USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 63
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Alla aristic
Martin settled in Reading early in life, and occupies to-day the foremost place among the physicians of that city. Especial reference to Diller will be found further on. It is worthy of notice that three genera- tions of Luthers, beginning with Dr. John Luther (who died in Harrisburg in 1811), gave to the medi- cal profession no less than seven worthy members. .
Reading. In Reading he practiced medicine assidu- ously from 1832 to 1838. In the year last named he retired from practice to engage in the mining and shipping of coal in Schuylkill County. For about twenty-five years he gave his exclusive attention to that business, and found the undertaking a profitable one. From 1852 to 1858 his home was in Philadel- phia (in which city his business interests largely cen- tred), but in the latter year he returned to Reading, and in that city has ever since resided.
In 1863 he was appointed by President Lincoln Internal Revenue Collector of the Eighth District of Pennsylvania, and occupied that important trust until early in 1869. In 1873 he was appointed General Agent and Secretary of the State Board of Public Charities, and to the present time has continued to discharge with zealous ability the arduous and exact- ing duties of that office. In December, 1881, he was reappointed to the position for a term of three years. In the performance of his labors as general agent and secretary, Dr. Diller is called upon to give his per- sonal attention to the charitable, corrective, and other similar public institutions in Pennsylvania, and to devote not only his whole time but his active energies to constant application. That he has been a con- scientious and faithful public servant needs but ref- erence to the fact that he has for eleven years been honored with the trust. Although now in his seven- ty-filth year, he is still in the possession of an almost unimpaired physical manhood and of commanding presence.
The duties of his active life have forbidden the intrusion of a political prominence in his career, save with the exception of the placing of his name by the Whig party, in 1847, in candidacy for Congress ( from the Eighth District). His opponent was William Strong (now an ex-associate-justice of the United States Supreme Court), the Democratic candidate, and although a Democratic victory was a foregone conclusion, Dr. Luther's personal popularity was such that he cut the Democratic majority down from up- wards of five thousand to about eleven hundred, while he had the honor to carry the city of Reading for the Whig party, -the first instance of that kind on record. In 1848 he was chosen as a member of the district convention that nominated a delegate to the Presi- dential convention at which Taylor was nominated by the Whig party. In the election of Taylor, Dr. Diller took an active part, and thus by his position in that contest he came into conspienous prominence in State politics.
Diller Luther, for upwards of fifty years a repre- sentative citizen of the city of Reading, is a descend- ant of Christian Luther, who came to America in 1751, and became the progenitor of the Luthers of Lancaster County. Diller Luther was born at New Holland, Nov. 18, 1808. He received his early edu- cation at Todd's Academy in Harrisburg, and upon the completion of his studies there he entered the office of his father, Dr. John Luther, as a medical student, preliminary to the adoption of a physician's career. Ile attended.the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Diller has been prominent in Reading banking and graduated from that institution in 1829. llis I circles, was president of the Anthracite Insurance
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EAST EARL TOWNSHIP.
Company of Philadelphia for some years, and is now president (and has been since 1873) of the Charles Evans Cemetery Association, of which he was one of the founders, and has been continuously since 1848 one of its managers.
Dr. Luther was married in 1834 to Amelia Il., daughter of Judge Spayd and granddaughter of Gov- ernor Joseph Hiester. She died in 1872.
JOHN STYER.
