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 37
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Jonathan Custer (grandfather) lived in Berks county and died there in middle life, leaving a family of seven sons and three daughters. He was a farmer by occupation. Mr. Custer was of Swed- ish descent and belonged to the same family as General Custer, who perished in a fight with Indians in the west. The name was originally spelle:1 Koster.
The maternal grandfather, Kinzer, was a na- tive of Lancaster county and was of German de- scent. He owned a large farm and was a man of considerable prominence, holding several public offices. He and his wife died advanced in years, leaving a large family.
Horace A. Custer has lived in Pottstown all his life. He attended the public schools and the Hill school at Pottstown, took a position in the store with his father, and succeeded him in the business after his death. He has been at his present location No. 231 High street, for thirty five years. He was one of the original members of the Goodwill Fire Company and its first sec- retary, and he served as one of the building com- mittee for the erection of the fine new building of the Goodwill Company on Hanover and Queen streets.
In 1863 he enlisted in Company F, Twenty- sixth Pennsylvania Emergency Regiment, and served during the Gettysburg campaign. He afterwards enlisted in Company F, One Hun- dred and Ninety-seventh Regiment, serving five months. He was discharged at the expiration of his term of service. Mr. Custer was in the ranks. After the war he returned to the book business in which he is still engaged.
On September 24, 1874, he married Miss Elizabeth Shaffer of Reading, daughter of Jacob and Mary (Baum) Shaffer. They had one son, Clarence, who died at the age of twenty years. They reside at No. 350 Walnut street.
Mr. Custer is a member of the Lutheran church, and his wife of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is also a member of the vestry. Mr. Custer is also a member of Stichter Lodge, No. 254, Free and Accepted Masons, of Pottstown Chapter, and of Nativity Commandery. He has been a Mason since 1867. Mr. Custer was one of the charter members of Graham Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He is a member of the Benevolent Order of Elks.
Politically he is a Republican and was burgess of Pottstown one term, from March 4, 1900, to March 4, 1903. In view of the large Democratic majority in that borough, this is a strong proof of his popularity. He was also a member of the
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board of school directors for eleven years. His father also served as burgess of Pottstown many years ago and theirs is the only case on record where father and son have filled the same office.
MAJOR THOMAS CAPNER STEELE was born in Flemington, New Jersey, January 5, 1841. He is the son of John Dutton and Eliza- beth (Capner) Steele. His father was a native of Pennsylvania and his mother of New Jersey. They had seven children, three sons and four daughters, four now living, as follows: Major Thomas Capner Steele ; Elizabeth Capner, wife of Frank E. Brakett, of Cumberland, Maryland ; Edith Dutton Steele, of Philadelphia : and John Hall Steele, of Philadelphia.
John Dutton Steele (father) was born in West Bradford township, Chester county, March 18. 1810, and died June 13, 1886, aged seventy-six years. He was a civil engineer all his business life, but was reared on a farm. He removed from Chester county to Pottstown in 1846 and lived there until his death. His wife was born April 2, 1809, and died April 24, 1882, at the age of seventy-three years. She was a Unitarian, as was also her husband. He was not a soldier but was very active in the war of the Rebellion as a consulting engineer for the government in keep- ing the railroads in repair.
John Dutton Steele (grandfather) was born in Cheshire, England, and came to America in 1795, locating at Whitemarsh, Montgomery county, but removing in 1805 to West Bradford, Chester county, where he died September 16, 1866, aged ninety-three years. His wife was Ann Exton, who was born in 1785 and died in 1859. They had nine children. He was one of the board of di- rectors in the Germantown Turnpike Company as well as the founder of the Perkiomen Turnpike Company. He represented Chester county in the state legislature. His father was George Steele, born at Cheshire, England, in 1737.
Thomas Capner (maternal grandfather) was born at Temple Mills, Lancashire, England, and came to America about the time of the Revolution. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and died soon after at Flemington, New Jersey. He was a
farmer. The name was originally Capnerhurst, but on coming of age he dropped the last syllable. His wife was Mary Choyce, of Leicestershire, England. He died at the age of forty-five years and his wife survived him, living to be sixty years of age. They had six children.
Major Thomas C. Steele was reared in Chester county and in Pottstown, having spent most of his life in Pottstown since he was five years old. He attended the Pottstown schools and Haverford College in Delaware county, graduating in 1859. He entered the engineer corps of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, remaining in this position until 1862. He enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventy-fifth Pennsylvania Regiment, Twentieth Corps, and served principally in North Carolina. He afterwards commanded Company H and was in the battle of Newbern.
