USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Biographical annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, containing genealogical records of representative families, including many of the early settlers and biographical sketches of prominent citizens, Vol. I > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92
On November 4, 1861, he married Sarah Nei- man, daughter of Frederick and Charlotte ( Yor- gey) Neiman. The couple had eight children : Emma, Franklin, George W., Ada M., Ralph, Henry, Lucy E. and Maurice E. Emma died at the age of twenty-five years. Franklin married Anna Emes. They live at Reading, where he is employed in a puddling mill. They have five children living : Lottie, Edith, Lester, Stanley and
Ruth. George W. died at the age of nineteen years. Ada M. married Charles A. Keim, now de- ceased. They had two children, Franklin L. and Lillie G. Franklin is a student at Girard College. Ada M. married (second husband) William Ber- gey. They have three children, George A., Henry Emerson Bergey and an infant son. Ralph died at the age of nineteen years and two months. Henry died at the age of five years and six months. Maurice E. married Nettie Maiger.
Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sassaman and their children are members of the Reformed church. He is a member of the Order of Heptasophs. Po- litically he is a Democrat. Mr. Sassaman is an assessor and has served twelve years in that ca- pacity. He was judge of elections in Douglass township, Berks county. He went to Pottstown in 1883 and was elected justice of the peace, in which office he is now serving his eighteenth year, having been appointed twice to fill vacancies and elected the remainder of the time. He has always been very careful in his decisions and few, if any, have been reversed.
On November 15, 1883, Mr. Sassaman met with an accident which has crippled him for life. While cutting wood to build a fire the ax glanced and cut him on the knee of the right leg, the in- jury confining him to his bed for eleven months. He has no action in the knee. He owns a sub- stantial brick residence, No. 371 North Evans street, in which he resides.
DR. M. AUGUSTUS WITHERS, physician and druggist at the corner of High and Charlotte streets, Pottstown, was born in Strasburg town- ship, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, November 6, 1829. He is the son of Michael and Mary (Smith) Withers, both of whom were natives of Lancaster county. The couple had eight chil- dren, of whom five are now living : Clara Amelia, widow of Colonel Emlen Franklin, of Lancaster ; Ann Josephine and Louisa (twins), the former the widow of John H. B. Wagner, and the latter the widow of Dr. A. J. Carpenter, of Lancaster ; Anna, widow of Bernard Wolfe of Pittsburg ; and Dr. M. Augustus Withers.
Michael Withers (father) was a miller when
18I
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
a young man, and later in life he engaged in the lumber and coal business in Lancaster, which he continued until he retired from active pur- suits. He lived in Lancaster the greater part of his life and died there in 1891, aged about sev- enty years. His wife died in 1865, aged sixty- three years. Both were members of the Lutheran denomination.
George Withers (grandfather) was a native of Lancaster county. He was one of the first iron- masters in the state of Pennsylvania, and also carried on farming, at the same time operating a mill, himself and his brother doing business to- gether. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and his widow drew a pension for many years on that ac- count. His wife was Anna Kindig. He lived to a good old age and left two sons and two daugh- ters. He was of German descent, like most of the people of that section of Pennsylvania.
Chester Chapin Smith (maternal grandfather) was a Connecticut man and died young. He had an only daughter. His widow married Joseph Ehrenfried and they had no children. He was state printer for Pennsylvania, having been ap- pointed by Governor Ritner, and published a paper at the same time.
Dr. M. Augustus Withers was reared in Lan- caster. He attended Franklin Academy and graduated from Yale College in 1848. He then studied medicine and was graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsyl- vania in 1851. He began practicing medicine in Lancaster, continuing there for three or four years. He removed to Safe Harbor, staying there a year or two. He removed to Pottstown in 1859 and bought a drug store. He has been a res- ident of that borough ever since, conducting the drug business and practicing medicine at the same time. Dr. Withers had begun and finished the study of medicine in 1849 with F. A. Muhlen- berg, of Lancaster. He practiced for a time at Millersville.
Dr. Withers entered the army as an assistant surgeon from the state of Pennsylvania in the fall of 1861 and served two years, half the time as assistant and then being promoted to surgeon of
the Seventy-sixth Regiment, Pennsylvania Vol- unteers.
After the war he returned to Pottstown and has carried on the drug business ever since, but gave up the practice of medicine about twenty years ago.
