USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. I > Part 32
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CHARLES FRACE. The first of the Frace family of whom we have any authentic history is Jacob Frace (1), who was probably of German descent. If he was not born in New Jersey he at least resided there for some time, and subse- quently removed to Forks township, Northamp- ton county, Pennsylvania, where he bought three hundred acres of valuable land still in its primitive condition. He married a Miss Hun- sicker, by whom he had seven children who be- came worthy members of society and active in the work of the Forks Reformed church to which they belonged.
One of this family was Jacob Frace (2), who was born in Oxford township, Warren county, New Jersey, and came with his father to North- ampton county, Pennsylvania. He also owned three hundred acres of land, and was a good prac- tical man and an esteemed citizen of the com- munity in which he made his home. In early manhood he married Miss Susan Kemmerer, who died in 1859, and he passed away in 1847. In their family were the following children: Jacob,
Peter, Lydia, Elizabeth, Susanna, Sebina, Levina and Sophia.
Jacob Frace (3) was born in Forks township in October, 1814, and devoted his life to agri- cultural pursuits, owning and operating two farms, one of one hundred and twenty-five acres, and the other of forty-three acres. He applied himself diligently to his chosen work, which he thoroughly understood, and being a man of good business ability he met with success. In 1840 he led to the marriage altar Miss Sebina Lerch, a daughter of Frederick Lerch, and their union was blessed by six children, namely: Susan, born Oc- tober II, 1840; Ellen, deceased, born May 21, 1844; Edwin, born November 29, 1845: Jacob, deceased, born in 1847; Charles, born December 15, 1850; and Emma, deceased, born May 23, 1858. The father of this family died in 1858, and was long survived by his wife, who departed this life in 1876. Both were earnest and consistent members of the Forks Reformed church, where the father was honored with the offices of elder and deacon. He was a man of sterling worth and upright character, and had the respect and esteem of all who knew him.
Charles Frace, whose name introduces this memoir, grew to manhood upon his father's farm, attending the common schools of Forks township and assisting in the labors of field and meadow. Later he entered Trach's Academy, where he fitted himself for school teaching, which profes- sion he followed with good success for four years. At the end of that time he removed to Easton and entered a mercantile business, to which he devoted his attention for the following four years. He then resumed farming, and in 1877 bought his present farm of fifty-nine acres, which he has since improved and has erected thereon a fine substantial barn. He also owns another farm of seventy-two acres on Chestnut Hill. For some time he devoted his attention ex- clusively to general farming, but since 1883 his interests have been principally centered in the dairy business at Zero. He now owns a fine herd of twenty-five milch cows, and handles about seventy gallons of milk and cream per day. He is a successful business man, enterprising, pro-
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gressive and energetic, and the prosperity that has come to him is certainly well deserved. In 1876 he served as juryman on the Loras case in the county court, and he has served his township in various official capacities, being a man of in- fluence in his community.
In 1875 Mr. Frace was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Woodring, who was born in Forks township in 1857, a daughter of John J. and Mary A. Woodring. Her paternal grand- father, John Woodring, was a native of Germany, and emigrated to America with two brothers, settling in Williams township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania. To him and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Lollick, were born seven children, as follows: George, John, Philip, Jo- seph, Mary, Chrisette and Mrs. Aaron Golt. Mrs. Frace's father was born in Williams town- ship, and when a young man removed to Forks township, where he was married and reared his family, consisting of eight children. Five of the number are still living, and continue to reside in Forks township. Mr. and Mrs. Frace have four children : Ida, born September 30, 1876; Mary A., born July 4, 1878; John H., born July 25, 1884; and Stella S., born October 3, 1889. Mary A. is now the wife of Dr. Harley Ackerman. The family hold membership in the Forks Reformed church and are people of prominence in the com- munity where they reside.
LEIGHTON WILSON ECKARD, D. D., pastor of the Brainerd Union church, at Easton, Pennsylvania, was born at Savannah, Georgia, September 23, 1845, and comes of an ancestry honorable and distinguished. His paternal grand- father, Joachim Frederick Eckard, was the son of a clergyman, and was born on the island of St. Thomas. He became Danish consul to Phil- adelphia, his commission being dated 1805. He afterward maintained his residence in Philadel- phia, but was the owner of a coffee plantation in the West Indies. Soon after his arrival in Amer- ica he was married to Susan Reed, the wedding being celebrated in 1803. Mrs. Eckard was born in Philadelphia on Christmas Day of 1876, and was a daughter of Colonel James, and a grand-
daughter of Colonel John Reed, of Maryland and Delaware. Her uncle, George Reed, of Delaware, was one of the signers of the Declaration of In- dependence. Her father joined the Continental army for service in the war of the Revolution, received succcessive promotion from the rank of first lieutenant and won that of colonel in recogni- tion of gallant and distinguished service at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown. In 1778 he was appointed by con- gress one of the three "commissioners of the Navy of the Middle States."
