Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 2, Part 15

Author: Floyd, J.L., & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, J. L. Floyd & Co.
Number of Pages: 1024

USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 > Part 15

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Jolin Boyd Snyder, son of Joseph, learned the trade of plasterer, which he followed in connection with farming. On Jan. 1. 1852, he married Mary M. Mowery, who was born Dec. 9, 1836. daughter of Daniel Mowery. of Shamokin, and died May 1. 1911. The following children were born to them : Charles, who died when six years old: Anna (de- ceased ), who married Matthias Neely : George Me- Clellan, who married Priscilla Swover: John H., now clerk of the "Hotel Graemar": Edwin A., who died young; Elizabeth: Florence Rebecca, who married Jolin Tyler : Emma : and Joseph W., who married Gertrude Yost. The father, John Boyd Snyder, died in Shamokin in February, 1903. He was a Democrat in politics and frater- nally a member of Shan:okin Lodge, No. 255, F. & A. M.

David H. Snyder, son of Joseph, was born in November, 1834. at Rushtown, Northumberland county, and when a boy learned the trade of sad- dler, which he followed throughout his active vears. Before his marriage he tanght school for three terms in Little Mahanoy township, this coun- ty. He was located at Catawissa, Shamokin and, eventually, . at Cabel, in Ralpho township, this county, also following farming to some extent, on a small tract which he owned. During the Civil war he was in the Union service for nine months, and returned home in poor health. never entirely recovering his strength after his army experience.

DAVID L. SNYDER was born Oct. 25, 1867, in Shamokin township, Northumberland county, and obtained his education in the public schools. He learned the saddler's trade with his brother Jo- seph, at Cabel, remaining with him about ten years, until he commenced business for himself. His patronage is extensive and drawn from a wide territory. Mr. Snyder also manufactures harness, and since 1904 has been engaged in the sale of farm implements. He is a most enterprising man, and is interested in the timber business, sup- plying the mines. In 1909 he bought the old Snyder homestead at Cabel, in Ralpho township, a tract of seventy-six acres -- good land and valuable timber. The farmhouse on the property was at one time known as the "Red Tavern," a hotel hav- ing been maintained there many years ago, and it is one of the landmarks of this section. On June 1, 1902, Mr. Snyder was appointed postmaster at Cabel, where his brother Joseph and his mother have also officiated, in the same capacity. He is a progressive citizen, thoroughly identified with local interests, and is a member of the P. O. S. of A., the Modern Woodmen of America, and the In- dependent Fire Company. In politics he is a Dem- ocrat.

On June 2, 1896. Mr. Snyder married Estella Moody, daughter of Allen Moody. She died one year afterward, at the early age of twenty, the mother of a daughter. Estella. Mr. Snyder's sec- ond marriage, which took place in June, 1898, was to Annie M. Mover, daughter of Jonathan Moyer. of Berrysburg, Dauphin Co., Pa., and she died Sept. 26. 1909, leaving the following children : .Charles. Elsie. Leon, Annie and Chester. Mr. Suyder has since married ( third) Gertrude Cham- berlin, widow of Edw. Chamberlin, and a daugh-

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ter of Luther Sober. The family are Methodists in religious connection.

HARRY E. SNYDER was born May 12, 1872, in Ralpho township, Northumberland county, was reared upon the farin and received his education in the public schools of the home locality. For two years he was engaged in the inilk business at Weigh Scales, his next location being at Seven Points, in Rockefeller township, where he carried on a mercantile business for one year. In 1906 he - bought the old Amandus Miller homestead in Shamokin township, consisting of seventy-four acres, where he devoted himself to farming until his removal to Shamokin, in April, 1911; he re- sides at No. 623 West Pine Street. He is a young man of energetic disposition, intelligent in his work and enterprising in his methods, and his farm showed the effect of good management. He had good buildings and kept his property in ex- cellent condition.

In 1901 Mr. Snyder married Lulu V. Miller, daughter of Amandus Miller, late of Shamokin township, and they have four children: Ernest M., R. Merrill, Mary H. and Rosella F. Mr. Snyder is a member of the Oak Grove Methodist Church in Ralpho township, and socially belongs to the P. O. S. of A. In political matters he votes independently.

JARID C. IRWIN, a venerable citizen of Sun- bury, has had a long and useful life, one of un- usual activity, and few residents of the borough are any better known in the community. For many years he was identified with its public af- fairs, having served several years in the borough council, as member of the school board for the re- markable period of twenty-one years, during which time he was never absent from a meeting of the board, and was chairman of the building committee who superintended the erection of the present high school building, as justice of the peace, and from 1892 to 1897 as postmaster of the borough.

