History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 33

Author: Davis, W. W. H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910; Ely, Warren S. (Warren Smedley), b. 1855; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III > Part 33

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Peter L. Jacoby, second son of Ben- jamin and Margaret (Landes) Jacoby, was born in Nockamixon township, Bucks county, February 9, 1813, and, aside from teaching school for a brief period was a farmer all his life. He mar- ried, August 20, 1837, Barbara Shelly, daughter of John and Mary Shelly, of Milford township, Bucks county, and lived in Milford township until the spring of 1839, when he took charge of his father's farm in Springfield, rent- ing it until his father's death, when he purchased it, later purchasing other land adjoining, and lived on the homestead until his death, July 3, 1876. With the exception of ten years residence in New Jersey and one year at a select private school, his whole life was spent in Bucks county. He was better educated than most men of his day in that vicin- ity, and appreciated the advantage of a higher education. He was a prosperous farmer, and actively interested in the im- portant public interests of his neighbor- hood. His wife died at Bethlehem, June 12, 1904. Their eldest child, Mary Ann, died at the age of twenty-two years. Those who survive are: Titus S., now residing in Bethlehem; Amanda, who

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married Henry Unangst, of Williams township, Northampton county, Penn- sylvania, and later settled near Pleasant Valley, Bucks county; Lewis Shelly, and John S., both now residing in Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Henry Sylvester, who now resides in Ithaca, New York.

Henry Sylvester Jacoby, born on the old homestead near Bursonville, April 8, 1857, was reared on the farm and attended the public school during the winter sessions, and during the summer months attended the private school of David W. Hess for eight years. He attended the Excelsior Normal In- stituite at Carversville, Bucks county, during the terms of 1870-72, and the preparatory department of Lehigh Uni- versity, 1872-3. He then took the regu- lar four-years course at Lehigh Univer- sity, receiving the degree of Civil En- gineer in 1877. During the season of 1878 he was stadia rodman on the Le- high Topographical Corps, of the Sec- ond Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. From November. 1878, to November, 1879, he was engaged on surveys of the Red River, Louisiana, with the U. S. A. Corps of Engineers, under Major W. H. H. Benyaurd. From November. 1879. to March, 1885, he served as chief draughtsman in the United States En- gineer's Office at Memphis, Tennessee. From May, 1885, to August, 1886, he was bookkeeper and cashier for G. W. Jones & Co., wholesale druggists in Memphis. From September, 1886, to June, 1890, he was instructor in civil engineering at his alma mater, Lehigh University. In Sep- tember, 1890, he was elected assistant professor of Bridge Engineering and Graphics at Cornell University, was pro- moted to an associate professorship in the same department in 1894. and in 1900 was made full professor of Bridge Engineering in the University, and has since filled that position.

In August, 1887, he was admitted a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; was made a fellow of the Association in 1894: secretary of "Section D" in 1895, and vice president and chairman of Sec- tion D. (Mechanical science and Engi- neering) in 1901. On November 5, 1890, he became an associate of the American Society of Civil Engineers; in August, 1894, a member of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, of which he was secretary 1900-1902. On February 22. 1888, he became a member of the Honorary Scientific Society of Tau Beta Pi, and of the Honorary Sci- entific Society of Sigma Xi on May I, 1893.

Professor Jacoby, in addition to con- tributing numerous articles on Engineer- ing and kindred subjects. for periodicals devoted to that science, is the author of the following publications: "Notes and Problems in Descriptive Geom-

erty," (1892); "Outlines of Descriptive Geometry" Part I, 1895, Part II, 1896, Part III, 1897; "A Text Book on Plain Lettering," (1897). He is joint author with Professor Mansfield Merriman of a "Text Book on Roofs and Bridges," in four volumes (1890-1898) embracing the following branches: Part I, "Stresses in Simple Trusses," 1888, entirely re- written in 1904; Part II, "Graphic Sta- tics," 1890. enlarged in 1897: Part III, "Bridge Design," 1894, re-written 1902; Part IV, "Higher Structures," 1898. Professor Jacoby served as editor of the Journal of the Engineering Society of Lehigh University for the years 1887- 1890.

Professor Henry S. Jacoby married May 18, 1880, Laura Louise Saylor, daughter of Thomas S. and Emma A. Saylor, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of three chil- dren, John Vincent, Hurlbut Smith, and Freeman Steel, all of whom reside with their parents at Ithaca, New York.

Professor Jacoby retains a lively in- terest in the affairs of his native county, and makes many extended visits to the old homestead in Springfield (the own- ership of which he still retains), as well as to other points of Bucks county, tak- ing a proper and commendable pride in his Bucks county ancestry.

