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 213
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In March, 1882, Mr. Himmelberger married Alwilda Gabriel, of Earlville, later of Reading, daughter of Evan and Elizabeth (Becker) Gabriel. Four children have blessed this union: Libbie V., Beulah R., Ruth A. and Martha M. Socially Mr. Himmelberger is a member of Fidelity Chamber No. 5, Knights of Friendship; and Camp No. - 212, P. O. S. of A., both of Reading. In politics he is a. Democrat. When West Reading was incorpor- ated into a borough, and the people were looking for a conservative man for their first chief burgess, they unanimously selected Mr. Himmelberger for that respon- sible position, May, 1907. The work of his administration has been marked by progress and by a business-like con- duct of affairs, giving great satisfaction to the people. With his family Mr. Himmelberger belongs to the First Reformed Church of Reading, in which he is a member of the consistory, holding office since 1889. He was con- firmed in Belleman's Union Church in Centre township in 1876. He is a consistent Christian gentleman, and is regular in his attendance at divine worship.
WILLIAM H. COLEMAN, a tinsmith of Reading, em- ployed by the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, was born in Reading Jan. 1, 1860, son of Henry A. and Hannah S. (Hunter) Coleman.
Henry A. Coleman was born in Berks county, and married Hannah S. Hunter, daughter of Nicholas Hunter, of Oley township, Berks county. Their children were: Hunter, m. to Lavina Strohm, and residing at Fleetwood; William H .; Mary, m. to James Shunk, of Reading.
Mr. Knapp married Miss Mary Reisinger, daughter of Wolfgang and Mary Reisinger, natives of Germany. Mr. Reisinger, who for a number of years was employed as a watchman at the Scott works, Reading, died at the age of seventy-seven years, three months. Mr. and Mrs. Knapp had the following children: Miss Maggie is at home; Rosa m. Peter Barkert, and has children-Mary, Charles, Loretta, Margaret, Jane and Naomi; Martha m. John Miller, a farmer near Blandon, and has five child- ren. Ethel, Joseph, George, Helen and Bernert; Albert, a foreman in the machine department of the shops, m. Minnie Smith, and has one daughter, Dorothy; and Eliza- beth m. William F. Burkhart, who is engaged in the ice business at No. 939 Moss street, and has one daughter, Irene: Mr. Knapp was. a stanch Democrat in political matters and served on the election board of the Ninth ward. He was a faithful member of St. Paul's Catholic Church, and a member of the two lodges connected there- with. He was also identified with the Philadelphia & Reading Relief Association and with the Rainbow Fire Company. He was well-known in his community, where he had hosts of friends. Mrs. Knapp, who survives her husband, resides at No. 353 Moss street.
JOHN E. GOODMAN, of Reading, comes from a family resident in Berks county since the close of the Revolutionary war. So far as can be ascertained the first of the name came to this country in 1780, landing at Philadelphia and eventually settling in Oley township, Berks county.
William H. Coleman was reared in Pleasantville, Oley Jacob Goodman, great-grandfather of John E., the first of the family born in America, passed his early years in Oley township, his birthplace, but on reaching manhood settled in Reading, on property now owned by Joseph Shearer, at the corner of Eighth and Franklin streets. Throughout his active life he followed his calling of a wheelwright, and he died in Reading aged sixty-two years. township, by Isaac Yoder, and he received his education in the public schools. When fifteen years of age he com- menced learning the trade of tinsmithing at Pleasantville with Maybury Yoder, and after two and one-half years with him, he clerked for two years for F. R. Cleaver, merchant, at Pleasantville. He then went to Gabelsville,. and for three years more was a clerk, but then he removed John Goodman, son of Jacob, was born in Reading, and as he grew up he adopted his father's trade. For to Grim's Mill in Colebrookdale township where he farmed until 1899. At that time he found an opening at Read- a year he was located at the corner of Liberty (then
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Court) and Eighth streets, and then removed to Franklin Alsace township. She died in June, 1900, and both she and Lemon streets, where he remained until 1854, and and her husband are buried in Aulenbach's cemetery. Their children were: Jacob E., James E., Philip A. and Kate (deceased). in that year retired from business. He was interested in politics as a stanch Democrat, and served as council- man from the eastern district. John Goodman married Miss Catherine Allison, of Reading, and they became the parents of nine children, namely: Mary, who died when a year and a half old; Henry; Catherine; Jacob; Maria; Eliza; Sarah, widow of James Koch; Daniel and Amanda. Mr. Goodman died March 13, 1875, aged seventy-three years, five months and fifteen days; his wife survived him and died March 14, 1881.