Mr. Irwin is a son of Martin Irwin, who came to Sunbury early in 1830 from Chester county. Pa., where he was born April 1, 1804. He followed shoemaking throughout his working years, and was an industrious and intelligent man, one who had the respect and confidence of all who knew him. For some years he served as court crier, and in 1848 he was elected to the office of register and recorder of Northumberland county, which he was filling at the time of his death, June 13. 1849, in Sunbury. He was a Democrat, and quite ac- tive in politics. Mr. Irwin married Rachel Irwin, who was born in 1808 in Lancaster county, Pa., daughter of James Irwin, a native of Chester county, where he is buried : he lived to the age of ninety-three. James Irwin had the following sons : George, James, Samuel, Joseph, Jarid and Fenius. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs.

Martin Irwin: Jarid C., born March 13. 1830; James P., born in 1832; Mary, born in 1834, who married Charles D. Wharton : S. Elizabeth, born in 1836, who married Dr. Daniel Shindel : Isabella, born in 1838, who married Joseph Bright ; Amelia Alice, born in 1842, who married Jolin Olson ; R. Marian, born in 1843, who died young; Jane P., born in 1846, who married Edward Israel; and Samuel P., born in 1849, who married Miss Val Elexander, and died in 1908. The parents of this family are buried at Sunbury, in the lower (Fourth street) cemetery. They were Episcopal- ians in religious connection and active in church life. After the father's death the mother married (second) Frederick Lazarus, whom she also sur- vived, her death occurring in 1895.

Jarid C. Irwin was born March 13, 1830, in Sunbury; where he grew to manhood, and there he has always made his home. He learned shoe- making with his father, with whom he worked from an early age, beginning the trade in the days when custom work was the rule: when the work was all done by hand: and when shoes were made on straight lasts, not rights and lefts as at present, and worn on either foot, being changed about daily to keep heels and soles from becoming crooked. Mr. Irwin followed this business throughout his active years, and prospered. It is his public career, however, that has brought him into special prominence, his services having covered many years, during which he filled various offices with ability, showing conscientious devo- tion to the duties intrusted to him. He was a member of the borough council for two terins. For twenty-one years he served on the school board, for a longer period than any other one man in Sunbury, and in all that time never missed a meet- ing of the board, was secretary of that body for twelve years, treasurer four years, and president for a time, and always known as one of the most effective workers in the borough in the cause of public education. On April 14, 1890, he was ap- pointed justice of the peace by Governor Beaver, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of A. N. Brice. . At the close of his appointive term. first" Monday in May, 1891, he was elected for five years, but in 189? resigned his office, having been in the ineantime appointed postmaster. when Hon. John Wanamaker was postmaster general. He held that office until 1897.

Mr. Irwin has always been a stanch Republican, and he served in the Union army during the Civil war under three enlistments. In 1861 he became a private of Company F, 11th Pennsylvania Regi- ment, with which he served three months, in Mary- land and Virginia, taking part in the first fight at Falling Waters, Va. : his second term of service was as a private in the 5th Pennsylvania Regi- ment, with which he remained a little over a vear, during that time taking part in the battles

Javid G. Irwin

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of James Island (S. C.), Antictam and South had no communication with the outside world ex- Mountain ; later he served a year as a private of cept by means of the turnpike and canal. One Company C, 47th Pennsylvania Regiment. He is a leading member of William A. Brunner Post, No. 335, G. A. R., of Sunbury, which he helped to organize, being one of the eharter members. and is a past commander. For the past fourteen years Mr. Irwin has acted for the county com- missioners in the matter of looking after indigent Civil war veterans, seeing that decent burial is provided for such as die without sufficient means and that headstones are erected to mark their graves properly. For many years he was a member of the Knights of Pythias. In religion, like his parents, he is an Episcopalian.

notes the return, April 3, 1835, of the eanal boat "Augusta" from Philadelphia; the other the ar- rival of two cars of coal from Shamokin in 1836, the year the railroad between Sunbury and Sham- okin was completed. At this time there were eight hotels or taverns, as they were then called, in the town, some of them on sites still occupied by hotels. In 1842 the population was only 1,108, and at that time there was not .a house in sight north of Race street, or south of Spruce, or east of what is now known as Spring Run. In 1848 the entire tax levy of the borough amounted to $1,294.63. The public schools were opened in 1834, and the school tax for the first year was $554.938 ; the first building especially erected for school purposes in Sunbury was opened in De- cember, 1837.

