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 143

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 143

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Mr. Rollman also combined with his other duties that of postmaster for Shillington from 1884 till 1894. He was the first incumbent, as the office was estab- lished at that time. The village had been called Shil- lingsville, after the Shillings residing there, but on establishing the office there the postal depart- ment asked Mrs. Rollman to suggest a name for the station. As there were so many "villes" in that sec- tion already, she proposed the present form, Shilling- ton, and it was at once adopted. Mr. Rollman has always been a strong Republican and his appointment was made by that party. On Sept. 1, 1908, he was elected first chief burgess of Shillington, and declined a renomination, as he felt he had had honor enough.

On April 26, 1877, Adam Rollman was married to Mary, daughter of Henry W. and Elizabeth (Penny- packer) Deeds. The other children in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Deeds were: Angeline, m. to Richard Schnader; Elizabeth, m. to John F. Leib; Owen, and Henry. The paternal grandparents, Henry and Mary (Warner) Deeds, were the parents of five daughters besides the only son, Henry W., viz .: Susan, Mary, Leah, Harriet and Nellie. Mrs. Rollman is a lady of much intelligence and has an unusually good memory. From 1867 till 1874 she was a teacher in Cumru town- ship, but in July of the latter year she definitely a- bandoned that profession and opened the store in Shillington referred to above. Both Mr. and Mrs. Roll- man are Lutherans, and members of the Sinking Spring Union Church.

In person Mr. Rollman is tall and well-built and of considerable physical power. A good business man, practical and energetic, he has accumulated a good property, and is now able to live comfortably free from all cares and responsibilities.

EDWARD J. MORRIS gave efficient service as prothonotary of Berks county, elected in 1903 for a term of three years.

John Morris, Sr., grandfather of Edward J., lived in Ireland, where he reared a considerable family.

John Morris, son of John, Sr., became the father of Edward J. He came to America in October, 1859,, and stopped for a year in New York, then settled in Read- ing, Pa., where he has since lived. He is at present the tipstaff of Judge Bland's court. After coming to this country he married Catherine, daughter of Charles Rogers, a brewer of Cleveland, Ohio. Two of the five children born to this marriage are now deceased, Rose and John; those living are, Sallie C., a school teacher

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

in Reading; Joseph F., wholesale grocer; and Ed- the National Biscuit Company. Mr. Esterly remained ward J.

Edward J. Morris was born Nov. 2, 1864, in Reading. He passed through the public schools of the city, and at.an early age began his business life as a clerk in a grocery store. He continued in this line for nearly ten years, when he embarked in the grocery business on his own account. Mr. Morris is still interested in the business. He was elected prothonotary in Novem- ber, 1903. He leads a very busy life. being connected with a number of the fraternal organiza- of the city, and also is closely identified with local and State politics. He is a member of the B. P. O. Elks, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Knights of Columbus, Total Abstinence Society, and Knights of St. John. He has also taken great interest in Building and Loan Asso- ciations, and has acted as secretary of many of them in the past few years. Mr. Morris is at present State financial secretary of the Retail Merchants' Association of Pennsylvania; a director of the Retailers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company; secretary and treasurer of the Pasteurized Milk and Cream Company of Reading; and president of the Reading Wholesale Grocery Com- pany.

In the political field Mr. Morris is a valued worker in the Democratic organizations. He has been a dele- gate to many important conventions of the party. notably that of the national organization at St. Louis in 1904. and is at present the Second ward member of the Democratic county central committee. He made a losing fight for the Legislature in his district in 1896, not being able to overcome the large Republican ma- jority normally given.

The church affiliation of Mr. Morris is at St. Peter's Catholic church, and he is quite active in the different charitable institutions connected therewith. He has won a very large measure of the esteem of the general public.