. John Styer was for nearly a lifetime a familiar figure in the history of the village of New Holland, and especially active and alert in affairs, dealing not only with the pursuit of business concerns, but with such issues as related to public prosperity and pro- gression. He died in New Holland, Feb. 21, 1880, after a residence therein of nearly forty years, and when he passed away left the recollection of a record whose pages testified in clear language to an honor- able name, gained by a life of industry, integrity, and rigid self-reliance. He came of sturdy German stoek, his grandfather, John Adam Styer, having emigrated from Germany when a lad, and selling himself to pay his passage across the ocean, worked out the obligation with one Rhine, a miller, at Mill Creek, in Lancaster County. John Adam Styer's son, Frederick, was a prominent farmer of Caernar- von township, and in 1827 located upon the place in that township now known as the Styer homestead, and owned by David Styer. Frederick Styer had two sons,-John and David. John gave his attention to farming until 1842, when he removed to New Hol- land and embarked in business as a hotel-keeper at the New Holland House. He gave his attention also to stock-dealing, and in that venture drove a brisk trade and grew prosperous. In 1859 he built the present Styer House, and conducted it from: 1859 to 1874 with such ability that it won an enviable repu- tation as one of the best hotels in the interior of Lancaster County. In 1870 he abandoned the stock business, and in 1874 retired permanently from active pursuits. Ile had gained a competency, and the rest he sought he had justly earned. He was twice mar- ried. Ilis first marriage was to Mary Davis, Dee. 21, 1826. Their children were Frederick, Elizabeth, James, John, David, and Margaret. John and David are the only ones living. Mrs. Styer died in 1840. May 30, 1842, he married Mrs. Susan Brubaker, daughter of Philip Sprecher, of New Holland, and herself a native of that village. She still survives. The children by the second marriage were George W. (now of Lancaster), Rachel (deceased), Henry G. (of New Holland), Susan, Mary Jane and Isaac (deceased), and William (of New Holland). Mr. Styer was for the greater portion of his life a valued and active member of the Lutheran Church. He was elose in his attendance upon public worship, and ex- ercised himself with fervent effort in sustaining and
promoting the cause of religion. Popular education had in him a firm and fast friend, and in his solicitude for its welfare he was strong in both speech and work. At first a skinch Whig, and later a rock-ribbed Demo- crat, he was keenly alive to the movement of politics,
John Styer
as well as to the passage of events claiming careful notice. He did not, however, care for. the distrac- tions of public service, albeit whenever called upon to serve in the capacity of custodian of local public trusts he never shirked his duty. He lived a useful life, bore evidence in his character to the possession of the sterling qualities that abide within the hon- ored citizen, and dying, was sincerely mourned and remembered as a man worthy to live in the hearts of those who had known him.
CHAPTER LI. EAST EARL TOWNSHIP.1
THE territory now comprising East Earl was laid off from Earl township in 1851, in accordance with the prayer of a petition presented to the Court of Quarter Sessions. Samuel Eberly. John L. Sharp, and Adam Keller were appointed viewers. On the 23d of July, 1851, their report was made recommend-
1 The early history of what is now known as East Earl township will be found in the history of Earl, of which it was a part nutil 1851.
51
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
ing a division, and it was read and confirmed on the 19th of August in that year.
The line of division began at the northeast corner of Leacock township, in the line of Salisbury town- ship, and on the Peter's road; thence north across the Welsh Mountains to a point on Muddy Creek, " which point bears south eighty degrees west six and five-tenths perches from the southwestern corner of Joseph Overholtzer's Grist- and Flour-Mill on said creek," the distance being eight and one-half miles and fifty-six perches.
The names of the townships thus laid off were not mentioned in the report, and on request made to the court Nov. 20, 1851, the court ordered that the western portion should be called Earl township, and the eastern portion East Earl. At the time of the division the territory now known as East Earl con- tained seven hundred aud fifty-six taxables, with a valuation of $1,760,636.
The Justices of the Peace who held jurisdiction over the territory now East Earl township will be found in the district to which Earl township belonged up to the year 1840. From that time to the date of its organization the names are given in Earl town- ship, and from 1851 are here given :
April 15, 1852. Daniel S. Geist. April, 1865. Samuel B. Foltz, April, 1867. Adam Ranck.
April 11, 1854. Levi Klauser.
April 10, 1855. Reuben K. Sneider. (Commission not taken out.) Absalom B. Baxter.
April, 1870. Samuel B Foltz.
April, 1872. Adam Rauck
April, 1875. Samuel B. Fultz. B. F. Weaver.
April 14, 1857. Damel S. Geist.
Ajuil 10, 1860. Absalom B. Bixler. April 14, 1862. Daniel S Geist.
April, 1880. Samuel B. Foltz. B. F Weaver.
