USA > Pennsylvania > Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania biography : illustrated, Vol. III > Part 42
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Ezra High, son of Brigadier-General Wil- liam High, was born at Poplar Neck, Berks county, Pennsylvania, August 15, 1816, died April 8, 1897. He was a farmer and influ- ential citizen of the lower end of the coun- try, a man of great public spirit and a large landowner. He was an antiquarian of local note, and possessed a valuable collection of Indian relics, which he donated to the Berks County Historical Society. He married, in 1841, Hannah, daughter of George and Bar- bara (Hain) Gernand, and with her is buried in the High private cemetery at Pop- lar Neck on the old homestead close by the remains of his honored father, Brigadier-
General William High. Mary B., his sec- ond daughter, married Captain William A. Schall.
LEMBERGER, Joseph L., Soldier, Master Pharmacist.
Joseph L. Lemberger, head of the old established firm of Lemberger & Company, is one of the pioneer business men of this section and the founder of one of the first pharmacies in this part of the country. Established in 1857 and conducted under the several firm names of Guilford & Lem- berger, J. L. Lemberger, and Lemberger & Company, this business has been under the continuous management of its promoter ever since it was established on the east side of Market Square, fifty-six years ago, in the building now occupied by Dr. William M. Guilford, just north of Cumberland street. The present excellent and spacious quarters of the business attest the success of the firm, and the position which Mr. Lemberger occupies in the ranks of Leb- anon's professional and commercial citizens.
Joseph L. Lemberger was born in the year 1834, in Myerstown, Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, from which place his parents removed when he was but five years of age, settling in the northwestern section of the county. Here he received his early educa- tion, and at the age of twelve years entered the Lebanon Academy, where he remained until, at the age of fourteen years, he took his first step in business life. This was in a country store, and on November 20, 1848, he was indentured to Dr. Joseph P. Fitler, at Second and Beaver streets, Philadelphia, for a term of six years and seventeen days. He became greatly interested in pharmacy, and recognizing the value of systematic in- struction in the acquisition of a proper knowledge of the subject, he became in due course of time a student at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, one of the best insti- tutions of the kind in the country. He was
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graduated from the college with the class of 1854, and afterward associated himself as clerk with the pharmacy of Alexander Duval, in Richmond, Virginia, where he re- mained for a short while previous to enter- ing into business on his own account. In 1856 (or 1857) he returned to Lebanon, forming a partnership with Dr. William Guilford which lasted for a year, and then assuming full control of the enterprise which he conducted for a long while there- after under his own name, but in the same location. This was in the building now occupied by Dr. Guilford as a residence.
With the growth of the town a change of locality became necessary, and in 1883, when building operations in the neighbor- hood compelled a removal, the pharmacy was established on the other side of the street, in its present advantageous position. Lebanon at that time was a very different place from the city as we now recognize it. There were no railways nor street cars, no electricity, gas or steam. The streets were very insufficiently lighted, and it was found necessary to place another lamp directly in front of the store, this bringing it into con- siderable prominence. All the freight which was received by the firm was brought to Lebanon from Philadelphia on the Union canal. Market Square at that time was the centre of the county ; the old open market was located in the centre of the square, and the characteristic town pump was standing in the square not far from the drug store. Even in those old days the pharmacy was well known throughout the county, because of its prominent location and its high stand- ard of excellence.
serving as hospital steward in the Twenty- sixth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, sacrificing his business entirely to the needs of his country. He had previously volun- teered in 1862, enlisting in Company A, of the Eleventh Infantry of First Pennsyl- vania Volunteers, renewing his enlistment at expiration of his first term of service. At the close of the war he returned to Leb- anon and devoted all of his time to the interests of the pharmacy and to his public duties as a citizen, and by his fidelity and valuable services to the community he has won a high place in its esteem.
