USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Commemorative biographical encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania : containing sketches of prominent and representative citizens and many of the early Scotch-Irish and German settlers. Pt. 2 > Part 18
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Will C. Erb enjoyed the best educational advantages. He attended the schools of Cornwall, Meyerstown, Lebanon, Palmyra and Millersville. He taught school in Corn- wall township, Lebanon county, Pa., for eight years, and was a successful and popu- lar teacher. In 1873 he removed to Dau- phin county, and located at Hockersville, where he went into the mercantile business,
and speedily built up a large trade, which extended throughout the township. He opened the Hockersville House, and became a successful and popular proprietor. The wants of his guests were promptly and lib- erally met. He was courteous and hospit- able, and his house became well known and deservedly popular.
In 1873 he was married, at Hockersville, to Lavina L. Hocker, born in Hockersville, the daughter of Jacob Hocker, the oldest resident of the village. They have had five children : Edna C., school teacher; A. Jennie, at home; I. Clarence, clerk in his father's store; Elmer E., at school; Ammon R., died young. Mrs. Erb died in 1882, after a pro- tracted illness. In 1885 Mr. Erb was mar- ried again, to Laura E. Saylor, born in Ann- ville, Pa., daughter of John L. and Ellen (Freylinghausen) Saylor, both natives of Lan- caster county. Mr. Saylor is a prominent man- ufacturer of carriages, etc., of Annville, Pa., and a highly respected resident of that place. Two children were born of this marriage, Clyde S. and Pearl M., both attending school. Mr. Erb is a Republican, and is holding the office of postmaster, being ap- pointed under the Cleveland administration. He is also county auditor, and was also tax collector and town clerk for about eightcon years. He is a member of the Reformed church, which the family attend at Hum- melstown. He has spent the past twenty- three years at Hockersville, and is well and widely known and highly respected by all.
+ WALTON, ALLEN K., stone merchant, Hum- melstown, Pa., was born in Philadelphia, Pa., November 11, 1860. He is a son of Allen and Emma J. (Kohlenkamp) Walton. His parents removed, when he was a small boy, to Hummelstown, Dauphin county, Pa., where he was educated in the common schools. At the age of eighteen he became interested with his father in the stone quarry. He has continued in this business up to the present time. He was married, November 17, 1885, to Miss Caroline, daughter of Charles and Sophia (Seiffert) Goehmann. After their marriage they took up their resi- dence in the beautiful house in Hummels- town built by Mr. Walton in 1884. They have three children : Allen G., Lillie S. and Caroline E. Mr. Walton is a strong Repub- lican. He is an active member of the Lu- theran church at Hummelstown.
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BALSBAUGH, URIAH, teller, National Bank, Hummelstown, Pa., was born in Derry town- ship, Dauphin county, Pa., December 27, 1856. His father, John Balsbaugh, was born in Derry township, in 1809, and was a son of Abraham Balsbaugh, also a native of the county, of German descent. John Balsbaugh attended the subscription schools of his township. He began his business career by working on the farm for his father, and made farming his life occupation. He be- came a large landholder. He owned over five hundred acres, on which he built some fine brick dwellings and frame houses, some of the finest in the township. He expended many thousands of dollars in improvements, valuable and substantial, on his farms. These improvements are monuments of his zeal and devotion in making Derry township to lead all other townships in the county. He was also interested in the Union Furnace Works, and was one of the first promoters of that industry. He gave attention to raising fine live stock, and was one of the first farmers to build lime kilns and manufacture lime for use as a fertilizer. He married Catherine Landis, born in 1810, daughter of Christian Landis. They had ten children : Christian, retired farmer, living in Hun- melstown; Jeremiah, retired farmer, also of Hummelstown; John, an extensive farmer and stockman of Lebanon county; Carrie, wife of George Green, architect and builder, Harrisburg ; Uriah ; Abraham, Sarah and Elizabeth, deceased; and two who died in infancy. Mr. Balsbaugh died, in Hummels- town, in 1883. His name still lives, and will long be cherished in the hearts of those who knew him. In all the relations of life he was a true man. He greatly benefitted the community by his useful life and the display of his virtues. His wife died at the home of her son, Uriah Balsbaugh, June 5, 1895. .