PHILIP H. FRETZ. Among the rep- resentatives of the old and honored fam- ilies of Bucks county who, with their respective ancestors, have witnessed the settlement and development of our be- loved county from a primitive wilderness, inhabited by a primitive race, to a thick- ly settled, prosperous, wealthy and en- lightened community, is Philip H. Fretz, of Doylestown township. He was born in the township in which he still resides, November 22, 1846, and is a son of Phil- ip K. and Anna (Stover) Fretz, the an- cestors of both of whom had been prom- inent factors in the development of the natural resources of Bucks county, those of the latter being the pioneer millers of Tinicum and Bedminster and her emi- grant ancestor being Henry Stauffer, who emigrated from Alsace in 1749 and settled in Bedminster soon after that date. His son Jacob, born May 13, 1757, was the grandfather of Mrs. Fretz, and Henry, son of the last named. born Oc- tober 17, 1786, was her father. Her moth- er was Barbara Stout, daughter of Is- aac Stout, of Williams township. North- ampton county, and a granddaughter of Jacob Stout. the emigrant ancestor of the Stout family of Bucks, an account of whom is given in this work. Bar- bara was educated at the Moravian school at Bethlehem, and her husband, Henry S. Stover. at the Doylestown Academy, under the Rev. Uriah Dubois,

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both receiving unusual advantages in this respect for their day and genera- tion.

The paternal ancestor of Mr. Fretz was John Frets, who with a brother, Christian emigrated from Manheim, in Baden, Rhenish Prussia, about 1720, and settled for a time in Upper Salford, now Montgomery county, where he married Barbara Meyer, daughter of Hans Mey- er, who bore him five. children-John, Jacob, Christian, Abraham and Eliza- beth. In 1737 John Fretz settled in Bed- minster township, Bucks county, where he purchased 300 acres of land and lived until his death in February, 1772.

Christian Fretz, son of John and Bar- bara, born in Upper Salford, May, 1734. was reared in Bedminster township, Bucks county, and married in 1757 Bar- bara Oberhotzer, born November 10, 1737, died May 8, 1823, daughter of Mar- tin Oberholtzer, who was born near Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1709, and set- tled in Bedminster soon after attaining manhood. Christian Fretz, on attaining manhood, settled in Tinicum township, where he lived until his father's death, when, having inherited the old home- stead, he returned to Bedminster, where he died May 1, 1803. During the boy- hood and early manhood of Christian Fretz the Indians were still quite num- erous in that vicinity, and tradition re- lates many incidents of the association of the family with the "noble red man." At the time of the death of Barbara Fretz, widow of Christian, in 1823, she was the mother of twelve children, one hundred and nine grandchildren, and one hundred and three great-grandchil- dren. The children were: John; Agnes. wife of Abraham Bebighouse; Joseph; Henry; Martin; Jacob; Abraham; Is- aac: Barbara, wife of Henry Fretz; Christian; Mary, wife of Henry Tyson; and Elizabeth, wife of Abraham Meyer.

John Fretz, eldest son of Christian and Barbara, was born in Bedminster, May 24, 1758, and was reared in the Men- nonite faith, his parents being members of the old Deep Run Meeting, the oldest Mennonite congregation in Bucks coun- ty. He purchased land adjoining the homestead in Bedminster, and lived there until 1792, when he purchased 300 acres of the Rodman tract in Warwick, now Doylestown township, and settled thereon, building in 1795 the stone house which was standing until about 1898. He later purchased considerable adjoining land, owning at one time 800 acres along both sides of the Neshaminy, marked on the old maps of the region as "Fretz Valley." He died December 20, 1804. His wife was Anna Kratz, born in Plum- stead township, November 4, 1764. She died August 4, 1813. John and Anna Kratz Fretz were the parents of nine children, viz: Christian; Susan, wife of William Garges; Elizabeth, wife of

Thomas Z. Smith; Mary, wife of Henry' Gill; John; Rachel, wife of Abraham F. Stover; Barbara, wife of John Smith; Anna, wife of Samuel Dungan, and Phil- ip, died young.

Christian, eldest son of John and An- na (Kratz) Fretz, was born in Bedmin- ster township, November 17, 1782, and was reared from the age of ten on the Fretz Valley farm in Doylestown town- ship, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a successful business man and acquired considerable real es- tate. He was a farmer and hotelkeep- er, establishing the "Fretz Valley inn," near the homestead on the Easton road, opposite the almshouse, which he con- ducted for a number of years. He died January 28, 1840. He married April 14, 1808, Mary Stover, daughter of Ralph and Catharine (Funk) Stover, and granddaughter of Henry Stauffer above referred to, and a great-grand- daughter on the maternal side of the pioneer, Bishop Henry Funck.

