USA > Pennsylvania > Lebanon County > Biographical annals of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania : containing biographical sketches of prominent men and representative citizens and of the early settled families > Part 43
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were enabled to erect new buildings, including both foundry and machine shops. Conducting the industry on a much larger scale than previously, they continued it until 1878, when Mr. Seidle sold out, having other business in view. After a short period as bookkeeper for the Lebanon Manufacturing Company, he purchased an interest in the Lebanon Boiler Works. He carried on a profitable business with this company until 1884. Then, deciding to conduct a similar business by himself, he purchased property at the corner of Twelfth and Buttonwood streets, near the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, and opened what has since been known as the Standard Boiler Works. Using his capital judiciously, he soon had his new industry on a firm footing and has conducted it ever since with wisdom and sagacity. He employs a large number of men, pays good wages, and still his business yields him large profits.
In February, 1869, Mr. Seidle married Sarah Jane Mull, of Sinking Springs, Pa., daughter of Aaron Mull, and a member of one of the old and honorable Berks county families. By this union there have been three children : Virginia M., who resides in Lebanon; George Nicholas, builder of special machinery in New York city; and Norman R., who is engaged in business with his father in Lebanon.
Mr. Seidle's inherent business ability has brought him to the front in the public affairs of his city, and he has served with much credit to himself on the water board, and also as a member of the city council. Though a Republican in politics, he often votes for the ablest man regardless of his party. Fraternally he affiliates with the F. & A. M. and the K. of P. With the Reformed Church, of which he is a consistent member, he is highly influential. He is upright, honest, square in all his dealings, and has the good-will and admiration of a host of Lebanon citizens.
RIGLER. For many long years this family has been prominently and helpfully identified with the business interests of Lebanon county. The indi- vidual members of the family have been men of high probity of character. who have left their impress upon the educational, religious and industrial institutions of the different communities in which they have lived. The family is at the present time represented by A. C. Rigler, the efficient teller of the Annville National Bank. and one of the leading citizens of his vil- lage. He is a son of George Rigler, deceased, who was for many years one of Annville's leading and most successful citizens, and who was born in Philadelphia March 29, 1817, son of John and Margaret (Hornketh) Rig- ler. The original American ancestor of the family was his grandfather
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George Rigler, who was a native of Germany, and who came to America in the latter part of the eighteenth century, settling in Annville. He married, and left the following children: John; George; Samuel; Henry; Jacob; and an unnamed daughter.
John Rigler, of this family, was the next in line. He went to Phila- delphia, where he married Margaret, the daughter of Jeremiah Hornketh, who became the mother of John; George; William; Henry; Charles; Peter; Louisa, who married John Lacock; Margaret, who became Mrs. Amos Hiller; Catherine, married to Richard Brocken; and Sarah, who was the youngest of the family.
At the age of eleven years George Rigler, of the above family, went to reside with his uncle, George Rigler, at Annville, where he was reared to farm life and given a good education in the public schools. He subsequently went into business with his uncle. During a long and useful life he was closely identified with many enterprises within the county. and especially at Annville and Lebanon. He was a director in the Annville Bank, and was one of the organizers and original incorporators of the Lebanon Manufactur- ing Company, of Lebanon, which is remembered as being one of the oldest and largest manufacturing concerns in its day in the county. It has now became known as the M. H. Treadwell & Co. Manufacturing Company. these gentlemen being lessees of the same.
George Rigler married March 8, 1838, Mary Nye, daughter of Freder- ick, of Annville, and their children were: Mary, George and Margaret, all three deceased: Louisa, married to D. O. Shenk, of Annville, and also deceased; Mary Elizabeth : John, deceased; Albert Charles, who is the sub- ject proper of this review; Sarah M., who married Frank Platt: Emma C., Mrs. Thomas Urich; and Ella Jane, the wife of H. Clay Deaner. The father of this family continued an active business life until the date of his death, March 26, 1889. The mother died in 1888.
