Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, Part 109

Author: Floyd, J.L., & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, J. L. Floyd & Co.
Number of Pages: 1090

USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1 > Part 109

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Daniel Heim, son of George (3), was the fa- ther of Daniel D. Heim of Shamokin, Pa. He was born in 1820, and died aged over seventy years. He is buried at the Himmel Church, of which he was a Lutheran member. Mr. Heim lived in Wash- ington township, and was engaged as a carpenter and undertaker, being succeeded in the business by A. Z. Drumnheller. He built some of the first coal breakers in Schuylkill county. A man of pro- gressive and intelligent mind, he was one of the early supporters of the public school system in his section, being a staunch advocate of free schools when it ineant something to stand for popular edu- cation in a hostile community. He believed in the education of children and carried his children to prive them of any of the opportunities he valued

PERCIVAL OSCAR HEIM, hardware merchant at so highly. He served as school director and also as

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supervisor of his township. In politics he was a two years, six months, eighteen days. His wife, Democrat.

Anna Anderson, was born in Berks county, and Mr. Heim married Harriet Drumheller, daugh- came to Northumberland county with her mother, Mrs. Mary Anderson, who married for her second husband a Mr. Kaufman. Mrs. Heim died Nov. 18, 1902, aged seventy-three years, twelve days. She

ter of Martin Drumnheller, and she lived to the age of eighty-two years, dying in 1901. They had chil- dren as follows: Daniel D. ; Joel, deceased ; Susan, married to Conrad Hoffman; Emeline, married to and her husband are buried at the Schwartz Joel Rebuck ; Harriet, married to Monroe McKin- ney.

Church, at Urban. They were the parents of eleven children : Sarah married Fred Kohl; Emanuel

DANIEL D. HEIM, a retired contractor of Sham- settled at Omaha, Nebr .; William died on the okin, was born in Washington township May 18, homestead April 24, 1902, aged fifty-one years, 1847. He worked at the carpenter's trade from five months, eighteen days; Charles A. is men- youth, and when only in his sixteenth year left tioned below ; Louisa, who now lives out West, has home and went to work in Schuylkill county at been twice married. first to a Wormer ; Mary is the three dollars a day. Except for the time he was in widow of Harry Ladler; Polly married Frank the mercantile business, at Shamokin, conducting Troutman : Daniel is a resident of Shamokin ; Mag- a flour, feed and produce store for three years, dalena died unmarried ; Erisman died young; Ella Mr. Heim followed the trade off and on until his died in infancy .. .

retirement, being one of the leading men in his line in Shamokin, where he was given many im- portant contracts. He built the present high school of Shamokin (in 1894), the silk mill (in about 19.00), the Weaver building and the Morgan Kearney building, all in Shamokin, and did con- siderable work outside of that place. He employed as many as seventy-five carpenters at a time, and often had three hundred men on his payroll. As he prospered he acquired other important interests, being one of the five original owners of the large silk mill at-Shamokin, and he helped to start and organize a number of enterprises in that borough. Mr. Heim is a Republican and at one time wielded considerable influence in local political matters. He was once a candidate for county treasurer, but was defeated. Fraternally Mr. Heim affiliates with the Elks at Shamokin ; with the Odd Fellows, Knights accident in May, 1904.

. of Pythias and P. O. S. of A. (charter member of Washington Camp No. 19) at Sunbury; and the Freemasons, in the latter connection belonging to Shamokin Lodge, No. 255; Shamokin Chapter, No. 264; Shamokin Commandery, No. 77; Blooms- burg Council; Bloomsburg Consistory; and the Shrine at Reading.

In 1882 Mr. Heim married Grace Barnes, of Ashland, Pa., and six children have been born to this union: Homer B., now of Chicago, Ill .; Erma V., at home; J. Roy, of Williamsport, Pa .; Ariel M .; Daniel E., and James M. Mr. Heim and his family worship at Trinity Lutheran Church, Shamokin.

