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 107

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 107

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Mr. Smink has risen to a position of affluence from a modest beginning. Starting as a clerk, he has pro-

gressed gradually and surely, to a position of unques- tioned influence. Besides filling the presidency of the Reading Iron Company, he serves as a member of the executive committee as well as a. director of the Penn- sylvania Steel Company, as well as a director of each of the subsidiary companies owned or controlled by that com- pany. He is a director of the Reading Trust Company ; president of the Deer Park Land Company ; and a director of the Spanish-American Iron Company; the Pure Oil Company ; the Cornwall & Lebanon Railroad Company; the Schuylkill & Lehigh Railroad Company; the Mary- land Steel Company; the Penn Mary Coal Company; and the Temple Iron Company. He is also interested in several iron and mining companies of lesser magnitude.

In December, 1866, Mr. Smink married Clara C., daugh- ter of Augustus and Elizabeth (Seidel) Thompson, of Reading, and they have four children, namely: Harry A .; Augusta, now the wife of Samuel Heim; Emily M., wife of J. Bennett Nolan, Esq., and Elizabeth. The family are members of Trinity Lutheran Church.

Mr. Smink's social connections include membership in the Wyomissing Club, the Berkshire Country Club (of which he is president), the Manhattan Club of New York City, Pennsylvania Society in New York, the Railroad Club of New York, American Iron and Steel Institute, New York, American Institute of Mining Engineers, the Philadelphia Country Club, of Philadelphia, and Frank- lin Institute, Philadelphia.

HARRY A. SMINK, only son of F. C. Smink, was born in the city of Reading in 1867. He received his early education in the public schools of his native place, later attending a preparatory school, and in 1892 entered the employ of the Reading Iron Company, with which he is still connected. He began as a clerk, and was advanced upon his merits, until in 1897, he was promoted to he assistant superintendent of the Tube Works of the Com- pany, a position he has ably filled since. The charge is a responsible one, over two thousand people being employed in the plant.

Mr. Smink married Rosie Deysher, daughter of William G. Deysher, and they have two children, Frank and Rus- sell. The family are Catholic in religious connection.

FERDINAND THUN, manufacturer of textile machin- ery and president of the borough council in Wyomissing, was born in Barmen, Germany, Feb. 14, 1866. He was educated in the schools of that place and graduated from the technical high school in 1883. He then entered the office of a large establishment which manufactured braids, laces and dress trimmings-this constituting one of the principal industries of Barmen, for many years a famous manufacturing center of Germany-and continued there three years, when he determined to visit America. He proceeded to Stony Creek Mills, Berks county. Pa., reach- ing the place in September, 1886. and secured employment as bookkeeper in the office of Louis Kraemer & Co., the senior proprietor being an old friend of his father. While so employed he devoted his spare time to the study of the English language. After remaining there until the spring of 1888, and having successfully acquired the Eng- lish tongue, he returned to Barmen, but was at home only a short time when he decided to locate permanently in the United States, and there to engage in the manufacturing business. He directed his special attention to the manufac- ture of braids, ribbons, etc., until the following February, by which time he had familiarized himself with the practi- cal side of this business. He then went to New York and was employed in a leading braid factory for three years, serving for a considerable part of the time as super- intendent of the works. While there he met a young man, also from Barmen, Henry K. Janssen, an expert machinist in the manufacture of textile machinery, and they agreed to form a partnership in that branch of business and locate at Reading, Pa., where they had friends, and where the prospects of success appeared to them very encourag- ing. They accordingly went to Reading in 1892, and in a modest way started the new enterprise at Nos. 220-222 Cedar street, employing only a few hands. In four years

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BIOGRAPHICAL

they had become so successful that they required a larger place with greater facilities for increasing development. They selected a tract of several acres of land at Wyomis- sing, along the Lebanon Valley railroad, where they erected a factory capable of accommodating 100 hands, and theirs was the first industrial establishment in that place. In 1900 they organized and incorporated the com- pany under the name of the Textile Machine Company, with Mr. Janssen as president, and Mr. Thun as secretary and treasurer, which positions they have held until now. In December, 1906, this company employed 300 hands, a remarkable increase in ten years, showing the skill, energy and success of its projectors. Mr. Thun was in- strumental in establishing at the same place the Berkshire Knitting Mills and the Narrow Fabric Company, two new industries which employ nearly 500 hands.

