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 111

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 111

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After receiving a common school education Joseph N. Shomo entered a general store at the age of fourteen years, and was engaged as salesman until his twentieth year, when he went to the State of Ohio to engage in the store business, but on account of the climate he was obliged to return to Hamburg after a trial of two years. He then entered the general store of his brother William, and remained with him as salesman for fourteen years, until 1869, when he purchased the Union Grist Mill in Hamburg, carrying on the milling business for three years. The dust of the mill proving injurious to his health, Mr. Shomo discontinued the business, and after selling the mill purchased the "Washington House" at Hamburg, which he conducted successfully for nineteen years, until he retired from active business life.

Upon the establishment of the Keystone National Bank at Reading, Mr. Shomo became one of the directors, and he has continued as such to the present time. He officiated as a town councilman for two terms, serving as president of the council for four years, and was also a trustee of the Keystone State Normal School, at Kutztown, for up- ward of ten years, by appointment of the Governor. When the Pennsylvania Railroad Company came to extend its branch railroad through the Schuylkill Valley, beyond Reading, to Pottsville, in 1884, the management selected Mr. Shomo as a special agent to adjust all land damages by reason of the construction of the railroad, and in this responsible position he performed his duties to the entire satisfaction of the company. In 1901, when the county office of controller was created to take the place of the county auditors, the Governor appointed Mr. Shomo as the first incumbent to serve until the 1st of January, 1902, and he filled this appointment in a very creditable manner. His careful supervision of the fiscal matters of the county for seven months resulted in the saving of many thousands of dollars and this service proved at once the utility and importance of this new local office.

Mr. Shomo was married in 1861 to Helen S., daughter of Daniel Wolff, who was born and died in Hamburg, and his wife, Sevilla Weiser (Fesig). Mrs. Wolff was born in Womelsdorf, and later lived with her grandfather, Jabez Weiser, on the Conrad Weiser farm; at the age of fifteen she came to Hamburg, and at nineteen was married. Mr. and Mrs. Shomo have one daughter, Carrie (m. to S. H. Moyer). They are active members of St. John's Lutheran Church, Mrs. Shomo having been a most devoted worker in the church and Sunday-school of this congregation since her girlhood. She has been the superintendent of the infant department for the past sixteen years, and this long-continued service evidences the love of her pupils and the appreciation of the church officials.

R. MONROE HOFFMAN, sor, of Peter and Mary C. (Althouse) Hoffman, was born in Exeter township, Berks county, Oct. 16, 1862, and educated in the common schools of Reading, graduating from the high school in 1882, qualifying himself particularly for a business career. He started as a clerk with the firm of B. W. Grist & Co., and after serving them for several years entered the employ of the Farmers National Bank, with which he continued

for eighteen years. His fidelity and proficiency were ap- preciated by the directors of the bank, and he was grad- ually promoted from one position to another until he be- came the cashier, and he served as cashier until August, 1903, when he resigned. Shortly afterward he was elected secretary and assistant treasurer of the Reading Trust Company, and has been filling these positions until now. He has been much interested in the success of the Homeo- pathic Hospital, serving as a trustee since 1905.

Mr. Hoffman was married to Rebecca H. Schaeffer, daughter of Nicholas S. Schaeffer and Susan High, his wife, of Muhlenberg township. They are members of the First Reformed Church at Reading. He has officiated as treasurer of the congregation for seventeen years. He is also one of the elders and has repeatedly represented the church as a delegate to the classis, the Eastern Synod, and to the General Synod of the Reformed Church, and is at present the treasurer of the Eastern Synod of the Reformed Church.

HARTMAN. The common ancestor of the Hartman family in America was Valentine Hartman, a pioneer of Alsace township. His remains and those of his wife lie side by side among those of other members of the Hart- man family, in the old graveyard at Spies's Church in Al- sace township. A brown sandstone marks his grave, and upon it appears the following inscription :

"HIER RUHET DER LEIB VON' VALENTINE HARTMAN ER WERDE GEBOREN 1738 IN AUGUST, UND STARB 21 JULY 1794 ALT 56 JAHRE. HIER RUHET DER LEIB VON MAGDALENA HARTMAN GEBORNE IM JAHR 1740 UND STARB DEN 19 OCTOBER 1814 ZEICHTE 4 SOHNE UND 2 TÖCHTER WAR ALT GEWORDEN 74 JAHRE."