ROMANUS ESTERLY, one of Reading's successful business men, and one of the proprietors of the Read- ing Biscuit Company, manufacturers of cakes. crackers and biscuits, located at No. 120 South Third street. was born in Exeter township, Berks Co., Pa .. son of Henry Esterly, and grandson of John and Mary (Clark) Esterly. John Esterly, who was a farmer and black- smith of Exeter township, died when eighty-three years of age. and his wife at the age of eighty-two years.

Henry Esterly attended the public schools of Ex- eter township, receiving a fair education, and early in life engaged in agricultural pursuits, owning a fine farm of 110 acres. He continued to operate in that township until 1903, in which year he removed to Mt. Penn, where he has since resided, retired from active business life. For one and one-half years, Mr. Esterly kept the old "Washington House" in Exeter town- ship, conducting it under the name of the "Gechter's Hotel." He is known as an honest. upright citizen, and has the respect and esteem of all with whom he has come into contact. Mr. Esterly married Sarah, daughter of Peter and Mary (Herbein) Snyder. of Oley Valley, Berks county. The children born to this union were: John. of Mt. Penn .; Harry S .; Romanus; Alice, m. to Howard Body: George, m. to Catherin Keener, of Reading; and Sallie, m. to Harvey Dunn. Henry Esterly is a Democrat in politics, and for ten years was a school director in Exeter township. He is now serving as a member of the board of health of Mt. Penn, and as member of town council.

with the latter firm until this branch of the business was closed. In April, 1903, Mr. Esterly, with his broth- er, H. S., formed a partnership, and since that time they have engaged successfully in the baking of cakes, crackers and biscuits under the firm name of the Read- ing Biscuit Company. They have a fine large four-story building at No. 120 Third street, 60x120, well equipped with all the latest machinery and improvements, em- ploying forty-five skilled workmen. The firm works up an average of 125 barrels of flour weekly, and be- sides enjoying a good, steady local trade, ships the product throughout the surrounding country.

Mr. Romanus Esterly married Miss Sallie Brown, daughter of Charles and Sarah (Levan) Brown, and five children have been born to this union: Mabel, Sar- ah, Paul. Charles and Frances. In politics Mr. Ester- ly is a Democrat. He is connected with St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, serving as a deacon and as a teacher in the Sunday-school, and is a member of the Christian Endeavor. Mr. and Mrs. Esterly and their children make their home at No. 721 North Fourth street. Mr. Esterly has made his own way in the world, and his success is due to his native ability, his determination to succeed and his straightforward manner of doing business. He and his wife are highly esteemed in the community in which he has proved himself to be such a useful and public-spirited citizen. Mr. Esterly is a Mason, being connected with the Isaac Hiester Blue Lodge, No. 660.

ADDAMS. On Dec. 22. 1681, by deed recorded in Philadelphia, William Penn granted to Robert Adams, of Ledwell, in Oxfordshire, England, five hundred acres of land, to be surveyed and located in the Prov- ince of Pennsylvania. Immediately thereafter, Robert Adams came to America and settled in Oxford town- ship, Philadelphia county (now city), where he died in 1719. From him in direct line Sarah B. (Addams) Zimmerman, of Perry township, Berks county, was descended.

Her great-grandfather, William Addams. settled in Cocalico township, Lancaster county, early in the eighteenth century, and in 1761 laid out the town which is now the borough of Adamstown. He mar- ried Ann Lane, of Philadelphia, and had five sons, Isaac, Abraham, Samuel, Richard and William, and one daughter. Two of these sons: William and Isaac, removed to Berks county and settled in Heidelberg, Spring, township. William married Barbara Ruth, and after his death, his brother Isaac married the widow, by whom he had six sons, William, Isaac, Samuel, John, Peter and Abraham.

Isaac Addams, the elder. grandfather of Mrs. Zim- merman, was born at Adamstown in 1747, and died at Reading in April, 1809. He was a farmer, then a lead- ing merchant and citizen of Reading. In 1776 he was captain of a company of light infantry belonging to Colonel Peter Grubb's Battalion of Associators in Lancaster county. He was a county commissioner and member of the Assembly from Berks county.