ALBERT CHARLES RIGLER was born in Annville October 18, 1849, and he was brought up within the bounds of a refined home, where he was taught the value of honesty and uprightness as component parts of character. He received an excellent education in the public schools, which was supple- mented by a course at the Lebanon Valley College, from which he grad- uated in 1870. . He has the distinction of being a member of the first class to graduate from that excellent institution, there being but three members in the class. His degree was that of A. B. Upon leaving college, he entered the office of the Lebanon Manufacturing Company, where he remained for four years, and where he became thoroughly conversant with the handling
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of currency. He became such an expert at this business that he was offered the position of teller in the bank at Annville, in January, 1877, which posi- tion he has held continuously with the greatest of satisfaction to the direct- ors of the bank. There are few men in the banking business who are more thoroughly conversant with its intricacies than Albert C. Rigler. In the social and religious life of the community, Mr. Rigler takes an active and helpful interest. He is a trustee of the Annville Lutheran Church, of which he and his family are members, and is a leading member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
On June 21, 1881, Mary Forney came to preside over Mr. Rigler's home. She was the daughter of John and Susan Forney, and was born in Annville. Mr. and Mrs. Rigler have had the following children: Frederick and George, deceased; Ruth; Paul, deceased; and Margaret. The citizens of Annville and vicinity are unanimous in the expressions of esteem which they utter concerning Mr. and Mrs. Rigler and their family. They are worthy citizens, and are deserving of representation in a volume which is devoted to the leading families of Lebanon county.
W. HARRY DETWEILER, the leading wholesale liquor dealer in Lebanon was born in Philadelphia, August 3, 1854. son of Henry Detweiler, who was born in the lower end of Dauphin county, Pa., in 1827, and was also a son of Henry. The great-great-grandfather of our subject was a native of Austria, came to America, and settled on the Conewago Creek, in what was then Lancaster county, near Dauphin county. His old brick residence (erected by him) is still standing. The great-grandfather was born and reared on the old homestead now known as the Peck farm, on the Pennsyl- vania railroad between Conewago and Middletown. The grandfather was also born and reared on the homestead, as was also the father.
Henry Detweiler, father of W. Harry, followed stove molding, and worked at Sheppard's Stove Molding Works in Philadelphia for several years. During the small-pox epidemic, in 1854, he returned to the old home, and went to work for the Raymond & Campbell Company, stove molders of Middletown, where he remained until 1863. In that year he began as trav- eling salesman for the wholesale liquor house of George Winters, of Harris- burg. Two years later the firm of Winters & Detweiler, wholesale liquor dealers, was formed, Mr. Detweiler being the junior member. and it con- tinued until 1871. That year marked Mr. Detweiler's entrance into the bus- iness for himself, in Harrisburg, and he continued same until his death, June 23, 1874. He was a Mason of high degree, being a Knight Templar, and his
Bany Seivelen
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father before him was also a member of that fraternity. Henry Detweiler married Mary Catherine Inley, who was born in Dauphin county, Pa. Her parents were natives of England, and emigrated to this country the year before her birth. Her death occurred December 25, 1890, when she was aged fifty-six years. Their children were as follows: George died at the age of eighteen months; Laura, born in 1845, married William H. Houstin, of Harrisburg; W. Harry is the subject of this sketch; and Mary became the wife of H. F. Quickel, of Harrisburg.
W. Harry Detweiler was reared in Middletown until his eleventh year, when his parents removed to Harrisburg. There he attended the public schools and in 1869 started to learn the baker's trade. In 1871 he entered the Millersville State Normal School, which he attended for a year, and then spent two years at the Westchester State Normal School. In 1873 he entered the employ of Joel J. Bailey & Co., wholesale notions, of Philadelphia, where he remained until 1876, when he was called to take charge of his father's business in Harrisburg, and he managed the store in that city for his mother (with whom he was a partner) for eleven years. In 1887 he purchased his mother's interest and continued the business until during the summer of 1891, when the estate had to be settled up. He then removed to Norristown and lived retired until 1894, when he came to Lebanon and bought a half-interest in the wholesale liquor business of Hartman & Taylor, successors to John Matthews. A year later he purchased the entire business, and under the firm name of W. H. Detweiler & Co., has continued the business with success. He is a member of the Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Red Men and the Knights of Fidelity. He was married in 1880, to Helen Eugenia Toy, of Philadelphia, and to the union has been born one daughter, Mary Helen.
ISAAC KALBACH URICH, M. D., one of the leading physicians of Annville, Lebanon county, and a man of high standing and repute in his community, was born in Myerstown, Pa., May 3, 1863, a son of Daniel and Mary (Kalbach) Urich. The father was born near Stouchsburg, Berks Co., Pa., in 1824, and died in October, 1887. He was the son of Peter Uricli, a native of Kutztown, near Myerstown, Lebanon county, and died in Berks county. His first wife was a Miss Maye, and the second wife was a Mrs. Spannuth (nee Looser). The following children were born to the grand- father: Elizabeth, who married William Zellers. both deceased: Daniel! : Peter, deceased; and William, of Herndon, Fairfax Co., Va., who is the only one living.