Jacob Goodman was born in Reading in 1830, and received a common school education. At first he carried on the family traditions by learning the trade of a wheel- wright, but later he engaged in the butchering business, and was occupied in that line most of his life. His first butcher shop was on North Ninth street, near Penn, and he moved from there to Thirteenth street. Then followed an interval of four years which Mr. Goodman spent in Dover, Del., engaged in the lumber and cattle business, but in 1874 he returned to Reading, resumed the butcher's trade, and for seventeen years carried it on at Franklin and Peach streets. In 1891 he took up an entirely new occupation, going into the hotel business, and during seven years he ran the "Union House" on Penn street, meet- ing with the same success in this enterprise which had attended his earlier efforts. In 1898 he retired, and from that time until his death July 7, 1902, he was burdened by no heavy responsibilities, but was free to enjoy quietly his last years.
Jacob Goodman was married Dec. 14, 1851, to Elizabeth Breidegam who survives her husband, and lives with her son, John E. Three children were born to them, but the two younger ones, Clara and Samuel, twins, both died. Mr. Goodman was a Mason, a member of Chandler Lodge, No. 227. Like his father he took a keen interest in political questions, was a strong Democrat, and was chosen to help direct municipal affairs, being the repre- sentative of the Third ward in both the common and select councils. He was well known in the city, and had many friends and left the record of a successful and well spent life.
John E. Goodman was born July 30, 1856, while the family were sojourning at Temple, Berks county. He grew up in Reading, attended the public schools, and then learned the butcher's business under his father. But he did not make this his permanent occupation, and in- stead took a position with the National Brass & Iron Works, where he was employed as a shipping clerk for thirteen years. At the present time Mr. Goodman is em- ployed in the Mohn Hat Factory.
In 1883, Mr. Goodman married Miss Annie R. Harbster, of Reading, daughter of the late William and Ellen (Ma- thias) Harbster. Their only child is a daughter, Clara, now the wife of George N. Fehr. Mr. Fehr is a mem- ber of the firm of John N. Fehr & Son, dealers in leaf tobacco, Reading. Since 1877 Mr. Goodman has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Chandler Lodge, No. 227. His residence is at No. 824 Franklin street.
JAMES E. DAUTRICH is among the well known business men of Reading, Pa., engaged in contracting and building. He was born in this city June 7, 1861, son of James Dautrich.
James Dautrich was born in 1833, in Alsace township, Berks county, and when a young man learned the car- penter's trade, coming to Reading when twenty years of age. Here from 1853 he followed his trade until 1865, in which year he engaged in contracting, an occupation which he continued to pursue until his death May 16, 1899. Mr. Dautrich contracted specially in stone and brick, furnishing the materials for some of the largest and most substantial buildings of the city, especially in the North- eastern section. Mr. Dautrich married Annie Borkert, daughter of the late Captain John Borkert, who for many years operated the flour and grist mill at Antietam Lake,
James E. Dautrich attended the public schools of Read- ing, and finished his education at the age of seventeen years in the grammer school. He then went to learn the hatter's trade, which he followed for a few years in Reading, after which he went to Bridgeport, Conn. Mr. Dautrich remained in the New England States altogether eleven years, and at the end of this time returned to Reading, and here resumed his trade until the death of his father, when he took charge of his father's business, and has continued to conduct it to the present time, with great success. He employs an average of from twenty to twenty-five men, and also furnishes the brick and stone for the principal buildings in Reading. Among the buildings built by Mr. Dantrich in Reading may be mentioned the Curtis & Jones shoe factory, the Nolde. & Horst stocking factory, terra cotta for the large Dives, Pomeroy & Stewart department store. Mr. Dautrich lives at No. 119 South Eleventh street.