He has taken a lively interest at all times and in all places in the progress of phar- maceutical education, and in the position which the profession holds in the eyes of the world. From the date of his gradua- tion he has been especially interested in the work of the Philadelphia College of Phar- macy ; and has also taken an active interest in that other great professional school, the Pennsylvania Pharmaceutical Association, of which he was one of the charter members and whose treasurer he was ever since its organization in 1878 until recently, when he became its president. Several years ago he was made president of the American Phar- maceutical Association, a powerful national body in the world of medicine and phar- macy. In March, 1889, the honorary de- gree of Ph. M. (Master of Pharmacy) was conferred upon him by his alma mater, the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, in recog- nition of his services in her behalf. Since 1894 he has been a member of the board of trustees of this college, and is now its vice- president. Indeed, Mr. Lemberger las be- come a national figure in the medical and pharmaceutical world, the papers which he has contributed to the American Pharma- ceutical Association during his long term of connection with that body, since first be- coming a member in 1858, having brought his name conspicuously before the profes- sion ; other good service which he has ren-
From the time that Mr. Lemberger as- sumed sole direction of the business, a year after its first establishment with Dr. Guil- ford as senior partner, his personal history has become identified with the pharmacy whose growth has been commensurate with that of the town itself. For a period, how- ever, during the Civil War the store was closed ; this was while Mr. Lemberger was dered at various times on its committees,
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notably that of finance between 1881 and 1887, and his service as vice-president, which he became in 1879, have further en- hanced his high professional reputation.
In his drug business Mr. Lemberger has chosen his associates with the greatest pos- sible care, so that the high standard of busi- ness efficiency which he established in the beginning should not at any time be found less conscientiously maintained. Mr. Frank H. E. Gleim, the junior member of the firm of Lemberger & Company, was taken into the partnership in 1895, having first entered the business in May, 1866, as Mr. Lem- berger's apprentice. He was from that early time filled with the ambition to become a druggist, and learning the business in all its details, devoted his spare time to study which he pursued at night and in all mo- ments of inactivity. In a few years he entered the Philadelphia College of Phar- macy, graduating in 1874, and returning to Lebanon and his association with Mr. Lem- berger, to whom he became the most valu- able of assistants. The partnership estab- lished in 1895 has been an eminently felicitous one, both partners being members and officers in many of the most influential national and local pharmaceutical and drug associations. They are also sympathetic in their relations to public service in the civic and religious world, both being members of the Reformed church which has been actively supported by them, and both having been prominently connected for some years past with the city government.
During the half century and more that the firm has been in existence, more than a score of rising young men, many of whom are now filling positions of trust and im- portance in various parts of the country, received their first lessons in pharmacy here, learning the principle from Mr. Lemberger that "in medicine, quality is of the first im- portance." At the present time the firm has connected with it Dr. Harvey A. Henry, who, apprenticed to the firm in 1899, is also a graduate of the Philadelphia College of
Pharmacy; and is a holder of their most recent degree, Doctor of Pharmacy, which was adopted several years ago in place of the Graduate of Pharmacy, which was for- merly used by the college. Dr. Henry is a graduate of the class of 1906, and has been with Lemberger & Company ever since this time, assisting in attracting to the pharmacy the patronage of many of the best citizens and physicians of Lebanon.
Mr. Lemberger's labors have been in many fields, and he is connected with many interests and public movements. Besides his active connection with the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy as vice-president and member of its Alumni Association, and his presidency of the American Pharmaceutical Association, his interest in city institutions has been profound ; and his services as mem- ber of the board of trustees of the State Asylum for Chronic Insane, at Werners- ville, Pennsylvania, have brought him into high repute. Since the date of its organiza- tion by the State of Pennsylvania, he has also been secretary of this institution. He has served as a member of the city council for a number of years, and was for several terms a director in the public schools of the city ; for his public financial services, he has been called by his friends, "the watch dog of the treasury." His patriotic services dur- ing the Civil War have been already alluded to, having won him distinct appreciation in the community. Mr. Lemberger is also a member of the board of managers of the Pennsylvania Chautauqua, an organization that has done splendid educational work, and he has indeed been an active worker in all educational movements in which the city has been concerned. He was one of the founders of the Young Men's Christian Association of this place, having been on its building committee, a member of its board of directors, and finally vice-president, the presidency having been refused by him. He is also a member of the Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions of the Re- formed Church in the United States, and
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has become its treasurer. He is an earnest worker in church affairs, having been con- nected for more than fifty years as super- intendent of its Sunday school, with the First Reformed Church of the United States. Mr. Lemberger is an ardent mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity, and belongs to Mount Lebanon Lodge, No. 226; Weidel Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Hermit Commandery, Knights Templar; he also served for a number of terms as district deputy grand high priest of the Royal Arch Masons. He is a man who has in almost every capacity served his country faithfully and well, by the public-spirited interest he has taken in professional, educational and civic affairs, and the conscientious manner of performance of the many and responsi- ble duties which have thus fallen upon his shoulders.
