USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Genealogical and personal history of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Volume I > Part 33
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Colonel Jacob Beeber (who changed the spelling of the name from Bieber) was the eldest son of John Bieber, born 1787, died 1863. He married (first) Mary Dimn, who bore him three sons and three daugh- ters, and died in 1824. He married (second) Elizabeth Dimn, sister of Mary Dimn, born 1792, died 1880, who bore him one son and two daughters. Colonel Beeber settled on a farm on elevated land two and a half miles south of Muncy, on Milton road, where his widow resided until her death, also his bachelor son, Charles Hall, born 1820, died 1896, who about the year 1850 served as county treasurer of Ly- coming county, and was a supporter of James Buchanan. Colonel Bee- ber was a farmer by occupation, an early militia colonel, a prominent figure at annual " Muster Days," and an influential factor in the ranks of the Democratic party. . The farm on which he resided was in the vicinity of the one owned by Christopher Dimn, and it is thought that probably the wives of Colonel Beeber were the daughters of this man.
Teter Dimn Beeber, eldest son of Colonel Jacob Beeber, was born 1815, died 1876. He was united in marriage in 1841 to Mary Jane Artley, born 1818, died 1869, daughter of John and Christiana Artley,
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of Muncy township. Mr. Beeber was a farmer and blacksmith, and later a coal merchant. They located in Muncy, were the first ardent temperance advocates in that town, and, assisted by his brother John, were instrumental in establishing the Lutheran church of Muncy. He was a county commissioner of Lycoming county, was prominent in the ranks of the Republican party, and an earnest supporter of the policies of Abraham Lincoln. Three sons were born to Teter and Mary Jane (Artley) Beeber, as follows: John Artley, born 1845, mentioned at length hereinafter. Thomas Rissell, born 1848, now pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Norristown, Pennsylvania, and Dimner, born 1854, for some time judge of the superior court of Pennsylvania, now a practicing lawyer of Philadelphia.
John Artley Beeber, eldest son of Teter D. and Mary Jane (Art- ley) Beeber, was born in Muncy, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1845. His public school education was supplemented by a four years' course at Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, from which he was grad- uated in 1866. He read law in the office of Hon. William H. Arm- strong, of Williamsport, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1868. He is one of the best known members of the Lycoming county bar, and his extensive and lucrative practice extends into the several courts of the state. In addition to this he has been president of the First Na- tional Bank of Williamsport since 1884, in which he is also a stock- holder and director; is one of the managers of the Williamsport Hos- pital, and was one of the organizers of the board of trade. His only public position was that of city solicitor, in which capacity he served during the years 1875-76. During General Lee's invasion of the state he served in the Twenty-sixth Regiment, Pennsylvania militia.
In 1870 John Artley Beeber married Alice Amanda Clapp, who was born in 1847, died 1902, daughter of Daniel and Catherine ( Upde-
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graff) Clapp, of Muncy. Daniel Clapp, born 1821, died 1882, came of a family that settled in the West Branch valley; he moved from Northumberland county, where he was born, and eventually settled in Muncy as a merchant and lumberman, becoming one of the wealthiest men of the valley. He was public-spirited, prominently identified with the building of the public schools of Muncy, and assisted in organiz- ing the First National Bank of Williamsport, the first national bank in the valley, of which he was also a director. His wife, Catherine L. (Updegraff) Clapp, born 1822, still living in Muncy, is a daughter of Samuel Updegraff, of "Long Reach," who was a son of Derrick Upde- graff, an early farmer and tanner on "Long Reach." The Updegraffs, a prominent family in Lycoming county, are descended from Abraham and Dirck Op Den Graeff, who were associated with Pastorious in the original settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and were among the four signers of the first known public protest against slavery in America. Three children were born to John Artley and Alice Amanda (Clapp) Beeber: Mary J., born 1871, died 1900, wife of William L. Colt, of Cleveland, Ohio; William Parson Beeber, and a son who died in infancy.