Ralph Stover, father of Mary (Stover) Fretz, was born in Bedminster, Bucks county, January 10, 1760, and died there November 7, 1811. He was one of the prominent business and public men of his time. For many years a justice of the peace, he did a large amount of le- gal business pertaining to the transfer of real estate and the settlement of es- tates. He was a member of state assemi- bly from 1783 to 1799, and was one of the first board of directors of the poor, created under act of assembly of April IO, 1807, and superintended the erection of the almshouse opposite the Fretz homestead. His daughter Mary was born December 15, 1787, and died in New York, where she had gone to un- dergo a surgical operation, November 17, 1855. The children of Christian and Mary (Stover) Fretz were six in num- ber, as follows:

I. Ralph Stover Fretz, born in War- wick. November 13, 1809, died in Cali- fornia, June 6, 1867. He had an event- ful career. Early in life he engaged in business in Philadelphia and later in New York city. the latter place he met Commodore Garrison and be- came interested with him in several im- portant enterprises. For some years he ran a line of steamboats on the Missis- sippi river, and later engaged in a trad- ing and shipping enterprise with Com- modore Garrison at the Isthmus of Pan- ama, in which he was later joined by his brothers John and Christian Augustus. In 1849 he sailed from the Isthmus to San Francisco, where in connection with the commodore he established a bank and amassed a fortune of a half million of dollars. The eighth clause of his will reads as follows:

"Eighth: Considering that I have been greatly blessed and that I have an un- dying attachment to the Government of

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the United States, the country of my birth, and remembering that by reason of iny age and infirmities during the re- cent unnatural rebellion to destroy it, I was unable to render service in the field to put down and punish that great crime, and being not unmindful that a huge public burden of indebtedness has been necessarily incurred in accomplish- ing that object, I desire not only to leave behind me when I am gone an humble testimonial of the gratitude I feel towards those whose virtues, val- or and sacrifice and services preserved what I regard as the best government man was ever permitted to have, but beyond that and in addition to paying the ordinary taxes on my estate, I think it my duty out of the means Providence in His bounty has enabled me to ac- quire, and the Laws of the Country has aided me to preserve, to do some- thing towards extinguishing the Nation- al Debt; Therefore moved thereto by the foregoing causes only, I hereby give and bequeath unto the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of Ameri- ca, in trust and to be applied only to- wards cancelling the National Debt, the sum of Twenty Thousand Dollars."

Dated at San Francisco, May 1, 1867.

2. John Fretz, born October 2, 18II, in Warwick, died at White Sulphur Springs, California, where he was op- erating a gold quartz mill, June 26, 1863. He had also been associated with his brothers in enterprises at Panama. Neither of the above were married.

3. Philip Kratz Fretz, see forward.

4. Elizabeth Fretz, born February 23, 1818, in Doylestown township, died there February 9, 1897, married John Farren, of Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania, January 1, 1844. He was born March 1, 1809, and died in Doylestown township December 16, 1878. He was a contractor, and was associated with his brother-in-law, Philip K. Fretz, in rail- road building, etc. He and his family were members of the Roman Catholic church. Their children were: Mary Jan- netta and Frances Annetta, who died in infancy; John Augustus, born April 21, 1855, died December 17, 1884, married January 25, 1882, Alleta Bleiler; he left no issue. Mary Cecilla Farren, born February 21, 1858, died; married June 16, 188], Samuel J. Penrose, and has left children, Cyril F., Ralph and Norman.

5. Christian Augustus Fretz, born February 23, 1824, died December 1, 1859. He was a provision merchant at Panama for seven years prior to his death. He was never married.

6. Mary Catharine Fretz, born Janu- ary 13, 1827, died March 4, 1842, unmar- ried.

Philip K. Fretz, third son of Chris- tian and Mary (Stover) Fretz, was born on the old homestead at Fretz valley, now. Doylestown township, September