Early Settlers .- About the year 1722 a settlement was made by the Welsh in territory that a few years later became Caernarvon township. A small portion of these people located on adjoining lands in what is now East Earl. Subsequently the lands purchased by the Welsh passed into the hands of the Germans, by whose descendants it is still largely owned. About the year 1717 four brothers by the name of Weber or Weaver emigrated from near the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, and settled in the valley of the Pequea, in what is now Lampeter and Strasburg townships. John Weber, one of the brothers, purchased a tract of land in Strasburg township and remained there. The three remaining brothers, Jacob, llenry and George, purchased a large tract of land containing between two and three thousand acres on the south side of the Conestoga, which was named " Weber Thal" (Weaverland). At a later date a patent was obtained and addition made to their lands by pur- chase from the Welsh.
in what is now Brecknock township, where his de- scendants are numerous. The Weaver brothers with their families lived and died in Weaverland, leaving many descendants, many of whom are yet in the county, some in possession of part of the original
tract ; others have emigrated South, West, and to the Canadas.
Soon after the settlement by the Webers they were joined by the Martins, Schneiders, and Millers, the Davis, and Edwards families, and others, who lo- " cated lands adjoining and settled thereon. Descend- ants of many of these families are still living in the county and township.
East Earl has within her limits six churches, a Presbyterian at Cedar Grove, an Evangelical and a Union at Fairville, a Mennonite in Weaverland, a United Brethren at Ranek's, commonly known as the "Brick Church," and a Lutheran and Reformed at Centre, known as Centre Church, as well as by its more modern name, "St. John's."
It also contains thirteen school-houses located in different sections of the township.
It has also six mills,-Rupp's ( formerly Shirk's), Henry Martin's, and Joseph Overholtzer's, all of which are on the Conestoga ; David Martin's ( formerly Frantz's), and Martin Frantz's (formerly Dosch's), on a small stream near the Sorrel Horse; and Bink- ley's, Kurtz's (now Good's), on Mill Creek, near the Welsh Mountains.
Churches .- The Presbyterian Church now at Cedar Grove was originally organized at Blue Ball as early as the year 1775. Worship was held in the grove, where a platform was erected for the minister and seats built for the people. Worship was maintained in this way for several years. In the year 1787 a lot of land at what is now known as Cedar Grove was purchased for thirteen dollars and thirty-three cents. On the ground a church was erected, which served the people as a house of worship without change till 1853, when it was enlarged and remodeled. It is still occupied by the congregation, which is at present under the charge of the Rev. William J. Iloar.
The church situated in the northeast part of the township, known as Centre Church, or St. John's, was organized early in the present century, and took its name from its central location in respect to the con- gregations from which its membership was drawn. The first church edifice was ereeted in the summer of 1819, the corner-stone being laid on the 20th of May in that year. It was used by the congregation till 1872, when it was torn down and the present church erected. At this time the name was changed to St. John. The house is used by societies of the German Reformed, under the charge of the Rev. Stephen Schweitzer, and the Lutheran, under the charge of the Rev. - Unbenhend.
Schools .- The schools of the township were held, as all others in the early times, by voluntary subserip-
With the Webers also came IIans Guth (Good), a brother-in-law of George Weber, who purchased land Itions, and at such times as teachers could be obtained. When the school law was passed in 1834 the territory now embraced in the township was a part of Earl, and accepted the provisions of the law in 1838. The township of Earl was divided into twenty districts, of which this contained a part. When a division was
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EAST EARL TOWNSHIP.
made in 1851, and this became a separate township, it was redistricted and made into eleven districts, which contained six hundred and ninety-six pupils. In this year (1883) the township contains thirteen districts and six hundred and four pupils. The expenditure for school purposes is three thousand three hundred and ninety-nine dollars and thirty-three cents.
Fairville-Terre Hill Post-Office .- The land on which this village stands belonged to Martin Ober- holzer a few years before the village was started. Ilis children were John, Isaac, Jacob, and their sisters, Mrs. Hetzel Stirk and Mrs. Samuel Watts. These sons and daughters of Martin Oberholzer were either of the Mennonite faith, or inelined towards it. A school-house had been erected near here, and preachers were attracted to the neighborhood by an expressed desire for preaching. This was about 1835. Services were first held in the school-honse by minis- ters of the Evangelical Association. A church was organized, and in 1838 an edifice was erected. Henry Haller, about the year 1845, opened a store a short distance east of the present village, on the road lead- ing to the Dry Tavern. A year or two later the road from Haller's store east was laid out. About 1848 Haller sold to Levi Klanser, who in a short time sold to his brother Simon, who built the stone store-house opposite the church, and opened a large general store.
