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 53
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William Klinger received four months' schooling in the winter of each year, and from early boyhood was accustomed to hard work on the farm, helping his father to clear and cultivate the homestead. On that farm he remained all his life, and purchased the farm after his father's death.
William Klinger was married, in Washing- ton township, in February, 1869, to Hannah Eliza Kemmerer,born in Upper Paxton town- ship, November 1, 1846; daughter of Chris- tian and Catherine (Fisher) Kemmerer, na- tives of Dauphin county. Mr. Kemmerer was a farmer, and died at Elizabethville in 1882; his wife died in 1880. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Klinger are: Fannie Elta, born February, 1871, attended school in the township; John A., born January 20, 1872, educated in township schools and Berrys- burg Seminary ; for five terms taught school in Mifflin township.
. Mr. Klinger is a Democrat. Ile takes a.
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deep interest in educational matters. He is a member of the Lutheran church, and was a deacon and a Sunday-school teacher. He is prominent in all good works.
-LATSIIA, JOHN J., miller and farmer, was born in Jackson township, Northumberland county, Pa., May 12, 1856.
Henry Latsha, his great-grandfather, was a native of Berks county, Pa., and after- wards removed to Northumberland county. On his way to that county to pay for his land he was lost and spent the night in the mountains. It was in the dead of winter, and his feet became frozen, and had to be amputated. He owned a large tract of land in Northumberland county, all in its native forest.
Henry Latsha (2), grandfather of John J. Latsha, was born in Berks county, Pa. He was a farmer, and owned four farms in Northumberland county, in Jackson town- ship. He married Miss Emerich; they had four children : Henry, Jacob, Michael, and Elizabeth, wife of Henry Rogers, all of whom are deceased. The grandfather died in Jack- son township, Northumberland county, as also did his wife. Owing to an accident which happened to the pastor on his way to the funeral, Mr. Latsha was buried without clergical ministrations. He was a member of the Lutheran church. His politics were Democratic. He was a prominent citizen.
Henry Latsha (3), father of John J., was born in Jackson township, Northumberland county, Pa., in 1802. He was a farmer, and cultivated a farm of one hundred aeres up to the time of his death. He was also engaged in stock raising. Mr. Latsha was married, in Jackson township, to Mrs. Elizabeth Blosser, of the same township .. They had six children : David, deceased ; Mary, deceased, wife of William De Witt; Henry, farmer of Northumberland county; Michael and Peter, deceased, and one child died in infancy. Mrs. Elizabeth Latsha died on the homestead. Mr. Latsha was married again, to Margaret Lees, a native of Northumberland county, by whom he had four children : Sarah, wife of Henry Deppen, of Northumberland county ; Harriet, wife of David Bohner, of Northum- berland county ; Samuel, farmer, Lower Ma- hanoy township, Northumberland county, and John J. The father died in January, 1856. He was a member of the Lutheran church, and Democratic in politics. Ilis widow was again married, her second hus-
band being Peter Reitz, farmer, Northum- berland county. They had no children. Mrs. Reitz died in 1870.
John J. Latsha was born five months after his father's death, and having but slender educational advantages was compelled to make up the deficiency as far as possible by his own efforts. At twelve years of age he came to Mifflin township, Dauphin county, and worked on the farm of John Lark for one year for his board and clothing. He next spent four years with his stepfather on the homestead, after which he worked in the cotton factory at Uniontown, Dauphin county, for eight months, and then again at farm labor for three years. He was next at milling for a year and a half, then at farm- ing in Ogle county, Ill., for two years; then at home for a short time; then farming one season in Nebraska; then home again, and ran a threshing machine for two years ; then having sold out this business, he tried trad- ing in Lykens Valley for three years, and found it very profitable. After this Mr. Latsha rented the farm of John Snyder, near Berrysburg, and settled down to farming for eleven years. In 1895 he returned to Union- town and operated a grist mill and a saw mill with fair success.
John J. Latsha was married, at Elizabeth- ville, January 1, 1881, to Emma Meckley, born in Jackson township, Dauphin county, September 6, 1857, died December 31, 1881. They had one child, which died. He mar- ried again, at Berrysburg, April 27, 1882, his second wife being Susan Snyder, born October 9, 1849, at Uniontown ; daughter of John Snyder, and granddaughter of that John Snyder who laid out Uniontown. Their children are: John Snyder, born February 15, 1883, and Annie E., born April 13, 1887. Mr. Latsha bought his present home in 1884, paying for it $1,850; he has substantially improved it. He lost his mill by the flood of 1892, and rebuilt it at a cost of $800.
