USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. I > Part 9
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
anatomist, and author of a standard work upon his particular subject.
Cridland C. Field graduated from the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania at the early age of eigh- teen, and entered upon a professional career which covered the long period of fifty years, and was marked by conspicuous usefulness in both the fields of medicine and surgery. His surgical operations were frequently referred to in lec- tures in the University, and were favorably com- mented upon by the "London Lancet," which made him the subject of a highly appreciative obituary notice. "His name became widely known for the successful performance of many of the most difficult operations in surgery. Those which made him most famous were the removal of a cervical tumor with ligation and excision of a considerable part of the jugular vein ; excision of the entire femur, an operation unique in the an- nals of surgery; excision of the entire radius; and extirpation of the parotid gland, which dif- ficult operation he performed several times. These operations placed him in the front rank of modern surgeons. His favorite region for oper- ations was the neck, from which he removed tumors that encompassed the carotid artery. As a teacher, Dr. Field has not been surpassed, he having sent more students to his favorite institu- tion, the University of Pennsylvania, than any physician in the Lehigh . Valley."-New York Herald, December 4, 1886. His death occurred December 3, 1886.
In 1837, the year of his graduation, he mar- ried Susannah Freeman, who was educated in the Moravian schools of Bethlehem. She was a wo- man of most amiable disposition, and was held in affection by all who knew her for her open-handed benevolences. She was a native of Freemans- burg, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Jacob and Susannah (Butz) Free- man. The village which witnessed her birth was named for her father, who was a man of ability and means. He was owner of most of the land in the vicinity, and was elected to vari- ous public offices. He was a descendant of Rich- ard Freeman, who came from England about 1660, settling in Maryland, whence he removed
to Northampton, Pennsylvania. In the maternal line Mrs. Field (mother of Dr. B. Rush Field), was descended from Michael and Elizabeth Messinger, and Michael Messinger was a mem- ber of the "committee of observation" of North- ampton county, formed at Easton, December 21, 1774, with the view of furthering the cause of American independence.
Cridland and Susannah (Freeman) Field were the parents of seven children, and among whom were two-William Gibson Field and Ben- jamin Rush Field-who attained distinction in letters as well as in their respective professions. The former named, residing in Enfield, Connecti- cut, was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, October 25, 1841. He graduated from the Easton high school in 1858, from Lafayette College in 1862, and from Harvard in 1863. He at once entered the Harvard Law School, from which he grad- uated in 1865. In the same year he entered upon practice at Easton, and was so occupied until 1887, when he removed to Brooklyn, New York, and ten years later to his present home. While a resident of Easton he was active in public. and educational affairs. He was founder and editor of the Easton Daily Dispatch, for five terms sec- retary of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Institute of Northampton county, for several years a mem- ber of the board of education, and for a time its president. He was a frequent contributor to lead- ing newspapers and magazines upon educational and literary topics, and he often delivered ad- dresses upon these subjects before various socie- ties and public assemblages. Another brother, Dr. George B. Wood Field, graduated from the Easton high school in 1876, and from the Medi- cal Department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1881. He practices medicine and surgery in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Rush Field was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1861. He began his education in the public schools, and completed his literary studies in Lafayette College. He studied for his profession in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he received his degree in 1883, just after attaining his majority. He at once entered upon practice
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
in his native city, in which he has been actively and successfully engaged to the present time. In 1886-87 he was the official physician of the Northampton county prison, and he served for ten years as physician for the coroner. He is fre- quently called upon to give expert evidence in important law cases.
A man of marked public spirit, Dr. Field has been chosen to various important public positions in which his excellent executive ability and talent for organization proved most advantageous in the promotion of community interests. In 1890-93, as a Democrat, he sat as member and president of the civic council, and discharged his duties with such signal ability and high integrity that his conduct was unstintingly commended even by his political opponents, In the last year of his term he was elected to the mayoralty for a term of three years, and his administration was entirely beneficial to the city. In February, 1899, he was again elected to the same position by an increased vote, in face of an adverse political majority. His official term expired in 1902.