The following were probably the children of Valentine and Magdalena Hartman, all of whom are buried in the same old graveyard at Spies's Church: Valentine, born 1766, died in 1835; a daughter; Jacob, born in 1771, died in 1837; a daughter; Johannes, born in 1777, died in 1843; Daniel, born in 1780, died in 1840. Near the grave of the elder Valentine Hartman is a brown sandstone on which is the following inscription :

"DENKMAHL VON TOCHTER NAMEN JUDITH HARTMAN GEBOREN 1727, STARB IN DECEMBER 1790 ALT 64 JAHRE."

The elements have almost obliterated this inscription. There is doubt as to the fourth word, the word back of "Tochter" is almost entirely effaced. Judith Hartman probably was a sister of the elder Valentine Hartman, born in 1738.

Among other interesting facts relative to the Hartman family gleaned from gravestone inscriptions to be found in the burial ground of the Oley church, are: Adam Hart- man (son of George and Elizabeth Hartman), born Oct. 6, 1793, died Sept. 7, 1865, aged seventy-one years, eleven months and one day. He married Anna Margaret Von Mathias, born Aug. 14, 1795, died May 3, 1872, aged seventy-six years, eight months, nineteen days. David Hartman, born Nov. 27, 1836, died May 13, 1905, aged sixty-eight years, five months and sixteen days. Daniel Hartman, born Feb. 19, 1817, died April 1, 1899, aged eighty-two years, one month and twelve days, married Elizabeth Von Moyer, born in 1812, died in 1880. Joseph Hartman, born Jan. 3, 1825, died March 2, 1879, aged fifty-

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

four years, one month and twenty-nine days, married Elizabeth Von Eshbach, born in 1827, died in 1877, and they had one son and three daughters. John M. Hartman, born Jan. 16, 1829, died May 29, 1900, aged seventy-one years, four months and thirteen days.

SYDNEY J. HARTMAN, cashier of the First National Bank of Oley, Pa., was born in Alsace township, Jan. 4, 1874, and he is the great-grandson of John Valentine Hart- man, who was the first of the family to settle on the Hartman farm in Alsace township, which property is now owned by Ephraim R. Hartman, father of Sydney J. The tract then consisted of 170 acres, and much of it was wood- land when John Valentine Hartman secured it from a man by the name of Lanciscus. This man one day while hunting brought home in his pouch a little pine tree which he planted on what is now the Hartman farm. It grew into a fine tree and stood for more than one hundred years, but in 1876 a violent hail storm broke it down, and thus passed away one of the old landmarks of Alsace town- ship, if not of Berks county.

The barn on the property was built by John Valentine Hartman in 1814, but the house was built by Valentine Hartman in 1843. There is a fresh spring on the farm that never runs dry, and adds materially to the value of this really fine property. The Hartman farm was used during the life of the old State militia as a drilling ground once a year. There annually all able-bodied men between twenty-one and fifty-five came and were given military training. This great event was called Battalion Day.

John Valentine Hartman was married to Catherine Deibler, and they are both interred in the old Spies's church burial ground, the following inscriptions appearing on their tombs: John Valentine Hartman, born Nov. 4, 1766, died May 5, 1835, aged sixty-eight years, six months and one day. Catherine Hartman, born in 1776, died in 1827, aged fifty-one years. The children of John Valen- tine and Catherine Hartman were: (1) William settled near Circleville, Ohio, where he was three times married, and had twenty-four children. (2) Samuel lived and died in Alsace township, and is buried in the Spies's church burial ground; he had children, Gideon, Valentine, Lewis, Israel, Samuel and Emma, and Justina. (3) Abraham lived at Spies's church where he is buried, and had three children, Rebecca, Sarah and Susan. (4) Valentine. (5) Hannah married John Ritter, who moved to Union county, Pa. (6) Polly Maria, born in 1806, died in 1851, married first a Mr. Young, and second Henry Schmeck. John Valentine Hartman was one of the early supervisors of his district, and among the heirlooms of the Hartman family is an account book kept by him showing the in- come and expenditures of the district during his term of office, and the items in his careful penmanship afford a good idea of the early history of those times.

