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 155

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 155

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As an author Dr. Boyer has won signal success. He published his "Concrete Psychology" in 1891. for the use of his own classes. "Principles and Methods of Teaching," a work that has now gone through many editions, and that is deservedly popular, followed in 1899. A book entitled "Waymarks of General History" was published in 1902. This work, like that on methods of teaching, is highly praised by the reviewers. His book on "Modern Methods for Modern Teachers" was published in 1909. He is a member of the National Education Association, the Pennsylvania German So- city and the Historical Society of Berks county, etc.

In 1889 Dr. Charles Clinton Boyer was united in mar- riage with Margie Wright, daughter of Calvin D. Wright, a cavalry officer of the Third Pennsylvania Regiment during the Civil war, and his wife, Kath- erine (Gartley) W'right. She was born Oct. 11, 1869. in Pottsville. Pa. The Wrights were originally English Quakers and the Gartleys Scotch Presbyterians. Through her Gartley ancestry Mrs. Boyer is related to the Potts family, founders of Pottstown, Pa., and through her father's more distant Lafferty ancestry she is also of Irish descent. She is a cultured artist and musician. and devotes much of her energies to church work. There is one son, Karl Wright Boyer, born at Mt. Carmel, Pa., Nov. 26, 1897.

PETER BARBEY, the founder of Barbey's Brewery at Reading. Pa., was born Nov. 9, 1825, in Dierbach, Canton of Bergzabern, Rhinepfalz. Bavaria, son of Chris- topher Barbey. He attended the schools of his native place until he was fourteen years of age, when he entered the brewing establishment of his uncle, Peter Barbey, for the purpose of learning the business. After remaining there three years. he found employment in France and Switzerland in different brewing establishments during the next four years, in observance of a German custom to increase his knowledge of the business in this way by practical experience. He then returned home, and being twenty-one years of age, entered the army in a cavalry regiment where he served as a soldier for four years. At the expiration of his term of service, he emigrated to America, proceeding immediately to Philadelphia, and for several years he was engaged there in different breweries: he then located at Reading, and entered the employ of Frederick Lauer, also a German, who had by this time established himself in the brewing business at Third and Chestnut streets. In 1860 Mr. Barbey embarked in bus- iness for himself as a brewer, and carried his affairs on with increasing success until his decease in 1897.

Peter Barker

John Barry

585

BIOGRAPHICAL

tor until his decease in 1897. He was prominently identified with Teutonia Lodge, No. 368, F. & A. M., in which he was" a past master, and with Germania Lodge, I. O. O. F.

Mr. Barbey married Rosina Kuntz, daughter of Philip Kuntz, of Rhenish Bavaria, and they had two children : Katrina, who died in infancy; and John, who, after ar- riving of age, engaged with his father in the brewing business under the name of P. Barbey & Son. Not- withstanding the decease of his father in 1897, the firm name has been continued until the present time.

JOHN BARBEY, son of Peter and Rosina (Kuntz) Barbey, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 19, 1850. When he was four years old his parents moved to Read- ing, where his father became engaged in the manufac- ture of malt liquors. He was educated in the local schools, taking an extra course in a business college, and was then placed in his father's brewery for the pur- pose of learning all the details of the brewing business. In this he was very successful, and in 1880 the father admitted him into partnership, and they traded under the firm name of P. Barbey & Son. The father died in 1897, but the son has continued the business under the same hame with increasing success up to the present. In 1906 the capacity of his large plant was the greatest of any at Reading. a fact which evinces the superior judgment of the son in conducting the complicated affairs of the brew- ery for the years it has been under his management.

Mr. Barbey has become largely interested in a number of the financial institutions of Reading, particularly the Keystone Bank, Farmers Bank, Colonial Trust Company, and several industrial institutions, in a number of which he is a director. He has been prominently identified with the Masonic fraternity at Reading since 1876. becoming a Mason in Chandler Lodge, No. 227, and a Knight Tem- plar in the Reading Commandery, No. 42, of which he was Eminent Commander in 1886. He has reached the thirty- second degree.