Since the opening of the Spanish-American war, Dr. Field has been prominently identified with military affairs. At the outset of the strug- gle he assisted actively in recruiting and organ- izing Company E, Eleventh Regiment Pennsyl- vania National Guard, of which he was commis- sioned captain by Governor Hastings, July 12, 1898. At the regimental election at Harrisburg he was elected ( August 20th) major of the Second Battalion. After the close of the war, the Elev- enth and Thirteenth Regiments were consoli- dated under the latter number, and he was again elected major of the regiment, and so commis- sioned by Governor Stone, and assigned to the command of the First Battalion, with companies in Scranton, Easton, Honesdale and Montrose. August 25, 1904, he was promoted to heutenant- colonel, commissioned to that rank by Governor Pennypacker.
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Dr. Field occupies a unique position in the field of authorship, his works exhibiting a curi- ously interesting study of Shakespeare from the standpoint of a medico. His "Medical Thoughts
of Shakespeare," published in 1884, reached a second edition in 1885, and a third edition is now (1903) in preparation. This was followed by "Shakespeare and Byron on Man, Woman and Love," (1887), "Medico-Shakespearian Fanati- «ism," (1888), and "An Argument refuting the claim that Shakespeare possessed knowledge of the circulation of the blood prior to Harvey's dis- covery," (London Lancet, November 17, 1888). In 1892 he published "Fielding's Unconscious Use of Shakespeare." In 1889 the Shakes- peare Society of New York requested him to edit volume five ("Romeo and Juliet"), which was published in the "Bankside Edi- tion of Shakespeare" under the auspices of the society. Besides these numerous works, ne- cessitating persistent and industrious research, Dr. Field has contributed numerous critical ar- ticles on his favorite subject to "Shakespeariana," and for ten years he was dramatic critic for news- papers of his city.
Dr. Field's excellent attainments as a Shakes- pearian scholar have found recognition in his election as honorary librarian of the New York Shakespeare Society of New York City, a posi- tion which he has occupied for the past seventeen years, and in May, 1904, he was elected vice- president. He is a member of numerous other literary and social bodies. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Easton Free Public Li- brary, of the finance committee of the Organized Charities of Easton, of the executive committee of the Municipal League of Easton, of the Mili- tary Service Institution of the United States, of the Pennsylvania German Society, of Chi Phi Fraternity (Rho chapter of Lafayette College- and Nu chapter of University of Pennsylvania) and of the Order of the Sons of the American Revolution, in descent from his illustrious ma- ternal ancestor, Michael Messinger. He is also a foremost member of the Easton Medical Society, of which he was the founder, in 1890; and a member of the Country Club of Northampton county, and of the Pomfret Club of Easton. In the prime of his physical manhood, his intellectual powers have not reached their zenith, and his.
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
career thus far affords high promise of even greater usefulness in his profession and in liter- ature in the future.
Dr. Field was married, April 9, 1902, in New York City, to Miss Nan Edna Rounsavell, a daughter of John Davis and Mary A. (de Hart) Rounsavell, of Washington, New Jersey.
GEORGE J. KOEHLER, JR., one of the leading coal dealers on the south side of Easton, Pennsylvania, handling the best Lehigh Valley coal, is descended from a good old German family. His paternal grandfather was George Koehler, who was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1820, and in early manhood married Catherine Gundleheimer, also a native of that country, where they continued to make their home until after the birth of their first child. In 1851, when their son, George J., Sr., was but two years old, they emigrated to the United States and settled in what is now known as Weissport, Pennsylvania, where they spent several years. From there they removed to Berlinsville, where the grandfather purchased a farm of one hundred and fifty-five acres and turned his attention to its cultivation and improvement. He was a man of sterling in- tegrity, thrifty and honest, and prospering in liis undertakings, he accumulated a good portion of this world's goods and was able to rear his family in comfortable circumstances. He passed from this life in 1902, at the ripe old age of eighty-two years, having survived his wife for five years, her death occurring in 1897. The four children born to them in this country are: William, Lucy, Lizzie and Emma, all still living.
