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 133

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 133

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

(II) John Latsha, eldest son of Frantz, the emigrant, lived in Colebrookdale township, where he died in 1794. He made his will in 1787, Will Book B, page 360. He made his home with his brother Jacob. If he was married he had no children, and his estate was divided among his brothers and sisters.

(II) Frantz Latshar (Latchar), second son of the emi- grant, made his will April 1, 1802, and it was probated July 1st of the same year. His wife, Esther, survived him, and was bequeathed 400 pounds in gold. They had three sons, Frantz and Jacob receiving all the land in Hereford township, and John the homestead.

(II) Abraham Latshar, third son of the emigrant, -lived in that section of Colebrookdale township, now in- cluded in Washington township. He died in 1814. His will in English script, but German words, is on record in Vol. 4, page 114. His children were: Samuel, Johannes, Jacob, Anna, Elizabeth, Catharine, Heinrich (who lived for a time in Clayton, and then left for parts unknown), Alex- ander and Abraham.

- 1

(III) Abraham Latshaw, son of Abraham, was born in Colebrookdale township, now Washington, in May, 1769, and died July 29, 1843. He owned the farm of eighty- eight acres at Passmore. In 1795 he married Elizabeth 3 Bauer, sister to Andrew Bauer. She was born Aug. 20, 1776, and was a woman of determined character. She died Jan. 5, 1869, and was interred beside her husband in the Mennonite cemetery at the meeting house at Bally. Abra- ham Latshaw and wife had children as follows : (Samuel : Abraham, born in 1798, died unmarried in 1818; Anna, born in 1801, m. John M. Bowman, and died in 1853; Rev. 'John B .; Elizabeth, born in 1806, m. Abraham A. Bech- tel, and died in 1864; Jacob. B .; Henry B. m. Anna Kemer- er, and had children-Alexander and Abraham; Abraham, 33 1.

(IV) Samuel Latshaw, son of Abraham, was born March 18, 1797. He died June 30, 1882, and was buried at Bally Meeting House, being a member of that church. He was a farmer on the farm now owned by Jacob S. Latshaw, at Passmore, a tract of eighty-eight acres. He married Catharine Bower, born Dec. 1, 1796, and died July 2, 1878, after fifty-seven years of wedded life. Their children were: Anna, born March 17, 1826 died unmar- ried Dec. 10, 1875, and was buried at Hereford Mennonite Church; Elizabeth, born Dec. 7, 1822, m. (first) Jonas Sas- saman, and (second) Isaac Bechtel; Susanna, born Oct. 23, 1823, m. Samuel Mensch, and died March 27, 1894; John B .; and Abraham, born Dec. 7, 1831, m. Susanna R. Moyer (born Jan. 6, 1838), lived in Pottstown, and had a daughter. Lizzie.

(VI) JOHN H. LATSHAW, son of John B. and Maria (Hiestand) Latshaw, was born in Douglass township, Montgomery county, April 26, 1871. His education Was acquired in the common schools, and West Chester Normal School, attending the latter institution one term. He grew up accustomed to the work of the farm, and was but eighteen years .of age when his father died, and the care of the 102-acre farm fell upon his shoulders. He farmed for his mother until one year before her death in 1898. The farm was then sold to his brother Harvey, who still resides there. In November, 1898, Mr. Latshaw bought his present farm of sixty-four acres in Douglass township, Montgomery county, at the Berks county line. He is very successful in his work, and he has made many modern improvements about his place. His walks are of ce- ment, and the whole place is kept neat and clean, pre- senting a most attractive appearance. The land is very fertile, and is all level and well cultivated. Mr. Latshaw keeps four horses and ten head of cattle, but in the win- ter time has from fifteen to twenty-five head of cattle. He is a director and secretary of the Congo Creamery Company, which averages about 3,800 pounds of milk daily.

Mr. Latshaw is a Republican in politics, and has served as election officer. He and his family are members of Hereford Mennonite Meeting House, at ' Bally, of which he has been chorister for many years, and he has held the same position in the Sunday-school since he was eighteen years old.