About this time agitation was started for a post- office, which resulted in the establishment of the post- office at Terre Hill. Another office in Chester County bearing the name Fairville, it could not have the name of the settlement or village. The name given to the locality before the settlement sprang up was the " Hill," and to designate it more particularly "Terre" was prefixed. Simon N. Klauser became Delaware River and Lancaster line promise to furnish the first postmaster.
The distinguishing industry of Fairville is the cigar business. There are twelve establishments where this branch of trade is carried on. It has two churches (one Evangelical and one Union), two smith-shops, two shoemaking-shops, one wagon-factory, one saddle- and harness-maker, one tinsmith, one merchant tailor, one coach-factory, two cabinet-making and furniture establishments, one undertaker, one refreshment sa- loon, two stores, one brass band, two physicians, one resident clergyman.
Evangelical Association .- During the summer of 1835 the first itinerant preachers of the Christian de- nomination, then generally known as Albright Meth- odists, but now called The Evangelical Association, first visited the neighborhood of the present village of Fairville. Jacob and Isaac Oberholtzer, and their sisters, the wives of Hetzel Stirk and Sammuel Watts, with their families, soon after organized a society. Isaac Oberholtzer became a well-known and useful local preacher, who served his church faithfully until his death in 1875.
At first services were held in the public school- house near the place, but in 1841 a meeting-house or
church was erected. About this time the denomina- tion annually held camp-meetings in the neighbor- hood. A Sunday-school was established in connec- tion with the church, and the membership gradually increased in,number and influence. Later the build- Ling was remodeled at a cost of three thousand dol- lars, and was used until April 19, 1882, when it was struck by lightning and entirely destroyed. Meas- ures were immediately taken to build a new church. A building committee was appointed, who pushed the enterprise so vigorously that the corner-stone of the new edifice was laid with appropriate ceremonies on July 29, 1882.
The building is of red sandstone, seventy feet long by forty feet wide, with a tower one hundred feet high and a bell. The audience-room is furnished with galleries and has a seating capacity for seven hundred persons. Its cost was about twelve thousand dollars. It was dedicated to the worship of God on Sunday, Aug. 5, 1883, Bishop Thomas Bowman, assisted by other clergymen, officiating.
An Evangelical Mennonite Church edifice is erected west of Fairville a short distance. The history of the Mennonites will be found in the general history.
Goodville .- The village of Goodville is situated on an eminence rising from the fertile and well-eul- tivated bottom-lands on the south bank of the Cones- toga, on the New Holland and Churchtown turnpike, in East Earl township. It is about eighteen miles east from the city of Lancaster, two and a half miles from Blue Ball, and the same distance west from Churchtown. The New Holland extension of the East Brandywine and Waynesburg Railroad runs about two miles south of it, while the contemplated
i the place with needed railroad accommodations.
The town dates its origin from 1815, when John Weaver erected a hotel on ground now occupied by the village. This house was used and occupied as a tavern or hotel under the name of " Red Lion" for a series of years.
Some time afterwards Jacob Shultz erected the next house. This man for some time kept a store in partnership with a lady named Betsey Kibler, who is well remembered by many persons still living.
It was then about the time when Peter Good, the person after whom the place was named, commenced the mercantile business here. After the memorable Presidential campaign of 1844, between Clay and Polk, a post-office was here established under the name of "Old Earl." The village having always been known as Goodville, the name of the post-office was afterwards changed so as to correspond with it.
John S. Weaver was carly associated with Peter Good in the store business. The old gentleman, being childless and well advanced in years, sold out to him and Martin E. Stauffer, a man well and favorably known for many years as a surveyor and conveyancer, who died a few years ago.
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HISTORY OF LANCASTER COUNTY.
It was not long until Mr. Weaver had the whole control of the store, and the business is still carried on in the name of John S. Weaver & Son.
The village has of late years much increased in population and prosperity. It contains about two hundred inhabitants. There is a large hardware establishment in the place. John S. Weaver, the postmaster and senior member of an extensive coun- try store, has been in continuous business here for a period of about forty years. B. F. Weaver is a jus- tice of the peace and conveyancer. Almost all the various branches of trade and industry are well and creditably represented in this town.
