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 93

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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389

BIOGRAPHICAL

before going back to Reading. There he again worked as a machinist, for the railroad until 1881, but in that year he went into business for himself.

The concern of which Mr. Davies is now sole proprietor has passed through various phases of existence. Originally, in 1881, the firm name was Miller, Price & Co., and the company did a foundry and machine business. A few years later it became Miller, Printze & Co., and then Davies, Printze & Co., and finally in 1904 Mr. Davies took entire control of the plant. It is now known as the Industrial Foundry and Machine Works, and is located at Nos. 229-231 South Ninth street. There are about twenty hands employed, and the trade, though largely a local one, is of good volume.

On Dec. 13, 1866, Mr. Davies married Miss Margaret Birch, daughter of the late Dr. Solomon Birch. Five children were born to them, as follows: Mary Elizabeth died at the age of two years; Harry and William are both mechanics employed with their father; Beulah, who was graduated from the Reading high school in the class of 1895, taught in that city a few years and then married Joseph H. Skilton, a resident of Philadelphia; and Mar- garet, of the class of 1900 in the Reading high school, is now teaching at the Pear and Buttonwood school. Mr. Davies served during the war in Company D, 32d Pa. V. I., seeing much active service, and is now a member of G. A. R. Post No. 16, of which he is past commander. He also belongs to the Union Veteran Legion, and holds the official rank of past colonel. In politics he is a Republican.

DR. ABRAHAM NESTER FRETZ, who for over thir- ty-four years has been engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery at Fleetwood, Berks county, was born Aug. 7; 1839, in Hereford township, son of Daniel Fretz.

Daniel Fretz was born in Hereford township in 1805, was reared to agricultural pursuits and followed farming in the vicinity of his birth until his death, in 1880. He married Esther Nester, of Pike township, near Hill Church, and to this union were born six children: Abra- ham N .; Lewis, m. to Lavana Rambo; Annie, who died young; Irwin, m. to Mary March; and Priscilla and Annie, who both died young.

Dr. Abraham N. Fretz's early education was secured in the public schools, and after a thorough preparation at Mt. Pleasant Seminary at Boyertown, he entered the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from the Medical Department in 1863. The country then being in the midst of the Civil war, he enlisted at Washington, D. C., and, receiving the appointment of acting assistant surgeon, was detailed to perform hospital service at Newport News and vicinity until 1866. Then, under the Reconstruction Act, Gen. John H. Schofield appointed him president of the board of registration, with headquarters at City Point, Va., and he filled this responsible position in the most sat- isfactory manner until the fall of 1869.

While at the latter place Dr. Fretz identified himself with the affairs of Prince George county, and the electors of that district elected him as one of the Assemblymen. There being two parties in that State, viz., the Radical Republicans and the Liberal Republicans, he was chosen on the ticket of the latter, and served in this honorable position during the years 1869, 1870 and 1871. He then re- turned to Pennsylvania and took an additional course of medical lectures in the University for a year, after which he established himself in medical practice at Linfield, Mont- gomery county, and was successfully engaged at that place until his removal, in 1875, to Fleetwood, Berks county, where he has been in active practice ever since.

Dr. Fretz, upon locating at Fleetwood, took an active interest in educational affairs and quite naturally his fellow- citizens selected him to be a school director, and he served as such from 1877 to 1884. In 1887 he was elected as one of the justices of the peace of this borough, and he has been serving in this position by re-election until the present time, showing the high appreciation of the community in his judicial integrity. In politics he has been a Democrat, and upon settling in the county he identified himself with its political affairs, as well as with those of the State and

nation. He frequently represented the borough in con- ventions, and in the county conventions of 1883 and 1902 he officiated as chairman.

Dr. Fretz was married in 1863 to Emma Roberston, of Philadelphia, daughter of Thomas Robertson, and to this union, one son, Thomas, has been born.

Thomas Fretz was born in 1866 at Philadelphia, at- tended the schools of Fleetwood, and after a prepara- tory course at the Keystone State Normal School, he at- tended Lafayette College, from which he was graduated in 1890. He continued the higher branches of study at Princeton University, from which he was graduated in 1893. In 1900 he was elected principal of the grammar schools at Newark, N. J., and he filled this responsible position in the most satisfactory manner until 1907, when he was appointed to a similar position in New York City, which he still holds. He was married to Mary Madeira, daughter of John H. Madeira, of Blandon, and one dangh- ter, Emily, was born to this union. Mrs. Fretz died in 1893.

