Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I, Part 103

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846; J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1018

USA > Pennsylvania > Berks County > Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I > Part 103

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420

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

name in the Albany Church Record is found sometimes with an "f," or a second "p" added.

It is altogether possible that John George Stump heard the pioneer pastor Muhlenberg preach; for it is reported in the latter's "Diary" that he visited "Allemaengel" Church in March, 1747, which at that time must have been the "Red Church" near Wessnersville, to which church the settlers of West "Corner" Albany resorted until the establishment of the New Bethel congregation in 1761 fourteen years later. Be that as it may, certain it is that the pioneer Stump secured a large tract on the west side of Round Top Mountain in Albany, the farm at pres- ent owned by James S. Focht, who successfully operates a lucrative red paint mine near Greenawalt's Station along the Berks & Lehigh Branch of the Reading Railway, being a part of the original grant and the once Stump home- stead.

When the subject of our sketch was a boy of about twelve years the late Amos Trexler, who then conducted a tannery on these same premises, pointing to an im- mense willow tree standing close by his pits, said : "There stands your great-great-grandfather's riding whip!" Being asked for an explanation, he said, that when long ago John George Stump was out on business one day riding on horseback through Indian trails, he brought home a little willow whip which he had used to drive his steed, and which, as he arrived home, he flung into the streamlet there. The riding whip developed roots and grew into a mighty tree, standing as a silent witness to future genera- tions of him who thus inadvertently planted it. destined to be a more enduring monument to his memory than the soft sandy tombstones quarried on his own lands for his own sepulture in the New Bethel cemetery.

The next in line of kinship was John Stump, who seems to have moved farther south. His remains lie buried at the Dunkel's Church in Greenwich township. The third was Samuel Stump, born Oct. 16, 1794, and died March 4, 1864. He was married to Miss Rachel Leiby, born April 15, 1801, died March 22, 1875. Both are buried at the Friedens Church of Lenhartsville, which they helped to erect. They lived on the southwest side of Round Top Mountain, where our subject was born. They were the parents of the following children: Nathan, of near Klinesville: Joel, of Liscum; Peter, of Lenhartsville; Moses, Aaron, Samnel and Gideon, all deceased; Mary, widow of Isaac Miller, of Oklahoma; Elizabeth, of Kemp- ton, widow of Nathan Dietrich, who died on the old George Yenser homestead in Albany; and Catharine, the youngest daughter and mother of our subject.

While growing up the Rev. Mr. Bond learned the shoe- maker's trade before the days of shoe factories, when there was a great demand for hand-made shoes. Early he learned to wield the hammer and ply the awl. He con- tinued to work at his father's trade till his eighteenth year, when his parents "gave him free" out of kindness to allow him an opportunity to prepare for the Gospel min- istry, as in fact they did all their surviving six sons and three daughters. He began for himself as many min- isters here and elsewhere have done. In a newspaper article concerning Mr. Bond and his work which ap- peared in a Berks county paper not long ago it was said : "For many years the teaching profession in Berks county has been a stepping-stone to the ministry, and ninety per cent of the ministers of this county of all denominations have been public school teachers before they took up the preaching of the Gospel. One of these prominent teach- ers, who gave up school life for the pulpit, was Rev. Wil. liam Franklin Bond, of Shamrock."

Greenawalt, being more advanced, was attended for one term. Country schools then were only open five months in a year, of which a month and more on an average was omitted in fall on account of the busy harvest season in the family trade.

In the fall of 1880 he attended seven weeks select school at Heinley's in Albany, taught by the now sainted mission- ary, the Rev. Frank S. Dietrich, then a student in the Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Our subject taught four terms: one under Supt. Samuel A. Baer, the Miller-Clauser school in Albany, in 1880-81; and three under Supt. David S. Keck-the Wagaman's or Independ- ent district school in Greenwich, 1881-82; the Lenharts- ville school, 1882-83, just before that town incorporated into a borough, and when seventy-two pupils were enrolled and sixty averaged during the term; and the Neff's school in Maxatawny township, 1883-84. Between public school terms he attended the spring and fall sessions at the Key- stone State Normal School, at Kutztown, from 1881-84. He entered Muhlenberg College, at Allentown, in 1884, and graduated in 1888. While at college he was a member of the Euterpean Literary Society, which elected him to the associate editorship of "The Muhlenberg" in 1888. At the end of the Sophomore year he received a $15 prize for a contest essay entitled "The Physical Basis of Musical Sound"; also the Junior oratorical prize of $25 in 1887, and honorable mention for standing in class at graduation. He entered the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Philadelphia in 1888, and graduated in May, 1891. He was ordained to the office of the ministry in the Lutheran Church by the Alin- isterium of Pennsylvania in Emanuel's Church at Potts- town, Pa., May 26, 1891, and immediately thereafter became pastor of the Lutheran Church at Tower City, Schuylkill Co., Pa.

