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 144
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BIOGRAPHICAL
"The capacity of our cigar factories is simply amaz- ing; and had I not made a special effort to get at the filling important stations at Limestoneville and Me- facts I would not believe it. One hundred and five chanicsburg. Having the ministry in view he had com- million cigars is the present capacity, some new shops now building not being taken into this account. A number of factories turn out fine goods, $60 to $75 per thousand. Am told a fair average for Reading's output would be $30 per thousand. This smoke production then aggregates $3,150,000.
"Our streets and electric railways carried 3,607,920 passengers in 1891. Gross income, $225,000. For 1892 I could not get, but am told the business on all our lines aggregates an increase of ten per cent yearly.
"Our Trust companies show a constant and healthy growth, and enjoy the well deserved confidence of our good people. They show loans, $688,000; deposits, $480,600; Trust funds, $1.248,300.
"Our eight banks will bear comparison with any other eight banks of a city of our size. Any business man in Reading can get all the money he wants if he presents good paper. There is not one bank in our city but which is first class in every particular. The capital aggregates $1,425,000. The deposits aggregate $4,760,000. The loans aggregate $5,150,000.
"I have given only about twenty industries, which for lack of time to collect does not cover one-third of all, such as wagon works, red brick, cast iron pipe, and many others, which would require weeks to get at. Yet it shows an aggregate of over $30,000,000.
"This certainly requires a strong constitution and a clear conscience to believe at one sitting. But, gen- tlemen, this is not a theory. but a condition. I trust I have given enough to stimulate our Committee on Statistics, who will, no doubt, give us a full and accur- ate report early in 1893.
"Gentlemen, we have a grand city-a fire department which I doubt has its equal in the world. Our business opportunities are vast. Let every stranger who comes within our boundaries be made welcome. Let us deal honorably with one another. Let us hang our banners on the outer walls and proclaim our strength from the mountain top."
HENRY R. NICKS, A. M., an educator of note in this section of Pennsylvania, where he is particularly well remembered in his association with the early days of the now famous Keystone State Normal School, at Kutztown, Berks county, was born Feb. 27, 1833, in the Palatinate on the Rhine.
Melchior Nicks. his father, was born in Germany in 1795, and came to America in 1842. For a short time he remained in Baltimore, Md., and then set- tled on a farm at Redland, Adams Co., Pa., near Lit- tlestown. He married Margaret Rosenberger, and they had the following children: Henry R., Mary, Margaret, Lizzie (a teacher at Littlestown, Pa.), and Magdalena (who died young).
Melchior Nicks lived to be ninety 'years of age, and during the last twenty years of his life was blind. He understood the profession of veterinary well, and his services were often solicited by his neighbors. Mr. Nicks was possessed of wonderful psychic powers, and, although blind. could tell by touch the ailment from which an animal was suffering. He was also a gifted mathematician, and in his blindness was able to make all kind of difficult calculations. For in- stance, he could tell by mental calculation, at any time of the day, his own age in minutes and seconds, or that of any friend who would give him the date of birth and the hour of the day. His powers were very remarkable.
Henry R. Nicks came to America with his father in 1842. He worked on his father's farm in Adams county, attending school whenever opportunity offered, and teaching in his early manhood. In 1856. after strenuous endeavor. he was able to enter the junior class of Franklin and Marshall College, and gradu- ated in 1858 with honors, being the salutatorian of his class.
After graduating from college he continued to teach,
menced a course of study in the theological seminary at Mercersburg, when he was called, through Rev. Dr. E. V. Gerhart, to come to Kutztown and open a classical school. On Nov. 15, 1860, he located at Kutz- town and opened what was known for a number of years as Fairview Seminary, in what is the beautiful mansion of Thomas S. Fister, immediately south of the borough. Here he began with five pupils, and for a period of months it was a severe struggle, and a problem as to the success of the venture, but hard work, sound scholarship and superior teaching ability won, and by the spring of 1861 the school had been placed in a flourishing condition and continued until pupils overcrowded the school quarters and the town became filled with boarding students. The success was phenomenal. and by 1863 Professor Nicks began to look around for permanent quarters, and through his efforts a sufficient amount was subscribed to erect what was known as Maxatawny Seminary, which stood where the Principal's office of the Keystone State Normal School is now located. These schools were the beginning of the Keystone State Normal School, and Professor Nicks was the real founder. He broke the soil and sowed the seed, and others came to reap. He led in the work of raising stock to enlarge the institution and turn it into a State Normal School, and if it had not been for his work and the confidence which his success inspired. there would to-day be no State Normal School at Kutztown.
