USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Genealogical and personal history of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 16
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An energetic business man and public-spirited citizen is Joseph Wood Mussina, of Williamsport. The family of which Mr. Mussina is a representative is of Polish origin and has been resident in Pennsyl- vania for nearly a century and a half.
Lyons Mussina was born in 1768, in Great Poland, and in 1786 emigrated to the United States. He settled in Union county, Pennsyl- vania, where he engaged in business as a merchant. He married Bar- bara Nass, a native of Pennsylvania and a resident of Union county, and the following children were born to them: Rachel; Ann; Henry B .; Jacob Lyons, mentioned at length hereinafter ; Julia Ann; and Jane.
Jacob Lyons Mussina, son of Lyons and Barbara (Nass) Mussina, was born April 29, 1807, at Aaronsburg, Centre county, Pennsylvania, and resided in Williamsport, where he conducted a flourishing business as a watchmaker and jeweler. He married, March 18, 1834, Jerusha P., born in Williamsport, daughter of John Bailey, who was a soldier in the war of 1812 and died while in service, but whether from illness or on the field of battle is uncertain. Mr. and Mrs. Mussina were the parents of the following children: Joseph Wood, mentioned at length hereinafter; Sylvester; Lauretta J .; Helena; Mary A .; J. Lyons; S. Augustus ; and Thomas S.
Joseph Wood Mussina, eldest child of Jacob Lyons and Jerusha P. (Bailey) Mussina, was born October 20, 1835, in Williamsport, Pennsyl- vania, where he received his education in Dickinson Seminary. He learned the art of telegraphy and was for several years engaged in the construction and management of the first telegraph system of central Pennsylvania. For some years he held the position of assistant superin- tendent of the Catawissa railroad, but resigned in order to take charge
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of the jewelry business which his father had founded and successfully conducted. Mr. Mussina was one of the incorporators, and also presi- dent of the Merchants' National Bank of Williamsport, which has since been merged in the West Branch National Bank. He was one of the founders and is now president of the Grandview Cemetery Company. The Masonic Temple Association numbers Mr. Mussina among its or- ganizers and also among its officers, in whose ranks he serves as secre- tary and chairman of the building committee. He also serves as chair- man of the building committee of the Scottish Rite cathedral. Mr. Mus- sina is active as a citizen, and has been placed by his townsmen in of- fices of trust, having been chosen several times to serve in the select and common councils and also as a member of the board of school directors.
Mr. Mussina is a member of Lodge No. 106, F. and A. M., of Wil- liamsport, in which, since 1874, he has served two terms as master, trustee, and treasurer of trustees. He belongs to Lycoming H. R. A., Chapter No. 222, in which, in 1883, he held the office of high priest. Since 1894 he has been treasurer of Adoniram Council, No. 26, and in 1885 was commander of Baldwin II Commandery, No. 22. In the last-named organization he has held, since 1890, the office of treasurer. He has taken the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scot- tish Rite of Free Masonry, Valley of Williamsport, and the thirty-third degree in the Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, United States of America. His political affiliations are with the Democratic party. He is a member of the Mulberry Street Methodist Episcopal church in which, for nearly twenty-five years, he has served as trustee, treasurer of trustees, and chairman of the building committee.
Mr. Mussina married, in Cleveland, Ohio, Margaret, daughter of Joseph Betts, a farmer of Lycoming county, Pennsylvania.
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JOHN FREDERICK LAEDLEIN.
Throughout Lycoming county the name of John Frederick Laed- lein, mayor of Williamsport, is synonymous with the best interests of good government. Mr. Laedlein is a representative of the German element which from a very early date has been a power in Pennsylvania.
Michael and Elizabeth ( Ambrose) Laedlein were the parents of the following children: I. Charles, who married Christiana Finkbeiner, and has five children. 2. John Frederick, mentioned at length herein- after. 3. Frederick A. 4. Elizabeth, who became the wife of Jacob Mahl, and has ten children. Mrs. Laedlein died February 22, 1852, and Mr. Laedlein subsequently married Magdalena Rohe, by whom he was the father of the following children: I. Sophia, who has two children. 2. Edward R., who has three children. 3. Louis S., who has one child, and 4, Harry, who has four children.
