USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. I > Part 65
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curate knowledge of what is demanded by the public, and he puts forth every effort in his power to supply his patrons' with commodities that are of the highest grade. In his business dealings he is enterprising and honorable and thus he is winning a very desirable success. In 1900 he erected a beautiful and substantial brick residence in Pen Argyl, and in addition to this property he owns a double house some distance from his home. His wife also owns a dwelling in her own name, and thus they have valuable realty interests in the borough. Mr. Ader gives his political alle- giance to the Republican party, but the honors and emoluments of office have no attraction for him, as he prefers to devote his entire time to his business. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church.
In 1882 he was united in marriage to Miss Annie Bortel, of Trenton, New Jersey, and they have one daughter, Mary E., who was born in 1894.
DR. G. N. SWARTZ, physician and surgeon of Pen Argyl, . was born in Lehigh township, Northampton county, February 20, 1851. His ancestral history is one of close connection withi Pennsylvania through many generations. It is not known exactly the time of the establishment of the family in Pennsylvania, but the original American ancestors were Holland people, who lo- cated at what is now known as Swartzdam in Lehigh township, Northampton county.
Andrew Swartz, the grandfather of Dr Swartz, married a Miss Zeigler, and among their children was Jacob Z. Swartz, who was born in 1806, and became an extensive farmer of North- ampton county, his landed possessions aggregat- ing two hundred acres, comprised within two farms. He was very practical in his work, and developed valuable properties. He passed away at the comparatively early age of fifty-seven years, while his wife, who bore the maiden name of Susan Newcomer, died in 1885. They were members of the Reformed church, and Mr. Swartz gave his political allegiance to the Repub- lican party. His children numbered fourteen, six
of whom are living and are actively engaged in various honorable pursuits. These are Henry N., Jacob N., Elizabeth Knauss, Sarah N., John W. N., and Gene N.
Dr. Swartz is indebted to the common schools of his native township for the early educational privileges he enjoyed. His boyhood days were spent upon his father's farm, and when he had completed his common school course he entered Mount Pleasant Seminary at Boyertown, Penn- sylvania, in which he completed a regular course, and was graduated in 1870. He next became a student in Palatinate College, from which he was graduated in 1874. His professional education was received in Bellevue Hospital Medical Col- lege of New York, in which he was graduated in 1875, and the following year he was graduated from the Jefferson Medical College of Philadel- phia. Immediately afterward he established his business in Ackermanville, where he continued in practice for seven years, and in 1883 he re- moved to Pen Argyl, where he has since resided. Here he has built up a large and growing practice which is an indication of his skill and merit. His high standing in the profession is acknowledged by the members of medical fraternity as well as the general public. In addition to performing the duties connected with an extensive private prac- tice, he is surgeon for the Pennsylvania Division of the Lehigh & New England Railroad. Dr. Swartz belongs to the Northampton County Med- ical Society, the Lehigh Valley Medical Society and the Pennsylvania State Medical Association. He is also a worthy member of Pen Argyl Lodge, No. 594, F. & A. M., and Bushkill Creek Lodge, I. O. O. F.
In 1877 Dr. Swartz was married to Miss Mary C. Sencenbach, a native of Bath, Pennsylvania, and they have a daughter, Susan M. In 1902 Dr. Swartz built one of the best residences in the borough of Pen Argyl, it adding much to the beauty of the town.
WILLIAM BUZZARD, a member of the firm of Fitzgerald, Speer & Company, manufac- turers of lumber and mill work at Pen Argyl, can
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
track his ancestry in Lehigh county back through six generations. His great-grandfather, John Buzzard, was of German parentage and, remov- ing from Bucks county, Pennsylvania, to North- ampton county, settled in Washington township. There he purchased a farm of one hundred and five acres of new land on which no improvements had been made. By trade he was a blacksmith, and he followed that calling in his early business career, but subsequently gave undivided atten- tion to his agricultural pursuits. His children were Gerhard, George, Herman, Rachel and Mary. Of this number Gerhard Buzzard was the grandfather of William Buzzard. He, too, was a farmer and succeeded to the ownership of his father's land, comprising one hundred and five acres. To this he added seventy-five acres adjoining the original tract. He married Susan Landers, and they became the parents of five children : Jonas, Jesse, Samuel, John and Joseph. The grandfather, Gerhard Buzzard, who was born in 1808, passed away in 1883, while his wife died in 1881.