NEVIN M. DAVIS, a civil engineer ranking deservedly high in his profession, came of a family long established in York county, and his death, April 12, 1909, was deeply de- plored. He was a son of the Rev. William F. P. and Ellen E. (Myers) Davis.

The Rev. William F. P. Davis was a minister of the Reformed Church. He lived to the age of only fifty-two years, passing away in 1883. At the time of his death he had a charge in Berks county that embraced Wernersville (Hain's Church), Sinking Spring's, Kissinger's and Yo- cum's Churches. He married Ellen E., daughter of Benja- min Myers, a retired business man of York and founder of the Farmers Insurance Company, of that place. The children born to this marriage were as follows : William S., a graduate of Lehigh University, and now general manager of the Lebanon Textile Works; Louisa Bell, now Mrs. Charles Wilson, of Glen Olden, Pa .; Paul Benjamin, also a Lehigh University man, assistant city engineer of Read- ing from 1903 to 1909; John Henry, a clerk in the Second National Bank; Martha, at home; and Nevin M.

Nevin M. Davis was born Aug. 28, 1864, in New Oxford, Adams county, where his father had his first charge. After leaving school he entered Franklin and Marshall College, and was graduated in 1885. The first position he secured was with the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Co. as civil engineer, and he was with the Company for seven years. During this time he was assistant engineer in the construc- tion of the Allentown Terminal and the Philadelphia, Harrisburg & Pittsburg Terminal Railways. Another work with which he was concerned was the Port Reading Railway from Boundbrook, N. J., to Port Reading. Mr. Davis also held the position of assistant engineer for the Central New England and Western Railway, with head- quarters at Hartford, Conn., and had charge of the main- tenance of the famous Poughkeepsie Bridge. In 1892 he gave up his position with the railroad and opened an office on his own account, taking engineering contracts. He was at first associated with the firm of Davis Bros., but in 1898 that was dissolved and Mr. Davis had his of- fice alone in the Wanner Building, Reed and Court streets. He was extremely proficient in his profession, and his work was always of the highest class. Mr. Davis was also con- nected with various electric railways, and directed the engineering work on the Reading & Womelsdorf Electric Railway. He was chief engineer of the Safe Harbor Steam Railway in Lancaster county.

Mr. Davis was married Jan. 14, 1893, to Elizabeth Fry Stein, daughter of Jacob Stein and the late Ellen Elizabeth Stein, of Allentown, where Mr. Stein was a retired farmer. Three children were born to them, but Elizabeth, the sec- ond, died in infancy. The other two are Frederick Stein and Robert Stein, both in school. Mr. and Mrs. Davis belong to St. Paul's Reformed Church.

Mr. Davis had for many years belonged to the Masonic fraternity, and is connected with various other organiza- tions, in most of which he has been very active and held important offices. He is Past Master of Reading Lodge,

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

No. 549, F. & A. M .; Past High Priest, and at present the issuance of the proclamation of President Lincoln secretary of Reading Chapter, No. 152, R. A. M .; Past Eminent Commander of De Molay Commandery, No. 9, K. T .; Past Thrice Illustrious Grand Master of Allen Council, No. 23, R. & S. M .; member of Harrisburg Con- sistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Masons, 32d de- gree; and a charter member of Rajah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., in which he served as Oriental Guide for nine years. Mr. Davis also represented the Grand Commandery, Knights Templar of the State of Louisiana, to the Grand Commandery of Pennsylvania.

In politics Mr. Davis was an ardent Democrat, serving at the time of his death as representative of the Sixteenth ward on the school board. He served as county surveyor for three years. He was a member of the Americus Club, the Union Fire Company No. 13 (since its organization) and had held most of the offices in it. He was president of the Firemen's Union in 1906 and 1907, and a member of the Firemen's Relief Association as delegate from his company to the organization at large. In whatever capacity, he always rendered most valued and efficient service.

The most important professional and political position held by Mr. Davis was that of engineer to the county com- missioners of Berks county in 1906-07-08, during which time he designed and introduced into Berks county bridges of reinforced concrete. The most noted of these bridges is the one across the Schuylkill river at Dauberville, con- sisting of four seventy-five-foot spans of reinforced con- crete, and a total length of four hundred feet. This is considered one of the most artistic structures in Eastern Pennsylvania, and Mr. Davis was highly complimented by his profession and by the public in general for the many handsome structures he designed and erected, which will ever be monuments to his memory.