Jacob IIeim, son of George (3), was a resident of Washington township and a blacksmith and farmer by occupation, following his trade forty- six years, from the time he was eighteen years old. He owned a small tract of twenty-eight acres in Jordan township (now owned by David Geise), and was an industrious, respected citizen of that township, which he served some years as overseer of the poor. He died Oct. 14, 1897, aged seventy-

CHARLES A. HIME (HEIM), son of Jacob, was born in the Swabian Creek district in Washington township, Sept. 10, 1852. He was reared to farm life from early boyhood, his educational advantag- es, which were limited, being such as the old pay schools afforded. He began to learn the black- smith's trade when a mere child, and followed it at home with his father, continuing to do his own blacksmith work to the present day. He began farming for himself in 188? in Jordan township at the place where he now lives, his property being a half mile east of Urban. Here he also began house- keeping. Mr. Hime has a tract of forty-six acres cleared and twenty-eight acres of woodland and in addition to farming does threshing and lumber sawing, having an excellent business in both lines. He had the fingers of his right hand sawed off by

Mr. Hime is a self-made man, having attained the prosperity he now enjoys by industry and the most honorable methods. He is thoroughly re- spected and enjoys the esteem of all his friends and neighbors. He served his township a number of years as school director and supervisor. He is a Democrat in politics, and he and his family are members of the Schwartz Charch at Urban, of which he has been deacon and trustee.

In 1879 Mr. Hime married (first) Henrietta Schwartz, daughter of Peter Schwartz, and she died Sept. 28, 1899, aged forty-eight years, eleven months, six days, the mother of five children: (1) Sarah married Amos Lohr, of Mandata. (?) Ag- nes married Robert Kline, of Shamokin. (3) Katie, who is a deaf inute, is the wife of Ed. Lit- zenberger, and lives at Allentown. (4) Ella mar- ried Victor Kieffer. of Shamokin. (3) Mamie is unmarried and lives at home.

In 1902 Mr. Hime married (second) Mrs. Mary ( Kieffer ) Wolfgang, widow of William Wolfgang, daughter of George Kieffer, and to them has been born one child, Mildred Viola.

Jacob Wolfgang, the grandfather of William

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Wolfgang, was born Oct. 13, 1787, and died Sept. in imminent danger of arrest, was smuggled on 10, 1860. He and a number of the family are board a vessel in a barrel or hogshead. Thus he buried at St. Jacob's (Howerter's) Church. He came to America, and lecated at Carlisle, Cum- had a number of children. He was a son of Mich- ,berland Co., Pa., then the western limit of civili- ael and Cristina Wolfgang, of Berks county, zation. There he resided during the French and Pennsylvania.

Jacob D. Wolfgang, son of Jacob, was born in the Mahantango Valley, and died July 8, 1898, aged sixty-six years, seven months, twenty-eight days. He is buried at Hebe, as is also his wife, Elisa Kerchner, who was born Jan. 11, 1835, died Sept. 28, 1871. Mr. Wolfgang was a Lutheran and a Democrat. By occupation he was a farmer, owning land in Jordan township, Northumber- land county. His family consisted of six children : Henry married Eliza Peiffer; Catharine married Henry Shipe : Lovina married John Kimmel ; Wil- liam is mentioned below ; Elizabeth married Fe- lix Dieter ; Polly married George Brosius.

William Wolfgang, son of Jacob D., died Jan. 28, 1900, aged thirty-eight years, ten months, twen- ty-six days. He was a native of Eldred township. Schuylkill Co., Pa., and followed farming there. owning a seventy-acre tract. He was a Democrat in politics, and in religion a Lutheran, belonging to Howerter's (St. Jacob's) Church. On March 28, 1880, he married Mary Kieffer, and to them were born six children: Elizabeth died young; George is in the State of Washington; Anna mar- ried Edwin Stepp; Cassie, unmarried, is in Ogden, Utah; Sophia, unmarried, lives at Herndon; Wil- lie is at home.