William P. Beeber, son of John Artley and Alice Amanda (Clapp) Beeber, was born in Williamsport, Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, November 25, 1873. He was educated in the private schools of Pro- fessors Geddes and Tilden, Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, and Cornell University, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Letters in 1895. He took up the study of law concurrently in the office of his father, John A. Beeber, and also in the law school of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1898 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws cum laude, and while in Philadelphia also studied in the law offices of Jones, Carson & Beeber, the members of
Gulon BColeman,
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which were J. Levering Jones, Hampton L. Carson, attorney general of Pennsylvania, and Dimner Beeber (uncle), former judge of superior court. In 1898 William P. Beeber was admitted to the Philadelphia and Lycoming County Bars, and to the state supreme, superior and federal courts in 1901. In the former named year he located in Will- iamsport as a member of the firm of J. A. & W. P. Beeber, and is now so practicing. He served as a member of the Republican City Commit- tee from 1899 to 1902, is a member of the Select Council since 1902, and two years later was chosen president of the same. He is a member of the First Presbyterian church, and of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity. In 1905 he was elected president of the Young Men's Republican Club.
In New York City, October 26, 1901, Mr. Beeber was married to Mary Carothers Holland, born 1878, a daughter of Samuel Smith and Eliza (Davitt) Holland, the former named having been born in 1846, and died in 1904, for many years a resident of Pittsburg, originally of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and the latter named a daughter of John F. Davitt, member of the prominent Davitt family of Pittsburg and the Carnahan family of Westmoreland; they were notable Presbyterians of the Pittsburg district. Their children were: Holland and John Artley (twins), born September 2, 1903, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, but the latter named died the day of his birth.
CLINTON B. COLEMAN.
Clinton B. Coleman, who is a well known and highly respected citi- zen of Williamsport, is a member of one of the most prominent families in that town.
Fletcher Coleman, father of Clinton B. Coleman, was the proprietor of a large lumber business which he conducted for many years, but
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failing health induced him to lay aside business responsibilities in favor of his son.
Clinton B. Coleman, son of Fletcher and Melicent V. Coleman, was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1872. His education was received in the public schools of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and he then became a student at Trinity College, Port Hope, Ontario, studied there for five years and was graduated from that institution with the class of 1889. In March, 1889, a brother of Mr. Coleman died, and it was considered advisable by his father, Mr. Fletcher Coleman, that Clin- ton B. Coleman should take his brother's place in the business. He ac- cordingly entered into business as the superintendent of this large lum- ber concern, which operated under the firm name of Fletcher Coleman. He remained in this position until the affairs of the business were wound up, which was in 1891. About this time the health of Mr. Fletcher Coleman began to fail, and his eyesight became impaired, so that he was obliged to retire from business altogether. Mr. Clinton B. Cole- man then attended to his father's extensive investments until the death of the latter, when he still continued to manage the estate as well as at- tend to his own business matters. In politics Mr. Coleman is thoroughly independent in his opinions, giving his support to the man whom he thinks best qualified to fill the office, irrespective of the party to which he may belong. He is a member of the Ross Club, the most important social organization of Williamsport. He is also a member of Ivy Lodge No. 397, Free and Accepted Masons. He is a member of the Board of Trade of Williamsport, and takes a most active interest in all mat- ters that tend toward the welfare of the community or to bring improve- ment in any direction. Both Mr. and Mrs. Coleman are members of Trinity Episcopal church of Williamsport.
Mr. Coleman married, April 11, 1901, Miss Mary Ernestine Aber-
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crombie, born November 7, 1877, in Washington, District of Columbia, daughter of Frank P. and Nellie (Packer ) Abercrombie. Mr. and Mrs. Clinton B. Coleman are the parents of two children : Mary Er- nestine, born December 21, 1901 : and Eleanor Frances, born December 8, 1905.
Mrs. Coleman is descended from an excellent ancestry. She is a great-granddaughter of Major General Robert Patterson, who served in the United States army in the Mexican and Civil wars; and a grand- daughter of General J. J. Abercrombie, of the United States army, who served with distinction in the Seminole war, the Mexican war and the Civil war. Frank P. Abercrombie, father of Mrs. Coleman, is super- intendent of the New York division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and is a Knight Templar and a thirty-second degree Mason, Scottish Rite; a Noble of the Mystic Shrine; and a member of the Aztec Club, the Delta Phi fraternity, the Riverton Gun Club, the Philadelphia Gun Club, the Ross Club and the Temple Club.
LAMADE.