In 1902 Mr. Thun started the Wyomissing Suburban Building and Loan Association, and in 1906 the Wyomis- sing Building and Savings Association, and he has served as treasurer of both organizations until the present time. With these large and promising enterprises at Wyomissing he naturally became very active in the movement for establishing a borough, and upon its incorporation in 1906 he was elected one of the first councilmen, and in the or- ganization of the council was chosen president.

In 1896 Mr. Thun married Anna M. Grebe, daughter of Louis Grebe, of Stony Creek Mills, by whom he has six children : Anna, Margaret, Wilma, Hildegard, Ferdinand and Louis.

Ferdinand Thun, father of Mr. Thun, is a native of Barmen, born in 1830. He learned the foundry business there, which he followed successfully for forty years, and he has been living in retirement since 1890. He married Julia Westkott,'of Barmen, who died there in 1881, aged forty-two years. They had four children: Ferdinand; Emil, who succeeded his father in the foundry business ; Mary; and Emilie. The last three are living at home in Barmen.

EDWIN BOONE, vice-president and cashier of the National Union Bank, of Reading, was born on the Boone homestead, in Exeter township, Berks county, Jan. 14, 1846. His emigrant ancestors were among the first settlers in this county, coming from England and settling along the headwaters of Monocacy creek, in what is now Exeter township, prior to the year 1720. His father, Ellis H. Boone, moved to Reading in early manhood, and there became a well-known man in his line, serving for more than forty years as foreman in the Philadelphia & Reading car shops. Ellis H. Boone married Ann Cleaver, daughter of Derrick Cleaver, whose ancestors were also among the first settlers of that section of Berks county.

Mr. Boone was educated in Reading, and was only fif- teen years old (having left high school) when tendered a position as clerk in the National Union Bank, with which institution he has ever since been connected. He accepted the clerkship March 4, 1861. the day Lincoln was first inaugurated President. It is of interest to note that Lincoln's ancestors were near neighbors of the Boones in Exeter township, before 1730. Mr. Boone commenced his business career with a determination to succeed which he has never relinquished. He gave evidence of ability from the start, and was promoted steadily until he at- tained the position of cashier in 1878, though then but thirty-two years of age. . Over twenty years later, in 1901,

he was honored with election to the office of vice-president, of Scandinavia, visiting Christiania, the capital of Nor-

and still retains both responsibilities. In all the years he has been intrusted with the heavy obligations of these positions his vigilance and fidelity have been marked, and no cloud has ever marred the history of the insti- tution or its management. Under his management the bank has enjoyed continual success, and a steady growth, the business transacted in 1906 amounting to over $82,500,000. But it is only due to the directors of the bank to say that Mr. Boone's services have been both appreciated and rewarded, and he has the satisfaction of enjoying the con- fidence of those in authority at the bank and of the public upon whose patronage its prosperity depends.

Mr. Boone's alertness, keen perception, knowledge and long experience in matters of finance have brought him into many congresses and councils, and in contact with some of the greatest minds and financiers of the country. Whatever threatened or menaced, whether depression or panic or stringency of any kind, the National Union Bank has had in Mr. Boone a pilot who knew the channel and knew of every reef and ledge, and whatever the tempest this commander carried his barque safely through to the calm sea.

In the year 1892, seeking a respite from business cares, Mr. Boone made a tour of the United States, visiting many points of interest, and extending his trip through Nova Scotia and Canada. Six years later, in company with Messrs. James A. and Dr. Charles A. O'Reilly, he visited France, sojourning most of the time in Paris. Again in 1902, in company with his friend, Rev. F. K. Huntzinger, pastor of St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Reading, he journeyed to Jamaica, stopping at Kingston (since destroyed by earthquake), where they remained for three weeks, meeting many of the distinguished and in- fluential citizens of the Island. This jaunt proved so enjoyable to Mr. Boone and his companion that another was planned, and in 1905 they set sail for Europe, visiting France, England, Holland and Germany.

While in London rare respect and privileges were ex- tended them. They were shown through the Bank of England, an unusual courtesy to those having no creden- tials or recommendations. However, identity and confi- dence were established through a five dollar National Union Bank note bearing the signature of Mr. Boone as cashier. This was accepted as a satisfactory sponsor, and they were shown through this historic institution, being specially interested in the printing, as all currency circulating throughout England and the English Colonies is printed there. They were also admitted to both Houses of Parliament, while in session, and at a time or on a day when visitors were excluded.