Rev. James Reed Eckard, D. D., was born in Philadelphia November 22, 1805, and completed his literary education by graduation in the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania with the class of 1823. He then took up the study of law in the office of John M. Read, Esq., and became a practitioner at the Philadelphia bar, where he remained for three years. On the expiration of that period he studied theology, and was graduated from Prince- ton Seminary with the class of 1833. In the same year he was married, and then went as mis- sionary to India, remaining for a decade in the orient. After his return in 1843 he served as principal of Chatham Academy, in Savannah, Georgia, for three years, or until 1846. He was pastor of the Second Presbyterian church in Washington, D. C., from 1848 until 1858, and was professor of rhetoric in Lafayette College from 1858 until 1871. His degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by that college in 1858. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party, and after a long, active, useful and honorable career of more than eighty- one years he passed away at Abington, Pennsyl- vania, March 12, 1887. His wife, to whom he was married May 26, 1833, bore the maiden name of Margaret Esther Bayard, and was born in Savannah, Georgia, October 18, 1810, while her death occurred in February, 1872. She was a daughter of Dr. Nicholas and Esther Bay- ard, of Savannah, the latter a daughter of Major General Lachlan McIntosh. In 1775 General McIntosh was made commander-in-chief of the western department of the United States army, and he was also a United States commissioner.
7IN
Leighton Wilsow Eckard.
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Rev. Leighton W. Eckard, having completed a preparatory course of study in Emerson Insti- tute in Washington, D. C., entered Lafayette Col- lege of Pennsylvania, in which he was graduated with the class of 1866. He prepared for the min- istry as a student in Princeton Theological Sem- inary, of which he is an alumnus of 1869. He was master orator in Lafayette College in the same year, and soon afterward he started as a missionary to China, where he remained for five years, or until 1874. Since that time he has devoted his life to the work of the ministry in his native country. In 1875 he became pastor of the Presbyterian church in Abington, Pennsylvania, a relation that was maintained for seventeen con- secutive years and since that time he has been pastor of the Brainerd Union church at Easton. He is a man of scholarly attainments, and his ability and devotion to his work has made his influence of no restricted order. He is now one of the trustees of Lafayette College, and educational as well as religious development find in him a strong advocate. That institution conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1890. His social affiliation is with the order of the Cin- cincinnati of the State of Georgia, of which he has served as chaplain; the Huguenot Society, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity.
On the 3d of June, 1869, Dr. Eckard was married in the Central Presbyterian church at Philadelphia to Elizabeth Abbott Longstreth of Philadelphia, a daughter of Thomas Muffin and Deborah Longstreth. Her father was de- scended from Bartholomew Longstreth, who came to America in 1697 from Long- strethdale, Yorkshire, England. He was one of the petitioners to the English king ask- ing that William Penn might not be deprived of his government in the province. Associated with Thomas Fairman, surveyor to William Penn, he accumulated large means, and died in 1749, leaving a valuable estate of one thousand acres of land in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Joshua Longstreth, a brother of Thomas Longstreth, was a prominent importer, and a leader in financial circles in Philadelphia, being connected as di-
rector with the Philadelphia National Bank and with other moneyed institutions. He resided at his country seat, Barclay Hill, until his death in 1869. Thomas Longstreth was a merchant of Philadelphia, and a member of the Society of Friends. His wife bore the maiden name of Deborah M. Dempsey. To Rev. Leighton W. and Elizabeth A. (Longstreth) Eckard were born five children. Rev. James McIntosh Longstreth Eckard, the eldest, born in Chefoo, China, May 23, 1870, was educated in the University of Fenn- sylvania, the Edinburg University of Scotland, and Princeton Theological Seminary. He is now a Presbyterian clergyman, being pastor of the churches at Volga, Dakota, and at Northumber- land, Pennsylvania. Esther Longstreth, born August 27, 1872, at Chefoo, China, is the wife of Andrew H. Reeder, a mining engineer, now re- siding in Virginia. Helen Nevius, born Feb- ruary 17, 1876, is at home. Bayard Gelston, born December 25, 1878, is an electrical engineer. Jennie Louise Eckard, the youngest, was born June 26, 1882.