The Lamade family has a long and honorable history, and for cen- turies many of its members have been prominently identified with the business, religious and municipal affairs first of Wiesloch, then Wall- dorf, and later Goelshausen, towns in the Grand Duchy of Baden, Ger- many, where the family has been resident since the beginning of the seventeenth century. Records of date prior to that era are more or less fragmentary, but indicate that the family was originally from France; the ancient spelling of the name (LaMade) points to the same source, and what there is of family records and data of that remote period goes in the same direction. The Wiesloch town records make frequent
.
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mention of Gerhardt Lamade, to whom and his wife a son was born, Johann George Lamade, on July 1I, 1699. This son later removed to Walldorf, where the matters summarized in the following part of this narrative are among the archives of the Evangelical (Lutheran) church. Johann George Lamade was married at Walldorf, February 4, 1721, to Katharina Sandritter, of that place, and so established there a branch of the family which from that time to the present has exerted a forceful influence in shaping the affairs of that community. Their first born child was a son, Dietrich, who first saw the light February 13, 1724, and long occupied a prominent place in all the activities of the town. His fourth child, born June 21, 1759, was George Ludwig, who had one son, Johannes Lamade, born May 28, 1788, who became an in- fluential character in the community, being closely and prominently iden- tified with the conduct of municipal and church affairs. He married, January 6, 1812, Maria Barbara Scheffner, and to them were born twenty-two children, all but one of whom reached adult age, and many attained advanced years. Their ninth child was Johannes, born Sep- tember 14, 1822, who became a wagonmaker. He married, February 8, 1849, Karolina Fredericka Christina Suepfle, of Goelshausen, estab- lished his residence in that town, and remained there until 1867, when with his family he emigrated to the United States, and made his home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where he resided until his death, Jan- uary 3, 1869; his widow died in Williamsport, April 3, 1905, in the same house where the family had continuously lived from the time of their coming to the city. The branch of the Lamade family descended from Johannes Dietrich Lamade comes from an unbroken line of direct male ancestors covering a period of about two hundred and fifty years, as shown by the above official records; how much longer cannot be ascer- tained with precision, owing to the absence of records prior to the latter
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part of the seventeenth century, when the family was resident in Wies- loch.
Johannes Dietrich Lamade, founder of the family in America, was a man of strong character, who made his influence felt wherever he was, and became not only prominent in the affairs of the community, but a power for its advancement in material and religious concerns. Born in Walldorf, at an early age he was apprenticed to the wagon- making trade, at that time and in that country a more important branch of business than it now is under modern conditions of transportation. Having completed his apprenticeship, and been formally declared a jour- neyman, he observed the ancient German custom which prescribes that a journeyman craftsman shall for several years travel from place to place, working for different masters, in order to broaden his mind, and acquire more diversified knowledge of his trade. When about to con- clude his period of travel, he obtained employment in the town of Goels- hausen, not far from Walldorf, and there met Karoline Suepfle, who was born in that place, December 27, 1827. Their acquaintance ripened into closer relations, and they were married, when Mr. Lamade decided to take up his residence in Goelshausen. He established himself as a master wagonmaker, and quickly became recognized as the controlling factor in that business in the town. He was also soon put well to the front in the conduct of municipal and religious affairs, and was largely instrumental in having built the Evangelical Lutheran church which still stands, one monument to his labors for others, on a beautiful site directly opposite the former Lamade home. During their residence in Goelshausen, extending over a period of eighteen years, Mr. Lamade and his wife prospered, and their situation was pleasant. Thirteen chil- dren were born to them, and the family stood well in the community. But the parents were ambitious, and desirous of assuring the future of
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their children. They believed that America offered larger opportunities than did Goelshausen, and both were most enthusiastic and determined that these advantages should be extended to their children. They counted the cost and it was large-the severing of old ties, the exchange of a sure position to that of strangers in a strange land, the surrender of a home where their wedded life had been pleasantly spent, and which was the birthplace of their children. But they placed the welfare of their little ones before everything else, and decided to make the sacri- fice. They accumulated as much money as they could for several years, then sold the business, their home, and other property, and with their nine children and the aged mother of Mrs. Lamade, bade farewell to the land of their nativity and came to the new and strange country of greater promise, determined to there establish the family on a broader foundation than was possible in Germany.
