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 207

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 207

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CHARLES HENRY JONES, son of Hon. J. Glancy Jones, of Reading, Pa., was born Sept. 13, 1837. He was educated as a civil engineer in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, N. Y., and served in the engineer corps in the location and construction of the East Pennsylvania railroad. In 1859 he accom- panied his father, who had been appointed United States Minister to Austria, and served as attaché to the legation until November, 1861. Having returned to America, he studied law under his father's instruc- tion, and was admitted to the Reading Bar in April, 1863. In the same year he removed to Philadelphia, Mr. Zeller is a stanch Democrat, and takes an active in- where he has since actively practised his profession. He was solicitor to the park commissioners during

terest in his party's success, having never missed an - election since attaining his majority. Fraternally he is the laying out of Fairmount Park, from 1869 to 1874; connected with Washington Camp No. 237, P. O. S. of was the candidate of the Democratic party for city A., Stouchsburg; Reading Encampment No. 1, and the solicitor of Philadelphia in 1874; counsel for the De- Commonwealth Casualty Company of Philadelphia. Mr. partment of Protection, Centennial Exposition of 1876; Zeller and his family are members of Tulpehocken Re- and special deputy collector of the port of Philadelphia formed Church of Marion township, to which he gives his liberal support.

under President Cleveland from 1885 to 1889. In 1890 he organized The Trust Company of North America, and served for many years as vice-president of that corporation. For twenty-one years he has been one of the managers and for the past ten years chairman of the board of managers of Christ Church Hospital. He is an able lawyer and was prominent as counsel in many of the notable contested election cases in the Philadelphia courts and made a great reputation for the thoroughness and ability with which he sifted out the frauds of a number of municipal elections and unseated the wrongful holders of many important offices.

Mr. Jones for many years has been identified with the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revo- lution, of which he is chairman of the board of man- agers and treasurer, and the Colonial Society, of which he is president. Several of the papers he has read before these societies, notably those relating to the encampment of Washington and his army on the banks of the Neshaminy and at Whitemarsh during the year 1777, are replete with the most interesting information and charming descriptions of the thrill- ing events of that wonderful year, and have attracted universal attention as the best history of the immortal days of the Revolution covered by the period of that narrative. He is the author of a number of works of history and fiction, among them the "History of the Campaign for the Conquest of Canada in 1776," in which several companies from Berks county figured conspicuously, under the command of his great-grand- father, Col. Jonathan Jones, a lieutenant-colonel in the Continental army; "Genealogy of the Rodman Family from 1620 to 1886," containing 2,892 names of the descendants of his maternal ancestors, among them

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BIOGRAPHICAL

being William Rodman, who served as an officer on memorial volume issued at his death, Dr. Richards most the staff of General Lacey during the war of Independ- ence and was a member of Congress in 1812; "Davaults Mills"; "Recollections of Venice"; "A Pedestrian Tour Through Switzerland"; and "The Life and Memoirs of J. Glancy Jones."

JOSEPH W. RICHARDS, cashier of the First Nation- al Bank, of Reading, Pa., is the oldest son of Rev. Elias J. Richards, D. D., and his first wife, Emily Theresa Ward; the latter a daughter of Joseph Ward, a merchant of Bloomfield, N. J., and a descendant from Puritan stock which settled in Connecticut in 1635. Mr. Richards was born in Philadelphia, Jan. 21, 1844; was educated in pre- paratory schools at Reading, Danbury (Conn.), and Potts- town (Pa.), and was a student of medicine at the out- break of the Civil war. On Aug. 10, 1862, he was mustered into service as a private in Company A, 128th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, enlisted for nine months, and served until May 19, 1863, the expiration of the term. The regiment participated in the severe battles of Antietam and Chancellorsville. In the summer of 1863 he served as a corporal in Company C, 42d Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Militia, a part of the emergency force raised for State defense during the Confederate invasion, and enlisted for three months. From 1865 to 1869 he was engaged in the oil business in Cleveland, Ohio, and upon returning to Reading was appointed a clerk in the First National Bank. Of this institution he was in 1899 elected cashier.