Indian war, in which he served as lieutenant and surgeon, receiving for his services a grant of sev- eral hundred acres on the West Branch of the Sus- quehanna, to which he gave the name of "Soldier's Retreat"; it was situated along the river above Chillisquaque creek. He was residing thereon as early as 1272, as evidenced by the fact that his im- provements are mentioned in the return of a road in that year. He was commissioned a justice for Northumberland county on the 24th of March, 1722, and officiated as presiding justice through- out the colonial period. " Of the twelve judges com- inissioned on that date he was probably the only one who had personal knowledge of the methods of procedure in the Englishi courts, and on that ac- count was probably chosen to preside. In admin- istering the criminal law, his sentences were char- acterized by great severity. He presided over the courts for the last time at May sessions, 1776. In January, 1775, he was a representative from Northumberland county in the Provincial conven- tion at Philadelphia, and in December of that year he led an expedition to Wyoming. During the struggle for American independence he remained neutral (through fear of forfeiting his title to Irish estates, it is said), and does not thereafter appear in the public affairs of the county.

WILLIAM PLUNKET, who presided over the county courts under the Colonial regime, was a physician by profession and education. He was the first resident doctor of Northumberland county. He was a native of Ireland. In personal appear- ance he is described as a man of large stature, great muscular development, and powerful strength, while an imperious disposition was among his dis- tinguishing mental traits. This is attested by sev- eral occurrences in his career which yet retain a place in the traditions of this locality. On one oc- casion, with several boon companions, he was en- inn : the adjoining room was occupied by an Eng- While a resident of Carlisle Doctor Plunket mar- ried Esther, daughter of John Harris, of Harris's Ferry, father of John Harris, the founder of Har- risburg. They were the parents of four daughters, of whom Elizabeth, born in 1755, married Samuel Maclay, associate judge of Northumberland county and United States senator: Isabella, born in 1760, married William Bell, of Elizabethtown, N. J .; Margaret married Isaac Richardson, and removed to Wayne county, N. Y .; and Esther married Col. Robert Baxter, a British officer, and died about a year after marriage. The Doctor resided for some years in the Maclay house at Sunbury, where, after gaged in some hilarious proceedings at an Irish. the death of his wife, Betty Wiley was his house- keeper. His office, subsequently occupied by E. lish nobleman, who had a curious and valuable Greenough and David Rockefeller, was on the site watch, which he sent to Plunket with a wager that of E. W. Greenough's residence on Front street. Sunbury. He became totally blind in the later years of his life, when a rope was stretched from lis residence to his office so that he could still go back and forth without aid. As shown by his will, which is dated Jan. 3. 1791, and proved May 25, 1791, he died in the spring of that year, and is

he could not tell the time by it: that gentleman coolly put it in his pocket, and sent a message to the Englishman to the effect that he should call upon him-in person if he wished to know the time. This he never did, evidently out of respect for Plunket's well known physical prowess, and the latter, it is said. retained the watch to the end of buried in an unmarked grave in the Sunbury cem- his life. At a later date he became involved in an etery. Dr. R. II. Awl had one of his medical assault upon an English officer, in which the latter works, "Synopsis Medicinae, or a Summary View sustained severe bodily injuries : although dis- of the whole Practice of Physick." by John Allen, guised, Plunket was recognized by his stature, and, M. D., F. R. S., printed at London in 1749.

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HON. JAMES POLLOCK, who probably the United States mint at Philadelphia. He re- reached higher political position than any other native of Northumberland county, Pa., was the last judge to preside over her courts by appoint- ment of the governor. He was born at Milton Sept. 11, 1810, son of William and Sarah (Wil- him for the national currency. In 1879 he was son) Pollock, natives of Chester county, Pa., of Irish extraetion.