14, 1813, and died on board the steamship "Henry Chauncey" off the coast of the Carolinas, March 13, 1867, while on his way to California. Mr. Fretz was one of the prominent men of his community, not in the sense of seeking or holding public office, but in the doing day by day, as occasion offered, those things that tend to uplift humanity and stimulate in oth- ers that love of country and home which is the sheet-anchor of American liberties and citizenship. He inherited from his forefathers a stern sense of duty, a lov- ing and jovial disposition, and an un- swerving directness in following thie course which his conscience dictated as right and proper. One who knew him well has said of him, "To write of him as he was known is to write of the day by day life of the earnest loving Chris- tian who had at heart first, his town- ship, then his county, next his state and finally the best country that God Al- mighty ever made." At the time of the civil war he was one of the foremost in calling meetings to raise funds to clear his district and neighbors of the draft, and, when the money could not be raised in time, advanced it himself and went to Philadelphia and cleared his district of the draft. He was president of the Democratic club of Pennsylvania before and during the civil war. About 1850 the cholera, which was prevalent in many parts of the country, broke out with great virulence at the almshouse, and many of the inmates died of the dread disease, several in a single day, and it was impossible to obtain assist- ance to bury the dead or care for the living; the steward was dying of the dis- ease, and his son was already dead and unburied, when Mr. Fretz, after remov- ing his wife and family to her father's residence at Erwinna, with Davis E. Brower, went to the almshouse and worked till the scourge was abated. Be- ing unable to find an undertaker who would bury the steward's young son, he secured a hearse and buried the lad him- self.

Mr. Fretz succeeded his father as pro- prietor of the Fretz Valley Inn, which he conducted until January 9. 1846, the first anniversary of the birth of his daughter, Mary Catharine, when he cut down the sign pole and closed the inn as a public house. He was extensively en- gaged in contract work in connection with his brother-in-law, John Farren, and was one of the contractors to build the horse-shoe curve of the Pennsylvan- ia railroad over the Allegheny monn- tains. He was buried in the Atlantic ocean. His wife, Anna Stover, whom he married February 18, 1841, was born in Tinicum township, at Point Pleasant, where her father, Henry S. Stover, was an extensive miller, September 11, 1812. She was a fitting helpmate for an earn- est loving husband. Their children

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were: Charles Augustus, born May 31, 1843. married Susan Derby, and resid- ed on the homestead until his death, August 12, 1900, without issue; Mary Catharine, born January 9, 1845, married September 8, 1868. Theodore P. Austin, of Hancock county, Maine; Philip H. and John S. Anna (Stover) Fretz died at the residence of her son, Philip Hen- ry Fretz, October 8, 1889.

Philip Henry Fretz, second son of Philip K. and Anna (Stover) Fretz, born the old homestead, in Doylestown township, November 22, 1846. He was educated at the public schools of Doylestown and at the famous Tennent School, at Hartsville. On arriving at manhood he went to New York city, where he engaged for a short time in the manufacture of silver plate. He sailed from New York for San Francisco. where he engaged in the banking business for a short time, and then returned to the old home in Doyl- estown township. His partner in the banking business was Judge Pratt, of California. The return trip was made overland across the plains by stage coach, having for traveling companion on the trip his uncles' old partner, Com- modore Garrison. In 1871 he erected the buildings and handsome residence now occupied by his brother, John S. Fretz, and married and lived there until 1879. when. having erected his present handsome residence one mile south of Doylestown, he moved there and has since made it his home, operating his farm and looking after his other prop- erties. He is the owner of the old Turk mills, one of the oldest mill properties in this section, it having been operated by Hugh Miller as early as 1745. Mr. Fretz is a broad-minded and public- spirited man and is interested in what- ever inures to the benefit of the com- munity in which he lives. He has been an elder of Doylestown Presbyterian church for nearly thirty years. He was largely instrumental in the building of the chapel at Edison, which was placed under the control of the sessions of the Doylestown Presbyterian church, and is used for Sunday school purposes. Mr. Fretz being the superintendent of the Sunday school held there, and which by the way is said to be the oldest Sun- day school ever held in Eastern Penn- sylvania outside of Philadelphia. It was originally held in the old school house at Edison, which was originally built by and for the use of the neighborhood, long before the days of the public school system, and was rented by the directors after the organization of the public schools for some years. the upper story being used for religious and other lo- cal meetings. After the school direct- ors erected another school house, the old one was sold and the proceeds with liberal contributions from the neighbors

was used to erect the present chapel on land donated by Aaron Fries. In 1881 Philip H. Fretz was elected to the of- fice of justice of the peace and filled the same for one term of five years. He was one of the original directors and managers of the Bucks County Trust Company at its organization in 1888, and still fills that position.