ABNER KEELEY STAUFFER, for many years one of the prominent members of the Berks County Bar, was a descendant of Henry Stauffer (a scion of the imperial Hohen-Stauffen family of Germany), who came to America from Rhenish Germany early in the eighteenth century. Mr. Stauffer was born at Boyertown, Berks Co., Pa., Oct. 11, 1836, son of John and Elizabeth (Keeley) Stauffer.

Judge John Stauffer was born July 4, 1792, and died Nov. 28, 1854. He served as county surveyor, and was later honored with election to the State Legislature, in which he served in 1829-30. From 1840 to 1850 he served as associate judge of Berks county, and so popular was he, and so satisfactory were his actions, that he was ten- dered the Democratic nomination for Congress, which was equivalent to an election in Berks county. But because of failing health he was obliged to decline the honor, and he died in 1854, just four years after his term as judge had expired. To his home at Boyertown came all the people to have their disputes adjusted, his reputation as a wise, considerate judge having extended far and wide, and his fame as a counselor being scarcely equalled in the county.

Judge Stauffer married Elizabeth Keeley, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Keeley, the former a prominent farmer in Douglass township. Mrs. Stauffer was born Oct. 1, 1798, and died Dec. 30, 1857. She was the mother of ten children, five sons and five daughters, of whom two survive, viz. : Elizabeth, widow of Abraham G. Schwenk, of Schwenkville, Montgomery Co., Pa., a settle- ment founded by the father of Mr. Schwenk, who at one time owned nearly all the land in that neighborhood; and Amanda, widow of Rev. Abraham E. Dechant, of Pennsburg, a minister of the Reformed Church, who was born in Montgomery county Jan. 26, 1823, graduated at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, and at the Re- formed Theological Seminary of that city.

Abner K. Stauffer received his preparatory education at Mt. Pleasant Seminary, in his native town, which in- stitution was organized by his father in 1850. He was grad- nated from Franklin and Marshall College, at Lancaster, in 1858, and after teaching school for one year at Boyer- town came to Reading in 1860, here taking up the reading of law with the late John S. Richards. He was admitted to practice April 15, 1861, on the very day which witnessed

calling for 75,000 troops, this proclamation being read in court, all the members of the Bar then assembled taking the oath of allegiance. On June 28, 1863, Mr. Stauffer en- listed, becoming a member of Company C, 42d Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served with loyalty and fidelity until his company was mustered out because their services were no longer required, practically at the end of the war. He returned to Reading, and in 1867 he was nominated by the Republicans of Berks county for the State Senate, and made a gallant run on the minority ticket, carrying the city of Reading by a large majority, running far ahead of his ticket, but being defeated in the county.

This was but the beginning of a most active career. Mr. Stauffer was always deeply interested in all matters of public moment, and did yeoman service for his city. He served three terms-1869, 1873 and 1881-as a member of the city councils of Reading, and during one year of this time, 1873, he was president of same. During his member- ship in that body Mr. Stauffer, through his persevering ef- forts, brought about many measures for the public good which stand as lasting monuments to his intelligence and public spirit, his good citizenship and civic pride. But he worked equally hard in office and out, and among the many things he did for the general welfare was the promotion of a measure which secured the removal of the old market sheds which stood in Penn Square, resulting in the erec- tion, in their stead, of the splendid market-houses that are now the pride of the Reading householders. This was accomplished in 1871. Mr. Stauffer also used his ability as a lawyer as well as his courage as a man in making free (in 1883) the three bridges which cross the Schuylkill at Reading, the citizens formerly having been forced to pay toll. Mr. Stauffer discovered that this toll was collectible only until the cost of the bridges (and repairs needed dur- ing the time the original cost was being made up) was paid. He went over the records for eighty-eight years, a truly Herculean task, and found that not only had all costs been secured from the tolls, but also $7,000 in excess, proving by facts and figures the injustice of the conditions, and when these were properly brought before the court the bridges were made free. He worked over this problem for six years, and for this service the councils presented him a set of resolutions thanking him in behalf of the city. A third very important measure for which the city is indebted to Mr. Stauffer was the securing to the city of the old parade ground, now Penn Common, thirty-nine acres of ground, worth nearly $1,000,000. It had been leased (but without legal warrant) by the commissioners of Berks county to the Agricultural Society for a period of ninety-nine years, at an annual rental of one dollar. This resulted in lengthy litigation, the lower court deciding against the city, but the Supreme court reversed the decision and gave the land to the city. Hon. George F. Baer was associated with Mr. Stauffer in making this fight, Mr. Baer bringing the case before the Supreme court. Both gentlemen declined pay for their services, and the Board of Trade and city councils spread upon their minutes the most eulogistic praise of the eminent and public-spirited services that Mr. Stauffer and Mr. Baer had rendered.

