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 91

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

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Martin S. Croll was educated in the local schools and at the Quakertown Academy, following which he taught school for two seasons, but on April 1, 1863, turned his attention to a business career, becoming a clerk for Joseph

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Miller, a merchant at Foglesville. Some months later he gaged in the Bethlehem Steel Works; and Marion, likewise accepted a similar position at Rothrocksville, and remained a machinist at the same works. there over three years. On March 1, 1867, he entered into partnership with his brother-in-law, Stephen Smith, and they leased a store and hotel at Monterey, where they conducted a successful business for five years. The busi- ness was then removed to Rothrocksville, where they con- tinned until 1889.

Warren F. Teel is practically a self-made and self-edu- cated man. He learned the miller's trade with Enos Wetzel and then formed a partnership with his maternal uncle, Thomas J. McFall, at Flicksville, Pa., and milled successfully for nine years. But he was ambitious to enter the ministry, and with that end in view lost no opportunity In the meantime, Mr. Croll had become interested in ad- ditional enterprises. In 1884, the firm became associated with Silas Croll, in a coal and lumber business at Farming- ton. One year later, Silas Croll withdrew, but the enter- prise was continued by the other partners until 1893. In 1892 a farm was purchased at Topton, on which Mr. Croll erected a fine residence. The firm of Croll & Smith, which is located at No. 119 North Sixth street, Reading, is known all over the State as prominent manufacturers and jobbers for improving his literary acquirements. He pursued his collegiate course at the North Western College, Naper- ville, Ill., and also took a course at the Columbia School of Oratory, Chicago. Subsequently he did special work at Cornell and Harvard. Meantime he had done considerable practical work, especially in the temperance cause, in which he has been interested from early manhood. While a stu- dent at North Western he gave notable service on the lecture platform in the interest of the Young People's and also as honorable dealers. It has been before the Christian Temperance Union, meeting with unusual suc- public for the past twenty-two years. The business is largely wholesale, employment is given to a large force, and traveling men of experience represent it in this and other States.

As the head and front of the large financial institution known as the National Bank at Topton, Mr. Croll's prominence and integrity have been recognized. This bank was opened for business July 2, 1906, with the fol- lowing officers : Martin S. Croll, president; John Hartley, vice president; and A. H. Smith, cashier. The following capitalists make up the board of directors: M. S. Croll, John Hartley, George Schwartz, Rev. J. H. Raker, Edward DeLong, B. Frank Baer, A. P. Smith, Samuel Heacock, Irwin Geary, Dr. J. H. Worley and W. H. Clymer. The bank has met with success from the beginning. It is capi- talized at $25,000, and has large fortunes and reliable men behind it. It probably has the most modern bank building of any in this section of the State, its equipment including burglar proof vaults.

On June 10, 1865, Martin S. Croll married Elizabeth A. Grim, daughter of Jonas Grim, a well-known farmer of Lehigh county. They have two sons, William Martin and Charles Alfred, both of whom have proved themselves good business men and enterprising citizens. In his po- · litical affiliation, Mr. Croll has always been a Democrat and, at various times, has served in most of the local offices, has been township auditor and deputy collector of internal revenue. For three years he served effectively as a member of the borough council of Topton and has also been town treasurer. Many and increasing business cares have prevented his acceptance of numerous honor- able offices and positions of trust at the head of various organizations to which his admiring fellow citizens would have gladly elevated him. He has always taken a lively interest in charitable and philanthropic enterprises, and it was largely due to his earnest efforts that the Lutheran Orphan Home was located at Topton, in 1896. For many years he has been an active worker in the Lutheran Church, in which he has been both elder and deacon. He is a man who, in every respect, is entitled to the good will, respect and thorough esteem of his fellow citizens.

REV. WARREN F. TEEL, PH. M., principal of the Schuylkill Seminary, Reading, has acquired a high reputa- tion by his efficient services at the head of that institution, His executive ability has been called into constant use as well as his qualities as an educator, for he has developed the Seminary up to its present condition from a most un- promising state, a work requiring a combination of busi- ness faculty and educative talents somewhat rare among professional men.