In the summer of 1907 these two friends took a six weeks' trip together, on this occasion visiting Norway, Sweden, Denmark, northern Germany and Holland. They sailed from New York on July 17th, on the "Noordam," of the Holland-American line, and though the trip across was not particularly pleasant, the weather being cold and foggy, they had the novel experience of coming close to an iceberg, so close that the vessel was slowed down until it made scarcely any progress, because of the danger of a collision. Icebergs at that season show little of their bulk above the surface, and are a source of danger avoided by every captain. During the trip the fog at one time prevailed for thirty-six consecutive hours. At Hamburg, Ger- many, the friends boarded the tourist steamer "Vega" for Norway, and they had a delightful voyage along the romantic and mountainous coast of that country, also pen- etrating many of the fjords which indent the mountains, whose sides slope directly into the sea. The marvelous color effects on the water, the snow-covered mountains, the mountain forests, the beautiful cascades formed by the melting snow-all the bold scenery of the coast was pleasantly varied by the trips up the fjords, which afforded them many delightful glimpses of peaceful farm and vil- lage life. The wonders of the midnight sun were among the glories of that far northern land they enjoyed to the full.

From_Bergen, Norway, they went to the larger cities way; Stockholm, with its beautiful public and private buildings, parks, streets and places of amusement; Up- sala, the great university town, the intellectual center of Sweden, and its handsome Dome Church, founded two hundred years before the discovery of America, and rebuilt in modern times; Copenhagen; and Berlin, where they remained for a week, on Sunday attending divine service in the new Dome Church, and during their stay visiting many noted places of interest. From that city they proceeded to Rotterdam, where they embarked on the "Ryndam," of the Holland-American Line, arriving at their home on August 27th. The tour was one of

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unusual interest and enjoyment, and Mr. Boone and Union, having served for three years in the Civil War his friend live through their experiences again in many as a member of Company H, 104th Pennsylvania Volun- pleasant hours of friendly intercourse. teers. He married Mary C. Keever, daughter of Henry

Fraternally Mr. Boone is a 33d-degree Mason, and V. and Lydia C. Keever, of Reading, and had two is likewise a member of the Independent Order of Odd children : Johnson Wilmer, and Mary L. Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He belongs to the First Baptist Church, with which he united in boy- hood, and since 1879 he has served as treasurer of that church.

On April 9, 1868, Mr. Boone was united in marriage with Mary J. Buchanan, and to them have been born two daughters: Mary, now the wife of Theodore Bond Harrison, whose home is at Germantown, Pa .; and Annie, wife of Henry Moore Hawkesworth, living at Brookline, Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Boone is a man of fine physique and personality, a safe counselor, though never obtrusive, generous and charitable without ostentation, and upright in every relation of life.

COL. GEORGE NAGEL was born near Coblentz, Ger- many, about 1728, son of Joachim Nagel. He came to Reading about 1755, and engaged in blacksmithing. He served as an ensign in the French and Indian War, and in 1763 he returned to Reading and resumed his trade. In 1771 he was elected sheriff of Berks county. When the Revolution commenced he raised the first company in Berks county to fight for American liberty. His com- pany participated in the campaign at and about Cambridge, Mass. He was a brave and true soldier, and rose to the rank of colonel. Col. Nagel continued in the military service until 1783, when he returned to Reading and engaged in the mercantile business. He continued in this business until his death in March, 1789. His remains were interred in the Reformed cemetery. He married Rebecca, daughter of Mordecai Lincoln, of Exeter town- ship.

CAPTAIN PETER NAGEL, a brother of the above Col. George Nagel, was born near Coblentz, Oct. 31, 1750, and came to Reading as a young man and learned the trade of a hatter under Samuel Jackson, the first hat manufact- urer at Reading. He followed this occupation until 1807, first as a journeyman, then as a manufacturer. During the Revolution he was prominently connected with mil- itary affairs, and was a captain from 1777 to 1783. He held various civil offices, including justice of the peace, coroner and county treasurer. This latter office was subsequently held by a son, a grandson, and from 1873 to 1875 by a great-grandson, the late Dr. Hiester M. Nagel. He took an active part in the military parade in 1794 in honor of President Washington, and held a re- ception to the distinguished gentleman at his house, at the site of the present post-office, to enable the citizens to meet the "Father of his Country." Capt. Nagel was a man of fine, commanding presence, and nearly six feet tall. He died Nov. 30, 1834, and was buried in the Reformed graveyard. Afterward his remains were re- moved to the Charles Evans' cemetery. His name ap- pears frequently as one of the church officers. Mr. William' N. Coleman, a well-known citizen of Reading, now eighty-six years of age, is a grandson of Capt. Peter Nagel. The latter possesses an excellent oil paint- ing of Capt. Nagel, which he prizes highly.