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Uriah Balsbaugh attended the district schools and also graduated from the Hum- melstown high school, after which he learned coach making with the firm of Bear & Hov- erter, with whom he spent the first ten years of his business life. In 1878 he took a busi- ness course in the famous Poughkeepsie Commercial College, N. Y., and was graduated from that institution in 1879. He then ob- tained a position as clerk in the Hummels- town National Bank, which he held for three years. In 1883 he was elected teller of the bank, a position of trust and responsibility,
the duties of which he has performed with credit to himself and satisfaction to the direc- tors of the bank for the past thirteen years. Mr. Balsbaugh is active in the Republican party. He is at present a school director. He is a teacher in the Sunday-school. He is a member of State Capital Lodge, No. 70, I. O. O. F., past officer ; Robert Burns Lodge, No. 464, F. & A. M., past master ; and of Jr. O. U. A. M., Council No. 40, Hummelstown. He is unmarried and is a well-known and popular man.
-CRIST, DR. JOSIAH B., dentist, office No. 13 North Third street, Harrisburg, residence and office in Hummelstown, Pa., was born on the Jonestown Road, Lebanon county, Pa., April 25, 1841. He is a son of Elias and Lucy (Yingst) Crist. Elias Crist, son of George Crist, of Lebanon county, and of Irish descent, was a tailor ; this was his vocation throughout life. He resided in Lebanon county, and died there in 1848. He was a Democrat, and well and favorably known in that section of the country. His wife, Lucy Yingst, of Lebanon county, was of German descent. Their children were : Lydia, wife of Levi Plough, contractor and builder, North Lebanon, Pa .; Josiah B., and Elias, who died young. After the death of her first husband Mrs. Crist married Chester Howetter. They had one daughter, Louisa, wife of Charles Alleman. Mrs. Howetter died in Lebanon, Pa., in 1881.
Josiah B. Crist was but seven years old when his father died. His uncle, who was also his godfather, cared for him and gave him a home. In return, he worked on the farm in summer, attending school during the winter months. At ten years of age he met with a painful accident. While work- ing in a field with a fractious horse he had his foot broken. He set the bones himself and was helped to the house by a friendly Irishman who happened to pass. The Doc- tor has never forgotten the kindness of that Jrishman. He remained with his foster father for seven years, after which he was hired as laborer by another farmer for three years. In the meantime he was improving every opportunity for gaining information and preparing for life's battles. He worked on the canals for six months, and spent a short time at cabinet making but his health failing while engaged in the latter occupa- tion he abandoned it. He was employed in coach making for ten years. While thus en-
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gaged the war of the Rebellion broke out. On September 18, 1861, he enlisted at Leb- anon, Pa., in company K, Ninety-third regi- ment, Pennsylvania volunteers, Colonel Mc- Carter and Captain E. Dougherty. He was in the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862, of Fair Oaks, and the Seven Days' fight. On the way to Richmond with the army he was attacked with typhoid fever and was in the hospital for six months. At the end of eleven months' service he was discharged at Baltimore, in 1862. He enlisted for two months in company F, State militia, in which he was quartermaster's sergeant.
He had a strong desire to enter professional life, so he began to prepare for the practice of dentistry. He studied under Dr. Bousel, a well-known dentist, and other instructors. In September, 1864, he came to Hummels- town and opened an office. He had neither money nor friends, but he had pluck and ambition and a strong determination to suc- cecd. He lived for several months on two meals a day, and walked to and from Leba- non because he was not able to pay railroad fare. Soon the coveted success came. Peo- ple discovered that the young dentist had not only resolution and perseverance, but fine ability and skill as well; that he was reliable and thoroughly competent in his profession. A large and lucrative practice was established. In 1883 he determined to extend his field of operations, and he opened an office in Harrisburg and devotes a part of his time every week to his patrons and patients in that city. Dr. Crist displays originality in his profession ; he is the in- ventor of new and valuable methods and appliances ; he first invented the crown tooth to take the place of the wooden peg, and holds a patent right on several new instru- ments which facilitate the work of dentistry. He made the first chair he used in his prac- tice and also many of his own instruments. He also studied watchmaking, and has a buggy in his possession constructed accord- ing to a plan original with himself.
Several of the students who received in- struction from him have become eminent in their profession ; for example, Dr. Wall, of Hummelstown, who was one of his students and is now a dentist in London, and who has had the honor of operating on Her Majesty Queen Victoria.
Dr. Crist was married, in 1864, to Amanda Bosser, of Annville, Lebanon county, Pa. They have had eight children: Isorah,
widow of M. Grove, coach trimmer, of IIum- melstown, has one child, named for his father, and resides with her father, Dr. Crist; Will, at the College of Dentistry, Philadel- phia, a young man of good habits and bright professional promise; Annie and Abbie, both deceased ; Ray, dentist, with his father; Bessie, a student in the high school; and two who died in infancy. Mrs. Crist died of heart failure, September 2, 1883. She was an estimable woman, of benevolent and friendly disposition, well known and universally loved and respected. Her death cast a gloom upon the town. In 1890 Dr. Crist married Mary Aucherman; they have no children. .
