USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. I > Part 83
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
able to enter Lafayette College, receiving the degree of A. B. from that institution in 1899. He was offered a tutorship at Lafayette in mod- ern languages, but he accepted only half the work of the position, that he might devote a part of his time to independent study in the lines of geology and paleontology. He held this position for two years, in 1901 entering Columbia Uni- versity and receiving from the University the de- gree of Ph. D. in 1903.
THE DENT HARDWARE COMPANY. The Dent Hardware Company, of Fullerton, was organized in 1894. It was incorporated with H. H. Dent as president; Henry P. Newhard, as secretary ; and Charles C. Kaiser, as treasurer. The cash capital of the officers was limited, but all were men of energy, excellent business ability, executive force and strong determination, and they entered upon what proved a most successful career as manufacturers of hardware. Their plant covers two acres of ground situated on an excellent site between Catasauqua and Allentown, in the village of Fullerton, and the growth of the business is indicated by the fact that they now have on their payroll two hundred employes. A hundred horsepower engine is used in the operation of the machinery and the product of the foundry is trimmings for refrigerators and cold-storage plants and iron toys. The average output per month of the refrigerator trimmings is about fifty thousand sets. When they began business they had four customers on their books, and at the present time they manufacture ninety- five per cent of all the product in this line in the world. Thus the enterprise has grown to extensive and profitable proportions, and is indicative of the business qualifications and keen foresight of the officers of the company, who have not only followed advanced ideas, but have wrought along new lines and in a way have been pioneers in this department of industrial activity.
OSCAR SEM GRIM, a resident of Allen- town, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, whose busi- ness career for a number of years has been de- voted to agricultural pursuits which he has con-
ducted on a one hundred and forty acre farm, the property of his father, is a son of Sem and Anna Kline, the former named being a son of Jacob and Catherine (Hottenstein) Grim, and the latter a daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Weiler) Kline.
Jacob and Catherine (Hottenstein) Grim (grandparents) reared a family of six children, as follows: I. Jesse, who married Mary Knapp, and their children are: Ephraim, who married Mary Eckert, who bore him two children, Wil- liam and Sarah, and after the death of his first wife married Sarah Mowry, who bore him one child, Mary, the wife of William Mosser; De- borah, wife of William Eidleman, and mother of the following named children: Celia, unmarried ; Anna, wife of George Deifer ; Emma, unmarried ; Tillie, married, and now resides out west; Sarah, wife of Frank Sterner, and Jacob, who married Mary Siegfried. Jacob, who married Mary Sieg- fried, and they were the parents of two children, Celia and a son who died in infancy. William, who married Eliza Ludwig, and their son Alfred married for his first wife Miss Madden, and for his second wife Miss Schumaker. Walter Jesse, who married Eliza Dresher, and their children are: Ida, wife of Henry Hunsicker, and mother of five children-Walter, Hessa, Jessie, Rhoda, and George Hunsicker; George, who married Emma Kressley, and their child is George. 2. David, who married Kate Knapp, and the issue of this union was four children-Daniel, David, Peter and Henrietta. 3. Henry, unmarried. 4. Sarah, wife of John Baily, and they are the par- ents of three children-Hiram, Sarah and Mary Baily. 5. Judith, wife of Jacob Appel, and their family consists of two children-Jacob and Cath- erine Appel. 6. Sem, mentioned hereinafter.
Sem and Anna (Kline) Grim (parents) reared a family of five children, as follows: I. Henry A., who married Maria Metzger, no issue ; he is a doctor of medicine and practices in Allen- town. 2. Isabella, wife of the Rev. A. J. Her- man, and their children are-Annie, wife of Dr. Richard Beck, and mother of four children- Charles G., Florence, Edward and Sem Beck; Dr. Ambrose, who married Alice Breinig, and
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their children are: Alfred, Thomas, Albert and Marion Herman; George, who married Mamie Pott, and whose child is Benjamin. 3. Kate, wife of David Garber, no issue. 4. Louise, unmarried. 5. Oscar Sem, mentioned hereinafter. Anna (Kline) Grim, mother of these children, is one of a family of five children, as follows, that were born to Jonathan and Mary Kline. I. Anna, mentioned above as the wife of Sem Grim. 2. Lucetta, wife of the Rev. Samuel Hess, and they are the parents of two children, Jeremiah S. and Milton Hess. 3. Eliza, wife of George Schalter, and mother of six children-Richard, Isabella, Sarah, Mary, Emma and William Schalter. 4. Mary, wife of William Kern, and their family consists of the following named children : Albert, Jonas, Mary, Ella, Elizabeth and William Kern. 5. James Kline, who married Mary Kern, and the issue of this marriage was four children-Moul- ton, Jonas, Elizabeth and Margaret Kline.
