USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. II > Part 20
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
and his father, Jacob Clemens, was also born there. In early life he learned the tanner's trade, but throughout the greater part of his career carried on agricultural pursuits at South Bethle- hem. He became a leading and influential resi- dent of his community, and his death, which oc- curred in 1872, was deeply deplored by many friends. In early manhood he married Catherine Ott, a daughter of Jacob and Mary Ott, who were natives of Pleasant Valley, Bucks county, Penn- sylvania. Her birth occurred November 21, 1811, and she passed away in South Bethlehem, March II, 1890. For a number of years after their mar- riage they resided on a farm at Springtown, ยท where Mr. Clemens also conducted a tannery, but in 1868 they took up their abode in South Beth- lehem. Mrs. Clemens was a devoted wife and mother and sincere Christian, and her influence was strongly felt for good in the locality in which she made her home. She was an excellent Bible student, becoming thoroughly familiar with the teachings of the Holy Word, and she counted no personal sacrifice on her part too great if it would advance the cause of Christianity. In the faith of the Methodist church she reared her family of three sons and six daughters, of whom one son and three daughters are now living, namely : Charles O., of Bethlehem ; Emma, the wife of Solomon Fry, of South Bethlehem; Carrie, the wife of Rev. Sylvanus Fry, of Center Valley, Pennsylvania ; and Kate, the wife of Dr. O. H. Sterner, of Philadelphia.
Dr. Clemens, the third member of the family, was born in Springtown, November 15, 1838. His early education acquired in the public schools of his native town was supplemented by study in Tremont Seminary at Norristown, and in Union Seminary in Union county, Pennsylvania. Later he engaged in teaching school for a brief period in Northampton county, and then resumed his studies in the seminary at New Berlin, Pennsyl- vania. He regarded all this, however, merely as an initiatory step to a career as a practitioner of medicine. Early in life he formed a strong de- sire to become an active representative of the medical fraternity, and in 1857 he entered the office of Dr. Abraham Stout, of Bethlehem, as a
student. Subsequently his reading was directed by Dr. Kitchen, and he afterward entered the medical department of the University of Pennsyl- vania, being graduated in that institution with the class of 1861.
Dr. Clemens entered upon the practice of his chosen profession in Hosensack, Lehigh county, and later removed to Friedensville, where he remained for seven years. On the expiration of that period he opened his office in Allentown, where he remained in continuous practice up to the time of his demise. He was a very close and earnest student, and broad and comprehensive reading kept him in touch with the advanced thought of the day and with the progress contin- uously being made as the result of scientific in- vestigation. Early in life he made a special study of the lungs, and pneumonia was the sub- ject of his thesis at the time of his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania. He largely employed oxygen as a therapeutic agent in his practice, and the results attending his efforts in that direction proved the value and efficacy of his methods. During the thirty-nine years which marked the period of his professional career, he met with gratifying success, and during his residence in Allentown he won the good will and patronage of many of its best citizens. Progres- sive in his ideas, and favcring modern methods as a whole, he did not dispense, however, with the time-tried systems whose value had stood the test of years. Into countless numbers of homes he carried confidence, cheerfulness and renewed hope and healthfulness, and the heartfelt sym- pathy which he ever manifested toward the sick and suffering won for him the lasting love and gratitude of his patrons.
It was not alone through the medium of his profession, however, that Dr. Clemens rendered valuable service to his fellow men. He was an active worker in the church and in the temper- ance cause, and his life was ever permeated by his Christian faith. He pursued the four years course of theology laid down in the Methodist Episcopal discipline, and for many years was a local minister of that denomination. Later he filled a similar position in the Evangelical church.
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
He was also a graduate of the Chautauqua School of Theology and the Chautauqua Liter- ary and Scientific Circle, and the deacon's orders conferred upon him all the functions of the ministry. His work was of a most practical character. As he traveled over the county in his professional capacity he also planted the seeds of truth in many a home. Through his efficient labors Sunday schools were established and chapels built, and he served many congregations without financial remuneration. When there existed a strong prejudice in this section of the state against Methodism, he labored most untir- ingly to establish the cause, and for years, at great personal expense and sacrifice, he gave to children expensive rewards in order to induce them to come to church and Sunday school, and thus cultivate a taste for a moral and religious life. His was a spirit of a great philanthropist who ministered to the temporal and spiritual needs of his fellow men, and left behind him a memory that is more enduring than any monu- ment of stone or tablet of bronze. He never fal- tered in his allegiance to the cause of temper- ance, and usually voted with the Prohibition party, although on some great national questions he gave his support to the Republican party, be- cause its platform embodied his views concerning measures that affected the welfare of the entire country. Every agency for the uplifting of his fellow men received his endorsement, and as far as possible he gave to it his cooperation and finan- cial support. He was an honored member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he attained to the thirty-second degree, and he aided in establish- ing the order in Allentown.