Mr. Barbey married Mary Ellen Garst, daughter of George W. Garst, of Reading, a prominent building contractor for many years. They have seven children, six daughters and one son, John.

JOHN B. STERLEY, M. D., one of the most prom- inent citizens of Reading, Berks Co., Pa .. who was distinguished as a physician and surgeon. died in Read- ing, Nov. 24, 1905. Dr. Sterley was born July 26, 1837, in Limerick township, Montgomery county, son of Philip and Elizabeth (Bertolette) Sterley, both of French origin.

The Sterley family was founded at an early day in Salford township, Montgomery county, by great-grand- father Sterley, who emigrated from Lorraine, France. and here the grandfather of the Doctor was born and reared until manhood, when he removed to Limerick township, carrying on agricultural pursuits in that lo- cality all the rest of his life.

Philip Sterley, father of the Doctor. was born Feb. 22, 1800, and was educated in the common schools. He followed the occupation of his father, being a good, practical farmer and public-spirited citizen. In politics a Whig and later a Republican, he was interested in the success of his party, but never to the extent of running for any office. He died in 1868.

The early life of Dr. John B. Sterley was spent upon his father's farm, and until about sixteen years of age he attended the common schools of his native locality. At this time he went to Philadelphia, where for one year he was employed by his cousin. Simon R. Snyder, after leaving whom he entered Freeland Seminary (now Ursinus College). After two and one-half years of study, young Sterley engaged in teaching in Oley township. but after six months gave up the profes- sion, having fully decided to engage in the practice of medicine. He entered the offices of Drs. Keeler and Groff of Harleysville, Pa., to take up his preliminary studies, and shortly after entered the University of Pennsylvania, from which institution he was graduated with honor,, March 6, 1857. Locating at Earlville, Lan-

caster county, Dr. Sterley continued there until 1860, when he moved his office to Annville. Lebanon county. In July, 1862, Dr. Sterley joined the 167th Pa. V. I., receiving the commission of surgeon, and at the expira- tion of nine months was appointed examining district surgeon for the Ninth Congressional District of Penn- sylvania, a position he ably filled until June, 1864, when he left the service. Until 1879 he practiced at St. Marys, Elk Co., Pa., but in the year mentioned he removed to Reading, to which city, its people, its development and its varied interests, he devoted the remainder of his life. The first board of pension examiners of Berks county was organized in 1881 with Dr. Sterley as one of its members, and he served the full term, being re- turned to the board under the Harrison administration, when he was made president. On May 11, 1898, he was reappointed by President McKinley.

On Sept. 1, 1864, Dr. Sterley was married to Amanda R. Rightmeyer, and the one child of this union, Win- field Bradley, born Sept. 18, 1865, died Jan. 17, 1877.

Dr. Sterley was a Republican in politics. He was one of the organizers and vice-president of the Reading & Southwestern Electric Railroad. His profession con- nects him with the following societies: the Reading Medical Association; Berks County Medical Society, and the Pennsylvania State Medical Society. He was prominently connected with St. John's Lodge, No. 435, F. & A. M., and was also an active worker of Gen. William H. Keim Post, No. 76, G. A. R. The death of Dr. Sterley brought grief to a large circle outside his own immediate family. His personality was strong. and of him it may be truly said as of another: "He earned honor and respect in public life as well as af- fection and veneration in private."

Mrs. Sterley, who survives her husband, resides in Reading, where she is very well known, and where she owns considerable city and suburban property.

BENJAMIN F. DETTRA, one of the older members of the Berks county Bar, was born in Upper Providence township, Montgomery county. July 4, 1845. His grand- father, Abraham Dettra, was a farmer in Lower Sal- ford township, that county, and his father, Abraham Dettra, was a farmer in Upper Providence township, same county. He died about sixty years ago. His wife was Sarah Boas, daughter of John E. Boas, who was 'an influential farmer and for many years justice of his township; Mr. Boas died in Chester county, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Abraham Dettra had four children, as follows: William C. died when thirty-seven years old; Andora married Samuel Bard, of Montgomery county, and died at the age of forty years; John B. is a builder of Montgomery county; and Benjamin . F.

