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 84
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DANIEL ROBERDEAU CLYMER, eldest son of Edward Tilghman Clymer and Maria Catherine Hiester, was born at the Clymer homestead in Caernarvon township, Berks Co., Pa., March 31, 1819. After receiving his education at Lititz, Lancaster county, he engaged in the mercantile business in Reading, Pa., which he pursued until 1852. In 1853-54 he was mayor of Reading, and some years later held a position with the East Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany, which he resigned in 1869, after which time he was not in business. He was also a lawyer, having been admitted to the Bar Aug. 20, 1857, but was never en- gaged in the active practice of the law. He married at Mercersburg March 31, 1846, Delia Pierson, daughter of Silas and Sarah Pierson, of Morristown, N. J. Mrs. Cly- mer was born Jan. 8, 1824, and died June 14, 1861. They had five children : Maria Hiester, born June 2, 1847; Sarah
Mm H. Olymas
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Anna Moore, born June 24, 1849; Delia Pierson, born after pursuing his legal studies for a while under William May 28, 1851; Daniel Roberdeau, Jr., born Nov. 6, 1854; Strong, Esq., he entered the Harvard Law School, from and Hiester George, born Oct. 21, 1856.
Mr. Clymer was well known over the whole State and highly esteemed by a large circle of friends. He was a devout member of the Episcopal Church, and was looked upon as a faithful and upright Christian gentleman. His death occurred after a short illness at his residence in Reading, Pa., May 5, 1889.
WILLIAM HIESTER CLYMER, second son of Edward Tilghman Clymer and Maria Catherine Hiester, was born at the Clymer homestead in Caernarvon township, near Morgantown, Berks county, Pa., Oct. 9, 1820. His father dying while the children were all small, the subject of this sketch was placed in the charge of his uncle, William Hiester, of New Holland, Lancaster county, where he was in his uncle William's store for a short time, and subsequently sent to Lititz to school. He afterward came to Reading and he and his brother, Daniel R. Clymer, opened a dry-goods store at No. 518 Penn street. Later they moved their store to the building on the southwest corner of Fifth and Penn streets, which property they bought. Some years after William Clymer sold out his interest in the store to his brother Daniel, and in 1846 he and his brother Edward M. Clymer purchased the charcoal furnace at Mt. Laurel, Berks county, where he-William H. Clymer-resided until 1882, with the exception of about two years, from 1864 to 1866, when he lived in Reading. In 1860 he and his brother purchased the old Oley Charcoal Furnace near Friedensburg, one of the oldest charcoal furnaces in the United States, and com- menced mining iron ore extensively. The Temple Fur- nace, a large and perfectly equipped anthracite furnace situated at Temple, five miles north of Reading, was built by William H. Clymer & Co., and operated by them until 1870, when the Temple Iron Company was organ- ized with William H. Clymer as its president. About 1880 the Clymer brothers had the Mt. Laurel Furnace changed from a charcoal to an anthracite furnace, and a railroad, one and a half miles in length, was built from the East Pennsylvania railroad at Temple to the furnace. After these improvements were made the brothers organized the Clymer Iron Company, a corporation which included in its operations the Mt. Laurel Furnace, Oley Furnace, extensive limestone quarries at Bower's Station, iron ore mines near Pricetown, and a number of mines along the East Pennsylvania railroad. This corporation, of which William H. Clymer was president, was entirely independ- ent of the Temple Iron Company, of which he was also the president. About a year before his death Mr. Clymer resigned the presidency of the Clymer Iron Company on account of ill health and was succeeded by his brother, Hiester Clymer. He, however, retained the presidency of the First National Bank of Reading, which he held from 1876 until his death, and the presidency of the Temple Iron Company. He removed with his family to Reading, Pa., in September, 1882, and died there July 26, 1883. He had a large acquaintance and was greatly respected for his sterling character; was a man of excellent judg- ment, and his advice was frequently sought upon many important matters. He was brought up an Episcopalian and was a member of Christ Church, Reading, at the time of his death.
