History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. II, Part 54

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 948

USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. II > Part 54

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In the year 1825, while living at Ballietsville, he was nominated by the Democrats of this legis- lative district as their candidate for state rep- resentative and was elected. He was then but twenty-seven years of age and was successively twice re-elected. After the close of his legisla- tive life he occupied the position of deputy sur- veyor for the county, which was at that time an office of importance. On August 3, 1828, he was commissioned by Gov. Shulze, lieutenant colonel of the 68th regiment of the militia of the 7th Division, composed of the militia of the counties of Northampton, Pike and Lehigh, to which position he had been elected. In 1830 when he had established himself in the mercan- tile business in Allentown, he was appointed and commissioned by Gov. Wolf, clerk of the court of quarter sessions; clerk of the court of oyer and terminer, and the clerk of the orphans' court, for the term of three years, and was reappointed and commissioned in 1833 for another term of three years. In 1836 he also held the office of Prothonotary to which position he was appoint- ed to fill the unexpired term of Charles Craig who had died during the last year of his term as prothonotary. He was the member, from this county, of the Constitutional Convention of Pa., of 1837-'38. In 1844 he was elected one of the Associate Judges and served the term of five years. While holding the position of judge he was nominated for congress by the Democratic convention to succeed Hon. John W. Hornbeck, who had died, but declined because of ill health. In 1850 he was elected a justice of the peace for Allentown, which office, however, he resigned in 1851 to again accept the position of associate judge to which he had been elected.

In 1855 when the Allentown Bank (now Al- lentown National Bank) was organized he was chosen its first president which position he served with honor and marked ability until his death.

Judge Jacob Dillinger was the very close rival candidate for canal commissioner at the time the Hon. Morris Longstreth was put upon the Demo- cratic ticket. He was twice a Democratic elec- tor, voting for Jackson and Van Buren. He was one of the chief projectors of the Lehigh County Agricultural Society, and it is to him, mainly, that its plan of organization whereby no one man can gain control of the capital stock, is due.

At the time the Lehigh Valley Railroad Com- pany was first organized under its charter, Judge Dillinger, who had done much to help the move- ment forward, was chosen its first general super-

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that some one more thoroughly acquainted with the management of a railway than he could be, should fill the responsible position.

He was a member of St. John's Lutheran Church, of Allentown, a Free Mason, having been admitted into Lafayette Lodge, No. 71, F. & A. M., Philadelphia, and later into Barger Lodge No. 333, F. & A. M., Allentown.

In 1831 he married Salome Schreiber, born September 6, 1803, a daughter of Jacob Schreiber and his wife Eve Catharine, a daughter of Con- rad Leisenring, of North Whitehall township, this county.

Judge Jacob Dillinger was born May 27, 1798, and died November 3, 1861. He had five children: John P., David, Margaret E., Jacob S. and Dallas, all of whom were born at Allen- town and all except Jacob S., are dead. David .died in infancy.

Margaret E. Dillinger was married to Philip S. Pretz and are both dead. They had two ,children : Aline D. Pretz, and Jacob C. Pretz.

CAPT. JOHN P. DILLINGER was born May 3, 1833, and died May 15, 1889. He was a promi- nent man in Allentown, made so by his activity in business and his long and intimate connection with the local military, civic and fire affairs.

He was educated in the common schools and . the Allentown Academy. In 1850 he took . charge of the Allentown office of the Philadel- ; phia and Wilkes-Barre Telegraph Company, be- :ing the first telegraph operator in Allentown. "In 1852 he entered into partnership with his · father and William R. Craig, engaging under - the firm name of Dillinger & Craig, in the whole- · sale liquor business. Mr. Craig retired in 1854, and the business continued under the firm name . of J. & J. P. Dillinger. When the father had been elected president of the Allentown Bank, the father's interest was sold to ex-Sheriff Na- than Weiler, and the business carried on under . the firm name of Weiler & Dillinger until 1860, -when he sold out his interest to Mr. Weiler and .entered into partnership with Phaon Albright in - the tube manufacturing business, and continu- ing in the same until 1865 when he went into -the mercantile business under the firm name of John P. Dillinger and Co., until 1866 when Mr. Albright sold his interest to Huber Bro., the firm name then being changed to Huber & Dil- linger, and so continued until 1868 when he . sold out to Huber Bros. and removed to Siegfrieds, Northampton Co., and took charge , of the station of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Division of the Railroad of New Jersey, as : agent and telegraph operator, and remained in that position until 1874 when he returned to Allentown ..