Oscar S. Grim, youngest child of Sem and Anna (Kline) Grim, attended the public schools in his native town, and after acquiring a thor- ough preliminary training he completed his edu- cation at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Penn- sylvania, in which city he made his home for a number of years. After his graduation from that well known and noted institution, he entered the Hersh hardware store, and devoted about five years to gaining a complete knowledge of the numerous details of this business. At the expira- tion of this period of time he returned to his birthplace and assumed the management of one of his father's farms, consisting of one hundred and forty acres of valuable land, and up to the present time (1904) has given this occupation his entire attention. He operates an extensive dairy stock, and the balance of his land is devoted to the production of general farm products. He holds membership in the Lutheran church. In national politics he is a strong Republican, but takes no active interest in state or city affairs, preferring business pursuits to politics. Mr. Grim is unmarried, and makes his home in a modern and comfortable residence on the princi- pal .street in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
JEFFERSON D. CHRISTMAN, M. D., for twenty-eight years an active representative of the medical fraternity in Allentown, was born in Pennsburg, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, June 22, 1855. He is of Holland ancestry.
Philip Christman (great-grandfather) emi- grated from Holland in 1727 with his two broth- ers, Jacob and George, landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The three brothers separated, and from them all the members of the Christman family in America are descended. Philip Christ- man subsequently located in Church Hill, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Daniel Christman (grand- father) married Miss Elizabeth Hoffman, and they reared a family of six children: Thomas, who was a farmer and speculator, and resided on the old homestead; Maria; Silas, who followed the profession of school teacher; William, father of Dr. Christman ; Lewis, who was engaged as a merchant in Bucks county, Pennsylvania; and Caroline. Daniel Christman was a successful agriculturist. William Christman (father) was a merchant, conducting his business in Penns- burg, Pennsylvania. He married Miss Susanna Graber, also a native of Pennsylvania, and they reared their family in Pennsburg.
Dr. Christman spent the days of his boyhood and youth in his native town, Pennsburg. His preliminary education was acquired in the public schools and was supplemented by study in Ur- sinus College at Collegeville, Montgomery coun- ty. When his literary education was completed he entered the medical department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, from which he was grad- uated with the class of 1876, of which he was the secretary. Immediately afterward he located for practice in Allentown, where he has since re- mained, and his twenty-eight years' identification with the professional interests of the city have demonstrated his possession of the requisite qual- ities for a successful career as a physician and surgeon. His knowledge has been constantly broadened by reading and research, and he keeps in touch with the most modern ideas bearing upon his calling. No discovery relative to the medical or surgical science is announced that he does not
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at once proceed to become better acquained with it, and to adapt it to his own uses if he believes that it will prove of practical value in the allevia- tion of human suffering. He is a specialist in pelvic surgery, and his practice in this particular branch is not limited to his home locality, for he is frequently called long distances in consulta- tion or for assistance in the performance of an extremely difficult operation. In addition to the duties of a large private practice, Dr. Christman is now serving as the regular local medical exam- iner for numerous insurance companies, for some time served as health officer of Allentown, and at this writing is a member of the city board of health. He was also coroner-surgeon, his official service being always in the line of his profession. He is a member of the Lehigh Valley Medical Association, and also of various secret orders. His political support is given to the Democracy, and he has represented his party in various state conventions.
Dr. Christman was married June 18, 1878, to Miss Alice M. Shimer, a daughter of E. S. Shimer, former mayor of Allentown, and they have two children, Florence M., and Edward W. Christman. During the several generations rep- resented here the family have been members of the Reformed church.
HENRY P. NEWHARD, general superin- tendent and secretary of the Dent Hardware Company, is a descendant of one of the old fami- lies of the Lehigh Valley. George Frederick Newhard, the founder of the family in America, was a native of Zweebrucken on the Rhine, and . came to America in 1737, taking passage on the sailing vessel "St. Andrew," which carried four hundred and fifty passengers, and dropped anchor in the harbor of Philadelphia on the 26th of Sep- tember. George Frederick Newhard settled in Whitehall township, Lehigh county, where in 1742 he obtained a warrant for two hundred and three acres lying along Coplay creek. In 1746 he purchased two hundred and fifty acres bor- dering Jordan creek, and, taking up his abode thereon, he built a log house near the present mill dam, and occupied that dwelling up to the time of
his death, which occurred in 1770. His children were Frederick, Lawrence, Christopher, Daniel, Peter, Julian, Salome, Sophia and Elizabeth B.
