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 205

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 205

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Mr. Anderson married, in 1895, Mrs. Annie Barrett Glasser, and they reside at No. 914 Franklin street, Reading. Mrs. Anderson was the mother of two child- ren by her former marriage, Ella F., the wife of Rev. H. Rupp; and Jean M. In religion he is a member of Grace Lutheran Church, and he has served as deacon and elder.

REV. WILLIAM WILBERFORCE DEATRICK, A. M., Sc. D. In the quiet country graveyard attached to the "Bender's Church" in Butler township, Adams Co., Pa., is a gray slate tombstone bearing the following inscription, in German text:

Hier ruht Der Leib Von : Iohan : nictlas : dietrich Wahr : geboren : in : deudschlant ten Den : 15 : May : Im : Jahr Unserres : Herren : 1727

ten

Und : ist : Gestorben : Den : 23 October : Im : Jahr : Unserres Herren 1813 Und hatsein Altergebracht Auf 86 iahr 5 monat Und 8 TaG=

A little space from the footstone of this grave is another headstone, also of gray slate, on which is this inscription in italic and gothic lettering : Hier RUht

ANNA MARGYRETHA DIEDRICH NICHOLAVS DIDRICHS :EHEFrAV GebOhreN : DeN : XV : NOVeM= ber : 1724 : Verheur AthetteN : I : OCtOber : 1752 LebteiMeHe stANT IV IAhr SIe StArbTeN XIX TAG IULy : 1797 : ALT LXXII JAHR : IV MONATh

"Baptisms: Dietrich. Johann Balser, son of Johann Nich- olaus, and Anna Margaretha his wife, born Dec. 23, 1754, baptized Jan. 26, 1755, Balser Bosshaar and wife Anna Maria sponsors."

"Marriages: Nicholaus Dietrich, son of deceased Johann Jacob Dietrich, married 31st October, 1752, Anna Marga- retha, daughter of Johann Gerhart Shafer."

Unless the Waldschmidt records refer to other Dietrichs, which seems improbable, it is likely that his "Oct. 31" is more accurate than the "Oct. 1" on the inconsistent tomb- stone. Whether the Johann Jacob Dietrich in the Wald- schmidt record emigrated from Germany to this country or died in the Fatherland is uncertain. A certain Jacob Diete- rich, aged forty, is recorded in the Pennsylvania Archives as having landed at Philadelphia from the ship "Charming Nancy." Nov. 9, 1738. A Hannus Diedrich came on the ship "Thistle," Sept. 19, 1738, and Johannes Diterichs and (probably his wife) Ann Dederick arrived on the ship "Samuel," Aug. 17, 1731. Whether either of these was the father of John Nicholas is uncertain. There is no record of a John Jacob Dietrich as an immigrant after 1731. As to the date of arrival of John Nicholas Dietrich we have, at present writing, no certain information. The Archives show, however, that on Oct. 7, 1749, one Nicholas Dietrich landed from the ship "Leslie," Captain J. Ballen- dine, from Rotterdam. On this ship came 121 immigrants, among them Frederick Bender, Johan Rudolph Müller, Johan Wilhelm Arendt, Georg Müller and Peter Miller. These being names of early settlers in Adams county (then York), it may be reasonably inferred that the Nich- olas Dietrich arriving at that time was the "Johan Nictlas dietrich" of Bender's churchyard, whose stone declares that he "wahr geboren in deudschlant." The "Pennsylvania Ar- chives" also give a "Niclas Deederich" as arriving on the ship "Mary Galley," qualifying on Sept. 7, 1748. His name is first on the list and was spelled on the original list "Derrick."

To John Nicholas Dietrich and his wife Anna Marger- etha were born (in addition to the Johann Balser of Waldschmidt's record, of whom we have no further knowledge), according. to tombstones in the same church- yard : Nicholas Dietrich, whose wife Mary Ann "Dea- trick" lies buried by his side; Margret Tietrich; William Dietrick; Michael Dietrich; and Martin Dietrich.

Nicholas Dietrich and his wife Mary Ann died childless, but tradition has it that they acted as father and mother to the children of others, bringing up in their home, as some say, no less than seventeen children of other families. Margaret and William never married. On the tombstone of William is this line: "A Patriot of the Revolution." As he was only twenty-one years of age at the close of that war he must have been a youthful soldier. He fell asleep on his country's birthday, July 4, 1848, at the ripe age of eighty-six years.