He is a Republican, is a member of the Uniontown council, is a member of the Re- formed church, has been deacon, and is elder, and secretary of the Sunday-school. Ile is a prominent man, and is regarded as one of the solid and square members of the business community, and a worthy and honorable citizen.
- BONAWITZ, JONATHAN, farmer, was born in Mifflin township, Dauphin courty, Pa., Sep. tember 27, 1833. George Bonawitz, his
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grandfather, was the son of a German who came from the Fatherland to Pennsylvania, and became a farmer. George was born in Berks county, learned tailoring, and worked at the trade both in Berks county and in Mifflin township, Dauphin county, where he came while still a young man. In this township he bought one hundred acres of land, part of which he cleared, and built on it a log house and barn, and made other im- provements. Here he engaged in farming and stock raising. He married a Miss Kop- penheffer; their family consisted of six chil- dren. His wife dying, he married a Miss Matter; her children were eight in number. George Bonawitz died in Mifflin township. He was an old line Whig. He belonged to the Lutheran church, new school.
John Bonawitz, father of Jonathan, at- tended subscription schools, and obtained a fair education. He went to farming and stock raising upon a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, on which he had built a dwelling and other needful structures. He married Sallie Schoffstall, born in Lykens township. They had five children, of whom Jonathan is the only survivor; Kate, Polly, Henry, and Sarah, wife of Jacob Lesker, all being deceased. The mother dying in 1840, Mr. Bonawitz married Kate Harman, widow of John Mossner. They had no children. John Bonawitz died on the homestead in 1884. He was an old line Whig, and be- longed to the Lutheran church, old school, and took an active part in church matters. He was a well-known citizen, and was uni- versally liked.
Jonathan Bonawitz attended subscription schools and public schools during the win- ter, and worked on the farm in summer. He became a farmer, lived all his life on the homestead, and took care of his father in his old age. He cultivated one hundred and thirty acres of land, on which he made many improvements. Jonathan Bonawitz was married, in Halifax township, in August, 1861, to Margaret, daughter of Henry Rut- ter of that township, born in Millersburg, Pa., in 1840. Their children were: Mary, wife of Peter Stine; Charles, farms the homestead; William E., physician at Fish- erville, Jackson township; Katie and Frances, both in the millinery business at Berrysburg. Katic attended the Westches- ter State Normal School. Mr. Bonawitz is a Republican. He has been school director for one term, also tax collector, assessor and
supervisor of roads. He is a member of the old Lutheran church, a Sunday-school teacher and superintendent. Hle is also the leader of the choir, and has been organist of the church from boyhood. He has been an ex- cellent singer in his day. He is a favorite both in church circles and in political life. IIis home is a musical one, all the children being musicians. It is a delightful family, and a fountain of good to the community.
STINE, PETER E., son-in-law of Mr. Bona- witz, was born in Washington township, Dauphin county, Pa., September 23, 1861. His father was Peter L. Stine, and his grand- father Peter John Stine, a farmer of Lykens township .. Peter L. Stine was born in that township in 1827. He was a farmer, and had a grist mill in Washington township for seventeen years. In 1885 he engaged in mercantile business in Elizabethville, Pa., meeting with success. He was married, in Lykens township, to Elizabeth Buffington, born in Lykens Valley; she died in 1892. Their children were: Ellen, wife of C. A. Deibler, farmer of Mifflin township; Sarah, wife of Daniel J. Deibler, Mifflin township; Isaac T., farmer and miller, Lykens town- ship; Catherine, wife of Edward Martin, Kansas; Peter E .; David C., at home; John J., died aged four years; Harry W., with his father; Carrie, wife of Charles Cooper, farmer, Washington township; Samuel T., with his father. Peter L. Stine is now in the drug business in Elizabethville. He is a Democrat, and has held various township offices, including that of school director. He is a member of the Reformed church.
Peter E. Stine received a fair education in the schools of Washington township and at Berrysburg Seminary, which he attended for one term. He worked on the farm for his father until he was twenty years of age, after which he was clerk for Frederick Weaver in Elizabethville for four years. For seven years afterwards he managed busi- ness for his father. On March 25, 1892. he removed to Mifflin township and embarked in the creamery business, establishing a plant which cost $4,000, including a cider press and chop mill. He pays the farmers in the region over $1,000 per month for milk. He has also a branch creamery in Northumber- land county, which cost over $1,000. In this business he is meeting with success. Peter E. Stine was married, in Mifflin township, in 1885, to Mary F., daughter of Jonathan Bon-
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awitz, born in May, 1862. Their children are: Amy J., Earl A., Clayton E., and Hu- bert N. Mr. Stine is a Democrat; he was for three years auditor. He is a member of the Reformed church, and a deacon. He has been for twenty years a Sunday-school teacher, and for four years a superintendent of the school. The career of Mr. Stine is notable and especially interesting to young men and boys who have to make their own way in the world. He began with only ten cents for capital. By push, pluck and enter- prise, coupled with industry and integrity, he has made his way into a comfortable busi- ness and an assured competence.