After the war he again entered the service of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and served with that company until 1876 when he went to Sterling, New York, and took charge of develop- ing some iron-ore mines there. On his return he was chief assistant engineer in charge of the con- struction of Nesquehoning Valley Railroad and Nesquchoning tunnel in Carbon county and later was chief assistant engineer on the construction of the Berks County Railroad. After the comple- tion of this road he entered the service of the United States government in exploring the ex- treme northwest, in light house and buoy duty on the northwest coast, where he lived three years. He returned to Pottstown and was engaged with the Pottstown Iron Company until 1893. since which time he has lived retired.
January 18, 1866, he married Lydia Man- chester Hart, of Reading, daughter of Asa and Susan B. ( Mayer) Hart. They had three chil- dren : John Dutton Steele, Asa Manchester Steele and Esther Clarkson Mayer Steele. John Dutton Steele married Edith Caldwell Williamson, on April 15. 1903. The other two children reside in Philadelphia. Mrs. Lydia M. Steele died Febru- ary 14. 1887, at the age of forty-one years. She was a member of the Episcopal church.
October 21. 1891, Major Steele married (second wife) Ann Hunter Neide, daughter of
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Joseph Neide and Rebecca Shafer Neide. They have one daughter, Rebecca Neide Steele. Major Steele and his wife are members of the Episcopal church.
Major Steele was quartermaster of the Sixth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia during the whole of the Spanish-American war. Polit- ically he is a Republican and is a member of the town council of Pottstown, representing the fourth ward.
REV. O. P. SMITH, D. D., pastor of the Lu- theron Church of the Transfiguration, Pottstown, was born in New Tripoli township, Lehigh coun- ty, Pennsylvania, September 4, 1848. He is the son of Frederick and Mary Margaret (Schwab) Smith, natives of Bavaria, Germany. They had six children, four sons and two daughters, four now living, as follows : Louisa, widow of Robert L. Roberts, of Bangor, Pennsylvania ; Henry S., of Bethlehem; Theodore S., of Allentown, Penn- sylvania ; and Rev. O. P. Smith. The first named is a mechanical engineer connected with the Bethlehem Steel Company, and Theodore S. is a music dealer and a musician of considerable note. He is an organist and chorister of Tripoli and is prominently connected with music circles in his part of the state. His daughter, Ida Minerva Smith, has attained considerable fame as a violin- ist. She was educated in the Conservatory of Music at Boston and at her graduation the faculty presented her with a special seal in addition to her diploma, in recognition of her superior merit and skill as a violinist.
Frederick Smith (father) was a parochial school teacher and organist in New Tripoli town- ship for forty-five years. He came to America in 1830 when a young man, living in Philadelphia one year. He was a teacher and organist there. He then removed to New Tripoli where he en- gaged in teaching music for forty-five years. He also served as church organist, was a parochial school teacher and was a scrivener, who executed many deeds, wrote wills and prepared other papers of like character for the people of his com- munity. He was recognized in his locality as a man of strong character and sterling worth.
He died in Tripoli in 1875, at the age of seventy- three years. His wife died two weeks before his death, at the age of seventy-two years.
Frederick Smith (grandfather) was a teacher and an organist in Germany and died in that country.
The maternal grandfather of Rev. O. P. Smith was born in Bavaria, Germany. He conducted a distillery in that country and died of apoplexy at the age of forty-five years.
Dr. O. P. Smith was reared at New Tripoli and received his elementary education in the dis- trict schools of the neighborhood. He then at- tended Muhlenberg. College at Allentown, gradu- ating in June, 1871. He spent three years at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and was ordained a minister in the city of Lan- caster, June 3, 1874.
His first pastorate was at Trappe in Montgom- ery county, and while living at Trappe he also served the St. James congregation at Limerick and the Jerusalem congregation at Schwenksville. He continued with these three congregations for fifteen years. In May, 1889, he removed to Potts- town and took charge of the Church of the Trans- figuration there, of which he is at present the pastor. The membership of his congregation is. about four hundred and fifty.
June 24. 1874, he married Laura A. Barnes, daughter of Ezra and Caroline (Starr) Barnes. Mrs. Laura Smith died in 1884, aged thirty-six years.