Mr. James E. Dantrich was married Dec. 13, 1894, to Miss Amanda C. Gettis, daughter of James and Lydia (Garrett) Gettis, of Berks county. Politically Mr. Dant- rich is a Republican, and under Mayor Adam H. Leader was appointed scavenger of the city, a position which he filled very satisfactorily for three years. He has also. held a number of minor positions, being register assessor for a number of years. He is a member of Grace Lutheran Church. He is fraternally connected with Camp No. 560, P. O. S. of A., and the Friendship Fire Company.
AURY E. KALBACH, a member of one of the old established families of Berks county, resides at No. 316 North Second street, Reading. He was born at Womels- dorf, Pa., Oct. 28, 1861, son of Josiah L. and, Catherine (Bennethum) Kalbach, and grandson of Daniel and Kate (Lash) Kalbach.
George Kalbach, great-grandfather of Aury E., was the German emigrant of the family, who came to Berks county at an early day and settled in Heidelberg township. He married Maria Spang, a member of one of the aristo- cratic and wealthy old German families, the Spang estate when settled being estimated at $7,000,000.
Daniel Kalbach, the grandfather, bought the old Bittner homestead in Spring township and lived there for many years, becoming a man of importance and establishing a reputation for strict integrity. By his first wife, Kate Yeagley, his children were: Israel, of Ohio; and Eliza, m. to Daniel Shenfelder, of Newmanstown. He m. (sec- ond) Mrs. Kate (Lash) Seibert, widow of John Seibert. She had one child of her first marriage, Mary Ann (m. Uriah Reifsnyder). By her second marriage, with Mr. Kalbach, she had the following children: Ellen, m. to- Henry Behne; Josiah L. and William.
Josiah L. Kalbach learned the coach painting trade in young manhood, and followed this business for some years, and then went into the candy-making business, es- tablishing himself at Third and Penn streets, where he carried on a successful business for twenty-two years, re- tiring in 1902. He now lives retired at No. 419 Wash- ington street. Josiah Kalbach and wife, Catherine Ben- nethum, had three children, namely: Della, m. to Harry Deysher, shipping clerk at J. H. Sternbergh's steel plant; Catherine, m. to Ellis Kirk, a cartoonist and sketch artist; and Aury E. The family is one which has been united for generations in religion and politics, belonging to the Reformed Church and the Democratic party.
Aury E. Kalbach was educated in the schools at Wom- elsdorf, and after completing his education, became a news agent for a time and then entered the Reading Iron Company's pipe mill, but left there to learn the hatter's trade. This he followed for three years and then became interested in local express work, which he carried on some four years. He then entered his father's employ and re- mained with him as candy maker for twenty years. Since
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his father's retirement, he has devoted his attention to appreciates this fact particularly. He is a modern transportation, teaming for large manufacturing concerns. farmer in every respect, having a full line of up-to-date Mr. Kalbach was married, in 1882, to Sallie Miller, and implements, including a first-class threshing outfit, their only child died in infancy. He m. (second) Sarah Wessner, daughter of Mark and Sarah (Bower) Wessner of Maiden-creek. Three children have been born to this union : Mark Leroy, born Nov. 23, 1892, at home; Cath- erine Bertha, born Aug. 24, 1897; and Josiah Bennethum, born Nov. 29, 1899, at home.