Mr. Lemberger has been twice married, (first) June 23, 1864, to Miss Annie A. Ward, daughter of William Ward, of Belle- fonte, Pennsylvania; she died November 19, '1902. He married (second) November 23, 1904, Miss Mae Austin Fletcher, daugh- ter of Leonard R. Fletcher, Esq., a promi- nent Philadelphia lawyer.
MEILY, George Evans, Manufacturer.
The Meilys and Oberholzers are old Leb- anon county families, and John Mcily, of Lebanon, whose life will be here followed, was a lineal descendant of John Meily (1776-1844), who married a daughter of Martin Oberholzer (1733-1815).
Martin Meily was born in Bethel town- ship, Dauphin (now Lebanon) county, Pennsylvania, in 1801. He grew to man- hood on his father's farm and was denied all but the most meager school advantages. After leaving the farm he learned the pot- ter's trade. He was exceedingly ambitious and pursued a course of home study that placed him above his fellows and brought him well earned distinction. He served as
justice of the peace ten years and for three years as a commissioned notary public. During this period of his life he studied the law relating to land titles, and became a recognized authority upon that subject. So highly was he regarded that he was county surveyor, an office to which he was elected several times. Prior to the birth of his son in 1826 he settled in Mechanicsburg, Cum- berland county, Pennsylvania. He married, in 1823, Magdalene, born 1798, daughter of John Groh, and had issue.
Richard, son of Henry Meily, who was also a descendant of John, mentioned above, was associated with his brother John, as junior partner, and with him established the Lebanon Valley Furnace in 1867. They were recognized as among the prominent iron manufacturers of that day, and the business they founded was for many years one of Lebanon's leading industries. Richard Meily was a fine business man and connected with other Lebanon enterprises. He married, in 1868, Anna DeHuff, and resided at No. 38 North Ninth street, Lebanon. He died hon- ored and respected, March 31, 1906.
George Evans, only son of Richard and Anna (DeHuff) Meily, was born in Leb- anon, at the Meily homestead, on North Ninth street, which has ever been his home. His only sister, Margaret, married Edwin Gray Rust, and resides in Leesburg, Vir- ginia.
His early and preparatory education was obtained in the public schools of Lebanon, his classical education at Lehigh Univer- sity, whence he was graduated with the de- gree of A. C., class of 1891. Returning to Lebanon he was admitted to business with his father and uncle in the Lebanon Valley Furnace, continuing his father's valued as- sistant until the latter's death, March 31, 1906. Since that date Mr. Meily has been the active head of the business which for forty-five years has been a distinctive Meily enterprise. He is an energetic, capable man of affairs, has loyally upheld the honorable business standard established by the found-
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ers forty-five years ago. He has other busi- ness interests, and is a Republican in politics and a member of St. John's Reformed Church.
MILLER, John Andrew, Manufacturer, Financier.
John A. Miller, whose active connection with numerous prominent and successful enterprises marks him as a man of busi- ness ability and integrity, makes his home in Nazareth, where he is esteemed as a lead- ing citizen, his public spirit in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the community at large serving to gain him the regard of his fellow townsmen. Socially, as in his business relations, he ranks high and his career stands as an example of the success to be won in life by energy combined with talent.
The family is of German origin, the pio- neer ancestor being John Miller, grand- father of John A. Miller, whose birth oc- curred in one of the Hessian provinces, where he resided until the year 1852, when he emigrated to the United States, locating in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was a prosperous merchant. He was a Lutheran in religion, a Democrat in politics, and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He married Mary Ashburn, a native of Germany, who bore him eight children, among whom was Conrad, of whom further. John Miller died in Blairs- town, New Jersey.