On June 12. 1855, Mr. Clymer married Valeria, eldest daughter of Levi B. Smith. She was born March 14, 1828, and died Aug. 17, 1901. Their family consisted of six children : Emily Smith, born July 16, 1856; Edward Tilghman, born Aug. 8, 1857; William Hiester, born March 21, 1860; Levi Smith, born April 2, 1863; Valeria Elizabeth, born April 29, 1865; and Frederick Hiester, born May 2, 1869.
EDWARD MYERS CLYMER, third son of Edward Tilghman Clymer and Maria Catherine Hiester, was born at the Cly- mer homestead in Caernarvon township, Berks Co., Pa., July 16, 1822. He went to the local schools in his early youth and afterward to the Abbeville Academy, in Lancaster county, and to the academy of Joshua Hoopes, at West Chester. He then selected the law as his profession, and
which he was graduated in 1845. Upon his return to Reading he was admitted to the Bar on Aug. 4, 1845. He then opened a law office and soon acquired a lucrative, business, which he continued until 1857, at which time he became thoroughly interested in projecting the East Pennsylvania railroad, from Reading to Allentown. His efforts in this enterprise were entirely successful and he became the first president of the company, and continued in this office until the road was leased to the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company. In 1874 he was chosen president of the Coal Company belonging to the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company, which it owned and operated in Pennsylvania, and he held this position until his death, which occurred in New York City, May 25, 1883. He was popular in social and busi- ness circles and united to a more than common business sagacity an abundance of well-directed energy, a quality which received marked development in building the East Pennsylvania railroad, and the proposed continuation of a system of underground railway under Broadway, New York. He was married, Jan. 27, 1864, to Ella Maria Dietz, daughter of William H. Dietz, of New York City. They had but one child, a son, Edward Myers Clymer, born May 6, 1869, who survived him, as did also his widow.
MARY HIESTER CLYMER, only daughter of Edward Tilghman and Maria Catherine Hiester, was born at the Clymer homestead, Caernarvon township, Berks Co., Pa., July 19, 1825. She was married Aug. 10, 1852, in Christ Church, Reading, Pa., by the Rev. Milton Lightner, rec- tor, to her cousin, William Bingham Clymer, the eldest son of Henry Clymer and grandson of George Clymer, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Clymer was born at the homestead, near Trenton, Bucks Co., Pa., his mother having been Mary Willing. He received a liberal education, graduating with credit at Princeton College, and studied law but never practised. When quite young he assumed the management of the Bingham estate. In 1842 he was appointed agent for the northern counties of Pennsylvania, and in 1845 established the general office of the estate at Wellsboro. His man- agement of the large property was highly successful, so that in 1867 he was appointed a trustee. He ever carefully considered the rights and interests of all, and enjoyed the confidence of the trustees, while his courtesy, kindness and perfect integrity commanded the respect of the tenants and others on the estate. Mr. and Mrs. Clymer resided for a time at Wellsboro, Tioga Co., Pa., where all their children were born with the exception of the third, who was born in Philadelphia. The chil- dren were all baptized by Rev. Mr. Marple, rector of Christ Church, Wellsboro. In July, 1869, they sailed for Europe, taking all their children for the advantages of education ; and while abroad, on the 28th of May, 1873, Mr. Clymer died of apoplexy in Florence, Italy. The family then returned to Philadelphia in the autumn. Mr. Clymer's remains were sent home and are interred in Charles Evans cemetery, near Reading, Pa. In Novem- ber, 1878, 'Mrs. Clymer and her children left America with the intention of settling on the Continent, but she and two of her children, Richard and Maria, were drowned in the English Channel before they reached their destination, the vessel in which they took passage having been lost Nov. 26, 1878. The following children were born to Mary Hiester Clymer and William Bingham Clymer : Henry, born June 10, 1853; Mary, Dec. 13, 1854; Ellen S., Dec. 9, 1856; Richard Willing, April 10, 1858; Maria Hiester, Feb. 11, 1862; and Rose Nicolls, Sept. 19, 1865.
