USA > Pennsylvania > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Vol. II > Part 48
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THOMAS A. H. HAY, of Easton, Pennsyl- vania, a large contributor to the development of its manufacturing and commercial interests and who has afforded useful service to the national
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government in connection with the postoffice de- partment and treasury department, is a native of the city where he now resides and which has been the field of the greater portion of his busy and useful effort. It is also his distinction to be a descendant of one of the founders of the city of Easton and of others who were prominent in its upbuilding.
He is of mingled Scottish and Irish lineage. The American progenitor of his family was Mel- choir Hay, a native of Germany, whose father, on account of the disordered conditions in Scot- land following the union under the English crown, led him to expatriate himself and remove to Germany, where he performed honorable mili- tary service. He married a German woman and they made their home at Zwei-Bruecken, Bavaria, where was born their son Melchoir, who with two brothers emigrated to America about 1738.
Melchoir Hay settled where is now South Easton. In 1752 he assisted Parsons and Scull in laying out the town of Easton. In 1771 he bought land of Israel Morris, of Philadelphia, a twenty-six acre tract of land, and also, in the same year, a tract of three hundred and seventy-five acres from Peter Rush. This was a portion of a ten thousand acre tract derived from William Penn, and the transaction is noticeable from the fact that while much of the land purchased from the proprietaries was subject to quit-rents, Mel- choir Hay, as shown by deed of August 9, 1771, became an owner in fee simple. This tract, which had the Lehigh river for its northern boundary, was sold by Hay in 1796 to Jacob Everley of Nazareth, who sold it to Henry Snyder, when it brought the sum of $2,133.33. The land was used for farming purposes until the completion of the Lehigh Canal. After the revolution Melchoir Hay sold his South Easton property and bought a large farm three miles west of Easton, a por- tion of which is still held by his lineal descend- ants. He was one of the most active and influen- tial men of his day, and his honored name is per- petuated in Hay's Chapel and Hay's burying ground, which are on the ground donated by him. He was an ardent patriot during the Revolution-
ary struggle, one of the first and most efficient members of the committee of safety, and captain of the Williams township company. His patriotic spirit actuated his descendants, many of whom served gallantly in the war of 1812, the Mexican war and the war of the rebellion. Captain Mel- cnoir Hay's son Melchoir was the father of sev- eral sons of character and ability-Abraham,. Peter, George, Melchoir, Charles and John. The first named son, Abraham Horn Hay, was the father of an equally notable generation-Jacob, Andrew, Thomas and Peter, all of whom were useful citizens of Easton.
To Jacob Hay, son of Abraham Horn Hay, is due in largest degree the extension and improve- ment of the modern city of Easton. In 1871, just a century after his great-grandfather Melchoir Hay had purchased the land upon which now stands South Easton, Jacob Hay bought one hun- dred acres west of Twelfth street-much of it outside the town limits and considered by many as too remote for his purposes-and set it apart for high-class residential uses, spending large amounts of money in grading and beautifying it, and creating a central park with beautiful shade trees and shrubbery and intersected by spacious driveways, one of the latter being the handsomest residence avenue in Easton, now Fourteenth street. Mr. Hay built in the first year an elegant. residence; ten years later it was burned down (the family narrowly escaping death) and was replaced by a larger and more beautiful edifice. Friends, one after another-William Laubach, Floyd S. Bixler, Major Thomas L. McKeen, Herman Simon, William Gould Heller, C. M. Hapgood, and others-moved into the Hays neighborhood, and it became what is is today, the most beautiful portion of the city of Easton. Mr. Hays' expenditures in the work of improve- ment amounted to about $150,000, and were large- ly in the interest of the public at large, who are free to use the drives and walks.
Mr. Hay was one of the early and most enter- prising merchants of Easton. He was founder of the first wholesale dry goods house in Pennsyl- vania, outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburg,.
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founded in 1866, upon his return from the Civil war, and of the wholesale boot and shoe house of Hapgood, Hay & Company, founded in 1875. His ardent patriotism during the Civil war period found characteristic illustration in 1863, when the state was threatened with invasion by the rebel army under General Lee. Mr. Hay exhorted his employes to go home and prepare themselves to do duty with the emergency forces called out, in- forming them that their salaries would be con- tinued. He then ordered the shutters of his large dry goods establishment to but up, and the store closed. Friends placed upon the door a sign read- ing: "Not closed by the sheriff, but gone to the war." A company was recruited from his own men and the class of 1863 of Lafayette, which he commanded at a critical time.