Mr. Richards married, in 1872, Annie O. Kerper, a daughter of William Kerper, merchant, of Reading, and a member of one of its oldest families. Of their three children, one, a son, survives. Mr. Richards is a mem- ber of Keim Post, No. 76, G. A. R., of Reading.

REV. ELIAS J. RICHARDS, D. D., for upwards of twenty-five years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Reading, Pa., was born Jan. 14, 1813, in the Valley of the Dee, in the West of England, not many miles from the town of Llangollen in Wales, and was the son of Hugh and Jane Ellis (Jones) Richards. His ancestors were tillers of the soil, following the princi- pal industry of the surrounding region. His father was an adherent of the Presbyterian faith, and his mother a devout member of the Church of England. The latter died when her son Elias was but four years of age. About a year afterward Hugh Richards, with four of his children, including the subject of this sketch, left his native land for America, whither his elder brother, John. .a land surveyor, had preceded him. The family resided for a time in Warren county, N. Y., and subsequently at Utica, where the father died. Through the friendly interest of Judge Jonas Platt, an eminent lawyer of the latter place, the youth was enabled to secure an educa- tion. After attending preparatory schools in New York City and Bloomfield, N. J., he entered Princeton College in 1831, and graduated in 1834. Having chosen the ministry as a calling, though opportunities for entering other vocations were open to him, he returned to Prince- ton, graduating at the Theological Seminary in 1838, and the same year was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New York. In 1839 he preached as an evangelist at Ann Arbor, Mich. In 1840 he organized the Second Presby- terian Church at Paterson, N. J., to which he ministered for two years, being called in 1842 to the Western Pres- byterian Church, Philadelphia.

Tn 1846 he accepted the repeated and urgent invitations of the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Reading to become its pastor, being installed Oct. 14th of that year. Here his real life work was wrought. A new and handsome Gothic church edifice was built and dedicated in 1848, taking the place of the humble house of worship used by the congregation for the preceding quarter of a century; the membership steadily increased, and the church became the leading one in the Presbytery of Lehigh. In his twenty-fifth anniversary sermon, preached July 9, 1871, and subsequently published in a

feelingly recapitulated the labors and events of his long pastorate in Reading. This was the last pulpit production he ever wrote. Delicate in health "from his early man- hood, his constitution soon after succumbed to mortal disease, which terminated his life March 25, 1872, in the sixtieth year of his age. Many notable tributes of affection and respect were paid to his memory at his burial by his clerical brethren and sorrowing friends.

Dr. Richards was a man of rare scholarly attainments, and well versed in English literature, especially its stand- ard poetry, which so fittingly reflected the refinement of his tastes and the aspirations of his soul. His ser- mons were equally noted for their devotional spirit and literary grace. His heart was warmly enlisted in the success of his country's cause during the Civil war, and his discourses delivered upon occasions of national observance were lofty utterances of civic faith and patriotic im- pulse. In the personality of the man there was inter- mingled a native dignity of manner, with a pervading ten- derness of spirit, which riveted the attention and abided in the memory. The example of his saintly life and char- acter irradiated an influence for the moral uplifting of the entire community, which recognized in him a leading mind and mourned his departure as a public loss. A marble tablet to his memory expressive of these senti- ments was erected in the church by the congregation a few months after his decease. His rank in his own de- nomination was deservedly high, and as a recognition of his especial fitness for the office at the time it was con- ferred, he was, in June, 1870, by a unanimous vote, elected first moderator of the reunited Synod of Philadelphia.

Dr. Richards was twice married. By his first wife, Em- ily T. Ward, who died in 1857, he had five children, of whom one son and two daughters are living. He married, second, Elizabeth Frances Smith, who, with one daughter, now deceased, survived him.

HIESTER FAMILY. [Taken from Rupp's History of Berks County (1844) pp. 295-297.] The name of Hiester is so extensively connected with the general and State governments, that a brief sketch of the family may not be uninteresting. . Their remote ancestors were of Silesian origin. From that country they were distributed through- out Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, Switzerland and the coun- tries bordering on the river Rhine. The immediate ances- tors of the present race of that name in this country emigrated from Wittgenstein in Westphalia, and arrived in America in the early part of the 18th century. They consisted of three brothers, Daniel, John and Joseph, who took up their residence in the first place at Goshenhoppen, then in Philadelphia, now in Montgomery, county. Here Daniel at once purchased a farm which was somewhat improved. After exploring and becoming better acquainted with the country, they united in purchasing from the Proprietary government upward of two thousand acres of land in Bern township, now Berks county. Here John and Joseph settled, while Daniel remained at the home- stead. Having thus, with the characteristic prudence of those primitive days, first secured the means of support- ing families, they next, in due time, formed matrimonial alliances with American women, and "set themselves down, each under his own vine and fig tree," to enjoy, in- the pursuit of agriculture, the fruits of their virtuous enter- prise.

