USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Genealogical and personal history of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 18
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(VII) Edward Leon Taylor, second son of John Colton and Laura A. (Smith) Taylor, was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, April 19, 1870. His early education was acquired in the public schools of his native city, and this was supplemented by a course in a commercial col- lege. His first practical experience was gained as clerk in a mercantile house, where he remained for seven years. He then engaged in business on his own account, establishing a men's furnishing store, which he con- ducted for five years. In 1899 he was elected city treasurer, re-elected in 1902, remaining in office until 1905, and re-elected in 1905 to serve three more years. He has devoted considerable time and attention to the state militia. In 1888 he enlisted in Company G, National Guard of Pennsylvania, and was promoted to sergeant. In 1892 he re-enlisted as sergeant, was elected second lieutenant, and served in that capacity until 1898. He was then commissioned by Governor Hastings as cap- tain of Company G, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry (United States Volunteers, Twelfth Regiment), and served in the Spanish-American
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war until October 29, 1898, when they were mustered out of the service of the United States government. He resigned his commission in 1899. He belongs to all Masonic bodies in Williamsport, holding member- ship in Irem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Wilkesbarre, Pennsyl- vania, Howard Temple Club, Board of Trade, Royal Arcanum and Knights of Malta. He is a Baptist in religion and a Republican in politics.
Mr. Taylor married Sarah M. Pratt, October 14, 1897, the third child of the following named children who were born to Frank J. and Mary E. (Preler) Pratt : Isa R., unmarried; Anna B., who became the wife of Albert J. Whittier ; Bertha, unmarried; Adelbert, a twin of Bertha, who married Laura M. Lundy ; and Lula S., unmarried. Mrs. Taylor died May 28, 1902, leaving one child, Ruth Taylor, who was born September 3, 1898.
JAMES BARBER KRAUSE.
James Barber Krause, son of Rev. Abraham and Lavina ( Barber) Krause, was born at Aaronsburg, Center county, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1854. He was educated in the public schools of the several charges at which his father was stationed in the itineracy, and at Central Penn- sylvania College, New Berlin, Pennsylvania, graduating from that insti- tution in the class of '70. He taught in the public schools of An- thony. Eldred and Loyalsock townships, in Lycoming county, Pennsyl- vania, in the meantime studying law in the office of Hon. Oliver H. Reighard, a distinguished member of the Lycoming county bar, and was admitted to practice before the courts of Lycoming county, March, J878, and later admitted to the bar of the Supreme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania, and the District and Circuit Courts of the United
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States. Upon his admission to the bar, Mr. Krause entered into a co- partnership with James S. Lewars, Esq., under the style of Krause & Lewars, which, after a period of five years, was dissolved by Mr. Lewars retiring to enter upon an active business career. Being conver- sant with both the German and English languages, Mr. Krause early acquired a lucrative practice at the bar. Taking an active interest in politics, he was for a number of years secretary and later chairman during several active and exciting campaigns of the Republican county com- mittee. He always declined the importunities of his friends to become a candidate for public office, but served a number of terms as solicitor of the Board of Education and of the Poor Board of the city of Williams- port.
In connection with his extensive law practice, Mr. Krause has suc- cessfully carried out several large business enterprises of a semi-public nature, notably : The purchase of the "Packer Farm," lying north of the city of Williamsport, in 1889, for the sum of one hundred thousand dollars. This tract of land containing four hundred acres was imme- diately plotted, substantial streets and beautiful winding drives built, and the new suburb became " Beautiful Vallamont." In 1890 he pro- moted the " Junction," the " South Side " and the " Center and West End," and the Vallamont Passenger Railway Companies, now merged and operated as the Vallamont Traction Company, now leased and oper- ated by the Lycoming Improvement Company as part of the city system. In 1900 Mr. Krause became president of the Williamsport and North Branch Telephone Company, an independent company, which installed an extensive plant covering the city of Williamsport and the county of Lycoming, now leased and operated by the United Telegraph and Tele- phone Company. He is also general solicitor and a director of the Penn-
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sylvania Grit Publishing Company, and a member of the Board of Health of the city of Williamsport.