Michael Dietrich married Sophia, daughter of Rudolph Spangler (or Spengler), who resided near Heidlersburg and later near Abbottstown, Adams county. To this couple were born nine children: Nicholas, Jacob, Rudolph, Mich- ael, Christiana (m. Jesse Smith), Mary (m. George Key- ser), Sarah (m. Daniel Fidler) and Margaret and Cathe- rine, the last two of whom died unmarried.

Nicholas Dietrich, eldest son of Michael, married March 21, 1822, Margaret, daughter of Nicholas and Re- becca (Bushey) Miller. Nicholas was a hard-working, industrious farmer, owning an estate in Tyrone township, known as "Cranberry," from the wild cranberries growing

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BIOGRAPHICAL

in a marsh near the farm house. Their seven children from the female department of Mercersburg College in were : William Miller, Michael, John Bushey, Anna Eliza- 1884, and in 1896, she married Charles V. Smith, A. M., beth (m. Adam Bream), Jacob Spangler, Abraham, and then professor in Mercersburg Academy, lately principal Howard Nicholas. Of these John B., who died unmarried, of Kittanning Academy, Kittanning, Pa .; they have two was a soldier in the Civil war.

children, Arthur Deatrick and Harriet Peyton.

William Wilberforce Deatrick was born in Huntingdon,

The eldest son, William Miller Deatrick, was born Jan. 22, 1823. At an early age he was impressed with a desire. Pa., Aug. 1, 1853. He and his brother, Edward R., attended . to become a minister of the Gospel. The way to this public school in an old stone school-house near their calling did not seem open, and so for some time he worked father's church in Friends Cove. 'For several terms in at the trade of milling. At last he gathered funds to summer he attended an academy known as Allegheny Seminary at Rainsburg, about four miles from his home, the daily journey being made, for the most part, on foot. When only sixteen years of age he began teaching, being employed to teach a short unexpired term of the home public school. From 1870 to 1872 he taught regularly in the public schools of the township, having won in examina- tion under the county superintendent a certificate averaging only a slight fraction over one. Latin and Greek were studied under his father and, in the autumn of 1872, he he removed to Pattonsville (now Loysburg), Pa., where he entered Mercersburg College as a freshman. Here he came under the influence of the eminent educator and theologian, Dr, Elnathan E .. Higbee, to whose inspiration he attributes, in large measure, the success he has himself attained as a thinker and teacher. In 1876 he graduated from the college with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Continuing his studies, he received from the same insti- tution, three years later, the degree of Master of Arts. In the autumn of 1876 he took up the study of theology in the Theological Department of Mercersburg College. To secure, in part, the funds necessary to the prosecution go to college, and in 1848 he graduated from Marshall College at Mercersburg, Pa. He continued his studies in the Theological Seminary of the (German) Reformed Church, at the same place, graduating from that institution in 1851, and was licensed to be a minister of the Reformed Church. He was ordained in 1852, and his first charge was at Huntingdon, Pa. During his time of preparation for the ministry, he taught school at Norristown, Mifflin- burg, and Milton, Pa., also at Manchester, Md. In 1856 served the "Yellow Creek Charge," a laborious field. In 1862 he removed to Friends Cove, Pa. This charge was also a laborious one, the minister being obliged to ride on horse-back across a high mountain, over a bridle-path (there was no driving road) to serve several of the more distant congregations of his extended parish. He was, indeed, a pioneer abundant in labors. In 1875 he gave up the active work of the ministry to become the Finan- cial Secretary of Mercersburg College, an institution in which he was deeply interested. To attend to the duties of his new office he removed with his family to Mercers- of his studies he engaged, during his vacations, in the sale burg, Pa. Later he became President of the Board of of books and during the winters served as tutor in the Regents of Mercersburg College, and to the service of that preparatory school attached to his alma mater. During institution he gave unstintedly of his time and money, the the summer of 1878 he was a member of the faculty of latter hard earned and saved with incredible economy. Juniata Collegiate Institute, a secondary school or acad- emy, located at Martinsburg, Pa. In the autumn of 1878 he entered the senior class of the Theological Seminary at Lancaster, from which institution he graduated in May, 1879. He was licensed to preach a few days later by the Mercersburg Classis of the Reformed Church, then in session at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. During the dark days of that institution which now, as Mercersburg Academy, enjoys a high degree of prosperity and ranks, under Dr. William Mann Irvine, as one of the foremost schools for boys in America, Dr. W. M. Deatrick bore for some years the brunt of the financial burden, really saving the school from bankruptcy and extinction, and preserving it for the church he loved so well. For