John Frederick Laedlein, second child of Michael and Elizabeth ( Ambrose) Laedlein, was born in New York City, where he attended the public schools and then learned the cabinetmaker's trade. He was subsequently employed by the quartermaster's department of the gov- ernment service in the line of manufacture, at Portsmouth, Virginia, and at Fortress Monroe. Mr. Laedlein possessed a keen appreciation of the value of education, and devoted the money which he earned while in the service of the government to obtaining for himself facilities for mental culture. He entered the Eastman Business College of Pough- keepsie (New York) and there fitted himself for work of a higher order and for the improvement of larger opportunities. He then went to Philadelphia, where he obtained a position as bookkeeper for the firm of Brodhead & Kaub, wholesale jobbers of boots and shoes. At the end of three years he went to Williamsport, where he was employed
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as traveling salesman by Kimble, Barton & Lowe, manufacturers of lumbermen's axes. After remaining for some time in this position he formed a partnership with S. W. Kimble, of the former firm, under the name of S. W. Kimble & Company. They engaged in business as wholesale dealers in paints, oils and glass, and established a successful trade.
After a time Mr. Laedlein retired from mercantile business, and was employed by Levi L. Tate and became associate editor of the "Williamsport Sun." After two and a half years' experience as a jour- nalist he resigned his position and engaged in the job printing business in partnership with Cyrus and Lewis Heller, under the firm name of Heller, Laedlein & Company. The connection was maintained for six years, and in 1878 Mr. Laedlein engaged in the real estate business. To this, in 1880, he added both fire and life insurance, and is now at the head of one of the largest establishments of the kind in the city. He is president of the Brandon Park Commission, and holds the offices of secretary and treasurer in the Wildwood Cemetery Company.
Mr. Laedlein has always been an active, public-spirited citizen, and in politics adheres to the Democratic party. In February, 1902, he was elected mayor of Williamsport for a term of three years. It was a noteworthy tribute to Mr. Laedlein's character, as showing the confidence reposed in him by his fellow-citizens, that members of both parties united in placing him in his present office. His administration has been such as to commend itself to the approval of all good citizens.
Mr. Laedlein is a worthy member of the Masonic fraternity and is noted for his zealous and consistent practice of the distinctive virtues of the craft. He belongs to all the Masonic bodies and is now a thirty- third degree Mason. He is president of the Masonic Temple Associa- tion and it was largely through his efforts that the present magnificent
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building of the order was erected. He is also a member of Irem Temple, of Wilkesbarre, Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Laedlein married Mary A. Hall, and they are the parents of a son and a daughter : William F., who married Mary Helen Blint, and has one child, Elizabeth ; and Charlotte E., who is the wife of Frank E. Cheston and the mother of one child, Mary Alice.
ADOLPH NIEMEYER.
Adolph Niemeyer, deceased, was during a long and useful career one of the most substantial and progressive citizens of Williamsport, a prominent factor in its business life, and a warm friend of every cause making for the welfare of the community.
Mr. Niemeyer was a native of Germany, born in the kingdom of Hanover, April 12, 1835. He came from an excellent family, and was a son of the Rev. Carl and Sophie Gade Niemeyer. The father, an eminent Lutheran divine and a ripe scholar, prepared his son for college, and placed him in the College of the City of Brunswick, from which he was graduated after completing a three years' course. For three years following young Niemeyer was engaged in a mercantile business in Brunswick. In 1855, at the age of twenty years, he came to the United States and located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he resided for two years. In 1857 he went to Wisconsin, and while there served as clerk for a county board of supervisors. His excellent clerical abilities attracted admiring attention, and in 1865 he was appointed to a clerkship in the United States Pension Department in Washington City, and ren- dered efficient service in that capacity during a period of three years. In 1868 he returned to Williamsport, and formed a partnership with G. E. Otto Siess in the book and stationery business. This connection con-
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tinued until 1870, when Mr. Niemeyer withdrew from the business to accept the position of treasurer in the Savings Institution of Williams- port. For almost a quarter of a century (more than twenty-three years) he discharged the duties of that important post with ability and honor, and was elected to the presidency in succession to Major James H. Per- kins, and served as such for twelve years and until his death. Under his adminstration the Savings Institution greatly expanded its business, and its substantial growth and prosperity were acknowledgedly due in largest degree to his careful foresight and excellent abilities as a financier.