On Jan. 22, 1897, Mr. Latshaw married Annie F. Clem- "mer, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Funk) Clemmer, of Hereford township, and their children are: Mabel C., Elsie C., Anna C., Stanley C., Lloyd C. and Mary C. (VI) HARVEY H. LATSHAW, son of John B. and Maria . (Hiestand) Latshaw, was born Feb. 17, 1876. He pur- chased the homestead of 102 acres, and devotes all his

514

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

time to its cultivation, being a progressive and up-to-date farmer, studying the soil carefully. He pays much at- tention to poultry and to the raising of young pigs. He married Hanna B. Clemmer, daughter of John B. Clem- mer, of Bally, and they have two children, Norman and May.

(VI) DAVID H. LATSHAW, son of John B. and Maria (Hiestand) Latshaw, and now the leading merchant at Bechtelsville, was born in Douglass township, Montgom- ery county, Feb. 28, 1878. He attended the local schools of his native district, and worked upon the home farm until he was twenty-one years of age. He then became a clerk in the general store of Jacob L. Reiff, at Bech- telsville, and after clerking there for a year and a half, succeeded him in business, buying out the entire prop- erty, stock, fixtures and good will. He carries a com- plete line of general merchandise, and deals largely in wholesale salts, handling the famous Genesee salts. Since October, 1901, he has been postmaster at Bechtelsville. He is a member of the Mennonite Church, belonging like most of the family, to the church at Bally. He has been active in the Sunday-school for many years, being su- perintendent and chorister in the Bechtelsville Sunday- school.

On Feb. 20, 1902, Mr. Latshaw was married to Mary F. Clemmer, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Funk) Clemmer, and have one daughter, Amy Lola C. Beside his store Mr. Latshaw has a forty-two acre farm, and is noted for his success as a potato raiser.

(IV) Rev. John B. Latshaw, son of Abraham, was born in Colebrookdale township April 4. 1804, and at his death Feb. 11, 1878, was buried at East Coventry Men- nonite Church. He was reared to manhood in his native district, and after his marriage moved to East Coventry township, Chester county, where he was elected to the ministry of his faith. He preached at East Coventry Church and at the East Vincent Church for many years. He also carried on farming, owning a tract of eighty acres. He married Mary Boyer, born Dec. 4, 1802, and died June 27, 1882. Their chil- dren were: Sallie m. Christian Hunsberger; Elizabeth m. Henry Kulp; Abraham lives at Hughesville, Lycoming county; Sophia m. Benjamin Halteman; Samuel B .; Mary m. Jesse Hunsberger ; and Susan died aged sixteen years. (V) SAMUEL B. LATSHAW, son of Rev. John B., now a miller, coal merchant and farmer at Barto, was born in East Coventry township, Chester county, Oct. 2. 1845. He was educated in the schools of Pigeon Creek, leaving at the age of sixteen years. He worked for his par- ents until he was eighteen years of age, when he learned the milling trade from S. H. Hunsberger, in whose em- ploy he remained two years. After working at Potts- town, Pennypacker's Mills, Muncy. Lycoming county, and in Missouri, for a second time he located in Muncy. In the fall of 1868 he rented the Henry Landis Mill at Bech- telsville which he operated four years. In the spring of 1873, in company with Mr. A. L. Ebert, he purchased the old Babb Mill property at Barto, on the West Branch of the Perkiomen creek. This mill was operated by the firm of Latshaw & Ebert for three years, and then Mr. Lat- shaw purchased Mr. Ebert's interest, since which time he has operated it alone. This mill and property were in the possession of the Babb family for about 100 years, the mill being first used as an oil mill, the original deeds of the property mentioning it as an "oyl mill." Mr. Lat- shaw has greatly improved the property, and in 1885 he added a "roller process." He makes the well known Minnetonka and Snow Flake flours, so popular in near- by towns. Five men are constantly employed in the mill and on the farm. There are sixty-nine acres to the mill property. In 1877 Mr. Latshaw huilt the barn, 45 x 65 feet. He is very progressive and has the confidence of the entire community. The pumping station of the Standard Oil Company is partly built on three acres of land which belonged to Mr. Latshaw. In politics he is a Republican, and was township auditor for some years.