Mr. Krause is an active and hard-working member of the Masonic fraternity. He is a past master of Ivy Lodge, No. 397, F. & A. M .; past commander of Baldwin Commandery No. 22, Knights Templar, stationed at Williamsport, Pennsylvania; past commander-in-chief of Williamsport Consistory Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, and past officer of lodge, council and chapter of said Rite; honorary member of Supreme Council, thirty-third degree, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States, and president of the board of trustees of the Howard Memorial Cathedral, A. A. S. R., at Williamsport.
On May II, 1882, Mr. Krause married Margaret Jane Champion, daughter of Mark Adams and Anna Marie (Kauder) Champion. (See sketch of " Champion Family.") To Mr. and Mrs. Krause have been born a son, Mark Champion Krause, July 3, 1883, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, who graduated at the Williamsport High School, class of " '03," and now (1905) a member of the class of "'06" at Cornell University ; and a daughter, Anna Marie Krause, August 30, 1894, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
The Rev. Abraham Krause ( father) was born at Middle Creek, Snyder county, now Union county, Pennsylvania, June 27, 1823, and died at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1893, after a long and useful career in the itinerant ministry of the Evangelical Association of America. He served charges in his church at Baltimore, York, Will- iamsport, and many other places throughout central Pennsylvania and Maryland. The ancestors of James B. Krause, Esq., on both sides, were closely identified with the Evangelical Association from its foun- dation by the Rev. Jacob Albright in 1800. The Rev. Abraham Krause
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and Lavina Barber were married at New Berlin, Union county, Penn- sylvania, February 8, 1843, and to them were born five children, viz :
(1) Sarah Jane, born at New Berlin, Pennsylvania, March 31, 1850, and died at York, Pennsylvania, March 30, 1903; married Noah C. Goodling, a prominent business man of York, Pennsylvania, and to them were born two daughters: Clara, wife of Atly Gotwald, and Mame, wife of James B. Weitzel.
(2) James B. (see sketch above).
(3) Mary Alice, born at Margaretta, Pennsylvania, March 3, 1853 ; married Rev. G. H. Schleh, and has a daughter, Elizabeth Schleh.
(4) Anna Caroline, born at Baltimore, Maryland, May 11, 1858: married Henry C. Jack, of Chicago, Illinois, and has a daughter, Louise C.
(5.) Emma Catharine, born at Baltimore, Maryland, August 4, 1864.
The Rev. Abraham Krause (father) was the son of Daniel and Hannah (Walters) Krause; the family name being written "Kraus " and " Krauss " by different branches of the family. Daniel Kraus was the son of Christian Kraus, and was born at the Middle Creek " home- stead," then Northumberland county, now Union county, about 1783, and died at the " homestead " farm in 1854. He married Hannah Walters, whose people came from Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. She was born about 1794, and died at the home of her son Charles, at Kautz, Union county, Pennsylvania, in 1877. The children of Daniel and Hannah (Walters) Krause were, Abraham, Jacob, Elias, Charles, Simon and Salome. They were all born at the Middle Creek "homestead," which is still in the possession of a descendant.
Christian Kraus (great-grandfather) came from the Tulepohocken Valley, Berks county, Pennsylvania, to Middle Creek township, sometime
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toward the close of the Eighteenth century, and took up a tract of land containing four hundred acres, which at his death was divided among his four sons, John, Henry, Philip and Daniel Kraus. Family tradition relates that the ancestors of Christian Kraus came from the Palatine (the Rhine provinces of Germany) in the first half of the Eighteenth century. Settling first in the Lehigh Valley, later removing to the Tulepohocken Valley in Berks county, Pennsylvania. This branch of the family being descended from one of the two brothers, John Kraus and Jacob Kraus, who landed at the port of Philadelphia from the good ship Speedwell, August 17, 1727.
Lavina Barber (mother) was born at New Berlin, Union county, Pennsylvania, December 4, 1827, and died at Williamsport, December 3, 1896. She was the daughter of the Rev. James and Mary (Maise) Barber. Her father, Rev. James Barber, was born in Manor township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1796, and died at New Berlin, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1867. He entered the ministry of the Evangelical Association of America in 1817, and rose to be president of the general conference: an office afterwards merged into a bishopric. He was a man of large frame, commanding appearance, excellent voice, and a preacher of more than ordinary power and ability. The Rev. James Barber was held in high esteem by his church and is numbered among " The Fathers."