At the time he was in the tube manufacturing business he was captain of the then celebrated Allen Rifles, many of its members joined the 47th Regiment P. V. under Col. T. H. Good and marched to the front in 1861. Being pre- cluded from accompanying them on account of his business arrangements, he, in whom the war spirit was by no means dormant, raised a com- pany for the nine months' service, which Com- pany, with him as its captain, was mustered into service on August 13, 1862, as Company D, 128th Regiment P. V. and took part in the bat- tles of Antietam and Chancellorsville.

Capt. Dillinger was chief of the fire depart- ment of Allentown from 1878 for three succes- sive terms of three years each. Before the close of his long term of nine years, the department became the cynosure and envy of neighboring towns. To his persistent effort, more than to any other one man, the city is indebted for the present efficient hook and ladder service, and the fire alarm telegraph. In each of his nine reports, rendered to councils at the close of every fiscal year, he urged the purchase of a first class hook and ladder truck, and the establishment of an electrical alarm system-both of which came; the latter during the last year of his adminis- tration and the other less than six months after his retirement. The poles, wires, boxes, etc., of the Gamewell system were put up under his di- rect supervision and then kept in perfect work- ing order under his personal care, never, in a single instance, failing to answer popular expec- tation of a prompt and efficient notice in case of fire. His knowledge of telegraphy ; the manage- ment of batteries; open and closed circuits, etc., enabled him to thoroughly demonstrate to a somewhat doubting public, the utility of a fire alarm system which lost no time and led to no mistakes.

Captain Dillinger was first a member of the Columbia but later joined the Good Will Fire Co. He was a member of E. B. Young Post, No. 87, G. A. R. He was a Mason, demitted from Union Lodge, No. 121, F. & A. M., Phila- delphia, and admitted by Barger Lodge, No. 333. F. & A. M., Allentown.

He was nominated by the Democrats for bur- gess of Allentown but was defeated by a majori- ty of only seventeen over Thomas Mohr, his Re- publican opponent.

He was married to Ellen B., daughter of Pha- on Albright, and had four children: Lewis, Flora (married to H. D. Greenawald), Sallie (married to Edward Gross), and Myra (mar- ried to Fred H. Horlacher).

COL. JACOB S. DILLINGER, the nestor of the Lehigh county bar, and prominent citizen and

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HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Free Mason, was born April 20th, 1841, edu- cated at the Allentown Academy and Fort Ed- ward Collegiate Institute, Fort Edward, N. Y., and after studying law in the office of William S. Marx, Esq., and attending the law department of the University of Pennsylvania-class 1861- '62, he was admitted to the bar of Lehigh county in April, 1862.

Besides keeping up his practice as a lawyer, he has displayed superior executive and adminis- trative abilities in various public trusts that he was called upon to perform: As member of se- lect council of the city of Allentown, 1868-'69 and the last year as its president; as member of board of school directors and member of board of school controllers of Allentown successively for ten years, and the secretary of the board of controllers for five years ; as cashier of the Allen- town Savings Bank (a banking institution up to 1887:) from 1866 until he resigned in December, 1869, to accept the office of prothonotary to which office he was elected; as prothonotary for two terms of three years each; and as assistant to the secretary of the board of world's fair managers of Pennsylvania.