HIESTER CLYMER, fifth son of Edward Tilghman Clymer and Maria Catherine Hiester, was born at the Clymer homestead, Caernarvon township, Berks Co., Pa .. Nov. 3, 1827. He received a liberal education, graduating from the College of New Jersey in 1847, and taking up the study of law was admitted to the Bar of Berks county, April 6, 1849, after which he practised in
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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Reading and Pottsville. He married April 3, 1856, Eliza- beth M. Brooke, daughter of Matthew Brooke, of Birds- boro, Pa. They resided in Reading, where their two chil- dren were born and died, and where Mrs. Clymer died Oct. 9, 1870. He was a delegate to the Democratic Con- vention at Charleston, in 1860, and in the same year was one of the Revenue commissioners; served as State sen- ator from 1860 to 1866; became the Democratic candi- date for governor in the latter year, but was defeated by Governor Geary. In 1870 he was appointed by the governor a member of the Board of Public Charities, then just organized. In 1873 he was elected a repre- sentative to the XLIIId Congress from Berks county, as a Democrat; and served on the committee on the Re- vision of the Laws, on Public Lands and on the Library. He was re-elected, to the XLIVth Congress, and was placed on the committee on Expenditures of the War De- partment, and the Joint Standing Committee on the Li- brary; also re-elected to Congress in 1876 and 1878. In 1880 Mr. Clymer was succeeded in Congress from the Berks District by the Hon. Daniel Ermentrout, and from that time until his death resided in Reading. His discus- sion with State Senator A. K. McClure, in February, 1861, in the State Senate, on the repeal of the tonnage tax on the traffic of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, brought him prominently before the public. The crowning act of his Congressional life was his presentation to Con- gress of the special committee report touching the ras- calities of William W. Belknap, President Grant's Sec- retary of War, which created a great sensation throughout the land. His career in the Senate of Pennsylvania was distinguished for dignity and courtesy of demeanor, force and eloquence in debate, and steadfast devotion to the best interests of the Commonwealth. He was interested in the iron business, and at the time of his death was president of the Clymer Iron Company.
Mr. Clymer married April 26, 1882, Mrs. J. B. Clemens (nee Von Schrader), of St. Louis, Missouri.
Mr. Clymer died June 12, 1884, at which time he was vice-president of the Union Trust Company, Philadelphia ; president of the Clymer Iron Company, which operated the Mt. Laurel and Oley Furnaces; a director of the Reading Fire Insurance and Trust Company from the time of its organization, and a trustee of the Charles Evans Cemetery.
Hiester Clymer and Elizabeth M. Brooke had two chil- dren: Elizabeth M., born Jan. 20, 1857; and Edward Brooke, born March 18, 1859.
GEORGE EDWARD CLYMER, youngest child of Edward Tilghman Clymer and Maria Catherine Hiester, was born at the Clymer homestead, in Caernarvon township, Berks Co., Pa., Jan. 8, 1830. He was sent to the Reading Acad- emy and from there to Princeton College, from which institution he graduated in 1849. He then became asso- ciated with his brothers, William, Edward and Hiester, in the iron business in eastern Pennsylvania, owning the Mt. Laurel and Oley Furnaces and other property connected with the iron business. In 1858 he went to Mexico and joined a party who surveyed the route for a railroad from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. In the summer of 1861 Mr. Clymer raised a company of cavalry which became attached to the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment, Col. R. H. Rush, of which Mr. Clymer was made major in March, 1862. During 1865-68 he was occupied in mining in Nevada and Chihuahua, Mexico. In 1870 Mr. Clymer severed his connection with his brothers in the iron busi- ness and removed to Cincinnati, where he became inter- ested in the Swift Iron & Steel Works of Newport, Ky .. of which his father-in-law was president. Mr. Clymer was elected vice-president in 1874 and removed with his family to Newport. In 1884 he returned to Reading and again became interested in the iron business, and after the death of his brother Hiester bought the Mt. Laurel Furnace property and operated the furnace until two years before his death, when he retired from active business and settled in Reading.