His eldest son William (1777-1858) and wife Eve Van Reed. settled on the Cacoosing creek, Berks county, at the Addams mill. They had these children: Kittie, m. to Rufus Davenport: Richard; Rebecca; Josiah; and Amelia, m. to John H. Van Reed. He afterward m. Catherine Huey Van Reed, widow of John Van Reed, and had three children: William: John; and Valeria. m. to John Knapp. William Ad- dams was a leading citizen of his day, and served as county auditor, county commissioner, member of the Assembly, was twice a Presidential elector, a mem- ber of Congress two terms, and was associate judge of Berks county 1839-1842.

Romanus Esterly received his primary education in the public schools of Exeter township, which he sup- plemented with a course at Stoner's Business College. and subsequently attended Kutztown State Normal school in 1888 and 1889. The next four years he Isaac Addams, the younger (1779-1844), married Catherine Eckert, and settled at Leesport, Berks coun- ty. Their children were: Isaac; Sarah, m. to Michael taught schools in his native township, and was then employed as a salesman with F. S. Wertz & Co .. bak- ers, with whom he remained until they sold out to Haak; Eliza, m. to Charles Kessler; Catharine, m. to

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BIOGRAPHICAL

Dr. Charles Zoller; John E .; Reuben E .; and Annie, m. to John Runkle.

Samuel Addams (1782-1854) married Catharine Huey, at Sinking Spring, and they had these children: Charles H .; Rebecca, m. to Richard Adams; Mary, m. to John Van Reed; Elizabeth; Harriet, m. to Na- than Young; Jane, m. to Edwin Mull; Isaac; Lydia, m. to Rev. Daniel B. Albright; James H .; and John H. The latter settled in Cedarville, Ill., and became one of the founders and leaders of the Republican party in that State. He was for sixteen years a State senator and declined the governorship. He was the father of Jane Addams, the head resident of Hull House, Chicago, and well-known writer and lecturer.

Abraham Addams (1787-1849) married Lydia Miller, of Millerstown, Juniata county, where he settled and died in 1849. He had two daughters: Ann Eliza m. Jacob Beaver, and their son, Gen. James Addams Beaver, was a brigadier general of volunteers during the Civil war, and served as governor of Pennsylvania from 1887 to 1891, and since 1891 has been a judge of the Superior court; and Lydia m. Capt. Thomas McAllister, of Virginia, who in the Civil war was captain of a company forming part of the "Stonewall Brigade" under command of Gen. Stonewall Jackson. The grandson of the latter, J. Gray McAllister, D.D., is president of Hampden-Sidney College (Virginia).

General John Addams (1780-1832) was long prom- inent in politics and for about twenty years held local office in Reading. In 1814-15 he commanded the Sec- ond Brigade of Pennsylvania Militia. one of the two brigades furnished by the State, which lay at York during the winter of 1814-15, to check the threatened British advance from Washington. He died unmar- ried.

Peter Addams, the father of Sarah B. Zimmerman, was born at Adamstown, Lancaster county, May 31, 1784, and came with his parents to Heidelberg town- ship, Berks county, in early life. On Oct. 29, 1811. he married Susan Eckert, daughter of John and Bar- bara (Gernant) Eckert. He resided at Morgantown, Berks county, Lewistown, Mifflin county and for the greater part of his life in Bern and Centre townships, Berks county, near Leesport. He was a farmer and miller. Originally a Jacksonian Democrat, he be- came an ardent follower of Henry Clay. In 1825 he was a Presidential elector for Andrew Jackson, and in 1848 was the Whig candidate for Congress, but was defeated by William Strong (Democratic), after- ward justice of the United States Supreme Court. He had these children: Sarah B .; Annie E., who died in July, 1891; Adeline, who died in May, 1839; and the late Rev. George Eckert, who died at Read- ing in June, 1897. Peter Addams died Jan. 20, 1852, and his wife Aug. 8, 1842.