Closely related to the Barbers was the Rev. Abraham Eyer, the great Mennonite preacher, who came to Northumberland county, now Union county, from Lancaster county in 1773. He was a man of small stature, whom the people said "God gave strength to thrash rowdy church disturbers." He and his family wore the "plain garb " and were noted for their great piety.
Mary (Maise) Barber (grandmother), born at New Berlin, Penn-
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sylvania, in 1805, died at the same place, 1870, was the daughter of Michael and Anna Barber Maise. Michael Maise, also written " Miesse," his widowed mother, and brother John came from Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, to Dry Valley, Snyder county, now Union county, about 1796, and died at his Dry Valley home in 1842. He was a well-to-do farmer and a "local preacher," who was intimately associated with the Rev. Jacob Albright, the founder of the church now widely known as the Evangelical Association of America, and out of which the United Evangelical Church was organized, after the great schism of 1900. Michael Maise was sorely persecuted for his adherence to and public support of the new sect. In 1810, the " Albrights," as the followers of the Rev. Jacob Albright were dubbed, held a camp-meeting in a grove on the Maise farm, the first German camp-meeting held upon American soil.
The hardy forebearers of these pious men and women formed part of the immigration to Pennsylvania from the German Palatine, being driven from their Rhenish homes by religious intolerance. In the founding of the church now widely known as the Evangelical Associa- tion they were not schismatics, but aimed to revive the spiritual element in the church-to return to the Evangelical beliefs of the "Fathers," a protest against the formalism prevailing in the churches at the begin- ning of the Nineteenth century. Jacob Albright, the founder's, attitude toward the orthodox church, being similar to that of John Wesley's toward the Church of England. Among their Pennsylvania German neighbors these seceders were spoken of as " die bekehrte lait," "the converted," to distinguish them from " die kirche leit," "the church people."
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HON. EMERSON COLLINS.
Hon. Emerson Collins, an attorney at law in Williamsport, Penn- sylvania, was born in Hepburn township, Lycoming county, Pennsyl- vania, April 30, 1860. His great-great-grandfather was Scotch-Irish- and came from Ireland at a date unknown, but probably about 1725. His great-grandfather was William Collins, born in Pennsylvania, who came to Lycoming county in 1783. and became a large landowner. Sub- sequently he removed to Ohio, where his death occurred. He was a farmer by occupation. He served in the Revolutionary war. He was of the adventurer type of pioneer manhood. He married Affa Brewster, whose ancestry is unknown. Among the children of this marriage was one named Jeremiah, born about 1800, in Lycoming county, Pennsyl- vania. He spent his entire life in that section of the state and died in 1890.
John Collins, son of Jeremiah Collins, and the father of Emerson Collins, of whom this sketch is written, was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, 1829, and is living at the present time (1905). By occu- pation he is a farmer. In 1852 he married Catherine Hyde, born in 1835, died in 1882. She was the daughter of George Hyde, who was born about 1804, and was the son of Jacob George Hyde, the founder of the family in America. Jacob George Hyde was born in Pfulligen, Wurtemberg, Germany, and was a member of a family of considerable prominence there, holding an important position. He came to America about 1804 and located in Hepburn township, Lycoming county, Penn- sylvania. The following are the children of John and Catherine Hyde Collins : William George, who died in 1884, aged thirty-one years, un- married. Emmarine, who became the wife of John Franklin Ball, and they reside on the old homestead in Hepburn township. Emerson, whose
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name heads this sketch. Mary Alice, unmarried, residing at home. Her- man Le Roy, on the editorial staff of the Philadelphia " Press," residing in Philadelphia ; he married Margaret Green Johnson in 1892, who died in 1895 ; they had one child, who is also deceased. Harry Ellwood, who died in 1890, aged twenty years. Edgar Thomas, who graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in the class of 1897, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the regular army. He was present in the Santiago campaign of 1898, serving on the staff of Gen- eral Ludlow in the battle of El Caney, afterwards serving with his regi- ment, the Eighth Infantry, in the Philippine Islands during the insurrec .. tion, and he is now captain in the Sixth Regiment of Infantry. In 1898 he married Margaret Van Horn, daughter of Colonel James J. Van Horn, deceased, late of the United States army. They have two chil- dren, Margaret Katharine, born May 24, 1900, and Elizabeth Van Horn, born October 20, 1905.