In 1857 Dr. Withers married Mary Louise Musselman, daughter of Henry and Anna ( Eshle- man) Musselman. They have one daughter, Anna Mary, now the wife of Horace Evans, pres- ident of the Pottstown National Bank. They have two sons, Louis W. and George W. Evans. Dr. Withers and wife are members of the Protes- tant Episcopal church. He is a member of Stich- ter Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and is a past master of the lodge. Politically he is a Re- publican. He is a member of the County and State Medical Societies. Dr. Withers is princi- pal owner of the Pelican State Manufacturing Company at Windgap, Pennsylvania. He resides in the property in which his store is located. He erected the store building in 1883.
George Withers (grandfather) and his brother Michael were both extensive landowners in Lancaster county, and, as already stated, were prominently identified with its iron and flour mill- ing industry. Both were men of independent means. They owned and operated the Mount Eden and Conowingo Iron Furnaces, the first built in 1808, the second in 1809. Both took an active part in public affairs and each held a num- ber of public positions.
DR. CLARENCE MARMADUKE CAS- SELBERRY is one of the most prominent of the younger members of the medical fraternity of that section of Montgomery county adjacent to Potts- town, where he was born October 5, 1875. He is the son of Marmaduke Burr and Amanda Eliza- beth (Yocom) Casselberry, the former a native of Montgomery county and the latter of Berks county. The couple had four children, one son and three daughters, namely: Gertrude (de- ceased), who was the wife of Dr. D. Walter Spence; Ella, wife of Ellsworth Lincoln Ed- wards, of Pottstown ; Dr. Clarence M .; and Mary
182
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
Elizabeth, wife of Robert J. Scott, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Marmaduke B. Casselberry (father) was a general merchant, subsequently a tanner, and still later a banker in Pottstown, of the M. Burr Cas- selberry & Company's Bank, previously known for many years as John W. Casselberry & Company, bankers and brokers. The past ten years or more he has lived retired. He and his wife are Luth- erans. He was among the emergency men in Pennsylvania during the Rebellion, when the state was menaced by the Confederate forces for a short time. Mr. Casselberry is an active Re- publican and votes the ticket of that party. He. was member of the board of health of Pottstown under the administration of Burgess Jesse Evans.
Richard Casselberry (grandfather) lived in the central part of Pottstown. He came orig- inally from Evansburg, a few miles above Nor- ristown, the ancestral home of the family. He was a farmer by occupation. He married Eliza- beth Miller and they had a large family. He was prominent in politics and an active worker in the Republican party.
John Yocom (maternal grandfather) was a na- tive of Berks county, conducted a general store at Amityville, and was also engaged as a farmer. He removed to Pottstown and entered the iron business, in which industry he was interested until the time of his death. He died suddenly while going to a fire near his home on High street, when he was about forty-eight years old. His wife was Hannah Caroline Miller. They had several sons and daughters.
Moses Yocom (maternal great-grandfather) was also a native of Pennsylvania, being of Swed- ish descent. The founder of the Yocom family in this country was Peter Yocom, who came from Sweden in 1638 and settled near Philadelphia. His children were: Peter, born in 1678; Moses, born in 1879; Catharine (unmarried) born in 1682; Charles, born in 1683 in Philadelphia ; Swan, who settled a few miles above Philadel- phia ; Jonas, who was the head of Dr. Cassel- berry's family on his mother's side; Andrew ; John ; and Julia, who married a Morgan, one of the Welsh settlers of that vicinity. One of the
Yocoms married a Miss Ball, who was a sister of Washington's mother. Peter Yocom, the founder of the family, is often mentioned in Will- iam Penn's letters.
Dr. Clarence M. Casselberry was reared in Pottstown and attended the public schools for some time. He then prepared for college at the Hill school, Pottstown, and then entered the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, being gratuated from the medical department of that institution in 1897. He became an interne at St. Joseph's Hospital at Providence, Rhode Island. From that place he went to Boston and practiced in that city four years, being connected with The Boston Emer- gency Hospital there, as attending surgeon. He returned to Pottstown in 1902 and opened an office there, and is now successfully engaged in the practice of medicine.
He is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Transfiguration, Pottstown. Dr. Casselberry is a member of the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks, the Ancient Order United Workmen, and also vice president of the Mont- gomery County Medical Society and a member of the State Medical Society and the American Med- ical Association.
Politically Dr. Casselberry is a Republican, al- though he has never sought office and is more de- voted to the duties of his profession than to merely partisan pursuits.
DR. JOHN DAVIS, for more than forty years a practicing physician at Pottstown, is one of the prominent citizens of that place. He is a native of an old Chester county family of Welsh descent and was born near Marshallton, January 19, 1833. He is the son of Aaron and Hannah (Woodward) Davis, who were both natives and almost lifelong residents of Chester county. They had five children, three of whom are now living, as follows: Dr. John Davis and Mary Elizabeth, wife of George Shenk, of Pottstown; and George W. Davis, of Philadelphia.
