USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. I > Part 36
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Henry G. Siegfried (5), third child and eldest son of Reuben H. and Matilda (Griffith) Sieg- fried, was born in Easton, October 1, 1867. He was educated in the public schools of that city, but discontinued his studies when fourteen years of age to become a messenger in the Easton Na-
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tional Bank. He, however, was ambitious to ac- quire knowledge, and, while becoming acquainted with business methods he followed a course of reading which afforded him ample equipment in his future career. He has been connected with the bank during all the subsequent period, cover- ing a term of twenty-two years, passing through all the various departments, and April 29, 1903, he was advanced to the position of cashier. Thor- oughly acquainted with all things pertaining to the responsible place which he occupies, he is also broadly informed upon general financial affairs, and is intimately conversant with the many and varied conditions of his community and its com- mercial and manufacturing interests. He is a member of the Brainerd Presbyterian church, and his political affiliations are with the Democratic party.
Mr. Siegfried was married, October 23, 1890, to Miss Anna Stem, a daughter of the Rev. T. O. and Mary (Young) Stem. Her father is a native of the village of Cherryville, Northampton county, and is pastor of the Reformed church in Turbot- ville, Pennsylvania ; her mother was born in Lan- caster, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Siegfried are the parents of three children-Margaret L., born July 17, 1893 ; Miriam, born April 6, 1898; and Mary, born May 7, 1903.
JOHN ABEL, deceased, for many years an active and important factor in the manufacturing interests of the city of Easton, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, traced his origin to Squire Jacob Abel, who came to this country from Ger- many in the early period of the history of Easton, and was for many years one of its most prominent citizens.
Jacob Abel was born in 1744, and at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was thirty-two years of age. He was engaged in the business of boating, and being familiar with the handling of the Durham boats, a patriot, and in the vigor of manhood, he assisted in collecting the boats for the passage of General Washington's army over the Delaware river for his retreat through New Jersey after the battle of Brooklyn. He also carried the mail to Philadelphia for a
time on horseback, the most direct route from the eastern states and from places on the upper Hud- son being over the old mine road from Esopus to Van Campen's mills, above the Water Gap. He was the owner of the ferry in 1787, and was one of five who purchased Getter's Island during the same year, of the Penns. He was the proprietor of a hotel at the "Point," and his name appears on the tax list of 1788 as one of the large prop- erty holders of the town. He was elected justice of the peace, and held the office many years. His death occurred in 1822, aged seventy-eight years ; his children were Jacob and John Abel.
John Abel, son of Jacob Abel, and father of John Abel, was a native of Easton, Pennsylvania. He engaged in boating with Durham boats until the opening of the canals, after which he carried on boating between Easton and Philadelphia. He was also for some years engaged in the grocery business in Easton. On July 7, 1825, he was ap- pointed by Governor Shulze a commissioner for improving the navigation of the Delaware river under the act of March 26, 1821. The first com- missioners were Lewis S. Coryell, John Kirk- bride, and Jacob Shouse, but after the resignation of the latter named gentleman Mr. Abel was ap- pointed in his place. He was engaged for more than three years in this important work. Mr. Abel married Catherine Bleckey, and they reared a large family of children, all of whom are now deceased.
John Abel, son of John and Catherine (Bleck- ey) Abel, was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, March 29, 1814. In early life he learned the trade of cabinet maker, which he followed up to the year 1835, when his health failed him and he was obliged to abandon that pursuit. He then established an extensive wholesale and retail con- fectionery business, manufacturing the goods on the premises, and in due course of time built up a large and profitable trade which has been con- ducted by various members of the family up to the present time (1903), covering a period of nearly seventy years. Mr. Abel was formerly an old line Whig, but upon the formation of the Republican party he joined its ranks. He served as a member of the city council of Easton. He held member-
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ship in St. John's Lutheran church, serving in the capacity of vestryman for a number of years.
