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In 1852 Mr. Burger was married, in Millersville, ; to Miss Elizabeth Neff. who was born in Baden, ! Germany, daughter of Christof Neff, who died in , Lancaster. Mr. and Mrs. Burger had five children, of whom two are still living: Adam N. and Fran- 1 ces E. The former was educated in the State Nor- mal School at Millersville, and at Franklin and Mar- shall College, where he was a student for two years. His marriage to Miss Anna C. Miller has been blessed by the birth of two sons, Robert and Charies. Frances E. was married Jan. 2. 1900, to Dr. Milton Ursinus Gerhard, of Lancaster. Mlrs. Burger passed to her reward June 1, 1893.
In religious connection Mr. Burger is an active member of the First Reformed Church. Politically he is a Republican. He has been a director in the Lancaster Home Mutual Fire Insurance Co. for a number of years.
MILTON URSINUS GERHARD, M. D., who married Frances E., only daughter of John A. Burger, was born in Bucks county. Pa., where his father, the late Rev. W. T. Gerhard, was then stationed. He was educated in the public schools of Lancaster and Franklin and Marshall College, from which he was graduated in 1871. After teaching four years (two of them in Lancaster ) he read medicine with the late Dr. John L. Atlee. Sr., he being that distinguished surgeon's last student. He was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1877. After act- ing as assistant in a private sanitarium at Canandai- gua, N. Y., for three years, Dr. Gerhard became first assistant in the State Insane Asylum, at Harris- burg, remaining there ten years and then removing to Lancaster, where he permanently located in Jan- uary, 1900. He makes a specialty of the treatment of nervous diseases and inebriety, in which he has had much experience, and in the relief of which he has been far more than ordinarily successful.
Dr. Gerhard and his wife make their home with Mr. Burger, at No. 43 South Prince street. Mrs. Gerhard has for some years taken her mother's place as the head of the home, which, as the wife of Dr. Gerhard, she still gladdens.
JOHN MECK. The pioneer of the Meck fam- ily, in Lancaster county, Pa., was Nicholas Meck. who left his home in the village of Beyrland, Ger- many, far back in 1755 and sought a new home among the fertile lands of the State of Pennsylvania, locating in Lancaster county, where he found the Lefever family already settled. Of them he pur- chased 103 acres of meadow and timber land and this property has been cultivated and improved for five succeeding generations and kept jealously in i the hands of the family.
Nicholas Meck was the great-grandfather of the present representatives of the name, and followed farming through a long life. His son, Philip Meck. came into possession of the homestead, and added to the family property, at the time of his decease own- ing three of the best farms in the county, two of them situated in West Lampeter, and one near Pe- tersburg. His standing was high in the Lutheran Church, and he had the respect of his fellow-citi- zens. He married Catherine Ament, and they reared a family of four children: John: Jacob, a farmer. who died at the age of fifty; George, the father of the present bearer of the name, a farmer, who lived to be eighty-eight years old: and Catherine, who married Jacob Lefever, of West Lampeter, and lived to be almost eighty years.
Grandfather Philip Meck was a soldier of the Continental army, during the Revolutionary war and suffered all the deprivations and trials incident to those stormy times, bearing himself gallantly ali through the struggle. His son George, was born and reared in West Lampeter, and lived an honest, industrious life, the last twenty years of it in retire- ment. In his younger days he cut a great deal of wood and engaged in the manufacture and sale of wooden pipes for the conduct of water, these being much used in various ways on farms. His farming operations brought him ample returns, and at his death he was regarded as one of the township's most substantial men. A consistent member of the Lutheran Church for many years, he became at- tracted late in life to the pious and simple observ- ances of the Mennonite Church.
George Mæck married Martha Nuding, born in Germany, who came to this country with her father. John Nuding. and lived to the age of seventy-five years, becoming the good and devoted mother of nine children: Catherine, deceased, who married (first) Amos K. Raub, and (second) Frederick Neff; Mary, now a widow, who married John Furry, and moved to Ohio; Martha, married to Jo- siah Swinehardt, of Wayne county, Ohio; George, deceased; Philip, a resident of Lampeter ; John, a resident of West Lampeter township; David, a far- mer, who died at the age of sixty-one; Susan. the widow of Samuel Wycker, a resident of Bart township, and Lydia, the widow of Jacob Burk- holder, of West Lampeter.
John Meck was born on the old homestead, Aug.
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9, 1831. and grew up a farmer boy. receiving married Miss Emma Minnich, and became the his education in the public schools of his district. ; father of three children, John M., Bessie and Emma. At the age of twenty-two he decided to engage in He died in 1801. farming operations for himself ; and in 1800 he mar- ried Maria Houser, a daughter of Jacob and Eliza-
beth (Brackbill) Houser, and then located on the i tian Wise. She died in 1879, and in 1884, Mr. MER-
farm which they so long occupied, this being pleas- antly situated in West Lampeter township, four miles south-east of Lancaster City, and consisting of sixty-nine acres, where he successfully followed farming until the time of his death. Two sets of buildings are upon this place, one of these. the more modern, having been erected in 1885, by Mr. Meck.
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Three children were born to John Meck and his , place Aug. 28, 1001. He was a member of the Ger- worthy wife: George H., who is a farmer on his . man Baptist Church, as is also his widow.
father's place, is married to Amanda Doner, and has four children, Ralph, Stella, Earl, and Paul: Jacob ' County Bank, and in the Farmers' National Bank A., a farmer of East Lampeter, who married Mary Roher, and has three children, Edna, Ada and i Roher ; and Lydia E., living with her mother. of Lancaster, as well as in the Lancaster Trust Com- pany, the Lancaster Electric Light Company, the Lititz National Bank, and the Ephrata & Lancaster Turnpike Company. He never failed to invest his moans in any enterprise that gave promise to in- crease the benefits and prosperity of his township and county. In politics he was a Republican from : the time the party was founded.
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