Mr. Pollock's education was begun at the com- mon schools of Milton with Joseph B. Anthony as his first teacher, and continued at the academy of Rev. David Kirkpatrick, where he prepared for the junior year at Princeton, from which he grad- uated in 1831, with the highest honors of his class. He then began the study of law under Samuel Hep- burn, of Milton, and was admitted to the bar of Northumberland county on Nov. 5, 1833. He opened an office at Milton in April, 1834; two years later he was appointed deputy attorney gen- eral for the county, serving in this position until 1839. In 1844 he was elected to Congress from the Thirteenth Pennsylvania district as the Whig candidate; he was twice reelected, serving in the Twenty-eighth Congress. on the committee on Claims, in the Twenty-ninth on the committee on Territories, and in the Thirtieth as a member of the Ways and Means committee. On the 23d of June, 1848, he introduced a resolution for the appoint- ment of a committee to report upon the advisabil- ity and feasibility of building a trans-continental railway, and, as chairman of the committee so ap- pointed, made the first favorable official report on this subject. On Jan. 16, 1851, within a brief period after the conclusion of his third congres- sional term, he was commissioned as president judge of the Eighth Judicial district (then com- posed of the counties of Northumberland. Lycom- ing, Columbia, Sullivan and Montour). his judi- cial ineumbeney expiring, by the terms of his com- mission, on Dec. 1, 1851, after which he resumed the practice of law. In 1854 he was the candidate of the Whig and "Know-Nothing" parties for gor- ernor, and was elected by a majority of thirty-seven thousand over his principal competitor, William Bigler, the Democratic candidate. He was in- ducted into office in January, 1855, and served the term of three years ; among the measures of im- portance during his administration were the in- auguration of a policy of retrenchment in the fiscal line of the public works. the passage of laws de- signed to promote the efficiency of the public school

tired from this office in 1866, but was reinstated by President Grant in 1869, and in 1873 became superintendent of that institution. The legend, "In God we trust," was originally suggested by appointed naval officer at Philadelphia and held that offiee four years. His last official position was that of Federal chief supervisor of elections, to which he was appointed in 1886. He died at Lock Haven, Pa., April 19, 1890, and his remains were interred in the Milton cemetery.

In personal appearance Governor Pollock was of commanding figure and somewhat above the aver- age height, with dark eyes and hair, smooth-shaven face, and a countenance expressive of intelligence and benignity. In religious affiliation he was a Presbyterian, and was for some years president of the board of trustees of the College of New Jer- sey at Princeton, by which the honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him in 1855.

As an attorney he was a better advocate than counselor. He was in regular practice in the courts of Northumberland county from 1833 to 1844, and at intervals in his official career after that time. While his judicial incumbency was the shortest in the history of the county, it was long enough to se- cure for his abilities in this position an ample rec- ognition. He was an eloquent speaker, graceful, persuasive and convincing, and possessed remark- able tact in gaining the sympathy and approval of his hearers. Strong conscientiousness was a proni- inent element in his character, and while his offi- cial acts were at times subjected to violent criti- cisin, the honesty of his intentions was conceded even by his most determined opponents.

ZERBE. The Zerbe or Zerby family numerous- ly represented among the substantial and ereditable citizens of the lower end of Northumberland county, particularly in Lower Mahanoy township. are the descendants of the brothers (Daniel and Philip Zerbe. There was another branch of the family in that township, now extinct. to which belonged John Zerbe, who died in Lower Mahanoy, unmarried ; and Philip Zerbe, a rafter on the Sus- quehanna who owned a tract of land along the river, and who left children, Levi (who served as a soldier in the Civil war), Isaae (also a soldier in

affairs of the Conunonwealth, the sale of the main the Civil war), Reily (a soldier in the Civil war), .Toel, Susanna (married Isaac Messner), Eliza- beth (married John H. Seagrist, of Georgetown)

suspension of specie payments by banks chartered system. and the adoption of measures by which the and Magdalene (died unmarried).

