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 50
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David M. Eyer was but fourteen years of age when brought to Lancaster county, and liere, for the first three years he worked out as a farm hand. He then joined his father and worked on the home farm in East Donegal township until twenty-four years old, then rented a farm from Henry Musser. A year later he purchased a farm of 105 acres : hc has since purchased two additional farms, and now owns two in East Donegal and one in Conov town- ship, but he still resides on his original purchase which he devotes to general farming.
Mr. Ever has been twice married. His first bride, whom he wedded in East Donegal township in 1855, was Miss Mary Musser, who was born in the township, a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Geish) Musser, and to this marriage were born eight children, viz. : Ellen, who died unmarried at the age of thirty years; John, who died when thirty-nine and was also unmarried: Elizabeth, who became the wife of Simon C. Heisey, and died when twenty-eight, the mother of one son, Horace : Fanny. who also became the wife of Simon C. Heisey. and died without issue : Henry M., who died, aged twen- ty-nine years: Alice, who married Amos Shank, now residing on her father's farm, and has three chil- dren : Mary, who died when sixteen years old; and Anna, who died when eighteen ; Mrs. Ever died June 4. 1876. The second marriage of Mr. Ever took place May 30. 1878, in East Donegal township, to Miss Catherine S. Lenhart, but to this marriage no children have been born.
Mrs. Catherine S. (Lenhart) Ever was born in East Hempfield township Oct. 22, 1834. a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Sheets) Lenhart, of White Oak, Lancaster county. George Lenhart was a carpenter and builder in his early manhood, but later in life followed agricultural pursuits. He was called away March 9, 1888. at ninety-one years of age, and his wife died on the 18th of the same month, in the same year, when aged eighty-two. both dying in the faith of the River Brethren Church. They were the parents of nine children, viz. : Cyrus. who died in Kansas: Anna, wife of Samuel Hoff- man, retired farmer of East Donegal township; Ja- cob, deceased : Catherine S., now Mrs. Ever : Eliza- beth, married to Jacob Herr. a farmer: Martha, who died young: Sophia. an invalid; Maria, wife of Henry Ever, retired and living in Kansas; and Barbara. married to Michael Smith, of East Done- gal township. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Catherine S. Ever were George and Barbara (Ho !- linger) Lenhart, of Lancaster county, and the ma- ternal grandparents were Frederick and Catherine Sheets, also of this county.
David M. Ever was elected a director in the First National Bank of Marietta in 1880, and in
1899 was elected its president. He has been treas- vrer of the East Donegal Cemetery Co. from its or- ganization in 1873, and for twelve years was direc- tor of the Marietta & Maytown Turnpike Co. and its president for five years. He is emphatically a self-made man in the business sense of that term. has always led a moral and upright course, has been industrious and thrifty, and is now one of the most substantial citizens of East Donegal township. Re- ligiously, he is a member of the River Brethren Church.
HON. JACOB L. STEINMETZ, member of the Lancaster Bar, ex-member of the Legislature, finan- Lier and builder, and owner of many valuable prop- erties, has for many years been one of the most conspicuous figures in Lancaster county.
Air. Steinmetz is descended from that sturdy and intelligent German stock that had so much to do with the early settlement of Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Charles Steinmetz, was born in Ger- many, and, coming to this country, settled near Ephrata, of which he was one of the founders, and there he entered into rest at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife, whose maiden name was Beaver. lived to be ninety-three years of age. Of their eight children. two died at the age of ninety-two years, two at eighty-eight years, and another died at eighty-seven years.
Jacob Steinmetz, father of Hon. Jacob L .. was born near Ephrata, this county. On reaching man- hood, he purchased valuable property at South Annville, Lebanon county, where he engaged ex- tensively in farming, passing to his reward when in the princ of manhood, in 1851. His wife was Catherine Gross, daughter of John Gross, of Ephrata, who was an extensive landowner, as well as largely engaged at merchandising. He served as postmaster, was one of the organizers of the Lan- caster County National Bank, was one of the pro- moters and leading stockholders in the Horseshoe Turnpike Co., and, in brief, was one of the most prominent men of his section. The wife of John Gross was a daughter of Col. John Wright, a colonel in the Revolutionary war, this making Hon. Jacob L. Steinmetz (the grandson) a true son of this American Revolution.