In May, 1867, this step was taken, and the same year they arrived in Williamsport, where in a marked sense the parents of a large family began life anew. Their first move was to acquire a home, and they pur- chased the property at No. 509 Park avenue, where Mrs. Lamade resided until her death. Cheerfully Mr. Lamade, who long had been master of a prosperous business, exchanged that position for that of an employe, and with his wife set out to realize ambitious plans for the future. But a footing had hardly been established when the head of the family grew ill and died, and upon Mrs. Lamade it fell to carry on the uncompleted work. Her situation was most difficult; her youngest child was born the day of the funeral of her husband, and the oldest child was a girl only seventeen years old. But she did not falter for a moment; on the contrary, she accepted and successfully achieved the task. Mrs. Lamade was a woman of much strength of character, a devout Christian, and endowed above many others with an infinite ca-
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pacity to persistently, intelligently and methodically labor for the attain- ment of desired ends, and not to lose heart because fulfillment of hopes seemed long delayed. She took up the task where the husband and father left it, and did her part well, winning the admiration and pro- found respect of all who came to know her at all intimately. It was her great desire and ambition to hold her family together and rear her nine children so that the day might come when she could proudly ad- mire the successes in life which she felt confident would be theirs, and which could hardly be attained in the fatherland. And it was accorded to her to live until she had realized her ambitions. To Mr. and Mrs. Johannes Dietrich Lamiade were born thirteen children, of whom four (Heinrich, Johannes, Gottlieb and Carolina) died in infancy or early childhood. The children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are (in 1905) as follows :
I. Barbara Christina, born September II, 1852; married August 29, 1872, Frederick A. Kiessling; died February 21, 1900. To them were born five children: Louis Alfred, June 12, 1873; married Aug- ust 28, 1902, Jennie C. Benson, and died January 12, 1903; Johann Heinrich Wilhelm, January 27, 1875; Elizabeth Marie, May 16, 1878; John Albert, January 1, 1882; Frederick Wilhelm, July 27, 1888.
2. Louis Gottlieb Lamade, born August 22, 1854; married in Altoona, Pennsylvania, May, 1881, Franciska Soller. To them were born four children: Karl Dietrich, April 8, 1882; Elisabeth Eva, Sep- tember 9, 1883, married John L. Maurer, June 27, 1905; Katharina, September 5, 1885, married Robert Hanna, February 9, 1904, and to them was born a son baptized Louis Gottlieb Hanna; Louis Adam, De- cember 10, 1886.
3. John H., born December 27, 1856; married, February 1, 1877, Emma Braun, and to them were born: Albert C., November 18, 1877,
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who married Rosina Metzger, January 22, 1902; and Martha H., born November 24, 1904.
4. Dietrick, born February 6, 1859, married Clara Anna Rhen, May 10, 1881, and their children are: David Wilson, born February 22, 1882; Charles Dietrick, July 9, 1883; Elsie May, April 24, 1889; Howard John, January 15, 1891; George R., April 24, 1894; Ralph Max, December 28, 1886.
5. Katherine, born July 25, 1860; married James E. Talley, of Chester, September 21, 1881, and to them were born four children : Fred W., born July 19, 1882, married Caroline E. Hartman, December 28, 1904; Caroline E., July II, 1884; James A., October 18, 1886; John T., September 2, 1892.
6. Fred M., born August 26, 1861 ; married Lillie M. Graham, March 23, 1887, and their children are: Walter G., born December 31, 1887; Margaret, July 22, 1889.
7. Charles P., born August 28, 1862; married Lizzie Welker, February 1, 1887, and their children are: Cora B., born August 21, 1888; Kathryn, September 5, 1892; John W., June 30, 1894; Esther, October 6, 1898.
8. Elizabeth, born March 12, 1864; married Andrew H. Waltz, December 25, 1882, and their children are: Clara Josephine, born Sep- tember 15, 1888; Ora May, March 4, 1892.
9. William Max, born January 4, 1869; married Fannie Louise Steinhilper, July 6, 1893, and their children are: Dietrick Willard, born March 5, 1895; Verna Fay, May 31, 1897.
JOHN H. LAMADE.