SARAH BARBARA ZIMMERMAN, eldest daughter of Peter Addams. was born on her father's' farm, one mile west of Leesport, in Bern township, Berks Co., Pa., Oct. 8, 1813. About the year 1836 she came with the family to the large farm near Dauberville, in Bern (now Centre) township. After the death of her parents, she, her sister Annie and brother George, continued on the farm until March, 1857, when she became the wife of Seth Zimmerman, and removed with her husband and sister Annie to her late home in Mohrsville, Berks county. Mr. Zimmerman was a native of Columbia county, and for fifty years was agent at the Reading railroad station. Mohrsville. He died in September, 1888, and his wife died Feb. 7, 1907, in her ninety-fourth year. They had no chil- dren.

BERTRAND H. FARR, of Farr's Music House, No. 809 Penn street, Reading, is a member of a very old family in America, the early New World home being in Stowe, Mass .. where the family was established for over one hundred years, having come over from Eng- land in the early part of the Puritan movement. Abra- ham Farr died at Stowe in 1689.

Abraham Farr, the second of the name of whom we have definite record, was a resident of Stowe, Mass. He married Rachel Fasket, and they became the par- ents of a son, Abraham.

Abraham Farr, son of Abraham and Rachel, was born in Stowe, March 22, 1761. He moved to Chesterfield, N. H., and there died April 29, 1840. He married Polly Harris, who died in her one hundredth year while sitting at her spinning wheel. Their chil- dren were: Rufus, born March 23, 1783, died May 7, 1858; Amy, born June 15, 1785, m. a Mr. Miller, and died in Vermont; Jerusha, born Dec. 7, 1787, m. a Mr. Miller of Putney, Vt .; Polly, born July 7, 1790, m. Ezra Pierce, of South Windham, Vt., and died Oct. 13, 1856; Clarissa, born Jan. 21, 1793, m. a Mr. Estabrook, settled in Dummerston, Vt., and died May 11, 1839; Sally, born Aug. 8, 1796, m. Eli Hitchcock; Ira, born Dec. 1, 1797, m. Florinda Stowell, and died March 6, 1870.

Rufus Farr, son of Abraham, was born March 23, 1783, in Chesterfield. N. H., and he died at Windham, Vt., May 7, 1858. On Oct. 21, 1810, he married Susan Stone, who was born Nov. 21, 1789, in Groton, Mass., daughter of Asa and Polly Stone, and died at Rochester, Wis., Nov. 16, 1872. To Rufus and Susan Farr were born children as follows: Lurency, born Nov. 11, 1811; Eli, born July 15. 1814, died Oct. 8, 1890; Aurilla, born April 11, 1817; Philesta, born June 9, 1820, died aged eighteen years; Rufus, born Aug. 16, 1823; Merrill H., born April 16. 1827; and Orlando.

Orlando Farr. son of Rufus, was born Dec. 9, 1832. at Windham, Vt., at the homestead where his father settled on the Glebe Mountain. succeeding him in the business of sheep raising, and maple sugaring. In 1868 he went to Illinois, and located at Shannon, where he was engaged in the grain and lumber business until 1871, when he moved to Kamrar, Iowa, where he is the owner of a large amount of land and is now living retired. He married Pauline C. Holton, a native of North Walcott, Vt., and they had a family of seven children: Frank died aged four years; Bertrand H .; Nellie; Stella died in Iowa in 1903; Florence and Leslie died young; and Edward M. is in Iowa with his father.