Valentine Hartman, son of John Valentine Hartman, was born in Alsace township in 1808, and died there in 1882. All his life he followed farming and became a prosperous landowner and proprietor of the Hartman farm, now owned by his son, Ephraim Hartman, father of Sydney J. Hartman. In politics Valentine Hartman was a Republican after the formation of that party, and served his district as assessor. In religious matters he was con- nected with the Spies's church, and is buried in the fam- ily lot of the old Spies's church cemetery. He married Mary Rothermel (1814-1889), daughter of Leonard Roth- ermel, of Maiden-creek township. The following child- ren were born of this marriage: Levi, of Oley township ; Catherine, who died at the age of twenty-four years; Jeremiah, of Friedensburg; Valentine, who died in 1907, aged sixty-eight years, at Friedensburg; Harrison, who died about 1870; Moses, of Belleville, Ill .; Amos, deceased ; Mary, wife of Samuel Rapp; Amanda, who married Levi Cronrath, has one son, Thomas H., and lives in Exeter township; Ephraim R .; Emma, who died in infancy; Sarah, who died in 1872, and is buried at Spies's church ; Mahlon, an extensive farmer at Freeburg, Ill .; Ezra, of Friedensburg; and Hannah, who married Appolonius Shalter, of Alsace township. During his long and useful life Valentine Hartman was a prosperous and representa-

tive man of his township and is pleasantly remembered as one of the men who helped to make Berks county what it is today.

Ephraim R. Hartman, father of Sydney J. Hartman and son of Valentine Hartman, was born July 7, 1848, in Alsace township, where he lived until he attained his majority, working on the family homestead. In 1873 he began farming for himself in Alsace township on the Pricetown road, continuing there for five years. He then removed to the homestead, where he remained until 1891, at which date he settled at Friedensburg to engage in a general merchandise business, but after nineteen months he sold his interests to H. R. Yerger, the present proprietor of the store. Mr. Hartman then retired, and now resides at Friedensburg in a handsome, large stone residence, which was once known as the Benneville Glase house. In addition to his' home, Mr. Hartman owns a valuable farm of 151 acres in Alsace township, the Hart- man homestead ; the foundry and machine shops at Fleet- wood, formerly known as the Schaeffer & Merkel foundry. now occupied by the Reading Metal Body Company, a successful corporation employing 120 men. He is also the owner of No. 837 Penn street, on which property is located "Leitham's Hotel." It has a frontage of 30 feet 9 inches, and. being in the very center of the business part of the city, is very valuable. In addition to his other in- terests Mr. Hartman was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Oley incorporated in 1907, of which he is now director. He is also a director of the Oley Knitting Mills where thirty people are employed. During the Civil War a very valuable iron ore mine was worked, 4,000 tons of ore having been taken from the mine which is located on the Hartman homestead. In all of his business enterprises Mr. Hartman has been very successful, and he has not only won prosperity, but also the confidence and esteem of his associates for his hon- orable methods and unflinching integrity of purpose. In religious affiliations Mr. Hartman and his family are members of the Reformed denomination of Spies's church.

In 1872 Mr. Hartman married Amanda Gass, daughter of Jacob Gass, of Muhlenberg township, and these children were born to them: Sydney J .; Esther m. Jabez Hartman. of Lehigh county, Pa., now a grocer of Reading; Warren G. is cashier of the First National Bank, at Fleetwood, Pa .; Valentine is a student of Franklin and Marshall College; and six died young.

Sydney J. Hartman was educated in his township schools, the Keystone State Normal School, the Oley Academy. and was finally graduated from the Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pa., in 1897, having entered that in- stitution in 1893. Following his graduation he was ap- pointed principal of the Leesport high school, and held the chair for one term, resigning to become a teacher in the Robesonia grammar school. Later he became gram- mar school teacher at Brielle, N. J., and remained in that capacity for four years, thus completing his successful career as an instructor. He then hecame bookkeeper for William F. Remppis Co. at Reading where he remained for four years, or until his election to the position of cashier of the First National Bank of Oley, located at Friedensburg, where he has since remained, his connection with the bank adding to its financial strength and firmly establishing its management in the confidence of the busi- ness public.

Socially Mr. Hartman is a member of Oley Castle No. 119, K. G. E. He is a member of Friedens Reformed church. Mr. Hartman is justly regarded as one of the most representative young business men of Oley. He has a wide circle of warm personal friends, as well as many business associates, who recognize his ability and excellent business training, which fit him so well for his responsible position.