Major Clymer married June 29, 1868, Alice Cary Swift, daughter of Alexander Swift, of Cincinnati. She died in
Jacksonville, Fla., Feb. 14, 1873, leaving two children. Mr. Clymer died in Reading July 7, 1895. He was the worshipful master of Lodge No. 62, F. & A. M., during the years 1855 and 1856, and was also a member of the Sons of the Revolution and of the Loyal Legion. The children of George Edward Clymer and Alice Cary Swift were as follows: Edwin Swift, born June 16, 1871; and George Alexander, born July 25, 1872.
LEWIS CRATER, Secretary and Treasurer of the Reading Steam Heat and Power Company, and Secretary and Treasurer of the Warren County Traction Company, is one of the representative citizens of Reading, and he is descended from one of those sturdy emigrants from the Palatinate, who sought religious freedom in the New World.
The name Crater was originally "Greter," as is evi- denced in the original oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britain, signed by the emigrant ancestor when he landed at Philadelphia. This paper is on file in Harris- burg. The different branches of the family have adopted various spellings-Greder, Grader, Grater, Krater and Crat- er. The change from "G" to "C" was originally through an accident. On May 28, 1792, John Grater bought proper- ty of George Heebner, and the papers were made out by one Thomas Richards in the name of John Craiter. The error was not discovered until about 1800, when the property was sold, and in order to save trouble, the new papers were signed "John Crater." The family records show the great majority of its members to have been tillers of the soil, and they have been law-abiding, hard-working, honest, upright and strictly conscientious.
Religious persecution in Germany broke out with re- newed frenzy in 1732, and about 30,000 Protestants were driven from the country in the middle of winter. Among these fugitives were (I) Jacob Greter and his family. From Colonial Records, Vol. III, p. 515, it is found that Jacob Greter was one of 291 "Palatines" arriving at Phila- delphia, Pa., in "the ship Samuel of London, Hugh Percy, master, from Rotterdam, but last from Deal, on the 17th day of August, 1733." By occupation he was a weaver, but after coming to Pennsylvania, he purchased a tract of land along the Perkiomen river, at or near what is known as Grater's Ford, and there he also carried on farming. That he was not among those who sold themselves for a term of years to pay for his passage, but was able at once to purchase land, goes to prove he was a man of some means. Later records show his wealth increasing, as in the census report of Perkiomen or Van Bebbers township, Montgomery county, June, 1756, there is this entry: "Jacob Kreter, weaver, owner of 220 acres of land." Again, in the history of Perkiomen township, that same year is found "Jacob Kreter, owner of 220 acres of farm land at Grater's Ford, also a saw and grist mill." Records in his own handwriting indicate more education than was common in those times. In his religious faith he was a follower of Menno Simons, and it is not clear whether he was a preacher at the time of his arrival in Pennsylvania, but from the earliest entry in the minute-book of the Skippack Church it is shown that he was one of the most active members, and the general opinion is that he was a bishop. His descendants for several generations clung to the Mennonite faith, but as the country grew and educa- tion became more general, the younger members of the family joined more progressive denominations, and adopted the dress and customs of the times. In the old family record of Jacob Greter the names of three of his children have been lost owing to a corner of the leaf being torn off, the date of birth however being left. One of these three was undoubtedly "Lewis." Jacob Greter's children were: Jacob, born May 25, 1729; Maria, April 18, 1731; Johannes, April 10, 1734; Elizabeth. Feb. 29, 1736; Paulus, July 8, 1738; Barbara, Sept. 21, 1740 (married Frederick Hubler) ; Christian, Jan. 30, 1743;
-, born May 1745 ; -. born June 8, 1750; born July 17,
2, 1753; and Michael, in 1758.