Captain Jacob Hay was married in 1854 to Annie Wilson, daughter of Alexander Wilson, Sr., of sturdy Scotch-Irish ancestry. Born of this union were four children: I. Thomas A. H. Hay, to be further mentioned hereinafter. 2. Annie W., who became the wife of Hon. Asa W. Dickinson, who served as collector of United States customs, port of Jersey City, New Jersey ; 3. Ida Wilson Hay, married William C. Atwater, a large coal miner at Pennsylvania and Virginia ; 4. William O. Hay, shoe merchant and director in all his brother's companies. Captain Hay died in 1894, loved and honored by the entire commun- ity to whose prosperity and happiness he had con- tributed in marked degree through a long and phenomenally useful life.
Thomas A. H. Hay, eldest son of Captain Jacob Hay, was born in Easton, July I, 1855. He began his education in the city schools, graduating from the high school at
the age of seventeen, and then entering Lafay- ette College, from which he graduated in 1876, the year of his attaining his ma- jority. He began his business career as an errand boy in his father's store and was advanced as hi's merit deserved. In 1879, in company with Russell B. Harrison, son of President Harrison, he went to Montana, and was shortly afterwards appointed assistant superintendent of the United
States assay office in that territory. He was so engaged until 1881, when he returned to Easton to become manager of the Jacob Hay & Sons wholesale dry goods business, a position which he filled with entire capability until 1896, two years after the death of his father. After closing up the affairs of the firm he joined his brother, Will- iam O. Hay, in the boot and shoe business.
In 1889 Mr. Hay, at the personal request of President and Mrs. Harrison, was appointed Uni- ted States postage stamp agent at New York city, and in this capacity from 1889 to 1893 he had the supervision of the postage stamp manufacturing by the American Bank Note Company. It was his distinction to suggest the Columbian postage stamp to commemorate the World's Fair in Chi- cago in 1893, and he suggested the ideas and de- signs of that beautiful work of art which com- manded the admiring attention of philatelists the world over. He was also the author of the sub- stitution of carmine ink for green in the printing of stamps of a certain denomination, thus putting a stop to stamp-washing, and saving large sums to the government. This idea of color of his has been adopted by the International Postal Union and is used by all the civilized nations of the world. today.
On retiring from government service Mr. Hay identified himself more closely with the local in- terests of Easton, and engaged in various under- takings which he forwarded to complete success, notably the electric railway and lighting system, of which he was the pioneer, and which became of enormous value and commensurate advantage to the community. In 1896 he organized the Easton Power Company, of which he became president, with his brother, William O. Hay, as secretary and treasurer. They took the old aban- doned cotton mills and developed the water power by the use of modern turbine wheels. This prop- erty was subsequently consolidated with that of the old Edison Company. In 1897, with Boston capital (home capital being unobtainable) was built the first interurban trolley road in the coun- ty, that from Easton to Bethlehem. In 1898, with his brother, William O. Hay, and M. P. Mc-
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Grath, of Worchester, Massachusetts, Mr. Hay oragnized a company and built the State belt road from Nazareth to Bangor, and in the same year he began the construction of the Easton and Naz- areth line, which was completed in 1901. In the latter year, with Mr. McGrath and others, be built the Delaware Valley steam railroad from Stroudsburg to Bushkill, in Pike county, and of which he was the first vice-president. In 1902, with local aid, he commenced the construction of the Easton, Tatamy & Bangor street railway. In 1903 the two companies last named were consoli- dated as the Northampton Traction Company, with Mr. Thomas A. H. Hay as president, William O. Hay as secretary, and Mr. M. P. McGrath as a director and member of the executive committee, the company operating from Easton to Nazareth, Tatamy, Stockertown and Bangor, traversing the center of the great slate and cement deposits of the county. In the same year Mr. Hay disposed of his stock in his pioneer power company in a merger with the Easton Gas and Electric Com- pany, now operating with a captial of two and a half million dollars. All these large properties had their beginning with Mr. Hay, who was author of the original project and of several others which developed from it, and all primarily owed their development and success to his pres- cience and indomitable energy. Mr. Hay is also one of the originators of the trolley road from Easton to Lake Hopatcong and thence to Jersey City, this giving direct communication between north part of Northampton county across the state of New Jersey. In 1896, with his brother, Will- iam O. Hay, Mr. Hay purchased the abandoned fair grounds and laid out Fairview Park, which, with the property formerly held by their father, makes them owners of nearly all the vacant ground from Twelfth to Twenty-first streets, now one of the most valuable and beautiful sec- tions of Easton.