February 22, 1862, Dr. Clemens was married to Miss Emelie Hartman, a daughter of David Hartman, of Friedensville. Her death occurred in Allentown, April 28, 1870. There were four children of that marriage, of whom three are liv- ing: Martha Matilda, who is an eclectic physi- cian of Philadelphia ; Anna Mary, who is called Minnie, and is the wife of James F. Marsteller, by whom she has one child, Justina ; and Minerva Hartman. For his second wife Dr. Clemens married, February 29, 1872, Miss Elizabeth S.
Jones, a daughter of John H. and Margaret Jones, of Sinking Spring, Berks county, Pennsyl- vania. A son born of this marriage, Henry, died in infancy.
Dr. Clemens died March 27, 1901, He pos- sessed strongly domestic tastes and while he ac- complished much in the business world and ratified his friendships by kindly sympathy and thoughtful consideration for others, his greatest depth of love was reserved for his family. His life, however, was one of unselfish devotion to mankind. He recognized the great principle of universal brotherhood and the obligations thereby involved, and he put forth earnest and unremit- ting effort not only to alleviate human suffering, but to release man from the bondage of sin. His efforts in behalf of temperance and church work were far-reaching and effective, and will cause his memory to be honored and revered for many years to come.
THOMAS STECKEL, one of the venerable citizens of Allentown, now in the eighty-fifth year of his age, was born near Egypt, Pennsyl- vania, in 1820, a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Biery) Steckel. His paternal grandfather, Henry Steckel, married a Miss Snyder, his maternal grandfather was Fritz Biery. The fam- ily history gives an account of Christian Steckel, the first representative of the name in Egypt. He settled there September 1,1736, and obtained a pa- tent for two hundred and sixty acres of land. In year 1758 he built a stone house upon the tract which served the dual purpose of a dwelling and a fort as a mean of defense against the attacks of the Indians. The dimensions of this building are thirty-five by forty feet, and the walls are two feet and a quarter in thickness. It is standing at the present day, and is in a good state of preser- vation, and is now the property of Josiah Steckel, a descendant of the original owner.
Christian Steckel was married to Maria Bear. and they had ten children, five sons and five daughters, namely : John, Jacob, Henry, Daniel and Peter Steckel, Mrs. John Peter Burkhalter, Mrs. Mickley, Mrs. Schneider, Mrs. George Dinkey, and Mrs. Martin Moyer. All of the
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
daughters of this family settled in North White Hall township. John Steckel, the eldest son, took up his abode in Whitehall on Copley Creek, upon a portion of the old home farm where he lived until his death. He had four children, three sons and a daughter, namely : Daniel, who became the owner of the John Steckel home- stead ; Joseph, who settled in the same township; Sallie, who became the wife of Jacob Biery, and removed to the west; and Peter, who was a blacksmith by trade and carried on business at Hartman's Ferry on the Lehigh river, and also at the Irish settlement in Northampton county until 1828, when he purchased from Walter C. Livingstone, a tract of one hundred acres of land along the Jordan creek, in the southwestern part of the township. There he engaged in farming until his death, and in the meantime purchased several other tracts of land in that vicinity. He was married to Esther Burkhalter, who survived him, lived at Allentown and died in 1888 or '89. at the age of eighty years. He had four children, two sons, Robert (deceased), and Reuben P., and two daughters: Amanda, who is now living upon one of her father's farms; and Anna, who is living in Al- lentown. Of the sons Robert kept the farm after the death of his father, and still owns that prop- erty. He engaged in farming there until 1873, when he removed to Allentown, where he still makes his home. He served for two terms in the lower house of the state legislature of Pennsyl- vania in 1873-74. He and his brother Reuben P. Steckel are members of the hardware firm of Young & Company, of Allentown.