Jonas Buzzard, the father of William Buz- zard, was born in Washington township, North- ampton county, in 1834, and died in 1881. He was a farmer by occupation, but did not own the land which he operated. He belonged to the Flicksville Lutheran church, in which he served as a deacon. His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah E. Beck, and was a native of Upper Mount Bethel, Northampton county. She was born in 1832 and died in 1892. In their family were the following named: Susanna, deceased; Emma ; Maggie and William, twins; Sarah and Mary, twins ; Ella, Catherine and Alice, all deceased ; and Henry and Franklin. All were born in Washington township, Northampton county.
William Buzzard was born June 9, 1862, and pursued his education in the schools of his na- tive township. He followed agricultural pursuits until nineteen years of age, and in 1881 began serving an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade. He was connected with that line of in- dustrial activity for seven years, and subsequently engaged in the operation of a planing mill at
Bangor for two years. In 1890 he became a mem- ber of the firm of Fitzgerald, Speer & Company, and being an experienced mechanic of marked ability he is acting in the capacity of foreman in the mill.
Mr. Buzzard has been a member of the Lu- theran church in his locality to the present time, and is now serving as deacon in the church of that denomination at Pen Argyl. Socially, he is connected with the Royal Arcanum and the Mod- ern Woodmen of America. He was married De- cember 26, 1884, to Miss Sarah C. Ott, of Upper Mount Bethel and their children are Myrta M., Clark M. and Charles C. The daughter is the wife of William Kellow, and they have a son Arthur.
CHARLES BIELER is the senior partner of C. Bieler & Son, dealers in hardware and stoves in Pen Argyl, and his business interests are conducted along such progressive lines that success has attended his efforts. He was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1853, and is a son of Joseph and Hannah (Kern) Bieler. The former was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1827, and the latter in 1822. They removed to Freemansburg, this state, about 1858, and there the father engaged in the hardware business, re- maining a resident of that place for about eighteen years. He carried on mercantile pursuits until 1879, and is now making his home with his son Charles Bieler. His wife passed away in 1890. She was a devoted wife and mother, and the fam- ily numbered seven children: Mary A., John, Susanna, Charles, Amanda, Leo and Emma. Of this number Amanda is now deceased.
Charles Bieler acquired his education in Freemansburg, and also received instruction in business affairs there. Subsequently, he removed to Easton, where he worked at the tinsmith's trade that he had learned with the father. At a later date he went to Bangor, Pennsylvania, and was in the employ of a Mr. Flory, for some time. Since 1880 he has made his home permanently in Pen Argyl, where he is today carrying on business as senior member of C. Bieler & Son, dealers in
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hardware and in stoves. In 1902 he built his pres- ent store building, which is large and commodious and is well stocked with a good line of shelf and heavy hardware. Always trustworthy in his deal- ings, he has secured a liberal patronage because of his earnest desire to please his customers and his honorable methods.
Mr. Bieler has been thrice married. He first wedded Miss Alavesta Graffin, of Catasaqua, Pennsylvania, in 1875. Three children were born to this union : Frank D., Herbert J. and Minnie M. The wife and mother passed away, and for his second wife Mr. Bieler chose Miss Emma Fat- zinger, a former resident of Easton, Pennsyl- vania, whom he wedded in 1884. To this mar- riage were born six children: Edward C., Ma- mie, Roy C., Harvey E., Charles A. and Alavesta. In 1902 Mr. Bieler married Miss Elizabeth Wag- ner. His son Frank D. is his partner in business, the connection between them having been formed in 1889.
Mr. Bieler has been honored by his fellow citizens with election to the office of chief burgess of Pen Argyl, and has also served on the school board and in minor official positions. He is a member of the Evangelical Association, in which he has served as class leader and trustee. He was licensed to preach the gospel in churches of his denomination in 1850, and is a fluent and forceful speaker, logical in argument and convincing in his discourse. Not only does he preach, how- ever, but also practices his religious views, for in all life' relations he is found honorable and true, giving his influence on the side of right, truth, justice and progress.
