History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 148

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418

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The principal brewery in the place was on Main Street, in the central part of the town. It was built by William D. Shomo, about 1840. John Rothlauf filled the position of brewer many years and was succeeded by Joseph Popp and others. The building has not been used for brewing purposes since 1880. No liquor is now manufactured in the borough.

The manufacture of bricks was commenced on the Schuylkill flats about forty years ago by John Tobias, and the business which he established is still carried on by Tobias Brothers & Co. Fine bricks are made and a number of men afforded employment. At this point Wilson Rothenberger was an early brick-maker. John Schrayer had a yard near the distillery for a time, but which is now idle.

Ou Main Street, on the site of the Savings- Bank, William Fetter had a tannery, which passed from him to Wilson Motz and then to Michael Richards. Latterly, steam-power was employed and an extensive business carried on. Leather was finished for the market.

Near the canal Eli Kummerer built a tannery, in 1869, with twenty vats. It was operated until 1883.

The tannery of Joseph Kummerer, on Washing- ton Street, was built in 1858 by J. & E. Kum- merer, and has been operated since 1861 by Joseph Kummerer. It has twenty-one vats, and eleven hundred hides are prepared annually for the market.

The shoe-factory of R. S. Appel and J. A. Spangler was established in 1881, on Main Street, near State. From twenty to thirty hands are em- ployed in the manufacture of infants', children's and misses' fine and medium grade shoes.

Cord wainers were in the town at an early period of its history ; these were shoemakers.

As early as 1790 Andrew Smith began the manufacture of chains in a shop which stood on State Street, on the site of the residence of E. M. Smith. In 1825, when E. M. Smith was fourteen years of age, he continued the trade of his father and afterward added the manufacture of shoot nails, for use in coal-breakers. In 1877 E. M. Smith & Son's Chain and Nail-Works were established in a large frame building on Main Street. The shop now has thirteen fires and the necessary machinery for making all kinds of wagons and mine chains as well as shoot nails. Most of their production is sold to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company.

In the immediate locality Israel Derr carried on a tannery in the early part of the present century. It was erected on the site of an abandoned oil-mill. The tannery was converted into a foundry about 1850 by Benneville Derr, who added a brick building. This was the beginning of the " Hanı- burg Stove-Works," in which were made the " Day-Light Heater " and cooking-stoves ; also the " B. De r Plow." Mr. Derr employed from twelve to fifteen men. The name of this industry has been changed to the Hamburg Plow-Works, operated by a firm composed of S. A. Loose, C. F. Seaman and P. M. Shollenberger, trading under the name of Loose, Searuan & Co., which obtained possession of the property November 26, 1881. Since the decease of Benneville Derr this firm has carried on extensively a general foundry business and the manufacture of specialties. Water-power was used at first alone for a time, then steam-power was added and the works enlarged to accommodate the growing business. At present four spacious buildings are occupied by the firm, and more than twenty men are afforded constant employment, chiefly in the manufacture of the Hamburg Cham- pion Plow and Bowers Patent Slip Point Plow- shares. The latter article is sold in almost every State of the Union, where reversible plow-shares are used.

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

The Keystone Foundry of Hamburg was estab- lished on State Street, near Canal, in 1841, by Reuben Lins. In 1848 a large brick building was erected and steam-power supplied to operate the machinery. The establishment was devoted to manufacturing agricultural implements, rolling- mill castings and stoves. After 1850 the business amounted annually to fifteen thousand dollars. In 1852, Charles Egolf became a partner, and the firm of Lins & Egolf carried on the business till 1858, when they transferred it to G. & W. Deisher. Afterward, Henry Diesher became the sole owner. The works were then operated nine years, under a lease by Sivert & Stonecker. In 1881, Henry Seivert became the owner, and he is the present proprietor. Eight men are employed in the manufacture of mill castings, kettles and the Hamburg chilled plow.

Carriage-shops have been maintained at Ham- burg from the beginning of its existence as a busi- ness point. In 1885 there were three establish- ments of this kind, carried on by Lewis C. Romich, Christian Baum and W. A. Scott, all situated on State Street. Baum has been in business since 1868, and Scott since 1866. The three shops em- ploy about thirty hands.