Mr. Abel married Maria E. Reichard, born in Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1811, a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Hay) Reichard. Jacob Reichard was born in Easton, a son of Peter Reichard. Elizabeth (Hay) Reichard was a daugh- ter of Peter Hay, a son of Melchoir Hay, Jr., who was a son of Melchoir Hay, Sr., a native of Scot- land, whom political reverses led to Germany, where, after serving with honor in the military duties in his adopted country, he married a Ger- man woman. Melchoir Hay came to America with his two brothers in 1738, took an active part in the trying struggle of the Revolution, and was one of the efficient members of the committee of safety. After the close of the Revolution, Mel- choir Hay, having sold his South Eason property, purchased a large farm about three miles west of Easton, in the locality called the "Drylands," where he and his descendants have tilled the soil for generations.
The following named children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Abel : Louisa, wife of William W. Cottingham, of Easton, superintendent of schools ; Charles J., a confectioner of Phillipsburg, New Jersey ; Elizabeth, wife of William E. Hammann, of Easton; Emma M., Josephine A., wife of George T. Hammann, of Bethlehem ; John H., a resident of Easton; Isabel, wife of Howard A. Hartzell, of Easton ; J. Edward, and Mary. John Abel, father of these children, died May 1, 1891, and the business was conducted by his widow and children under the firm name of M. E. Abel, up to the time of the death of Mrs. Abel, April 27, 1895, and from that date up to the present time (1903) it has been conducted by the children under the style of Mrs. M. E. Abel's estate.
HENRY J. STEELE, a practicing attorney of Easton, president of the Northampton Bar Association, and vice-president of the State Bar Association of Pennsylvania, was born in Easton May 10, 1860, his parents being Joseph and Maria (Burt) Steele. His grandparents were John and Elizabeth (Unangst) Steele. In his family were four children : Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph and An-
drew. He died at the age of sixty years, and his wife passed away previously.
Joseph Steele was born in Easton, in January, 1833, and pursued his education in the school con- ducted by Dr. Vandeveer in that city. He sub- sequently turned his attention to general mer- chandising, conducting a store in Easton up to the time of his death. He kept in touch with the ad- vancement of the times in his business career, and prospered in his undertakings. His political al- legiance was given to the Whig party until its dis- solution, when he joined the ranks of the new Re- publican party. Both he and his wife were mem- bers of the Lutheran church. They were married in 1854, Mrs. Steele having been born in Easton in 1832, her parents being John and Mary (Smith) Burt, who were of Scotch ancestry. To Joseph and Maria Steele were born three children. Elizabeth became the wife of George H. Derr, and died in 1884, leaving a daughter, Nellie, now the wife of Charles M. Laubach. John, the elder son of Joseph Steele, died in 1876 at the age of nineteen years.
Henry J. Steele began his education in the public schools of Easton, and afterward became a student in Stevens' Business College. While attending school, however, he was employed in mercantile pursuits and at bookkeeping, thus meeting the expenses of his more advanced educa- tional training. Desirious of becoming a member of the bar, he took up the study of law under Hon. William Beidelman (then state senator), and after a thorough and careful preparation was ad- mitted to the bar in May, 1881. Immediately afterward he opened an office in Easton, where he has gained an enviable position among the lead- ing lawyers of the state. The position which Mr. Steele holds in the regard of the legal fraternity is indicated by the fact that he is now president of the Northampton County Bar Association, and vice-president of the State Bar Association. He was one of the organizers and the first president of the Northampton Trust Company, and is a director of the First National Bank. He belongs to the board of trustees of the public library, and has been a co-operant factor in many measures for general progress and improvement. He filled
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the position of city council for three terms, and was a member of the school board four terms.
Mr. Steele was married, in 1895, to Miss Blanche A. Leith, of Philadelphia, a daughter of S. A. Leith, and they have one, child, Adele Steele.
GARRETT B. LINDERMAN, prominently identified with large manufacturing, mining and financial interests in Bethlehem, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, comes in both parental lines from a splendid ancestry, notable for strong men- tality and useful achievements.
The Linderman family was planted in Amer- ica in about the first decade of the eighteenth cen- tury by Jacob Von Kinderman, or Linderman, who was a descendant of Margaretta Linderman, the wife of Hans Luther, and mother of Martin Luther. Jacob Linderman, possessed of the same sturdy spirit which animated his kinsman, the Great Reformer, to escape religious persecution expatriated himself, fleeing from his native Sax- ony to England, whence he came to this country. He first settled near Kingston, in Ulster county, New York, but subsequently removed to Orange county. He was prominent in public and relig- ious affairs, and was an elder in the Presbyterian church.