George J. Koehler, Sr., was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1849, and during his infancy was brought to this country by his parents. After his school days were over he chose as a vocation mining, which he followed for many years, although all of the time he was not under ground, as he held various positions, such as fireman and engineer, in this way gaining a general knowledge of the business in all its departments. For three years he was also a locomotive engineer on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and discharged his
duties to the entire satisfaction of the company. In 1888 Mr. Koehler embarked in the coal busi- ness on his own account, for which his mining experience had so well fitted him, and to that business he still devotes his time and attention, having met with good success in the enterprise. In 1868, he married Miss Ella A. Brown, a daughter of Jonas and Maria Brown, and they, now have two children : Clinton A., and George J., Jr., born in 1869 and 1870, respectively. The wife and mother was born in Northampton county, in 1851. She and her husband are active and prominent members of Christ's Lutheran church, of which he is a member of the council, and he is also connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
The gentleman whose name introduces this sketch passed his boyhood and youth in Easton and here attended school. He also obtained a good musical education, and has since engaged in teaching that art to some extent, having been an instructor on the piano and organ for twelve years. He finally formed a partnership with his father in the coal business, in which he has been eminently successful, and is to-day one of the leading dealers of the city.
In 1894 was celebrated the marriage of George J. Koehler, Jr. and Miss Mary Bossard, and by this union three children have been born, but Kenneth, born in 1899, is the only one living. Mrs. Koehler was born in 1870, and is a most estimable lady. Mr. Koehler and his wife are members of Christ's Lutheran church and he has served as its organist for six years. He is a prominent member of the Odd Fellows Lodge of Easton, in which he has held all the offices of honor and is now past chief patriarch. He is a young man of much natural ability, and will undoubtedly rise to an enviable positioin both as an artist and business man.
JEFFERSON TAYLOR. Throughout the greater part of his life this gentleman has been a resident of Easton and is to-day numbered among its most highly esteemed citizens. He was born in this city on the 14th of April, 1836, and
4
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
is a son of Mahlon and Elizabeth (Overfield) Taylor, the latter a representative of an old and prominent family of Northampton county.
Mahlon Taylor was also born in Easton, and in early life learned the trade of boot and shoe making. Later he became an extensive dealer in that line of goods, and in the business accumu- lated considerable wealth. He was a man of sterling worth and exceptional business ability and was also quite prominent in social circles. His fellow citizens recognizing his worth and ability called upon him to serve in several official positions of honor and trust, including that of city councilman. After a useful and well spent life he passed away in 1885, but his widow is still living at this writing in 1903. She is a native of Monroe county, Pennsylvania, and the mother of ten children, of whom five are still living, but Jefferson is the only son now living in North- ampton county.
Jefferson Taylor was reared and educated in his native city, and like his father he learned the shoemaker's trade during his youth. Removing to Philadelphia, he spent a few years in that city, working at his trade, but the greater part as well as the best part of his life has been passed in Easton, where he now lives, enjoying the high regard of all who know him.
In 1857 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage to Miss Ella A. Smith, a daughter of Tobias and Anna (Ackerman) Smith, and to them have been born eight children, those still living being Alice Hartzell, Emily J. McPherson, Thomas J., Charles R., Annie Lilly, Sarah Burt and How- ard.