(II) Johannes Greter, son of Jacob, was born April
BIOGRAPHICAL
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10, 1734. His children were: Maria, born Oct. 19, 1760; In 1867 when Col. Bates was gathering data for the history Jacob, Oct. 1, 1763 (died May 27, 1764) ; Johannes, July 13, 1765; Abraham, April 19, 1768; Cadarina, May 23, 1771; Ludwig, Jan. 5, 1775 ; Elizabeth, April 6, 1779 (mar- ried Henry Hallman).
(III) Johannes Grater (2), son of Johannes Greter, was born July 13, 1765. He married and became the father of a large family (all of whom adopted the spelling of the name, Crater), as follows: Abraham, born March 2, 1792; Jacob, Dec. 28, 1793 (died single) ; Phillip, Jan. 21, 1796; John, Nov. 26, 1797; David, Feb. 15, 1800 (died in 1893) ; Catharine, Oct. 19, 1802 (married John Young) ; Elizabeth, Feb. 3, 1805 (died Ang. 27, 1805) ; Henry, March 22, 1808 (died in December, 1815) ; and Israel, Feb. 18, 1812 (died single).
(IV) Abraham Crater, son of Johannes Grater, was born March 2, 1792. He married a daughter of Rev. Henry Pennypacker, great-aunt of former Governor Pennypacker, of the State of Pennsylvania. To their mar- riage were born six children, namely: Ephraim, born May 1, 1814, is mentioned below; Elizabeth, born May 20, 1817, died Dec. 7, 1834; Margaret and Christianna, born Sept. 10, 1818, both died unmarried; Jacob, born July 1, 1820, moved to Indiana, and died Nov. 17, 1893; and John, born Feb. 22, 1822.
(V) Ephraim Crater, son of Abraham, was born May 1, 1814. His education was obtained in the district schools. He grew up on the farm, and made farming his life work. He married Dec. 18, 1836, Susan Longacre, and they be- came the parents of eight children: Henry L., born Oct. 7, 1837, died Oct. 17, 1872; Lavina, born Aug. 21, 1839, married Joseph Lukens; Anna, born Sept. 10, 1841, mar- ried Jacob Nyman; Lewis, born Aug. 9, 1843; Catharine Elizabeth, born Jan. 3, 1845, married Josiah Nyman; Jacob L., born Feb. 10, 1847, lives in Pottstown; David L., born Nov. 28, 1850; and Abraham L., born Sept. 18, 1853, died Nov. 9, 1873. Ephraim Crater, the father, was a stanch old-line Whig in politics, but at the formation of the Republican party, joined its ranks, and ever afterward was one of its active workers. He was a strong Abolition- ist, and was one of the workers in the old underground railway. His good wife died May 3, 1878, aged sixty-four years, eight months, fifteen days. They were believers in the Mennonite faith.
(VI) Lewis Crater, son of Ephraim, born Aug. 9, 1843, received a good substantial education in the common schools of Chester county. Reared in the atmosphere of patriotism, the outbreak of the Civil war afforded him an opportunity to show his loyalty, and on Sept. 10, 1861, he became a member of Company H, 50th P. V. I., and participated in thirty-three engagements besides a number of skirmishes. He was once slightly wounded, had his sword cut from his side, and he was promoted from ser- geant to first lieutenant for gallant conduct in action, clos- ing his service as adjutant of the regiment. He was hon- orably discharged July 31, 1865.