October 21. 1887, Dr. Smith married Mary M. Hobson, daughter of Frank M. and Elizabeth (Gotwals) Hobson. They had two sons, Francis H. and Oliver .H.
Politically Rev. Smith is a Democrat. He is connected with the Lutheran Theological Sem- inary at Mount Airy, Philadelphia. and has been secretary of the board for fourteen years. He is a member of the English home mission board of North America and has been for eighteen years. He has served as president of the Philadelphia and Norristown conferences and on a number of important committees in church work. ยท
When a young man he taught three terms in the public schools and during his college course-
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gave instruction in the German language in con- nection with the public schools of the city of Al- lentown. He also taught in the Washington Hall Institute at Trappe. For a number of years he preached in both the German and English lan- guages but of late confines himself entirely to the English language. He has done much effective work in behalf of the church and has promoted its material as well as spiritual growth. Through his instrumentality the church at Trappe was re- modeled at a cost of seven thousand dollars ; the St. James church was erected, costing nine thou- sand ; a new church was built at Schwenksville, at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars ; the parsonage at Pottstown was built for ten thousand dollars ; and the Pottstown Church of the Transfiguration was remodeled at a cost of thirteen thousand dollars. During the summer of 1903 Dr. Smith made an extended tour through England, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and Holland, and was greatly benefited by the trip, gaining in health as well as in knowledge of the old world and its peoples.
Mrs. Mary M. Smith's parents were natives of Montgomery county, her father of Limerick and her mother of Lower Providence township. They had two children : Freeland G. Hobson and Mary M. Frank M. Hobson was a general mer- chant at Collegeville for twenty-six years. The history of the Hobson family may be found in connection with the sketch of Freeland G. Hobson in this book.
REV. L. KRYDER EVANS, D. D., pastor of Trinity Reformed church, Pottstown, and the oldest continuous pastor in Pottstown, was born near Spring Mills, Gregg township, Centre county, Pennsylvania, December 20, 1839. He is the son of James G. and Rebecca ( Kryder) Evans, natives of Centre county. They had three chil- dren : Rev. L .. Kryder Evans ; J. Wells Evans, of Spring Mills; and Rev. John M. Evans, of Oak Ridge, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania.
James G. Evans (father) was reared on his father's farm. He learned the trade of a plasterer, which he followed until the year 1852, when he bought his father's farm. He died in 1899, at
the age of eighty-seven years. His wife still sur- vives. Both were members of the Reformed church. He was township assessor and school director for several years.
Lott Evans (grandfather) was born August 2, 1782, near Joanna Station in Berks county, Pennsylvania. He removed to Centre county when a young man. For a period he was a clerk in the store of John Irvin. Later he engaged in farming, finally purchasing and settling on a farm near Spring Mills, where he spent the remainder of his days. For a number of years he was a jus- tice of the peace. His wife was Jane Usher. He died at the age of sixty-eight years and seven months. He had twelve children. His father was John Evans, a Revolutionary soldier. The family are of Welsh descent.
Mary Evans (sister of paternal great-grand- father) was married to James Watson. They had four children, one of whom, Ann, was married to Johan Irvin, Sr. These were the parents of Gen- eral James Irvin. From their descendants, through intermarriage, came some of the most distinguished citizens of Centre county, soldiers, jurists and statesmen: The Watsons, the Penn- ingtons, the Irvins, the Greggs and the Curtins ; names that not only adorn the history of their na- tive county, but shed a lustre on the history of our republic.
HON. JACOB KRYDER (maternal grandfather) was born near Mifflinburg, Union county, Penn- sylvania. He married Margaret Elizabeth Neidig and spent his life in farming. He died at the age of seventy-eight years. The couple had thirteen children. He resided near Milheim, Centre county, on a farm, and reared a family of ten children.
Jacob Kryder was a member of the second constitutional convention of Pennsylvania. He also represented Centre county in the legislature and served ten years as associate judge of courts at Bellefonte. He was a Democrat of the "Jack- son" type, a most worthy, influential and highly esteemed citizen.
MARGARET ELIZABETH NEIDIG, wife of Jacob Kryder ( maternal grandfather) was a daughter of Solomon Neidig and Catharine (Clay) Neidig.
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Solomon came from the Palatinate, Germany. He first settled in Exeter township, Berks county, but later removed to the lower end of Penns Valley, Centre county, near Woodward, where he pur- chased a large tract of land, which he cleared and settled there.