When the Normal School was organized in 1866 he accepted the position of associate principal and pro- fessor of higher mathematics, and filled same with great efficiency until 1867, when he accepted the prin- cipalship of Palatinate College, Myerstown, Pa., now Albright College. This position he held for seven years, and during his incumbency the institution was in a very flourishing condition. .. Failing health, however, compelled him to resign in 1874, and thus ended his career as a teacher. The remaining days of his life he spent on the farm, known as the old David Levan farm, where he died Oct. 16, 1903, and he lies buried in Hope cemetery. He was an educator of rare ability, un- tiring, thorough and, withal, tactful. He had few equals in the work of inspiring pupils with noble zeal and lofty ambition. and many there are who rise and bless him for his noble work.
Professor Nicks married Sarah Levan, daughter of David and Lydia (Jarrett) Levan. David Levan was a son of John Levan. who was the grandson of Jacob Levan, the immigrant, and one of the most promi- nent early citizens of this section of the county. The children of David Levan were: Anna Eliza m. James G. Treichler, a well-known farmer and business man of Kutztown; Sarah m. Henry R. Nicks; Alvin m. Anna Weidner, and died at Kutztown in 1888. Professor Nicks and wife had three children, namely: Annie, m. to Nicholas Rahn; Mame, m. to Dr. Oscar W. Sellers, of Philadelphia; and David Levan.
DAVID LEVAN NICKS, an expert civil engineer at Kutz- town, was born April 8, 1869, at Myerstown, Pa., and was educated at the Keystone State Normal School and at Lafayette College, from which he grad- uated in 1899. During 1890 and 1891 he was employed by the Pennsylvania Schuylkill Valley Railroad Com- pany, and from 1902 to 1904 by the Lehigh Engineer- ing Company, Allentown, Pa. For one year he was also in the employ of the United States Bureau of Forestry, and was stationed in the Adirondack Moun- tains and in the State of Maine. For the past three years he has been in the employ of the city of Reading, being one of the resident engineers in the department of public improvements.
On Oct. 23, 1900, Mr. Nicks married Annie E. Stoudt, daughter of Francis and Catherine (Emore) Stoudt, and they have one child, Jarrett Levan, born Oct. 15, 1901.
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550
HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
GEORGE F. HAGENMAN, a leading member of the Berks county Bar, and a most public-spirited and progressive citizen of Reading, was born March 9, 1857, and died one of the victims of the wreck of the special train bearing the members of Rajah Temple of the Mystic Shrine in California. May 11, 1907.
Judge Jeremiah Hagenman, father of the late George F., was born in Phoenixville, Pa., Feb. 6, 1820, son of Jeremiah F. and Mary H. (Idler) Hagenman, who came to this country from Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1816, shortly after their marriage. The family lived in a little house near the Phoenix Iron Works for a num- ber of years, the father winning their support by his work as a nail packer in the neighboring nail works. They moved to Reading in 1836, and there the father, Jeremiah F., died in 1856. He was a Democrat in politics, and a Lutheran in religion. His wife, Mary H. Idler. lived to the advanced age of ninety-three years. Their three children were: Lewis; Jeremiah; and Mary (Craig).
Judge Hagenman procured his preparatory educa- tion in the schools of his native town. and when old enough began to assist his father in the nail works. But the whole course of his life was altered by an accident. He was out with.a number of companions for the purpose of gathering hickory nuts; they came to a tall tree and this it was decided young Hagenman should climb and then shake off the nuts. In some way he lost his hold and fell, breaking his arm. and although the fracture was set and did not seem severe, the bandages were left on too long, and amputation became necessary. Now, unfitted for manual labor, he determined to enter the legal profession. He con- tinued his studies until old enough to teach. in the meantime assisting his father packing nails. In June. 1836. at Phoenixville, he began teaching, and at the end of three months removed to Reading, where he was also engaged in teaching, and at the same time pursued some of the higher branches of study until he was nineteen years of age. He then began the study of law under the direction of the Hon. Peter Filbert, teaching occasionally, and he was admitted to the Bar April 7. 1842. In the following autumn he opened an office in Reading, and entered upon a suc- cessful general practice, which he conducted success- fully for seventeen years. At the end of that time he was elected additional law judge for Berks county for a term of ten years. In 1875 he was elected presi- dont judge. and in 1879 re-elected.