Mr. Bond was married to Miss Amy H. Brehm, orig- inally of Lancaster county, later of Allentown, whose parents-Philip Wineland and. Barbara ( Hamaker) Brehm -are still living in Chambersburg, Pa., Oct. 1. 1891. This union was blessed with two sons and two daughters, Paul, John, Mary and Anna, all of whom survive. Their mother died of blood poisoning July 30, 1901, aged thirty- six years. Her remains rest in the Zion's Lutheran and Reformed cemetery in Tower City, Pennsylvania.

During his first pastorate of over thirteen years a debt resting upon St. Paul's Church of Tower City was paid, a new and commodious parsonage was erected and St. Peter's Church at Orwin, Pa., was renovated. While at Tower City he was secretary of the Pottsville Conference of the Pennsylvania Ministerium for some seven years. In August, 1904, he received a call to the Bowers-Long- swamp Parish, consisting of four thriving congregations in southeastern Berks which he accepted when Rev. M. C. Horine, D. D., was President of the Synod, and Rev. E. T. Horn, D. D., LL. D., was President of the Reading Con- ference, to which the parish belongs. He was installed Nov. 27. 1904, at the Huff's Church in Hereford township, Rev. F. K. Bernd, now President of the Reading Con- ference, and Rev. John H. Raker, the second superintend- ent of the Lutheran Orphans' Home, at Topton. Pa., con- ducting the installation services.

To quote again from the newspaper article mentioned, Mr. Bond has since "answered the many calls to minis- terial duties of four thriving Berks county congre- gations one of the largest Berks county charges of the Lutheran denomination, consisting of Bowers, Longswamp, New Jerusalem and Huff's Churches, which for thirty years had been served by Rev. D. K. Humbert. This is one of the charges in Berks county where a minister must be of the most strenuous type. The congregations are widely scattered in the mountainous sec- tions, and they have a membership of several thousand.

He obtained his common school education in the Zettle- meyer's school, near Lenhartsville, which place has lately been selected as a health resort by Banker Eckert of Read- ing. where the financier has erected a beautiful and well equipped summer home. The school was from 1867 to "In a service of seventeen years Rev. Bond preached over 2,600 sermons, baptized nearly 1,200 children, con- firmed 700 members, wedded over 200 couples and con- ducted nearly 500 funerals, besides making hundreds of 1879 under the instruction of Charles Christ, Peter Nagle, Percival Christman, Frank Kaufman, cach for one year, Moses S. Greenawalt for seven years, and George W. Ziegler. M. D., now in Philadelphia, for one year. The addresses at public gatherings and collecting thousands adjoining school in Albany township taught by Amos S. of dollars for benevolent and church purposes."

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Mr. Bond was married again, on Oct. 20, 1904, in Tower Feb. 22, 1835, died Feb. 28, 1893. They were the parents City, Pa., to Mrs. Katie Eva Snyder, a daughter of the of the following children: Emma L., deceased; Daniel D .; late Philip Krebs and wife Sarah (Grumbein), originally Henry G., deceased; and Ella, of Philadelphia. John G. Fisher was a life-long farmer of Oley township, residing upon the homestead. He was a man of enterprise and intelligence. He possessed a retentive memory and was a well-read man, sharing many of his sister's characteristics. of Lebanon county. Her mother still survives in Tower City, Pa. Mr. Bond with his family now resides in the Uriah Biery homestead at Shamrock, Longswamp town- ship, this county.

Having been in humble circumstances, Mr. Bond received aid from the Ministerium of Pennsylvania through the recommendation of his pastor, the late Rev. B. S. Smoll, and the Rev. F. J. F. Schantz, D. D., chairman of the then executive committee, to complete his collegiate and theo- logical training, which aid, out of gratitude and love, and from a sense of bounden duty, he has by strenuous ef- forts returned, that the same might be used again and again to help worthy young men to prepare for the Gospel Ministry. His beloved parents, to whom he owes a never- to-be-paid debt of gratitude, are still living at Lenharts- ville, nearing the seventieth milestone in their toilsome pilgrimage of life.