Aaron Davis (father) was a farmer by occu- pation. He lived three years in Montgomery county near the close of his life and died there in 1883, aged sixty-three years. His widow survived
John Davis
183
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
until June, 1902, and was ninety-four years of age at the time of her death. They inclined toward the faith of the Society of Friends.
John Davis (grandfather) was born in Ches- ter county and was a farmer. His wife was Mar- jorie Hall, and they had five children. He lived to the age of eighty years.
Jacob Woodward (maternal grandfather) was a well-known resident of Chester county of Eng- lish descent. He was a wheelwright. His wife was Lydia (Woodward) Woodward. He died at the age of seventy years. The couple had six children.
Dr. John Davis was reared on the farm in Chester county, attending the district schools of the neighborhood. He engaged in teaching school for seven years and in the merchandising in Mar- shallton for several more years. In 1859 he began studying medicine and in 1862 graduated from the Eclectic Medical College in Philadelphia, be- ginning the practice of medicine that year in Pottstown, where he has followed it continuously and very successfully since.
On August 26, 1858, he married Sarah A. Hoopes, daughter of Enos and Ruth Ann Hoopes, of Chester county. They had three children, of whom but one is now living, Helena, wife of Dr. Alfred Mullhaupt, of St. Marys, Elk county, Pennsylvania, where she, as well as her husband, is a practicing physician. They have two sons, Alfred and John.
Mrs. Sarah A. Davis died in September, 1865, aged thirty-five years. She was a Methodist in religious faitlı.
On March 5, 1867, Dr. Davis married (second wife) Elizabeth Missimer, daughter of James and Matilda (Reifsnyder) Missimer. They have had five children, of whom one is now living, Dr. Will- iam J. Davis, of Pottstown, who married Clara Linderman, they having three children, Florence, Helena and John. He graduated from the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania in 1889.
.
Dr. John Davis and wife are members of the Methodist church. He is a steward in the church. Politically Dr. Davis is a Prohibitionist, being en- tirely opposed to the manufacture, sale and use of intoxicants.
He is one of the directors of the Ellis Key- stone Agricultural Works, a director in the Potts- town Power, Heat & Light Company, a director in the Pottstown Security Company, and in the Guardian Building & Loan Association. He is à member of the Montgomery County Medical So- ciety. Dr. John Davis stands high in the medical profession, his practice extending over a large section of Montgomery and Chester counties, ad- jacent to Pottstown. He is earnest, progressive and highly esteemed by all who know him.
SAMUEL FRONHISER, the son of Samuel and Mary (Springer) Fronhiser, was born in Washington township, Berks county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1835. His parents were also natives of Berks county. Samuel and Mary Fronhiser had two sons and three daughters: Catharine, deceased wife of Daniel Cleaver; Samuel Fronhiser ; Abraham Fronhiser, of Mont- gomery county ; Mary, wife of Thomas Miller ; and Hattie, wife of Joel Moyer of Berks county.
Samuel Fronhiser (father) was a farmer and died in 1841. His wife survived him and died at the age of seventy-seven years. Both were Luth- erans. She married (second husband) Jacob Dearolf, who is also now deceased. They had two children.
The paternal grandfather of Samuel Fronhiser was a native of Pennsylvania and lived in Berks county where he died. He was of German de- scent and his people came from Kalem, Germany. His wife lived to be ninety years of age.
The maternal grandfather of Samuel Fron- hiser was also a native of Berks county, where he was a farmer. He died there at an advanced age. He had a small family.
Samuel Fronhiser went to Chester county in 1854 and followed farming, butchering and boat- building. By trade he was a carpenter and later a contractor and builder. In the fall of 1862 he enlisted in Company G. One Hundred and Sev- enty-fifth Regiment, and served nine months. He was in several small battles and did a great deal of scouting and marching. He was a private and served in the commissary department most of the time. After the war he returned to Chester
18.4
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
county for one year and then removed to Potts- town. He engaged in carpentering and later be- came a partner in the coal and iron business with J. Fegely & Company. This partnership contin- ued for more than twenty years.
His health failing, Mr. Fronhiser went to Europe, visiting the old home of his ancestors and traveling over the continent with Rev. Mr. Kep- ner, for some years pastor of the Emanuel Luth- eran church of Pottstown. Afterwards he looked after his varied interests in Pottstown, he owning considerable real estate in that borough, and being actively engaged in the care of his property. He is vice-president of the Security Company, and was a member of Pottstown council for several terms. He was a member of the Mutual Insur- ance Company of Montgomery county at Norris- town, with which Mehelm McGlathery was so long connected as secretary. He is also interested in the Pottstown Cold Storage Company and various other business enterprises in that borough. Mr. Fronhiser belongs to Graham Post, No. 106, Grand Army of the Republic. In politics he has always been a Republican.