RUNK, REV. JACOB, retired minister of the United Brethren church, residing at Berrys- burg, Pa., was born in Elizabethville, Dau- phin county, Pa., July 20, 1835. ITis grand- father, John Jacob Runk, was born in Ger- many, April 16, 1763. He came to this country early in life and settled in Lykens Valley, then a part of Lancaster county. He married a Miss Hayman and bought of his father-in-law seventy acres of woodland. This he cleared and built upon it a dwelling and other structures, living at first in a log house. He was always a farmer. His chil- dren were: Michael, Jacob, Philip, Ludwig, John, Susan, Elizabeth, Kate, and Hannah. Mr. Runk and his wife died on the home- stead, the former on December 4, 1826. They were members of the German Reformed church. Mr. Runk is a Democrat.
His son Philip, father of Rev. Jacob Runk, was born in Elizabethville in September, 1805. He had a fairly good German educa- tion and grew up on his father's farm. He became a farmer and cultivated eighty acres of land; he had also forty acres of timber land. He was to some extent a stock raiser. He was married, in Lykens Valley, to Eliza- beth Smith, born in the valley near Eliza- bethville, in 1808; daughter of John Adam Smith, a farmer of Berks county, of German descent. They had nine children : Mary, de- ceased; Susan, deceased, wife of William Bordner, Powell's Valley; Rev. Jacob; Chris- tina, wife of Henry Buffington, Dauphin county; Michael, blacksmith, Pine Grove, Pa .; Elizabeth, wife of John Shoop, Ninevah, No .; Hannah, wife of Elias Shoop, farmer, Powell's Valley; Adam, resides in Logans- port, Ind., and Philip, died young. The father died on the homestead in December, 18744. He was born a Democrat and died a
Republican. IIe was school director, super- visor and a member of the United Brethren church, in which he was a class leader and trustec. His wife also took an active part in church affairs. She died on the homested in 1877.
Jacob Runk attended a German school in Powell's Valley, kept in the basement of a private house, and afterwards went to Eng- lish and German schools of the township. From eight to twenty-one years of age lie worked on his father's farm. He educated himself by reading and observation, and took up preaching. He was licensed to preach, and after taking a three years' course in theology was ordained to the ministry in the United Brethren church by the con- ference held at -Schuylkill Haven, Pa., in 1859.
Mr. Runk's first field of labor in the Lord's vineyard was near Reading, Berks county, Pa., where he spent a short time. He went thence to Lebanon circuit, and remained two years; thence to Hummelstown one year; thence to Lykens Valley; thence to Middleburg, Snyder county, two years; to Reading Station two years; to Bethlehem, Northampton county, three years; to Salem church, Lebanon, as station preacher, two years. He was then presiding elder for four years. He went then to the town of Lykens for three years; thence to Jacksonville cir- cuit two years; to Lykens Valley circuit two years. Thence he went to Bellevue, Lebanon county, and was one year on Bellevue circuit ; thence to Allentown two years. . Mr. Runk was again elected presiding elder in 18SS, and removed to Berrysburg, where he has since resided. After serving four years as presiding elder he retired to his fine farm of thirty-eight acres, on which he has his home. Several churches have been built up under his supervision. He has been three times a delegate to general conference: at Dayton, Ohio, in 1873; Westfield, III:, 1877; and York, Pa., 1889. He still takes an active part in church matters.
Rev. Jacob Runk was married, in Union- town, Mifflin township, Dauphin county, Pa., to Henrietta Geist, born in Uniontown, August 21, 1843; daughter of Conrad Geist, a preacher of the United Brethren church. They have five children: Cora M., born April 10, 1865, wife of Rev. Charles Mutch. a United Brethren preacher, of Shamokin, Northumberland county; Anna I., born September 7, 1867; M. Ellie, born January
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2, 1870, wife of Prof. Daniel Romberger, Williamstown, Pa., died June 5, 1893 ; Irvin, born August 23, 1874, teacher, now studying at Lebanon Valley College. Mrs. Henrietta Runk died August 28, 1874. She was a de- vout Christian, and a talented leader in church work, a lovely lady, and a devoted mother. Mr. Runk was married the second time in 1876, at Lebanon, to Sallie Davis, born November 18, 1846, in Lebanon county. They had one child, Harry V., born July 11, 1877, is a tinsmith at Uniontown. Mrs. Sallie Runk died July 11, 1877.