Hon. Jacob L. Steinmetz was born at South Annville. Lebanon Co., Pa .. Aug. 22, 1845. His early education was received in the public schools. but later he attended the Annville Academy and! Dickinson Seminary, at Williamsport, graduating from the latter institution with the degree of Bach- elor of Arts. Next we find him in the University of Michigan, from the literary department of which he was graduated with the degree of Master of Arts, and from the law department with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. At the University he was a member, and at one time president. of the Webster Literary Society, and it was there that his forensic powers, which later in life made him the powerful
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J.L. Steinmetz
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Hawthor Steinmetz
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
advocate, first attracted attention. In 1870 Mr. father, James Clemsen Hawthorn, was born June 14, 1802, and her mother, Mary Louisa Eberman, on Sept. 14, of the same year-1812. James C. Hawthorn, who died Jan. 20, 1875, was a brilliant and most lovable man, well remembered by some of the older people of the community. In early man- hood, he was principal of the Model School at Millersville, and was destined for the ministry. hav- iny already been licensed to preach. His first ser- ¡ mon was preached in the United .Presbyterian Church at Old Octoraro, but the effort-a most notable one-resulted in the bursting of a blood- vessel, and this changed his whole career. He be- came a planter, removing to Winchester, Frederick Co., Vo., where Mary Virginia Hawthorn, now Mirs. Steinmetz, was born. While she was an infant in arms her parents fled because of the war of the Re- bellion, coming North, where they ever after resided. They crossed the Potomac in a flat boat, bathing the steinmetz began the practice of law in Lancaster, and from that time on his career as a member of the Lancaster Bar was a continuous triumph. Those who were constantly in attendance at the sessions vi all the courts of Lancaster, during all the years in which Mir. Steinmetz won his carly battles, cer- tainly found no man at the Bar more earnest, more searching or more successful during all those years. As counsel in leaf tobacco cases, involving immense sums of money, Mr. Steinmetz was so successful that his name became a "tower of strength" not only through Pennsylvania, but in other States. Like his father, Mr. Steinmetz was a stanch Democrat, and in 1876 he was a dele- gate to the National Convention at St. Louis that nominated Tilden for the Presidency; the same year he ( Mr. Steinmetz) was elected to the Penn- sylvania Legislature from the city district of Lan- caster, overcoming a large Republican majority. : face of the future Mrs. Steinmetz in the waters of and he performed the duties of his office with rare ; that historic stream. They came to Lancaster, where fidelity and intelligence. After his term in the Legislature he withdrew from active participation in politics, devoting himself to the practice of his profession and to the upbuilding of the city which he had chosen for his permanent home. In Jan- uary, 1890, he was elected president of the People's National Bank of Lancaster, and in January, 1892, he was instrumental in the organization of the People's Trust, Savings & Deposit Company, of which he was made the head, as well as the head of the Citizens Electric Light, Heat & Power Co., and of the Clay & Hinkletown Turnpike Co. In a word, there was scarcely a movement looking to the material and financial upbuilding of Lancaster, for many, many years, with which Mr. Steinmetz was not identified. The Steinmetz building, at the corner of North Queen and Grant streets (running back half a block to Christian street, and many stories in height) is a monument to the enterprise which Mr. Steinmetz has shown in the line of build- ing operations, while "Hotel Cocalico," which he built in the beautiful borough of Ephrata, will be ; was a gentleman of the "old school," courtly and an enduring monument to the liberality, enterprise ! and good taste of its builder. for it is justly rated as one of the finest resorts in the State.
On Feb. 5, 1890, Mr. Steinmetz married Miss Mary Virginia Hawthorn, daughter of the late James Clemsen Hawthorn, and from this union one child was born-Hawthorn Steinmetz, now a bright lad of twelve years, attending "Rumsey Hall." at Seneca Falls, N. Y., where he is a member of the Junior Sons of the Revolution, an organization in which he is entitled to membersliin on both sides, for father and mother are descended from Revolu- tionary ancestry.
