History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 99

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

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engaged in the newspaper business as a member of the firm of J. Knabb & Co., publishers of the Daily Times and weekly Journal He continued practically engaged in journalism for three years and then resumed the practice of law.

Mr. Richards has taken an active interest in the municipal affairs of Reading for a number of years. He represented the First Ward of Reading in Common Council from 1875 to 1878, and whilst serving in this position compiled the laws and ordinances relating to Reading, which were pub- lished in the form of a "City Digest" in 1876 by Councils, and ten years afterward he supervised the publication of a revised edition. In 1876-77 he served as secretary of the Municipal Commis- sion of Pennsylvania, which was specially appointed by Governor Hartranft for the purpose of prepar- ing a plan for the better government of cities in the State. In 1884 he received the nomination for Congress on the Republican ticket.

IRENAEUS SHALTER, son of Benjamin Shalter, was born in Alsace township ; educated in the township schools, and then entered Franklin and Marshall College, from which he was graduated in 1863 ; studied law in the office of Jacob S. Liv- ingood, Esq., and was admitted to the bar Jan- uary 16, 1865.

J. Ross MILLER was born at Reading, Decem- ber 5, 1841 ; educated in the local schools ; enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers ; was wounded at the battle of Antietam and discharged from the service while in the Reading Hospital. He then studied law in the office of William M. Baird, Esq., and was admitted August 7, 1865.

J. DALLAS SCHOENER was born and educated at Reading ; read law with his uncle, William B. Schoener, Esq., and was admitted to the Reading bar August 7, 1865.

HARRISON MALTZBERGER, son of John Maltz- berger, was born at Reading; graduated from the Reading High School in the year 1856; studied law under Hon. J. Glancy Jones and was ad- mitted to the bar August 7, 1865. Mr. Maltz- berger took an active interest in educational affairs, having represented the Fourth Ward in the Board of School Controllers for a number of years and acted as chairman on the finance committee. He has been the register in bankruptcy for the

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Berks District for about twenty years. He was the Republican nominee for Congress some years ago.

PETER D. WANNER, son of William Wanner, a farmer, was born in Maxatawny township, and educated in local schools, Union Seminary (Union County, Pa.), and Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pa., graduating from the latter in- stitution in 1865. Before graduating he took up the study of law under Isaac E. Hiester, Esq., at Lancaster, where he was admitted to the bar in Sep-

tember 1865. Upon returning home he located at Reading and was admitted to practice November 4, 1865. In 1871 Mr. Wanner was elected district attorney ; he served one term of three years, till 1874, and officiated as solicitor to the county commissioners for the years 1877 and 1878. He acted as chairman of the City Executive Com- mittee of Democratic party in Reading for a num- ber of years. In 1878 he ran for Congress against Hon. Hiester Clymer, having made numerous ad- dresses in every section of the county by appoint- ment, previous to the delegate election, and the choice of delegates was closely contested. Though not elected, he awakened great interest in the can- paign. In 1879 he became interested in the manu- facturing business, and connected himself with the Mellett Brothers, founders. He is now serving as secretary and treasurer of the Mellett Foundry and Machine Company (Limited) and also of the Reading Foundry Company (Limited), large enter- prises mentioned in the chapter on Industries. Mr. Wanner has taken an active interest in the Read- ing Board of Trade since its organization.

LLEWELLYN WANNER, son of J. Daniel Wan- ner, ex-register of Berks County, was born in Kutz- town and graduated from Franklin and Marshall College; read law with his uncle, Amos B.Wanner, Esq., and was admitted to the Bar August, 1866; after practicing law for a number of years, he re- moved to the State of Illinois, where he continued the practice of his profession. He was president of the Common Council of Reading from 1871 to 1873.

WILLIAM M. RIGHTMYER was born October 10, 1842, at Springs Forge, Berks County, attended common schools and was prepared for college under the instruction of Rev. J. S. Ermentrout. He was graduated from Pennsylvania College, at Gettys-

burg, with the class of 1865; read law in the office of William M. Baird, Esq., and was admitted to the Bar in 1867. He was a school director of Reading from 1868 to 1877 and secretary of the board for four years. He was city solicitor from 1874 to 1875, and attorney for directors of the poor of Berks County for five years.