Philip H. Fretz married, September 19. 1871, Margaret Wilhelmina John- ston, born in Doylestown township, June 1, 1848, daughter of Robert and Wilhelmina (McHenry) Johnston. Her father, Robert Johnston, was born in Doylestown township, December 5, 1817. He died January 25, 1905. He was a son of David and Susanna (Riale) Johnston. His father, David Johnston, was a son of Robert Johnston, an early settler in Huntingdon county, and died in Doylestown township, October 28, 1867. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 under Captain William Magill. His wife Susanna Riale, was a daughter of John Riale, Esq., of Scotch-Irish descent. She died August 26, 1866, in her ninety-sixth year. Wilhelmina McHenry, mother of Mrs. Fretz, was born in the old Ross Mansion at Doylestown, April 6, 1818, and was a daughter of Captain William McHenry, who was born 9 mo. 22, 1794, and died 10 mo. 22, 1880. He was a son of William and Mary (Stewart) Mc- Henry, both of whom were of Scotch- Irish descent, the former, born May 6, 1744, died November 25, 1808, was a son of the Rev. Francis McHenry, the first settled pastor of Deep Run and Red Hill Presbyterian churches, and one of the ablest divines of his time. He was born on the island of Rathlen, Ireland, Oc- tober 18. 1710, and came to this country when a lad of fourteen and was educated at the famous Tennent Log College at Neshaminy. He was licensed to preach in 1738, and preached for a time at Ne- shaminy Presbyterian church, and Deep Run. In 1748 he took charge of Deep Run and Red Hill churches and settled in Bedminster, where he died January 22, 1757. His son Charles was a lieu- tenant in the continental army. Mr. and Mrs. Philip H. Fretz have been the par- ents of six children: Dr. John Edgar Fretz, of Easton, Pennsylvania; Anna Leola Fretz, residing with her parents, Ralph Johnston, deceased; Philip H., de- ceased: Marguerite Wilhelmina, now a student. preparing for Bryn Mawr; and Edna McHenry, died February 21, 1897.

Dr. John Edgar Fretz was born in Doylestown township, November 29, 1872, and was educated at Lafayette College, graduating in the class of 1893. He graduated at medical deparment of Pennsylvania University in 1897. He be- gan the practice of medicine at Easton. He was recently honored by the offer of the position of physician and profes- sor of hygiene, anatomy and physiol-

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HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.

ogy, in Williams' College, at Williams- town, Massachusetts, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Professor Luther Dana Woodbridge, M. D. He however, chose to follow his profession at Eas- ton, where he has a lucrative practice. He was married, December 7, 1904, to Frances Josephine Rodenbough, daugh- ter of Joseph S. Rodenbough, of Eas- ton.

Ralph Johnston Fretz, second son of Philip H. Fretz, was born February 25, 1878, and died December 24, 1899. He prepared for college under Dr. John Gosman, of Doylestown, and entered Lafayette College in the class of 1901, and had returned home to spend the Christmas holidays, when he was taken suddenly ill with acute myelitis, and lived but three days. He was a bright manly boy and much beloved by his family and class mates, and his sudden and untimely demise was a sad blow.

John S. Fretz, youngest son of Phil- ip K. and Anna (Stover) Fretz, was born on the old Fretz Valley homestead in Doylestown township, September 22, 1850. He was but seventeen years of age at the death of his father, and resided for some years with his brother, Philip Henry Fretz, the subject of the preced- ing sketch. In 1879 he purchased of his brother his present residence, and has since made it his home. He soon after erected and equipped a large steam saw mill near his residence, which he has oper- ated for many years. He is a member of the Doylestown Presbyterian church, and takes an active interest in all.chari- table objects. He is the owner of the old Fretz homestead that has been the home of his ancestors for over a cen- tury. He married, in November, 1879, Mary W. Long, daughter of Henry Long, of Doylestown, and they are the parents of one son, Augustus Henry Fretz, who graduated at Lafayette Col- lege in the class of 1903, and is now tak- ing a post graduate course there in me- chanical engineering.

THE HALL FAMILY. The pioneer ancestor of this family was Mathew Hall, who came from Birmingham, Eng- land, about 1725. and settled in Buck- ingham township. Bucks county, Penn- sylvania, where he married in 1731 Sa- rah (Scarborough) Haworth, widow of George Haworth, daughter of John and Mary Scarborough, and granddaughter of John Scarborough, a coachsmith of St. Sepulchre, London, England, who came to America in 1682 accompanied by his son John. Sarah was born in Solebury township, Bucks county, Penn- sylvania. 2 mo. 4, 1694. and married .George Haworth at Falls Meeting, 9 mo. 20, 1710. Mr. Haworth, who died in 1725, purchased 500 acres on the north cor-

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History of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time, Vol. III, Part 33

Author: Davis, W. W. H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910; Ely, Warren S. (Warren Smedley), b. 1855; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921 Publication date: 1905 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1040

Author: Davis, W. W. H. (William Watts Hart), 1820-1910; Ely, Warren S. (Warren Smedley), b. 1855; Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1040