FISHER. The Fisher family is traced as far back as (I) Henry Fisher, the great-grandfather of Daniel D. Fisher, of Oley township. He was born in Heidelberg township, Berks county, but came to Oley township when a young man and took up some 337 acres of fertile land one mile north of the "Yellow House," most of which land has been in the possession of the family ever since. He was a man of great common sense and when he put up his home in 1801, he built it so substantially that it still stands as a comfortable shelter for his great-great-grand- children. He is buried in Huntingdon county, his death occurring while on a visit there. His daughter Polly had married Henry S. Spang, of Huntingdon, and he had gone to pay her a visit, but he was advanced in years and the trip proved too much for him. On Jan. 1, 1781, he married Susanna Ruth, also of Heidelberg township, born Oct. 29, 1761, daughter of Christian Ruth. After forty years, four months and eleven days of married life, she died May 12, 1821, aged fifty-nine years, six months and thirteen days. She was the first to be buried in the then newly acquired burial plot of the Oley Churches. These children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Fisher : John, of Oley, but later of Hereford township; Samuel of Oley township; Daniel, of Oley township; Henry, of Oley, who left home and as his whereabouts could not be traced, was given up as lost; Sally Ann, married to Jacob V. R. Hunter, of Reading, who operated Sally Ann Furnace, of Rockland township, Berks county (named after Mrs. Hunter), which furnace was discontinued in 1869; and Polly, married to Henry S. Spang, also one of the pioneer iron-masters of Pennsylvania, who operated the Etna Works, of Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.

(II) Daniel Fisher, grandfather of Daniel D., was a native of Oley township, born on the Fisher homestead June 22, 1795, and died July 16, 1839. He was a farmer and prospered in his work. He attended the Philadelphia market twice a week during fall and winter in a big wagon, and was an excellent teamster. His wife, Mary Gernand, daughter of George Gernand, of Spring town- ship, was born March 4, 1803, and died Jan. 27, 1878. They are both buried at Oley Cemetery. Their children were : John G .; E. Matilda m. Abner Griesemer, of Oley town- ship; Hannah (unmarried) ; Sarah m. Frank C. Butz; and Deborah G. and B. Amelia (unmarried).

(IV) DANIEL D. FISHER was born on his great-grand- father's homestead one mile north of the "Yellow House," Aug. 2, 1860. He was brought up on the farm and was edu- cated in the public schools and the Oley Academy. When only sixteen years of age he was licensed to teach, by Prof. Samuel A. Baer, then county superintendent, and taught his first term in Earl township, and the following six terms in Oley township. In 1883 he engaged in the huck- ster-produce, butter and egg-business. Six years later he bought the Fisher homestead, consisting of 150 acres of some of the best land in the Oley valley. Since then he has added to his number of acres, and now has 156 acres. The house on the farm, as before mentioned, was built by his great-grandfather Henry Fisher. The masonry of this house is beautiful, the stones nearly all being rect- angular shaped, and the plaster is of the very best. The present barn was built by John G. Fisher in 1862.

Mr. Fisher is a Democrat, and has served his township as school director for the past fifteen years. He was auditor of Oley township, when but twenty-three years old, and held the position for three years. He was com- mitteeman of Oley township many years, has served as delegate to many conventions, town, county, and also State, was secretary of the County Standing Committee for three years, and has been in every way prominent and public-spirited. Mr. Fisher and family are members of Salem Reformed Church in Oley, of which he was deacon for four years, and he has been trustee for many years of this congregation. In addition to his other interests Mr. Fisher is a director of the Farmers' National Bank of Boyertown, holding that office since 1897. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Oley, and became its first treasurer and is a stockholder of the Yellow House Creamery Association, as well as its treas- urer. He is a member of the Berks County Historical So- ciety, and is a man well posted on national and local history.

In 1880, Mr. Fisher married Olivia B. Herbein, daughter of Abraham and Eliza (Brumbach) Herbein, of Oley town- ship. The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Fisher : John, a graduate of the Keystone State Nor- mal School, class of 1902, married Verna Spohn, and has two children, Otto and Marjorie; James H., a farmer of Oley, married Hannah Strunk, and has a daughter, Erma; Ella married Lawrence Matthias, of Earl township, and has a son, Russel (they reside with Mr. Fisher) ; Nevin D. and Daniel W. are unmarried and residing at home; Mary Eliza died in 1885; Henry Wayne died in 1890; and twins died in infancy.

Mr. Fisher is one of the most prominent men of Oley township, and his public spirit and progressiveness have placed him before the people of his locality upon many occasions.

JOHN B. DAMPMAN was born in .Chester county, Pa., July 29, 1851. He is the son of Jacob and Catharine (Buchanan) Dampman, being descended both on his father's and mother's side from the early settlers of Chester county.