KRIEBEL FAMILY. The first of this name in America, (I) George Kriebel, came to Pennsylvania in 1734, a member of the little band of Schwenk- felders who emigrated hither from Silesia, Germany. On Nov. 25, 1740, he married Susanna, daughter of Balthaser and Regina Yeakel, and they had two sons: George, born July 11, 1744; and Andrew, born Sept. 17, 1748. George Kriebel died Sept. 2, 1778, and his wife, Susanna, died Sept. 14, 1775.
(II) Andrew Kriebel, son of George, the emigrant, married May 16, 1771, Susanna, daughter of Abraham Yeakel. She died April 22, 1808, aged fifty-seven years, five months, fourteen days. He passed away April 17, 1830. They had, nine children, as follows: Rosanna, born in 1773, m. in 1818 Daniel Diehl, and died in 1836; Abraham, born Sept. 27, 1774, m. Chris- tina Kriebel; Samuel, born June 13, 1776, m. Chris- tina Schultz; George, born Oct. 2, 1778, died May 20. 1779; Regina, born June 25, 1780; David, born July 19, 1783, m. Rosina Schultz; Sophia, born Nov. 1, 1785; Salome, born Dec. 9, 1787; and Israel, born Sept. 14, 1790.
(III) Israel Kriebel, born Sept. 14, 1790, was a miller and lived near Chapel, in Hereford township,. moon, and is a valuable relic.
Berks county. He died June 14, 1860. On May 6, 1819, he married Sarah, daughter of Rev. John Schultz, and she died in March, 1859. They had thirteen children: Christina, born Oct. 12, 1820 (died Oct. 10, 1864); John, Feb. 4, 1822; Samuel, Nov. 11, 1823 (died June 16, 1825); Susanna, Jan. 8, 1825; Elizabeth, Aug. 10, 1826; Henry, March 25, 1828; Elias, Oct. 13, 1829; Regina, Oct. 7, 1831; Joseph, June 28, 1833 (died Dec. 29, 1859); Andrew, Aug. 8, 1835; Anna, 1838 (died 1845); Sarah, 1841 (died 1845); and Mary, July 14, 1846.
(IV) Andrew Kriebel, born in Hereford township Aug. 8, 1835, died Oct. 10, 1876, on the farm in that township now owned by his son Allen S. Kriebel. He is buried at Washington meeting-house. He was engaged as miller in his father's mill in early life, and later gave all his time to the cultivation of his farm. He married Christina Schultz, born March 8, 1840, daughter of Charles and Polly (Reichenbach) Schultz, died March 6, 1906. To them were born three children, as follows: Allen S., Oscar S., and Mary (m. to Milton Schultz, a farmer of Upper Han- over township, Montgomery Co., Pennsylvania).
(V) ALLEN S. KRIEBEL, a farmer in Hereford town- ship, was born June 28, 1861, at the place he now lives, and was there reared. He attended school in his native township, and spent his youth and early manhood working on the farm for his parents. After reaching his majority he rented from his mother and continued farming thus for some years. In the fall of 1898 he purchased his father's homestead, where he has been doing well ever since. This property, which consists of sixty acres of farm land and twenty acres of wood land, is located near Treichlersville. The present stone dwelling was built in 1862, by An- drew Kriebel, and the barn was put up the follow- ing year, 1863. The stone house replaced a dwelling -part wood, part log-which had stood for over a hundred years. Mr. Kriebel has made a number of improvements on the place since it came into his possession, and it presents a most attractive appear- ance. In front of the house are two large pine trees and a spruce tree in which he takes especial pride. entered upon a preparatory course at Oberlin College, Good water is one of the valuable features of this farm, and as Mr. Kriebel has valuable live stock he meantime teaching two terms of school in Ohio and
as he does considerable threshing in the neighbor- hood and surrounding townships-his patrons being found in Berks, Bucks, Montgomery and Lehigh coun- ties. He has two gasoline engines, one of six and one of twelve horse-power. In addition to such work, he saws wood, bales hay, shreds cornstalks, etc., for the farmers of his section. He has a telephone at his house, and every convenience for the facilitation of his various enterprises.