Soon after his admission to the Bar Judge Hagen- man began to be actively interested in politics, and until his elevation to the Bench was very prominently identified with the Democratic party. He was a dele- gate to a number of State conventions, and was a men- ber of the convention that nominated Horatio Sey- mour for President in 1868. He was the first incum- bent of the office of district attorney elected in 1850. and at the end of three years was re-elected. He was elevated to the Bench as stated above, and his duties thereon terminated in 1890. His career on the Bench was an honorable one. and rarely, indeed, were any of his decisions reversed in higher courts, though some of the cases tried before him were of the most notable in the history of the county. Among these may be mentioned the Hunsecker case, brought over from Schuylkill county. This trial continued for thirteen weeks, and in the course of the argument one of the attorneys cited the opinion of Judge Woodward, which was in opposition to that of Judge Hagenman. The latter indicated his decisive character by replying: "I am responsible for my opinion; Judge Woodward foi his."
until 1883, when he declined. For twenty years he was chairman of the high school committee, and he advo- cated better buildings and more modern heating ap- pliances. In recognition of his valuable services the board named the J. Hagenman School Building after him. He served the county commissioners as solicitor for a number of years, and about 1860 he was instru- mental in having them to allow half of court fines to be appropriated toward establishing a law library for the Bench and Bar in the court house. This was done for five years, and a Law Library Association was incorporated, which now has a valuable library.
In 1889 Judge Hagenman was elected president of the Keystone National Bank, and he held that position until his death March 26, 1904. He belonged to the Odd Fel- lows, being affiliated with Salome Lodge, No. 105, I. O. O. F .; and Reading Encampment. No. 43. He was prominent on the Council of Grace Lutheran Church.
In 1850 Judge Hagenman was married to Louisa E. Boyer, daughter of George Boyer, who was a mem- ber of Trinity Lutheran Congregation, and who took an active part in the erection of the church building in 1791. To Judge and Mrs. Hagenman was born one son, George F.
George F. Hagenman was educated in the Reading high school, and then took a three years' private course, his mother's delicate health making him unwilling to leave her the length of time required for a collegiate course. It was this same thoughtful. chivalric con- sideration for others that characterized his entire life, and endeared him to all who came in contact with him. After completing his literary studies, he pursued a law course. reading under the direction of the late Henry C. G. Reber, of Reading, and he was admitted to the Bar of Berks county Jan. 22, 1881. and later to the Supreme, Superior and United States District Courts. He practised alone until 1889, when he formed a partnership with his father under the name of J. Hagenman & Son and this was terminated only with the death of the senior member. Father and son showed a marked resemblance in disposition and in tastes. Both were sternly just. yet their mercy tem- pered justice-both loved their profession, yet in their love never lost sight of its mission, and never through legal technicalities were blinded to the welfare of the community.
Like his father Mr. George F. Hagenman was a Democrat, and was active in party work. He was elected county solicitor a number of terms, and acquitted himself with honor. For seven years he was a member of the school board, taking a deep interest in the cause of education. For a number of years he was a director in the Keystone National Bank.
Mr. Hagenman had long taken an active part in Masonry, in which he had attained the Thirty-second degree. He belonged to Lodge No. 62. F. & A. M., Reading; was past high priest of Chapter No. 152, Royal Arch Masons; was past commander of De Molay Commandery, No. 9, K. T .: and a member of Rajah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He was also affiliated with the Odd Fellows.
DR. PHILIP M. ZIEGLER died at his home No. 524 Franklin street, Reading: Nov. 23, 1907. after a long life devoted to ministering to the sufferings of man- kind. He was born near Annville, Lebanon county. Jan. 11, 1834, a representative of the fourth generation of the family in America, his great-grandfather. Philip Ziegler, having come to this country from Switzerland in 1734 and located in Berks county.