DR. V. B. WEAVER, thc proprietor of the Slate Valley Hotel at Bangor, Pennsylvania, was born in Lehigh county in 1849. He is a descen- dant of an old family of the name of Weber that was established in America during the early col- onial epoch in our country's history. Later gen- erations of the family changed the name to its more anglicized form of Weaver. John Weber, the great-grandfather of Dr. Weaver, and the first of the name in the new world, reared a fam-
ily of several children, including: John Eahart Weaver, the grandfather, who became an exten- sive farmer owning one hundred acres of valu- able land which he placed under a high state of cultivation. He served with patriotism and valor as a soldier of the war of 1812. His wife was Miss Elizabeth Ertman, and to this marriage were born seven children, of whom two daughters are yet living.
Perry Weaver, the father of Dr. Weaver, was born in Lehigh county in 1820, and died from the result of an accident sustained at Friedensville, Pennsylvania, January 12, 1872. He was reared and educated in his native county, where he al- ways followed agricultural pursuits. His landed possessions aggregated one hundred acres, and his neighbors regarded him as a practical and progressive farmer, while his diligence was demonstrated by his success. He held the office of director of the poor of Lehigh county. His wife bore the maiden name of Miss Margaret Backstone, and to them were born four children, two of whom are living, John and V. B. The former is the proprietor of a hotel in Center Valley, Lehigh county.
Dr. Weaver pursued his education in the schools of Lehigh county, and in early life en- gaged in clerking. In 1877 he took up the study of a veterinary surgeon, pursuing his course under the celebrated veterinarian, Dr. James McCoart of Philadelphia. On the completion of his course he was graduated, and he is now a member of the State Veterinary Association. In 1870, however, he turned his attention to the hotel business, with which he has since been con- nected. He was first proprietor of the North Penn Hotel at Bingen, in Saucon township, and subsequently he removed to Pen Argyl, where he conducted the Albion Hotel. In 1901 he came to Bangor, purchased the property of Wilson F. Jordon, and is now proprietor of the Slate Val- ley Hotel. He has made for this a splendid rep- utation ; everything is neat and orderly, and there is a capacity for the entertainment of twenty-five guests.
Dr. Weaver is a member of Pen Argyl Lodge,
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No. 594, F. and A. M .; Bangor Chapter, No. 274, R. A. M .; and Hugh De Payens Comman- dery, No. 19, K. T., of Easton, Pennsylvania. While living in Pen Argyl he served on the school board for five years, and was a postmaster of Bingen, Pennsylvania, under President Cleve- land for four years. In 1870 he was united in marriage to Miss Christiana E. Rinehart, a na- tive of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, and their children are Henry E., who is now employed by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company at Easton, Pennsylvania; Lennie C., now Mrs. Jordon ; George W., deceased; and William P., who is a student in the veterinary department of the United States College of Veterinary Surgeons, Washington, D. C.
REV. SAMUEL G. WAGNER, D. D., widely known throughout Pennsylvania for his long and useful ministerial work and his active labors in behalf of the educational and kindred in- terests of the Reformed church, has been a resi- dent of the city of Allentown for the last thirty- six years. He located there in June, 1868, hav- ing been elected to the pastorate of St. John's Reformed church there. He resigned the duties and work of that charge in the spring of 1904, delivering his last sermon as pastor on July 3d, after conscientious and faithful labors for the highest welfare of that congregation and for the cause of the Master in whatever field he could enter, during the unusually long period of thir- ty-six years. As the natural result he became uni- versally and most favorably known in the com- munity, as well as in a large scope of contiguous territory. He is yet a resident of the city which has been the principal scene of his long, arduous and beneficient effort.
Dr. Wagner is not a native of Lehigh county, but is of Pennsylvania, having been born in the vilage of Paradise, Northumberland county, Oc- tober 4, 1831. His parents were the Rev. Henry and Sarah Magdeline (Wiestling) Wagner. Both were of German extraction, the father hav- ing been born in Cumru township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, and the mother in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where her father, Dr. Samuel C.
Wiestling, a native of Germany, had successfully practiced medicine for many years. The father's grandfather was originally from Germany.