In 1888 Mr. Kriebel married Keturah Schultz, daugh- ter of Manoah and Annette (Trump) Schultz, of Here- ford, and to them have been born eight children: Ada, Chester, Homer, Owen, Irene, Norman, Raymond and Mary. Mr. and Mrs. Kriebel are much interested in the education of their family. Their daughter Ada is at present a student in the commercial department of the Perkiomen Seminary. All the members of the Kriebel family have maintained high standing for respectability and good citizenship, and well deserve the respect in which they are held. Allen S. Kriebel and his family belong to the Schwenkfelder Church, and they are also connected with the Sunday-school, he being a member of the board of managers, which consists of three members, corresponding to the board of trustees of a church. He is a Republican in polit- ical opinion.
One of the treasured possessions of this family is an old grandfather's clock, which formerly belonged to Rev. William Schultz. It not only shows the time, but the day of the month and the movements of the
Manoah Schultz, father of Mrs. Allen S. Kriebel. was born Nov. 23, 1847, in Hereford, and was reared to farming, which vocation he followed throughout his active years. From 1868 he was engaged on his own account, in 1873 obtaining the homestead farm in Hereford, where he lived until the spring of 1906. He then moved to Treichlersville, where he farmed a forty-acre tract for one year, at the end of that time moving to the Abraham Krauss tract, in Hereford township, which he bought, and where he is now living retired. He is a Schwenkfelder in religious faith and has been active in that denomination, having served as a manager of the Sunday-school for many years.
Mr. Schultz married Annette Trump, born July 23, 1848, daughter of John and Sallie (Conrad) Trump, of District township, died Nov. 6, 1875. By this union there were four children: Katie m. Allen S. Kriebel; Ambrose met an accidental death at the age of twenty- six; Sallie m. David F. Clemmer; Annie Amanda died in infancy. Mr. Schultz's second marriage was to Mary Wiand, in 1878. They have had no children.
(V) REV. OSCAR S. KRIEBEL, A. M., D. D., minister of the Schwenkfelder Church and principal of Perkio- men Seminary, is a resident of Pennsburg, Montgom- ery Co., Pa. He was born Sept. 10, 1863, in Hereford township, Berks county, and there spent his boyhood days upon the farm, receiving his early education meanwhile in the local schools. For three or four years during this period he was a very active member of the celebrated Hereford Township Literary Society. His spare hours were devoted to preparing himself to teach school, with such good results that in the summer of 1880, when only in his seventeenth year, he passed a county examination under Prof. S. A. Baer, Ph. D., then superintendent of Berks county, and was licensed to teach in the public schools. He taught his first term in Lower Milford township, Lehigh county, under Superintendent J. O. Knauss in 1880- 1881. The two terms following he taught the Schultz school in his native township, under the superintend- ency of Prof. D. S. Keck. In April, 1883, Mr. Kriebel Oberlin, Ohio, where he prepared for his college course,
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one nine months term in Stronach, Mich., though he kept at his studies all the while. He graduated with honors from Oberlin College in 1889, and from the Oberlin Theological Seminary in 1902. During the first two years of his theological course in Oberlin he also taught in the preparatory department of the college. He spent the third year of his theological course in Germany, studying at the University of Berlin.
Mr. Kriebel was married in 1891, and he and his wife spent the following year in travel and study in Europe, Mr. Kriebel putting in most of his time at the Uni- versity of Berlin, Germany. Their journeyings took them through England, Scotland, Holland and Germany, and in the latter country Mr. Kriebel gave very special attention to studying the school system of the country.
Dr. Kriebel has devoted much of his time to the cause of the Schwenkfelder Church, of which he is a minister, being the pastor of the followers of Caspar Schwenkfeld in the "Upper District" of the church in Pennsylvania. He is very active in the denomination, having been a member of the Home and Foreign Mis- sion Board of the church since its organization, and a member of the Publication board, which has charge of all the church publications, including the works and life of Caspar Schwenkenfeld von Ossig, known as the "Corpus Schwenkenfeldinorium,", which when completed will consist of seventeen volumes. The first volume appeared in 1908. Dr. Kriebel is sec- retary of the Publication board.