Daniel Urich married Mary Kalbach, who was born near Heidelberg, 25
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Berks Co., Pa., in 1823, and died in 1868, the daughter of John Kalbach. The children born to these parents were as follows : Samuel, of West Myers- town, Pa .; Emma, married to John Bucher; Adam, of New York City; Frank and Reuben, twins, of Connersville, Ind .; Thomas, M. D., who died in 1881; Isaac K. and Mary J., twins, the latter of whom married Samuel Ferguson, of Indiana; Martin and Daniel P. died in infancy.
Dr. Urich was educated in the public schools of Myerstown and at Palatinate (now Albright) College, at Myerstown, from which he was graduated in 1879. He began reading medicine the same year with his brother, Dr. Thomas K. Urich, of Annville, and entered Jefferson Medical College in the fall of 1880, from which institution he was graduated March 30, 1882. On April 4th following, he began the practice of medicine in Ann- ville and has continued there. Thoroughly interested in his profession. Dr. Urich has made the practice of it a success, and he is ever alert to grasp new ideas and benefit by them. He keeps well posted on medical topics, and is a very skillful and successful physician.
Dr. Urich and Elizabeth Kreider Mark were united in marriage, and two children were born to them : Harry Mark, born June 1, 1891, died March 8, 1897; and Mary Josephine, born August 5, 1896. Mrs. Urich was born April 4. 1869, in North Annville township, daughter of Henry F. and Mary (Kreider ) Mark. Henry F. Mark was born near Palmyra, in 1839. a son of John Mark, who died on the Gravel Hill, near Palmyra. His wife was a daughter of Joseph Kreider, who lived near Campbelltown, a cousin of Andrew Kreider, of Annville. Dr. Urich is an expresident of the Lebanon County Medical Society, a member of the American Medical Association. and of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society. He is medical examiner for the North Western Life Insurance Company, the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, the Equitable of New York, the Prudential Insur- ance Company, and the Employes Mutual Benevolent Association of Phil- adelphia.
JOHN A. YINGST. as one of the proprietors of a large flour mill in Lebanon, for the last ten years, has been successful.
The Yingst family is one of the oldest in Lebanon county, the first American representatives having received patents for their land during the time of George II and William Penn. Lewis Yingst, grandfather of John A., a Lebanon county farmer. married and had three children, two of whom grew to maturity: John H., who is mentioned below ; and a daughter, who married Joseph Meyer.
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John H. Yingst, father of John A., was endowed with those sterling qualities of character that win success for a man at whatever he undertakes. Whether carrying on a Pennsylvania farm, conducting a Lebanon city hard- ware store, or running a Kansas ranch, he threw his undivided energies into his tasks, and met with the merited results. Mr. Yingst was born in 1833, and was reared to farm work. As a young man starting out for himself he naturally turned to agriculture, and he continued this occupation for some years. In early manhood. about 1854, he married Eliza Kreider, of North Lebanon, daughter of Tobias Kreider, and they had two children : John A .. mentioned below; and Sarah, the oldest, who married A. B. Schropp, of the Lebanon Daily News. Mrs. Vingst died in Lebanon in 1868.
In 1867 Mr. Yingst moved with his family to Lebanon, and there opened a hardware store. Working up a large and paying custom he continued this business for a number of years, but desiring to have a hand in the growing industries of the West, in 1876 he disposed of his business and moved to Kansas, where on a large ranch he engaged in the breeding of cattle. Continuing this business for the rest of his life he became one of the well-to-do cattlemen about Ellsworth, his ranch being located in that section. Hard work finally told upon his health, and in 1888, when scarcely past fifty-five, he died at his Kansas home. As a Republican Mr. Yingst always manifested a keen interest in politics. Religiously he belonged to the United Brethren.
John A. Yingst was born November 8, 1859, and spent his early days on a farm, but was educated mainly in Lebanon, moving there with his parents in 1867. Later he accompanied them to their Kansas home, and. being then about eighteen years old, took up the active work of a ranchman, At this he was quite as successful as his father, and continued it for seventeen years. In 1890 he returned to Lebanon, where he next engaged in the electric business for some time. In 1892, in partnership with George Strickler, he engaged in the general grain and flour milling business in Lebanon, which he has since continued with unqualified success.
