USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 26
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THE F . 65 -
PUBLIC LIMAANY
AST. R. LEN X AND TILDEN FOR YHAT ONS B
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Name Society sent him an addressograph when he went East on his birthday, November 7, 1914, and was transferred to the parish of St. Bernard's, Easton, Pennsylvania, as pastor pro tom; and following the death of the venerable rector, Rev. James McGevcram, June 7, 1915, Father McCann was installed permanently. During the few years that have since intervened he has lifted the debt of $20,000 which rested upon the church, expended $1,200 for improvements and repairs, purchased a high school building, and has greatly increased the efficiency of the parish, common and high schools, the standard of the latter, taught by sisters of I. H. M. order, having been greatly raised. The good Father is seemingly interested in everything that interests his fellow men. He is a member of the Easton Board of Trade, vice-chairman of the Easton Chapter for Northampton County Junior Red Cross Society, chairman of St. Bernard's Unit of the Red Cross, a director of the Visiting Nurses' Association, director of various parish societies, chari- table and religious; chairman of the St. Bernard's branch of the Alliance of Catholic Women; organized the only men's first aid among the first classes in first aid work at the beginning of the World War; one of the organizers of the First Liberty Loan parade; chairman of the executive committee of the Knights of Columbus War Fund drive; member of the City Council, Easton Boy Scouts of America; chaplain to Camp Lafayette vocational and student corps, and the first priest to celebrate mass upon the college campus; was active in the campaign to raise funds for Easton Hospital; is local superintendent of the Easton Catholic High School, and of St. Bernard's and Gethsemane cemeteries; a member of the Catholic His- torical Society, and it is no exaggeration to affirm that he is active in all good works. He has been appointed by the courts on various occasions as custodian of wayward youths, and he literally "goes about doing good." His parish has benefited financially and spiritually through his coming, and public opinions number him among most useful citizens.
AMBROSE MARTIN KEIM, M.D .- The coming of Dr. Keim to Bethlehem in 1882 was entirely unpremeditated, but when he found that borough struggling in the grasp of an epidemic of smallpox, all his chival- rous and humane instinct arose, and he entered the fight with those other heroes of his profession who were performing deeds of self-sacrifice and valor unsurpassed on any battlefield. When the epidemic was subdued he remained, and until ill health caused his retirement, he was in continuous and successful practice in Bethlehem. His passing was a distinct loss to his community, for all had learned to respect and to love the "good doctor," whose life was an example of self-sacrificing devotion to duty.
Few American families can trace their lineage through as many centuries as the Keims of Eastern Pennsylvania. An ancient manuscript in the German language, brought to America by Johannes Keim in 1706, and held priceless as an heirloom, refers to the family as being one of the oldest and most noted of the German nobility, and already famous in the year 1020 A. D. In that year Gottschalck Keim was advanced to knightly honors by the German King, Conrad II, and invested with the castle and lands of Gerolsek, not far distant from Strasburg. The old manuscript referred to, continues down to the Thirty Years War, and thirty years thereafter when the name still survives in Speier, from which region came Ludwig Hencourt Keim, an officer in the army of the Grand Duke of Saxeweimar during the Thirty Years War, 1618-1648. Twelve years later Ludwig lencourt Keim married, and to his bride gave a jewelry case inscribed, "Anno Domino MDCLX, Ludwig Hencourt and Bertha Keim," with the motto:
I love in secret to acquire A treasure I alone desire.
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Ludwig and Bertha Keim had two sons, George and Joseph. George had a son, Johannes Keim, who, after the French army had devastated the Palatinate, came to America with his bride, Catherine de Lurch, and settled at Oley, Berks county. They came in 1706, and with them came the precious ancient manuscript and the jewelry casket which was handed down until quite recently, when it was presented by Miss Harriet V. De Benneville Keim (a lincal descendant) to the Museum of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in Washington, D. C. From Johannes and Catherine Keim descends a long line of military, pro- fessional and business men, one of these, Dr. Ambrose Martin Keim, being the principal character of this review. He was a son of Samuel and Caroline (Jacoby) Keim, his father a blacksmith and farmer located near Shimers Station, Bethlehem township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania.