While his attention was principally given to the direction of the important affairs of the Savings Institution, his progressiveness and public-spiritedness made him an active figure in all entering into the life of the community. He served as county auditor for one term, and as city auditor for two terms. He was a member of the board of directors of the Williamsport Board of Trade, and his efforts were ever in the line of the conservative yet progressive attitude which has characterized that body. He was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, a past master of Ivy Lodge, No. 397; treasurer of Lycoming Chapter, No. 222, R. A. M., from 1870 until his death, a period of thirty-five years, and one remarkable for its great duration; a member and trustee of Baidwin II Commandery, K. T .; and a member of the Scottish Rite bodies of Williamsport. With his wife he held membership in St. Paul's Lutheran church, and he was a member of its board of trustees. In politics he was a Republican, and an active and influential advocate of the principles and policies of his party.
In 1867 Mr. Niemeyer was married to Miss Louisa Hess, daughter of Godfrey Hess, who survives her lamented husband, and with her their three children: Carl Hess, Emma and Louise.
Mr. Niemeyer passed away on Thanksgiving Day, November 30,
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1905. His demise was entirely unexpected, and brought profound sor- row upon the community. He had been ill but a few days and few outside his circle of intimate friends were aware of his indisposition. He was first taken with a stomach ailment, which aroused no apprehen- sion, but later it was discovered that his heart was affected. On Wednesday evening his recovery was strongly hoped for, but nature succumbed that night and the end came on the following morning. The funeral was from the family residence, and the interment was private. The Williamsport Board of Trade, of which deceased was a foremost member, voiced the sentiments of the entire people in resolutions of sympathy transmitted to the bereaved family, and which contained the following fervent but well deserved tribute:
"Mr. Adolph Niemeyer has been an honored citizen of Williamsport for more than a generation, and his life among this people has been known and read of all men. As a citizen he has been upright, energetic and thoroughly devoted to the interests of this his adopted city, and has made for himself a name and place which will make him long to be remembered, and which makes his death to be deeply regretted by every citizen. As a man he has commended himself by his consist- ent integrity and his faithful performance of every duty, as well as by his manner and bearing in his daily life.
"We do not presume to characterize his relations with his family and more intimate friends, for they have been too sacred for our in- trusion. Having passed beyond the ordinary limit of human life, and having rounded out more than three score years and ten, he has laid down the burden while he was in the full tide of his activities, and when his friends and associates little dreamed that his end was near, and that he was about to enter into his rest. Remembering his struggles and achievements, his life and its attainments, his character and his relations
Johnest Stunt,
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with us and with all his fellow-citizens and his family and friends, we the surviving members of the Williamsport Board of Trade do hereby resolve :
"First, that while we profoundly regret the death of our associate in this board, Mr. Adolph Niemeyer, we are glad that we can remember and record our remembrance of him as an upright, faithful and genial citizen, representative and man.
"Second, that while we deeply sympathize with all who feel his loss, particularly with his widow, children and the immediate relatives, yet we rejoice with them that in the providence of Almighty God he was permitted to so long be active in all of the performance of his life, and to leave a name which shall always be known and shall increasingly become an inspiration."
JOHN HUGHES HUNT.
John Hughes Hunt, of Williamsport, born April 18, 1830, in War- ren county, New Jersey, is a lineal descendant of Ralph Hunt, a native of England, who was supposed to have been a Royalist and a warm partisan of Charles Stuart II, in whose army he was probably engaged against the commonwealth, and who upon the defeat of the young king and his consequent flight into Normandy as well as the unsettled condi- tion of affairs in England during the reign of Cromwell, was led to look to America, whither he came and settled in what is now Queens county, Long Island, where he was one of a company that purchased from the Indians the land on which Newtown, in said county, is situated, in 1656, and was one of the patentees thereof. The purchase money for the land of Newtown was one pound. Ralph Hunt settled on the island when Peter Stuyvesant was Governor of the Dutch and was admitted to an
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equality with them in the management of their affairs, but afterward in- curred their displeasure on account of his opposition to some of Stuy- vesant's despotic acts toward the English Connecticut colony. In 1662 he was chosen one of the officers to conduct the affairs of the town; in 1663 was chosen to town office by Charles II; in 1664 was admitted as a freeman of the Connecticut colony ; in 1665 was commissioned lieu- tenant of the militia of the town by Governor Nickoll; in 1666 was elected freeholder of Newtown, and in 1667 was chosen constable, be- sides filling other similar positions. His house and barn with their con- tents were destroyed by fire in 1668, and the first church edifice in New- town was erected on land donated by him in 1671. His will was dated January 12, 1676. He was survived by the following children: Ralph, Edward, John, Samuel, Anna and Mary.