EDWARD INSLEY HUNT. Ralph Hunt, the progenitor of the American branch of the Hunt family, was a native of England, from which country he emigrated to America, at an early period, and settled in Queens county, Long Island. The line of descent is as follows : Samuel Hunt, son of Ralph Hunt, was a prominent resi- dent of Queens county, Long Island, but subse- quently changed his place of residence to Law- renceville, New Jersey. He was the father of Thomas Hunt, who was born about the year 1705, and was the owner of a large tract of land in Greenwich, Sussex county, now Warren coun- ty, New Jersey. Edward Hunt, son of Thomas Hunt, was born in 1734, married in 1759, Mary -, and at some period prior to 1772 be- came a resident of Greenwich, Sussex county, New Jersey. In 1772 he purchased from Israel Pemberton a two hundred and twenty-two and a half acre tract of land lying at the junction of the Delaware and Musconetcong Rivers, a portion of the Penn tract. Edward Hunt was an active participant in the Revolutionary war, and was the
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founder of the hamlet at Rigglesville, Warren county, New Jersey.
John Hunt (grandfather), son of Edward and Mary Hunt, was born in the locality now known as Rigglesville, Warren county, New Jer- sey, December 18, 1773. In early life he learned the trade of tanner, but after a few years he abandoned this occupation and turned his atten- tion to agricultural pursuits. Mr. Hunt was twice married, his first wife having been Ann Taylor, daughter of George Taylor ; she was born June 27, 1775, and died in the year 1846. His second wife was Catherine Maxwell, to whom he was united in marriage May 21, 1848. The death of John Hunt occurred in 1851, at his home in Rigglesville, New Jersey.
George Hunt (father), son of John and Ann Hunt, was born November 8, 1799, in the vi- cinity of Rigglesville, New Jersey. He was a farmer by occupation, a Whig and afterwards a Republican in politics, and a member of the Luth- eran church at Rigglesville. Mr. Hunt married, February 26, 1826, Mary Insley, daughter of Godfrey Insley, and the issue of this union was four children-Elizabeth, John, Edward I., and Ann Hunt. George Hunt, father of these chil- dren, died at his home July 31, 1866.
Edward I. Hunt, second son of George and Mary Hunt, was born near Rigglesville, Warren county, New Jersey, September 17, 1832. His educational advantages were obtained in the schools of Lebanon, New Jersey. He remained on the home farm until he was twenty-five years of age, when he located in Illinois, and for three years was engaged in the milling and distilling business. After the expiration of this period of time he returned to New Jersey, engaged in mer- cantile business at Little York, Hunterdon coun- ty, and in connection with this enterprise oper- ated a milling and distilling business up to the year 1864. He then located in Easton, North- ampton county, Pennsylvania, purchased the property at 115 Northampton street, and built a large brick building and established a hardware store, which he conducted successfully until 1898. Since that date he has been engaged in the real estate business, the principal part of his transac-
tions being the laying out of suburbs in Phillips- burg, New Jersey. He is a director of the Easton National Bank and the Stewart Wire Company, and is a member of the Pomfret Club. Mr. Hunt has always been a man of great energy, wonder- ful industry, and an ability far above the aver- age, and to the exercise of these characteristics is due the success which he has achieved in the commercial world. In politics Mr. Hunt ably supports the candidates of the Republican party, and in religion he adheres to the tenets of the Lutheran denomination, being a member of Christ Lutheran church of Easton, Pennsylvania.
On November 26, 1857, Mr. Hunt married Sarah Lesh, daughter of Henry Lesh, and her death occurred November 3, 1892. Their chil- dren are: I. Maria Margaret, wife of J. L. Lud- low, of Winston, North Carolina, and they are the parents of three daughters-Annie, Margaret, and Louisa Ludlow. 2. Susan, wife of William E. Howell; they have two children, Mildred Howell, and Mary Insley. 3. Sally Insley, wife of Wayne Dumont, of Paterson, New Jersey. 4. Annie, wife of Dr. G. H. Meeker, of Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania.
FRANCIS H. LEHR, actively engaged in the practice of law in the city of Easton, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, since September, 1871, was born January 4, 1842, in Roxburg, now East Bangor, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, a son of John and Elizabeth Lehr, and grandson of Frederick P. and Elizabeth Lehr or Loehr, as the name was spelled in the early generations.