Mr. Teel was born April 11, 1868, at Martin's Creek, in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and comes of German and Scotch-Irish ancestry, being a son of Amos and Anna ( McFall) Teel, the latter now de- ceased. The father was formerly a farmer, and is now living at Easton, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Teel had the follow- ing family : Warren F .; Forrest, who is a produce mer- chant of Easton, Pa .; Harry C., who is with the Midvale Steel Company, of Philadelphia; Frank, a machinist, en-

cess, and receiving favorable comments from the public and the press as a forceful and pleasing speaker. He has never lost his interest in this line of Christian work and for four years was president of the Young People's Alliance of the East Pennsylvania Conference Branch. After com- pleting his college course Mr. Teel was located at Pen Argyl, Pa., where he had charge of the Bethany Evan- gelical Church for eight months, until called to his present work. At the annual meeting of the East Pennsylvania Conference of the Evangelical Association, held at Nor- ristown, Pa., in February, 1901, he was elected by the board of trustees of Schuylkill Seminary, which is under the patronage of the Conference, to the principalship of the institution, then located at Fredericksburg, Pa. He ac- cepted with the courage of a devoted Christian worker having faith in his ability to cope successfully with de- cidedly unfavorable prospects. The Seminary had been founded in Reading in 1881, and in the year 1886, under the influence of Col. John H. Lick, was removed to Fred- ericksburg. When Mr. Teel took charge the attendance had fallen to seven students. Its growth since then has been due directly to his efforts, and the skilful manner. in which he has handled its affairs has won him com- mendation from all quarters. Within a year and a half the attendance had increased to sixty, and the year after he became the head of the Seminary it was deemed advisable to seek new accommodations, to meet the demands of in- creased patronage and steady development. In the spring of 1902 Mr. Teel and Prof. Bowman came to Reading, and with two others made a visit to Selwyn Hall, to ascer- tain its desirability as a new location for the Seminary. A favorable report was made, and consequently a meeting of ministers of the East Pennsylvania Conference was called by Bishop S. C. Breyfogel, to convene at the Hall grounds, for action upon the removal of the Seminary to Reading. It was decided to acquire the property for the permanent quarters of the school, and the purchase was made in July, 1902. Work was at once begun, repairing and re- modeling, and Mr. Teel succeeded in securing $10,000 from the business men of Reading to encourage the work. The Seminary was opened in Reading Sept. 15, 1902, and has been in a prosperous condition ever since. During 1906-07 the students numbered 120, the class of 1907 con- sisting of twenty graduates. The equipment and accom- modations have been added to until they compare favora- bly with those of any similar institution in Pennsylvania. The location, at the corner of Thirteenth and Exeter streets, in the' northeastern part of Reading, is particularly beautiful, the grounds lying on the western slope of Mount Penn, commanding a fine view of the city and surrounding landscape. In the original building, formerly known as Selwyn Hall, a spacious structure of massive Colonial architecture, surrounded by stately trees, are the office, library, class-rooms, dining-hall and dormitory for ladies. The other two buildings are an imposing chapel, with dormitories for the men, and a fine modern gymnasium, which was enlarged in 1907, an additional story having been erected. The dormitories are spacious and comfor- table, well ventilated, lighted with electricity and heated with steam, and all the buildings have been made attractive

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within and without, repairs and additions being attended the capitulation of Lopez, which crowned the success of to promptly under the efficient system which now prevails. the expedition. After a sojourn of several years in Europe, he returned to America and entered the law office of his father as a student, and having been thor- oughly qualified was admitted to the bar of Berks coun- ty, April 14, 1863. He was subsequently admitted to the Supreme court of the Commonwealth and to the Bar of Philadelphia and other counties of the State. An endowment of $50,000, gathered during the years 1906 and 1907, has been convincing proof of the confidence placed in Mr. Teel by the friends of the Seminary, and has enabled him to carry out some of his most cherished plans for the continued welfare of the school. Its affairs at present are established upon a liberal and substantial basis.