He and his family are members of the new Mennonite Church, in which he has always been an active worker, and he has been trustee and treasurer. He is a teacher in the Sunday-school at Bally.

In the fall of 1869 Mr. Latshaw married Annie E. Harpst, daughter of Henry and Mary Harpst, of Schuyl- kill township, Chester county. She was born May 29, 1849, and died Nov. 6. 1902, and was buried at Bally. To this union were born : Mary .A., of Bally, m. Irwin H. Bechtel (who died in 1902) and has two sons-Irwin and Stanley, and Amy m. Dr. Oswin Berky, of Bally.

(IV) Jacob B. Latshaw, son of Abraham and Eliza- beth (Baner), was born on the Latshaw farm in Wash- ington township, in 1808-09, and after a life devoted to farming in Douglass township, Montgomery county, he died in October. 1882, and was buried at Christ's Luth- cran Church, at. Niantic. His wife, Anna Sallada, born in 1809, died in 1862, and was buried in the same cemetery. Their children were: Levi, who died unmarried; Abra- ham, of Reading; Jacob S .; George, of near Congo; David, of Topton; Maria, m. to Jacob Schoenly (deceas- ed) ; Annie, m. to Joel Stoudt, of near Niantic; Eliza- beth, m. to Henry Moyer (deceased), of Niantic; Matilda, m. to Jeremiah Koch, of Niantic. Of these Levi, Abra- ham and Annie are deceased.

(V) JACOB S. LATSHAW, son of Jacob B., now living retired two miles south of Barto, near the Montgomery county line, was born in Hereford township. Nov. 28, 1837. He was brought up on the farm, and learned the shoemaker's trade when he was about fourteen. This he followed for about seven years. He then began farm- ing on his father's farm in Douglass township, where he lived four years. After that he farmed six years at East Greenville, and then returned to Douglass, where for four years he farmed for Andrew Bauer. The next seven years were spent on the Mary Ann Schultz farm, and in 1882 he moved to his present location. His tarm is a part of the original homestead of the Latshaws, and has been in the family name upward of one hundred years. It now contains eighty-seven acres, and everything is in first class condition. In the spring of 1902 Mr. Latshaw retired from farming. He and his family are Lutheran members of Christ's Church at Niantic, of which he has been deacon. elder and trustee. In politics he is a Re- publican, but he has never cared to hold public office.

On Nov. 14, 1862, Mr. Latshaw m. Emeline Schoen- ly, daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth (Boyer) Schoen- ly, of Washington township. She was born May 20, 1840, and died Sept. 13, 1908. and is buried at Niantic. The children born of this union were: Horace, a grocer at Pottstown, m. Sarah Geisinger, and has two daughters, Stella and Erea; Amanda m. C. K. Huber, of Douglass township, Montgomery county, and has had three sons and two daughters, Harry. Norman, Alf, Jannie and Ag- nes (deceased) ; Melvin died unmarried aged twenty-eight ; John, a farmer in Douglass township, Montgomery coun- ty, near the Berks county line. m. Kate Sheets; and Ag- nes m. William Kepner, of Pottstown, and has a daugh- ter Florence. 5

(V) GEORGE LATSHAW, son of Jacob B., lives in Doug- lass township, near Congo, Montgomery county. His children are: Abraham, of East Douglass township, m. Kate Wiand: Milton, of East Douglass township, m. So- fah Riegner; Henry m. Kate Trace, and lives in East Douglass township; William m. Kate Koble, and lives in East Douglass township; Annie m. William Widiger. of East Allentown : John and Robert are unmarried and live in East Douglass township.