As they had been induced to leave their own native country by the vassalage of an oppressive government, which exacted, not only onerous taxes, but also a portion of the time and labor of its subjects, they naturally cher- ished in the minds of their descendants, a lofty spirit of freedom. Accordingly, when the Revolutionary war broke out, they were among the first to enroll themselves in the list of Associators. The efficient services of this class of citizen soldiers (which were organized by elect- ing two Brigadier Generals at Lancaster on the 4th of July, 1776), afterward rendered in the campaigns of New Jersey, New York, Delaware, and the lower part of Penn-

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

sylvania, is a well known matter of history. Daniel (of sons, Gabriel, Jonathan, William and Jacob, and two Montgomery), John (of Chester), and Gabriel (of Berks), daughters, Mary (m. to Frederick A. Shulze), and Eliza- beth. The' family name was commonly written Hiester, but he wrote it Heister. the three eldest son's of Daniel, entered the service as field officers, the two former with the rank of Colonel, and the latter with that of Major. , William, the fourth and youngest son of Daniel, although also enrolled, did not, on account of his extreme youth and the infirmity of his aged parents, serve more than one campaign. [He was the great-grandfather of Isaac Hiester, Esq., whose sketch follows.]

Joseph Hiester, afterward Governor of Pennsylvania, the only son of John, entered the service as a captain in the "Flying Camp," and having been made a prisoner at the battle of Long Island, and confined on board the notorious Jersey Prison Ship, "New Jersey," he was, after his exchange promoted to the rank of Colonel. After the war, he and his two cousins, Daniel and John, were elected to the rank of Majors General of the militia in their respective districts. The popularity these men gained by their devotion to country, and the public spirit during the eventful struggles of the Revolutionary war, never forsook them. After the declaration of peace, they all en- joyed, by the suffrages of the people, a large share in the councils of the State, and general Government.

General Daniel Hiester was the first representative in Congress under the present constitution, from Berks coun- ty, of which he had in the meantime become a citizen. In 1796 he removed to Maryland, where he was again repeatedly elected to the same office, from the district composed of Washington, Frederick, and Allegheny coun- ties, until the time of his decease, at Washington city, in the Session of 1801-02.

Joseph Hiester was elected a member of the convention which met in Philadelphia, in November, 1787, to con- sider and ratify, or reject, the first constitution of the United States; and in 1789, he was a member of the con- vention which formed the second constitution of this State. Under that constitution, he and Gabriel Hiester (who had also been a member of the convention which formed the first State constitution), were repeatedly elected to the Legislature, the latter continuing either in the Senate or House of Representatives, uninterruptedly, for nearly thirty years. General Joseph Hiester, after the removal of Daniel to Maryland, represented his district, composed in part of Berks county, in Congress, and about the same time General John Hiester was also chosen a member of the same body from Chester county. Both were re-elected for a series of years-the former until he resigned in 1820 and he was elected Governor of Pennsylvania, and the latter until he declined a re-election and retired to private life.

GABRIEL HEISTER. [Taken from Montgomery's Berks County in the Revolution (1894) p. 232.] Gabriel Heister, a son of Daniel Hiester (native of Wittgenstein, West- phalia), and Catherine Schuler, was born in Bern town- ship June 17, 1749. He was brought up as a farmer and given such an education as the neighborhood afforded at the school connected with the Bern Church. In 1776, he was selected as one of the representatives from Berks county to the Provincial Convention for the formation of a constitution. In 1778, he received the appointment of justice of the Common Pleas Court of the county, which he held for four years. He was afterward elected to the Assembly, and represented the county for eight years, 1782, 1787-89, 1791, and 1802-04. He was in the Assembly when the question of framing a new constitution was discussed but he voted against the propriety of calling a convention for this purpose. He was senator from the district which comprised Berks and Dauphin counties for ten years, 1795-96 and 1805-12. This continued selection by his fellow-citizens indicates their confidence in him as a man of ability and integrity. He was a brother of Col. Daniel Hiester, of Montgomery county; of Col. John Hiester, of Chester county, and a cousin of Col. Joseph Hiester of Berks county.