Mrs. Steinmetz, who is not only a "Daughter of the Revolution," but a "Colonial Dame" (of whom there are comparatively few in this section). has an ancestry of which she may well feel proud-an ancestry, indeed, which few people possess. Her
their daughter. Virginia (uamed after her native State), spent her girlhood days and received her education. The grandfather of Mrs. Steinmetz on her mother's side was John Eberman, who was born Oct. 28, 1776, and died Nov. 25, 1846, after having | served for twenty-five years as cashier of the Far- ! mers' Bank of Lancaster. Sarah Elizabeth Eber- man, wife of John Eberman, was born jan. 30, i 1780, and died May Io, 1865. She was a daughter ! of Dr. Samuel Fahnestock, one of Lancaster's most noted medical doctors, and sister of the late Dr. William Baker Fahnestock, also a noted physi- cian of Lancaster, whose son, Henry R. Fahnestock, now lives retired on East King street, after having held clerkships in the Lancaster postoffice under Presidents Pierce and Buchanan, and been connect- ed with the Steinman hardware store for thirty- seven years. Dr. Samuel Fahnestock married Barbara Becker (afterward Anglicized to Baker), Rev. Henry Muhlenberg performing the ceremony. Samuel Hawthorn, grandfather of Mrs. Steinmetz, dignified, and wore a queue to the day of his death. He was an extensive landowner, and among his ¡ possessions was "Hawthorn Mill," which was for many years a landmark near the Old Octoraro . Church, in which Samuel Hawthorn was an elder, for he was of Scotch-Irish origin and one of the strictest of Presbyterians.
The ancestry of Mrs. Steinmetz goes back much farther than this. She is descended from the Clemsens, who were of the nobility. and who were among the earliest Swedish settlers on the Delaware. Their settlement on the banks of the Delaware dates back to 1638. Her line is through James Clemsen, James (2) and James (3). The latter was a member of the Pennsylvania Legisla- ture, where he served on important committees, as- sisted in settling the Independence of the Colonies, was a justice of the peace before the Revolution,
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
and was elected a delegate to the general county convention in 1774, to take action against British tyranny, voting to resist it. He was a justice of the peace, and judge of the common pleas in and for the county of Lancaster, representing Sadsbury and Salisbury as early as 1790. James Clemsen (1) lived and died in Philadelphia. He took up tracts of land from the Penn grant in 1716, locating these tracts in the Pequea Valley. He gave to his son, James Clemsen (2), 400 acres of land near White Horse, Salisbury township; to his son John he gave another tract of 400 acres, which was afterward known as Buckley's Forge ; and to a third son, Thomas, he gave the tract of land now known as Gap Stacion. James Clemsen ( 1) was a son of Jacob Clemsen, who was one of the Swedes who settled on the Delaware in 1656. His son, James, married Jeane Coates, who came from England with her father, Thomas Coates, in 1682. Tradition tells us that they were related to William Penn, and this was their motto: "We are among those who believe that any who care not about their early origin, care little as to anything higher." [See
Rupp's and Harris's histories, as well as the archives of Pennsylvania. ] James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, as well as a signer of the Constitution of 1779, was the brother of the . great-grandmother of Mrs. Steinmetz : while another of her ancestors, Gen. Heard, whose broad acres were located two miles north of Christiana, was a general in the war of 1812. In fact it is impossible in a sketch intended to have a place with other genealogical sketches in one book, however large that book might be, to give in complete detail all the branches belonging to such a family tree as that of Mrs. Steinmetz. It would involve not only those already mentioned, but the Andrews, McCaulley, Doran and Bevers families-all substantial people. the McCaulleys referred to being John and James : the contested will of the latter-in which he be- queathed $50,000 to the Extension fund of the Presbyterian Church-was the most noted will case ever tried in Lancaster county.
Mr. and Mrs. Steinmetz are now living in their beautiful "Hotel Cocalico," at Ephrata. having closed, for the present. their elegant home on North Duke street, Lancaster, one of the finest in the city. Mr. Steinmetz visited Europe in 1889. and again in 1894. and Mrs. Steinmetz has paid four visits to the continent. She is not only a member of the Daughters of the Revolution and of the Colonial Dames, but is active and prominent in the Iris Club, Lancaster's leading social and literary club for women. Both parents are justly proud of their only child, Hawthorn, whose grandest. most en- during inheritance will be his historic and honored ancestry.
DAVID B. HUBER, of Manheim township. who is living retired at Fruitville, is one of the old and enterprising citizens of Lancaster county. Mr.
Huber was born Dec. 17. 1837, on the family home- stead in Leacock township, and when twelve years of age came to Manheim township with his parents. where he has made his home. His education was received in the common schools, and by observation and reflection he has become a man of much intelli- gence, reading widely and thinking profoundly and deeplv.
Mr. Huber remained with his parents until 1850. when he was married and began farming on a part of the family homestead. A few years later he bought an adjoining place of sixty-eight acres, on which he lived for thirty-six years before his re- tirement from active labors. During this long and industrious career Mr. Huber has become prosper- ous and owns six farms, with substantial improve- ments. In 1900 he put up a beautiful modern resi- dence in which he expects to pass his remaining years. Mr. Huber is a director in the Fruitville. and the Manheim & Penn Turnpike companies. In the Western Market House also he is a director. and he is always ready to take an active interest in anything that looks to the public good.