Benjamin F. Dettra attended the district school and Washington Collegiate Institute, where he prepared himself for work in the school-room as teacher. He served in the Civil war in the 129th Pa. V. I. and on his return home passed the next five years in teaching in the winter and working on the farm in the summer. He now decided to take up the law for a life work, and began reading in the office of the late Albert G. Green. being admitted to the Bar in April, 1875. and later to the higher courts. He has since pursued the practice at Reading. In addition to looking after a large private practice Mr. Dettra . has at different times served as county and city solicitor, and as solicitor for the Board of School Controllers.

Mr. Dettra has always been alive to the public in- terest, is a supporter of the Democratic party, and holds membership in the Royal Arcanum and other insurance companies, and is a member of the Calvary Reformed Church of Reading.

On Dec. 25, 1869, Mr. Dettra married Emma Louisa Reese. daughter of William Reese, a farmer of Chester county. Four children have been born to this mar- riage: Emma V. died in October, 1903, aged twenty- four; Susan R. and Sarah M. are at home; and Paul Sterly was a member of the class of 1906 in the Read- ing high school.

586

HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

STRASSER. The biography of the individual man is never after heard from. Gunther, however, remained at but the history of the human race and his family, plus his environments.

Since the beginning of time our sun and the myriads of shining stars have been oscillating and radiating energy in the form of wireless waves into the ether of infinite space. Primitive man viewed them with super- stitious awe and framed supernatural myths. Science regards them as an electro-magnetic displacement or disturbance of the ether, periodic in space and time, traveling 186,500 miles per second. The ether being the source and reservoir of all energy, there is a con- stant interchange of energy from ether to matter, and matter to ether, transforming it at one time into kinetic, at another into potential energy, thus causing or con- stituting all the phenomena of the material universe and known as the science of Natural Philosophy. But the loftiest ideal of man conceives them as symbols of infinite Wisdom, Power and Love, and as wireless telephonic messages of glad tidings of peace on earth and good-will toward men.

"The works of God are fair for naught Unless our eyes, in seeing. See hidden in the thing the thought That animates its being."

Mother Nature, the patient teacher, is ever beckon- ing to man the imitator, and ready to unlock her sec- rets. But how blind and deaf a pupil is man! Thund- ers rolled and lightning flashed for ages before lie heard or saw how to use these wireless waves to per- form the recent wonders of the X-ray, the wireless telegraph and wireless telephone. Nature never sleeps. Her essence is motion. Ether, matter and motion act- ing and reacting, forming and transforming. are the bases of all phenomena in time and space. The high- est and most mysterious is life with all its environments.

Thus is man, his energy, his powers, his physical and mental characteristics-all that he is-indirectly indebted to the wireless ether waves of space. Wave motion is cyclic-crest and trough, nodes and loops of energy. Such is the story of the Universe and Life. Exaltation alternating debasement with intermediate nodes of equilibrium-in fine, evolution, involution, dissolution.

Tradition is ever rife, but vague and mythical, hence the data here given are only such as are based on authentic records.

The family name Strasser (or Strascher) is of an- cient origin extensively disseminated, and its influence in church and State, in both the Old and the New world was no small factor. The genealogical and heraldry records (Vol. VI. Page 87) at Vienna, Austria, date the origin of the family to the age of Knighthood and Chivalry. In A. D. 1143 they were found at Mergentheim, Swabia (the headquarters of the order of Teutonic Knights in the year 1386), and vicinity, where a Knight Templar whose birthplace and home was Mergentheim, after long and strenuous service in the Holy Land, and being disabled for further service from wounds, returning. took unto himself an orphaned nephew. named Edward Strasser. He taught him Astronomy, Astrology, Alchemy and other occult arts he had learned in the East. Edward practiced these arts among many rich Counts and Princesses, compiled books on these subjects and acquired great wealth and fame. He united in matrimony with Jutta Von Schenck, and died at Mergentheim. A. D. 1197, leaving one son Rudiger Strasser. who loved arms more than the arts of peace. He sold his father's books and possessions, and as a man of war roamed over many lands with a company of mounted knights called the Black Band. Only after he had had enough of the warrior's life did he marry Euphragine Mehring, the wealthy widow of a patrician at Zweibrücken. Here he lived until his death, A. D. 1252, and left three sons, viz .: Arnold. Gunther and Frederick. Arnold, being of delicate health, entered a cloister, and there is no further record of him, nor of Frederick, who, after a duel with Count Von Spanheim, whom he killed, fled and was