On February 19, 1859, he married Susan, daughter of Richard and Harriet (Skean) Geist. They have two children : Amy S. and Wilfred G. Fronhiser. The son married Mrs. Daisy Percy. He is in the chinaware and queensware business in Pottstown.
Mrs. Susan Fronhiser, wife of Samuel Fron- hiser, died June 4, 1890, aged forty-nine years and six months. She was a member of Trinity Re- formed church. Mr. Fronhiser is a member of the Hill Lutheran church.
Mr. Fronhiser is emphatically a self-made man, his success in life being due very largely to his own exertions. Beginning life for himself when a mere boy without a dollar of cap- ital, but with a courageous heart, industrious habits, and a determination to succeed in life, he has accomplished excellent results, accumulating considerable property and being generally recog- nized as one of the most substantial and reliable business men of Pottstown. He has contributed much toward the development of that borough, having erected many of its attractive dwellings
and been concerned in the management of various important enterprises. His success is all the more remarkable because he lacked the advantages of an extended education, his experience in this direction being limited to such knowledge as he succeeded in acquiring for himself in the occa- sional leisure moments of a practical business life. Although of a retiring and unostentatious disposi- tion, he has always been energetic in business pur- suits, and, having been blessed by nature with a strong constitution, a vigorous mind and a dis- criminating judgment in business affairs, he has achieved a position that is highly creditable to him in every way, and he is known as one of Pottstown's most enterprising and public-spirited citizens.
ISAAC MATHER. It is but seldom that a community is priviliged to enjoy the neighbor- ship with one who has witnessed nearly a cen- tury of life, and who is yet spared and in full possession of his faculties. Yet such a remark- able instance of longevity is seen in the person of the venerable Isaac Mather, of Cheltenham township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, who now (in 1904) is approaching the beginning of his ninety-ninth year, and who during all his remarkably long career has enjoyed the esteem and affection of all about him for his nobility of life and usefulness.
The history of the family from which he comes is full of interest. The Mathers of the present day, among whom is Isaac Mather, trace their lineage through a long line of worthy an- cestors, all of them trained in the belief of the Society of Friends, and practicing its teachings in their daily lives. The American ancestor was Joseph Mather, who came from the town of Bol- ton, in Lancashire, England, as one of the ser- vants of Phineas Pemberton, who settled in Falls township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Eleventh- mo., 1682. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Russell, of Cheltenham, Sixth-mo. 8, 1697, the marriage taking place at the house of Rich- ard Wall, in Cheltenham. Among those present who signed as witnesses were John Russell, Sam- uel Richardson, Henry Baker, Phineas Pember-
1
184
SUINTCOMEXY COUNTY
costti of various
town.
ned for pre lados
Europe calling ( ratherand Micro-store and traveling -
I -os- it all the moms renorkai-b- to -la posixke athumtages f xtended ofmat onesseriene- in this dir Ion being sonst in nowledge as he in acquiring o Mme in the occa- warfare n oments of a proclear business life. MAgoof -relining amf molinicos disposi- me in Is always been energe milesiness pur- www. wl. loving been bles mal by natur > with istitution, a vigore mind and a li. Slog judgment in business affairs, he has -o a position that is highly creditable bo every way, att he is known as one of etik mest Enterprising an 1 pul lic-spirited
to: 1 .
. MATHER. I & but seldom that www.> privdigel to shjos the neighbor- con ellos is placed rearly a cen- la0 -0 4 nel and in full Vw Dich a remark sont is the per-on
Tec of Che tenham
vamos, Pennsylvania, ding the beginning
wal wy long all his
my nas moral the e- en
A allon look for his nobility of
die Trường Trị which he W interest Me Mathers of the wane hon la bonne Mather, brace Omich guteng Ina of worthy an- Tresa Pasargl In the beher i the
Premie all practicing its teaching moments leves The American varesfor wa. Goleador som came from the town of Bol um, Lamuchin England gambe of the ser-
=
1 2 H wond Chata. Jatight r nf
The Incylige the face of the house of Rede- mi Wall IN Cheney Among those pre: ent 80 % in' 33 witawere Jolm Russell, Sam- nel Roero Hhio Dakeer, Phineas Pember-
Fotts
E mam
Isaac Mathen
-
185
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
ton, Richard Wall, William Gabitas, Evan Mor- ris, John Goodson, John Jones, Isaac Norris, Samuel Carte and Everard Bolton, and others. In 1720 Joseph Mather went on a visit to Eng- land, when the meeting furnished him with a very favorable certificate. He died in Cheltenham in 1724, and his widow administered upon his estate. She was a minister at Abington, and died Ninth-mo., 1730.