After the war, Mr. Crater returned to Pennsylvania, and entered Bryant and Stratton's Business College at Phila- delphia. For some time he taught penmanship in the schools of Philadelphia, but failing health necessitated a change of employment. He moved to Reading, and ac- cepted a position in Philip Albright's grocery, later be- coming a clerk in the dry goods establishment of H. A. Hoff, where he remained one year. He then became an accountant in Earl's Banking House, and continued there until it closed its doors in 1867. His next position was as chief clerk and bookkeeper for William McIlvaine & Sons in the Reading Rolling Mill, until that concern sus- pended operations in 1897. Since that time Mr. Crater has been a public accountant, and is considered an expert in that line. In 1888 he was elected Secretary and Treas- urer of the Reading Steam Heat and Power Company, and has since held that office. He was a member of the Mt. Penn Paper Box Company, Ltd., in which he held the office of secretary, until 1908, when the company dis- solved.
of the troops of the State of Pennsylvania Mr. Crater furnished very much of the data relating to the 50th regi- ment, and some years after wrote 'and published a history of the 50th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He wrote the "History of the Grater Family" and the "History of St. Peter's M. E. Church."
In his fraternal relations, Mr. Crater is a member of the G. A. R., in which he has served as Post commander; a companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Commandery of Pennsylvania; and a member of the Union Veteran Legion; the P. O. S. of A .; Vigilance Lodge, No. 194, I. O. O. F .; Veteran Castle, No. 481, K. G. E .; So- ciety Army of the Potomac; Army of the Cumberland and Army of the Tennessee.
On Sept. 20, 1865, Mr. Crater wedded Miss Rosie C. Lowe, daughter of Peter Lowe, of Lebanon, Pa. Four children blessed this union: Emma May, born Jan. 9, 1867, m. Arthur E. Suter, of Zurich, Switzerland; Mary Min- erva, born June 20, 1868; Annie Lulu, born Sept. 21, 1870, died Jan. 15, 1875; and Morton Murray, born Jan. 14, 1872.
THOMAS C. ZIMMERMAN, known all over Berks county as the talented editor of The Reading Times, is an enterprising and aggressive newspaper man, a clear-headed thinker, and an able and versatile writer. His best works, by which he has achieved distinction as a literary genius, have been his translations of German poetical masterpieces into English, and his rendering of English poems into the Pennsylvania German vernacular. In these two fields of work he is acknowledged by the best authorities to be without an equal. He is a poet by natural instinct, self- training being the means by which he has developed his native powers of expression, In presenting, through the columns of The Reading Times, his translations of English poems into Pennsylvania German, he has proved himself entitled to the highest regard of the class of worthy citizens of the Keystone State allied with him by race, in whose interests he has ever been an earnest and indefatigable worker.
The only school education Mr. Zimmerman ever enjoyed was the public school training he received during the years of his boyhood in Lebanon, Pa., where his birth occurred Jan. 23, 1838. Thus he never had the advantages of a classical education, and therefore all the more credit is due him for making such splendid use of his talents and opportunities. When thirteen years of age he was ap- prenticed to the printing trade, in the newspaper establish- ment of the Lebanon Courier. Upon the completion of his term of service he went to Philadelphia, and worked on the Philadelphia Inquirer a short time, until Jan. 8, 1856, when he entered the office of The Berks and Schuylkill Journal, in Reading, as a journeyman printer. In 1859 Mr. Zimmerman removed to Columbia, S. C., where he worked on the State laws, in the printing establishment of Dr. Robert Gibbs, who afterward became surgeon-general of the Confederate Army. In March, 1860, Mr. Zimmerman returned to Reading, as the anti-Northern sentiment had become so intense and virulent in South Carolina, the hot- bed of secession, that his life was endangered, though he never openly opposed the course of the Secessionists while in that section. Upon his return to Reading he once more entered the employ of The Berks and Schuylkill Journal. Under its proprietor, Jacob Knabb, who became postmaster of Reading in May, 1860, he acted as clerk until the close of his superior's term of office, in July, 1865. During this period Mr. Zimmerman contributed some striking articles on postal reform to the United States Mail and other journals, which called out a correspondence with the then postmaster-general, Mr. Dennison, and some of the suggestions solicited were incorporated into that official's report.
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