Jacob Steckel, the second son of Christian Steckel, settled at Egypt, and built the present hotel there in 1791. In connection with its con- duct he carried on a store until 1821. Henry Steckel, the third son of Christian Steckel, resided upon the old homestead farm throughout his en- tire life. He had several children, among them a son Peter, who acquired the original Steckel tract near Egypt, and owned it until his death. He was the father of Thomas Steckel, whose name introduces this review. Daniel Steckel settled at Bath, Northampton county ,and died there at the
age of one hundred and one years. Peter Steckel, the youngest son of Christian Steckel, was born November 3, 1772, and settled in Moore township, Northampton county, where he died February 22, 1866.
Peter Steckel, the son of Henry Steckel, and the grandson of Christian Steckel, the founder of the family at Egypt, was a well known farmer, who became the owner of the ancestral home. He was married to Elizabeth Biery, and they had thirteen children : Thomas, of this review ; Peter, who settled in Ohio; Henry, of Illinois ; David, who is living in one of the western states; Jo- seph, of Indiana; Charles, who died in Allen- town; Deborah, the wife of Enoch Newhard, of Allentown; Hetty, the wife of Thomas Gange- were, who settled in Indiana; Clarissa, the wife of Jacob Weiss ; and Sarah, the wife of Ephraim Steckel.
Thomas, the eldest son of Peter Steckel, was reared upon the old home farm, and early be- came familiar with the work connected with its development and cultivation. He continued there until fourteen years of age, and as opportunity permitted attended the public schools. In 1834 he came to Allentown, and secured employment in a hosiery factory in order to learn the trade of weaving stockings. He followed that pursuit for seven years, or until he had attained his ma- jority, at which time he was given one hundred dollars in compensation for his services, and thus made a start in life. At that time he entered into a partnership with Enoch Newhard, and was engaged in the manufacture of stockings until 1871, when he retired from that business. In that year he purchased land and began its improvement, erecting thereon many houses both for sale and rent. His realty operations brought to him a handsome competence, making him one of the substantial citizens of his community. He also built the silk mills at Allentown, and thus in the course of years he advanced from a humble position in the business world to one of prom- inence. His labors being of great value, not only contributed to his individual prosperity, but also to the general success and commercial activity of his adopted city. In 1857 he was elected a
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
director of the Allentown National Bank, and although he is now eighty-five years of age he - seldom fails to attend a directors' meeting. He was in 1898 stricken with partial paralysis, but, while he has to be moved about in a wheel chair, his mind is still keen and clear as ever, and he gives his personal supervision to the control of his invested interests. Mr. Steckel is a sup- porter of the Democratic party, with which he has been allied since being a voter. In commun- ity affairs he takes a deep and active interest, and his fitness for leadership has found recognition in his election to public office. He served for two years in the city council, and in 1857 he was chosen treasurer of Lehigh county. He was also identified with military affairs, serving as major in the state militia.
Mr. Steckel was married in early manhood to Miss Jemima Kaul, a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Ruder) Kaul. They had two chil- dren : Thomas, who died in 1871; and Albert, who married Caroline Engleman, and had one child, Grace, who is the widow of Samuel Moyer. Few men who have reached the advanced age to which Mr. Steckel has attained have continued to exercise as strong and potent an influence in business circles as he has done. Because he has reached the evening of life he has not considered it necessary to withdraw from active participa- tion in public affairs, but still maintains a keen interest in the city and its progress. Such a career should serve as an inspiration to old and young, and is indeed an example well worthy of emulation.
CHARLES CHRISTMAN, now deceased, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1817, and died in Allentown about thirty years ago. His father, Jonas Christman, married a Miss . Wagoner, and they had three children, Charles being the eldest. Levi married Catherine Wag- oner, and they had three children, Charles, Levi and Hannah. Sarah, the only daughter of Jonas Christman, became the wife of Charles Troxell, and they had five daughters and three sons : Amelia, Mary, Charity, Eliza, Bella, Samuel, Charles and Alfred.