Dr. Crist is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the G. A. R., Post 58, Harrisburg, and a Republican in politics; he is a member of the Lutheran church, is a Sunday-school teacher, and was for years superintendent of the Sunday- school. He attends to his patients in Hum- melstown on Mondays and Thursdays, and is found on the other days of the week at Harrisburg. He has been successful to a gratifying degree during his thirty years' residence at Hummelstown, and has accum- ulated a handsome property. He owns four dwelling houses and has other valuable in- vestments. His best attainments are his professional reputation and his good name.
Fox, WILLIAM R., of the firm of Walmer & Fox, carriage manufacturers, Hummels- town, Pa., was born in Derry township, Sep- tember 3, 1853. He is a son of Richard and Rachel A. (Patton) Fox. Richard Fox was born in Derry township, a son of Thomas Fox, a sketch of whom appears in this vol- ume in connection with that of Dr. Thomas Fox. He had a common school education. He was a farmer, and largely interested in stock raising. He was a member of the Lutheran church, and Republican in poli- tics. He was a director in the Merchants' Bank, of Harrisburg; was a prominent and successful business man, of worth and popu- larity. IIe was first married to Rachel A. Patton, who died at the age of twenty-two. Her children were: William R .; George, time-keeper at the quarry in Hummels- town; Jonas and David, who both died young. Mr. Fox's second marriage was with Adelaide Heinicke, of Harrisburg, by whom also he had four children : Annie, wife of E. Einstein, merchant, of Harris-
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burg; Mary, unmarried; Richard W., of of Lebanon county, who died December 17, Harrisburg; Elizabeth, wife of William 1855. Their children are: Annie, Mrs. II. B. Houck, of Hummelstown, and Josiah, of Hummelstown. He was reared in the Men- nonite church. Wallin, Philadelphia. Richard Fox died in 1874; his wife survives him, residing in Harrisburg.
William Robinson Fox attended the schools of Hummelstown, and remained upon the homestead farm until he was twenty years of age, when he removed to Hummelstown, and bought the carriage manufactory of William Walmer, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. He conducted the business for one year, and then sold a half interest to William Wal- mer, establishing the firm of Walmer & Fox, under whose management the business has been extended and made very profitable. Mr. Fox was married, in 1875, in Hummels- town, to Mary E., daughter of Samuel Wal- mer, and sister of his partner, William Wal- mer. Their children are: Marion V., born in 1876; Anna L., in 1878, and William W., in 1883. Mr. Fox is a Republican. He was a member of the town council for six years, and auditor for three years. He is a mem- ber of the Lutheran church. He is a man of good business ability, genial and popular, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of his neighbors.
- BURKHOLDER, MICHAEL K., Hummels- town, Pa., was born in South Annville town- ship, Lebanon county, Pa., March 4, 1830 ; son of Ulrich and Polly (Koffman) Burk- holder. Michael K. was reared and educated in Lebanon county, where he also taught school for seven terms. He was engaged in the grain business at Palmyra for six years, and in February, 1868, moved to Hummels- town, where he opened a grain and coal business, in which he continued until 1892, when he retired and was succeeded by his son. . Since that time he has conducted the "Royal Oak" mill at Union Deposit, in con- nection with F. H. Stouffer. He also con- ducts a farm in Lebanon county and is a breeder of Ilolstein cattle. Mr. Burkholder is one of the charter members and a stock- holder and director of the Farmers' Bank, and is a stockholder and charter member of the Electric Light Company. In his political views he is a Republican, and was a member of the borough council and also a member of the school board. Mr. Burkholder was married, in 1853, to Miss Barbara Ann Reish,
- BLESSING, FRANK D., merchant, Hum- melstown, Pa., was born in Derry township, Dauphin county, Pa., December 20, 1852; son of Absalom and Mary Blessing. The first of the family in the county was Chris- tian Blessing, a native of Germany, who settled in Derry township, at an early day, where he took up a tract of land. His son, Christian Blessing, was born in Germany and came in his youth with his parents and became a farmer in Derry township. He was a member of the Lutheran church.
Absalom Blessing, father of Frank D., was born in Derry township in 1801, and died December 31, 1891. He was a stone mason and followed that occupation. In political views he was a Democrat, and in religious faith and fellowship a Lutheran, in which connection he was active and liberal, and contributed to the erection of the Sand Hill church. His wife survives him. . They reared ten children: Mary, wife of Heury Aldinger, of Conewago township; John, stone mason at Lebanon ; Rebecca, Mrs. Joseph Riddle, Hummelstown; Frank D .; Daniel D., Hummelstown; Elizabeth, Mrs. John Smith, of Londonderry township; Sarah, Mrs. John B. Nye, Hummelstown; John, married Amelia Hatton; David, un- married, and two children, who died in in- fancy.