Mr. Irwin can look back over a most interesting period of Sunbury's development, and he has em- bodied his memories in a book of Reminiscences, which he completed and published in 1910, when past the age of eighty. The edition of three hun- Of interesting faets concerning the changes in the physical features of the town there are many, some scareely comprehensible to the present gen- eration. The present site of the Reading railroad depot was an old basin which was a favorite re- sort of skaters in the winter season: Shamokin creek was once a "fisherman's paradise"; the part dred copies was intended chiefly for distribution among his friends, but it is a substantial and valu- able addition to the history of the borough and of Northumberland county, though the author hint- self claimed no such distinction for it. The work was a labor of love, accomplished in his leisure hours, and the aceuracy of his recollections, to- of town extending from the upper basin to beyond gether with the care and thought which he be- the Philadelphia & Erie shops was practically a

stowed upon this collection of "fugitive facts" con- swamp, covered with a dense wild growth of shrubs, bushes and vines; and allusion is made to the old picnic ground, "which was a dense growth of trees, south of the eastern extension of Walnut street, and east of Spring run, extending along Shamokin ereck, quite up to the old town mill." In these days a boy could not earn more than twenty-five eents a day, a levy, or twelve and a eerning the early days in which all are interested. not only. evidence the remarkable clearness and vigor of mind which this octogenarian las re- tained, but show a true gift for the grasping of those things most characteristic of the times lic depicts and a faculty for presenting them which entitles tlie book to more than local recognition. The eold faets of history stand in little danger of half cents, being the average, and fifty cents daily being lost in these days of daily records, and the was the regular price paid for a man's labor. increasing appreciation of the value of statistics. There was little opportunity for girls to make It is the doings and incidents typieal of the early nioney. days of the borough which may too readily slip into oblivion unless rescued in time by the hand of one who has the necessary knowledge and oppor- tunity to record them. The book contains so many entertaining recitals of life and conditions in the early days of the borongh that it might furnish "loeal color" for many other works, incidents of all kinds being set forth in most attractive and read- able form, and with a regard for facts that en-

To the social pleasures of the day and humorous happenings, many of which have become historic, Mr. Irwin devotes considerable space. He tells of the annual training days, when the militia met at Sunbury for drill; of the fights and festivities which marked these occasions; the hucksters busi- ly engaged in the sale of the ginger cakes, root beer and other refreshments in popular demand ; and the daneing, usually at the "Black Horse hanees the worth of the volume appreciably. The Hotel." the "Ferry House" and the "Cross Keys." One of the most amusing incidents related was the expedition made by the on an island in the river. One day, the

people who have known and loved Sunbury feel a personal sense of gratitude toward him for the oe- eurrenees he has perpetuated in this work. The Sunbury Grays to onst a negro family squatted customs and practices of Sunbury people sixty and more years ago he recounts from his personal ex- drum corps being short of a fifer, a celebrated periences and recollections. Beginning with a whistler in the town agreed to furnish the musie for the parade, and kept his word. The horse races so keenly enjoyed in the early days, the feud between the Sunbury and Northumberland boys, and numerous other things recalled with brief reference to the founding of the borough, a little before his time, he gives two quotations from an old newspaper, which present in sharp contrast with the present the days when Sunbury 36

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zest by most of the older inhabitants, have been ville, was requested to pay them a visit. He cele- set down with a pen moved by the spirit of the brated the first mass at the house of a Mr. Comp- times, and the volume has been received with de- ton, and the first baptism and marriage recorded light. A number of illustrations accompany the in the church records by Father Sheridan are text.

dated Oct. 1, 1854. It is very probable he com-

On Feb. 15, 1851, Mr. Irwin married in Dan- menced visiting the town about that time. In ville, Pa., Ann S. Kiehl, who was born in 1833, laughter of George W. Kiehl, of Sunbury, at one time sheriff of Northumberland county. She died March 9, 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Irwin had four children, namely: Marian, who died young ; Georgia Anna, who married Sharon Stephen, of Harrisburg, where she died, leaving two children, Fred H. and Bessie : William, who died young, and Martin, who died young.