LEVI R. HARTMAN, son of Valentine Hartman, and father of Ammon S. Hartman, an aged and very substan- tial resident of Oley township, was born in Alsace town- ship on the Hartman homestead Sept. 17, 1835. He was brought up on the farm, working for his father until hie was twenty-two years of age, at which time he engaged

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BIOGRAPHICAL

in farming on his own account on one of his father's farms establishment opposite his home, where he is conducting a of fifty-eight acres in Exeter township. Here he resided large and constantly growing business. He gives employ- for twenty-two years, and in 1860 he bought the farm, ment to five skilled mechanics, and manufactures all kinds of home-made vehicles. Mr. Hartman was also engaged in the manufacture of farm implements until the spring of 1908, when he sold that branch of the business to Charles H. Hoppes, of Oley. He also owned the building and store at Manatawny, where he built a warehouse, renting the property to Tilghman Hausman for three years, but he then sold to James Brumbach, who in turn disposed of it to Manatawny Castle No. 461 K. G. E., of which Mr. Hartman was the organizer and a charter member. So in- terested was he in the success of this society that he had a lodge hall built and made many improvements upon the property. and still owns it, but has it tenanted. His next purchase was a fine farm of 135 acres located on the road from Yellow House to Friedensburg, and on the Oley turnpike from Yellow House to Reading. This is regarded as the best farm in Oley township, and is well supplied with substantial buildings. The house is of stone, and was built by Casper Griesemer in 1782, while the barn was built by Daniel Griesemer in 1839. The crops are excellent and the profit is good. This farm is also rented. Mr. Hart- man owns still another farm, this one being of seventy- four acres, at Pleasantville. As are his other farms, this one is well located, is well stocked and has good build- ings. Formerly it was a Yoder farm. Mr. Hartman owns considerable woodland, and resides near his 135-acre farm on a small tract he purchased from Benneville Griesemer. A portion of the house was built over one hundred years ago, and the other was put up in 1868. The three acres of land surrounding the house are well laid out, and there is plenty of fruit. A very large spring supplies water that is recognized as good as any in the world, and Mr. Hartman takes great pride in the spring. Not only is Mr. Hartman a large landowner, he also holds bank stocks and bonds, and is one of the heaviest tax payers of the township, and a man whose word is as good as his bond anywhere.

Mr. Hartman bought two farms from Mahlon D. Clauser of Manatawny, and these he sold five days later to C. B. Cleaver of the same place at a good profit. Mr. Hart- man is a man of progressive ideas and is always inter- ested in matters calculated to prove beneficial to the com- munity. He was one of the organizers of the First Na- tional Bank of Oley, of which he became a director, and of which he is now second vice president. He is actively interested in educational matters, and when the Pleasant- ville district school was built, in 1887, Mr. Hartman acted as architect and builder, and rendered very efficient service, which was fully appreciated as is shown by the many testimonials he received from the of- ficials and members of the district.

In addition to his other interests Mr. Hartman belongs to Suyeto Tribe No. 477, I. O. R. M .; Griesemersville Lodge, I. O. O. F., as well as the K. G. E. No. 461 already mentioned. He and his family are members of Spies's Re- formed Church.

In 1885 Mr. Hartman married Mary R. De Turck, daughter of Samuel De Turck, of Oley. They have three daughters : Sallie E., a graduate of Reading Collegiate Institute, was licensed to teach in the public schools of Berks county; Annie D. took a course in stenography and typewriting, and is now the clerk at the A. J. Brumbach factory at Reading; Nora E. is an accomplished musician and a charming young lady.

The Hartman family as has been shown in these brief sketches is one of the oldest and most important of Berks county. Its representatives are numbered among the leading financiers, professional men and farmers of the several communities in which they reside, and they are all worthy of the name. They are all prosperous, in- fluential and progressive, and each in his way has borne an important part in the development of his locality. They are all industrious, honest and frugal, and ever ready to bear a part in the support of state and church. Surely the name of Hartman is one that is honored and respected not only in Berks county but wherever it is found.

JOHN H. STONER, select councilman from the Elev- enth ward of Reading, who is engaged in an extensive dry goods business at No. 919 Buttonwood street, was born in 1858, in Myerstown, Lebanon Co., Pa., son of the late Augustus D. and Susan (Myers) Stoner, the latter being a member of the old Myers family after whom the vil- lage of Myerstown was named. August D. Stoner was for many years engaged in the mercantile business at Myerstown, as a member of the firm of Donges & Stoner.