POST-OFFICE .- The Hamburg post-office was established July 1, 1798. Among the first post- masters were Henry Fister, who had the office at his hat-shop, and John Shenk, who kept it at his tailor-shop. Later, another tailor, John Kirkpat- rick, was the postmaster, and among his successors were Charles Benzeman, John F. Rhoades, Daniel Wolff, George Shollenberger, Peter S. Hains, Milton S. Ludwig, M. M. Lenhart, Elias Shomo, Henry Rothenberger, and since October, 1885, Dr. William Harris. The office has been on State Street for some time. It is graded as fourth- class, and has been a money-order office since July 1, 1874. There are seven mails in and an equal number out of this office. It is the dis- tributing point for mails to offices on the Allentown and Strausstown stage-route.

LEGAL AND MEDICAL PROFESSIONS .- In the learned professions J. Ed. Miller has been the only attorney to open and maintain an office at Hamburg for the practice of law. Other attorneys have visited Hamburg at stated periods for many years. Dr. A. Klein was one of the first medical

practitioners at Hamburg, continuing until his tragic death at the hands of Adolph Hatzfield, a prominent German compatriot, whose plea was justifiable homicide Dr. - Baum was another early physician, whose stay was not of long dura- tion. Dr. John B. Tryon was in successful practice until his death ; and Drs Killian, Becker, Shultz, Kendall, Benzeman and Medlar were each here for short periods. Dr. John Seiberling had a good practice until his removal to Philadelphia, and Dr. Herman Seider until he went to Schuylkill County. Dr. Benjamin F. Isett succeeded Dr. Seiberling, he being the father of Dr. Joseph T. Isett, a homœopathist, still in practice. Dr. Benjamin Nice was in practice at Hamburg before 1820, but he removed and did not locate here permanently until 1830; upon his return he con- tinued in active practice until his death, July 14, 1862. His son, Dr. Franklin B. Nice, began his professional career at Hamburg in 1851, and is still in active practice. Another son, George Nice, studied medicine the same time, but he removed to Port Clinton, and died there in 1877. Other resident physicians are Dr. John Potteiger, who came to this place from Lenhartsville in 1870; Dr. John R. Wagner, since the spring of 1884; and Dr. Joseph Hatsfield, homœopathist, since 1882.

In the drug business John Beitenman was the pioneer, having his apothecary-store on Main Street. His successor was Major John A. Beiten- man, who pursued this avocation a number of years. Since 1868 William Harris has conducted a drug-store successfully at Hamburg. Later, stores were opened by Adam Bodenhorn and Thomas Fister, the former being now known as the Stein store.

HAMBURG SAVINGS-BANK .- This bank was established under a charter granted March 24, 1870, and was opened for business in November, 1872. The authorized paid-up capital was fifty thousand dollars, but business was begun with ten thousand dollars, which was increased to forty thousand dollars in 1877, and the capital fully paid up in 1884. The bank organized by electing Benneville Derr president, and Charles M. Schomo cashier. From 1877 to 1885 Nathan Bear was the president, when he was succeeded by Peter Burkey. The cashier since 1877 has been

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BOROUGHS OF COUNTY.

J. Jerome Miller. The present directors are Peter Burkey, Nathan Bear, A. R. Shollenberger, Daniel Boyer, Samuel C. Boyer, Nathan Schock, Samuel Merk and Solomon H. Lenhart.

The bank occupies a substantial building on Main Street, especially prepared for its use in 1877. Previous to that time business was done in the Shomo Block. Though organized as a savings-bank, a general banking, collection and exchange business is also transacted, thus making the bank a great accommodation to Hamburg and vicinity.

CHURCHES. - St. John's Church is the oldest in the borough, and the one around which the most historic interest centres In 1790, on February 12th, the first church at Hamburg was consecrated as a German Lutheran and Reformed United (Gemeinschaftliche) Church.

The land on which it was erected, and which at that time was the old church-yard ( Gottes-acker) of this congregation, had been given as a gift by Martin Kercher in 1773, for the use of the Lutheran and Reformed inhabitants of Hamburg and vicinity, to bury their dead and to erect on it a United Lutheran and Reformed Church edifice.

At that time Hamburg resembled a desert ; the vicinity was a forest, the inhabitants were few and poor, and could not erect a church ; they therefore worshipped God in private dwellings, and used the lower part of the land as a burying- ground, reserving the upper part for the church. In time they were enabled to build a church of logs, using the lower story as a school-room and the second story as a place of public worship. On the day mentioned the church was solemnly conse- crated as a church of God under the name, style and title of " The United Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed St. John's Church in the village of Hamburg."

Pastors, Rev. Daniel Lehman (Lutheran) and Rev. Henry Hertzel (Reformed).