REV. A. H. BLEISTEIN has been pastor of St. Patrick's Catholic Church at Trevorton, North- umberland county, since 1902, and the church and its work have prospered steadily under his wise and efficient administration. He was born March 6, 1874, at Lebanon. Pa., where his father, John Bleistein, a native of Germany, settled upon com- ing to this country. The father was a furnaceman and employed as such throughout his active years. He died at Lebanon May 20, 1874. His widow, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Host, is now living with her son. Father Bleistein, at Trevor- ton. She is a native of Wurtemberg, Germany. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. John Bleistein, namely: Frank, who died young; Jo- seph, a resident of Lebanon: Carl, who died young : John; William, of Lebanon; Charles, liv- ing at Chester, Pa. : Philip, a resident of Lebanon ; Mary, deceased : and A. H.

1857 he was succeeded by Rev. George Gosten- schnigg, pastor at Milton, who organized the con- gregation and at once commenced collecting mon- ey for the erection of a church edifice. Father George, as he was familiarly known, continued his collections over the county until May, 1859, when the contract was let for the church building, a white sandstone structure 35 by 65 feet in dimen- sions, still in use. The edifice was completed in May, 1860, and was dedicated on the 20th of that month by Bishop Neuman, of Philadelphia, and placed under the patronage of St. Patrick. A large assemblage was present at the services, but the pastor who had worked so hard to accomplish all this had not lived to see the ceremony. While making preparations for the event Father Gosten- schnigg became overheated. and he died at Mil- ton May 2, 1860, and was buried in St. Joseph's parochial lot at that place. His successor, Rev. M. Muhlberger, served until 1861, when Rev. Emil Stenzel became pastor. In 1862 he was sue- ceeded by Rev. Edward Murray, and in Novem- her, 1863, Rev. J. J. Koch, pastor of St. Joseph's Church at Milton, was. transferred to this charge. In 1866 Father Koch was appointed first resident pastor of St. Edward's Church at Shamokin, but also continued to minister to St. Patrick's until 1878, during which time he enlarged the church building, had the interior frescoed, paid off the debts, and placed the affairs of the congregation on a sound financial basis. For four years after Father Koch's pastorate Rev. August Schlue- ter, formerly of Locust Gap, was in charge at

A. H. Bleistein received his early education in the parochial schools at Lebanon, and in Vincent College, located at Latrobe, Westmoreland Co .. Pa. In 1892 he entered Mount Saint Mary's College, at Emmitsburg, Md., from which institution he . Trevorton, he being followed by Rev. Henry Relt,

was graduated in 1891. For the next two years he pursued the theological course there. and for one year was a student at St. Charles Seminary (the Philadelphia Theological Seminary of St. Charles Borromeo), at Overbrook, Pa., after which he began his work as assistant to Father Christ. of St. Joseph's Church, at Lancaster, Pa. His next location was at New Freedom. York Co .. Pa., preparations made to build. The first services in where he remained for one year, from June, 1901, to June, 1902, at which time he was transferred to Christmas Day, 1901. Father Seubert continued Trevorton. Here he has since had charge of St. Patrick's Church. He has been very successful throughout his pastorate, and the affairs of the congregation are in a thriving condition.

the first resident pastor. Father Relt built a two- story parochial residence in 1882. In 1889 Rev. Francis L. Breckel was placed over this charge, which he continued to serve until the fall of 1900, when Father George Seubert came hither from St. Anthony's church in Lancaster. Pa. In the spring of 1901 the present church site was purchased, and the new structure were held in the basement in charge until the present pastor. Rev. A. H. Bleistein, was transferred hither in June, 1902. Many changes have taken place in the membership of the church, which decreased for a time as the suspension of the coal business caused many fam- ilies to move from the vicinity. The congregation

St. Patrick's Church was founded soon after the opening of the coal mines at Trevorton. A large proportion of the Irish and German miners were now numbers abont one hundred families, prin- members of the Catholic Church, and Rev. Michael cipally German, and there is a flourishing Sunday school. Sheridan, pastor of St. Joseph's Church, at Dan-

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JOHN T. CROMPTON, of Mount Carmel. has his section. He gives employment to a large num- been identified with the industrial interests of that ber of men, having a variety of interests which keep him busy and attract capital to the town.

place since he came there in 1906 to take charge of the hosiery mills, the leading manufacturing establishment of the place. For three years before he was sent to Mount Carmel he was at Shamokin in the employ of the same eoncern.