Henry Linderman, son of Jacob Linderman, was a large landholder in Orange county, New York, and was also owner of a number of slaves in a day when slaveholding was not deemed in- compatible with a religious life. He married Sarah, daughter of Moses Shaw, who served in the Fifth New York Regiment of Continental troops, and was killed in the battle of Bemis's Heights, near the famous field of Saratoga. Three of his sons came to distinction-John J. Linder- man, of whom further, as a physician ; and James Oliver and Willett Linderman in the field of law. James O. Linderman was a law partner of Gen- eral George H. Sharpe (who had been his pre- ceptor in law), was appointed first judge of the Ulster county court of common pleas, was elected first county judge when the new constitution sub- stituted that office for the former, in 1846, and served as such until 1855, the year before his
death. Willett Linderman also attained prom- inence in the profession, and was district attorney of Ulster county from 1837 to 1846.
John Jordan Linderman, son of Henry Lin- derman, was born in 1787, in Orange county, New York, in the house built by his grandfather, Jacob. He had the best possible preparation for the profession which he came to adorn. He studied medicine in New York City under the most eminent teachers of their place and time- the two Hosacks, father and son, and Valentine Mott, who laid the foundations for the present day medical colleges and hospitals of the Ameri- can metropolis. For a half-century he cared for a large practice in Pike county, Pennsylvania, often making a daily journey of forty miles on horseback or twenty miles afoot in his profes- sional rounds. He treated his poor patients with as much consideration as he did those who were able to recompense him, and his cheery geniality made him an ideal physician in the sick room. He was among the first to abandon the practice of blood-letting and to curtail the use of mercurial preparations, substituting remedies of his own, and achieving phenomenal success in the treat- ment of certain diseases, notably typhoid fever, which in that day was deemed wellnigh fatal and beyond the skill of the physician. He was for many years a Mason, and past master of the lodge at Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania.
Dr. John J. Linderman married Rachel Brod- head, a sister of Hon. Richard Brodhead, at one time United. States senator from Pennsylvania. She came of excellent family, descended from Captain Daniel Brodhead, of the British gren- adiers, who came with Governor Nichols in 1664 and wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch, making it New York. He settled near Esopus,. New York, and reared a family. Mrs. Linder- man's father was Judge Richard Brodhead, of Pike county, Pennsylvania ; her grandfather, Gar- rett Brodhead, was a sergeant in the New Jer- sey line in the Revolution ; her granduncle, Luke Brodhead, was a captain in the Sixth Pennsyl- vania Regiment, who was disabled at the battle of Brandywine, receiving a wound from which he never ceased to suffer ; her great-uncle, Daniel
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Brodhead, was colonel of the Eighth Pennsyl- vania Regiment of the Continental line, brevet brigadier-general and commander of the western military department, 1778-1781, and for eleven years was surveyor-general of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Linderman was a most estimable woman, whose gentle nature and kindly sympathies made her the dear friend of all with whom she was asso- ciated.
Dr. John J. and Rachel ( Brodhead) Linder- man reared a family conspicuous for the useful- ness of their lives. Henry R. Linderman, born December 25, 1825, graduated in medicine in 1846, and practiced in the counties of Pike and Carbon, Pennsylvania, until 1854, when failing health obliged him to abandon his profession. For ten years he was employed as clerk in the United States Mint in Philadelphia, and in 1867 was appointed its director ; in 1869 he was ap- pointed a commissioner of the United States Treasury Department, and from then until his death, in 1879, he was constantly engaged in gov- ernmental work pertaining to the monetary sys- tem, and was instrumental in effecting much im- portant legislation. The other two sons were Garrett B. Linderman, of whom further; and Albert B. Linderman.