Bertrand H. Farr was born Oct. 14, 1863, at Wind- ham, Vt., and was six years old when he accompanied his parents to Illinois. He attended the public schools in that State, and at Webster City, Iowa. At the age of seventeen he began teaching school, and followed that calling three years. In the fall of 1883 he went to Boston, and entered the New England Conservatory of Music. studying piano and vocal music and also the tuning of pianos. Returning to Webster City, he spent three years in the music business, and then sold out with the intention of finishing his education at Boston, but upon his arrival at the "Hub," he received a flat- tering offer to go to Philadelphia, to a Chestnut street music house. This offer he accepted, and he remained in Philadelphia five years, at the end of that time com- ing to Reading (1891) as a piano tuner. He had his office in the store of C. W. Edwards for fourteen years. He opened a store in Lancaster, in 1900, in the new Y. M. C. A. building, but later sold this to the Weaver Organ Company. In 1904 he formed a partner- ship with H. E. Gerhardt. in Reading, and under the firm name of Farr & Gerhardt carried on an ex- tensive business in pianos, organs, talking machines, musical merchandise, etc. In March, 1909, Mr. Farr pur- chased Mr. Gerhardt's interest in the firm, and is now carrying on the business alone.

Mr. Farr is active in the ranks of the Republican party, and is very public spirited. He was one of those instrumental in organizing the borough of Wyomissing, and in September, 1906, he was elected its first chief burgess and shortly after his term of office expired he was appointed a member of Council to fill a vacancy in that body. He built the first house in the borough. Besides his music business he has devoted considerable time to floriculture making a specialty of hardy plants, such as irises, peonies. phloxes. devoting about fifteen

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

acres to his nursery, and he issued his first catalogue in 1908. It is said to be the most complete catalogue of peonies and irises ever published in this country. He was elected president of the American Peony Society, at the last meeting, at Queens, L. I.

Mr. Farr married Annie Willis, of Farmington, Maine, a member of a very old New England family.

JEROME LUDWIG BOYER. who has been prom- inently identified with the great iron interests of Read- ing and vicinity for many years, and has gained the reputation of being one of the most prominent direc- tors of these immense industries, is a descendant of one of the oldest and most honorable families of Berks county, Pennsylvania. He was born at Boyertown, Berks Co., Pa., Jan. 19, 1843, son of Jacob K. Boyer, a distinguished citizen of the Keystone State.

The Boyer family is of French Huguenot extraction and was founded in America by Jacob DeBeyer, the great-grandfather of Jerome Ludwig. He settled in Berks county and there became a man of substance and standing and lived to the unusual age of 103 years. His remains lie in the cemetery at Amityville, one of the oldest graves in that sacred spot.

Henry Boyer, father of Jacob K., was born in 1779, and was a pioneer settler at Boyertown, giving his name to the hamlet, in which he built the first l'og house and opened the first blacksmith shop. Here he followed blacksmithing for some years, and he took a prominent part in public affairs. In 1824 he was nominated by the Democratic party as their can- didate for representative and was elected, being re- elected in 1827 and 1832. He died at Boyertown at the age of ninety-eight years, and was buried at that place. He married Catharine Krebs. of Montgomery county. who died at the age of eighty-four years, and they became the parents of a large family.

Jacob K. Boyer, father of Jerome Ludwig, was born in 1821, in Boyertown, and in his youth followed farm- ing and engaged in school teaching. He later engaged in the mercantile business at Boyertown, following this for a few years, when he came to Reading and made that city his home for the remainder of his life. During his residence there he was employed in the freight house of the Philadelphia & Reading Rail- road on Eighth street. Like his esteemed father Mr. Boyer was a Democrat, and served in the House of Representatives. Mr. Boyer died in the prime of life, aged thirty-nine years, and his wife, who was Lucy K. Ludwig, died in 1867. aged fifty-eight.

Jerome L. Boyer received his literary training in the common schools of his native locality, and when a boy was employed as a clerk in a store at Boyertown. He later went to District township, and after clerking a few years there, removed to Reading, where he was first employed by Kline, Eppihimer & Co., for three years as a clerk, and later was made a member of the firm. Staying there three and a half years, he left to accept the position of head bookkeeper of the First Na- tional Bank. later being made cashier of the institution. and there he remained three years. Then, with others. he organized the Reading Fire Brick Company, being elected president thereof, and this position he con- tinues to hold. In connection with this industry, Mr. Boyer has also been identified with many other large inter- ests, including mining and the manufacture of iron, He was at one time manager and part owner in the Temple Iron Company, had charge of the E. & G. Brooke plant at Birdsboro, and in 1880 acted as general man- ager of the Chestnut Hill Iron Company, at Columbia. Lancaster county, a position he held for four years. At present this firm is gradually disposing of its plant. although Mr. Boyer still retains his interests therein. Mr. Boyer was prominently identified with the build- ing of the Bachman Valley railroad for the carrying of ore. and was its president for some time. During the existence of the Citizens Bank of Reading, Mr. Boyer

was largely interested in that institution, and was one of the board of directors.