By the death of John Russell, father-in-law of Joseph Mather, in 1698, his tract of three hundred acres came into the Mather family. Richard, son of Joseph, still held it in 1734, and he with others built the first grist mill at Shoe- makertown, in 1747. Isaac Mather erected the mill at what is now Chelten Hills Station in 1769, and about the same time Richard and Bartholo- mew Mather built a grist and saw mill on the stream crossing Washington Lane. Of the or- iginal tract, Richard Mather held 123 acres in 1776, and Bartholomew Mather ninety-three acres. For several years past the neighborhood in which the Mathers settled has been building up rapidly, and is adorned with handsome resi- dences. The Ogontz Seminary for Young La- dies, the Cheltenham Academy for Boys, as well as many private holdings including the John Wanamaker tract and others, are a part of the original Mather homestead, as is also the home- stead property of the present Isaac Mather.
The present Isaac Mather was born in White- marsh township, October 27, 1806, the eldest son of John and Martha (Potts) Mather. He ac- quired his education in the common schools of that day, and subsequently attended a private school at Gwynedd which was taught by Joseph Foulke, and was known as Gwynedd Friends' Boarding School, which was attended by many outside of the Society of Friends, drawn to it on account of its wide reputation for thoroughness and the enforcement of discipline. When Isaac Mather had completed his school studies he learned the trade of a miller with his uncle, Charles Mather, at what was known as Mather's Mill, near where the borough of Ambler is now located. He continued in that business until
1841, conducting successfully for many years a milling business on Washington Lane, in the township of Cheltenham. Since 1841 he has de- voted his attention entirely to agricultural pur- suits, residing on the old homestead near Jenkin- town.
Isaac Mather married, May 13, 1830, Ann L. Hallowell, who was born in the same year with himself ( 1806) on September 23. She was a daughter of Israel and Mary (Jarrett) Hallo- well. Three children were born of this union : I. Martha, born First-mo. 31, 1833. 2. Israel H., born Fifth-mo. 9, 1834, who married Sarah C. Lloyd, daughter of John and Sidnea Lloyd, and to them were born two children: (a) Annie M., who married Charles Jarrett, and to them were born five children-Samuel M., Martha M., Caroline, Charles, and Isaac M .; (b) Howard, who married Caroline Yerkes, and to them were born three children-Sarah C., Franklin H., and Emily T. Sarah C. (Lloyd) Mather died Fourth-mo. 22, 1867, and Israel H. Mather mar- ried (second) Hannah Larzelere, daughter of Nicholas and Esther Larzelere, and to them was born one child, Esther L .; she married Franklin Shelby, and to them were born two children- Franklin and Hannah L. 3. Isaac P. Mather, born Ninth-mo. 14, 1848.
The parents of this family, Isaac and Ann L. (Hallowell) Mather, lived together in affection- ate companionship for more than a half century. It was given them to have their lives extended over the most remarkable period in the world's history. They witnessed the beginning and de- velopment of much that now enters into modern life. In their young married life there was no cooking stove or sewing machine, and in many homes the spinning wheel was still used. In the field was no reaper, and grain was cut with the cradle, and threshed with the flail. For travel there was only the horse, for there was no rail- road. The newspaper and the magazine were only seen in the cities, and the family library comprised a few books. In 1804 the Jenkintown library was started. Mr. Mather bought a share in 1827, and is still a member. He was always
186
MONTGOMERY COUNTY.
a great reader, and very much interested in the library, being president a considerable portion of the time.
Mr. Mather suffered a sad bereavement in the death of his estimable wife, who peacefully passed away on July 4, 1882, in her seventy-sixth year. She was a perfect type of the Christian wife and mother, and her life was in all things an example of true womanhood. She was a modest, sincere and consistent member and elder of the Abington Friends' Meeting, in which her husband has been during all his life an active member, and for the greater part of the time an elder. His life, now prolonged far past the scrip- tural limit, notwithstanding his sorrows, has been blessed. He has enjoyed to the present time good health, retaining his mental faculties to a remark- able degree. Ever held in affection and rever- ence by a large circle of friends, his cheeriness of spirit has never forsaken him, and now, in the far-spent evening of life, he looks forward with unfaltering faith to
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.