Mr. Stauffer was married Sept. 25, 1860, to Emma Louisa Ranninger, a daughter of one of the pioneer bookbinders of Lancaster, Pa., where his bindery was a familiar land- mark. Mrs. Stauffer was born Feb. 7, 1841, and died March 29, 1865. Two children were born to this union, viz. : Ella Selina, born March 11, 1862, died May 3, 1866, as the result of a fall. Edgar Embery, born March 8, 1865, died July 27, 1865.

Mr. Stauffer married for his second wife Mary High Keim, daughter of Col. John Keim, a lumber dealer of Reading, and later a banker at Dubuque, Iowa. At the death of Mrs. Stauffer, which occurred in 1891, the news- papers of Reading vied in their tributes to her rare gifts of mind and heart, one of them saying, in an extended obituary, "She united the old Keim family of Berks and the Randolph stock of Virginia. She was descended ma- ternally from the Tuckahoe branch of the Randolphs of Virginia, and was a granddaughter of Col. Thomas Bev-

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BIOGRAPHICAL

erly Randolph, one of the first graduates of West Point. ship. This he followed for about twenty-five years, and She was of the tenth generation in descent from the Al- gonquin princess, Pocahontas. She became the beloved mother of four children, all of whom survive, viz .: John Keim, Frederick Randolph, Anna Keim and Mary Virginia. William Wirt Mills, of New York, a son of Mrs. Stauffer by her first husband, Col. William Wirt Mills, of Dubuque, Iowa, also survives."

Of the children, John K. Stauffer, a graduate of Yale College, class of 1895, is connected with the Times of Washington, D. C., and is Washington correspondent for the New York Evening Post and for the Philadelphia Even- ing Bulletin. Frederick Randolph Stauffer, now a lawyer in practice at Reading, was graduated from Yale, class of 1903, and then studied law with Hon. George F. Baer and Jefferson Snyder, Esq. In June, 1907, he was nominated for District Attorney of Berks county on the Republican ticket but subsequently withdrew because ineligible to serve, as he had not been in practice the required length of time. The daughters graduated from the Reading high school and the National Park Seminary, at Washington, D. C. They are socially prominent in Reading.

Mr. Stauffer was a Knight Templar Mason, belonging to Reading Commandery, No. 42. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, and a vestryman at Christ Church, Reading, and he was one of the founders and treasurer of St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Reading. In 1872 Mr. Stauf- fer was made a director and trustee of the Reading Pub- lic Library, continuing to serve as such to the end of his days, and he gave considerable time to furthering its inter- ests. It was through his efforts that the property was saved to the company when the failure of the Reading Savings Bank threatened to sweep it away, and it was he who fought for so many years for a city appropriation. Primar- ily a professional man, with large interests, he thus found time on many occasions to give his best efforts to the ad- vancement of the civic welfare and the promotion of enter- prises in which his concern personally was simply that of a public-spirited citizen. Though past seventy, Mr. Stauf- fer enjoyed excellent health until a week before his death, when he contracted a cold which ended in pneumonia, and he died at the family residence, No. 1513 Hill Road, Nov. 4, 1906.

HIRAM J. BIGONY, a prominent and influential citizen of Mohnton, Pa., engaged in the manufacture of hosiery, was born June 1, 1862, at Sanatoga, Montgomery Co., Pa., son of William W. and Mary L. (Weida) Bigony.

The spelling of the name Bigony was formerly Bigonet or Pichonet, and the seat of the family was in Languedoc, France. The first of the name here was Jean Bigonet, a native of the city of Nimes, who came in 1752. On May 27, 1753, he .was married in Germantown, Pa., to Catherine Elizabeth, the widow of Henry Ozias. In 1773 arrived Francois P. Bigonet, who located in the Falkner Swamp in Montgomery county, Pa., where he married Maria Brant until 1905, and in this year moved into his present residence on Wyomissing avenue, which has a gray sandstone front and bay windows. In politics Mr. Bigony is a non-par- tisan, voting independently. He was prominently identified with the incorporation of Mohnton into a borough and was chairman at different meetings, doing much in behalf of the movement: Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, No. 485; P. O. S. of A., No. 211. and Sr. O. U. A. M., all of Mohnton.

in 1779. They had children : Joseph, grandfather of Hiram J .; Mary, m. to Isaac Yost; Susan, m. to George Rinehart ; and a third daughter, who was killed while still young on her way home from Philadelphia.