Ambrose Martin Keim was born near Shimers Station, Bethlehem, Penn- sylvania, January 17, 1854, died in the city of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, February 13, 1916, having been an invalid for several years. He attended the local schools, Weaverville Academy, and Worcester (Massachusetts) Prepar- atory School, and acquired a good classical education, then began the study of medicine, receiving his degree M.D. from Jefferson Medical College, Phila- delphia, at graduation with the class of 1877. He began practice in Ebens- burg, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, but after a few years there he went abroad, and until 1882 was a student at the University of Berlin, and else- where, perfecting himself in professional knowledge. In 1882 he returned to Pennsylvania, but at South Bethlehem was detained through the non- arrival of his baggage. This delay caused a complete change in his life- work, and instead of returning to Ebensburg as he intended, he located in Bethlehem, rendered valuable service in fighting the smallpox epidmic, and there resided until his death. He continued in active practice until the complete failure of his health ; he was an invalid for several years, and death finally resulted from heart trouble. He was one of the influential Democrats of his section, and for twelve years was coroner of Northampton county. He was a skillful physician, very sympathetic and friendly, the confidant of the young and the comforter of the old. He held the respect and confidence of his brethren of the profession, holding memberships with them in the local and State medical societies. He was a member of Grace Lutheran Church and of Damascus Commandery No. 50, Knights of Malta, of South Bethlehem.
Dr. Keim married June 26, 1886, Flora Agnes Illick, daughter of Reuben and Diana Illick of Northampton county. Reuben Illick was a farmer of Northampton county, and died in 1908, aged seventy-three. His wife, Diana, died in 1897, aged fifty-seven. They were the parents of two daughters : Blanche, born March 15, 1888, and Frances Keim, born February 1, 1897. Frances married, September, 1918, Hiram Deily, Jr., and lives with her mother, Mrs. Keim. Mrs. Keim survives ber husband and continues her resi- dence in Bethlehem, at 27 South Seventh avenue.
RUSSELL CHARLES MAUCH, LL.B., M.A .- Russell Charles Manchi, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Law, well regarded and capable member of the legal bar of Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and a promising young attor- ney of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was born in that city September 4, 1888, the son of John Wesley and Millie (Bright) Mauch, both of whom belonged to old Northampton county families. In the maternal line also his lineage connects with a distinguished soldier of the War of 1812. John Wesley Mauch, who died in 1898, was prominent throughout his life in the public affairs of Northampton county. A staunch Democrat, he was a man of much influence in his district, and served the party and the county faithfully throughout his active life. He was prominently identified with the county
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leaders, was for many years a member of the Democratic County committee, and for six years was deputy clerk in the Orphans' Court of Northampton county. He was a Mason of high degree, member of local lodges, and religiously he was of the Reformed church. His wife, who still lives, is the daughter of Charles H. and Elizabeth (Wagner) Bright of Hellertown. There were three children to the marriage of John Wesley and Millic (Bright) Mauch: 1. Mary, married Warren Eisenhart, of Hellertown, who is by profession an engineer, and is in the employ of the Bethlehem Steel Company ; they have one son, Edward, now two years of age. 2. Eliza- beth C., who is unmarried, and lives with her mother at Hellertown. 3. Rus- sell Charles, the subject of this article.
Attorney R. C. Mauch had a distinguished collegiate career ; after elc- mentary education at Hellertown public school, and the necessary prepara- tory instruction had been obtained, he entered Muhlenburg College. In 1907 he graduated therefrom with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was one of the honor men of his year and had distinguished himself particularly in the debating class, so that he was chosen to deliver an oration at the gradua- tion ceremonies. His promise at Muhlenburg was maintained in his subse- quent period as a law student at Dickinson Law School, from which he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Law in 1910, in the same year receiving his major academic degree, Master of Arts. It is worthy of note that he was then only twenty-two years of age, and not yet twenty-three years of age when he was admitted to practice at the legal bar of Northamp- ton county. For a few years Mr. Mauch practiced in Hellertown, but later became associated in law practice with the late Harry E. Cyphers, a well known attorney of Bethlehem. The two remained associated until the death of Mr. Cyphers in 1917, when Mr. Mauch constituted the only member of the law firm, the whole of the clientele of which he took over. Mr. Mauch now enjoys a large and growing practice, and has a promising carcer before him.