JOHNSON WILMER FISHER was born in Reading, June 18, A. D. 1870.

Henry B. Fisher, his grandfather, was born in Oley township, Berks county, and was well known in the man- ufacturing world in his day. For many years he operated the well known Fisher's Woolen Mills, located on the Swamp Creek, near New Berlinville, in Colebrookdale town- ship. He came to Reading in 1857, where he continued the same business for some years and where he died March 16, 1887. He married Mary B. Johnson.

J. Wilmer Fisher attended the old Friends' School in Reading, and the public schools, leaving the public schools at the age of fourteen to take up the battle of life. He was not satisfied with his education, however, and after his day's work as an errand boy in his father's grocery store, he attended night school and prepared to take up civil engineering. He thus gained sufficient knowledge to enable him to accept a position as rodman in the city engineer's office at the age of sixteen, where he remained for some years, filling successively the positions of rodman, transitman, assistant engineer and general superintendent of the department. In the spring of 1894 he resigned his position in the city engineer's office to accept the position of assistant to the superin- tendent of the Water department, and while acting in this capacity prepared the first detailed plan of the water pipe system of the city. Having formed the determina- tion to adopt the law as a profession, he resigned his pos- ition in the Water department in the fall of 1894 and matriculated as a student at the Dickinson School of Law, at Carlisle, Pa., from which institution he graduated . in 1896. He registered as a law student in the office of Judge Sadler in Cumberland County and was admitted to the Cumberland County Bar June 9, 1896. He took the examination for admission to the Berks County Bar, to which he was admitted Nov. 9. 1896, and has since been admitted to practice in the Supreme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania, the United States District and the United States Circuit Courts. Since his admission to the Bar he has continued in the active practice of his profession and enjoys a large clientele at the present time.

Mr. Fisher is active in the affairs of the Republican party and his face is a familiar one at all its conven- tions, to many of which he has been a delegate, and he is an exceedingly valuable man in the field, having been very useful in State and National campaigns. In 1901 he was nominated for district attorney. In 1904 he was chairman of the Congressional Conference of the Berks and Lehigh Congressional District, which placed in nomination William H. Souden of Allentown, Lehigh county. In 1906 he was the Republican Congressional nominee for the Berks and Lehigh Congressional Dis- trict, and received a large complimentary vote, and in 1908 was prominently mentioned for the appointment to

the Common Pleas Bench to succeed the late Judge Ermentrout. He is at present treasurer of the Republican county committee, having served in that office for many years. Mr. Fisher takes a keen interest in local affairs. He served as a member of the Reading School Board for eight years, during which time he was chairman of many important committees, and as chairman of the Fi- nance committee for a number of years inaugurated many reforms in conducting the business of the board. He is an active member of the Board of Trade and a member of its committee on Legislation. He is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, his maternal ancestors having been members of that Church, since its organization in 1748. He is active in Masonic circles, and is a charter member of Isaac Hiester Lodge No. 660, F. & A. M .; a member of Excelsior Chapter No. 237, R. A. M .; Reading Com- mandery No. 42, K. T .; Philadelphia Consistory. 32d de- gree ; and Rajah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He is also a member of Gen. George G. Meade Camp No. 16, Sons of Veterans.

CHARLES M. RICHARDSON, one of the most ex- tensive creamery operators in Pennsylvania, was born Oct. 8, 1858, in Ontelaunee township, Berks county, where his father and grandfather resided before him.

Henry J. Fisher, his father, was born near New Berlin- ville, Colebrookdale township, Berks county, Pa., and William Richardson, his grandfather, lived at one time moved with his parents to the city of Reading in 1866, in Bern township. He was located at Baltimore during where he has since resided and been actively engaged in the Civil war. He died in Ontelaunee township, leaving the grocery business. He was a loyal defender of the one son, Emanuel.