Samuel Hunt, youngest son of Ralph and Anne Hunt, settled at Maidenhead (now Lawrenceville), Mercer county, New Jersey, where he possessed considerable lands and other large estate. His will was dated January 15, 1717. He was survived by his wife Abigail and seven children : Samuel, Ralph, John, Thomas, Jesse, Mary and Anna. He bequeathed his homestead farm to his son Samuel and his widow Abigail. He bequeathed to Ralph and John other lands, and to the remainder of his children certain legacies.
Thomas Hunt, son of Samuel and Abigail Hunt, was born about the year 1705. He was a resident of Amwell township, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, where he is supposed to have been the owner of considerable real estate. He was also the owner of several hundred acres of land in Greenwich, Sussex (now Warren) county. His wife, Abigail Hunt, bore him several children.
Edward Hunt, son of Thomas and Abigail Hunt, was born in 1734. At some period prior to 1772 he became a resident of Greenwich, Sus-
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sex county, and lived on his father's land in that township. In the same year he purchased of Israel Pemberton two hundred and twenty-two and a half acres of land lying at the junction of the Delaware and Musconet- cong rivers, which is described in the deed as a part of a tract of sixteen thousand and five hundred acres that William Penn, Gawen Lourie, Nicholas Lucas and Edward Billinge conveyed to Robert Squib in 1676, and the same which Squib's executors, Nathan Filson and Johnathan Johnson, conveyed to Thomas Byerly in 1705, whose representatives, Charles Williams and Thomas Jones, granted the same to Israel Pember- ton in 1771. In 1779 Edward Hunt purchased of his father a tract of two hundred and sixty-six and three-quarters acres adjoining the Pem- berton tract, which is set out in the deed as a part of what Thomas Hunt purchased of Peter Lott in 1758, and his lands then extended from the Delaware river to Chelsea Forge (Finesville). When Mr. Hunt came to this part of the country it was mostly an unbroken wilderness and the government of New Jersey subject to the British Crown. Here he erected a log cabin and commenced clearing up a home for himself and family, and after an active life of prosperity for a period of fourteen years, died on some day between the tenth of March, 1786, the date of his will, and the eleventh of April, 1786, the date of its probate. He left a widow and eight children: Edward, William, John, Ann, Re- becca, Katurah, Amelia and Hannah. By his will his lands were to be equally divided between his sons, Edward, William and John, his wife Mary to receive forty pounds per year, have a room to live in with neces- sary furniture, fire, wood and cow kept during her life. The residue of his personal estate he gave to his five daughters equally divided among them, except that he remembered his grandsons, Thomas Sproul and Edward Vaugn, and directed his negro man Sambo to be appraised
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and kept on the plantation by one of his sons, such son paying the valua- tion thereof.
William Hunt, son of Edward and Mary Hunt, was born about 1766. He was allotted the upper division of his father's land and in- cluded the land on which Finesville is situated. He, like most of the early settlers, first erected on it a log tenement, and afterwards, probably 1800, built himself a stone house, which in 1894 was still standing. He married Rebecca Beavers, who was a daughter of Joseph Beavers, who was a colonel of the Second Regiment, Hunterdon County Militia, in 1776 and held the office during the war. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and settled in Hunterdon county before the Revolutionary war. He was a justice of the peace, and was noted for his love of right doing. He contributed largely toward building the Presbyterian Church at Greenwich, New Jersey, in 1775, of which he was a member. He was the father of two sons and thirteen daughters. His remains were in- terred in the Greenwich Cemetery of the Presbyterian Church. William and Rebecca Hunt were the parents of four sons and nine daughters : Wilson, Joseph, Ralph, Edward, Nancy, Amelia, Katurah, Rachel, Elizabeth, Harriet, Sarah, Pleasance and Mary. William Hunt (father) died at the age of forty-five years; his wife died November 22, 1853, aged eighty-one years.