In 1222. in the first list of taxables of Pine in the State was legalized during the crisis of 1857. Grove township, then a part of Berks county but now included in Schuylkill county, appear the names of Benjamin, Daniel and Philip Zerby, who were brothers. The following concerning the early representatives of this family in America is taken

In 1861 he was a member of the Peace Confer- enee which assembled at Washington and presented the Crittenden compromise measures to the eon- sideration of Congress : and in May of that year he was appointed by President Lincoln director of from a recent work on Berks county: Zerbe --

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Zerby (also Zerve, Zerwe and Zerben) .-- The Zerbe still standing on that tract; the barn was built by family of Berks was very early settled in America. lis son Thomas in 1870. He was interested in polities, being quite active in the interests of the Republican party in his locality, and was also zeal- ous in church work, being a Lutheran member of the Malta Church, where he is buried. He served as trustee of this church for many years, and helped to build it in 1860. He died March 23, 1867, aged fifty-eight years, two months, eighteen days. His wife, Elizabeth, was a daughter of Mar- tin Garman, who married a Michael. She died June 27, 1894, aged seventy-eight years, three months, ten days. Mr. and Mrs. Zerbe had the following children: Josiah, of Al- ma, Nebr .; Thomas; Sarah, married to Hen- ry Miller; Rebecca, married to George Heitzinan ; Benjamin, of Beavertown, Pa .; Catharine, mar- ried to Elias Paul; and Elias S., of Altoona, Penn- sylvania. The original home of the family was in France, but owing to their steadfast loyalty to their religious faith they were obliged to find hoines elsewhere, that they might worship as they thought right. On their first coming to the New World they settled in New York State, in the Sehoharie Valley, and a little farther south at Livingston Manor, from which places they followed the migratory tide into the fertile valley of the Tulpehocken. Rupp in his "30,000 Names of Immigrants" shows a Lorenz Zerbe who came from Schoharie to Tulpehocken in 1723, and in addition to Lorenz mentions a John Philip Zerbe and a Martin Zerbe among those above twenty-one years of age, who passed the winter of 1:10 and summer of 1711 in Livingston Manor, N. Y., and who may have come to Tulpe- hoeken at a later period. The name of John or Johan has been a favorite one in the family, as appears from the tax lists and vital statistics.

Daniel Zerbe, ancestor of one branch of this family now in Lower Mahanoy township, is pre- sumed to have come to Northumberland eounty from the vicinity of Pine Grove, now in Schuylkill county. His wife, whose maiden name was Wertz, he married after coming to this region, and they are buried at Zion's Stone Valley Chureli, in the township where they lived. He was a farmer, owning the place which now belongs to Jonathan Zerbe, one of his deseendants. Daniel Zerbe is de- scribed as a tall man. His children were as fol- lows: Jolin married late in life, but had no pos- terity ; he died of smallpox. Daniel died unmar- ried in Lower Mahanoy (there is a Daniel Zerbe, son of Daniel and Marie E., who was born in Aug- ust, 1811, and died Feb. 8, 1861, aged forty-nine years, six months, buried at the Stone Valley Chureh). Thomas is mentioned below. Joseph, who was a laborer, lived in Lower Mahanoy, and he and his wife, Catharine (Meck), are buried at Georgetown; their children were Elizabeth, Henry (a soldier of the Civil war), Joseph, Daniel, George, a daughter who died unmarried, Samuel (of Millersburg) and Jonas (of Shamokin). Re- becca married David Schwartz and they subse- quently moved West. Elizabeth married Adam All- man and they lived in Lower Mahanoy. George married Phoebe Spengel, and they lived in Lower Mahanoy and are buried at the Stone Valley Church ; they died of smallpox ; their children were Jonathan and Ellen, the former a resident of Loy- alton, Pennsylvania.