The special advantages afforded by the Schuylkill Semi- nary as a college preparatory school are worthy of note. The courses in Latin and Greek, as well as in other branches, nt students for not only the freshman but also the advanced classes of the best colleges in the country. The courses in history and literature are comprehensive and thorough, the laboratory is well equipped, and all the work done is of the most practical character, either as a preparation for higher studies or as an accession to general knowledge. The faculty is composed of eleven instructors, men and women of character and purpose, who are not only fitted to teach the branches of which they have made special study but also to direct the work and ambitions of their pupils into the most useful channels. The vice- president, Rev. Edwin D. McHose, Ph. M., is instructor in science and the higher mathematics; he makes a specialty of botany, and has written articles on this sub- ject. Rev. Charles B. Bowman, A. M., B. D., previously mentioned, has been associated with Mr. Teel from the be- ginning of his labors in the Seminary; he is a graduate of Drew Seminary and is serving as principal of the theo- logical department and professor of Greek and theology. The department of English is in charge of Ida L. Hatz, Ph. M., and the department of music is presided over by Amy M. Young, a graduate of the Philadelphia Academy of Music.

Mr. Teel was ordained a regular minister of the Evan- gelical Church in 1902, and he is as successful in religious work as in educational circles. He has frequent pulpit calls, from his own and other denominations, and is also in demand as a speaker at Y. M. C. A. gatherings. His constant association and contact with young people gives him steady inspiration for such work, in which he is particularly strong, and in which his personal character has proved to be a factor of inestimable value for good. His influence is counted upon as much as the actual work which he accomplishes. He has traveled extensively in this country, having visited thirty States of the Union, and thus has widened his knowledge of the conditions affecting his work, acquiring material for new thought as well as broad- ening the early foundations of his labors. During the six years of his connection with the Schuylkill Seminary he has won notable honors in every department of his work, as an able manager, an efficient instructor and a devoted Christian laborer. His practical ideas have won the con- fidence and support of the best element in the community, while his earnest labors to bring the Seminary up to the highest standards as an educational and Christian institu- tion have met with the universal approval of patrons and the denomination under whose auspices it is conducted. Mr. Teel is an active force in the Evangelical Association, and he has been elected delegate to the General Conference this year (1907).

On Aug. 15, 1906, Rev. Mr. Teel was married to Miss Bessie J. Dubs, of Rebersburg, Pa., a former instructor of music in the Schuylkill Seminary, located at Fredericks- burg, Pa. Mrs. Teel was born at Freeport, Ill., daughter of Charles and Helen ( Mallory) Dubs.

RICHMOND LEGH JONES, EsQ., the subject of this biography, was born Feb. 17, 1840, and after a thorough training in the best schools of this country completed his education at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. Be- fore entering that world-renowned institution, however. he went to South America with the United States expedition against Paraguay, visiting the islands of St. Thomas and Barbadoes, in the West Indies, and the principal cities of the east coast of South America, and, sailing a thousand miles up the Parana river to Asuncion, was present at

In his profession he has attained marked distinction, having tried and won many cases involving important principles of law which are now widely quoted as prece- dents, and having recently been appointed, by the Bar Association of Pennsylvania, chairman of a committee to revise the corporation laws of the State. The Reading street railway system, with its suburban adjuncts, and the electric light and gas companies, and many other industrial corporations which he represents, owe their marked success largely to the genius and ability displayed by Mr. Jones in their organization and development. He is general counsel also for the United Power and Trans- portation Company and the Interstate Railways Company, corporations controlling over five hundred miles of street railways in Pennsylvania and the adjoining States. His services to the public, aside from business, have been equally notable, and the prosperous community in which he lives cheerfully acknowledges many substantial benefits largely due to his well-directed energy and the wisdom of his counsel. It was mainly through his efforts that the city of Reading recovered the tract of land, lost for nearly a hundred years, at the foot of Penn's Mount, now beautifully improved as the City Park and known as Penn Common; and that the free public library of the city, of which he is president, was rescued from ob- scurity and sacrifice, placed upon an enduring foundation by liberal private contributions headed with his name, and then adopted by the public as worthy of maintenance out of the common purse.

In 1862, on the invasion of Maryland by the Confed- erate army, Mr. Jones enlisted, serving as a private soldier, and was present at the battle of Antietam, and in 1863 he was made captain of a company of Pennsylvania volunteers. In 1866 he was elected a member of the Legislature from the county of Berks, and was twice re- elected, and in 1868, his second term, he received his party's nomination for the speakership. His speeches on the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, then being considered, were widely read, and ranked with the best arguments upon that subject. He had little taste for politics, however, and a preference for the work of his profession induced him to retire from public life. He has since held no public office excepting that of Com- missioner at Valley Forge, to which he was appointed by Governor Pennypacker and has been reappointed by Governor Stuart.