He died on his farm, in Bern township, Sept. 1, 1824. His wife was Elizabeth Bausman, who survived him eight years, dying in the 81st year of her age. He had four

ISAAC HIESTER, attorney-at-law at Reading, and presi- dent of the Second National Bank, was born at Read- ing Jan. 8, 1856. He was educated in the local schools, and after graduating from the high school in 1871, entered Trinity College, at Hartford, Conn., from which he was graduated in 1876. He then studied law in the office of George F. Baer, Esq., for two years, and was admitted to the Bar of Berks county Aug. 13, 1878. Since then he has been actively and successfully engaged in the practice of his profession, not only in the County courts, but also before the Superior and Supreme Courts of the State, as indicated by the published reports of cases. He has been prominently identified with the Berks County Bar Association, having served as vice-president for nine years until 1906, and since then as president. He has also been 'a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association for a num- ber of years.

Mr. Hiester has officiated as a director and the counsel for the Reading Trust Company since its organization in 1886; also as the president of the Second National Bank of Reading since 1890, having been one of its organizers in 1881. He is also connected with the management of the Charles Evans Cemetery Company, the Reading Li- brary, the East Penn Railroad Company, the Reading Gas Company, and the Reading Electric Light & Power Com- pany as trustee or director.

On Dec. 4, 1905, Mr. Hiester was married to Mary Kimmel Baer, daughter of George F. Baer, Esq. They are members of Christ Episcopal Church. He has been a vestryman since 1879. He took an active part in the Sunday-school for many years, officiating as superintendent from 1880 to 1889.

WILLIAM MUHLENBERG HIESTER, (father of Isaac) ; was born at Reading, May 15, 1818, and after receiving his preparatory education in the West Nottingham Academy, Maryland, entered Bristol College, from which he was graduated in 1837. He then studied law in the office of Hon. John Banks, at Reading, attended a course of law lectures at Harvard College, and was admitted to the Bar at Reading in 1840. In 1843, the honorary degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by Harvard College. Soon after his admission to the Bar, he went to Erie, Pa., for the purpose of engaging in the practice of the law at that place, but after remaining there four years he re- turned to Reading to form a law-partnership with Henry A. Muhlenberg, Esq., and they together established a large and successful practice. Both of them took an active interest in Democratic politics, and their abliity and de- votion were so highly appreciated that they were elected to the State Senate, the former serving from 1850 to 1853, and the latter from 1853 to 1856. Mr. Hiester, during his last year in the Senate, officiated as Speaker.

Upon the election of Hon. William F. Packer as gov- ernor of the State, he selected Mr. Hiester as secretary of the Commonwealth, and Mr. Hiester filled this im- portant office with great success from 1858 to 1861. Dur- ing the exciting presidential campaign of 1860, he sup- ported Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, but when the Civil war broke out he encouraged the Lincoln Administration in the earnest prosecution of the war to the utmost of his ability. In 1863, Governor Curtin, in appreciation of Mr. Hiester's patriotic spirit, appointed him as one of the mustering officers, with the rank of major, and during this year he mustered into the service eight regiments of volunteers who had answered the Governor's call for 60,000 men to repel the invasion of the Rebels. These regiments were assembled in the Fair Grounds at the head of Penn street, and the encampment was called "Camp Hiester," after Mr. Hiester. His adherence to the Republican party led to his nomination for Congress by the Republicans of this district in 1864. After the Civil war he lived practically in retirement until his de-

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cease Aug. 16, 1878. He was identified for many years with the management of the Charles Evans Cemetery, the Reading Gas Company, and the Reading Library as a director ; and he contributed liberally toward the support of local charity. He was married to Julia F. Roland, daughter of Henry Roland, and they had one son, Isaac (above). His wife died Oct. 27, 1904.