Garrett Brodhead Linderman, son of Dr. John J. and Rachel ( Brodhead) Linderman, was a man of extraordinary ability, and his activities extended into various fields. In his early man- hood he was a skillful and successful physician, but for the latter thirty years of his life he was one of the most potential factors in the manufac- turing, mining, and transportation and financial iterests of Pennsylvania. He was a native of the State, born in Lehman township, Pike county, October 15, 1829. He obtained his education in the public schools, and began the study of medi- cine under the masterly preceptorship of his father, subsequently attending the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, from which he received his medical degree. For sev- eral years he practiced in association with his father, and then for two years (1853-1855) at Unionville, New Jersey. He then succeeded his brother, Dr. Henry L. Linderman, as physician
of the Nesquehoning Coal Company. During the subsequent cholera epidemic at Mauch Chunk he gave his services to the people of that sorely stricken village, and with such zeal and success that they earnestly solicited him to become a resi- dent, and he continued to labor there for ten years, making for himself a splendid reputation as a practitioner. His abilities were recognized far beyond his immediate sphere, and he would undoubtedly have soon been called to a higher place in the profession had it not been that cir- cumstances led him away from it altogether.
In 1860 his arduous work as a physician had . so impaired his health that he found it necessary to abridge his effort, and he devoted his atten- tion in part to commercial affairs, and soon after- ward gave himself to such pursuits entirely. In 1863 he became an active partner in the East Sugar Loaf Colliery as a member of the firm of Packer, Linderman & Company, and a partner in the Room Run Colliery, operated by Douglas, Skeer & Company, conducting all the business of the first named firm, and also that of the other, on the retirement of Mr. Douglas, in 1865. The output of both collieries, reaching tidewater, was sold by E. A. Packer & Company until 1867, when Mr. Packer withdrew, and the firm became G. B. Linderman & Company. From this time Mr. Linderman had charge of both production and sales departments, and was necessarily in New York City the greater part of the time. Discerning the fact that so many coal producing firms in the Lehigh Valley, producing and mar- keting without concert of action, were working an injury to themselves and to the business at large, he set to work to remedy the evil and or- ganized the Lehigh Coal Exchange, of which he was elected president, and which position he occu- pied until his death.
It would be difficult to detect a feature of the commercial, financial and moral life of the com- munity which was not colored by the personality and genius of Dr. Linderman. In 1878 he organ- ized the banking firm of G. B. Linderman & Com- pany, at Mauch Chunk. In 1870 he removed to South Bethlehem, and erected a fine mansion on Fountain Hill, which was his home during the
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remainder of his life. In 1872 he organized the Lehigh Valley National Bank of Bethlehem, and became its president. In 1877 he aided the Bethlehem Iron Company with a large sum of money at a critical moment, and was elected man- aging director and subsequently general manager. Through his active and intelligent effort a threat- ened calamity was avoided, and the business was placed upon a substantial basis. He remained in charge until his death, and brought the firm to an exceptionally foremost place in the manufactur- ing world. He was a prime factor in the found- ing of the Association of the Bessemer Steel Com- panies of the United States, and was a member of its board of control from the beginning. He was also chairman of the Wilbur Mining and Manu- facturing Company of Ontario, Canatia ; organ- izer and for some years chairman of the Jaraugua Iron Company, Limited, of Cuba ; a shareholder and director in the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and a member of various other corporations. To all he gave a close and intelligent attention, and he was recognized both in Pennsylvania and in New York as one of the most capable men of his state in commercial and financial affairs.
His devotion to such manifold interests, upon whose proper maintenance depended the for- tunes of hundreds of careful investors, among them widows and orphans, as well as the daily bread of thousand of wage earners, did not com- plete the measure of his exceptionally busy and useful life. He was an original member of the board of trustees of Lehigh University, chairman of the executive committee of that body, and a member of the building committee. He labored zealously in the work of establishing and develop- ing this now famous institution of learning, and his interest remained undiminished until his death. He was also for a umber of years a mem- ber of the board of trustees of St. Luke's Hos- pital. To both the institutions named, as well as to others, he was a constant and liberal donor. He and his family were communicants of the Church of the Nativity (Protestant Episcopal) at South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and he contrib- uted liberally to its maintenance and to its vari- ous benevolences. In politics he was an ardent
Democrat, and gave to his party a vigorous sup- port. In 1878 he came within a few votes of receiving the nomination of his district for con- gress, and his name was brought forward fre- quently afterwards, but he invariably declined, feeling that the interests of the community would be better subserved by his undivided attention to business affairs. During the Hancock campaign he took a particularly active part, and organized the Democracy of South Bethlehem, and was president of the Central Club. On the eve of the presidential election he presided at a large mass meeting, and made a masterly speech on the tariff question from a Democratic standpoint.