Frederick and Lawrence Newhard obtained by deed of release the two hundred and fifty acres of land mentioned above, and also an adjoining tract of one hundred and twenty-one acres. The other children of George Frederick Newhard continued to live in Whitehall township, and Daniel received a patent for eighty-six acres of land, while Peter Newhard purchased a farm bor- dering the Lehigh river. On the Ioth of March, 1789, Frederick and Lawrence Newhard divided their landed possessions, and the former kept his portion up to the time of his death, which oc- curred in 1794. He was the father of nine chil- dren, namely: Daniel; Henry; Peter; George A .; Abraham; Frederick; John; Catherine, who became the wife of Jacob Strauss ; and Elizabeth.
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Daniel Newhard, the eldest son of Frederick Newhard, became the owner of his father's old homestead in 1795, and retained possession there- of up to the time of his demise, which occurred September 14, 1840. His family numbered eight children : Josephine, Charles, Abraham, Henry, James, Reuben, Ann and Catherine. Of this number Reuben, Josephine and Henry occupied the old homestead, while Charles purchased a farm in South Whitehall, and James settled in Egypt. Abraham also lives on the old homestead.
The southeastern portion of the original tract of land purchased by George Frederick Newhard was owned by his son, Lawrence, until his death, which occurred in 1817. He was the father of eleven children, namely: Frederick, Christian, John, Jacob, Peter, John, David, Daniel, Eliza- beth, Anna M. and Sally. Of these Frederick re- moved to the west and Peter and John became residents of Allentown. The former was a black- smith by trade, and the latter died in Allentown in 1850, at the age of sixty-seven years. He had two sons and four daughters : Paul, Joseph, Mrs. De- borah Clark, Mrs. Eliza Butz, Mrs. Caroline George and Mrs. Eleanora Mullin.
Paul Newhard was an extensive farmer, hav- ing purchased tracts of land owned by Philip Verbal, Jacob Wertz, Stephen Snyder and Daniel
Henry ? Howhard
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
Newhard. He owned his large farm up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1858, when he was forty-nine years of age. He left two sons, Franklin J. and Lewis P. Newhard. The elder son became the owner of the entire tract of land which his father had possessed, but subsequently sold a portion of this to his brother. Franklin J. Newhard was united in marriage to Christiana M., daughter of Henry Schadt. The children of this marriage, five in number, were: Eugene, now deceased; Anna M., the deceased wife of J. O. Sterner ; Henry P .; Edward J., a carpenter ; and Mrs. Ella M. Deifenderfer.
Henry P. Newhard was born in Whitehall township, Lehigh county, on the 29th of Novem- ber, 1862, spent his boyhood days on the home farm, and was educated in the public schools. In his fifteenth year he began learning the machinist trade in Fullerton, and after completing his ap- prenticeship served as a journeyman for several years. His ability and skill as a workman and the management of men won him promotion to the position of foreman of the Allentown Hard- ware Works at Allentown, and after occupying that position for two years he became interested in the organization of the Dent Hardware Com- pany and was chosen its secretary, and subse- quently was made general superintendent, which position he now fills.
Henry P. Newhard was married in 1886 to Miss Agnes A. Rhoades, a daughter of Robert and Mary Rhoades, of Egypt, Pennsylvania, and they have one child, Miles R., born in 1890. Mr. Newhard is a member of the Fullerton Beneficial Association and is now acting as its treasurer.
CHARLES AUGUSTUS FENNER, who was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1870, died October 20, 1889. Hardly more than a half century after the establishment of the col- ony of Pennsylvania the Fenner family was planted within its borders. Felix Fenner, a direct ancestor of Charles A. Fenner, was born at Phil- adelphia, September 21, 1753, and died March 8, 1829. He married one of the daughters of An- drew Eschenbach. She was born August 29, 1757, at Obey, and died at Bethlehem, May 30,
1839. Felix Fenner and his wife resided at vari- ous times at Nockamixon, Bucks county, Penn- sylvania, and at Plainfield, Northampton county, and for a long period managed the large Mora- vian farm at Bethlehem. Their son, George Fen- ner, was born at Nockamixon, Bucks county, De- cember 28, 1790, and was laid to rest in the cem- etery of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1829. His son, Felix Fenner, Jr., was united in marriage to Miss Mary Louisa Crist, a native of Emaus, and they became the parents of three sons-William, Francis E., and Eugene Fenner.