He is progressive, active, broad-minded, logical in his opinions, and possessed of a way of expressing those opinions so that they are at once clear to his hearers. And he is an carnest publicist and church worker. He has never sought political office, but more than one local office has been offered him; he is solicitor for Hellertown borough, for the Hellertown school district, and the Lower Saucon township school district, which is one of the largest in the county. In fraternal activities Mr. Mauch comes in contact with the Independent Order of Odds Fellows, having passed through the chairs of Hellertown Lodge, of which he is now recording secretary, and also with the Eagles, being a member of the local branch.
In January, 1913, Attorney Mauch was married to Bessie J., daughter of Titus M. and Mary Ruch, of Hellertown, whose worthy family record is elsewhere reported in this history. Mrs. Mauch is a graduate of Hellertown High School, and with her husband gives much of her time to church work. They are Lutherans, and Attorney Mauch has a Bible class, the member- ship of which exceeds one hundred. His professional office is in the Brodhead building, Bethlehem, but the family reside in Hellertown. They have three children, Meryl, Charles and Doris.
SAMUEL TAYLOR WILSON This branch of the Wilson family in America was founded by Thomas Wilson, a minister of the Society of Friends, who came from England and settled in Northern Delaware not long after the coming of William Penn to Pennsylvania in 1782. The Wilsons came at the opening of the eighteenth century. This branch of the descen- dants of Thomas Wilson, the Friend preacher, settled near Rising Sun, a village of Cecil county, Maryland, fifty-two miles from Baltimore. The first Wilson settler there was Samuel Wilson, born in 1802, father of Thomas J.
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Wilson, and grandfather of Samuel Taylor Wilson, of Easton, president and treasurer of the Tippitt & Wood Company, of Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania. Samuel Taylor Wilson was born in Rising Sun, Cecil county, Maryland, October 12, 1868, son of Thomas J. and Adeline H. (Kirk) Wilson. His father is yet a retired resident of Rising Sun. Samuel T. began his education in the public school and prepared for college at West Nottingham Academy. He completed full courses of study at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsyl- vania, and was graduated, C.E., class of 1893. After completing his college engineering course he entered the employ of Tippitt & Wood, as a draughts- man, and his responsibilities were continually added to until he was the firm's chief engineer. Tippitt & Wood, builders of steel bridges, water towers, stand pipes, steam boilers, blast furnaces, and mill work, was organized in 1868. and has had a career of unexampled prosperity. In 1901 Mr. Wilson was elected vice-president of the company, two years later, in 1903, was elected president, and in 1918, treasurer, his present office (1919). He is a director of the New Jersey Manufacturers Casualty Insurance Company, member of the Easton Board of Trade, and of that important combined busi- ness and social organization, the Rotary Club, of Easton. His success has been won through a thorough mastery of the details and technicalities of the engineering business, and through an unusual faculty for securing per- fect co-operation between the different departments and those associated with or employed by him. Perhaps no large plant in the country has experi- enced such immunity from labor troubles since Mr. Wilson became con- nected with it in official capacity, and that condition has not been accom- plished through accident. Long before the true relation which should exist between mill worker and operator was recognized, Tippett & Wood Com- pany had inaugurated a system of welfare work, the sick and injured were quickly and tenderly cared for, and the best of feeling existed. The years have strengthened this feeling, and naught but good fellowship exists at the plant.