Mlr. Huber was married in September. 1859, to Miss Fannie, a daughter of the Rev. Christian Bom- berger, of Warwick township. She died July 17, 1862, leaving one child, Levi B., now a farmer in Landis Valley, who married Elizabeth Stauffer, by whom he has had nine children: Cora. Anna, Liz- zie, Harry. David, Benjamin, Christian, Enos and John. David B. Huber married for his second wife. Miss Caroline, a daughter of Jacob and Hetty (Reist) Dohner, the wedding occurring Jan. 31, 1865. She was born in Penn township Nov. 27. 1840. This union has been blessed with the follow- ing children : Annie, who married Henry McNally. a farmer and dairyman of Hamilton, Ont., and has four children, Harry D., Carrie M., Herbert N. and Edward S .: Jacob, who died at twenty years of age : Fannie, who died in infancy : David D .. a farmer in Manheim township, on the family home- stead, who married Fannie Rohrer, of East Hemp- field township : John D., who died when about five vears old : Lizzie, deceased at the age of three years : and Mary, wife of Milton G. Brubaker, residing at Fruitville.
Mr. and Mrs. Huber, Levi B. and Mrs. Mary Brubaker are members of the Mennonite Church. and are among the most worthy and respected citi- zens of the community. For fifteen years he has been a member of the school board in Manheim township. Mr. Huber has been an extensive trav. eler, and as he is a close observer he has profited much by his journeying abroad. He is a modci farmer, and received a medal and diploma for an exhibition of oats made at the World's Columbian Exposition. When the Sabbath School was started at Petersburg by the Mennonite Church. Mr. Hu :- ber was made the first superintendent, and he has had the pleasure of seeing many of the younger pco- ple pass from the Sunday School into the Church.
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
MICHAEL G. SHINDLE (originally spelled Schindle), dealer in tobacco and coal. and also en- saged in the fire insurance business in Mountville. Lancaster county, was born Jan. 11, 1837, in West Hempfield, this county, a mile and a half northeast of his present place of business. His parents, Jo- seph and Sarah ( Gross) Shiadle, were natives vi Manor and East Hempfield townships, respectively. Joseph Shindle was a farmer, and he died in Manor township Sept. 25, 1860, at the age of forty-nie years and six months. His wife preceded him to the grave April 16, 1847, at the age of forty-two years, both dying in the faith of the Lutheran Church. Their remains were interred at Mount- ville. They had born to them three children. nante- Iv: Michael G., whose name opens this paragraph : Mary A., who died in 1849: and Harriet, who died in 1888. the wife of Ephraim Hershey, of Manor township, and the mother of two children.
We have no definite information concerning the early members of the Shindle family in this country. In 1751 came John Peter Schindle, who located in Lebanon county, Pa. In 1755 John Michael Schindle came hither from Germany, settling in Lancaster county. Pa. In 1771 came two brothers, John Conrad and Joseph George. who also settled in Lancaster county. Michael G. Shindle is sup- posed to have been a descendant of John Michael. who was born July 31, 1729, in Euerlebach, Erbach. in what is now Hessen-Darmstadt. Germany, son of John Conrad and Susannah ( Trixler) Schindie. John Michael. it is supposed, was the great-grandia- ther of Michael G., the subject of this sketch; his grandfather was named Michael. Our subject's ma- ternal grandparents were George and Elizabeth Gross, farming people of East Hempfield township.
Michael G. Shindle remained on the home farm until 1860, when he came to Mountville, and settled there, and built his present home in 1864. He at once opened a coal yard, and had his farming done by hired help. He was soon appointed freight and ticket agent for the Pennsylvania Railway Co., and acted in that capacity twenty-two years (1866 to 1888). Nir. Shindle has never abandoned the coal trade since coming to Mountville, and in 1869 began buying, packing and selling tobacco.
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ter of Charles and Eliza Klugh, of West Hempfield township. Mrs. Shindle was first married to Amos S. Musser, who was a farmer all his life and died in 1887, leaving her with four children: Harvey K., who is a baker in Lancaster: Miami, wife of George E. Griffin, in the real estate and insurance bu iness in Philadelphia : Stanton, a machinist, who is unmarried : and Mabel. residing with Mr. Shindle.