He is a vestryman of Christ Church, Reading, and a director in many local organizations. He is also a member of the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, Society of Col- onial Wars, Sons of the Revolution, Society of the War of 1812, and Grand Army of the Republic.

On Nov. 26, 1870, he married Margaret Ellen McCarty, daughter of James McCarty. a prominent ironmaster of Reading, and Rebecca MacVeagh, his wife, and a niece of Wayne and Franklin MacVeagh. He had one daughter, now deceased, who was the wife of Nathaniel Ferguson, of Reading. His country residence, "Merioneth." over- looks the city of Reading from the surrounding hills.

Mr. Jones is descended from a long line of distin- guished Colonial and Revolutionary ancestors on both sides of his house. His father, J. Glancy Jones, was an able lawyer and distinguished member of Congress from Berks county from 1850 to 1859, during his last term having been chairman of the committee on Ways and Means. He resigned his seat in Congress to accept the appointment of envoy extraordinary and minister pleni- potentiary to Austria, which office he held during the trying times of the commencement of the Civil war, when our relations with foreign countries were extremely delicate. Mr. Jones's great-grandfather, Col. Jonathan

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Jones, was senior captain of the first regiment raised in the Revolution. In 1776 he was elected to officiate as one Pennsylvania for the Continental army, October, 1775. of the Supreme Executive Councilors of the State, but he He participated in the winter campaign for the relief of declined to serve, doubtless because he was identified with the army of Quebec, after the death of Montgomery, the Friends, who opposed the war. and also in many important engagements. For distin- guished services he was promoted to the rank of major, and later to that of lieutenant-colonel in the Pennsyl- vania Line.

Mr. Jones's great-great-grandfather, David Jones, came from Merioneth, Wales, to Pennsylvania in 1721 and bought a large tract of land in Caernarvon township, where he opened and developed iron ore mines, which still bear his name.

Mr. Jones's mother was the daughter of William Rod- man, of Bucks county, who was a brigade quartermaster in the army of the Revolution, and afterward a member of the Senate of Pennsylvania and of the Twelfth Con- gress of the United States. The Rodman family is one of the oldest in the New World, having settled in America in the early part of the seventeenth century and contrib- uted to the Colonies many of their most distinguished citizens.

JOSEPH P. O'REILLY, contractor at Reading for up- ward of twenty-five years, was born at that place Aug. 27, 1862. He received his education in the city schools and at Villanova College, in Delaware county, Pa., and upon quitting school learned the trade of stone-cutter under Christian Eben, who had been engaged in the business for many years at Reading. He continued with Mr. Eben for four years, and then engaged in the business for himself for about a year, when he started contracting in the con- struction of public works of various kinds. This was in 1882, and since then he has been prominently and suc- cessfully engaged in taking city and county contracts for roads, culverts, sewers and bridges. Among the large iron bridges spanning the Schuylkill river which are of his construction may be mentioned the "Exeter Bridge," the "Reading and South Western Street Railway Bridge," the "Schuylkill Avenue Bridge," the "Cross Keys Bridge" (above Tuckerton), and the "Berne Bridge" (above Shoe- makersville).

Mr. O'Reilly married Clara A. Tea (daughter of Samuel H. Tea and Emily E. Hyneman, his wife, of Reading), and they have three children: James, Gerald and Claire.

Mr. O'Reilly's father was Owen O'Reilly, also a large contractor in the construction of public works at Reading for thirty years. In 1856 he put up the "Askew Bridge" for the Lebanon Valley Railroad (crossing Sixth at Wood- ward), which was then regarded as a remarkable piece of work, and is still admired by engineers and contractors. He was born in 1815 at Patrickstown, County Meath, Ire- land, and emigrated to America in 1838, locating at Read- ing. He died in 1902. He married Elizabeth B. Felix, daughter of Anthony Felix, of Reading, and they had nine children : Agnes C., a sister of charity for forty years, now at Emmitsburg, Md .; Sallie B., a sister of charity for thirty years, now at Washington, D. C .; Eugene P., m. to Helena Rauen; Simon P., m. to Sallie G. Reber; Mary B., who died in 1902, aged forty-one years; Joseph P., above; and three-James, Ann and William-who died in infancy.