Emerson Collins was educated in the public schools of Hepburn township, at the Lycoming County Normal School, and graduated from Lafayette College in 1884, taking a classical course. He had the his- torical honors of the class. After completing his educational course he taught school for some time and was assistant and principal of the Ly- coming County Normal School, at Muncy, Pennsylvania, from 1884 to 1886. He read law with Hon. Henry C. Parsons, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar of Lycoming county in 1886, and has been since then in the active practice of his profession. He has done considerable work as a public speaker on the various historical and anniversary occasions in his section of the state, having made something of a specialty in the study of American History and the collection of Americana. Politically Mr. Collins is a Republican. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature from 1894 to 1896. Among the posi-
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tions he has held may be mentioned that of member of the board of managers of the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory, at Huntington, from 1897 to 1902, serving as president of that board for two years, being appointed to such position by Governor Hastings. He has served as county chairman of the Republican party in Lycoming county, also in the heated presidential campaign of 1900 was with the national com- mittee at Chicago and spoke for it in various western states.
Emerson Collins was married in December, 1888, to Anna Holstein Johnson, daughter of Hon. Henry Johnson (see sketch elsewhere). One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Collins, Helen Johnson Collins, born October 13, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Collins are Episcopalians in re- ligious belief.
It is worthy of note that his paternal and maternal ancestors have resided in Lycoming county upwards of one hundred years. The old homestead in Hepburn township, still in the family possession, and where his mother and he and his brothers and sisters were born, has been the home of four generations of his family, covering a period of about one hundred years. His father, John Collins, has resided there since 1853.
WILLIAM H. KIESS.
William H. Kiess, who at the present time ( 1905) is entering upon a term of three years as comptroller of the city of Williamsport, having previously filled an unexpired term, and who for many years has been an active and potent factor in local politics, was born at Blooming Grove, Hepburn township, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, February 7, 1862. He is a son of Jacob D. and Sophia (Kehrer) Kiess, grandson of Abra- ham and Catherine (Waltz) Kiess, and great-grandson of Christopher Kiess.
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Christopher Kiess (great-grandfather), a native of Germany, came to America in 1804, the trip across the Atlantic ocean extending over a period of one hundred and two days, the trip at the present time being made in less than a week, which fact clearly demonstrates the age of progress we live in. He settled on a farm near Warrensville, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, which he cultivated and improved and whereon he resided for the remainder of his days. He was a school teacher in his native country. He married and reared a large family. of children, all of whom became useful and active members of society.
Abraham Kiess (grandfather) was born in Wurtemberg, Ger- many, and in 1804, when about four years of age, was brought by his parents to America. He was reared to manhood on his father's farm, after which he settled in the wilderness of Anthony township and there cleared a tract of land, erected a house and resided thereon up to the time of his death, 1881. He was active and influential in the affairs of the township-industrial, political and social-and was the incumbent of several offices of trust and responsibility. In 1851 he, with the aid of his relatives, established the first German Baptist church in America, was one of the charter members of the organization and served in the capacity of deacon at the time of his death. He was a Democrat in politics. He was united in marriage to Catherine Waltz, and they reared a family of several children.
Jacob D. Kiess ( father) was born and reared on the farm in An- thony township. After his marriage to Sophia Kehrer, who was born in Upper Fairfield township, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, in 1837, daughter of Jacob and Christina (Kiess) Kehrer, natives of Germany, he settled on a farm in Blooming Grove, Hepburn township, until the death of his wife, after which he returned to his father's home in An- thony township, remaining there until March, 1867, when he moved to
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Iowa, where he still follows farming. He is a member of the Baptist church, and a Democrat in politics. His wife, who died in December, 1862, bore him one child, William H. Kiess.