He was a private in Company E, 5th Regi- ment Pa. (Emergency) Militia-called into serv- ice by proclamation of the governor and by au- thority of the president's letter dated September II, 1862,-and was detailed to the Division Com- missary department. On October 7th, 1875, he was commissioned by Governor John F. Hart- ranft, brigade quarter master of the 5th Brigade 2nd Division of the N. G. of Pennsylvania.

He is a member of St. John's Reformed Church of Allentown, and of Barger Lodge, No. 333, F. & A. M.

His wife, who died April 2, 1882, was Mary Butler Collings, a daughter of Hon. Samuel P. Collings, of Wilkes-Barre, and his wife, Eliza- beth, a daughter of Hon. Andrew Beaumont, of Wilkes-Barre. Mr. Collings was an editor and died while he was consul general to Morocco. Her maternal grandfather was one of the best known men in northeastern Pennsylvania. He was prothonotary, postmaster, state legislator and congressman. They have three children liv- ing: Margaret E. Elizabeth M., and Alice W., married to Albert B. Jessup-and had one child, a son, Beaumont, who married but died without a child.

DALLAS DILLINGER, Sr., was born February 3, 1844, and died July 1, 1911. He was educated at the Allentown Academy and the Poughkeep- sie Business College Poughkeepsie, N. Y.

He served during the Civil War, then only eighteen years of age, in Company D, 128th Regiment P. V., of which his brother, John P.

Dillinger, was captain. He participated in the battles of Antietam and Chancellorsville, two of the most important engagements of the bloody strife. Returning from the army he entered into the grocery business with the late ex-Mayor Her- man Schuon. In 1880 he was nominated by the Democrats as their candidate for recorder of deeds of Lehigh county, and was elected and served as such for the term of three years, and shortly after his retirement from that office he was appointed court crier by Judge Edwin Al- bright and served in that capacity for nineteen years.

He was a Free Mason, a member of Barger Lodge, No. 333, F. & A. M .; Allen Chapter, No. 203, R. A. M., and Allen Commandery, No. 20, K. T. For many years he was the Tyler of these bodies and also of Greenleaf Lodge, No. 561, F. & A. M. He was a member of St. John's Lutheran Church of Allentown, and a charter member of Yeager Post, No. 13, G. A. R., and the Franklin Fire Company.

He was married to Sarah Halfpenny who died in 1887, and six children survived them: Aline T., Salome, Mabel, Fannie, Jacob and Dallas, Jr.

Jacob Dillinger, son of Dallas, resides at Salt Lake City, Utah, and is engaged in the com- mercial business, having a wife and four chil- dren: Philip, Charles, Wellington and Ralph.

DALLAS DILLINGER, Jr., was born at Allen- town, Feb. 24, 1883. After he graduated from the Allentown high school, he studied law in the office of his uncle, Jacob S. Dillinger, and attend- ed the law department of the University of Penn- sylvania, and having passed the state board ex- aminations he was admitted to practice in the Lehigh county courts on February 5th, 1908, and has since been in active practice.

He is a member of St. John's Lutheran Church of Allentown ; is the Worshipful Master of Bar- ger Lodge, No. 333, F. & A. M .; Greenleaf Lodge, No. 286, K. of P., and F. O. of E., No. IIO, and Allen Camp, No. 6, Sons of Veterans. He was chairman of the Democratic committee of 1912-13.

His wife is Anna M. a daughter of ex-super- intendent of the public schools of Allentown, L. B. Landis and his wife, and they have one child, a son, Robert, born March 10, 1911.

Lewis D. Dillinger son of Capt. John P., was born September 13, 1864, and educated in the public schools of Allentown.

He was appointed by Mayor Samuel D. Lehr in 1890, a police officer, and is now, and has been since June 19, 1898, a special officer of the Le- high Valley R. R. Co. stationed at Bethlehem, Pa.

He is married and has four children: John E., Harry L., Lewis D., Jr., and Helen M.

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ABNER L. DILLEY.