Frederick P. Loehr (grandfather) came from Walhalben, near Zwei Brucken, Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, in the year 1806, and settled in Upper Mount Bethel. Having learned the trade of tailor in his native country, he pursued that line of in- dustry, in connection with farming, after his ar- rival in the new world. He was a member of the Lutheran church, and in politics adhered to the principles of the old line Whig party. Frederick P. Loehr and his wife, Elizabeth (Keiser) Loehr, were the parents of the following named chil- dren : Joseph, John, Katherine, Sarah, Rebecca. For his second wife Frederick P. Loehr married
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Miss Eva Bartholomew, and their children were: Jacob, Washington, Henry, Eva, Matilda, Mary, and Amanda Loehr.
John Lehr (father) was born in Williams- burg, Pennsylvania, October 28, 18f1, and, upon the completion of his studies, learned the trade of tailor with his father. He followed this oc- cupation for several years, and then turned his attention to farming, in which vocation he was highly successful, and was considered one of the model farmers in Forks township, whither he removed in 1844, and where he resided up to the time of his decease. Mr. Lehr was an upright, conscientious man, a member of the Lutheran church, and formerly an old line Whig, but dur- ing the latter years of his life an adherent of the Republican party. In 1832 he was united in mar- riage to Elizabeth Schoch, daughter of Henry and Magdalene (Beck) Schoch, and their children are : William, Caroline, Francis H., and Emma Lehr. John Lehr, father of these children, died in 1889, survived by his wife, whose death oc- curred in the year 1896, at the age of eighty-four years.
Francis H. Lehr, second son of John and Elizabeth Lehr, obtained an excellent English education in the private schools of Easton, North- ampton county, which thoroughly qualified him for the position of teacher, in which capacity he served for eight years in the country and four years in the city of Easton. Mr. Lehr then took up the study of law in the office of Judge H. D. Maxwell, was admitted to the Northampton coun- ty bar in September, 1871, and since that date has continuously and successfully practiced his profession in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he has gained an enviable reputation as a careful and conservative adviser. Mr. Lehr has always taken a deep interest in public affairs, and served for some years in the city council and the school board.
On January 5, 1867, occurred the marriage of Francis H. Lehr and Ellen E. Walter, of Palmer township, a daughter of Michael and Elizabeth (Hellick) Walter. Their children are: I. Horace, born May 14, 1868, who acquired his education at Lafayette College, from which in-
stitution he was graduated in 1887. Two years. later he established the Lehr Piano and Organ manufactory, and has built up a successful busi- ness. For several years he served in the capacity of president of the common council, and in 1902, was elected mayor of Easton. He married Irene Algert, a native of Easton, Pennsylvania, and their children are : Horace, Jr., Henry, Elizabeth, and Irene Lehr. 2. Walter, born October 22, 1871, was a student at Lafayette College, and at the present time (1903) is engaged in business with his brother, Horace Lehr. He is now a member of the select council of Easton. Walter Lehr married Etta Barber, of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and they are the parents of the following named children: Francis H., Emily, and Vir- ginia Lehr. 3. Frances, born April 16, 1884. Mr. Lehr and his family are members of St. Paul's Lutheran church of Easton, Pennsylvania. He has been for twenty-five years the superin- tendent of the Sunday school of that church ; and was for a number of years the president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Easton during its early history.
JAMES W. WEAVER, prominent among the enterprising business men of Easton, Pennsyl- vania, is the bearer of a name which has for two generations been identified with the mining in- terests of the county, and which has always been synonymous with sound business ability and good citizenship.
Valentine W. Weaver, son of Charles Weaver, was born in 1826, in Richmond, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and began life for himself as clerk in a store in Easton. He afterward learned the trade of a machinist, and obtained a position with the Lehigh Crane Iron Company as mining superintendent, where he fully demon- strated his ability for his chosen calling. Janu- ary 1, 1863, he entered the service of the Thomas Iron Company as superintendent of the Hokendauqua Furnaces, a position which he held for five years, and at the end of that time became one of the organizers of the Lock Ridge Iron Company, in which he held the office of superin- tendent. In 1868 this company was purchased
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by the Thomas Iron Company, with whom Mr. Weaver remained after the transfer, retaining his position as superintendent. Subsequently he was for a time connected with the Pine Grove Furn- ace Company, in Cumberland county, which also belonged to the Thomas Iron Company, and en- gaged with another company to purchase the Macungie Iron Works, of which he became gen- eral manager. In 1877 the company retired from business, and from 1880 to 1885 he was superin- tendent of the Coplay Iron Company, Limited. In the latter year he retired from business, leaving a record of more than thirty arduous, useful and honorable years. He was a member of the Ma- sonic order, and in his political affiliations a Re- publican. His church membership was with the Presbyterian denomination. He married, in 1847, Mary, daughter of Jacob Mickley, and they became the parents of the following children : Charles, who died in infancy; William M., de- ceased; James W., mentioned at length herein- after ; Anna Elizabeth, Valentine W., Jr., Mary Jane Bachman, Kate May, and Emily Rebecca.