Mr. Hay is a member of numerous social and fraternal bodies, and was an incorporator of the Pomfret Club : the Commercial Club; the Or- pheus Club, of which he has been president for twelve years, and the Oratorio Society. He has
attained to high rank in the Masonic fraternity, and is a past master of Easton Lodge ; was grand steward of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and a member of Easton Chapter, R. A. M., and Hugh de Payens Commandery, Knights Temp- lar. He is also a member of the Royal Arcanum, the Heptasophs, and the Easton Lodge of Elks.
Mr. Hay married, September 7, 1881, Helen, daughter of Major-General Thomas H. Ruger, a distinguished soldier. General Ruger was born in Lima, New York, April 2, 1833, and graduated from West Point in 1854. He was practicing law in Janesville, Wisconsin, at the beginning of the Civil war, and in 1861 was commissioned lieuten- ant-colonel of the Third Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers. He served with conspicuous gal- lantry and rose to the rank of brigadier-general and brevet major-general of volunteers, and was brevetted brigadier-general in the regular army for gallantry at Gettysburg. He was commis- sioned colonel in the regular army in 1866; super- intendent of the West Point Military Academy, 1871-76; commissioned brigadier-general, 1896; in 1891 in command of the Department of Cali- fornia with headquarters at San Francisco; later in command of the Department of the Missouri, headquarters at Chicago; retired in 1897.
Mr. and Mrs. Hay are the parents of five chil- dren, three of whom are living: Helen Ruger, Anna Ruger and Ruger Wilson Hay. Malcolm Ruger Hay and Dorothy Dickinson Ruger Hay died, each at the age of one year.
JOSEPH RAUCH, who is now leading a retired life at his home in Heidelberg township, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, surrounded with peace and plenty, and realizing to the full that there is no reward so satisfactory as the con- sciousness of a well spent life, was born on the old homestead in Heidelberg township, Novem- ber 5, 1843, a son of Michael and Salome (Krumm) Rauch, and grandson of Andrew Rauch, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Le- high county, Pennsylvania, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, and by exercising the char- acteristics of his family-industry, thrift and per-
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severance-won a reputation as an enterprising business man.
Michael Rauch (father) was born on the homestead farm in Heidelberg township in 1803, and died in 1873, aged seventy years. His edu- cational advantages were the best that the schools of that day afforded, and throughout his life time he added to the knowledge thus obtained by a careful observance of men and things. He served an apprenticeship at the trade of furniture maker, and after thoroughly mastering all the details of the business, secured employment as a journey- man and in this manner earned a good livelihood. The latter years of his life were devoted to the tilling and cultivation of the soil, and he derived a fair income from the products of his broad acres. By his marriage to Salome Krumm, a native of Heidelberg township, the following named chil- ·dren were born: Israel, deceased ; Flora, Mary, Fietta, Joseph, and William.
Joseph Rauch attended the common schools .of his native township and by close application to study acquired a good fundamental education, which is an essential requisite in the career of either boy or girl. He then turned his attention to mastering the trade of carriage maker, and also carriage wood worker, which line of business he followed with a remarkable degree of success from early manhood until he turned his business over to the care of his sons and retired from the du- ties and responsibilities of commercial life. He is well known throughout the length and breadth of Lehigh county, and his advice and counsel is often sought and repeatedly followed. He has always taken a keen interest in the political af- fairs of the Republican party, advocating and sup- porting to the best of his ability the principles and candidates of that great organization. He has held the office of school director many terms, and in the performance of his duties has given the ut- most satisfaction to his constituents. He is an attendant at the services of the Reformed church, and holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also the Golden Eagle.