Conrad Miller, father of John A. Miller, was born in Germany, October 20, 1838. He obtained a practical education under private tutors in his native land, and when fourteen years of age accompanied his par- ents to the United States. His first employ- ment was in a brewing establishment, his remuneration being two dollars per month and board. Later he devoted his attention to merchandising in Baltimore, continuing along this line for six years, and for the following five years, during the Civil War
period, served as quartermaster in Washing- ton, D. C., as an employee of the govern- ment. He then turned his attention to rail- road contract work, and was for two years clerk and walking boss on the Metropolitan branch of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. His next contract was on the Baltimore Shore Line in Ohio, and later he built twenty miles of the South Mountain road near Harrisburg, continuing his work in that line to Blairstown, New Jersey, and he constructed the Blairstown railroad to Delaware Station for J. I. Blair in 1876. Two years later he built the Belvidere Water Works, and in the same year con- structed the Bangor and Portland railroad, a distance of eight miles, and was then elected its president and manager ; in 1880 he continued its extension to Pen Argyl, and in the following year the road was com- pleted to Nazareth. In company with J. I. Blair he invested to a large extent in the slate quarries, and from 1890 to 1898 he had charge of Mr. Blair's railroad and in- dustrial interests in the West. His promi- nence in various lines of business led to his appointment to positions of trust and re- sponsibility, and he served in the capacity of president of the Bangor Union Quarry ; president and treasurer of the United States Slate Quarry of Pen Argyl; president and treasurer of the Albion Slate Company ; president of the Wind Gap and Alpha slate companies ; president of the Kansas City, Osceola and Southern railroad in Missouri; president of the Chicago, Iowa and Dakota railroad; president of the Kansas City and Westport Belt railroad ; president and owner of the Illuminating Gas Company, Slate Belt Telephone Company, Electric Light Company, Foundry and Machine Company ; president of the Dexter Portland Cement Company; director of the Northampton Cement Company, and of the Nazareth Na- tional Bank; and receiver for Jackson Brothers Slate Quarry, the Pen Argyl Slate Quarry, the Excelsior Slate Quarry, and the Diamond Slate Quarry. Mr. Miller was a
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Presbyterian in religion, a Republican in politics, and a member of Whitfield Lodge, No. 121, Free and Accepted Masons, of Nazareth, Pennsylvania. He married, Au- gust 31, 1869, Anna M., daughter of An- drew Werling, of Muncy, Pennsylvania. Children : John A., of whom further ; Sarah Virginia, born March 25, 1874; Margaret Anna, born June 27, 1876. He died March 29, 1912.
John A. Miller was born in Muncy, Ly- coming county, Pennsylvania, September I, 1872. His education was acquired by at- tendance at boarding school, Blair Hall, New Jersey, and at Lafayette College, Eas- ton, Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in the class of 1895. He then went to Bangor, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in the railroad contracting business until 1901, when he took up his residence in Nazareth, where he has since continued to reside. His business qualifica- tions were soon recognized and appreciated, he being chosen to fill the important posi- tion of president of the Dexter Portland Cement Company of Nazareth, Pennsyl- vania; the Clinchfield Portland Cement Company of Kingsport, Tennessee; the Albion Slate Company of Bangor, Penn- sylvania ; the Pen Bangor Slate Company of Wind Gap, Pennsylvania; the Nazareth Foundry and Machine Company ; the Dex- ter Concrete Manufacturing Company ; the Alpha Slate Company ; and is director of the Nazareth National Bank and the Atlan- tic Gas and Electric Company. He is also serving as chief burgess of Nazareth. He is a member of Whitfield Lodge, No. 121, Free and Accepted Masons, of Nazareth; Cald- well Consistory, of Bloomsburg, Pennsyl- vania ; Rajah Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Reading, Pennsylvania; and is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He holds membership in the Pomfret Club at Easton, the Northampton Country Club, and is an attendant at the services of the
German Reformed church. He is a staunch Republican in politics.
Mr. Miller married (first) Mary Alice Cope, of Nazareth, daughter of Dr. Thomas Cope, who bore him two children: Conrad C. and Mary Alice. She died February 15, 1901. On May 28, 1904, he married (sec- ond) Emily N. Moon, daughter of William W. Moon, of Easton, Pennsylvania. Child, John Andrew Jr., born November 25, 1907.
SHICK, James Stewart,
Retired Business Man.