Dr. Linderman was twice married. His first wife, to whom he was united August 21, 1856, was Miss Lucy Packer, a daughter of Judge Asa Packer, the distinguished philanthropist and friend of education, to whose municificent gener- osity is due the founding of Lehigh University. Mrs. Linderman, a woman of lovely character, who was her husband's devoted aid in all benevo- lent works, died in July, 1872, leaving three chil- dren-Sallie, deceased, the wife of Warren A. Wilbur ; Robert P. Linderman, deceased, of whom a sketch appears in this work ; and Garrett B. Lin- derman, who conducts the business with which his father was so long identified. March 16, 1880, Dr. Linderman married Miss Frances Evans, daughter of Mr. George A. Evans, of Brooklyn, New York, and of this marriage were born three daughters-Lillian, Ida and Helen.
Dr. Linderman died September 28, 1885, at his residence on Fountain Hill, South Bethlehem, from congestion of the brain. He had been fail- ing for some months, and during the summer had spent a portion of his time at Long Branch, in company with his family, attending only to such business as necessity imperatively demanded. In connection with the association of steel manu- facturers formed that year, he performed some important work, and visited Bethlehem late in August, and the iron works, of which he was manager, September Ist. Returning to Long Branch, he was again at his home in Southi Bethlehem on the tenth of that month, and there remained until the end came.
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His death was widely and deeply deplored, creating, as it did, a great void in various im- portant business circles, as well as in the social life of the community. The tributes paid to his memory were fervent and sincere. His interest in the borough where was his home, and in the adjacent town of Bethlehem, were ever active and warm, and hundreds of their people had profited by his advice and aid, in private and in municipal affairs. His business career has been narrated with sufficient particularity, but this was only one side of his life. Mention, too, has been made of his zealous interest in educational and charitable works. In his personal relations with his fellows he was the ideal christian gentleman. His large wealth worked no diminution of his sympathy for the individual, nor caused him to hold aloof from immediate contact with the normal life of the community. He was a democrat in the largest and best meaning of a most comprehensive word. He delighted in the discovery of true manhood, was quick to recognize merit, and was ever ready to render aid to the enterprising and honorable man whose integrity and habits of life commanded confidence. It is said of him upon excellent authority that many business men who have achieved success in Bethlehem and vicinity owe their beginnings to his wise counsel and timely assistance. His confidence once won was lasting, and he was a stalwart friend, in storm and sun- shine, and despite detraction. Such qualities, united with his excellent executive ability, tenacity of purpose and remarkable discernment, marked him as one of the really remarkable and admir- able men of a remarkable period, when the region with which he was so long identified was entering upon a new and phenomenal growth along all lines of progression, moral as well as material. His home life was of singular beauty, all about him testifying to his refinement and intelligence, and his devotion to a family regard after his own lofty ideals.
Garrett B. Linderman, Jr., son of Dr. Garrett B. and Lucy (Packer) Linderman, was married, November 26, 1889, to Miss Jennie Seymour Brodhead, born in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, daughter of Abraham Brodhead, now deceased.
Of this marriage were born the following chil- dren : Garrett Brodhead, Robert Seymour, Bev- erly Warner, Stuart Henry and Sidney Ely.
ROBERT PACKER LINDERMAN, who was long and prominently identified with various of the most important industrial and financial in- terests of the Lehigh Valley, was born at Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, July 26, 1863, and died January 21, 1903. The splendid ancestry from which he sprang is written upon other pages of this work.
At the age of thirteen years Robert P. Linder- man entered Mt. Pleasant Military Academy at Sing Sing, New York, where he spent four years, being graduated with valedictorian honors. His academic course was supplemented by the knowl- edge and pleasure gained from travel in Europe, and upon his return to his native country in the autumn of 1880 he matriculated in the Lehigh University, and was graduated therefrom in 1884 with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. While pursuing his undergraduate course he was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and was for two years president of the Alumni As- sociation of the University. For many years he was a member of the executive committee of the board of trustees of the Lehigh University, his alma mater.
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