Mr. Runk is a Republican and a Prohi- bitionist. He worked hard to obtain an education, having to depend upon his own resources. He won success, and established himself in his chosen profession. He has been very active and useful ; he has worked for the establishment of righteousness and religion, and in all his fields of labor has been a power for good. Advancing years have not chilled his ardor or dampened his zeal; in years, as in youth, he is alive to the needs of the world, and to all opportunities for doing good.
-ROMBERGER, BENGOHAN, retired farmer, was born in Mifflin township, Dauphin county, Pa., January 17, 1821. His grand- father, Baltzer Romberger, was the son of a German settler in Lancaster county, Pa., and was a laborer. He married, in Lebanon county, a Miss Bricker; they had nine chil- dren. Mr. Romberger died at the home of his son Baltzer, in Mifflin township, aged eighty-eight; his wife died at the same place in her seventy-eighth year. He was a pio- neer, and had a hard fight in life. Three times he was driyen from his home by the Indians. Ile was an old school Democrat and an old school Lutheran. Baltzer Rom- berger (2), father of Bengohan, was born in Lebanon county, Pa., in 1778. He received a German education in subscription schools, and was a farmer and blacksmith. He be- gan business as a smith, and later in life came to Lyken's Valley and bought six hun- dred acres of land, for a part of which he paid $10 per acre ; the land was all in tim- ber. With the assistance of his family, Mr. Romberger cleared this land, and erected upon it the needed buildings, made fences, planted an orchard, etc. He then engaged in stock raising.
Baltzer Romberger, Jr., was married, in Lebanon, Pa., to Elizabeth Seaerer, born in
Lebanon, daughter of Conrad Seaerer, a farmer, of Lebanon county. They had eleven children: Mary, deccased, wife of Daniel Matter, farmer ; Catherine, deceased, wife of Philip Matter; George and Daniel, deceased ; Bengohan; Hannah, wife of Jacob Wood- side, Berrysburg, Pa .; Rebecca, deceased, wife of Jere Horner; David, deceased ; Balt- zer, farmer; Susan, deceased, wife of John Bordner; and Elizabeth, deceased, wife of Jacob Hoy. Mr. and Mrs. Romberger were prominent and active members of the Lu- theran church. Mr. Romberger was deacon and elder. His politics were Democratic. IIe died in Mifflin township in 1838; his wife died in the same place in 1860, at the home of her son Bengohan, who watched over her in her declining years. She was exemplary in all the relations of life, and especially was she wise and faithful in the training of her family.
Bengohan Romberger attended subserip- tion schools in Mifflin township in the winter, and further educated himself by reading and private study. From early boyhood he worked on the farm of his father, helping to clear and cultivate the land. He remained upon the farm until he was seventeen years of age, when his father died. He then spent two years as clerk in a store at Gratz. and after that, until he was twenty-one, he was clerk in the store of his brother-in-law at Curtin, Pa. Mr. Romberger then purchased the homestead of one hundred and seventeen acres, paying $66.66 per acre. Part of the price he paid with money saved from his earnings, and for the rest he went into debt. After cultivating this farm for four years, he sold it for twice as much as he paid for it, and bought another farm of one hundred and ten acres, which he improved, and occu- pied for ten years, and then sold. He then bought a third farm of one hundred and fifty acres, well improved, which he still operates. He purchased also another farm of ninety acres, which he keeps under culti- vation. He is interested in live stock. Ho is a very industrious man, working carly and late, and making every day tell toward provision for the present and future needs of himself and family.
Mr. Romberger was married, in Washing- ton township, in 1842, to Amelia, daughter of Joseph Fisher, farmer, born in Mifflin township in 1822. They had five children : Daniel, deceased; Joseph F., merchant at Berrysburg ; Mary M., deceased, wife of
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Charles Mattis; Nathan, farmer, Lykens township; and one child died in infancy. Mrs. Amelia Romberger died in 1869. She was a hard working, worthy woman. On April 2, 1876, Mr. Romberger married his second wife, Hannah Schreffler, born in Northumberland county, January 5, 1837 ; daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Gutzer) Schreffler, farmers of Berks county, and the parents of fourteen children. Mr. and Mrs. Romberger had no children. Mrs. Rom- berger bad been previously married to Elias Troutman, by whom she had two children : J. Frankly, residing in Cleveland, Ohio ; and Catherine S., who died young.