Abner L. Dilley, of Allentown, was born at Greenville, Mercer county, Pa., Aug. 30, 1878, son of James M. and Martha (Falk) Dilley. His maternal grandfather was Joseph Falk, a native of New Jersey, whose wife was Rebecca Trake, a native of England. They had the following children: Andrew, Philmar, Calvin, Elvin, and another, whose name is not recorded.

James Falk was a carpenter by trade. He died Dec. 23, 1909, aged 70 years. He had been a member of the U. B. Church. Their children were: (1) Ora A., married to Minnie A. Ander- son. He is connected with the Lehigh Auto Vul- canizing Company, and resides at 526 North Sixth street. They have these children: J.

Harford; L. Worman; Willard; Mary; and Martha. (2) Dora, married Charles Allen; (3) Charles A., a farmer at Greenville, Mercer county ; (4) Abner L.

Abner L. Dilley, after his education, accept- ed employment with the B. F. Goodrich rubber company, located in Ohio. After being employ- ed there for two and one-half years he worked at Rochester, N. Y., for three years, and at Philadelphia for one year. He then moved to Allentown, Pa., and worked for the Lehigh Auto Tire Vulcanizing Company until in No- vember, 1913. He married Mrs. Mattie Cox, of Akron, Ohio. They reside at 39 North Fifth street, Allentown.

DISSINGER FAMILY.

Eberhart and Anna Catharine Dissinger, na- tives of Gerschweiler, Duchy of Saarbrucken, emigrated to America in the year 1761, in the ship Snow Squirrel. Their nine children came with them. They were too poor to pay for their passage and were sold as "Redemptioners." Rev. Peter Mishler and John Jacob Vogelgesang, their two sons-in-law came with them. George Dis- singer, son of Eberhart, was sold at Philadelphia into five years' servitude. He served two years of his term, then having a violent quarrel with his hard-hearted task-master, he made his escape and went to Schafferstown, Lebanon county, in the neighborhood in which his parents had located. He married Judith Lauser and they had six chil- dren, namely: John, Henry, George, Michael, Catharine and Elizabeth. His first wife having died he married Catharine Schweitzer and by her had Daniel and Elizabeth. In 1783 he was an ensign in a local company of the Associators and Militia. He was for many years identified with the local battalion and on one occasion at drill was severely wounded by the accidental dis- charge of a gun in the hands of Adam Sunday.

He held the office of constable of Heidelberg township and was a very prominent man in Dauphin county in which he was held in high esteem. He was born in 1747 and died in 1816.

William Dissinger, son of Michael and Mag- dalena (Miller) Dissinger, was born in 1820. He was a grandson of George who was born in 1747. He taught school a number of years and in politics was a Whig and later a Republican, was postmaster many years, and held a position in the United States treasury department at Wash- ington many years. He was a farmer, merchant and for upwards of thirty years was a Sunday school superintendent. He married Margaret Schaeffer, a grandadaughter of Captain Henry Schaeffer, who in 1783 was the head of a local military company. Issue: Frances, Clarissa, Ed- win S., Celinda and Alice.

Benjamin Dissinger, son of Michael and Anna Maria (Garrett) Dissinger and a grandson of George, was born in 1824. He was for many years proprietor of the Red Lion (now the Cen- tral) Hotel, in Schæffertown. He was a Re- publican and in 1867 was elected prothonotary of Lebanon county. He was a prosperous man and lived retired from 1877 until his death. He was a liberal supporter of the Lutheran Church. He was never married and after his mother had died he lived with his sister, Sarah.

Rev. Moses Dissinger, son of John (John, George, Eberhart) was one of the oldest of thir- teen children born to his parents, and was early in life hired out to farmers to work for his board and clothing, getting absolutely no schooling. At the age of thirteen years he was soundly converted to God in a revival meeting and soon afterward he united himself with the Evangelical Association. He was called to preach the gospel, but his lack of education was a serious obstacle. However, he surmounted that obstacle by getting private in- struction from kind friends, which, with hard study soon enabled him to read the Bible which he loved fervently. He served as class-leader and exhorter, and in 1854 was licensed by the East Pennsylvania Conference to preach the gospel. He labored with marked success in various cir- cuits of the Conference until 1879. In the spring of that year he joined the Kansas Conference and after three years of faithful service there, he died in Douglas county, Kansas, January 25, 1883.