No call coming to him at that time to a pastoral charge, forty-four years he was Stated Clerk for Mercersburg he returned to Martinsburg, where he taught again during Classis, and for thirty years its treasurer. He was also the summer. Late in the same year he was elected prin- Stated Clerk of the Potomac Synod for twenty-eight cipal of the public schools of Milton, Pa., closing his work

years, and treasurer of the Board of Education of the Synod for twenty-five years until his . death, which oc- curred at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Charles V. dent of the Society for the Relief of Ministers and their

there at the end of the school year, declining a re-election, on the night preceding the day of the dreadful fire of 1880 which laid the beautiful town in ashes. By this time Smith, at Bedford, Pa., May 6, 1901. He was also Presi- he had received three calls to churches, one being in

Washington, D. C. Of these he accepted the call to the Widows until he was called from the labors of earth. The New Centerville charge in Somerset county, Pa., where Rev. W. M. Deatrick received from his alma mater the he began his labors as pastor on June 1, 1880, receiving degree of A. M. in course, and in 1887 had conferred upon him, in recognition of his signal services in behalf of his church, by Franklin and Marshall College, at Lancaster, Pa., the degree of Doctor of Divinity. ordination on the 18th of the same month. In this field of ministerial activity he labored for three and one- half years. In December, 1883, he removed to Rimersburg, Clarion Co., Pa., and in January, 1884, re-opened the Clarion Collegiate Institute in that town. This institution of the Reformed Church had been closed for some time. Under his management as principal the building was put in excellent repair, a considerable debt paid, and a vigor- ous school built up. For seven and one-half years he

Dr. Deatrick married Nov. 9, 1852, Miss Harriet Peyton Sohn, born March 3, 1818, in Martinsburg, W. Va., daugh- ter of Conrad and Ann Ranson Sohn, of Mercersburg. Her mother's maiden name was Christian and she came of a prominent Virginian family, intermarried with the Ransons, Peytons, and Washingtons of that State. She labored here with indefatigable zeal and was instrumental died Aug. 3, 1884, and is buried by the side of her hus- in preparing a number of young men for college, of whom a goodly proportion found their way into the ministry of the denomination under the auspices of which the insti- tution was conducted. band and parents in the beautiful "Fairview Cemetery," on the southern outskirts of Mercersburg, the home of her youth and last years. This union was blessed with three children: (1) William Wilberforce Deatrick, A. M., In 1891 he was elected to the chair of Psychology and Pedagogy in the Keystone State Normal School at Kutz- town, Pa., then under the principalship of Rev. Nathan C. Schaeffer, Ph. D., the present Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Pennsylvania. Later, owing to enlargement of the faculty and consequent re-arrangement Sc. D. (2) Rev. Edward Ranson Deatrick, B. D., born in 1856, graduated from Mercersburg College in 1879, and from the Reformed Theological Seminary at Lancaster in 1884. In the same year he was sent as home missionary to Baltimore, where he succeeded in founding a number of churches, becoming settled pastor of one in Woodberry, of the work, his duties were slightly changed, and he is one of the suburbs of that city, and remaining in charge now, as for some years he has been, Professor of Psy- chology and Higher English, the Higher English compris- ing rhetoric, English literature, and the English classics. Since his connection with the Normal school he has been until May of 1906, when he assumed the pastorate at Mt. Pleasant, Pa. He married in 1890, Miss Mary A. K. Everhart, and one child, Anna Marguerite, has blessed this union. (3) Ann Margaret, born in 1864, graduated active as an institute instructor, and a worker and lecturer

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

at Chautauquas and elsewhere. His engagements at county the revocation of the famous Edict of Nantes at the close institutes have taken him not only to many counties in his native State, but to the States of New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. For a number of seasons he was on the teaching force of the Pennsylvania Chautauqua at Mount Gretna, giving, in addition to class- room work, each year an illustrated lecture.

Although not serving as a pastor in charge since 1883, he has been active as a clergyman. During the eighties he "supplied" churches of his denomination at DuBois, St. Petersburg, Emlenton, and Kittanning. In 1903 he filled the pulpit of the First Reformed Church in Reading, during the illness of the pastor, Rev. Dr. H. Mosser, for a period of eight months, preaching regularly each alternate Sunday. A part of his duties at the Normal school during the past eighteen years has been to take turns with other ministerial members of the faculty, in preaching to the students in the chapel, about once every three weeks. Fre- quent summons from churches in Reading and elsewhere have kept him fairly well occupied in sermonizing. In addition to these labors, he has been, for eighteen years, chorister of St. Paul's Reformed Church, Kutztown, in the Sunday-school of which church he was superintendent for ten years.