Among those industries which aid so ma- terially in upholding the prosperity of the country there is none of more importance than that connected with the river inter- ests, and that connected with furthering the comfort of the traveling public and that portion of it which, for some reason, is de- pendent upon hotel accommodations. Among those who have done work of exceptionally good effect in both of these lines is James Stewart Shick, of Freemansburg, North- ampton county, Pennsylvania.
His father, Frederick Shick, was born in Bethlehem township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, January 8, 1803, and was em- ployed at the grist mill owned and operated by the late John Knecht, of Shimersville. A staunch supporter of Democratic princi- ples, he was a man of influence in the com- munity. He married, at Easton, Northamp- ton county, Pennsylvania, in October, 1833, Rebecca Ann Mellick, born in Warren county, New Jersey. She was a daughter of Jacob Mellick, born in Greenwich town- ship, Warren county, New Jersey, Decem- ber 23, 1789, died March 28, 1891, aged ninety-two years. Jacob Mellick was a son of Henry Mellick, born December 3. 1759. died April 9, 1851, aged ninety-two years five months six days, who married Eleanor Stewart, born January 6, 1766, of Stewarts- ville, Warren county, New Jersey. The Mellick family were direct descendants of
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pioneers who settled in Plainfield, New Jer- HOUCK, Henry, A. M., D. L., sey, in 1700.
James Stewart Shick was born in Lower Saucon township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, April 9, 1843. He was edu- cated in the public schools of that section of the country. From the time he was a lad of ten years he commenced supporting himself. In 1853 he obtained a position on a river boat, and was identified with a river occupation in various capacities until 1861. For some years he followed other occupa- tions, resuming boating in 1865 and continu- ing in it until 1885. In that year he estab- lished himself in the hotel business, which he conducted very successfully until 1893, and then retired from business responsi- bilities until 1899. At that time he was appointed an assignee to settle up the affairs of the Freemansburg Building and Loan Association, which important and respon- sible position he held until 1905, when he had wound up the affairs of this concern to the satisfaction of all connected with it. He is a man of much public spirit, and served as chief burgess of Freemansburg from October, 1912, until the first Monday in January, 1914. Intensely patriotic, he served his country bravely during the try- ing time of the Civil War as a member of Company H, Fifty-fourth Regiment Penn- sylvania Volunteer Infantry, under Jacob M. Campbell, and was wounded at Win- chester, Virginia, September 19, 1864. His religious affiliation is with Christ Evan- gelical Lutheran Church.
Mr. Shick married, in Allentown, Penn- sylvania, in July, 1867, Eliza Smith, born in Allentown, April 24, 1846, daughter of Innis and Sarah (Gross) Smith. The lead- ing characteristic of Mr. Shick may per- haps be stated as indomitable perseverance, which has enabled him to overcome diffi- culties which would have overwhelmed a less energetic man; his self reliance has never failed him.
Educator, Public Official.
The Hon. Henry Houck, Secretary of In- ternal Affairs for the State of Pennsylvania, and one of the prominent and influential citizens of Lebanon, was born March 6, 1836, in Palmyra, Lebanon county, Penn- sylvania, son of Samuel and Rosanna (Jontz) Houck.
The early education of Henry Houck was that of most of the country boys of the neighborhood, a few months each year at the district school, later he was sent to the Annville Academy, and he also attended for a term the Arcadian Institute at Orwigs- burg. Not satisfied with the work he had accomplished at these schools Mr. Houck, who had an ambition for that knowledge of the classics which always accompanies, if it cannot be said to be the foundation of the highest culture, took lessons privately in Greek and Latin from tutors and pre- pared for college. This was at a time when he himself was teaching and his leisure was scanty. He began, indeed, to teach when he was hardly more than a boy, being only sixteen at the time. But he had that mag- netic gift of arousing interest and enthusi- asm which is so large a part of the teacher's equipment and from the outset his work in that direction was highly successful. His interest in educational work begun at that time has continued ever since, identified as he has been with the work of a lifetime in that field. In 1869 he was appointed Deputy State Superintendent of Education for the State of Pennsylvania, a position which he filled for nearly forty years, after serving nine years as county superintendent of Leb- anon county. He has always been a lead- ing spirit in every movement for educational improvement.
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