Frank D. was reared in Derry township and attended the township schools. He was engaged in farming until 1875, when he became a clerk in a store, where he remained five years, and in 1879 he opened a general store, which he has since conducted. He is a member of Harrisburg Lodge, No. 68, 1. O. O. F., and of the P. O. S. of A. at Ium. melstown. In politics he is a Democrat and has served in the borough council. Mr.
Blessing was first married to Catherine. daughter of Jacob B. Hummel, who died, leaving one child, Olive. For his second wife he married Miss Sabina A. Hoffer, daughter of Christian Hoffer, of Hummels- town, by whom he has one child, Edwin Hoffer. Mr. Blessing is a member of the Lutheran church, in which he formerly was a deacon.
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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
HUMMEL, VALENTINE, son of Frederick Hummel (2d) and Regina Ricker, was born February 7, 1787, at Hummelstown, Dauphin county, Pa. The education he received was quite limited, only such as was afforded by the country schools of the time. In 1806 he began as an apprentice to Philip Lee- brick, of Hummelstown, to learn the trade of a saddler. In 1810 he went to Harris- burg, and forming a partnership with Michael Lebkicher, his old shop mate at Hummelstown, began the saddlery and har- ness making business. Messrs. Hummel & Lebkicher subsequently engaged in mer- chandising, the running of saw and grist mills, the lumber trade, and the purchase of land both in the city of Harrisburg and on the Cumberland side of the Susquehanna, until the death of Mr. Lebkicher, when the survivor retired from all active business. Mr. Hummel was elected a representative of Dauphin county to the legislative session of 1822-23, and again in that of 1840. Governor Shulze appointed him one of the associate judges of the county, November 12, 1827, a position he resigned March 20, 1837. Both in the Legislature and while upon the bench Judge Hummel served the public with the same fidelity and honesty of purpose as characterized him and made him remarkable in his private business. For one-third of a century he was a director of the public schools, and at the time of his death a trus- tee of the Harrisburg Academy. A great believer in humane treatment, he advocated, while a member of the school board, the total abolition of corporal punishment, but without success. For many years he had been interested in the old Harrisburg Bank, had served as a director, and at the close of his life was president of that institution. He died at Harrisburg on the 4th of Sep- tember, 1870, in his eighty-fourth year. His wife, Elizabeth Walborn, died October 25, 1867, aged seventy years. Of Judge Hum- mel it may be said, he was a man of great temperateness of habit in all things, was eco- nomical and frugal, unostentatious, and en- joyed life in a calm, quiet, and rational manner.
HUMMEL, FREDERICK, was a native of Pfalz, in Germany, born April 14, 1722. With some friends he came to America about 1738, and subsequently took up a large body of land where Hummelstown is located. In 1762, forcseeing the advantages,
he laid out on a portion of his tract a town, which he named Frederickstown, but was changed upon his death to that now be- stowed upon it. He donated land for the erection of the Lutheran and German Re- formed churches, and erected a school house, directing that English branches should be taught therein. He was an active partici- pant in the French and Indian war, and when the frontiers were setting an example to people of the three original counties to prepare for resistance to British injustice he was chairman of the patriotic meeting of Derry, held at Hummelstown in June, 1774. He died at his residence on the 25th of June, 1775, aged fifty-three years. He was the ancestor of a large family, who can look with pride to the high-born zeal, energy and patriotism of their progenitor. His remains, with those of his wife and children, are in- terred in the Lutheran church graveyard at Hummelstown.
Very little is known of the ancestor, Frederick Hummel, but some insight into his character may be gained from the fol- lowing advice to his children contained in his will: " After this I leave my blessing to them all, and have God before you al- ways, then the Lord and great Jehovah will bless you now and for evermore, Amen."