Zweibrücken of which he was Mayor (Stadtfocht), and was married to Sophia Von Elrichshousen, of a good Frankish or Franconian noble family. He died A. D. 1315, leaving one son John Strasser. The latter had no love for arms, engaged himself with books. music, literary work and the fine arts, and lived a quiet private life. His wife was Elizabeth Mastlin of humble birth, but had wealth of beauty and mind. In A. D. 1335, during a violent storm, his house was destroyed by fire, and his wife and five children perished, only one small boy being rescued. In con- sequence of this misfortune the circumstances and standing of this family were greatly reduced, and later we find the family mostly as farmers. mechanics and merchants in the vicinity of Zweibrücken, Alsace and the Palatinates in which regions they were still found in the beginning of the 18th century, but accurate and connected records are wanting.

The American Strasser family is without a doubt of German ancestry. Their nativity and time of emigra- tion cannot now be definitely fixed. Tradition has the ancestral home at Wurtemberg, Rhenish Palatinate, and Zweibrücken, and the time antedates the American Rev- olution, for we find them enrolled as soldiers of the war for independence as well as all the wars for the de- fense and preservation of the Union.

According to Colonial Records, on Nov. 3, 1749. John Nicholas Strasser enters a caveat against the acceptance of a survey on that piece of land which he holds by warrant of 27th of March-made to George Boone, until he hears as to his claim, signed Richard Peters, to Nicholas Schull, Surveyor General. Also warrants of land surveyor May 7, 1753, Oct. 6, 1773, etc. The same John Nicholas Strasser, of Albany, Berks Co., Pa., was naturalized April 11, 1763, and as early as 1754 he is as- sessed £18, 4s., 6d. tax in Albany township, and his name appears for successive years to 1790, with the additional names of John, Jr., a weaver, Henry, Peter George.

Not until 1772 does the name of Conrad Strasser appear as a taxable married man in Windsor township. This is the great-grandfather of Dr. Thomas A. Stras- ser, of Reading, and Strasser's Thal or Valley, Windsor township, Berks Co., Pa., was the permanent if not the original homestead of this family. What was the relationship of this family and the Albany family is not now known, but from the similarity of the names of their children as we shall see it must have been close.

The church books of Zion's Church at or near Wind- sor Castle record the baptisms of seven children. the parents being Conrad Strascher and his wife Catharina. They are Conrad, born August, 1744; sponsors, Conrad Strascher and wife Catharina. the parents; Andon. July 1, 1746, sponsor Andon -; Elizabeth, born Nov. 1. 1747, sponsor Elizabeth -; Peter, born April 9, 1749, spon- sors: Peter Rothermel and wife Sabylla; Mathias, born July 22, 1751, sponsor Mathias - : Phillipus, born 1753; and Johanes, born April 20, 1756. Where these baptisms took place is not stated, but Zion's Church was not then organized. Another record is the baptism of John Henry Strasser, born April 11, 1777; sponsors, Conrad Strasser and wife Dorethy.

Conrad Strasser was twice married; his first wife. Dorethy (Housknecht), bore him six children, viz .: Conrad, born in 1768; John. 1770; Magdalena: John Nicholas, died previous to 1795: John Henry: and George. His second wife, Christina (Rausch or Hum- mel?) also bore him two daughters and four sons. They were: Elizabeth, Catharine, Frederick. Michael (grandfather of our subject), Peter and Daniel.