Dr. Ziegler's parents. Philip and Catharine Ziegler, moved from Lebanon county to near Mastersonville. Lancaster county, when the Doctor was but a boy. He attended Mt. Joy Academy and Lititz Academy. Returning then to Mt. Joy he read medicine under Dr. J. L. Ziegler, and after a course at the Pennsyl-
Judge Hagenman was for forty years interested in the public schools of Reading. About 1846 he became a director in the Southeast ward, serving several years. In 1858 he was elected to represent the same ward (afterward the Third and then the Fourth) on the vania Medical School, graduated from that institution school board and was afterward re-elected each term in 1859. He located for practice in Elizabethtown,
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Lancaster county, and won a high place in the estima- of practice and removing to Reading was admitted to tion of the people.
The Civil war broke out, and he became an assistant surgeon of the 62d Pa. V. I., and in that capacity served until the close of the war. When peace was declared, acting under the advice of the regimental surgeon, Dr. Kerr, he applied for a commission as surgeon in the regular army, but while this was pend- ing, he purchased the drug store of Dr. J. Heyl Raser, at No. 526 Penn street, Reading. Pa. His commission arrived in due time, but he resigned it out of considera- tion to his family and his new enterprise, and continued in the drug business until his death, a period of more than forty-two years.
Dr. Ziegler was by profession a Presbyterian, and was one of the organizers of Olivet Church, at Read- ing, being elected an elder of same. He labored earnestly and efficiently in developing the congregation and placing it on a sure foundation. While at school he had become proficient in the classics, and never al- lowed this attainment to suffer by disuse. As a teacher of the Bible class in his chosen church, no matter what other helps he might use, his scholars received the benefit of his study of the lesson in original Greek. Though a man of warm impulses and kind heart, the decisiveness with which he expressed his convictions- and they were never wavering-often gave color to a severity not intentional. Eminently successful in his business. his prosperity was based as much on his unflinching honesty as on sound business principles so that his store became known for honest drugs. Purity rather than price influenced his purchase, and if a salesman deceived and ventured to trade with him again, he found his reception very frigid, and if he persisted the interview would be terminated abruptly in a most startling manner. He was bashful in every- thing that called notice to personal merit, and seemed uncomfortable when paid a compliment. The earnest- ness with which he regarded everything in life was stamped on his countenance, giving it a look of severity, yet no man could laugh at a clean joke more heartily than he. While he undoubtedly felt much satisfaction in having been an officer in the Union army, he seemed to think the part he played was too humble to publish by joining any of the organizations based on army service, and it was a long time before he would consent to be mustered into Gen. William H. Keim Post, No. 76, G. A. R., and just the year be- fore his death he became a companion of Pennsylvania Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion. He was one of the founders of the Reading Hospital, and among its most liberal contributors, and for many years was its treasurer and a manager until his business in- terests interfered. He was conducting his business with his usual energy, when suddenly stricken, and the whole community was shocked to hear of his death.
On July 13, 1871, Dr. Ziegler married Sarah Ann McFarland, daughter of William and Elizabeth ( Arbuc- kle) McFarland. To this union were born two children: Howard P .; and Stella, wife of Dr. William W. Livin- good, of Reading. He is also survived by two sis- ters, Mrs. Catharine Geib and Mrs. Isaac Zook, of Mastersonville, Lancaster county.
CHRISTIAN H. RUHL, attorney at the Reading Bar since 1875, and President of the Berks County Trust Company since its organization in 1900. was born at Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pa., Aug. 7, 1853. He was educated in the local schools, and at Dickinson College, from which institution he was graduated in 1874. During his course of study in the College he had entered the law offices of Charles E. Mclaughlin, Esq., at Carlisle, for the purpose of taking up the prac- tice of law as his profession, and shortly after his graduation was admitted to the Cumberland County Bar (Aug. 24, 1874). Having decided to locate in a larger county, he selected Berks county for his field
the Bar April 15, 1875. He gradually secured an in- creasing .practice by his careful attention to business, and when James N. Ermentrout, Esq. (member of the law-partnership of Daniel and James N. Ermentrout), was elevated to the Bench Jan. 1, 1886, his senior part- ner. Hon. Daniel Ermentrout (then in Congress from the Berks District), selected Mr. Ruhl to take the place of his brother, and formed the partnership of Er- mentrout & Ruhl; and this partnership continued in a very active and successful practice until the decease of Mr. Ermentrout in 1899.