As principal of Perkiomen Seminary since 1892 Dr. Kriebel has attained front rank among the educators of the State, and he is a lecturer and public speaker of note. He is deeply interested in all educational and intellectual movements which tend to advance the civil or moral welfare of the country and exerts a con- siderable influence in such circles. His practical work along his chosen lines has been varied and efficient. He is a member of the Civil Service Reform Associa- tion of Pennsylvania, and has taken an active and prom- iment part in the good roads movement wherever it has been propagated in Pennsylvania. In his home town he is held in profound respect, and those who know him best speak of him as a scholarly, broad-mind- ed, public-spirited and exemplary citizen, a Christian gentleman of the highest type.
In June, 1907, Rev. Oscar S. Kriebel had the hon- orary degree of Doctor of Divinity conferred upon him by Franklin and Marshall College, of Lancaster, Pa. Prof. Kriebel has also completed most of the re- quired work for a Ph. D. degree in the graduate de- partment of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Montgomery County Historical So- ciety, of the Pennsylvania German Society, of the National Geographical Society, and has been for years president of the Private Secondary School Association of Pennsylvania.
On June 30, 1891, Dr. Kriebel married Miss Corinne Miller, of Castalia, Erie Co., Ohio, daughter of Capt. W. W. and Mary (Caswell) Miller. They have had three children, Frieda, Mary and Louisa, the eldest, Frieda, born in Berlin, Germany, during the parents' long sojourn abroad.
Mrs. Kriebel's father, Capt. W. W. Miller, served as a captain throughout the Civil war, being popularly called the "Boy Captain" because of his youth. He was wounded at Gettysburg. For ten years he was State Secretary of Agriculture of Ohio. On the ma- ternal side Mrs. Kriebel comes from a line of patriotic
Seminary, which was founded in 1887 by Rev. C. S. Wieand, of Pottstown, Pa., who was born and reared in the Schwenkenfelder Church. In 1892, the school opened its doors under the present management, with four teachers and nineteen scholars. The growth of the school has been remarkable. In fifteen years the teaching force was increased to thirty and the total enrollment to three hundred and sixty-one. During the last seventeen years the school has enrolled 2,200 different students from practically all the counties of Perin- sylvania, from fifteen different States of the Union, and from five foreign countries. Out of a total of 491 graduates, since its reorganization in 1892, two hun- dred and eighty-one have continued their studies in sixty-one higher institutions of learning, including Har- vard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Oberlin, Ann Arbor and practically all the best institutions in the East and middle West.
The institution is equipped with new modern build- ings, chemical and physical laboratories, gymnasium, athletic field, etc. A Carnegie library is proposed, but not yet built. It is located in the upper part of the rich and beautiful Perkiomen valley. Pure fresh air and an abundance of excellent spring water supply the school which is heated by steam and lighted by elec- tricity.
The Perkiomen Railroad, a branch of the Philadel- phia and Reading system runs through Pennsburg, Pa. Since 1892 Rev. Dr. Oscar S. Kriebel has been princi- pal of the school. The institution is conducted under the auspices of the Schwenkfelder church. It is man- aged by a board of trustees consisting of thirteen mem- bers, elected by the Church. In 1908 the trustees were: M. K. Gilbert, president; Rev. N. B. Grubb; Jacob D. Heebner; Hon. John G. Hersh, M. D., vice-president; Adam Krauss, secretary; Hiram K. Kriebel; Jesse S. Kriebel; Rev. E. E. S. Johnson; Rev. O. S. Kriebel; Rev. G. K. Meschter, M. D .; B. S. Schultz; E. K. Schultz, treasurer; and Rev. A. S. Shelly.
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