Dr. Wagner spent his boyhood days in the town of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, from 1836 to 1848, and during these years laid the founda- tions of subsequent preparation and training for his life work, in the local academy, under the care and tuition of Professor J. H. Kluge. In the spring of 1848, when seventeen years of age, he was matriculated as a student in the sopho- more class of Marshall College, then located at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, by which institution he was graduated with honor (being the saluta- torian of his class) in September of 1850, when only nineteen years old. In the fall of 1851 he entered the Theological Department of the same school, became a graduate from it three years later, and then for the next two years remained as teacher of the Marshall Collegiate Institute of the same place. In the spring of 1855, after the required examination, he was licensed by the Mer- cersburg Classis of the Reformed Church of the United States to preach the gospel. His first pastorate after his ordination by the Classis of Philadelphia in the summer of 1855 was located in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and com- prised the so-called Boehm's Church and the White Marsh Church. This pastorate continued for thirteen years, until May, 1868, when he re- signed it to take charge of the St. John's Re- formed Congregation of Allentown, which he served from June, 1888, to July 1, 1904, a period of sixteen years. His entire service in the Christian ministry has thus covered the very un- usual period of forty-nine years, and his entire career as a preacher has been extended over one year more than a half century. The foregoing brief summary of his ministerial life is a most eloquent eulogy. That one clergyman should minister to no more than two congregations dur- ing so many years testifies not only to his con- scientious fidelity to trusts of the highest import, but proclaims, as well, the deep gratitude and sincere affection with which his people rewarded him. And surely it may be said of such a pastor, that his works do follow him, and that
& G. Wagner
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
"God giveth increase through the coming years,
And lets men reap in joy seed that was sown in tears."
In addition to his active and long continued labors in the ministry proper. Dr. Wagner has served the church in various important positions of trust. He has served as stated-clerk of one Classis and is treasurer of ancther, and has been put into the position of president of the three several Classes to which he belonged. He was frequently sent as a delegate to the district synod and of the general synod, and was placed in the position of presiding officer by the former body. He has been a member of the board of trustees of Franklin and Marshall College since 1878; a member and president of the board of visitors of the Theological Seminary about the same length of time ; a member of the board of education of the Eastern Synod, and its presiding officer for a number of years ; a member of the board of home missions and of the board of commissioners of Foreign Missions. He served as an assistant teacher in the Allentown College for Women from 1868 to 1875, and was then and is still a member of its board of trustees, and, since the resignation of the Rev. Dr. A. J. G. Dubbs, has been its presiding officer.
His alma mater has conferred upon Dr. Wag- ner the usual college honors of Master of Arts in 1853, and of Doctor of Divinity in 1880. In his earlier life he served on the committee to whom was entrusted the work of publishing the "Mercersburg Review," and he occasionally con- tributed an article to its columns.
The history of the St. John's Reformed Con- gregation of Allentown, should such a narrative be compiled, would contain as one of its most important chapters an account of the labors with it of Dr. Wagner. Under his guidance, and in large degree as the result of his unremitting and self-sacrificing labors, it has become an influence and a power for good in the city. Dr. Wagner, always deeply interested in the cause of missions, both home and foreign, has been enabled by the hearty and generous co-operation of his parish- ioners, to promote that beneficient cause to a
large extent in Allentown and the outlying re- gions, as well as in foreign lands. They together, and aided by the son of Dr. Wagner, the Rev. C. Ernest Wagner, while he was assistant pastor, together with the princely gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ruhe, and the contributions and assistance of other members and friends of the congregation, succeeded in the early nineties in organizing the Trinity Reformed Congregation in the western end of the city of Allentown, and in furnishing it with the chapel in which it originally worshipped, and which it continues to use for Sunday school purposes. They were interested also in the early work of other missions in the city. Indeed, it may be truthfully written, that their zeal has largely inspired the work of church extension in the Reformed Church in Allentown. Prior to 1866, there existed only Zion Reformed Church, the mother church, whereas at the present time, thirty-eight years later on, the congregations number nine. Dr. Wagner, though retired from the pastorate, continues to be a resident of Allen- town, closely attached to the people with whom his lot has so long been cast, and he endeavors to the utmost of his great ability to further the causes of which he was through so many years the directing head, and his counsel is sought and deferred to as coming from one whose knowledge of conditions and wise judgment is of the great- est worth.