Of this number, Francis E., the second, was born September 29, 1846, on the farm of the Moravian Seminary, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and in this vicinity he was reared and educated in the Moravian parochial school. He served with the One Hundred and Fifty-ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, under the emergency call of 1862. In 1868 he became associated with his father in the firm of F. Fenner & Sons, and was so engaged until 1883, when he withdrew to become actively connected with the South Bethlehem Supply Company, with which corporation he remained, assisting in the management of the business, un- til his death, which occurred December 11, 1899, at the age of fifty-three years. At the time of his death and for many years preceding it, he was president of the Schiller Silver Mining Company of Colorado. He was a member of the Moravian church, in which he took a great interest and held a number of offices. He rebuilt the house in which his family now resides in the year 1884. His wife, whose maiden name was Emma E. Fenstermacher, was born in Lower Nazareth, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Rohn) Fenstermacher. Mr. Fenstermacher fol- lowed the occupation of farming during the early years of his life, later was a carpenter and builder, and prior to his death, which occurred in 1903, aged seventy-seven years, he lived a retired life. His wife, who was a native of Nazareth, Penn- sylvania, and who died in the year 1886, bore him eleven children, four of whom are now living, namely : Mrs. Emma E. Fenner, widow of Fran- cis E. Fenner ; John, a resident of Philadelphia ; Mrs. Becker, who resides in Bethlehem; and
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Jacob, who resides in the west. The members of both the Fenstermacher and Rohn families were regular attendants of the Moravian church, in which they held membership.
Francis E. and Emma E. Fenner were the parents of eight children, five of whom are living at the present time (1904), as follows : I. Marie, who became the wife of Alfred K. Leuckel, of Trenton, New Jersey; 2. Anna, who became the wife of Charles Anderson, of Philadelphia, a train dispatcher; 3. Francis, who married Elizabeth Holstein, and they are the parents of one child, Francis Edward Fenner, who is in busi- ness in Bethlehem ; 4. Lillie, who became the wife of Benjamin Drake, of Plainfield, New Jersey, an employe of the iron and brass works there ; their family consists of two daughters-Eliza- beth, and Catherine Drake; 5. H. A., proprietor of a drug store at the corner of Broad street and Columbia avenue, Philadelphia. Mr. Fenner took a keen interest in the education of his children, his daughters attending Linden Hall Seminary, and his sons attending Palatine College, Lehigh University and Orchard Lake Military College.
Charles Augustus Fenner, son of Francis E. and Emma E. (Fenstermacher) Fenner, was a young man of great promise. The foundation of his education was laid in the Moravian parochial school at Bethlehem, which he attended until his sixteenth year, when he pursued a preparatory course of study at Swartz Academy. In Septem- ber, 1887, he was enrolled as a student in Pala- tine College at Myerstown, and after his gradu- ation from that institution pursued advanced studies at Lehigh University and Orchard Lake Military College. In 1889, however, a few months prior to his death, he was compelled through failing health to discontinue his studies. He was a young man of exemplary life, who possessed the respect of all who knew him. He held membership in the Moravian church at Bethlehem, in which he had been confirmed in April, 1887.
OWEN F. LEIBERT, for many years prom- inently identified with the Bethlehem Iron Works, and who rose to the position of general superin-
tendent of that mammoth corporation, is a native of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, born in Han- over township, August 27, 1836. His American progenitors were of that splendid German immi- gration which came from the Rheinpfalz to America, here seeking that civil and religious liberty which was denied them in their native land.
His great-great-grandfather, Michael Leibert, a Catholic in religion, was among those immi- grants who on their coming settled in German- town, Pennsylvania. He conducted a hotel. He died while yet a young man, and his widow mar- ried a Mr. Fenstermacher, a Moravian, and they removed to Lititz, where occurred the death of the latter named, and his wife, now twice a widow, made her home in Bethlehem, where she died. Martin Leibert, son of Michael the immi- grant, was born in Germantown and followed mechanical pursuits, making spinning wheels at Emaus. His son Henry, born at Emaus, who was a millwright, miller and distiller on Leibert's creek, married Catherine Knauss, the daughter of a Moravian farmer, and they were the parents of John Leibert.