GEORGE M. ERMENTROUT, son of Henry Er- mentrout, was born at Reading October 13, 1840 ; attended the public and private schools of his na- tive place and a seminary for boys at Norristown, Pa .; read law in the office of Hon. Daniel Ermen- trout ; was admitted to the bar November 27, 1867, and has since practiced at Reading ; served as school controller, and was elected alderman of the Sixth Ward of Reading in 1877, and re-elected in 1882.

GEORGE F. BAER was born in Somerset County, Pa., September 26, 1842. His father, Solo- mon Baer, was born in Northampton County (near what is now known as Unionville, in Lehigh County) in 1794, and moved, with his parents, to Maryland, near Cumberland, when six years old ; and he settled in Somerset County in 1816, where he continued to reside till his death, in 1882. He was aged eighty eight years and left to survive him four daughters and three sons, the latter being William J. (president judge of the Somerset and Bedford District), Herman L. (a practicing at- torney at Somerset) and George F., the subject of this sketch ; a fourth son, Harry G. (who was enlisted in the Civil War as an officer in Company B, Fifty-fourth Regiment Pennsylvania Volun- teers, commanded by Col. Jacob M. Campbell), having died in 1874.

John Jacob Baer, the father of Solomon Baer, was born in Northampton County in 1761, on the homestead, and removed to Maryland in 1800, where he carried on farming and died in 1823, aged sixty-two years; and Christophel Baer, the grandfather, emigrated from the Palatinate in 1747, and, upon arriving in Philadelphia on Ang- ust 1st of that year, proceeded to Northampton County, purchased farming land and carried on farming.

When George F. Baer was six years old his parents removed to the town of Somerset, and he there attended the schools of the town and the Somerset Institute (of which Professor Charles L.

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Loose was the principal) till 1855, when he en- tered the printing-office of the Somerset Democrat (then published by Chauncey F. Mitchell), and worked at the printing trade until April, 1858. He then attended the Somerset Academy for one year. In the spring of 1859 he became the chief clerk and book-keeper of the Ashtola Mill-, a large manufacturing establishment ten miles from Johnstown. He occupied this position till the summer of 1860, when he entered the sophomore class of Franklin and Marshall College. Whilst pursuing his course of study in that institution the Civil War broke out, and in the spring of 1861 he and his brother Harry purchased the Somerset Democrat and began its publication. After con- ducting it successfully till the following September his brother Harry enlisted in the volunteer service, leaving him in sole charge of the newspaper. He was employed at the case during the day, and at night edited the paper. At times he was so busily engaged at printing that he was obliged to com- pose and set up his editorials while standing before the case. During this time he kept up a private course of studies, with the view of eventually re- turning to college. He continued to edit the Democrat until August, 1862, when he raised a company of volunteers, which was mustered into the service as Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, of which he was duly commissioned captain. At that time he was not twenty years old. He served as captain for nine months, the period of enlist- ment, acting part of the time by detail as adju- tant-general of the Second Brigade, in General Humphrey's division. His regiment joined the Army of the Potomac at the second battle of Bull Run, and was with that army at the battles of An- tietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Its most distinguished service was in formning the ad- vance line of the army in the famous charge on the Fredericksburg Heights, December 13, 1862. He was mustered out of service with his company on May 26, 1863.

Upon returning home Mr. Baer selected the law as his profession, and after pursuing a regular course of legal studies in the office of his brothers -who were practicing attorneys at the Somerset bar-he was admitted to practice at April term, 1864. He practiced his profession at Somerset till

April, 1868, when he removed to Reading, having been admitted to the Berks County bar a short time before (January 22, 1868), whilst on a visit to Reading.

During his practice of four years under his brothers at Somerset, he became thoroughly ac- quainted with the practice of the law in all its branches, especially in that department which re- lated to pleading and the trial of cases.