John H. Stoner attended the public schools of his native county, after leaving which he became a clerk in the firm of A. D. Stoner & Son (composed of his father and brother Myers R.). For five years, 1881-1886, he lived in Ohio, and in 1886 he came to Reading, where he clerked for several years, and in March, 1903, bought out the well-known stand and business of J. Fred Gerhard, which he has conducted with much success to the present time. Mr. Stoner is a Democrat, and although not a politician accepted the nomination to the select council, to which he was elected in 1906, serving in that body

On Oct. 4, 1857, Mr. Hartman married Mary Ann Shaeffer, daughter of Capt. Henry Shaeffer, of Light Horse Brigade fame in the Civil war. Mrs. Hartman was born Oct. 2, 1833, and died Oct. 19, 1903, aged seventy years and seventeen days, and is buried at Spies's church in the Hartman family lot. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hartman were: Henry, born in 1858, died in 1881; Emma R., born in 1860, died in 1861; Abner, born in 1861, died in 1862; Ammon S .; William C., born in 1864, died in 1865; Mary Ann, born in 1866, died in 1873; Calvin, born in 1867, died in 1905, m. Hannah Long, and had five children- Harry, Levi, Clarence, Erma and Ira (he was a farmer of Oley township) ; Lillie m. Seth De Turck, a very sub- stantial farmer of Oley township; Carrie, born in 1871, died in 1873; Elizabeth, born in 1875, died in 1877; and Miss Clara is at home attending her aged father, whose great comfort she is. This young lady is a model of daughterly love and devotion and the attachment between her and her father is beautiful. Since her mother's death she has endeavored to fill her place, and is rewarded by seeing the pleasure her father takes in her ministra- tions.

AMMON S. HARTMAN, second vice president of the First National Bank of Oley and a prominent business man of lower Berks county, was born in Alsace township, Jan. 21, 1863, son of Levi R. Hartman. Until his twenty-second year, when he married, Mr. Hartman worked for his father farming, but in 1884 he began working for himself and for eleven years worked in Oley township on shares. He then sold his farm stock, and in that same year (1897) moved to Oley Line, buying a farm of 122 acres from Hiram Kauffman. This land was located at Oley Churches, and at the time of his purchase there were no buildings upon it, so that he has built the substantial ones now standing. The house is 39 x 40 feet with a kitchen and sum- mer house attached. The Swiss barn is 45 x 100 feet. He also has a carriage shed, a big wagon shed, 30 x 40 feet, a straw shed and pig sty and good chicken house. Although lumber was then cheap, compared to present prices, these buildings cost him $7,500.

In addition to his home property, Mr. Hartman owns a 120-acre farm, located near the Oley Churches on the Manatawny creek. This property belonged to Jacob Griesemer and Mr. Hartman purchased it at an assignee's sale in 1896, and it is now rented. In 1898 Mr. Hartman went to Wyomissing, a suburb of Reading, and purchased two houses and twelve building lots. However, after two years he moved to Friedensburg where he bought of Jacob Levan the home he now occupies on Main street. After securing this property, he erected the coach making with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

his constituents. He is fraternally connected with Wash- & Co., his partners being his brother, Charles Nolan, ington Camp No. 64, P. O. S. of A., with which organiza- tion he connected himself in 1876; the P. O. S. of A. Veteran Association, and the North Eastern Democratic Association.

In 1893 Mr. Stoner was married to Lena Eckert, daugh- ter of Jacob and Catherine ( Hilderbrand) Eckert, and to this union there have been born two sons, namely : Roy A. and Russell E., both attending school. Mr Stoner has a prosperous business, and may well be classed with the substantial men of his community.

WILLIAM NOLAN, deceased. In recalling the names of those former citizens of Reading who contributed through many years to her commercial development, that of William Nolan comes naturally to mind, for he was a man whose native ability, executive capacity and high sense of business integrity made his life one of usefulness in many directions. He was born in Queen's County, Ireland, March 17, 1840, and died Feb. 28, 1903, after an illness of six months, at his home at No. 520 Walnut street, Reading. His parents were James and Annie (Bennett) Nolan.

The parents of William Nolan were natives also of Ireland. In 1846 James Nolan brought his family to America and established his first home in the city of New York. From there he subsequently removed to Reading, where he died in 1858. In the twelve years of life ac- corded him after landing in the United States James Nolan proved himself a man of intense energy, within that period accomplishing more in his special line of activity than many others complete in a whole lifetime. He en- gaged in railroad building and contracting and was one of the capable constructors of a part of the Lebanon Valley railroad and that section of the Philadelphia & Reading railroad that connects Auburn with Dauphin. He was the father of the following children, who, with their mother, returned to New York after his decease : William. Charles, James, Thomas, Edward, Kate and Mary. Kate is the wife of William Kearns, of Reading, and Mary is the wife of Dennis McAvoy. of Norristown.

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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 111

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