MAHLON TAYLOR was born October 21, 1807, in Bucks county, on the Delaware river, near Easton. He established himself in the boot and shoe business in Easton at the age of twenty- three years. He was elected sergeant of the Washington Grays in 1831, of which military organization the late Colonel Samuel Yohe was captain, and was made second lieutenant of the Easton Fencibles in 1845, his commission, which is still in possession of the family, being signed
by Governor Shunk. The late Andrew Reeder, who was territorial governor of Kansas during the administration of President Buchanan, was captain of the company. Mr. Taylor served in the borough council and the school board for a number of terms, and was identified generally with the public and private institutions of the town. He was also among the original stock- holders of the Lehigh Navigation, Lehigh Valley, and New Jersey Central Railroad companies. His business career in Easton ended in the early months of 1861, just prior to the outbreak of the Civil war, when he removed with his family to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he lived retired for eight years. While a resident of the latter place he served on the school board a number of terms ; was treasurer of the Christian Association as well as of the Christian Commission during the war (a number of the subscription books rep- resenting subscriptions to the Union cause by citi- zens of the town and vicinage being still in pos- session of the family) ; was one of the projectors of the New Street Bridge connecting Bethlehem with South Bethlehem, one of the great enter- prises in those days ; and one of the promoters of the First National Bank, the construction of which building he superintended ; also one of the organizers of the American Slate Company, that involved a large amount of capital among the Bethlehemites, and assisted in establishing the Lehigh Valley Chronicle, the outgrowth of which publication is the present Bethlehem Daily Times. Mr. Taylor moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, and, although preferring a retired life, was in- duced to serve several terms on the board of con- trol, and otherwise interest himself in public and private matters. He died May 13, 1894, in his eighty-seventh year, and was one of the oldest Free Masons in the state, being a member of Easton Lodge, No. 152. The obituary notices in the Easton, Bethlehem and Reading local papers at the time of his death contained a brief review of his life, in which appeared the following allusion to his personal traits of character : "Mah- lon Taylor was a self-cultured man, of abstemious and frugal habits. His material success in life
EASTON FENCIBLES, SCHOOL HILL.
FROM DAGUERREOTYPE MADE 1845, IN POSSESSION OF MAHLON E. TAYLOR, READING, PA.
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
was due to his indomitable will, and this in face of reverses that would have caused disaster to less self-reliant men. He was a man of kindly and generous impulses, a staunch friend, an in- dependent, honest and just man. He lived truly a moral life, and was ever solicitious of his fam- ily's welfare."
Mr. Taylor learned his trade in New York city, whither he had gone at the age of sixteen years, and where, under the tutorship of an old Revolutionary sergeant, he gained a limited rudi- mentary knowledge that was denied him pre- viously because of the absence of educational advantages in the vicinity of his early youth. "The American Instructor" was the title of the only text-book placed in his hands, but from this time forth he became a comparatively extensive reader-launching out with light literature, biblical, ancient and modern history, Josephus's works and those of the philosophers, as well as treatises on commerce and finance. Many hard- ships were experienced in his early business days in making trips to Philadelphia, New York and Boston, for the purchase of goods for his "shop," as transportation in those times was limited to stages, except where navigation was available, and this, added to the fluctuating and uncertain value of the paper currency that prevailed in sev- eral of the states, created a contrast to present conditions of a stable currency and the purchase of goods through traveling salesmen, that fur- nished material for many an entertaining conver- sation on modern business methods and the mar- velous progress made by the country during his lifetime.
Mr. Taylor descended from one John Tay- lor, who emigrated from England in the eigh- teenth century and located in Virginia, and whose son Elijah was the father of the subject of this sketch. Elijah was born in 1781, and left Vir- ginia when a young man to settle in Pennsylvania. He married Catherine Lott, of Philadelphia, who was of Dutch extraction, and from this union there were born eleven children, the youngest, Colonel Benjamin L. Taylor, a resident of Phila- delphia, born July 5, 1821, being the only one
remaining of this generation. Elijah located in Bucks county, on the Delaware river, and en- gaged in the produce and general supply bus- iness, which called for the services of what was known in those days as a "Durham boat." Peri- odical trips were made to Philadelphia by this river craft to deliver and receive goods, and among those with whom Elijah had business deal- ings was Stephen A. Girard. Tradition has it that Girard, who was without issue, solicited the adoption of Elijah's handsome young daughter Jane, whose winsome manners are said to have captivated him, and by taking the lass with him frequently, Elijah became a special subject in his tradings with the great merchant and philan- thropist. Jane is remembered by the older resi- dents of Easton as the wife of David Connor, and some years after his demise as the spouse of the late Jesse Lines. Jane expired in 1892, at the age of eighty-three years. Elijah died in 1821, and was interred in the old Easton cemetery, back of Mount Jefferson. An uncle of Catherine Lott, and grand-uncle of Mahlon Taylor, and whose christian name and war record have been lost sight of, was one of the patriots of the American Revolution, and was with the continental army at the time of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Benjamin L. Taylor, who is mentioned above as the youngest son of Elijah's children, was lieutenant-colonel of the One Hundred and Nine- ty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers during the Civil war. He was one of the three original organizers of the famous Republican In- vincibles, and was the chief marshal for many years. He was appointed by President Lincoln in 1861 as one of the inspectors of the port of Philadelphia, and continued in this position until he entered the army, and at the close of the war resumed his duties at the custom house, and thus continued until the fall of 1866, when he and the collector of the port were removed by President Johnson, who had become affiliated with the Democratic party. Latterly Colonel Taylor served as crier in one of the courts of Philadelphia, and is now (1904) on the retired list, in the eighty-
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
fourth year of his age. The days of his youth were spent in Easton, under the guardianship of his elder brother, Mahlon, where he attended school and finally learned his trade.