JOHN KRYDER (maternal great-grandfather) was born in 1739, and died March 10, 1813. His wife was Angelia Fox, who was a redemptioner and came from Germany. She was born in 1743 and died January 18, 1821. John Kryder came from Germany and served in the French and In- dian war.
Rev. L. Kryder Evans, D. D., spent his boy- hood days on the farm at Spring Mills, attended the district schools and later the Aaronsburg Academy, under Professor J. I. Burrell. He taught in the public school in Brush Valley one winter and in Zion two winters. The latter vil- lage is about five miles east of Bellefonte. He taught school during the winter and was em- ployed on the farm during the summer.
During the summer of 1860 he attended Fair- view Seminary, Nittany Valley, and in the fall of that year entered the freshman class of Frank- lin and Marshall College, at Lancaster, graduat- . ing in 1864. with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was the valedictorian of the class. In the summer of 1863 he taught one session at the Boalsburg Academy, Centre county. In the fall of 1864 he entered the Theological Seminary of the Reformed church then located at Mercers- burg, Pennsylvania, remaining there until the end of the session of 1865. He taught the Oley Academy at Friedensburg, Berks county, during the spring and summer of 1865. In September he went to Germany and spent two years at the universities there: six months in the University of Berlin, six months at the University at Bonn and one year at the University of Tuebingen. He returned home in September, 1867, was examined by West Susquehanna Classis at Boalsburg, Penn- sylvania, October 29, 1867, and licensed to preach. He accepted a call to the Reformed church of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in December, 1867, and served a pastorate of four years. During his pastorate at Williamsport he also supplied at
stated times three other congregations, one in Nippenose valley, one in White Deer valley, and the third in Black Hole valley, all in Lycoming county. In the spring of 1871 he received and accepted a call from Trinity Reformed church, Pottstown, and entered upon his pastorate there December 10, 1871, where he still continues in that position. The membership of his church is about nine hundred. His degree of Doctor of Divinity was given him by Franklin and Mar- shall College, in June, 1899. Dr. Evans served three years as school director, has contributed some articles for the press, and for a year was associated with the faculty of the Hill school at Pottstown, teaching a class in German. He also prepared a number of young persons for college.
On October 28, 1875, he married Miss Ella V. Longaker, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Boyer) Longaker, at Norristown. They have two children: Anna R. and Daniel Longaker Evans.
Daniel L. Evans is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, and at present a student in the law department of the University of Penn- sylvania. Miss Anna R. Evans is a graduate of Pottstown high school, and also completed a course at Wilson College, Chambersburg. She was organist at Trinity Reformed church, Potts- town, for a number of years. On the 18th day of June, 1903, she was married to Dr. Frederick W. VanBuskirk, a young physician of Pottstown, where she now resides.
DR. HOWARD Y. NEIMAN, of 310 Evans street, Pottstown, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, June 3, 1859. He is the son of Frederick W. and Charlotte R. (Yorgey) Nei- man, both natives of Berks county. They had seven children, four now living : Sarah Ann, wife of Esquire H. S. Sassaman, of Pottstown; Leah Y., widow of William K. Ludy, of Pottstown ; Dr. Howard Y. Neiman ; and Cordelia, wife of James M. Mohl, of Pottstown.
Frederick W. Neiman (father) was a miller in Montgomery county and later in Berks county, following his occupation at Colebrookdale Sta- tion until his death, May 21, 1883, aged seventy
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years. He was a member of the state militia, be- longing to Captain Bradford's Rifle Company. He was school director and held various local offices in his township. His wife still survives at the age of eighty-three years. He and his wife were both members of the English Reformed church.
Peter Neiman (grandfather) was born in Montgomery county. He was a farmer and a hatter and served in the war of 1812. His wife died at the age of forty-five years but he lived to be seventy. They had eleven children.
Carl Neiman (great-grandfather) was the first of this branch of the family in America. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, coming to this country and settling in New Hanover township about 1756. He engaged in farming until the Revolutionary war. He served under Washing- ton for seven years and was present at the sur- render of Lord Cornwallis at New York. His wife was Sophia Neiman and they had seven children.
Jacob R. Yorgey (maternal grandfather) was born on a farm in Berks county, where he lived all of his life and died at the age of eighty-seven years. His wife was Sarah Reifsnyder, who died when she was seventy-two years of age. They had seven children, three sons and four daughters.