John Leibert was born at Leibert's Gap, in Milford township, Lehigh county, October 3, 1808. He resided for a time in Hanover town- ship, in the same county, and in 1839 removed to Catasauqua, where he was employed as a mill- wright under George Frederick. Subsequently he was appointed chief of the power works of the Crane (afterwards Catasauqua) Iron Com- pany. He died April 1, 1845, in the full tide of ยท his usefulness, at the early age of less than thirty- eight years. His wife was Catherine Owens Tice, born in New York state, whose father was a na- tive of Nova Scotia and a sailor, and her mother of London, England. They settled in the Saucon Valley, where both parents died, leaving their daughter an orphan at the early age of ten years. She was then cared for by Peter Swartz, in Upper Milford township. She was a Lutheran in religion, while her husband was a Moravian. She long outlived him. The children born of her marriage with Mr. Leibert were: Mary A., who became the wife of James Nevins, and is de-
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ceased ; Sophia, deceased ; Henry, who for many years had charge of the machine shops of the Bethlehem Iron Company; Owen F., who is to be further referred to in this narrative; Sarah Jane; and Gwenny P., who became the wife of Mr. Price. The first and last of these children died in Catasauqua.
Owen F. Leibert, son of John and Catherine Owens (Tice) Leibert, was reared in Catasauqua and acquired his education in the public schools. He was only eight years old when his father died, and David Thomas, superintendent of the Crane Iron Works, became his legal guardian. Under Mr. Thomas he worked from the time he was eleven years old until he was twenty-six, and dur- ing this long period became a most accomplished ironmaster. When thirteen he had gone into the blacksmith shop, and he learned so well that de- partment of the work that he became foreman of the shop. In 1862 he became associated with Daniel Milson in a manufacturing enterprise at Norristown. In the following year he removed to Bethlehem, where he took employment as a blacksmith in the shops of the Bethlehem Iron Company. Later he worked as a machinist with his brother Henry. He subsequently returned to Catasauqua, where he was for sixteen months foreman of the blacksmithing department of the car shops. Again he returned to Bethlehem, where he was for some time a draftsman with the Bethlehem Iron Company. He was afterward made foreman of the steel works, and he re- mained in that capacity for twelve years and until 1885, when he went to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he was for nine months engaged in the Riverside Iron Works. In 1886 he returned again to Bethlehem, where he was destined to pass the remainder of his unusually active and useful life. He became assistant engineer of the Bethlehem Iron Works under John Fritz, general superintendent and chief engineer, and he served in that capacity until 1893. In January of that year Mr. Leibert was appointed general su- perintendent, and had personal control of the ex- tensive plant of the Bethlehem Iron Works with its army of four thousand employees, until 1899, when were added to his duties those of chief en-
gineer, and he rendered unexceptionable service in this twofold capacity until October, 1901, when he resigned and went into a pleasant and well earned retirement.
Mr. Leibert has for many years been actively identified with the commercial and social life of his city. He is a director in the Guerber Engine Company of Bethlehem, and the Catskill Cement Company near New York, and is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Bethlehem. In religion he is a Moravian. He has always been a staunch Republican in politics, and he has always exerted a potent influence in support of the prin- ciples and policies of his party, at the same time being entirely free from political ambition and never having sought those public positions which were frequently within his grasp had he been possessed of any inclination in that direction.
He was married, January 28, 1864, to Miss Mary M. Warner, a daughter of Benjamin War- ner. The family occupy a handsome home in the best residential portion of the city, on Market street.
JOHN WEAVER TRUMBOWER, a pro- gressive and influential resident of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, was born in East Allen township, December 8, 1845, a son of Stephen Jacob and Maria (Weaver) Trumbower.
Stephen Jacob Trumbower (father) was born in Lynn township, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1812, a descendant of a German an- cestry. Later his parents moved to Bucks county, near Quakertown, where his father carried on the tanning business. Stephen J. learned and fol- lowed the millwright trade, pursuing that occupa- tion in Northampton and adjoining counties, con- ducting an extensive business which enabled him to give employment to a large number of workmen until 1859, in which year he moved to his large farm near Jackson- ville, East Allen township, Northampton county. He continued farming very successfully until 1868, after which he lived a retired life, sur- rounded with peace and plenty, and realizing to the full that there is no reward so satisfactory as the consciousness of a life well spent. He
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