His grandfather was James O'Reilly, of County Meath, Ireland, born in 1771, died in 1851. He m. Bridget Con- athy, of the same county, born in 1773, died in 1848. They had fourteen sons, among them Owen. And his great- grandfather, also named James, had seven sons, among them the said James. His mother's father was Anthony Felix, born in 1781, died in 1863; m. to Catherine Martin, born in 1783, died in 1861. Her grandfather was Nicholas Felix, born in 1731, died in 1813. He was enlisted in the Revolution, with the company of Capt. Charles Gobin, in Hiester's Battalion, which was engaged in the battle of Camden on Aug. 16, 1780. He emigrated from Germany in 1754.

Mr. O'Reilly's wife's father, Samuel Hains Tea, was a lineal descendant of Richard Tea, a surveyor of Hereford township before the Revolution, and an ironmaster during 25

OSCAR B. HERBEIN, M. D., physician at Strausstown, has taken his father's place in that community, where the name has been identified with the practice of medicine for over forty years. The family is one of long standing in Bern township, this county, where it is still well repre- sented.

One Peter Herbein in 1734 became the owner of 235 acres of fine land located along the Schuylkill, adjoining the lands of Henry Reeser, another early settler. He had two sons, Abraham and John, whose grandsons, John, Thomas and William Herbein, have represented the family there in recent years. Along the Schuylkill also are the old Herbein quarries, first opened by one William Herbein in 1855, at what is now Rickenbach Station. Near that station were also located the Herbein mill and distillery, where Abraham Herbein erected a small distillery about eighty years ago. Later the property passed into the hands of Reuben Herbein, who built the mill and distillery which he operated successfully for some years. The Herbeins were among the first families associated with the Eplers in the organization of what has since been known as the Epler Church (Lutheran and Reformed) in Bern town- ship, one William Herbein being a member of the building committee.

John Herbein, grandfather of Dr. Oscar B. Herbein, lived in Bern township, where he followed farming, own- ing land there. He is buried at Epler Church. He was twice married, first to Mary Shearer, by whom he had four sons, Gideon, Jonathan, Isaac S. and David (twins). all now deceased. By his second wife he had three sons, William, Adam (now living at East Greenville, Pa.) and Daniel, of Allentown.

Isaac S. Herbein, M. D., father of Dr. Oscar B. Herbein, was born in 1835, and received his early education in the public schools of Bern township. He began to read medi- cine with Dr. James Y. Shearer, of Sinking Spring, Berks county, after which he was in the grocery business at Philadelphia with George A. Leinbach for two years, mean- time continuing his professional studies at the Jefferson Medical College. He graduated from that institution in 1865, and in 1866 located in practice at Strausstown, where he remained to the close of his life. He built up a large practice, and was actively engaged in the duties of his pro- fession until he died, Nov. 11, 1905, at the age of seventy years. Dr. Herbein is buried at the Zion's (Blue Moun- tain) Church. The Doctor was a man of active mind and progressive ideas, and took considerable interest in the life of the community in which he was an important figure for so many years. He served eight years as justice of the peace, and for twelve years was a school director. In political faith he was a Democrat.

Dr. Herbein married Catharine G. Batteiger, born Jan. 12. 1834, daughter of Jacob and Charlotte (Goodman) Bat- teiger, of Upper Tulpehocken township. Mrs. Herbein now makes her home with her son. She had two children : Deborah, who married George J. Kurr and died May 8, 1890; and Oscar B.

Oscar 'B. Herbein was born Feb. 7, 1869, received his early education in the township schools, and later attended the Keystone State Normal School at Kutztown and the Brunner Business Academy. He taught school in 1886- 87-88-89, one term in Upper Tulpehocken township and two terms in Spring township, before entering the Jeffer- son Medical College, Philadelphia, where he took his medi- cal course. Graduating in 1896, he at once commenced prac- tice with his father at Strausstown, where he has remained to the present. He enjoys high standing among his brother practitioners as well as with the people of his community, and attends faithfully to a large practice. Dr. Herbein is a member of the Berks County Medical Society.

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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 91

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