(V) DAVID LATSHAW, son of Jacob B., makes his home in Topton, Berks county. His children are: Lovinia m. James Johnson, of Northampton county: Idea m. Henry T. Roth, of Breinigsville: Agnes m. Nathan Mest, of Topton; Caretina m. William Kershner, of Topton; Amanda m. Edward J. Haas, of Topton : Emma m. Eu- rathias Schmoyer, of Lyons; Jacob m. Bella -, and lives at Breinigsville ; Alvin m. Sarah Arfield and lives at Topton ; and Milton, of Topton, m. Sallie -

515

BIOGRAPHICAL

IRWIN H. BECHTEL, a successful and progressive merchant at Bally, in Washington township, Berks county, was born Jan. 7, 1866, son of William B. Bechtel, and he died May 16, 1902.

William B. Bechtel was born June 20, 1835. He was the first merchant to open a general store in Bally, and after carrying on the business until 1898, sold it and the premises to his son, while he himself engaged in the manufacture of paper, under the name of the West Branch Paper Mill, in a mill located three miles east of the town, and this he continued until his death, July 15, 1903. He established the postoffice at Bally; it has continued in the store until the present time. He was active in church life, belonging to the New Mennonite Church, which he served officially many years. He married Elizabeth Him- melwright daughter of John and Maria (Kiel) Him- melwright, of near Bally, and they had one son, Irwin H. Bechtel.

Irwin H. Bechtel was educated in the public schools and in the Keystone State Normal School at Kutztown. He was licensed to teach by Prof. D. S. Keck, county superintendent, and he taught two terms in Washington township-one term at Dale and the other at Bally. His father then took him into the store, where he gained prac- tical knowledge of the mercantile business under his father's guidance, and in 1898 became the purchaser of the business, conducting it until his death.

Mr. Bechtel and his family were members of the New Mennonite Church at Bally. For some years he was as- sistant superintendent of the Sunday-school, and then became superintendent, which position he filled in a most satisfactory manner until his decease, ably assisted by his wife.

On Oct. 3, 1893, Mr. Bechtel married Mary Latshaw, daughter of Samuel B. Latshaw, and two children were born of this union, Stanley Latshaw and Irwin Russell. Since her husband's decease, Mrs. Bechtel has carried on the business in a most satisfactory manner, serving also as postmistress.

HERBERT M. STERNBERGH, son of J. H. Stern- bergh, was born in Reading, Jan. 5, 1871, and received his education in the Lawrenceville School, near Prince- ton, and at Harvard University.

After completing his education Mr. Sternbergh entered the firm of his father, it becoming J. H. Sternbergh & Son, and this firm was later merged into the American Iron & Steel Manufacturing Company, which is now cap- italized at $5,550,000, of which $3,000,000 is preferred and $2.550,000 common stock, both being fully paid and non- assessable. Our subject was made vice-president of this company in 1901. and was its General Manager until January, 1907. He is also president of the Acme Motor Car Company, of Reading; president of the American Die & Tool Company brought to Reading by Mr. Stern- bergh from Wilmington, Del .; and is vice-president of the Kansas City Bolt & Nut Company, of which his fath- er is president. At one time he was a director of the First National Bank, but was compelled to give this up as the duties of his other associations demanded his en- tire attention.

Mr. Sternbergh was married, in 1894, to Harriet Hoff- man, daughter of Dr. Walter J. Hoffman, a noted ethnol- ogist, long connected with the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, D. C., and consul to Mannheim, Germany, under President Mckinley's administration. Dr. Hoff- man died in the fall of 1901, aged fifty-three years. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sternbergh, of whom five are living: Van R. H., Harriet E., Regis S., Marcia T., and Alan May. Mr. Sternbergh is a mem- ber of the Wyomissing Club. In political principle he is a Republican. He and his family make their home in Reading.

WILLIAM McCORMICK, editor and proprietor of the Reading Herald, was born in 1866, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Mr. McCormick was graduated from Yale in 1887, and since then has been engaged in newspaper work, save for one year while teaching school in New York State. He was reporter on papers in Boston and Phila- delphia; editor of the Times at Bethlehem, Pa., for two years; and in 1893 established the Leader at Allentown, Pa. In 1896 he bought from John B. Dampman, a half interest in the Reading Herald, and one year later be- came sole owner.