Notwithstanding the multiplicity of his duties in school and church he has yet found time for some literary work. He has been a contributor to religious and educational periodicals. For half a year before he left Rimersburg he edited and published The Rimersburg Courier, a weekly local newspaper. For about thirteen years past he has been on the staff of The Kutztown Patriot, writing weekly editorials, many of which have attracted the attention of, and been reprinted by, colleagues of the press. From June, 1902, to September, 1905, he was editor, and manager for most of the time, of The Pennsylvania Chautauquan, the quarterly and, during the sessions of the Assembly, the daily organ of the Mount Gretna Chautauqua. He was one of the joint authors of a voluminous "History of Clarion County," published in 1887. He is author of a text-book on physiological psychology, entitled "The Human Mind and Its Physical Basis," now undergoing revision for a second edition. He has under way, in addition to this revised and enlarged edition of the psychology, two smaller manuals, one on the study of poetry and the other on letter writing. In recognition of his ability as an educator, of the thoroughness of his scientific studies and his scholar- ship, as well as of the excellence of his book, Franklin and Marshall College, at its Golden Jubilee in 1903, be- stowed on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Educational Associa- tion, having organized the Child-Study Section of that body and been for several years president of the Child- Study Section. He has been for eighteen years an "active member" of the National Educational Association, and for ten years has maintained membership in the Pennsyl- vania-German Society. He is also a member of the Berks County Historical Society. In November, 1907, he was appointed. a member of the Advisory Council of the Simplified Spelling Board, this council being composed of about a hundred of the leading educators of America.

On June 15, 1881, Dr. Deatrick married Miss Emma Jane, daughter of Levi and Matilda (Hackenberg) Balliet, of Milton, Pa. Mr. Balliet was a son of John and Elizabeth (Schreiber ) Balliet. This John Balliet was a son of John Balliet and his wife, Catherine M. Mickley (a daughter of John Jacob Mickley, who hauled the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to Allentown during the American Revolu- tion), both of Whitehall, Lehigh county. The elder John Balliet (1761-1837) was the fourth son of Paulus Balliet who, with his wife Maria Magdalena (Wotring) Balliet, lies buried in the southeast section of the old walled burial ground of the Union Church in Whitehall. This Paulus Balliet was the first of the race of Balliets in Whitehall. He was a French Huguenot, born in the Province of Alsace on the Rhine, in 1717. "At the age of about twenty- one years he was compelled, with many other French Protestants, to seek refuge in a foreign country, on ac- count of the terrible persecutions of the Huguenots after

of the seventeenth century, by the then reigning King Louis XIV. He embarked for America on board ship 'Robert Oliver,' of the Palatines, Walter Goodman, com- mander, Sept. 10, 1738." He located at what is known as the "Old Balliet Stand," in Whitehall township, Lehigh county, in 1749, on a tract. of land containing a little over ninety-seven acres, secured by a deed from Thomas Penn and Richard Penn. From time to time Paulus added to his lands, until his estate embraced over 700 acres. According to tradition, he was known as "Bowl" Balliet, a name given to him by the Indians to whom he was accustomed, as landlord at Ballietsville, to furnish refreshments from a wooden bowl. He became a naturalized American citizen in the year 1759. His wife, Maria Magdalena Wotring, according to tradition, "was born A. D. 1727, in the pro- vince of Lothringen (now Lorraine) in France. She died in 1802, aged seventy-five years. It is presumed that they married in this country. Paulus died March 19, 1777, aged sixty years."