William H. Kiess was reared by his grandfather, Abraham Kiess, of Queneshaque, Anthony township, and until he was sixteen years old attended the district school of that township. He then pursued a course at the Muncy Normal School, Lycoming county, which prepared him for the vocation of teaching, which he followed until 1882, when he entered the Central State Normal School, at Lockhaven, took the full course of study and graduated with the class of 1883. The following two years he taught public school in Lycoming county, then became an instructor in the Williamsport Commercial College, which position he resigned in 1888 in order to become assistant postmaster at Williams- port, in which capacity he served until the change of administration, a period of one and a half years. That was the beginning of his active career in politics. In 1899 he was elected recorder of deeds, register of wills, and clerk of the Orphans' Court for a term of three years. Upon the death of Hermon Hinckley, city comptroller, Mr. Kiess was elected to fill the unexpired term, and in February, 1905, was re-elected to the same responsible position for a term of three years. During his political career he has enjoyed the confidence of his constituents for the energy and fidelity displayed in each and every office, and his services have been considered eminently wise and useful.
Mr. Kiess is a member of the Lutheran church. He is a charter member of the Young Men's Democratic Club of Lycoming County. Hc is a member of Amazon Lodge, No. 662, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Williamsport, is very active in that order and has passed through all the chairs. He is a member of all the bodies of the order of Free and Accepted Masons, and also of the Ancient Accepted Scot-
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tish Rite, having attained the thirty-second degree. He is connected with Ivy Lodge No. 397, of Williamsport, and Irem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Wilkesbarre. He enjoys the acquaintance of a wide circle of friends and stands high in the community.
Mr. Kiess married, June 22, 1889, Annie M. Bender, who was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Kiess died February 13, 1893. Mr. Kiess married for his second wife, December 8, 1898, Martha E. Rothfuss, who was born in Upper Fairfield township, and who died at her home in Williamsport, February 6, 1903.
Mr. Kiess was again married, October 19, 1905, to Cora M. Sallade, who was born at Nisbet, Susquehanna township, Lycoming county, Penn- sylvania.
JOHN C. WINTER.
John C. Winter, a member of one of the most important industrial enterprises of the city of Williamsport, and one which has largely con- tributed to the prosperity of the community, is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Loyalsock township, Lycoming county, on the Blooming Grove road, about three miles south of Williamsport, August 24, 1868. His paternal grandfather, John Winter, was a native of Schleswig-Holstein. Germany, and came to the United States in 1832, in company with his brothers, Martin and Michael, intent upon making a home in a land where they could live in the enjoyment of religious and political freedom, and enjoy in the fullest the fruits of their labors and the rearing of their families to all the privileges of liberty. He purchased a farm near Loyalsockville, on the creek from which the village takes its name, and was known as an industrious and successful farmer. He was of limited education, but a man of sterling Christian character, a member of the Evangelical church, and he was an efficient aid in the cause of morality
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and religion. He died about 1848. He married Mary Zern, and to them were born Barbara, Christina, John, Mary, Martin, Harriet, Fred- erick and Abraham.
John Winter, third child and eldest son of John and Mary (Zern) Winter, was born November 6, 1832, at Loyalsockville, where the par- ents had that year located, having just emigrated from Germany. He was of limited education, but an intelligent and exemplary man. After his marriage he purchased a farm (on which John C. Winter was born) and cultivated it during the remainder of his life. He was a member of the Evangelical denomination, and was one of the few who were in- strumental in founding what is now known as the Eagle congregation. He was held in high regard by his neighbors, and was called to various township offices. During the Civil war he was drafted for military serv- ice, and had made his preparations to leave his family for the time when came the news of Lee's surrender, and the quota with which he was drawn was released from service. His readiness to serve his country finds recognition frequently on Memorial Day, when a national flag is placed upon his grave. He died November 28, 1881. February 22, 1855, at Liberty, Tioga county, he was married to Christina Shambacher, Rev. W. H. Berry performing the ceremony. She was born January 20, 1833, at Hepburn, Lycoming county, and died January 8, 1903, at her home near Williamsport, having lived a widow twenty-two years. She became acquainted with Mr. Winter at the home of "Grandfather Harmen," who lived in Blooming Grove. She was a devoted Christian mother, and after the death of her husband managed the farm with much success, and gave careful training to her fatherless children. She came of an excellent family. Her father, Leonard Shambacher, came from Wurtemberg, Germany, with his parents, in 1815, when he was eighteen years old, the family coming in the quest for freedom, which character-
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