Joseph Bigony was born in Montgomery county, Nov. 14, 1790, and died Oct. 7, 1869. For some years he lived in Amity township, Berks county, but later he returned to Sanatoga, Montgomery county, where he died. He was a prosperous farmer and also did some driving and auctioneering, making occasional trips to Canada for cattle. On Dec. 15, 1811, he married Rachel Worley, born Sept. 17, 1791, who died aged seventy-five years, seven months, twenty days, daughter of Henry Worley, of Pottstown. Their children were : Francis, born July 25, 1814; John, Feb. 26, 1816; Joseph, March 1, 1818; Mary Ann, March 11, 1820; Henry, Feb. 27, 1822; Leah, Sept. 17, 1824 (residing at Alden Station, Pa.) ; Hiram and Ephraim, twins, March 9, 1828; Frank, Sept. 7, 1830; and Reuben and William, twins, Dec. 24, 1832.

William W. Bigony, father of Hiram J., was born in Amity township, and when a young man learned the tan- ning trade of his brother, Joseph, of Longswamp town-

in 1869-71 was engaged in the hotel business at Alburtis, Lehigh county, and Monterey, Berks county. In 1872 he removed to Greenwich township on a small farm near Grimville, and he engaged in the droving business there until his retirement in 1902, when he removed to Edison, Cumru township, where he died Nov. 15, 1905, aged nearly seventy-four years. He was a well known cattle dealer of his day, and also was very successful as an auctioneer. On Feb. 12, 1860, Mr. Bigony married Mary L. Weida, born May 31, 1836, in Longswamp township, and still living, daughter of Daniel and Eliza (Weiler) Weida. To this union there were born children as follows: Annie died in 1880, aged nineteen years; Hiram J .; Sallie, born May 22, 1864, is single; Ella died in infancy; Lizzie, born Jan. 8, 1866, is unmarried; William F., born March 1, 1868, is an insurance agent and resides in Reading; John died in in- fancy ; Emma, born Oct. 29, 1874; and Mary, born Sept. 29, 1877.

Hiram J. Bigony was educated in the public schools, the Keystone State Normal School and the Eastman Business College, graduating from the latter in 1892. His boyhood days were spent on his father's farm near Grimville, and at an early age he began teaching school in Greenwich township, where he continued successfully for seven con- secutive terms. In 1889 he came to Cumru township, re- ceiving an advanced salary, and taught in that township for thirteen years, meeting with flattering success. Pro- fessor Bigony was the instructor of the Mohnton grammar school for ten terms, and holds a State teacher's permanent certificate. While a teacher in Greenwich and Cumru townships, Mr. Bigony was instrumental in organizing debating societies, which were largely attended, doing much good in their various localities. Mr. Bigony was himself an excellent debater, being quick-witted, logical and forceful in the presentation of his arguments.

From youth on Mr. Bigony assisted his father in the cattle business, and in this manner came into contact with business men throughout Eastern Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1903 he formed a partnership with John and Charles Richwein, of Mohnton, under the firm name of Electric Hosiery Company, manufacturers of seamless hos- iery. They erected a plant 24 x 68 feet, two stories high, and here employ forty-five people, their product being 200 dozen daily, which find a ready market throughout the country. In January, 1906, Mr. Bigony was elected a director of the Wyomissing Hosiery Mills of Mohnton, of which he was later made treasurer and general super- intendent, and this well established firm has two mills. The plant at Mohnton is 30 x 100 feet, three stories high, and employs sixty people, while the other plant, at Rhein- holds, Lancaster county, is 30 x 50 feet, two stories high,, and has thirty hands.

. In 1895 Mr. Bigony built a modern, two-story brick residence on Chestnut street, Mohnton, where he resided

On Oct. 2, 1894, Mr. Bigony married Lizzie H. Weidner. daughter of John Y. and Catherine ( Hornberger) Weid- ner, a complete sketch of whom will be found elsewhere. To this union there were born three children, as follows : E. Madeline, born Feb. 1, 1896; Blanche, Dec. 12, 1901; and Warren W., Aug. 23, 1905 (died Nov. 23, 1905). Mr. Bigony and his family are members of Zion's United Evan- gelical Church, of Mohnton, of whichi he has been a trustee since 1906. He and his wife are also members of the Sunday-school, and take a great interest in the work of the organization, being cheerful and liberal givers of both time and money. Mr. Bigony is considered one of the borough's good substantial men, and he enjoys an enviable reputation for honesty and integrity. On April 30, 1907, he

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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 93

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