Dr. Howard Y. Neiman lived in Berks county during the early part of his life, attending the public schools, Mount Pleasant Seminary, at Boyertown, and Oley Academy, at Greensburg, before entering Kutztown State Normal School where he studied two years. Before and during the time he spent in that institution, he taught three terms of school. In 1876 he began the study of medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Phil- adelphia, where he was graduated after a three years' course, receiving the degree of M. D. He began the practice of his profession in Norris- town, but eighteen months later he removed to the west end of Montgomery county, where he re- mained until 1886. Since that time he has prac- ticed very successfully in Pottstown.
In addition to his large general practice he is on the staff of physicians and surgeons of the Pottstown Hospital, and is highly regarded by
all who know him. Dr. Neiman belongs to the Montgomery County Medical Society and to the Pennsylvania State Medical Society. He is an earnest student of his profession and stands high among the physicians of the county. He is a member and medical examiner of the Ancient Order of Foresters, of the Improved Order of Heptasophis, also medical examiner of the New York Life Insurance Company and the Mutual Continental Life Insurance Company, and is phy- sician by appointment to the poor of the city. In the fall of 1894 he was appointed on the board of the officers of the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia.
He belongs to the order of Forestry, Court Sylvan, No. 68; to Mount Vernon Conclave, No. 153. Improved Order of Heptasophs; to the Pa- triotic Order Sons of America; and the Junior Order of Hibernians, of which he has been sec- retary for several years. In politics he is a Re- publican and was school director while living in Upper Pottsgrove township.
On September 7, 1878, he married Miss Mary Ada Bickel, daughter of Samuel B. and Sophia (Emery) Bickel, of Norristown. They had one son, Frederick B., now living at Phoenixville. He married Maud, daughter of Harry Brownback. On May 18, 1899, Dr. Neiman married Miss Lizzie R. Bhaer, of Leesport, daughter of Henry G. and Elizabeth (Lenhart) Bhaer. Dr. Neiman and his wife are members of the English Trinity Reformed church of Pottstown.
WILLIAM P. BACH, postmaster of Potts- town, was born in Germantown, Philadelphia, September 20, 1845. He is the son of Francis S. and Mary P. (Price) Bach, the former a na- tive of Bucks county and the latter of Chester county, Pennsylvania. They had five children, two sons and three daughters, as follows : Eliza- beth P., wife of Aaron S. Burns, of Frick's Lock, Pennsylvania ; William P., of Pottstown; Irvin P., of Peoria, Illinois, manager of the Central tel- ephone : Emma P., wife of Aaron Hartenstine, of Pottstown; and Rebecca P., wife of Allen Davis, of Norristown.
Francis S. Bach ( father) was a carpenter by
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trade, spending most of his life in Germantown where he died in 1883, at the age of sixty-two years. His wife is now living in Norristown, at the age of eighty-four years. They were both members of the German Baptist Brethren church. In politics he was an ardent Republican. Dur- ing the Civil war he served twice in the emer- gency call.
The paternal grandfather was also a carpen- ter and worked at his trade until his death at the age of eighty-six years. He was a native of Bucks county, but was of German descent. He had six children.
John Price (maternal grandfather) was a na- tive of Chester county. He was a prominent min- ister of the Brethren church. His wife was Mary Rinehart and he was the father of twelve children.
The great-grandfather was George Price. The founder of the Price family in America was John Price, who spelled his name Priez. He came to this country from Germany and located in Bucks county.
William P. Bach was reared on a farm in Chester county, south of Pottstown. He attended the district schools and later what is now known as the Hill school, Pottstown, which at that time was a boarding school, conducted by Professor Matthew Meigs. In 1862 he enlisted in Company H, Sixty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infan- try. He served as a private twenty-one months, when he was discharged on account of wounds. At the battle of Fredericksburg he was wounded in the right hand, and at the battle of Gettysburg in the left leg and right foot, these being the only two engagements in which he took part.
After the war he carried on the harness busi- ness in Pottstown for thirty-seven years and still has an interest in that business, which is now managed by his son William P.
On June 30, 1866, he married Miss Elizabeth May, daughter of Thomas May. They had seven children, four sons and three daughters, as fol- lows: George, Percy, William, Harry, Evelyn, Blanche and one who died in infancy. George is a conductor on a street railway in Camden. He married Orpha Rhoads. Percy died aged seven
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