On October 18, 1859, Dr. Wagner was joined in matrimony to Miss Rebecca Earnest, of Nor- ristown, Pennsylvania, the third daughter of Will- iam Earnest and his wife, Lucy. Mr. Earnest was put into various positions of trust from time to time by his fellow citizens.
Mrs. Wagner departed this life on December I, 1900, and lies buried in Fairview Cemetery, south of the city. She was a woman highly re- garded by the community in which she lived, and was a valuable assistant to her husband in his arduous duties. Four children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Wagner, and three of the number, all daughters, died in early childhood. The fourth, a son, Charles Ernest Wagner, is yet living.
Charles Ernest Wagner was born in Mont- gomery county, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1864.
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He received his education in the public schools of Allentown, in Muhlenberg College, in the Theo- logical Seminary of the Reformed Chruch, locat- ed in Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, and in Ox- ford University, England, where he devoted two years (1891-93) in further preparing himself for doing the work in which he has been engaged since 1893, as Professor of the English Language and Literature, in Franklin and Marshall College, which since 1853 has been located at Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
CHARLES J. FITZGERALD, whose activ- ity in business affairs has made him one of the leading promoters of the development of Pen Argyl, was born in Benton, Lackawanna county, Pennsylvania, April 2, 1847, and is of Irish and English lineage in the paternal line, while his ma- ternal ancestors were French and English.
His grandfather, William Fitzgerald, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was about twelve years of age when he crossed the Atlantic to the United States, becoming a resident of Greene county, New York. He learned and followed the trade of a wheelwright, and spent his last years in New York city. John Fitzgerald, the father of Charles J. Fitzgerald, was born in Greene county, New York, August 27, 1803, and was a youth of eleven years when he accompanied his parents to the metropolis. In early youth he learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner, and afterward that of a ship builder, following the latter pursuit until he enlisted for service as a private in the Mexican war. He did not go to the front, how- ever, for the government learning the fact that he was a ship builder, sent him to the ship "John Adams," in order that he might follow his trade. He was thus engaged for four years, during which time he went to the Sandwich Islands and to the island of Samatra in order to avenge the death of a former captain and cabin boy of an Amer- ican trading vessel that had been plundered pri- vately at that port while taking on fuel and water. John Adams had the co-operation of the "Cut- ter." an American vessel, and each carried four hundred and fifty marines. After capturing the
pirates they demanded that the perpetrators of the former outrage be delivered up to justice or the villages would be burned and destroyed. As the first proposition was not accepted the towns were burned. After this the "John Adams" made a tour of the globe, and Mr. Fitzgerald visited nany points of interest, among which were the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii. After four years spent upon the high seas he returned to New York city. Subsequently, however, he went on two cruises to the northern seas on a whal- ing vessel, being gone for more than four years. On the expiration of that period he again began work as a carpenter and joiner in New York city, where he remained for two years. His po- litical support was given to the Democracy, and he took a deep interest in the success of his party. He belonged to the Baptist church, and died in that faith in Benton, Pennsylvania, November 27, 1873. He was married in New York, October 2, 1844, to Miss Gratia Finn, a daughter of Sol- omon and Irene (Scoville) Finn. Their children were Thomas, Charles, S. B., and Mary E.
Charles J. Fitzgerald spent his youth in Ben- ton, Lackawanna county, and was a student in the public schools until he entered upon his busi- ness career as a carpenter and joiner under the direction of his father. He followed that pursuit until 1887, when he removed to Pen Argyl and entered into partnership with his brother, S. B. Fitzgerald, as proprietor of a planing mill and lumber yard. They also added a contracting business, and at the end of four years the partner- ship was dissolved and the new firm of Fitz- gerald, Speer & Buzzard was formed. It was the intention of Charles J. Fitzgerald when a young man to study for the bar, but his financial circumstances were limited, and he also had to bear the burden of caring for his aged parents. These circumstances caused him to abandon his cherished idea and to turn his attention to me- chanical pursuits, in which he attained great pro- ficiency. The splendid success now enjoyed by his firm is largely attributable to his experience and judgment as a practical mechanic. He su- perintends the outside work of the concern, and
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