In 1867, Mr. Rauch was united in marriage to Amelia Housman, a daughter of Nathan Hous-
man, a farmer of Lowhill township. Their chil- aren are: James G., who married Emma J. Smith, and their family consists of five children ; Maggie, who married Frank Hensinger, and has five children; Malissa, who became the wife of Amandus Handwerk, and they are the parents of three children ; Victor D., who married Mabel Kemmer; Daisy, who became the wife of Phoon Scherer, and one child has been the issue of this union ; George, deceased ; and a child who died in infancy.
JOSEPH DOWNING, one of the oldest rep- resentatives of the steel industry in America, and recognized as an expert in his chosen department of business occupation, was born in Staffordshire, England, in 1822. He was a son of William and Elizabeth ( Rhoades) Downing, the former a son of John Downing, and the latter a daughter of William Rhoades.
He attended the schools of his native country until apprenticed by his father to learn the iron and steel business, his term of service covering five years. In 1845, when he was twenty-three years of age, he came to America, accompanied by his wife. . They traveled with a party of two hundred workmen who were to establish and place in operation a rolling mill at Danville, Pennsyl- vania. Mr. Downing remained there for three years, and afterward went to East Boston, Mass- achusetts, where he assisted in the building of the Glendon Iron Works, and was also connected with its early operation. On the expiration of three years, with five other representatives of the iron industry, he went to Pottsville, Pennsylvania, as a company to establish a rolling mill in that place. The built and opened the mill, and he con- tinued a resident of Pottsville for a number of years as superintendent of the different iron in- dustries there. He built the Fishback Rolling mill, of which he was superintendent for three years, and then held a similar position in connec- tion with the Palo Alto mill. His residence in Pottsville extended from 1850 until 1871, when he and his family removed to Allentown. Here he assisted in building and starting the Glen mill,
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with which he was connected until the failure of the enterprise in 1875, when he went to Atlanta, Georgia, and similiar business interests occupied his attention there. He is a recognized expert in the iron and steel industry, and aided in making the first iron rail ever manufactured in America. As an expert his opinion has been sought by peo- ple all over the country, concerning the manner of constructing and operating plants in the steel business. In 1874 he bought a half interest in a brick manufacturing plant in East Allentown that was in operation, and subsequently he purchased the interest of his two partners, and now handles the entire product himself. Employment is fur- nished to about thirty workmen, and the industry is a leading concern of the borough. Mr. Down- ing is also interested in several other manufac- turing plants in Allentown, and of one of these his grandson, William D. Downing, is manager. Mr. Downing is one of the oldest members of Pulaski Lodge of Masons of Pottsville, with which he has been affiliated for fifty-three years. He belongs to the Methodist church, and is a Re- publican in his political views.
He married Eliza Stokes, a daughter of Will- iam and Elizabeth Stokes. They have had a large family of children, but several of them died in infancy and childhood. Four are still living: William H., who married Temantes Morton, and has five children-Temantes, Belle, Florence, Claudius and Robert; Eliza, who wedded Joshua Morton, by whom she has one child, Betsey ; Jo- seph, who married a Miss Johnson, and has three children-Walter, Annie, and George; and Flor- ence.
MAHLON HENRY BEARY, engaged in the practice of law in Allentown, was born in that city and is a son of Eli S. and Eliza (Fatzinger) Beary ; the mother was a daughter of Solomon and Christiana (Seip) Fatzinger, who were both natives of Allentown. The paternal grandparents of Mahlon H. Beary were Peter and Mary (Keck) Beary. Both Solomon Fatzinger and Peter Beary were soldiers in the war of 1812.
In the father's family Mahlon H. Beary was
the eldest. Allen F., the second member of the family, is deceased. Peter S. (3) married Emma Schindle, and had three children, Frank, Schindle and Harry, but the last named died in childhood. Frank married Anna Wolfram, and has two chil- dren, Carl and Joyce. Schindle married Lavina Wolfram, a sister of his brother's wife, and has- one child, Margaret. Jeremiah S. T. (4) mar- ried Mary Smith. Eli S. (5) married Rachel Donnelly, and has three children: Edith, who- married William Troost, of Philadelphia ; Mar- tha and Eliza. Andrew G. V. (6) married Maria Allen, and had one child, Thomas B. After the death of his first wife he married Miss William Dimmitt Allen.