Mrs. Matilda (Hackenberg) Balliet, born Aug. 1, 1825, at Freeburg, Union (now Snyder) county, Pa., died Sept. 26, 1903, at Kutztown, was a daughter-the fourth child in a family of eleven children-of Johann Peter Hachen- berg and his wife Anna Mary (born Haines). She was fifth in direct descent from Peter Hachenberg, prince of a township and "dorfe" of about 2,000 inhabitants in Ger- many, which bears the name of "Hachenberg" to this day, known from his love of the chase as "the Hunting Prince of Hachenberg." He was the father of Caspar Frederick Hachenberg, who, going to England, held a Greek pro- fessorship in one of the universities, where he wrote one of the most perfect of Greek grammars, the basis of the one by Goodrich used generally in American colleges some years ago. He was also author of a law book, "Hachenberg's Media," still quoted in American courts. His youngest son, Johann Peter Hachenberg, came to America in 1764 and settled at Freeburg, where, being a skilled linguist, he taught Latin, Greek, French and German. He also had local fame as a mathematician. As ensign of "the Flying Camp" of Col. Baxter's regiment he served through the Revolutionary war, was taken prisoner at Fort Washington (one account says "at Trenton"), and was sent by the British to Long Island. He died March 4, 1820. His son, Peter Hachenberg (1773-1847), was a sur- veyor, justice of the peace, register and recorder of Union county (1821) and county commissioner (1830). He spent the latter half of his life in New Berlin but, with his wife, lies buried at Freeburg, the home of his youth. His fourth son, the father of Mrs. Balliet, Johann Peter Hachenberg (1800-1870), was in youth a carpenter and joiner by trade, following also the occupation of surveyor and conveyancer. In 1823 he, too, was appointed justice of the peace, holding office till 1836, when he removed from Freeburg to McEwensville, Montour county, where later he conducted a general store. In 1834 he was Anti- masonic delegate to the New Berlin Convention. In 1836 he was appointed supervisor of the West Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal. Two years later he gave up this office to devote his time to building and contracting. While thus engaged, in partnership with John P. Schuyler, he erected the bridge over the West Branch of the Susquehanna at Northumberland. In 1854, having sold his store to Levi Balliet, he moved to White Pigeon, Mich., where he en- gaged in merchandizing to the day of his death. Levi. Balliet and Matilda Balliet, parents of Mrs. Deatrick, are buried in the "lower" cemetery at Milton, Pennsylvania.

To William Wilberforce and Emma (Balliet) Deatrick have been born five children. Of these the two eldest, boys, died in early childhood. There are living at the present writing : Ethel Matilda, born 1886, who graduated, June, 1909, from the classical department of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa .; Eugene Peyton, born 1889, a member of the class of 1911, in the classical department of Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa .; and Anna Louise, born 1896, who is a student in the Keystone State Normal School. The family lives on "Normal Hill," in a substan-

751

BIOGRAPHICAL

tial and comfortable home, a brick building, owned by Dr. 25, 1829, in the 22d year of age"-probably another Deatrick and built by him in 1898. son.

EMIL HOFFMANN (deceased), of Reading, where for many years he was employed in a woolen mill, was of German birth and ancestry, but has spent most of his adult life in this country. Born in Breslan, Prussia, March 4, 1828, he remained in his native land until he reached manhood.

In 1858 Mr. Hoffmann came to America, landing in New York. He at once went to Reading, and secured work at Brumbach's Mill, as boss weaver. Later he he died in April, 1866, and was buried at Boyertown. was engaged in woolen manufacturing on Fifth street, and still later went into the carpet business for him- self, employing from five to eight people. His work became so favorably known that Mr. Hoffmann was called upon to help install the looms in the Berks County Prison, and to teach. the prisoners to weave carpets. His business enterprise proved a successful one, and he continued to conduct it until his death, which occured from heart disease Nov. 1, 1886, when he was aged fifty-eight. He was a member for a num- ber of years of the I. O. O. F. In his political princi- ples Mr. Hoffmann was a Democrat and had the wel- fare of the community at heart. The best man for the place always received his vote, whether he was a Demo- crat or a Republican. Mr. Hoffmann was a man of many good traits of character.

On Aug. 29, 1865, Mr. Hoffmann married Miss Augus- ta Beck, and a family of ten children was born to them. four of whom are deceased. The others, all of Read- family are Lutheran members of the Boyertown ing, are as follows: George K .; William S .; Charles Church. In 1866 he married Lovina Kepner, born in

D., a baker; Annie M., wife of William C. Dersch; Emil, m. to Emma Smith, and they live in Reading; and Augusta, m. to Frederick Niethamer, Reading. John A., who was a printer, died Sept. 13, 1908, aged forty years.

Mrs. Augusta Hoffmann was the daughter of John Beck, a machinist and file cutter from Germany. came to this country May 1, 1840, and at first settled in York, Pa., where he was employed as a machinist in the shops of Small & Sillinger. He had learned his trade in his native land, and was an expert in file cut- ting. In 1850 he removed to Reading, and secured employment with the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, continuing with them until ill health com- pelled him to give up his position. In his later years of Douglass township. He has been greatlv interested he worked as a locksmith and the lock for St. John's Lutheran Church was made by him. He married An- na Maria Siegner, and both were members of the Lit- theran Church. The children born to them were: . In 1895 Mr. Weasner married Mary Weller, daughter have one son, Lawrence W. Augusta, wife of Mr. Hoffmann; and Anna Maria, of William and Hettie (Fraunheiser) Weller, and they widow of Isadore Messenson, and residing in Read- ing.

Mrs. Hoffmann resides at No. 238 South Third street, Reading.

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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 205

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