Rev. Dissinger was a sincere Christian, a man of strong convictions and fearless in their utter- ance. He studied his Bible with great diligence and had committed numerous passages of scripture to memory, and in his sermons which were pointed and logical, he lashed the vices and all manner of sin with such animated fervor that people during the course of his discourses frequently fell

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under deep conviction. No one ever denounced the hollow pretenses of religion in plainer and stronger terms than he. During the Civil War he was intensely Union, and his fervent and in- tensely patriotic sermons were of untold service to the national cause. He exposed and condemned the wickedness of the copperheads and rebel sympathizers with such violent ardor that the actual result of his efforts to the perpetuation of the Union can only be conjectured.

During the last days of his earthly pilgrimage he sent a message to numerous Pennsylvania friends, as follows: "Tell my brethren in Penn- sylvania if they wish to see Moses Dissinger again they will have to come to Heaven to see me."

Rev. Dissinger married (first) a Miss Clark and they had three children, namely: (I) a son who died aged 38 years, leaving a widow and two children. The widow afterward married David Morris and they reside at Allentown ; (2) Charles F., of Allentown; (3) Abraham Dissinger is a successful farmer and lives near Lawrence, Kansas. Rev. Dissinger married (second) Amelia Stahler, an estimable woman, a daughter of Christian and Elizabeth (Becker) Stahler, whose father came from Hessen, Ger- many, as a surgeon to take part in the Revolution- ary War. Her mother was a Miss van Dalia, a Moravian, of noble birth whose cousin, Col. Christie, took a prominent part in the War of 1812. With the second union Rev. Moses Dis- singer had ten children, five of whom are still living, namely: Anna, Laura, Sallie, Fred and Robert.

Franklin C. Dissinger, son of John, was born at Schaeffertown, Lebanon county. In 1883 he removed to Cornwall, Pa., where he conducted the anthracite boarding house two years, after- ward he conducted one of the Robert Coleman dairy farms five years. In 1889 he moved to Brickersville, Lancaster county, and he is now 79 years of age. His wife is Elizabeth Fink, a daughter of Philip Fink, of Mt. Zion, Lebanon county. Mr. Dissinger has for many years been active in the United Evangelical Church of which their son, Rev. Solomon N., is now a minister.

Rev. Solomon Neitz Dissinger, son of Frank- lin C. and Elizabeth (Fink) Dissinger, was born Feb. 6, 1873, in Lancaster county. He was given a Christian training and from his youth up was a regular attendant in some Sunday school. In 1887 a serious accident befell him, while he and his oldest brother attended the State Militia en- campment at Mount Gretna, he was accidentally stabbed by a careless guardsman, and for three months he lay seriously ill, suffering intensely and it was during this time that he dedicated him-

self to God. In the midst of this strange ex- perience he was baptized on Aug. 7, 1887, by the Rev. W. F. Heil, D.D. In December of that year he united himself with the M. E. Church, at Cornwall, Pa. In 1891 he united with the United Evangelical Church at Lititz, Pa., and during 1892, '03, '04 and '05 he attended the Schuylkill Seminary, at Fredericksburg. In Jan- uary of 1895 he moved with the school (now called Albright College) to Myerstown, Pa., remaining until March 2, 1895, when he was licensed at Schuylkill Haven Conference of the U. E. Church and by the earnest entreaties of the now sainted B. J. Smoyer, he entered the ranks of the active ministry as assistant to Rev. J. K. Freed on the Annville circuit. He was or- dained a deacon at the annual conference held at Mohrsville, Bishop R. Dubs, D.D., presiding; and an elder at the annual conference held at Al- lentown in 1903. He served the following churches: Annville, Dauphin, Tower City, Danielsville, Perkasie, Shenandoah and Boyer- town since 1910. He owns a large and valuable li- brary, is a zealous and able minister of the con- ference and has rendered efficient services in .the various fields where he had been stationed.