A few years after his arrival at Reading his general practice began to increase rapidly and he soon won a place in the foremost rank of the at- torneys at the bar, becoming more and more suc- cessful with each passing year. During the past fifteen years he has been prominently identified with all the important litigation before the several courts of Berks County, and also before the Su- preme Court of Pennsylvania, upon cases removed from this and other districts. Shortly before the death of John S. Richards, Esq., in 1872, he be- came the resident solicitor of the Philadelphia and. Reading Railroad Company, and he has since oc. cupied that position. His arrival in this county marks the beginning of a new generation of young attorneys at this bar, who have distinguished. themselves by devotion to their profession and have won that success in it which well directed energy merits. In 1876 he was admitted to pro tice in the Supreme Court of the United Stat Washington, D. C.

Since his residence here Mr. Baer ha terested in the general developme munity, through improvements He is connected with differer industrial nature. At the pr dent of the Temple Iron the Bushong Paper Com rect r in the followi Fire Insurance Com Clymer Iron Compar Boyertown Mining C and the Reading trustee of the Fran of Palatinate Colle ferred upon him th THEODORE H. ing December 28, his native city, an to Philadelphia, w

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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Loose was the principal) till 1855, when he en- tered the printing-office of the Somerset Democrat (then published by Chauncey F. Mitchell), and worked at the printing trade until April, 1858. He then attended the Somerset Academy for one year. In the spring of 1859 he became the chief clerk and book-keeper of the Ashtola Mille, a large manufacturing establishment ten miles from Johnstown. He occupied this position till the summer of 1860, when he entered the sophomore class of Franklin and Marshall College. Whilst pursuing his course of study in that institution the Civil War broke out, and in the spring of 1861 he and his brother Harry purchased the Somerset Democrat and began its publication. After con- ducting it successfully till the following September his brother Harry enlisted in the volunteer service, leaving him in sole charge of the newspaper. He was employed at the case during the day, and at night edited the paper. At times he was so busily engaged at printing that he was obliged to com- pose and set up his editorials while standing before the case. During this time he kept up a private course of studies, with the view of eventually re- turning to college. He continued to edit the Democrat until August, 1862, when he raised a company of volunteers, which was mustered into the service as Company E, One Hundred and Thirty-third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, of which he was duly commissioned captain. At that time he was not twenty years old. He served as captain for nine months, the period of enlist- ment, acting part of the time by detail as adju- tant-general of the Second Brigade, in General Humphrey's division. His regiment joined the Army of the Potomac at the second battle of Bull Run, and was with that army at the battles of An- tietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Its most distinguished service was in formning the ad- vance line of the army in the famous charge on the Fredericksburg Heights, December 13, 1862. He was mustered out of service with his company on May 26, 1863.

April, 1868, when he removed to Reading, having been admitted to the Berks County bar a short time before (January 22, 1868), whilst on a visit to Reading.

A few years after his arrival at Reading his general practice began to increase rapidly and he soon won a place in the foremost rank of the at- torneys at the bar, becoming more and more suc- cessful with each passing year. During the past fifteen years he has been prominently identified with all the important litigation before the several courts of Berks County, and also before the Su- preme Court of Pennsylvania, upon cases removed from this and other districts. Shortly before the death of John S. Richards, Esq., in 1872, he be- came the resident solicitor of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, and he has since oc- cupied that position. His arrival in this county marks the beginning of a new generation of young attorneys at this bar, who have distinguished themselves by devotion to their profession and have won that success in it which well directed energy merits. In 1876 he was admitted to prac- tice in the Supreme Court of the United States, at Washington, D. C.

Since his residence here Mr. Baer has been in- terested in the general development of the com- munity, through improvements of various kinds. He is connected with different enterprises of an industrial nature. At the present time he is presi- dent of the Temple Iron Company, chairman of the Bushong Paper Company ( Limited) and a di- rect r in the following organizations: Reading Fire Insurance Company, Reading Iron-Works, Clymer Iron Company, Keystone Coal Company, Boyertown Mming Company, Penn National Bank and the Reading Hospital. Mr. Baer is also a trustee of the Franklin and Marshall College and of Palatinate College. The former institution con- ferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts.