In 1881 Mr. Yingst married Cora B. Strickler, of Lebanon, daughter of George Strickler, and they have had five children : Nellie G. married Arnold Heilman, of Brooklyn, N. Y. : Allen M. is a machinist in Lebanon : Clifford is a blacksmith; and Virginia M. and Ethel are living at home. Mrs. Yingst's people are among the oldest and most highly respected families of Lebanon. As a business man Mr. Yingst has won the entire confidence of the people of his city, and he served one term of three years as county commissioner. As
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a keenly interested and active Republican he exerts a large influence in local politics. Fraternally he belongs to the P. O. S. of A .; and the I. O. O. F. of Lebanon. He has served in the National Guard.
JOHN HUBER, one of the successful and progressive farmers of Myerstown, Pa., was born on the old Huber homestead in the same town- ship, April 13, 1851, a son of Henry and Lydia (Smith) Huber, natives of Jackson township. Henry Huber was born in 1822, and died March 28, 1889, a son of Henry Huber, Sr., also a farmer of Jackson township, whose father came from Germany, locating in Jackson township, being among the early settlers of that locality. Henry Huber, Sr., was the father of the following family: Henry, William, Aaron and Elizabeth, all de- ceased. Henry Huber, Jr., was reared in Jackson township, where he fol- lowed farming for many years, becoming one of the thrifty and successful farmers of that community, and a stanch Republican in politics. His religious connections were with the Myerstown Lutheran Church. About 1843 or 1844, he married, and had these children : Susannah, married David Raber; Sarah, deceased; John; David, unmarried, and residing with his brother, John, on the Huber homestead, of which he owns one-half interest; and Levi, deceased.
John Huber was reared upon the farm and received a good common school education. When lie attained his majority, he chose the calling of a farmer, and has continued in that line most successfully ever since. He and his brother, David, own the home farm of 124 acres of well cultivated land, and their property is one of the most productive in North Jackson town- ship. It is well supplied with comfortable buildings, while modern methods are pursued in operating it.
John Huber was married to Miss Fitilia Schwartz, of Bethel township, Berks Co., Pa., by the Rev. Dr. F. J. F. Schantz, of Myerstown : she being a daughter of Jonathan Schwartz, a native of Berks county, and the father of the following family: Mrs. Huber; Angeline, who married John Artz, of Avon; Cecilia, who married Samuel C. Bechtold, of Reading, Pa .: John H., of Derry Church, Dauphin county; Lizzie, married to B. C. Linden- muth, of Harrisburg; Frank, out West; Charles, of Lancaster, Pa .; and Alice, who married Daniel Bender, of New Jersey. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Huber, Henry, now a clerk in the mercantile house of B. C. Lindenmuth, at Harrisburg, Pa. Mr. Huber and his estimable wife are consistent members of the Myerstown Lutheran Church, in which he has served as deacon for a number of years. In political matters he always sup-
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ports the principles of the Republican party, and takes an active interest in local affairs, although his own business engrosses him too much to enable liim to serve as a public official. Being a man of high moral character, hon- orable in all his dealings, he has won many friends, and is highly esteemed by all who know him.
EPHRAIM BRUBACHER, one of the honored and successful re- tired farmers of Richland, Millcreek township, was born in South Lebanon township. January 14, 1850, a son of Isaac and Eliza ( Bucher ) Brubacher, deceased. Isaac Brubacher was reared on the old Brubacher homestead in South Lebanon township, and was a son of Christian and Elizabeth ( Eber- ley) Brubacher, of the same township, members of old pioneer families of Lebanon county. Christian Brubacher was the father of the following fam- ily : Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, Samuel, Christian, Mary Fannie, Elizabeth, Susan and Nancy, all deceased except Nancy.
Isaac Brubacher, the father of Ephraim, had these children: Aaron of Cornwall township, a farmer; Cyrus, a South Lebanon township farmer ; Jacob, on the old homestead in South Lebanon township; Mary, married to Christian Geib, of Heidelberg township; Ephraim; Sarah, married to Jacob Horst, of South Lebanon: Isaac, a farmer of South Jackson; and Lizzie, wife of Joseph Krall, of Heidelberg township. The father of this family for many years was a clergyman of the German Baptist Brethren, and one of the leading and highly respected men of South Lebanon township, as well as a very successful farmer.