Mahlon Taylor was wedded to Elizabeth Over- field, of Monroe county, whose father was some- what of a politician, as well as an extensive farmer and produce dealer, and who, among other offices he held, was one of the canal commission- ers of the state in his day. Elizabeth Over- field's father was a nephew of Henry Bush, Sr., who was born in Holland in 1754, and came to America in 1774. He served in the continental army, and after participating in several engage- ments was taken prisoner by the British and quar- tered in what was known as the "Old Sugar House" prison, then in the vicinity of the Bat- tery, New York City. At the close of the war, Henry Bush, Sr., settled in Easton, and was one of the first sheriffs of Northampton county, hav- ing been commissioned by Governor Franklin. His son, Henry Bush, Jr., an uncle of Elizabeth Overfield, was born in Easton in 1790. He served in the war of 1812, and was with Jack- son at New Orleans. Elizabeth Overfield Taylor died July 10, 1904, at Reading, aged ninety- four years. She is survived by two sisters, Cath- erine Overfield Finley, born 1813, and Angeline . Overfield Fairchild, born 1815.
Valuable data bearing upon the lineage of the Taylor family that was in the possession of Elijah, was lost after his death, through the sep- aration of the family, several of the members re- moving to the west in the early part of the last century, whereby all traces of the exact location of the English ancestrage were destroyed. Some of the older Friends or Quakers of Bucks county frequently contended that Mahlon Taylor's an- cestors were induced to leave England at the time of the exodus of that religious sect, David H. Taylor, a Quaker and prominent citizen of Bucks county, and for many years a lumber dealer and resident of Morrisville, now deceased, having stoutly maintained during his life that he was a relative. This statement was made by Mahlon Taylor to his son, Mahlon G. Taylor, Jr., a citi-
zen of Reading, Pennsylvania, and president of the Neversink Bank of that place, and who is custodian of the documents that supplied the material for the construction of this narrative.
HENRY O. SAYLOR is one of Easton's native sons and one of her worthy and respected citizens. He was born in that city on the 19th of August, 1849, and on the paternal side is of German descent. His grandfather, Captain Jacob Saylor, won his title as commander of a company in the state militia. He was a stone- mason by trade, and one of the best mechanics in his day. As a man he was upright and honorable in all things, and was held in high regard by his fellow citizens. He was very active, energetic and intelligent, being such a man as it is a pleas- ure to meet. His wife was in her maidenhocd. Miss Mary Paulus, and their family consisted of four children.
One of these was George Saylor, the father. of our subject. He was born in Bethlehem town- ship, Northampton county, in 1822, and became a leading merchant of Easton, where he resided for a number of years, dying there in 1856. He was considered one of the substantial men of the city at that time. In 1848 he married Miss Sarah A. Ott, who after his death wedded Thomas Oden- weller, now deceased. She is still living, and is a resident of the south side of Easton. By her first marriage she had three children, two of whom are living, namely: John and Henry O. Her parents were Samuel and Elizabeth (Hess) Ott, well known people of Northampton county. Mr. Ott was born in Upper Mount Bethel, and became a practical and extensive farmer. His family numbered seven children, but only Mrs. Sarah Ann Odenweller and Mrs. T. A. Steiner are now living. Samuel Ott was a son of Peter and Mary (Heber) Ott, both of whom were na- tives of Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
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