Thomas Zerbe, son of Daniel. spent all his life in Lower Mahanoy township. In his early man- hood he was engaged as a general laborer, but he followed farming principally after commencing on his own account, and about 1852 located on the place now occupied by his son Thomas, buying the farm at that time. In 1857 he built the house

THOMAS ZERBE, one of the foremost citizens of Lower Mahanoy township, was born May 3, 1840, in the district where he still lives. He was reared on the home farm, and in 1862 began to operate the place on his own account. This is the prop- erty which has been in his family sinee 1852, when his father purchased it, and which was formerly the George Snyder homestead. It consists of fifty acres, besides which Mr. Zerbe owns another farm in the same township of fifty-four and one half acres (formerly the Joseph Shaffer farm), and three islands in the Susquehanna with a total area of about fifteen acres. His agricultural work has been highly successful, but he has not given all his time to this branch, being engaged to some ex- tent as a lumber merchant and operating a port- able sawmill ; he has employed as many as six men in this line. In public affairs he has long been one of the most influential men in his locality. He was overseer of the poor in his district for many years, and in 1891 was elected county com- missioner, in which office he served two consecu- tive terms, six years ; his majority was 1,180 in an evenly balanced county, which speaks well for the confidence his fellow citizens have in his integrity and ability. Mr. Zerbe las for many years beenf one of the most enterprising workers in the Re- publican party in his section. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons, as a member of Sha- mokin Lodge, No. 255, F. & A. M .; Shamokin Chapter, No. 264, R. A. M .: and Shamokin Com- mandery, No. 77, K. T. He and his family be- long to the Lutheran congregation at the Malta Church, and he has served many years as trustee.

On July 28, 1861, Mr. Zerbe married Catharine Messer, daughter of Philip and Mary (Dockey) Messer, and they have had a family of seven sons : Franklin died young; Charles A. was killed in a mine; John W. is postmaster at Shamokin. Pa .; James M. is a resident of Reading, Pa .; Joseph H. lives at Dalmatia; Daniel W. is located at

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Bridgeport, Pa. (lie was a soldier in the Philip- name was Heckert, was also from Lower Mahanoy pines) ; one died in infancy.

township, and she also died in Iowa, surviving Joseph Henry Zerbe, son of Thomas, was born her husband many years. Their children were all March 19, 1870, in- Lower Mahanoy township, and born in Lower. Mahanoy township, viz .: David, obtained his early education in the public schools Philip, John, Albert (who died out West), there. Later he attended the academy at Eliza-

Amanda ( Mrs. Michael Heckert), Elizabeth ( who bethville, in Dauphin county. At the age of married John Tschopp and M. T. Wertz), Catha- eighteen years he took up telegraphy, which he rine (married William L. Schaffer), Polly (who learned at Paxton, and he was soon given a sta- was married in California to a resident of that tion at Mahantango, where he remained for eight State, near Los Angeles) and Eve (who married . years, being transferred thence to Dalmatia in Iowa). (Georgetown), in his native county, where he Philip Zerbe, son of Joseph, enlisted in the still remains. This is on the Northern Central Union service during the Civil war, in July, 1864, road. Mr. Zerbe is the oldest employee of his and was fatally shot in the battle of Petersburg ; company at that point. He has become thoroughly his burial place is unknown. He was a man of about thirty-six at the time of his enlistment. When twenty-three years old he married Polly of John Lessman, one of the Hessian soldiers who settled in this region. Mrs. Zerbe lived at Vera Cruz to the end of her days, passing away Oct. 30. 1908, and is buried there. She was the mother of the following children : William, of Tower City, Pa. ; Ambrose L .; John, who died young; Charles W. : Sarah, who has never married ; B. Frank; and Philip, who died in Tower City.

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Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 1, Part 109

Author: Floyd, J.L., & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, J. L. Floyd & Co. Number of Pages: 1090

Author: Floyd, J.L., & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, J. L. Floyd & Co.
Number of Pages: 1090