Mr. McCormick makes his home in Mount Penn bor- ough. He is unmarried.

GEORGE C. BORDNER, Professor of Higher Math- ematics in the Keystone State Normal School, at Kutz- town, and a well-known educator in Berks county, was born May 22, 1870, on the old Bordner homestead, in Bethel township, half a mile east of Millersburg. He is of the sixth generation in descent from the original (I) Balthaser (Baltzer) Bordner, who at the age of thirty- four years, together with his wife Marilles, aged thirty- seven years, and three children-Jacob, Hanna and Mela, aged ten, eight and seven years, respectively,-sailed from Rotterdam on the ship "Adventurer," and landed at Phil- adelphia, Sept. 22, 1732. Balthaser Bordner settled in Tulpehocken township, Lancaster (now Berks) county, immediately after landing, and died there in 1747.

(II) Jacob. Bordner, son of Balthaser, and great- great-grandfather of Prof. Bordner, was born in 1722. He was cxecutor of his father's estate, and on April 10, 1761, was naturalized as a citizen of Tulpehocken township, Berks county, at the Supreme court of Phila- delphia. On June 20, 1761, he purchased from Thomas and Richard Penn the present Bordner homestead, which had been leased to Jacob Hoffman, who was unable to pay his rental. Since that day the homestead has been owned by a son of each successive generation. Jacob Bordner married Sarah Balt, and they reared a family of seven children: Jacob (2), John, William, Daniel, Peter, Anna Maria and Barbara. The father died in 1792, and by his will the homestead passed to his eldest son Jacob (2).

(III) Jacob Bordner (2), son of Jacob, was born in 1754, and spent his whole life on the homestead. ' He was married to Anna Maria Brosz, seven years his jun- jor. They had a family of six children: Jacob (3), John, Catharine, Elizabeth, Julian and Susanna. Jacob Bordner (2) died in 1837, willing the homestead to his eldest son Jacob (3). The widowed mother survived ber husband two years.

(IV) Jacob Bordner (3), son of Jacob (2), was born in 1793, and he, too, passed his whole life on the home- stead. He married Catharine Lerch, born in 1793, and they had issue as follows: Augustus, Joanna, Mary and Thomas L. Jacob Bordner (3) died in 1867, preceding his wife in death by one year. He willed the homestead to his youngest son, Thomas L.

(V) Thomas L. Bordner, son of Jacob (3) and fath- er of Prof. Bordner, was born May 8, 1824, on the old homestead where his whole life was passed. He was a successful farmer and stock-raiser, and a man of local prominence in politics. A stanch Democrat, he was elected auditor, treasurer and school director at different times, and in 1880 was a delegate to the Democratic State Con- vention which elected the national delegates to the con- vention that nominated Gen. Hancock for the Presidency. He and his family have been consistent members of the Reformed church all their lives. He was married to Ma- linda Snyder, born 1830, daughter of Peter and Cathar- ine Snyder, prominent residents of Bethel township. Mr. Bordner died in March, 1899. His children were: Wil- liam J., born 1849, m. Emma Dundore; Cyrus P., born 1851, m. Emma Trautman; Samuel T., born 1856, m. Annie Burkhart; Adaline C., born 1859, is single; Mary M., born 1862, died in infancy; Francis A., born 1864, m. Mary Weidner; Rebecca S., born 1865, is single; John H., born 1867, m. Emma Deck; Charles L., born 1868, m. Annie Hartman; George C. born 1870; and Ellen N., born 1873, died in infancy.