Charles Christman was reared in the parental home, and learned the tailor's trade under the direction of his father. He followed that pursuit for fifteen years, and then turned his attention to the business of buying and selling live stock and driving cattle. Later he began dealing in grain in connection with Welcome B. Powell, and after following that business for a number of years he became a wholesale grocer, joining John Bowen in the enterprise under the firm name of John Bowen & Company. He was thus identified with the mercantile interests of the city up to the time of his death, and the growth and develop- ment of his business made him a successful merchant.
Mr. Christman married Miss Esther Derr. Her paternal grandfather was John Derr, and her father was Jacob Derr. The latter married Mary West, a daughter of Francis and - (Koh- ler) West. Mrs. Christman was the fifth in order of birth in a family of six children, namely : Daniel, who married Julia Behr, and had four children; Rebecca, who became the wife of George La Fond, and has eight children ; David; Mary, who became the wife of David Strauss, and had four children ; and Lydia, who married Mr. Lerch, and had four children.
To Mr. and Mrs. Christman were born two children, but they lost both, Albert dying at the age of eleven years, and Henry Franklin in infancy.
Mr. Christman gave his political support to the Whig party in early life and after its dissolu- tion joined the ranks of the new Republican party, while Mrs. Christman's views were just as strongly in favor of the Democracy. Both held membership in St. Paul's Lutheran church, of which Mrs. Christman is still a communicant.
JESSE LINE, deceased, whose connection with the dry-goods trade of Allentown began in the humble capacity of a minor clerkship, and continued until he had for some years been a suc- cessful and leading merchant of the borough, was born in Salisbury township, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, August 25, 1817.
His parents were Joseph and Elizabeth
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HISTORIC HOMES AND INSTITUTIONS.
(Moritz) Line, and the home farm was his train- ing school for the practical and responsible du- ties of life. He pursued his education in the neighborhood, and when not engaged in master- ing the text books which constituted the cur- riculum of the common school, his labors were de- voted to the further cultivation and improvement of the farm. When still in his teens he went to Allentown to learn the dry-goods trade, and, se- curing a position as salesman, was thus employed until he was enabled to go into business for him- self. He became a member of the firm of Blumer, Line & Company, and was associated with the active conduct of the enterprise for many years. Unremitting diligence, keen foresight and un- questioned fairness were the strong elements in his mercantile career, and the means of bringing to him a merited and gratifying measure of pros- perity. He died in September, 1901.
Mr. Line was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Pretz, a daughter of Godfrey and Mary Eve (Eckert) Pretz. They had three children : Mary L., Anna M. and Ella G. The second daughter, Anna M., is the wife of S. Henry Keck. Ella G. married John L. Ramsay, and they have nine children : Dorothy, Margaret, Pauline, Mary, Julia, John, Emily, Lathrop and Richard.
Mary Line, the eldest daughter, became the wife of William H. Romig, a son of John and Matilda (Martin) Romig, and one of a family of nineteen children. He was born in Allentown, and after attending the public schools became a student in the Allentown Seminary. Determining to engage in the practice of medicine as a life work, he prepared for that calling in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, in which he was graduated. He then returned to Allentown, and entered upon the active practice of his profession, in which he continued for three or four years, when in order to increase his effi- ciency and skill, he entered Hahnemann College. He became one of the leading homoeopathic phy- sicians of the state, constantly broadening his knowledge through reading and research, while his ready adaptability enabled him to put to practical use the facts which he gleaned from his investigation and study. Dr. Romig served for
scine timne as coroner of Lehigh county, elected on the Republican ticket. He was a stanch advo- cate of the party, its principles and policy, and his was a public-spirited citizenship, with full con- sciousness of its obligations to community and national interests. His religious affiliation was with the Presbyterian church. His home rela- tions were most pleasant, and the Romig house- hold is noted for its hospitality.
He married Miss Mary Line, and they were blessed with two children, Jessie and Christine.
SAMUEL F. JORDAN, the leading partner in the Heilman Boiler Works at Allentown, has been connected with the industrial and com- mercial interests of that borough since 1878. He was born among the wooded hills and pleasant valleys that border the Hudson river, his natal place being the town of Hudson, New York. He is a son of Abram and Eleanor (Snyder) Jordan, being the youngest of a family of seven children, the others being: Carrie, who married Frank Henry, and has three children; Ann, the wife of George Palmer, by whom she has three chil- dren : John, who married Helen Moore, by whom he has four children ; Benjamin, who married Christina Pechtel, and has one child; William, who wedded Marian Appley, by whom he has one child : and Niram, who married Ella Blake, and has one child.