After 1800 the influx of population at Ham- burg was rapid, and the church became too small to accommodate the growing congregations. As all the means to erect a new church could not be raised by the ordinary methods of collections and subscriptions, the Legislature was invoked to grant the church privilege to raise funds by lottery --- by no means an unpopular method of raising

money in those days for various enterprises. An act was passed in 1807 authorizing them to raise by lottery three thousand dollars, with which to build a church at Hamburg for the use of the Lutheran and Calvinist congregations. Robert Scott, George Miller, Philip Kiein, Philip Seidel, John Mayer and Abraham Bailey were appointed commissioners to conduct the lottery. Five thou- sand tickets, at one dollar each, were issued, seven- teen hundred and fifty entitling the holders to prizes, and three thousand two hundred and fifty being blanks. The final drawing was published for June 15, 1813, from which it appeared that there were two prizes of twenty-five dollars, two of twenty dollars, two of fifteen dollars, five of ten dollars, seventy of five dollars, and others at smaller amounts. It is not known what amount was actually realized by this lottery. The corner-stone of the new church was laid June 16, 1811, and a very substantial stone building erected, -in dimensions, thirty-five by forty-five feet. It was finished in 1814, and consecrated in March, 1815. This building stood on the site of the pres- ent edifice. After the new church came to be occupied the old church was set apart for school purposes. The upper room was used as a public hall. Upon its removal the logs were used in the construction of a one-story school-house on the same lot. When the stone church was consecrated the Lutheran congregation was without a pastor, but the Reformed had Rev. Philip Mayer. The trustees at the time were George Schumacher and Henry Lewers (Lutheran), Jacob Stitzel and Henry Fister (Reformed). Abraham Wolff was the treasurer, and Robert Scott the secretary. The mason-work was done by William Adam and Jacob Gehret, and the carpenter-work by Philip Altenderfer. In the church thus provided the congregations flourished forty-six years, when it was found too small and "its inner arrangements too inconvenient to accommodate all the members and to be in harmony with the spirit of the times." A proposition to build a new church, as urged upon the members by Pastor A. L. Herman, June 1, 1857, was received with much favor, and meas- ures to build it were at once instituted and diligently prosecuted.

The necessary list of subscription was filled in a few weeks, the trustees chosen and a resolution

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

adopted to erect the building that summer, which was to be known by the same name. The corner- stone was laid August 16, 1857.

Prior to the building of this church the brick school-house was built and the upper room set aside for the use of the congregations until the present edifice would be occupied. The old walls of the stone church were used in building the foundation of the present church, and the other materials removed. The steeple of the old church had a vane in the shape of a fish, and upon which was the date 1811. The pulpit, also, was a novelty, very closely resembling a tulip. The new church is of brick, very commodious, being sixty by eighty feet, and a fine building throughout. The bell, with which the steeple is supplied, is one of the best in the county. The lot upon which the build- ing stands indicates careful attention. In the rear of the church there is a new cemetery, a few acres in area. The trustees in 1885 were George Wal- ters and J. B. Pottinger (Lutheran), Lewis C. Romich and William G. Sheridan (Reformed). The pastor of the Reformed congregation was the Rev. Perry Y. Schelley, and the members num- bered three hundred. Among other pastors may b named the Revs. Moses Peters, William F. P. Davis and A. L. Herman. The Lutheran congre- gation, also, has about three hundred members under the pastoral care of the Rev. Oscar Miller. Among his predecessors were the Revs. Drum -. heller, Jaeger, Klein and Iaeger. The latter served the congregation many years.

Since the Rev. Herman was connected with the church, the pastors have been superintendents of the Sunday-schools. The first Sunday-school was started in the old log church by Henry Lewers, Robert Scott, John Shenck, Henry Fister, Andrew Smith and John Bailey, kept up for some years The present school was instituted after- wards.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

REV G. F. I. IAEGER, who was for sixty years a minister of the Lutheran Church in Berks County, was born July 20, 1796, in Illingen, in the kingdom of Würtemberg. His parents were Rev. Charles F. Iaeger and Catherine Commerell.