Mr. Romberger was a school director for two terms and tax collector for seven terms. He has been a merchant for many years, and has been enterprising and successful, · dis- playing business tact and talent. He is a man of dominant public spirit, as much in- terested in the advancement of the town as in the success of his own business. He has been aptly called the "Father of Berrysburg," which is an expression of the general convic- tion as to his plans and purposes in the im- provement of the community. He has built many well arranged dwellings, among them his own home, which he furnished with all conveniences, at an outlay of $4,000. In church affairs he is even more prominent, as an honored member of the Lutheran church, old school, which he has served as trustee, deacon and elder. The brick of which the fine house of worship of that denomination is built was burned on his farm. IIc col- Jected most of the money to pay for the crec- tion of the edifice, and was himself the largest contributor to the fund. He has spent for the church, first and last, the sum of $8,000. In some respects Berrysburg is a model town, and to the intelligence, enterprise, public spirit and liberality of Mr. Romberger much of its attractiveness is due. The town has always been an object of his care and service, and its citizens in turn love to honor Mr. Romberger as a public benefactor.
HOYER, BENNEVILLE, retired, Berrysburg, Pa., was born in Mahantango township, Schuylkill county, Pa., February 12, 1844. His grandfather, Peter Hoyer, was a laborer; he died in Berks county, Pa.
Henry Hoyer, father of Benneville Hoyer, was born in Lykens Valley, Pa. He was a laborer and removed to Schuylkill county.
He followed in his occupation until 1855. when he died. In Lykens Valley he married Mary Boyer, born in Schuylkill county, daugh- ter of Samuel Boyer, farmer, of the same county. They had five children : Elizabeth, deceased, born in 1833, wife of William Engle; Rebecca, unmarried, lives at Barry, Schuyl- kill county, Pa .; Henry, deceased, soldier in the late war in company A, Fiftieth regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers; Peter, died young. Mr. Henry Hoyer was a Democrat. He was a member of the Reformed church. His wife died in Stone Valley, Northumberland county, Pa., in February, 1856.
Bonneville Hoyer attended the public schools. At the age of eleven he lost his father and was obliged to work on a farm for his board and clothing until he was seven- teen. He was then employed six months as a teamster by G. Adams, after which he spent a few months as apprentice in a smithy. At the age of eighteen Mr. Hoyer enlisted, at Sacramento, Schuylkill county, Pa., February 24, 1862, in company G, One Hundred and Seventh regiment, Pennsylvania volunteers, Col. Thos. A. Ziegler, afterwards Col. T. F. McCoy and Capt. M. Murphy. He partici- pated in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Bull Run, South Mountain, and Antietam. At the last named battle, September 17, 1862, he lost his leg by a minie ball passing through it. The leg was amputated in a barn, and he was confined in the Smoketown, Md., hospital; was discharged July 11, 1863, and returned home. His father and mother being both dead he remained only a short time and then went to Philadelphia and learned cigar mak- ing, at which he spent some time. He also worked a short time at label printing, and then went to the Soldiers' Home, supported by the citizens of Philadelphia. Here he at- tended school in 1864-65, and then returned to Schuylkill county and worked a short time at cigar making. After this he was for two years clerk for John Reed, of Gratz, Dauphin county. In 1869 Mr. Hoyer studied at Free- burg Academy, Snyder county, Pa., under Prof. D. Boyer; in 1871-72 at Berrysburg Seminary, under Prof. Peter Bergstresser. He then taught school very successfully for two terms in Jackson and Jefferson townships. For the following six years he had a cigar manufactory and a restaurant at Gratz, which he sold, and in 1876 established the same business at Berrysburg ; he conducted a cigar factory and a restaurant in that place for fif- teen years. Hle at length sold out and now
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resides in Berrysburg, having relinquished active work.
Benneville Hoyer was married, in Jackson township, Dauphin county, November 3, 1872, to Caroline Schoffstall, widow of Benjamin Kuntzelman, born in Gratz, Lykens township, January 15, 1850; daughter of Solomon and Catherine (Bordner) Schoffstall ; her father a farmer of Lykens township. Their children are: Jennie D., born February 25, 1874, wife of C. H. Schoffstall; Charles H., born Octo- ber 9, 1875, baker, Philadelphia; James M., born August 18, 1877, farmer in Mifflin town- ship; William E., born August 23, 1870, died March 30, 1881; Raymond F., born Febru- ary 12, 1881, died February 23, 1889; Anna M., born February 4, 1886, attending Chester Springs School; Ella M., born November 24, 1887, also at same school; Beulah C., born September 26, 1891. Mrs. Hoyer died of heart failure October 8, 1892.
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