Michael G. Shindle was one of the incorporators of the Mountville Manufacturing Co., and was the general manager and secretary of that concern from the start. in 1888, until he resigned the office in 1893. He was also one of the incorporators of the Mount- ville National Bank, of which he was a director for six years, and then resigned. In October, toco. he was made secretary of the Penn Township Mutua! Fire Insurance Association, of which he has been for many years a member, and in 1896 was elected a di- rector. In politics he is a Republican, but has steadily refused to accept public office, although he is in every respect one of the most public-spirited citizens of Lancaster county.
JACOB S. HERSHEY, one of the business cit- izens of Junction, Penn township, is an estimable member of one of the prominent old families of Lan- caster county.
Martin Hershey, his grandfather, lived and died in Dauphin county, Pa .. where he carried on the business of distilling in connection with his farming. He was the father of these children : Isaac, a fariner in Dauphin county, who became a politician and served as register of deeds : Henry, a farmer of Dau- phin county : Joseph, who moved to Ohio and farmed there: Jacob, a farmer of Dauphin county; John, also a farmer of the same county ; and Martin, the father of Jacob S., of this sketch, who was born in ISOI.
In his early business life, Martin Hershey, the father of Jacob S., was a distiller, later became a farmer and about 1820 or 1830, he removed to Lan- caster county and settled near the place where Jacob S., subject of this sketch, now resides. Here he erected a distillery and managed it in connection with his farming operations. His death occurred in 1881. In politics, Martin Hershey was a Republi- can, and he held the office of school director for some years. The marriage of Martin Hershey was to Elizabeth Snavely, and they were the parents of four children, two of whom died in infancy. Of the others, Reuben went to Minnesota and died there. leaving Jacob S., the only surviving member of the family. Both parents were worthy members of the Old Mennonite Church.
Michael G. Shindle has been twice married. In 1857, in Hempfield township. he wedded Barbara Stauffer, who was born in West Hempfield town- ship, daughter of Henry Stauffer, and to this union were born three children, namely: Florence, wife of Adam B. Fisher, freight and ticket agent for the Pennsylvania Railway Co., at Mountville; Sadie, wife of Dr. David R. Summy, of Columbus, Ohio : and Miss Silvene, residing with her sister Sadie. Jacob S. Hershey was born in Fenn township. March 23. 1836, and remained in the family home, after finishing his education, until he was twenty- four years of age. Upon a tract of land in Penn township. he began his own agricultural career. succeeding in a marked degree for five years, giving Mrs. Barbara (Stauffer) Shindle was called away in ISO1, at the age of fifty-one years, and her re- mains were interred in the Mountville cemetery. In 1893, in Lancaster City, Michael G. Shindle took for his second helpmate, Mrs. Barbara ( Klugh) Musser, a widow, and a native of Mountville, daugh- . that line up in order to embark in the mercantile
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BIOGRAPHICAL ANNALS OF LANCASTER COUNTY
business in the town of Junction. This business grew in volume through nineteen years, when Mir. Hershey went into the coal and leaf tobacco busi- ness, and has also been successful in that line. The same principles which conduced to make him a suc- cessful merchant through so many years, are still followed in his present business, and he has the con- fidence and good will of his whole community. In 1867 he was appointed postmaster, and he filled the duties of the position as long as he continued in the mercantile line.
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Mr. Hershey was married to Miss Anna Cassel, and to this union were born two children, Louisa C., who died at the age of twenty-one years : and Lizzie C., the wife of Martin E. Gross, a farmer of Penn | township. Mr. Hershey is one of the progressive, energetic and capable business men of Lancaster county, widely known and most highly respected.
MANSELL REED, a retired farmer residing in South Hermitage, Salisbury township, Lancaster county, although born on Southern soil and of Quak- er parentage, was one of the defenders of his coun- try's flag.
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Mansell Reed was born in Cecil county, Md .. Sept. 8, 1838, a son of William and Margaret ( Lit- tle) Reed, of the State of Delaware, where the moth- er died in 18445. when thirty-five years old. the father dying in Chester county, Pa .. in :861, at sixty years of age, both in the faith of the Society of Friends. ! They were the parents of three children, viz : Man- sell : Mary, deceased wife of Rev. William P. White, a Presbyterian clergyman, to whom she has borne four children : and Elizabeth, who died at the age of fifteen years. The parents of William Reed were Ezekiel and Mary ( Mansfield) Reed. of Delaware, the former of whom was a farmer and died in West Chester, Pa. The parents of Margaret (Little) Reed were Thomas and Elizabethi Little, of Okeas- sen, Del .. also farming people.
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