Mr. Ermentrout having been prominently identified with the political affairs of the county during this time, the legal business of the firm was attended to almost wholly by Mr. Ruhl. Their business embraced an extensive practice in all the local courts, and the prosecution of numerous cases and the settlement of intricate estates having involved much litigation, he came to attend the terms of the Supreme court an- nually during the week set apart for Berks county. He began his practice before the Supreme court in 1877. The State reports during a period of thirty years show cases annually which were represented by Mr. Ruhl, either for the plaintiff or for the defendant, and the paper-books display his great care and ability in the preparation of his legal contests. Besides appear- ing before the Supreme and Superior courts of the State, he has also had considerable practice before the District, Circuit and Supreme courts of the United States, which has given him a wide acquaintance with the legal profession in many States of the Union. He has been a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Associa- tion for many years. In 1904 he represented the asso- ciation as one of the delegates to the Universal Con- gress of Lawyers which assembled at St. Louis, Mo .; and in 1905 to the American Bar Association which assembled at Narragansett Pier, R. I. During this time, from 1898 to 1905, he officiated as the Register in Bankruptcy. From the time of locating in Berks county, Mr. Ruhl has taken an active part in local politics with the Democratic party and exerted a large influence throughout the county in the nomination of candidates for office.
Mr. Ruhl has been identified with different financial institutions of this community, either as counsel or director, for many years: National Bank of Boyer- town. Womelsdorf National Bank, and East Reading Electric Street Railway Company. He was one of the organizers of the Berks County Trust Company in 1900, and has since officiated as its president; also of the Reading Glove & Mitten Manufacturing Com- pany in 1898, and has since served as a director.
In 1878, Mr. Ruhl was married to Elizabeth K. Runkle, daughter of John Runkle, of Reading, manu- facturer for many years, who died in 1904, aged eighty- seven years. They have been active members of the First Presbyterian Church since their marriage. He served as a trustee of the congregation and as su- perintendent of the Sunday-school for many years. They also co-operated heartily in the successful estab- lishment of the Homeopathic Hospital in 1888, and the Young Women's Christian Association in 1898, Mr. Ruhl serving the former as secretary for five years, and as president for twelve years, and the latter as president since its organization.
Mr. Ruhl's father, Jesse Ruhl, was born in 1812, in Lancaster county, near Mt. Joy. He was a year old when his parents moved to Cumberland county, about three miles east of Carlisle, and engaged in farming. Upon the decease of his father, he carried on the farm until 1865, when he removed to Carlisle, and lived there in retirement until his death in 1891. He was married to Mary Ann Gladfelter, daughter of George Gladfelter, of York county, and they had four children: Joseph (farmer on the homestead); George (for many years
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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
in business at Carlisle and died in 1906); Catharine (m. the offender has been guilty of some utterly indefensible to John H. Strickler); and Christian Henry (the subject action. of this sketch).
His grandfather was Christian Ruhl, born in 1751 in Lancaster county, and brought up to farming. He removed to Cumberland county in 1813, and besides carrying on farming was also engaged in lumbering, milling and distilling until he died in 1850.
His great-grandfather was also named Christian, born in Lancaster county, followed farming, and died in 1829.
His great-great-grandfather emigrated from Holland in 1743, and settled near Mount Joy, in Lancaster county.
WILLIAM RICK, Mayor of Reading for the term of 1908-11, was born July 28, 1875, at the village of Millers- burg, Bethel township, Berks county. He acquired his preliminary education in the local schools and at the Keystone State Normal School, after which he entered Muhlenberg College at Allentown, Pa., and remaining there three years, was graduated in June, 1893. He then be- gan the study of law by registering as a student in the law office of Jacobs & Keiser, at Reading, and on Nov. 11, 1896, was regularly admitted to practise before the courts of Berks county. He then went to the Yale Law School. and graduated in 1897. Immediately beginning active practice, he has continued with increasing success until the present time, his offices being at No. 526 Court street. Shortly after entering upon his legal practice, he identified himself with the Republican party, and in ap- preciation of his services was given the appointment of deputy controller of Berks county by Joseph N. Shomo, who was appointed on May 22, 1901, by the Governor, as the first controller of the county, a position which he filled until Jan, 6, 1902. In 1904 in the organization of the school board of that year, Mr. Rick was elected school solicitor of the Reading school district, and served for the term of 1904-'07.
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