HUMMEL, VALENTINE, son of Frederick Hummel (grandson of the founder of Hum- melstown) and Susanna Hamaker, was born March 12, 1812, at Hummelstown, Dauphin county, Pa. At the age of thirteen he was sent to Harrisburg, in care of his uncle, Judge Hummel, receiving the benefit of two years' English education in the schools of the borough. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to the printing business, with Jacob Babb, publisher of the German paper, the Morgenrthe. At the age of twen- ty-one Mr. Hummel was taken into partner- ship, and the firm of Babb, Hummel & Bigler were for many years printers for the State and publishers of the German Democratic organ, the Morgenrthe. In 1850 Mr. Hummel was elected register of wills and recorder of deeds for Dauphin county, which office he creditably filled one term. He subsequently engaged in merchandising, in which he continued until a few years be- fore his death. During the Rebellion, dur- ing the invasion of Pennsylvania, he was lieutenant of the Home Guard, Captain Nevin. For several years he was deputy
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DAUPHIN COUNTY.
collector of internal revenue, Fourteenth dis- trict, and for a long period collector of city taxes, and served in the board of school control. In the church (Zion Lutheran) he took an active part, and was superintend- ent of its Sabbath-school until physical dis- ability prevented him from performing the duties of its service. He died at Harrisburg, Thursday morning, August 26, 1880.
HUMMEL, FREDERICK, son of David and Mary (Toot) Hummel, was born December 24,17-, in Derry township, Dauphin county, Pa. He was brought up as a farmer, receiv- ing the limited education thus afforded in the country schools of the township. When but a stripling of eighteen, in company with his brothers, he offered his services to his country at the outset of the Revolution, and was in the campaign of the Jerseys and in and around Philadelphia in 1776 and 1777, and at the close of the war for independ- ence was a major in a battalion of asso- ciators. In the political affairs of the coun- try he became quite prominent and wielded considerable influence, owing to his great popularity. He was colonel of the militia, a position he held for many years; served as justice of the peace several terms, and was commissioned by Governor Ritner an asso- ciate judge of the county, April 5, 1837. He died at Hummelstown, October 31, 1847. Colonel Hummel married Barbara, daughter of Jacob Metzgar, of Derry, born September 1, 1779; died November 22, 1861, and with her husband is buried in the old Lutheran churchyard, at Hummelstown.
HUMMEL, RICHARD T., Hummelstown, Pa., was born in Hummelstown, Dauphin county, Pa., March 23, 1821; son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Lubrick) Hummel. The first of the family to settle in Dauphin county was Frederick Hummel, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, who came to this country and took up a tract of Government land, which included the present site of Hummelstown. He was a farmer by occu- pation, and was the founder of the town which bears his name. He donated the old site of the Lutheran church and the pres- ent site of the Reformed church. His church connection was with the Lutherans, and he aided in the foundation of both churches. So far as known, his children are: Frederick, Valentine, and David, all of whom were farmers. He sold the town lots on ground
rents, stipulating that the rents should be paid in the currency of Great Britain, and divided his property among his children. David died at the age of thirty three years. IIe married Miss Mary Toot, and his children are: Frederick ; David ; Joseph ; Leah, Mrs. Henry Landis, of Derry township; Annie, Mrs. George Stover, died in Hummelstown ; Mary, Mrs. Daniel Baum, of Hummelstown. He was a prominent member of the Lutheran church. Of his sons, Frederick was a farmer at Hummelstown ; served as justice of the peace and as associate judge of the county ; David located in Harrisburg, and died there, having served as commissioner of the county.
Joseph, father of Richard T., was born in 1793. He was a farmer and merchant, and also saddle and harness maker. During the war of 1812 he rendered military service as assistant quartermaster in Captain Moore- head's company. His death occurred April 18, 1852. He was married to Elizabeth Lu- brick, of Hummelstown, a daughter of Philip Lubrick, who survived him until 1887. He was a Lutheran in his religious faith and fellowship, and in political views was promi- nent in the Whig and Republican parties. His children are: Henry P., deceased, for many years a merchant at Hummelstown ; was married to Adeline Stecker, and they had no children ; Elizabeth, Mrs. Frederick M. Lauman, deceased, of Middletown, and they have two children : Joseph, deceased, and William, of Middletown; Richard T .; Mary, widow of Benjamin Gisler, of Cum- berland county, miller by trade; Sarah, Mrs. Martin Earley, of Palmyra, Pa., mer- chant and farmer; David J., of Philadel- phia, merchant for many years, and now in the saddle and harness trade, married Cathe- rine Zinn; Joseph, deceased, all his life an invalid ; Susan, deceased ; Caroline, unmar- ried ; Hummelster, Annie, Edwin, Silas, and Charles, of New York City, commercial agent, unmarried. Richard T. attended the schools of his time, and learned the saddler trade with his father, and was afterwards engaged in the business for forty years. In 1868 he engaged in the general mercantile business, the title of the firm being first, H. L. Hum- mel & Co., then II. L. Hummel & Bro., and later R. T. Hummel & Son, and continued up to 1891, when he retired from the busi- ness. Mr. Hummel also conducted a farm. He was married, in 1847, to Miss Mary Coover, daughter of John Coover, Esq., mer-
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