THEODORE H. GARRIGUES was born at Read- ing December 28, 1845 ; acquired his education in his native city, and, at the age of seventeen, weut to Philadelphia, where he remained three years in

Tev. F Baen

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a hardware-store. In 1865 he became a student- at-law in the office of Jolin S. Richards, Esq., and was admitted to the bar August 10, 1868. Owing to the defective eyesight of his preceptor, soon after admission to practice, he assumed almost the entire management of Mr. Richards' extensive business, and executed it with ability and dispatch. In the mean time he was an ardent student of his profession and overtasked his mental powers, causing sickness and premature death at the age of ahout thirty years.

BENJAMIN B. LAUCKS was born in Oley town- ship ; educated in the schools of the vicinity of his birth ; read law in the office of his father, Franklin B. Laucks, Esq., of Reading, and was admitted to the bar January '11, 1869. After practicing for a while at Reading, removed to Pottsville, and died there.

H. WILLIS BLAND was born August 20, 1846, at Blandon, Berks County ; acquired a preliminary education in school at Birdsboro'. On September 4, 1861, he joined Company H, Eighty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served in all the engagements in which the regiment partici- pated until expiration of term of service, in Septem- ber, 1864. In Febuary, 1867, he removed to Read- ing and read law in the office of J. Howard Jacobs, Esq , and was admitted to the bar April 12, 1869.

HENRY C. G. REBER was born in Penn town- ship, Berks County, December 18, 1846; was educated at Franklin and Marshall College, from which he was graduated in 1866. Immediately thereafter he entered the law office of Jeremiah Hagenman, Esq., at Reading, now president judge of Berks County, and after pursuing his legal studies for three years, was admitted to the bar April 12, 1869. He has practiced his profession at Reading since He filled the office of district attorney for one term of three years, from 1875 to 1877.

CYRUS G. DERR was born July 18, 1848, at Lebanon, Pa. He obtained his education in the schools of his native town ; read law in the office of his father, William M. Derr, Esq .; attended the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania; was admitted a member of the Lebanon County bar in 1869, and in 1872 located in Reading, where he has since practiced his profession.

MORTON L MONTGOMERY, the author of this history, was born at Reading November 10, 1846. His father, John Leonard Montgomery, came from Northumberland County, Pa., to Reading in 1835, and in 1842 was married to Catharine Rush, who was born at Reading in 1810. Her father, Philip Rush, a fife-major in the War of 1812-15, and a weaver by occupation, was also boru at Reading, in 1783 ; and her grandfather, Stephen Rush, moved from Hereford township, in this county, to Reading shortly after the town was laid out.

Mr. Montgomery was educated in the common schools of his native place till 1863, having spent the last three years in the Reading High School; and, being inclined to mathematics and draught- ing, he then entered the office of Mr. Daniel Zacharias, county surveyor of Berks County, and city engineer of Reading, for the purpose of learning practical surveying and civil engineering. He continued in this office at Reading eight months, when he went to Pottsville, Schuylkill County, at the request of Mr. Zacharias, to enter a larger field for the prosecution of his studies, and he was there employed by Mr. Daniel Hoffman, a mining, civil and topographical engineer. After remaining with Mr. Hoffman the greater part of two years he returned to Reading, and entered the office of Jacob S. Livingood, Esq., as a student-at- law. He spent the required term of three years with Mr. Livingood, and, besides prosecuting his legal studies, he attended to an extensive practice, the labors of which consisted in the preparation of cases, arguments, proceedings in partition, convey- ancing, etc. After traveling for a time in the fall of 1869 through the Middle and Eastern States, he entered the Law Department of Harvard University and remained there two terms. Upon returning to Reading he spent a year in the office of Samuel L. Young, Esq., in order to comply with the new rules of court which had been adopted during his absence and which required the last year of study to be passed in a lawyer's office. He was admitted to the bar on August 28, 1871, since which time he has been in active practice at Reading.