John H. Lamade, son of Dietrick and Carolina Suepfle Lamade, who is an extensive coal dealer of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was born December 27, 1856, at Goelshausen, Baden, Germany. He came to
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America with his parents in 1867, stopping at Newark, New Jersey, for about three months and then the father located at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where John H. was reared. The father by trade was a wagonmaker, but in this country he worked in an iron foundry. He was of a family of twenty-one children, seventeen of whom were living at his death, which occurred in the autumn of 1868, about a year after arriving in the United States. The mother died April 3, 1905.
John H. was permitted to receive but a limited common school edu- cation, attending the common schools of his native country and at Will- iamsport, Pennsylvania. His father died when he was a mere lad and the large family, each and all, went forth to the conflict of life without any means save the good management of the widowed mother and their own determination to make for themselves a place in the great busy world and all have succeeded to a good degree. At an early age John H. began working in the planing mill of Edgar Munson. He finally became foreman and superintendent of the work at Williamsport, con- tinuing for seventeen years in the sash, door and blind department. In 1890 he went to Bay Mills, Michigan, for Hall & Munson, in the same line of work and remained there three years, when he returned to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and embarked in the coal and ice business, with John H. Hedden, under the firm name of Lamade & Hedden. This co-partnership existed but one year when Mr. Lamade purchased the partner's interest and has since that date conducted the business alone. It has grown under his management and is now one of the heavy concerns of the city. He is a stockholder in the West Branch Bank, the Wireless Umbrella Company, etc.
Politically Mr. Lamade affiliates with the Democratic party. He was a common councilman one term from 1885 to 1887. He is an elder in St. Mark's Lutheran church, and has been since 1893. He is a
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member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, having held the highest office in that order, Past Exalted Ruler. He has been for the past two years chairman of the House Committee of Ross Club, Williamsport ; also member of Protection Home Circle, of which society he was the first president.
Mr. Lamade was married February 1, 1877, at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to Emma Brown, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She received her education in that city and at Williamsport. By this un- ion one son was born, October, 1878, Dr. Albert G., who has been a practicing physician at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, since 1901. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania, with the class of 1901. He belongs to Howard Club and is high in the Masonic order, having already attained to the thirty-second degree. He married Rosena Metz- ger, of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Metzger. They have one child, Martha, born in November, 1904.
DIETRICK LAMADE.
Dietrick Lamade will be known to the future student of the history of Lycoming county as the man whose enterprise and energy made the name of the county's capital a household word wherever the Eng- lish language is spoken west of the Atlantic ocean. In writing a bio- graphical sketch of Mr. Lamade, it is impossible to separate his person- ality from his great achievement, " Pennsylvania Grit," which has car- ried the name of Williamsport to every state in the American Union, to every province in the British possessions, of North America, and to many of the islands of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Perhaps no other American city of the size of Williamsport is so well known, a fact due to the circumstance that it is the home of " Pennsylvania Grit,"
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and this unusual celebrity the city owes to the subject of this sketch, for the story of the inception and growth of America's greatest family news- paper is almost the life history of Dietrick Lamade. The paper is abso- lutely unique in the annals of American journalism, and it is all the more remarkable because of its humble beginning and the tremendous obstacles that were finally surmounted by the indomitable courage, the tireless energy, and the unerring foresight of Mr. Lamade, which to the impartial observer make a combination that seems little short of genius.
Dietrick Lamade was born in Goelshausen, Baden, Germany, Feb- ruary 6, 1859, a son of Johannes Dietrich and Carolina (Suepfle) La- made. He is, therefore, a scion of a family notable for having played its part well in the old world, and having immediately made the impress of its character in America when its activities were transferred to this broader stage. The interesting history of the family is contained in a preceding narrative in this work.
Dietrick Lamade was but eight years old when his parents decided in 1867 to give to their children the unbounded opportunities of the New World. The full cost of this parental sacrifice was not counted until two years later, when the father of the family died. Young Diet- rick then took up his share of the burden, left school, where he had been eagerly acquiring the language and spirit of his adopted country, and sought such employment as a boy of ten years could find in the mercantile establishments of a small town. It was during this early crucial period, in the struggle against adversity, that the noble quali- ties of the widowed mother served as an example and an inspiration for her children. Directed by her, the lad turned his thoughts toward the printer's trade as one which would not only serve as the means to a livelihood, but would also afford that education which so many of the
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