He was baptized in infancy, and iu due time confirmed and received by his father as a com- municant member of the Lutheran Church. After

attending the schools of his native village, and also the Latin school at Maulbrun, six miles from Illingen, he entered the University of Tübingen, where he remained several years

But at this juncture came a turning-point in his life. The war between France, under Napoleon the First, and Russia had just ended, and of the eighteen thousand soldiers that left Würtemberg, only three thousand returned. A heavy draft must, of con- sequence, be made to fill up the ranks of the army, and he having no desire to enter military life, in- formed his parents that he should make his future home in America. He left his father's house in July, 1817, and coming by way of London, visited his relatives, the Commerells. On the 8th of September he took passage for New York and was forty-nine days crossing the ocean. It was a strange coincidence that thirty-eight years after this, in 1855, on the 8th of September, he again took passage from Liverpool to New York, after a pleasant visit to his old home, and to his brother and sister, this time making the trip, by steamer, in eleven days. After remaining a few days in New York, he came to Philadelphia, and from there went to Northampton County, where he taught school near Bethlehem du ing that winter and summer. In 1818 he came to Hamburg, Berks County, and joined Rev. John Engel, pastor of a number of Lutheran congregations, who soon found him a diligent student. He offered him a home in his family, instructed him in the doctrines of the Lutheran Church in this country, and pro- cured a school for him near Hamburg, at St. Paul's Church, where he taught during the winter of 1818. He also commenced preaching as Rev. Mr. Eugel's student, and at times officiated in that minister's congregations. He delivered his first sermon at Plunkel's Church October 18, 1818, in Greenwich, six miles from Hamburg, and from that date cou- tinued preaching for fifty-one years to this people. In the spring of 1819 he, with three other young men, Dr. Demme, Dr. Krauth and Henry Kurtz, was received as a member of the old Pennsylvania Synod at Baltimore, Md. On his return from Synod to Hamburg, Rev. Mr. Engel gave him two congregations,-White Church in Albany and St. Jacob's in Lynntown. This was the beginning of the pastoral work in which he engaged as a faithful shepherd for fifty-five years.

BOROUGHS OF COUNTY.

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On March 14, 1820, he was united in marriage to Mary, daughter of Lewis and Anna Audenried, from McKeansburg, Schuylkill County. In April, 1820, they commenced house-keeping in Lynntown, near St. Jacob's Churchi, where they remained five years. In 1825 they removed near Klines- ville, seven miles east of Hamburg, and resided at this point until 1876, wheu, on account of the infirmities of old age, Mr. laeger gave up his con- gregations and moved to Hamburg, where he con-

heart-disease, which often gave him great pain. He, however, endured his sufferings with Christian for- titude and patience, until the Head of the Church called him to his eternal rest. He died Novem- ber 16, 1879, aged eighty-six years, three months and twenty-six days. His widow still resides at Hamburg, and is now in her eighty-ninth year.

Emanuel Church was built in 1854, at a cost of eleven thousand dollars, for the accommodation of Evangelical Lutheran and German Reformed

G. F. J. Jager

tinued active in his Master's work, visiting the | Congregations, most of the members having with- sick and the aged, and occasionally preaching drawn from St. John's Church, on account of a difficulty which arose from the opposition of many members to preaching in the English language. The building committee was composed of Dr. John Seiberling, John Lubarg, Wm. E. Shollenberger, Jacob Geiger, Reuben Lins, George Shollenberger and Daniel Kern. The united congregations oc- cupied the church under favorable auspices for some years, and at one time had a joint member- ship of two hundred and fifty. Their services were funeral sermons. He was an able sermonizer, a pleasant speaker and a beloved and faithful pastor. He, with his devoted wife, reared a family of eleven children, seven of whom are still living,- William, in West Virginia; Lewis, in Yuma, Arizona ; Rev. Thomas T. and Samuel, in Read- ing; Mrs. Levan, in Hamburg; Mrs. Berger, in Philadelphia ; and Mrs. Salade, in Tamaqua. In the fall of 1879 Mr. Laeger began to suffer from 77

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

conducted wholly in the English language. The Reformed congregation had as pastors the Revs. Moses Kieffer, Joseph H. Appel, Uriah Heilman, D. B. Albright and William H. Reilly, some of them preaching as supplies. On the part of the Lutherans, the ministers were the Revs. Scheide, Keller, Gable and B. D. Zweitzig. On July 5, 1877, the church was badly wrecked by a tornado. The expense attending the repair of the building proved so burdensome to the congregations that the Rev. B. D. Zweitzig assumed the settlement of it on behalf of the Lutheran congregations, and he now holds the church in trust. No services of any kind have been held in the church during the past year, and most of the members have again con- nected themselves with St. John's Church. A flour- ishing Sunday-school was maintained by the con- gregations, and superintended by H. R. Shollen- berger, but it has been discontinued.