The early education of Samuel F. Jordan was acquired in the district schools of the home lo- cality, and while he was pursuing his studies his leisure hours were devoted to assisting his father in the work of the home farm. After putting aside his text books he went into a store in order to become familiar with the methods of mer- chandising, and was employed as a clerk in a grocery for four years. He then joined his brother in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and to- gether they opened a retail hat store with which Mr. Jordan of this review was identified until 1873, when he came to Allentown and estab- lished a similar enterprise. He conducted his store with a fair measure of success until 1878. when he closed out his mercantile enterprise in order to accept a position in the boiler works of
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GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS.
Cole & Heilman. With this industry he has since been identified, and is now at the head of the firm.
It was in 1863 that Abiel Heilman came to Allentown, and in company with James B. Cole formed the firm of Cole & Heilman for the man- ufacture of boilers and the conduct of a wrought iron industry. They did plate work, such as the manufacture of tanks, stacks and gas machines. In 1878 Mr. Jordan entered the service of this firm as bookkeeper, and continued in that ca- pacity until 1883, when by the death of Mr. Cole the firm was dissolved. Later the business was resumed by Mr. Heilman, who continued in con- trol until 1892, when he, too, departed this life. The business was then reorganized by Mrs. Heil- man, Mr. Jordan and James Noble Rhoda, and has since been conducted under the name of the Heilman Boiler Works. The company makes a specialty of iron work for cement companies and gas companies, and the business has so rapidly increased along these lines that they have almost entirely abandoned boiler making in order that the entire energy of the plant can be directed toward the iron manufacturing department. Em- ployment is furnished to about two hundred workmen, and the payroll annually turns a great amount of money into circulation in the borough. The prosperity of any town, city or country de- pends upon its commercial interests and its great productive industries, and, through his asso- ciation with the Heilman Boiler Works, Mr. Jor- dan has become an active factor in promoting the upbuilding of Allentown. In community affairs he is deeply interested, and his co-operation many be counted upon as an active factor in the ad- vancement of the material, intellectual and moral welfare of this city. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, and socially, he is identified with the Masonic fraternity, while re- ligiously, he is connected with the Reformed church.
Samuel F. Jordan was united in marriage to Miss Alice Cole, and they have one child, Floyd. Mrs. Jordan is a daughter of James B. and Julia (Whitehead) Cole, and is the eldest of five chil- dren, the others being: Elizabeth, who married
Harry Ullman ; William, now deceased, who mar- ried Bessie Silliman, by whom he had one daugh- ter, Martha; Charles, single; and Bertha, who is also unmarried.
DAVID RATTRAY MALCOLM, who has been serving in the capacity of superintendent, manager and a director of the Allentown Spin- ning Company since 1889, a period of fifteen years, is a man of keen discrimination, sound judgment, executive ability and excellent powers of management. He is a native of Dundee, Scotland, born June 10, 1851, one of a family of ten children born to George and Helen (Rattray) Malcolm, the latter named being now (1904) a resident of her native city in Scotland.
The educational advantages enjoyed by David R. Malcolm were obtained in the high school of Dundee, Scotland, and the Polytechnic at Stutt- gart, (Wurtemberg) Germany, from which in- stitutions he was graduated. His first experi- ence in business life was gained in the spinning mills operated by his father in Dundee, Scotland, where he became thoroughly familiar with the manufacture of jute goods, working his way up through all the different stages until he was fully acquainted with every branch of the busi- ness. He became a practical, expert mechanic, and partner in his father's firm of Malcolm, Ogilvie & Co., Dundee, who conducted a success- ful business in this line, as did also his grand- father, James Malcolm. David R. Malcolm, having become possessed of a desire to test the business opportunities of the new world, emi- grated thence in 1889, and upon his arrival took up his residence in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He at once became superintendent and managing di- rector of the Allentown Spinning Company, one of the leading industries of that thriving city. This plant was established a few years prior to that time by the late Robert Barbour, of Pater- son, New Jersey, still belongs to his estate, and J. E. Barbour is the president. The plant is con- veniently located near the tracks of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and gives employment to seven hundred operatives. They manufacture carpet yarns and twines, and under the competent su-
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