Accordingly, there was Conrad, the first, father of seven children: Conrad, the second, father of twelve children; and Conrad. the third, oldest son of Conrad the second and brother of Michael. Conrad, the third, was thrice married, first to a Miss Sheidy, by whom he had a son John: second to a Miss Hummel. by whom he had one daughter. Rosina; third to Rosina

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Hummel, a sister of second wife, and they had nine family. Their issue was seven children: among them, children, Jeremiah, Jacob, Isaac (m. to Hannah Knittle), Hetty, Sallie, Catharine, Polly, Rachael and Leah.

On Nov. 9, 1790, Conrad Strasser, the second, peti- tioned the Orphans' court of Berks county, to appoint guardians for his sons, John Henry and George, they being minors under the age of fourteen years. On the same day Magdalena, a daughter, John (Johanes), John Nicholas, minors above the age of fourteen years, petitioned court to choose guardians; they chose Conrad, the father, and the court approved and ap- pointed him for all the above children. Conrad, the third and oldest son, born in 1768, being of age, was not included in the above. On May 5, 1802, Christina Strasser, widow and relict of Conrad Strasser, late of Windsor township, petitioned the courts-says her hus- band died and left issue eleven children (John Nicholas having died between 1790 and 1795), that Frederick, Michael, Peter and Daniel are minors under age of fourteen years and have no guardians to care for their persons and estates; the court appointed John George Focht. The same day appeared Elizabeth Strasser and Catharine Strasser, daughters of. the aforesaid Conrad Strasser, they being minors above the age of fourteen years, they chose Peter Bauscher, which choice was approved by the court. This accounts for the twelve children of Conrad Strasser, the second. The court records show that Magdalena Strasser gave a power of attorney to John Strasser, her next friend, both then living in Paxton township, Dauphin county, dated 1795. to collect that share of inheritance due her from her mother's estate through the death of John Nicholas (Honnickel) Strasser. her brother.

Elizabeth Strasser was married to - Adam (no far- ther record). Catharine was born Sept. 16, 1785, and married George Sontag, the progenitor of the Windsor Sundays, and died March 5, 1850 (tombstone record, Zion's Church). Frederick's name is on the tax lists of Greenwich township from 1810 to 1813, when it disap- pears. Peter settled at Roaring Creek, Columbia county, and his wife's tombstone at Zion's Churchyard records -"mother of seventeen children." Daniel lived on one of the original Conrad Strasser farms, died there about 1840, leaving a large family.

Louisa E., born in 1826, m. Daniel B. Kutz, in 1850, both living over fifty years in the house built by Michael Strasser; Lydia m. John Van Scheetz; Susan, born Sept. 3, 1832, m. Harry Scheidt. Sarah, mother of the above, and maternal grandmother of our subject, died on her birthday, on June 29, about the year 1846, aged exactly fifty years. Abigail, only daughter of Michael Strasser, was born Sept. 10, 1821, and was married to John Snyder. They reared a large family. Mr. Snyder dying, she married Egedius Butz. She survived him and died in 1908, aged almost eighty-seven years.

Isaac K. Strasser was born on his father's (Michael) homestead at Kutztown, Pa., Aug. 3, 1817. Orphaned at an early age, he lived with his mother until he was apprenticed to a Mr. Kraft at Reading, Pa., serving four years as a saddler and harness maker. Returning to Kutztown he bought the property now the corner of Main street and Strasser Alley, where he lived over half a century, reared a large family, and carried on his business.

In 1842, he married Flora Anna Koser, a daughter of John George Koser and wife Esther (Christ) of Green- wich township. Esther was the oldest daughter of Jacob Christ and wife (nee Merkel). She is buried at Bethel or Zion's Church, Grimville, Pa., and her tomb- stone records: "Esther Koser, daughter of Jacob Christ, born March 21st, 1794, married Dec. 26th, 1811. Had 3 children, 1 son and 2 daughters. Died Jan. 24th, 1832, aged 37 years, 10 months, and 3 days. Text, St. John 5-24." Her sisters were: Rachel m. Daniel Beaver, and moved to Tulpehocken; Kate m. a Christman; Polly m. a Messersmith, of Fleetwood; and Hannah m. Martin Wanner, she aged over ninety years. Her brothers were Jonathan, m. to Susan Bieber; Daniel, Jacob and Solo- mon (the grandfather of Nathan C. Schaeffer, State Superintendent of Pennsylvania Schools).