Shortly after his admission to the bar he became earnestly interested in the history of his native county, and, after he had collected much valuable material relating to the early settlements and for-

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mation of the townships and the development of all the districts in the county, he determined to write and publish the " History of Berks County." In the course of his investigations he contributed a number of historical articles to the press, and in 1883 he published the " Political Hand-Book of Berks County, Pa." In 1884 he issued a prospec- tus, announcing his proposed publication of the " History of Reading ;" but finding, in the course of his undertaking, that the practice of the law and the labors of an author and publisher could not be conducted togetber successfully, he entered into a contract with Messrs. Everts, Peck & Richards, publishers of histories etc., at Philadel- phia, for the publication of the " History of Berks County" in one large octavo volume, to comprise all the history of the entire county, and thereby con- clude his undertaking more speedily and satisfac- torily. The labor of Mr. Montgomery in this behalf has been necessarily severe during the last ten years and has required the utmost persistence to accomplish his purpose. During this time he has carried on his investigations without any assistance, having visited different places, traveled throughout the county repeatedly and examined newspaper files, county records and libraries here and elsewhere.

In 1874, Mr. Montgomery was married to Florence Baugh Bush, a daughter of Dr. Andrew and Mary Baugh Bush, of East Coventry township, Chester County, Pa. They have a daughter, Florence Baugh Montgomery, who was born at Reading, 1876.

GARRETT B. STEVENS was born in Bucks County September, 1848. His preliminary educa- tion was acquired in the public schools ; taught school until the age of twenty-one years and then began the study of the law under the direction of John S. Richards, Esq., and having completed the requisite course, was admitted to the Berks County bar August 12, 1872.

HORACE ROLAND was born September 26, 1848, in New Holland, Lancaster County, Pa .; attended the academy at Lititz, Lancaster County ; also the Military School at Westchester, and Tuscarora Academy, in Juniata County. He graduated from the Lafayette College, in Easton, in 1879 ; read law in the office of George F. Baer, Esq., and was ad- mitted to the bar in August, 1872, aud remained in his office for five years as his assistant.

EDGAR M. LEVAN was born December 25, 1850, in Clarkson, Columbia County, Ohio ; came to Reading with his father in 1859; graduated from Reading High School in 1865; he read law in the office of George F. Baer, Esq., and was admitted to the bar in 1870. He practiced in Reading until January 1st of the present year (1886), when he removed to Lancaster.

FRANK R. SCHELL was born January 1, 1851, in Bedford County, Pa .; was educated at the Edgehill Academy, College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and Yale College, graduating from the last-named institution with the class of 1870 ; at- tended lectures at the Columbia Law School, read law in the office of John C. Bullitt, Esq., and was admitted to the bar September 16, 1872. Mr. Schell died on February 26, 1886.

JAMES A. O'REILLY, son of Patrick O'Reilly, a prominent and successful railroad contractor, was born at Reading; educated in the public schools of his native city and Notre Dame University, Indiana; studied law in the office of John S. Richards Esq., and was admitted to the bar Jan- uary 13, 1873. He represented the Fourth Ward in Common Council for the years 1885-86, and was elected president of that body.

STEPHEN M. MEREDITH is a native of Ches- ter County, Pa., born February 11, 1851, at Pughtown. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, the Ivy Institute and Oakdale Seminary. He began the study of law at Reading under the direction of Jesse G. Hawley and H. Willis Bland, Esqs., and was admitted a member of the Berks County bar in August, 1873.

DANIEL H. WINGERD, a native of Balti- more, Md., was born in that city August 18, 1847. He finished the collegiate course at Franklin and Marshall College with the class of 1869, and studied the three succeeding years at the Universities of Berlin, Germany, and Vienna, Austria, in the Law Departments of these institutions. Returning to America, he was admitted to the bar from the law-office of Kennedy & Stewart, of Chambersburg, Pa., and on September 29, 1873, was admitted a member of the Reading bar. In 1875 he was elected city solicitor, and re-elected in 1877. In 1886 he is the attorney for Reading School District.

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HIRAM Y. KAUFFMAN is a native of Berks County, born in Oley township June 4, 1850. His preliminary education was obtained in the Oley Academy, Keystone State Normal School, Hudson River Institute, Claverack Academy, N. Y., and Amenia Seminary, N. Y. He entered Yale College and was graduated from that institution in 1872; taught school at Amenia one year and theu entered the law office of Horace A. Yundt, Esq., at Reading, and was admitted to the bar November 9, 1874. He served as district attorney of Berks County during the years 1881, '82, '83.

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History of Berks county in Pennsylvania, Part 99

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