James W. Weaver, son of Valentine W. and Mary (Mickley) Weaver, was born November 3, 1852, in Catasauqua, Lehigh county, and was educated in his native place, and at the Wyoming Seminary, in Kingston. Previous to this he had learned the machinist trade, after which his busi- ness life began in the office of the Thomas Iron Company, at Lock Ridge, where he was employed as telegraph operator and assistant in the office. In 1872 he went to Pine Grove Furnace, Cum- berland county, as assistant cashier, and after a short time served as conductor for four and a half years on the South Mountain Railroad, which is now a part of the Philadelphia and Reading branch of the Harrisburg and Gettysburg Rail- road, and, in 1879, became cashier to the Coplay Iron Company. In 1883 he removed to Easton, . having accepted the position of accountant in the office of the Thomas Iron Company. For ten years he labored in the discharge of the duties of this office with conspicuous energy and fidelity, and, on February 6, 1893, was elected secretary and treasurer. In these positions, which he still holds, the traits of character which displayed
themselves in his earlier career have become still more evident by reason of the greater scope af- forded them by the wider field in which they are now called into action. Mr. Weaver's townsmen have given proof of their reliance on his judgment and their confidence in his integrity by electing him for two terms a member of the board of con- trol, and he was later elected president, which position he now holds. In the sphere of politics the principles and measures of the Republican party have ever found in him a stanch supporter. He and his family are members of St. John's Lutheran church.
Mr. Weaver married, September 3, 1873, Emily, daughter of Thomas Givler, of Carlisle, Cumberland county. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Weaver : Bessie May, who is the wife of William C. Hood, of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania ; Emily M., who mar- ried Stanton W. Godley, of Easton, and has one child, Edith Weaver ; James William; Hellen A., who died at four years of age; Charles Valen- tine, John Thomas, and Elizabeth Givler.
NELSON PEREZ CORNELL, a leading business man and public-spirited citizen of Eas- ton, Pennsylvania, is a representative of one of the notable families founded by English ancestors who in the early years of the seventeenth century left their native land to seek a home in the Amer- ican colonies, to the upbuilding of which, as well as to the prosperity of our national life, their descendants have so largely contributed, and where the names of the emigrant forefathers are still held in honored remembrance.
Thomas Cornell (1) was born about 1595, in the county of Essex, England, and married Re- becca Briggs, sister of John Briggs. No other details of his life have reached us, and we have no information concerning his political opinions and religious belief, or of the part he played in the stormy and momentous period in which his lot was cast. His death took place about 1655, and his wife, who was born in 1600, died Febru- ary 8, 1673.
Thomas Cornell (2), son of Thomas (1) and Rebecca (Briggs) Cornell, and founder of the
1
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American branch of the family, was born in Eng- land, and married Sarah Earl. About 1638, ac- companied by his wife and children, he crossed the sea, and settled in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. By vote of the town meeting of Boston, held August 10, 1638, he was permitted to buy William Baulson's house, yard and garden, and to become an inhabitant. This house was situated on what is now Washington street, between Milk and Summer streets. September 6, 1638, he was licensed to keep an inn until the next general court. In 1643 he sold the property, and mean- while moved to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where, August 6, 1640, he was admitted a freeman. The same year he was made constable, and the follow- ing year ensign. He seems, however, to have possessed a migratory spirit, and we find that in October, 1642, the local Dutch government of New Amsterdam granted him permission to re- side on the island, within the limits of their juris- diction, about eleven miles from the city. His arrival appreciably added to the numbers of the colonists, inasmuch as he was accompanied by no fewer than thirty-five families of English settlers. He made his home in what is now Westchester county, where in 1642 he was granted a tract of land on the shores of Long Island Sound. This place was then and is now known as Cornell's Neck. The death of this bold and adventurous pioneer occurred in 1673, presumably in this his last-found home.
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