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Emanuel Richardson, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Ontelaunee township and there fol- lowed farming, also engaging in milling to some extent. Moving to Exeter township, also in Berks county, he bought the old "Daniel Boone" homestead, containing 153 acres, upon which he carried on farming until his death. He married Lydia Miller, and they had the fol- lowing children: Charles M .; Kate, the wife of Edward Beck; Owen, of Reading; Mary, wife of Daniel Snyder, of Reading; Frank, of Reading; Wilson, of Berne; and Ella, wife of George Lee, of Reading.

Charles M. Richardson attended the public schools of his district when a boy, and later (1878-1879) the busi- ness college of Prof. D. B. Brunner, at Reading. He was engaged in creamery work as early as 1883 in Exeter township, near Stonersville. He made his first independ- ent venture in the creamery business in 1888 at Lyon Val- ley, Lehigh Co., Pa. During the twenty years which have since intervened he has developed his business and in- creased his operations to such an extent that he is now interested in more than thirty creameries located through- out this State and New York. He is president of the High Ground Dairy Company, of Brooklyn, N. Y., which operates a number of large creameries in New York State, and also conducts a large retail' milk business in Brook- lyn, New York City. He is vice-president of the Har- ford Dairy Company, of Harford, Susquehanna Co., Pa., which operates eight large plants in that county. He is also a member of the firm of Richardson Brothers, of Berne, Pa., and he is associated with Mr. Howard E. Ahrens, of Reading, Pa., in the firm of Ahrens & Rich- ardson, Bernville, Pa. During the past ten years he has also obtained control of ten small plants, scattered along the East Penn branch of the Reading Railway, between Allentown and Reading. These plants he operates in- dependently under the management of S. W. Hacock, Mertztown, Pennsylvania.

In 1891 Mr. Richardson located at Bernville, Pa., at which place he has since made his home. He is promi- nent and active in the public life and welfare of the borough. He has served for thirteen years as a member of the school board, acting at various times as secretary and president. He was treasurer of the Old Home Week Committee in 1907 and is at present the secretary of the First National Bank of Bernville, with which he has been connected as a director since its organization. He is a member of the Reformed Church, which he has served as both deacon and elder. He has also served as treasurer of the Sunday school for a number of years.

In politics he is a Republican, and for the past few years he has been the Republican committeeman of the borough. In fraternal connection he is a member of I. O. O. F. Lodge No. 122 and of P. O. S. of A. Camp No. 113.

As for his private life, Mr. Richardson married Eliza- beth T. Snyder, daughter of 'Squire William H. Snyder, of Oley Line, Berks Co., Pa. His family consists of four sons : Edgar S., a graduate of Princeton University, class of 1905, and at present a registered student-at-law from Berks county in the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania (he was also prominently connected with the celebration of Old Home Week in 1907) ; William E., a prominent member of the class of 1910 of Princeton University ; and Charles S. and Frank, both students in the Bernville grammar school.

HENRY F. PRINTZENHOFF, a retired contractor and one of the leading citizens of Hamburg, Berks Co., Pa., who has been prominently identified with all public meas- ures calculated to be of benefit to the community, was born July 7, 1847, in Rockland township, this county, son of Charles and grandson of Frederick Printzenhoff. The name Printzenhoff signifies "Prince's Court."

Frederick Printzenhoff emigrated to America from Ger- many in his young manhood, and, locating in Philadelphia, followed coach-making until his removal to Friedensburg, Berks county, where he continued the same business until his decease, in 1863. He was married to an English-

woman, and became the father of five children: Charles, William, Jerome, Caroline and Amanda.

Charles Printzenhoff, eldest son of Frederick, was born in Philadelphia in 1812, and while a boy accompanied his father to Friedensburg, where he learned the trade of a tailor, following same for several years. He then en- gaged in the hotel business at different places for varying periods of time. In 1866 he removed to White Deer Mills, in Union county, where he died in 1901. His wife, Sarah Fisher, daughter of John Fisher, of Oley township, was born in 1818, and died in 1893. Their children were: Mary Ann, who married John Carey; Jonathan; Caroline, who married David Berkenstock; Henry F .; James, who died young; Adeline, who married Adolph Ranck; Ellen, who married Henry Smith; Franklin, who married Amanda Koch; Mahlon, who married Ellen Fisher; Catherine, who married Lewis Spiece; Hannah, who married Charles Simpler ; and Sarah, who died young.

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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 107

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