Miss B. Amelia Fisher was born on the Fisher home- stead Sept. 2, 1829, and has always lived here, now making Mr. Dampman was educated in the common schools of Chester county, was a student in New England her home with her nephew, Daniel D. Fisher. She is an intelligent lady and can speak both English and German. schools, and afterward graduated from Pennington (N. J.) She is a great reader, preferring historical works; and she is also very fond of flowers. Possessing bountiful means, she is very charitable, and has many warm personal friends who admire her many talents and her pleasant manner.

Seminary. He taught school in both Chester and Berks counties, and in 1873 entered the office of George F. Baer, as a student at law, being admitted to the Bar of Berks county in 1875. He engaged in the practice of his pro- fession for six years, and in 1881 became the founder of the Reading Herald, continuing as its editor and propri- etor for fifteen years, during which time he made it a newspaper of considerable force in the community. In

(III) John G. Fisher, son of Daniel and Mary (Ger- nand), was born June 22, 1824, and died July 1, 1887, aged sixty-three years and nine days. He is buried at Oley cemetery. His wife was Mary Ann Davidheiser, born 1896 he sold the Herald to William McCormick and went

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upon the staff of the Pittsburg Times, as editorial writer and literary editor. He remained there for upward of five years, during which time he became a prominent and well-known figure in Pittsburg journalism.

In 1901 he resigned from the Times, and returning to Reading took up the profession of advertising, in which he has had considerable success, especially in the line of bank advertising and in political advertising, though he has been busily employed also in mercantile commissions. In the political line he has conducted many important campaigns, one of which was the notable contest which resulted in the formation of Greater Pittsburg.

Mr. Dampman was one of the founders of the Reading Press Club and has taken a prominent part in newspaper organizations, having been for two terms a member of the governing board of the International League of Press Clubs, of which he was one of the founders. He was also an officer of the Pittsburg Press Club and repre- sented that organization at several national conventions.

Mr. Dampman married in 1879 Miss Annie L. Frees, of Reading, and has one son, Lieutenant Paul E. Dampman, of the United States navy, who graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1904, and has since seen service in various parts of the world.

DANIEL H. DEETER, master mechanic of the Phila- delphia & Reading Railway Company, is a native son of Reading, Berks county, born in 1863. His father, Henry Deeter, was with this company for forty-seven years, the services of father and son covering the remarkably long period of sixty-five years.

Henry Deeter died Sept. 28, 1887, at the age of fifty-nine years, eleven months, after a successful career as a rail- road man. When only a boy of thirteen he became loco- motive fireman for Timothy Jackson, and at the early age of sixteen was made a locomotive engineer. He continued in that capacity, serving also as wreck master and engine- in man for the company until the close of his life. Mr. Deeter married Lavinia Holl, and to them were born six children, namely : Emma (m. William Noll) ; Henry H., who is foreman in the Port Richmond shops of the Phil- adelphia & Reading Railway Company, Philadelphia; An- nie (m. J. W. Bennethum) ; Isaac L., a machinist; Miss Mary E., who is living in Philadelphia; and Daniel H. The father of this family was a member of the Reformed Church. For thirty-eight years he belonged to the I. O. O. F.

Daniel H. Deeter was educated in the Reading public schools and private institutions. He took up the study of mechanical drawing under Rosell E. Frentzel, and later had private instruction in that line from Superintendents Good and Kemmerer of the Philadelphia & Reading shops, serving his time as a machinist, as well as in drafting, in the employ of the Philadelphia & Reading Company. All of his working years have been passed in the employ of this concern. He left the office to acquire practical experience in the care and operation of a locomotive, serv- ing as fireman, engineer, wreck master, round house fore- man, assistant road foreman of engines, road foreman of engines and on July 16, 1900, he became master mechanic of the Philadelphia and New York division of the road. On Nov. 1, 1904, he was raised to his present position, that of master mechanic at the Philadelphia & Reading loco- motive shops in Reading. Here he has 2,500 men under his supervision, and some idea of the volume of work done in the vast establishment may be gained from the statement that an average of ninety locomotives is turned out monthly-new, repaired and rebuilt.

made man in the truest sense. He has acquired his po- sition and the knowledge which enables him to hold it by unceasing efforts, begun in early life, and never relaxed under the many demands made upon his strength and time. His attainments are noteworthy, and have gained him the respect and admiration of all the men with whom he has been brought into contact. Mr. Deeter is a member of Lodge No. 62, F. & A. M .; Reading Lodge of Perfec- tion; Philadelphia Consistory; and Rajah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is a member of the Second Reformed Church, and is independent in politics.