DR. ISAAC HIESTER, a distinguished physician for nearly The recorded history of the family begins in 1339, when fifty years at Reading, was the grandfather of Isaac. it was already among the oldest members of the German Hiester, Esq. He was born in Bern township, near the nobility, forming part of the old "tournament ring of Bern Church, about eight miles from Reading, June 22, 1785. He was given a thorough education at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania for the practice of medicine, and after serving as an attending physician in the Pennsylvania Hospital at Philadelphia for five years, located at Reading, where he practised his profession in a most successful manner until his death in 1855. During his practice he prepared a number of articles on medical subjects which received much favorable comment.

Dr. Hiester manifested great interest in local affairs, whether of a medical or of a financial, industrial, literary and scientific nature, and his superior character exerted a powerful influence in the successful development of Read- ing during its really formative period for forty years from the close of our war with England (1812 to 1815). When the Berks County Medical Society was organized in 1824, he was chosen its first president, and upon as- suming the duties of the office, delivered a most inter- esting address. [The proceedings of the meeting and a copy of the address are published in Rupp's History of Berks County (1844), pages 290-294.] He co-operated heartily with other enterprising men of Reading in estab- lishing railroad communication with Philadelphia on the south, and with Pottsville on the north; in supplying the townspeople with spring water for drinking purposes and gas for lighting purposes; and in founding the Reading Academy for increasing the facilities of higher educa- tion at home; and when Charles Evans, Esq., came to appoint the first board of trustees for the management of the cemetery which he founded at Reading, he selected Dr. Hiester as one of them.

In 1810, Dr. Hiester was married to Esther Muhlenberg (daughter of Gen. Peter Muhlenberg, who distinguished himself by patriotic service during the Revolution), and they had four children : William M. (above) ; Peter M .; Anna M. (m. to Hon. J. Pringle Jones, judge of Berks county from 1851 to 1861) ; and Frank M.

HON. DANIEL ERMENTROUT, late of Reading, has left a record of devotion to the interests of that place which has been equalled by few of its citizens, in any day. He was a descendant of the old German stock to which this portion of Pennsylvania owes its principal de- velopment, and which is still represented here in large numbers by the posterity of the early settlers. As a law- yer .of ability he stood at the head of his chosen profes- sion; as a public official he performed services which will be felt for many years to come; as a gentleman of bril- liant mental gifts and winning personality he was sought and welcomed in circles where the highest ideals of social intercourse prevailed. His memory is cherished by many in Reading, for though his life lines broadened until they touched other communities and embraced many interests. yet his home city always had first place in his heart and received the benefit of the best efforts of his mind. The fellow-citizens who encouraged his earlier endeavors were the same who applauded the achievements of his mature years, and, augmented by the vast array of sincere friends he made in his journey through life, were the same who mourned most deeply his sudden taking away. Mr. Ermentrout was distinctly an American citizen, his family having been settled in this country for a hundred years before his birth, but nevertheless he owed many of his most characteristic qualities to the race from which he sprang, and some reference to his ancestors will be of interest.

tiska, in Galicia, near the Russian border. Carl Fried- erich, Baron von Irmtraut, as the name is now found in Austria, was born at Stuttgart Dec. 29, 1810, was lieutenant- colonel in the Imperial Austrian army, and Knight of the Military Order of Merit, and had long lived in re- tirement. He married a relative, Anna, Baroness von Irmtraut, and there were no children.

Franconia." To belong to any one of the four tourna- ment circles of those days it was necessary to prove de- scent from four noble families, all eligible, on both pater- nal and maternal sides. In other words, the Knight had to prove his "quarterings." Several Ermtrauts took part in a tournament, at Frankfort, as well as in the celebrated Nürnberg tournament of 1433, during the first year of the reign of the Emperor Sigismund. These proofs of eligibility are still preserved.

In ancient documents and old genealogical notes the name is spelled Ehrendraud, Ehrentraud, Ermentraut, Ermtraut, Irmentraut, Irmtraut, just as it sounded at the moment to the clerks who wrote these papers, as the Knights of those early days were indifferent spellers and usually signed their documents with the imprint of their armorial bearings embossed on signet rings or sword pommels.

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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 207

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