The settlement called Spring Grove was the site of Spring Grove Furnace, which was built many years ago by Cyrus Jacobs, an account of which will be found in the general history. After the furnace went down the place declined, and to-day contains a grist- mill, store, post-oflice, and a number of dwellings.
Blue Ball is a settlement at the junction of the Old Paxtang and Horseshoe roads. It has at present a post-office and a few dwellings. The land on which it is located was part of the large tract taken up by the Weavers. On the 27th of August, 1766, Robert Wallace purchased twelve acres of Jacob Weaver. He soon after established a store and erected a tav- ern, which was opened at the sign of "The Blue Ball." Ile remained here until November, 1778, when he sold to Peter Grim. Ilis son John entered his father's store, and for many years after was en- gaged in mereantile and agricultural pursuits, and for thirty-two years a ruling elder in Cedar Grove Presbyterian Church. The tavern stand was noted many years as a noted hostelry on the Old Paxtang road.
Toledo, a small hamlet, lies in the southeast part of the township, on the Harrisburg and Downing- town turnpike. It contains a school-house and a store.
Green Bank, also a small hamlet, lies in the south part of the township, and contains a post-oflice.
The Sensenig Hardware Company, located in the village of Goodville, East Earl township, is one of the best known of the business enterprises of the interior of Lancaster County, and one of the most thoroughly equipped establishments of its kind in Eastern Pennsylvania. The trade of the company reaches into a wide region of territory, and averages upwards of sixty thousand dollars annually. The members of the firm are three brothers,-Michael M. (born 1837), Martin M. (born 1838), and Peter M. Sensenig (born 1844). Goodville is their native place, and in Lancaster County they trace their family history (one of the most important in that section ) back through five generations. Their father, Michael, was born in Lancaster County in 1805, and died at Goodville in October, 1870. He was for years a sterling farmer-citizen of East Earl township until the year 1829, when, with his son, Michael M., he
embarked in the mercantile trade at the location now occupied by A. M. Brubaker's drug-store, the firm- name being M. Sensenig & Son.
Im. 1862, Mr. Sensenig erected a store-house at Spring Grove, and to that point the firm removed their business in that year. They carried on a gen- eral store there from 1862 to 1865, when they dis- posed of it to John II. High. After a brief retire- ment, Michael Sensenig, the elder, erected at Good- ville, in 1868, a perfectly appointed store building for the purposes of a hardware trade, and early in 1869, having as partners his two sons, Michael M. and Peter, occupied it with a full stock of hardware and house-furnishing goods, and gave to that region a revelation in the way of a complete business enter- prise. The firm of Michael Sensenig & Sons flour- ished with constantly-increasing favor until the death of the senior member in 1870. Until the fall of 1872 the business was conducted by M. M. Sensenig & Brother, when Martin M. was admitted as a member, and the firm-name thereupon changed to that of the Sensenig Hardware Company, since when it has re- mained unaltered. In 1877 the company purchased the general store of J. S. Weaver & Son at Goodville, and since that date have carried on both establish- ments, Michael M. being the managing partner of the latter, while Martin M. and Peter give their close personal attention to the hardware-store. In the summer of 1882 the firm constructed a telephone line from Goodville to East Earl Station, a distance of two and a half miles, and, as a matter of conveni- ence in their extensive business, find it to be a full compensation for the expenditure of capital and progressive spirit incidental to the work of construc- tion.
The hardware-store is, as has- already been re- marked, a model of its kind, and far and near is referred to as one of the conspicuous landmarks in local business history, while its capable management and constantly widening circle of patronage bear abundant testimony to the liberal and comprehensive policy of the company. The stock includes hard- ware, house-furnishing goods, agricultural imple- ments, iron, lead, and terra-cotta pipe, ete. During the past three years the company has built up an important and profitable trade in the Webster wagon, with which they supply the surrounding country, to the alnost utter displacement of other manufactures.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
AMOS S. KINZER.
The name of Kinzer is an honored one in East Earl township, and by no representative thereof has it been more worthily borne than by Amos S. Kinzer, who, after a life of upwards of seventy-three years devoted to the wholesome and salutary purpose of
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