516

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

(VI) George C. Bordner was reared on the old Bord- three years and natural seiences four years, and also ner homestead and attended the public schools of Mil- lersburg in Bethel township until 1886, when he began to teach school, teaching one term in Jefferson town- ship, four in Bethel township, and one in the Mt. Aetna Grammar School, in Tulpehoeken township. In the spring of 1892 he entered the Keystone State Normal School, and was graduated in June, 1893. During the year following graduation he was principal of the Kutz- · town high school, and in the spring of 1894 was elected an additional teacher in mathematics in the Keystone State Normal School. In the fall of 1894 he re-entered the Normal School to prepare for the Sophomore class at Franklin and Marshall College, and again taught math- ematics at the Normal during the spring of 1895. In the fall of 1895 he entered Franklin and Marshall Col- lege and graduated in the classical course in June, 1898,

receiving the degree of A. B., and three years later, in course, the degree of A. M., from his Alma Mater. Dur- ing the last two years at college he specialized in math- ematies, physics and astronomy, and attained to great proficiency in these departments. While still at college he condueted for two seasons a summer normal school at Bernville, Pa., where he prepared many young men and women for teaching and for entrance to various colleges. After graduating he took charge of the Bern- ville high school and conducted it very successfully for one year, and after being re-elected in the summer of 1899, he resigned to take charge of the department of Higher Mathematics in the Keystone State Normal school, his appointment to this position indicating the esteem in which he is generally held. While serving in this cap- acity ever since he has taken advantage of every oppor- tunity to raise the standard of his department both peda- gogically and scientifically, and by so doing has given it a standing second to none of its kind in the State.

Fraternally, Prof. Bordner is prominently connected with Bethel Lodge, No. 820, I. O. O. F .. and Huguenot Lodge, No. 377, F. & A. M. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, and as such takes an active interest in the affairs of the borough of Kutztown, having served for some time as a member of the borough board of school directors in the capacity of secretary of the board. He is a member of the Association of Mathematies Teach- ers of the Middle States and Maryland, as well as of the American Federation of Science and Mathematics Teachers.

In March, 1898, Prof. Bordner married Mary M. Ber- ger, daughter of Levi and Rebecea ( Bertram) Berger, The former is a valued citizen and successful business man of Bernville, and during the administration of Pres- ident Cleveland was postmaster of that town. Prof. and Mrs. Bordner have four children, namely : Paul B., Claude L., Grace A. and Mary H.

LOUIS A. SASSAMAN, of Reading, belongs to a family several of whose members have attained prom- inence in the law, being a son of the late Judge Augus- tus S. Sassaman, for many years a lawyer of pre-emin- enee in Berks county.

Mr. Sassaman comes from German ancestry, whose first representatives eame to America many years ago, immediately after the Revolution, and settled in eastern Pennsylvania. They have been in Berks county since the days of his great-grandfather, John Sassaman, a native of Germany, who was a farmer and lived in Doug- lass township. He was a man of thrift and shrewdness, and left a large estate to his son Christian, who lived and died on one of the best properties in Douglass township.

Augustus S. Sassaman was born on the old homestead in Douglass township Feb. 7. 1834, and received his early education in the local schools and at a classical seminary at Boyertown. In 1853 .he entered the junior class at Dickinson College, Carlisle, where he graduated in 1855, after which he engaged in teaching at New Berlin. Un- ion county, in an institution which in 1856 was merged into Union Seminary. He taught ancient languages

gave instruction in German. Meantime he began the study of the law under the direction of Hons. A. H. Dill and Isaac Slenker and resigning his position in the Union Seminary in 1862 spent a year in the office of Isaac Slenker, Esq., and was admitted to the Bar at Lewisburg, Pa., in December, 1863. At the instance of some of his wife's friends he returned to his native county and soon acquired a large and lucrative practice. He continued in the general duties of his profession un- til 1875, when he was elected additional law judge of the courts of Berks county and served one full term of ten years, from Jan. 2, 1876, to Jan. 4, 1886. Upon his retirement from the Bench Judge Sassaman returned to the practice of the law, and he died at the age of sixty- one years, Sept. 17, 1895, nine years after his retire- ment from the Bench. His wife was Louisa DeTurk, a member of a noted old Berks county family of Hugue- not origin, she being a daughter of Jacob DeTurk, a farmer.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 133

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