On July 2, 1895, he was united in holy matri- mony with Minerva L., the accomplished daugh- ter of R. A. Ennis, of Jonestown, Lebanon coun- ty, by the Rev. B. J. Smoyer, his presiding elder. Two children, Elizabeth E. and Chester B., bless their union.,

ALBERT DISTEL.

Albert Distel was for years a merchant of Allentown, Pa. He was a son of Jacob Distel, who was born Oct. 20, 1821, at Stuttgart, Province of Wurtemberg, Germany. His father was George Distel, whose wife was Magdalena Weiss. Jacob learned the trade of carpenter in his native country and at the. age of 23 years came to Philadelphia where he followed his trade for 17 years. In 1861 he removed to Lehigh county and engaged in farming near Allentown, which occupation he followed for 12 years.

In 1873 he became a merchant in Allen- town. He purchased a tract of land on Eighth street, near Liberty, and erected several dwell- ings, also a store which he conducted success- fully, until his death, which occurred Nov. 20, 1894. Interment was made in Union cemetery, Allentown, Pa. He was a member of St. Paul's Lutheran church and was active in church work. He married (first) Catherine Paul, who died in Philadelphia in 1859. She was the mother of three children-Mary, who died in infancy; Al- bert and Charles who also died young. He mar- ried (second) in 1860, Anne E. Bald, born

THEODORE L. DOERING.

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1820, who is yet living and at the age of 93 is active in body and mind and tenderly cared for by her daughter-in-law and her grand-daughter, with whom she resides. Is a member of St. Paul's Lutheran church.

Albert Distel, son of Jacob and Catherine (Paul) Distel, was born at Philadelphia in 1855. He attended the public schools and after the age of 6 years was reared upon his father's farm. He assisted his father in his store, and ultimately became associated with him in the business, under the name of J. Distel and son. After his father's death he continued the busi- ness up to the time of his own death, which oc- curred March 8, 1895, as the result of an ac- cident. Interment was in Union cemetery. Was a Democrat, and member of the St. Paul's church, also a deacon. Was a school director ; a member of Lehigh Lodge, I. O. O. F., and Unity Encampment No. 12. He was married Aug. 6, 1882, to Annie R. Heilman, daughter of David and Worley Heilman. Mr. Heilman was a resident of Lowhill township and was a farmer and shoemaker. Their children-Flor- ence Luella, born Nov. 4, 1884 and Helen May, born May 10, 1888. Florence Luella married Rev. Alfred W. Ruder, of Wind Gap, Pa.

Helen May graduated from the Allentown High School in 1904, and is now a teacher of instrumental music, also a Sunday school teach- er, and the organist of the Trinity United Evan- gelical Church.

THEODORE L. DOERING.

Ferdinand Doering was born at Merrana, Sax- ony, Germany, Dec. 29, 1816, and died at East Mauch Chunk, June 8, 1895. We was a miller by trade, and also the proprietor of a flour and feed store. Finding business conditions unsatis- factory in Germany, he emigrated to the United States in 1850, in order to make a home here for his family, for whom he sent in 1855. For a time he made his home at Tannersville, Monroe county, Pennsylvania, where he owned and oper- ated a grist mill. Subsequently he removed to East Mauch Chunk, Carbon county, where he worked at the coal chutes, then migrated to Cher- ryville, Northampton county, where he engaged in farming on a small scale. Later he returned to East Mauch Chunk, and there his death occurred. He married, in Germany, Emilie Sitzman, born Sept. 2, 1817, died Feb. 18, 1892, and they were the parents of children, as follows: Adolph, born in 1842, died April 6, 1899, married Emma Bohl; Amelia, deceased, married Christopher Rau, of Allentown; Theodore L., of further mention ; Agnes, married (first) Charles Seler, deceased ; (second) Martin Kemmerer, deceased,

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History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. II, Part 54

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 948

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 948