Ralph Hunt, son of William and Rebecca Hunt, was born in Fines- ville, New Jersey, February 22, 1800. When a young man he learned the trade of shoemaker, at which he worked until his marriage, when he became a farmer and finally engaged in the business of general store keeping. He was an old line Whig and Republican in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian Church. He was united in marriage to Eliza Hughes, daughter of Dr. John S. and Eliza (Bergen) Hughes, and granddaughter of Hugh Hughes, who came from Wales to America
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and settled on the Musconetcong in Greenwich, Sussex county, New Jersey, about 1750, where he built and operated a forge. He was a lawyer, and in 1764 was appointed by George III. judge of common pleas of Sussex county, and in 1775 was a member of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey. He married Martha Breckenridge, of Philadelphia. Three children were born to Ralph and Eliza ( Hughes) Hunt: John Hughes, mentioned hereinafter. Mary Martha, who became the wife of Stewart Mellick and resided in Harmony, New Jersey, afterwards removing to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where her death occurred in 1887 or 1888. Henrietta, who became the wife of Elias Deemer, re- sides in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Mr. Deemer is a prosperous lum- ber merchant and leading politician, recently elected to Congress, third term.
John Hughes Hunt, son of Ralph and Eliza Hunt, was born in Warren county, New Jersey, April 18, 1830. Throughout his active career he has been prominently identified with the lumber industry and railroad interests. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and of the Masonic fraternity. In 1861 he married Elizabeth Johnson, daughter of John H. Johnson, and after her death married Martha Young, of Ringoes, New Jersey, daughter of John H. and Mary Young, the ceremony being performed in 1880. One child was the issue of the first marriage, Charles Derr, born March 23, 1862. He received a public school education, was engaged in business for four years, after which he learned the trade of machinist. He read medicine with Dr. Doame, and graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1887. He immediately began practice in Williams- port, and has since built up a lucrative professional business. He is a specialist of the eye, ear and throat. He is a member of the State
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Medical Society. In 1889 Dr. Hunt was married to Anna Maria Schuman, daughter of August Schuman, of Williamsport, and they have one daughter : Helen Elizabeth Hunt.
JAMES MANSEL.
Among those residents of Lycoming county who have filled ably and faithfully the offices of honor and responsibility to which they were called by the votes of their fellow-citizens none ranks higher than James Mansel, of Williamsport. He is the son of William Beason and Re- becca (Southard) Mansel, and grandson of James and Hannah ( Beason) Mansel, of Chester county, Pennsylvania.
William Beason Mansel (father) was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania. About 1840 he moved to Lycoming county, same state; he was a poor man and worked as a laborer, but being economical and thrifty finally succeeded in accumulating sufficient capital to purchase a farm in Eldred township, whereon he resided until his death. He married Rebecca Southard, of Lycoming county, and there were born to them two sons and a daughter: George, who resides in South Wil- liamsport; James, mentioned at length hereinafter; and Hannah, who is the wife of Hiram Mostellar, of Eldred township.
James Mansel, son of William Beason and Rebecca (Southard) Mansel, was born May 20, 1847, in Hepburn township. He received his early education in the public schools of his native township and in those of Lewisburg, afterward attending Dickinson Seminary. At the same time he assisted his father in the labors of the farm, the latter following his trade of shoemaking in connection with agricultural pur- suits. At the age of seventeen young Mansel began to teach public school and continued three years, and with his earnings was able to
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attend Dickinson Seminary. In order to become familiar with mercan- tile business he accepted a clerkship in a store, and later engaged in the grocery business on his own account in Williamsport. About 1873 he was compelled by ill health to dispose of his business and take a vacation of a year. At the expiration of this period of time he engaged in the commission business, buying and selling produce, and continued the same for two or three years. During a portion of this time he was in partnership, but after the retirement of his partner conducted the busi- . ness alone. For a time he was connected with the Standard Nail and Iron Company. In 1876 he accepted a position with Cochran, Bubb & Company, wholesale grocers, with whom he remained two years, and about seven years he was connected with Cochran, Richards & Company in the lumber business. He was then associated for about three years with Thomas Lundy under the firm name of Lundy & Company, after which they dissolved and Mr. Mansel continued alone in the lumber business. In this enterprise he was very successful, buying, selling and manufacturing, and dealing mainly in hard woods.
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