The early education of Mahlon H. Beary was acquired in the public schools of Allentown, after which he prepared for college and matriculated in Harvard University at Cambridge, Massachu- setts. Owing to circumstances which he could not control he had to discontinue his college course before reaching the time of graduation, and returned to his native city. Here he entered upon the study of law under John H. Oliver, one of the leading attorneys of the borough, and after completing a thorough and comprehensive course of reading he was admitted to practice at the bar- of Lehigh county about 1863.
In the meantime he had served for nine months as a soldier of the Union army in the Civil war. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers for nine months, the command being assigned to the Army of the Potomac, with which he saw much active service. He was wounded at the battle of Antietam, but served out the full term of his enlistment and was honorably dis- charged in June, 1863. He was first under Col- onel Crossdale, and after his death Colonel Matt- hews commanded the regiment.
On returning to Allentown, Mr. Beary began improving property and building, and was thus. engaged until 1869, when he removed with his family to Missouri, establishing his home near- Bethel, that state. He purchased about two thousand acres of land and turned his attention
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to the raising of grain and stock, which he fol- lowed for some time, and then established a gen- eral mercantile store at Bethel. Subsequently, he conducted a drug store, and while thus engaged became deeply interested in medicine, and pursued a course of lectures in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Keokuk, Iowa, of which insti- tution he is a graduate. He then entered upon the practice of medicine, and remained in the west until 1891, when he returned to Allentown and resumed the practice of law, which he now follows in connection with the supervision of his real estate interests. He is now actively engaged in the improvement of property, and owns more than twenty-five houses in a desirable part of the city, and which return to him an excellent rental. In this way he has done much for the progress and material growth of the borough.
While residing in Bethel, Missouri, Mr. Beary became a member of George Miller Post, G. A. R., but has never transferred his membership since his return to the east. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias. At the close of the war he served as deputy provost marshal of Allentown, but his aspirations and ambitions have never been in the line of public office or political preferment. He gives his po- litical allegiance to the Republican party and he is a member of the Lutheran church.
Mahlon H. Beary was married to Miss Emma A. Newhard. Her paternal grandparents were Casper and Mary (Nagle) Newhard. Their son Charles L. Newhard wedded Mary Moyer, a daughter of John and Mary (Ruch) Moyer. Charles L. and Mary (Moyer) Newhard had six children, of whom Mrs. Beary is the eldest. Harry died in infancy. Ida, the third, is the wife of Beniah C. Snyder, and has three children- Lewis M., Mary and Ruth. Jennie is the fourth member of the family. Harvey (5) married Eliza George. Anna (6) is the wife of Dr. William Berlin.
To Mr. and Mrs. Beary have been born six children, but the youngest, Henrietta B., died in infancy. The others, in order of birth, are as
follows : Charles N., who married Josephine Mil- ler ; Mary E., the wife of William H. White, by whom she has four children-Edna B., Alice P., John H., deceased, and Charles W .; Anna V., the wife of Stephen A. Sturtevant ; Gertrude C .; and M. Herbert, who married Clara C. Zeigler, a na- tive of Bethel, Missouri, and a daughter of Henry and Clara ( Miller) Zeigler, in whose family were seven children: Edward; Frank, who married Dorothy Will; Clara C .; Samuel ; Lula ; Sophia, wife of George Lair ; and Ida M. To M. Herbert and Clara C. (Zeigler) Beary have been born four children-Elda E., Paul H., Florence and Irene Beary.
CHARLES H. COHN, connected with one of the most important departments of the city service, being chief of the fire department of Allentown, made for himself a record so com- mendable that it caused his reappointment to the position in which he is now serving for the sec- ond term. He is thus recognized as a forceful factor in community interests and while the cause of his service is an immeasurable quantity, it is nevertheless uniformly acknowledged throughout the borough, and won for him the confidence,. good will and regard of his fellow citizens.
Mr. Cohn was born in Jackson county, Ten- nessee, a son of Henry and Hannah (Hersh) Cohn, both of whom were natives of the state of New York. After the outbreak of hostilities be- tween the north and the south they returned with their family to Pennsylvania, remaining in Phila- delphia until the war was over, when they again took up their abode in Jackson, Tennessee. When four years had passed they became residents of Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1869 again located in Philadelphia.
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