John George Koser, maternal grandfather of Dr. Thomas A. Strasser, was born in Greenwich township, Jan. 7. 1787, on the old homestead, and died at Kutz- town Nov. 28, 1872. He was the son of John George Koser of Greenwich and his second wife a Baer, of Albany. His second wife was. Anna Maria Helfrich. widow of Sam H'elfrich, and sister of Colonel Daniel Grim, and a born Krouse. She had four daughters. Anna Maria, Sallie, Amelia and Betzy Helfrich, and died at Kutztown about 1865. His sisters were: Regina, wife of Henry Adam, who went West; Barbara, wife of A. Schearer of Windsor; another married to a Mr. Bailer; and one married to a Kercher, moved to Lehigh Gap. The Koser family were pioneer settlers of Green- wich and extensive land owners. In 1754 George Koser is taxed £16, 4s., 6d .; in 1759, John Koser, £20, and later we have names of John, Jacob, and George. One Jacob Koser (according to Colonial records), aged twenty-three years, qualified Sept. 23, 1734, having emi- grated in ship "Hope" from Rotterdam; and Christopher Koser, aged thirty-six years, in the ship "Mary" of Lon- don, qualified Sept. 6, 1732. John Koser was naturalized at Northern Liberties, Philadelphia county, on the 24th and 25th of Sept., 1764. The Kosers who first emi- grated were natives of Wurtemberg, Swabia.

Michael Strasser, the grandfather of Dr. Thomas Au- gustus, the seventh son of Conrad, the second, and his second wife, Christina, was born at the old homestead in Strasser's Valley, Windsor township. about the year 1791. He was confirmed in the Lutheran faith at Zion's Church. His father having died about January, 1799 (his will probated Feb. 12, 1799), and he being one of the three youngest sons mentioned in above will, who were to learn a trade arriving at the age of sixteen years, he accordingly became a carpenter and cabinet- maker and his name appears as a taxable single man in Maxatawny from 1810 to 1815. At this time Kutz- town was incorporated as a borough and it was here he made his permanent home and carried on his trade. He was a member of the first fire company of Kutztown organized in 1815, and built one of the first three houses in Freetown, upper Main street, above Baldy's lane. He was married to Sarah Kittling, about 1816. a native of The Koser family is of Greek origin. In the year 1102 one Herman Abolde, a crusader, armourer and farrier returning homeward from the east, took a Cyprian youth captive in the mountains of the Isle of Cyprus, and brought him safely through Italy and Switzerland to his home in Saltzburg, Germany. Here the Bishop Eustachius, after a consultation, himself baptized and named him Herman Koser-signifying, "the rescued, or the redeemed." He learned the trade of his captor and later became a great warrior, and by his valor became the chief of a large troop of knights he massed in Bohmen, Ungarn and Sclavonia, with which he made many destructive invasions into Baiern, Schlesien and Sachsen. In Schlesien he stole and married a lady of noble family whose name was Mifflinburg, Pa., a sister' of Mrs. Jacob Humbert, mother of Rev. David Humbert, Bowers Station. Mrs. Jacob Baldy and Mrs. Peter Fritz of Kutztown were aunts. Jacob of Mifflinburg, was a brother and so was William, of near Blandon. Michael was successful in business, had just finished a new home, and had a promising future, but in the prime of life he became the victim of a typhoid fever epidemic and died about December, 1821. His remains were interred in the old Union Churchyard at Kutztown, but his resting-place cannot now be located. Letters of administration were granted to John Wanner and Solomon Kutz, Jan. 7, 1822. He left his widow and one son. Isaac Kittling Strasser, and one daughter, Abigail. The widow was remarried to Solomon Kutz, a widower with a large Isabella Von Koeneritz. During an engagement in

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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 155

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