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church was built in 1853. It is a plain brick building; in dimensions, forty by seventy feet. The congrega- tion has never been large, and without a resident priest, its interests have not received proper encouragement. Lately monthly meetings have been held by a priest from Schuylkill Haven, with preaching in the English language. The member- ship does not exceed a dozen persons.

Hamburg Methodist Episcopal Church. - In the spring of 1859 the Rev. H. H. Davis be- gan preaching Methodism in Hamburg and met with so much opposition that a building could not be obtained in which to hold the meetings. Strong in his purpose, however, he continued his labors, and on May 15th preached on the door-steps of a Mr. Epler in the morning, and in the afternoon in Shollenberger's lumber yard. These services won several members, and three months afterward he was encouraged to rent Kern's hall, at a rental of fifty dollars for seven months. He began preach- ing August 27th, and held semi-monthly meetings. On November 6th an extra meeting was conducted, which produced great excitement and not a little opposition in the town, and on November 25th he organized a class with the following members : James, Geiger, Gleasoner, Dewalt and Long and their families. They met statedly in the hall, till its further use was refused, May 5, 1860. A lot was then bought for church purposes, and in June a

tent was procured and services held in it until a church was erected, in -the fall of the same year. On July 15th a Sunday-school of twenty-two scholars was formed, with H. H. Dove as superin- tendent, this having also been organized in the tent. The church was dedicated on November 29, 1860, and Sunday-school was first held in the building on December 2d following, each pupil having been presented with a card to commemor- ate the occasion. The building was improved in 1870, and again in 1884, the latter repairs involv- ing an outlay of five hundred dollars. It is cen- trally located, on White Oak Street, and is a neat and inviting brick edifice. The congregation has about fifty members, and the Sunday-school one hundred and thirty five. S. A. Loose is superin- tendent of the school. The ministers of the church since its organization have been the following :

1859-61, H. H. Davis. 1872, A. L. Urban. 1873-74, L. M. Hobbs.

1863, A. Fisher.

1864, Joseph Schlichter.

1875, W. A. Macnich.

1865, William Manlove.

1876-77, Geo. W. North.

1866, Jacob Hughes.

1878, C. Hudson.

1867, Benjamin Christ.

1879, George A. Wolfe.

1868, M. Barnhill. 1880-81, A. L. Hood.

1869, S. G. Grove. 1882-83, S. H. Evans.

1870-71, John W. Sayers.

1884-86, A. A. Arthur.

St. Paul's Church (Evangelical Association) was built in 1872, under the direction of the Rev. Thos. Bowman and the Rev. B. Miller, for the accom- modation of fifteen members. Among these were Jonas Mengle. Henry Gessley, Henry Lenhart and Jesse Rubright. The present trustees are R. T. Lenhart, Jesse Rubright and Allen Savage.

The membership of the church is still small, but the Sabbath-school, under the superintendence of R. T. Lenhart, has seventy-five scholars. This congregation is included in the Kutztown Circuit, of which Rev. Wm. H. Weidner is pastor. Other ministers serving here have been Revs. J. Stermer, D. Lentz, D. S. Stauffer, B. Miller and I. Hess.

SCHOOLS .- When the first St. John's Church was built it was so arranged that a part of it could be used for school purposes, and therein instruction was imparted as early as 1791. After 1815 the building was wholly devoted to secular uses and English schools were taught in it ; and afterward the one-story log house upon the same lot was used for the same purpose. The present brick school- house, in the same locality, was built after 1855

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BOROUGHS OF COUNTY.

by the united efforts of the school board and the members of St. John's Church, who used the upper part of the building as a place of worship until their new church was completed, in 1858. The large brick school-house on the upper part of White Oak Street was erected at a later day. The first English school in Hamburg was taught in a log building, near Silliman's Ferry, by a lady named Miss Shinnins. Some few years later, about 1820, John Shomo taught English school at his residence on Main Street. About the time Hamburg accepted the free-school system, in 1838, a stone school-house was built on State Street, near the canal, which was used many years. The building stood until 1885, when it was demolished by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, to make way for its track. Joseph Barr Tyson (who after- wards became a noted lawyer in Philadelphia, taught school for a time at Hamburg; also Philip Ellinger, of the same city, and Charles Smith and P. C. Baum, of Hamburg. The Rev. R. S. Appel taught a select school with success, several years, in the basement of Emanuel Church, soon after the completion of that building, in 1854. R G. Hunter and D. S. Keck conducted the High School successfully for some years.

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History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 148

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards Number of Pages: 1418

Author: Montgomery, Morton L. (Morton Luther), b. 1846
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Peck & Richards
Number of Pages: 1418