On June 3, 1884, Mr. Deeter married Frances C. Harri- son, and they had two children; J. Harrison, a graduate of Haven College, Philadelphia, who died Aug. 25, 1907, aged eighteen years, six months; and Evelyn, at school.

ANDREW SCHULTZ, in his lifetime one of the exten- sive land owners of Berks county, with a comfortable home near Barto, was born in Hereford township, Berks county, May 19, 1813, a descendant from an old family which came to America from the Kingdom of Saxony.

Melchior Schultz was born June 26, 1680, and he died Feb. 15, 1734, in the fifty-fourth year of his age, at Berth- elsdorf, Saxony. His death took place just about two months before the time set for his emigration to America. His children were : George, Melchior and Christopher, the latter of whom became a noted minister.

George Schultz, son of Melchior and brother to Rev. Christopher, married, Jan. 31, 1744. Maria, daughter of Abraham Yeakel, and they made their home in Upper Hanover township, Montgomery, Co., Pa. Their children were: Abraham, born March 23, 1747; and Melchior, born March 25, 1756. George Schultz died Oct. 30, 1776, aged sixty-five years, and his wife Maria passed away Dec. 13, 1797, at the age of seventy-nine years.

Abraham Schultz, son of George and Maria, was born Upper Hanover township, Montgomery county, March 23, 1747. He was a great lover of books and, hav- ing a retentive memory and comprehensive mind, he be- came one of the best educated men of the time. He was a member of the Schwenkfelder religious society, and he served it in the capacity of trustee, school inspector, teacher and catechist. The community frequently called his services into requisition as scrivener and counsellor. In 1796 he was elected a member of the General Assem- bly from Montgomery county. He died on Dec. 25, 1822. In 1771 he married Regina Yeakle, daughter of Chris- topher Yeakle, and their children were: Benjamin, born July 20, 1772, died March 20, 1802: Adam, born Sept. 20, 1775; Isaac, born March 4, 1778; Abraham, born Feb. 18, 1781, died March 23, 1802; Frederick, born Aug. 10, 1784, died Dec. 17, 1794; Joseph, born Jan. 22, 1787; and Mel- chior, born June 23, 1789.

Adam Schultz, son of Abraham, was born Sept. 20, 1775, in Upper Hanover township, and died Aug. 30, 1831. He lived at Treichlersville, in Hereford township, where he was engaged in farming, owning a fine farm of 140 acres there and one of 214 acres in Washington township. He was very successful in his undertakings, and became very well-to-do. On May 21, 1801, he married Regina Kriebel, who was born June 25, 1780. and who died May 3, 1858. Their children were: Abraham, born April 12, 1803, died Dec. 5, 1814; Israel, born June 4, 1805; Jesse, born April 8, 1808, died Nov. 7, 1831; Adam, born Sept. 21, 1810, died Nov. 12, 1831; Andrew, born May 19, 1813; Enoch, born March 31, 1816; Sarah, born Sept. 1, 1818, died May 11, 1820; Regina, born Oct. 9, 1821; Solomon, born Nov. 19, 1824, died June 4, 1854.

Mr. Deeter has devoted his entire life to acquiring profic- Andrew Schultz, the subject proper of this sketch, was in his early life a farmer at Treichlersville. He was a man of much enterprise and became quite wealthy. He owned three farms lying adjacent to each other, three- quarters of a mile Southeast of Barto. The tract orig- inally contained 214 acres, but this he divided into three parts, erecting three sets of buildings. He also owned a farm of seventy-seven acres in Washington township. He built a grist mill in Montgomery county, which is now iency in his chosen calling. He has never spared himself in adding to his general knowledge by study or research, and has not only kept abreast of modern times and methods but has been the leader in many of the most progressive movements of his day in his line. The position he holds is sufficient evidence of his ability, and of his right to be classed among the foremost men of the present time in his branch of mechanics. His practical experience in his work has been most comprehensive. Mr. Deeter is a self- owned by William Himmelwreight. He built himself a

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large three-story brick residence near Barto, and there he abandoned the business. He was always interested in he died Nov. 27, 1885. He is buried at the Schwenkfelders church near Clayton. He married Sarah Mohr, who was born Sept. 1, 1818, daughter of Andrew and Catherine Ann (Mechling) Mohr, of Centreville, Lehigh Co., Pa., and she died May 1, 1883. Their children were: Annie, who died young; Emma, who died aged thirty-two years; Mary A. M .; and Harrison, who died aged twenty-three years.

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Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I, Part 103

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846; J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1018

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846; J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : J. H. Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1018