Mr. Crompton is a native of Philadelphia, Pa., born in 1861. His father, John T. Crompton, was born in England, whence he came to America in 1847 in a sailing vessel. The voyage took six months. He settled in Philadelphia, where he bers of the family in America were. At the Revo- found employment with a cousin of the same name in the manufacture of paper boxes, continuing to follow this work until his death, which occurred in 1873. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Gould, died only a few months before him. They were the parents of four children, namely : Georgi- · ana, who died young; John T .; Georgiana, who lives in Gloucester, N. J .; and William, of Phil- adelphia.

John T. Crompton received his education in the schools of his native city. He began work early, in a stocking mill, but after a short period of em- ployment there went to the State of Delaware, where he was engaged at farm work four years. In 1881 he located in New Jersey, where he also fol- lowed farm work, and he was engaged in farming Jonathan Stannert. great-grandfather of Her- for fifteen years on his own aceount before he bert J. Stannert, lived at Conshohocken, Pa., where commenced commercial life. He embarked in the he was a successful business man. a miller and merchant. and also had a farm. He had a number commission business in Philadelphia, at No. 305 Front street, where he continued for three years. of children, who settled in the lower counties of He has since been employed with the W. F. Tauble Pennsylvania, and among them was a son Jon- athan, who was born in Conshohocken.

(Ine.) Hosiery Mills. His first work for this concern was in New Jersey, in the dye house, and in 1903 he was sent to Shamokin, Pa .. to take the position of assistant superintendent. On Sept. 13, 1906, he came to Mount Carmel to take charge of the mill at that point, where two hundred and fifty lands are steadily employed. The mill is the leading industrial establishment in Mount Carmel. and as such occupies an important place in de- termining the local welfare. Mr. Crompton, in his capacity of superintendent, has shown himself to be a man of ability and resource, and possessed of exeellent judgment, and lie is a respected. citizen of his community.

On June 3, 1886, Mr. Crompton married Mary Lovell, and they have three children, John, Ida and George. The family reside at No. 305 West Third street. Mr. Crompton is a member of the Knights of Malta commandery at Mount Carmel, and while in New Jersey he joined the I. O. M., Jr. O. U. A. M. and P. O. S. of A.

HERBERT J. STANNERT, a leading business man of the borough of Northumberland, and the only lumber merchant at that point, is carrying on the business established by his father and ocenpies an important position in the commercial life of

The Stannert family has been settled in North- umberland county from the time of his grandfa- ther, Jonathan Stannert, back of whose time we have little definite record. The name Stannert is of French origin, but as many English have French names, through the thousands of Normans who went over to England with the Conqueror, it ean- not be stated of what nationality the early' mem- cation of the Edict of Nantes over one hundred thousand Huguenots fled to England and hundreds of their sons came to Pennsylvania as English. Again, William, Prince of Orange, had a whole bri- gade of Huguenots with his army at the battle of the Boyne (1690) in Ireland, most of whom staved in Ireland after the victory, and many of them, or their sons, came to Pennsylvania with the Scotch-Irish. For this information we are indebt- ed to the Rev. Dr. A. Stapleton, who thinks these Stannerts may have come to Pennsylvania from New Jersey-probably the second or third gener- ation in this country, there being many such fam- ilies in Pennsylvania. General Stannert, of the Civil war, was from New Jersey.

Jonathan Stannert. son of Jonathan, came to Chillisquaque township, Northumberland county, in 1829 or 1830, and there passed the rest of his active years, engaged in farming. at Sodom. Orig- inally he owned a large traet of land. Some years before his death he retired to Lewisburg, Pa., where he died and is buried. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian. His wife, Sarah (Sedginger ), who hailed from Conshohocken, died two years before him. They were the parents of the following chil- dren : Samuel, Massey, Dorothy. William, Har- riet, Hannah, John H., and two who died young.

John H. Stannert, son of Jonathan. was born June 10, 1833, in Chillisgnaque township, and at- tended the eight-cornered schoolhouse still stand- ing in the central part of Chillisquaque township. Until cighteen he was employed at farm work, and then icarned the trade of blacksmith, which he fol- lowed until he entered the Union service during the Civil war. In 186? he enlisted in Company D. 150th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. with which he served one year, bceoming second ser- geant of his company. He was discharged from Turness Lane hospital the second day of the battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, but reentered the service and was superintendent of commissary un-

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Genealogical and biographical annals of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Vol. 2, Part 15

Author: Floyd, J.L., & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, J. L. Floyd & Co. Number of Pages: 1024

Author: Floyd, J.L., & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, J. L. Floyd & Co.
Number of Pages: 1024