Mr. Boyer is serving as adviser of the Home for Widows and Single Women, and during the years

1891 and 1892

he served as president of the

board of this institution. He is prominently connected with fraternal organizations, being a mem- ber of Chandler Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 227; Reading Chapter, No. 152; Reading Commandery, No. 42; Phil- adelphia Consistory; and Rajah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. In religion Mr. Boyer is connected with Trinity Lutheran Church, and for a period of thirty-seven years has been an official member thereof.

On Oct. 20, 1868. Mr. Boyer married Miss Susan E. McHose, daughter of Isaac McHose, of Reading, and two children have been born to this union: Wil- liam McHose, chemist for the Reading Iron Com- pany, is the father of one child; Frederick Jacob is a machinist and resides at home.

In 1892 Mr. Boyer was president of the Board of Trade of Reading. and during his incumbency the membership grew from seventy to three hundred. We here give his address. delivered at the banquet held at Neversink Mountain Hotel, Sept. 29th, of that year:

"Gentlemen: Our last banquet, held April 21st at Mineral Springs was a success. There were present at that time eighty members; to-night we have one hundred and thirty. At the April Banquet we had with 115 Hon. Erastus Wiman, and I trust none of us has forgotten his grand speech. To-night we have with us Gen. Gregg, without whom the State government could not get along; so we have for the present, loaned him, as it were, to Harrisburg, but expect him back to Reading at some future time. We have also present Col. Brown. the inventor of the Segmental Wire Gun, and his very able co-laborer, Lieut. Whistler, from whom we expect to hear.

"This Board of Trade was organized April 21, 1881. Its first president, J. H. Sternbergh. Esq .. is with us; as are Isaac McHose. Peter D. Wanner and S. E. Ancona. the succeeding and all the presidents. During the first year of its organization the Board had 149 members. It subsequently commenced growing back- wards, and in April, 1891, its membership was seventy. Jan. 1, 1892, we had 110 members; at this date we have 216; and on Jan. 1. 1893. we will have 300.

"This Board of Trade represents a city of 70,000 people. We have reason to feel a pardonable pride in our city, its population and its Board of Trade. We have industries that we can well foster, manufactures that we sustain and in return are sustained by; and if we have any individual amongst us who would make in- vidious and disrespectful comparisons with other cities. may such an one's flesh be mortified and his vanity seared, for we are in such a prosperous condition. as I will endeavor to show you, that none dare to molest us or make us afraid; and I can conceive only the perfidy of man to lower the estimate of our city.

"Think of it! We manufacture stockings amounting to $550.000 per annum. A few years ago some other cities were making this hosiery, and all we had in the matter was buying and wearing them, whilst some of us went about sockless. So with boots and shoes. Our city produces $150,000 worth. The stove industry is growing fast-the present capacity is $659,000. Cot- ton and silk industries, $1,725,000. An industry in our city, of which many of us know nothing and hear very little about, I mean cordage, ropes and twine, goes along begging with an output of $600,000. Fire brick and terra cotta and glass, $320.000. Fur and wool hats. $3,000,000. This means a good hat for every tenth person in the United States. or say forty hats for every man. woman and child in Reading. Hardware, locks. butts. etc., $1,650.000. Pig iron. plate iron, wrought- iron pipe and machinery, $8,400.000. Iron bridge work. beams and steel. $4,000,000. $1,000,000. Bolts, nuts. rivets. etc.,

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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 143

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