Ephraim Brubacher was reared upon the home farm in South Lebanon township, and received an excellent education in the public schools. Upon attaining to manhood's estate he chose farming, and he now owns the old Henry Bollinger homestead of seventy-six acres, to which he has added eighteen acres, making one of the finest farms in Richland, in Millcreek township. His buildings are in excellent condition, and his farm shows the care and attention he bestows upon it. Ou December 2, 1871, Mr. Bru- bacher was married to Miss Mary A. Bollinger, of Millcreek township, a daughter of Henry and Annie (Royer) Bollinger, of Millcreek township, of old and well known families of Lebanon county. Two brothers of Mrs. Brubacher are still living, one. Cyrus Bollinger, of Reading, Pa., and the other, Nathan Bollinger, of Chicago, but her sister, Susan, who married William Lesher, is deceased. Grandfather Jacob Bollinger settled in Leb- anon. coming from Lancaster in the early part of the last century. By occu- pation he was a farmer, and was the father of the following family: Henry ;
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Allen; Jonathan; and Mary, who married Ephraim Yienst, all now deceased, except Allen, who is a very old man, residing at Richmond, Pa. An extended history of the Bollinger family is to be found elsewhere.
Mr. and Mrs. Brubacher had four children: Cora, who married Jacob M. Gettel, residing on the farm of Mr. Brubacher, and has one son, Aminon, at home; Lizzie, married to Harry H. Hacker; Annie B., also at home; and Henry, who died in childhood. Mr. Brubacher became a member of the German Baptist Brethren Church, about 1866. In 1886 he was chosen deacon, and is now one of the most active members of the church, as well as a liberal supporter of the same. Mr. Brubacher is one of the public- spirited men of his township, and he and his family are important factors in the social life of the community in which they make their home.
JACOB HEAGY, a retired farmer of South Annville township, living at Fairland, on the Reading turnpike road, was born near Schaefferstown, Lebanon county, December 19, 1855, a son of Moses and Louisa (Long) Heagy.
Moses Heagy, the father of Jacob, was born on the Dohner farm in the neighborhood of Cornwall, in Lebanon county, and his wife was born on the Jacob Long farm, in the neighborhood of the Gingrich Mennonite Church, in South Annville township. Both of these worthy people have passed away, the father in the spring of 1888, at the age of sixty-two years and the latter in 1900, in her seventy-fifth year. Four children were born to these parents as follows : Mary Ann ; Jacob; David; and Moses, a farmer at Belle Grove. The father removed from the place where he was born to the neighbor- hood of Mt. Hope, Lancaster county, where he remained until his marriage, moving then to Schaefferstown, later to Belle Grove, where he died. His life was devoted to farming, and through every change of residence, he attended the German Baptist Church, of which he was an active member.
Jacob Heagy was reared at Belle Grove and attended the public schools, remaining on the farm until he was twenty-five years of age, at which time he removed to Heilmandale, Lebanon county, where he farmed for six years. Selling his farm stock, he returned to his old home at Belle Grove, and remained there one year and a half, removing then to what was the old toll gate, west of Annville. In the fall of 1888 he removed to Fairland, and there erected his fine residence, in which he has lived since that time. retired from business activity.
In the fall of 1880, Mr. Heagy was married to Elizabeth Gingrich, daughter of Solomon and Lydia (Dohner) Gingrich, who had two daugh-
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ters, Sarah A., who married George Yingst, and Elizabeth, who married Mr. Heagy. Her death occurred in 1886, and that of her babe, twenty-three days after birth. The second marriage of Mr. Heagy was on November 26, 1887, to Elizabeth Behm, daughter of Christian Belim, deceased, and a sister to Rudolph Behm, one of Lebanon county's leading farmers and prominent citizens. To this union, one child was born, now deceased. Both Mr. and Mrs. Heagy are members of the German Baptist Church, and are most highly esteemed residents of South Annville township, and enjoy a wide circle of friends in Fairland.
J. ALFRED BOWMAN, one of the largest farmers of South Annville township, Lebanon county, was born on the old Orth farm, on the Horseshoe turnpike road, in Cornwall township, Lebanon county, August 21, 1854. His parents were George and Fanny ( Horst) Bowman, the former of whom was born about one-quarter of a mile below Bismarck, in Cornwall township, in 1818, son of John A. Bowman, who was also born in Cornwall township, and married Mary Forry. Four sons were born to the grandparents of J. Alfred Bowman, as follows: George, deceased; Oliver, deceased; Cyrus, a resident of Bismarck; and John, a resident of Lebanon.
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