There are few interests of the city of Easton calling for broad-minded and liberal men that Mr. Wilson is not associated with. He is active in the church, Sunday school, and societies of the First Methodist Episcopal Church ; is a member of the board of managers of the Young Men's Christian Association; member of the board of trustees of Easton Social Service League; is active in the societies and movements for prosecuting and financ- ing the great war in which his country engaged ; is a member of Northampton County Country Club, Phillipsburg Manufacturer's Club, the Alumni Asso- ciation of Lafayette College, serving on the executive committee; and is a member of Delta Upsilon college fraternity. His sports are those of the out- of-doors, and they are all enjoyed, among which motoring, golf, hunting, and fishing are favored recreations, each in their proper season.
Mr. Wilson married, October 2, 1896, Anna W. Bryan, daugther of James E. and Anna Virginia (Smith) Bryan, of Rising Sun, Maryland. The family home is at No. 322 Reeder street, College Hill, Easton.
LAUBACH FAMILY-Christian Laubach, immigrant ancestor of George A. Laubach, accompanied by his wife, Susan Laubach, and six chil- dren, sailed in August, 1738, from the Palatinate, Germany, and landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 16, 1738, on the ship Queen Elizabeth. They settled on the banks of a small stream in Saucon township, Northamp- ton county, Pennsylvania, where he shortly afterward erected a saw and grist mill. Christian Laubach was a blacksmith and iron dealer, and fur- nished large quantities of material to the Durham furnaces. Subsequently he became the owner of five tracts of land which are still in the possession of his descendants.
John George Laubach, son of Christian and Susan Laubach, was born
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTY, LONAS AND
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Manback
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November 4, 1723, married, and reared a family. He received one hundred pounds as his share in the estate of his father. Children : Susan, born November 7, 1757; Michael, born November 28, 1759; John, born August 25, 1761; John Christian, born June 30, 1762; Anna Mary, born October 21, 1764; Adam, of further mention; John Conrad, born March 3, 1768; Ann Margaret, born January 19, 1770; Catherine, born February 26, 1772; John George, Jr., born March 5, 1774; and Walter, born February 15. 1776.
Adam Laubach, son of John George Laubach, was born December 23. 1766, and settled in Sancon township, where he was a farmer and a black- smith. He married and had children: Jacob, who died at the age of eighty- five years; John, born October 2, 1789, died at the age of eighty-two years; Christian, died aged eighty-three years; George, born November 14, 1794, lived to be seventy-five years of age ; Samuel, born May 24, 1706, died aged thirty-eight years; Joseph, attained the age of sixty-four; Daniel, born August 12, 1801, died aged thirty-five years; Elizabeth, who was cighty- three years old at the time of her death; Isaac, born March 8, 1806, died aged sixty-five years; Abraham, of further mention.
Abraham Lanbach, youngest child of Adam Laubach, was born in Wil- liams township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1808, and died September 15, 1890. In early life he served an apprenticeship to the trade of harness-making, which he pursued in the township of Plainfield for about fifteen years, after which he returned to Williams township and en- gaged in farming and milling. Being successful in both of these enterprises, Mr. Laubach acquired a sufficient competence to enable him to retire from active business pursuits, and he located in the city of Easton. where he spent his declining years in the enjoyment of ease and luxury. He was a deacon and elder in the Reformed church of Williams township. Mr. Laubach mar- ried Lydia Beidleman, who died April 30, 1895. They had children : William, of further mention ; Peggy Ann, born July 12, 1835, married Richard Deemer ; Robert, born April 27, 1837; Stephen, born June 9, 1839, became a physician ; Susan, born February 19, 1842; Abraham A., born May 3, 1844: Owen, born July 16, 1846, died September 24, 1888.
Elias Beidleman, great-great-grandfather of Mrs. Lydia (Beidleman) Laubach, was born in the Palatinate, Germany, September 27, 1707, and arrived in the city of Philadelphia in September, 1730. He remained in Philadelphia county a number of years, removing in 1748 to Springfield township, now Pleasant Valley township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. There he built the first mill in the northern part of Bucks county, and resided in that vicinity until his death, which occurred October 25, 1781 Elias, son of Elias Beidleman, married Catherine Kiss, of Lower Saucon township, and later removed from that locality to Monroe county. Pennsyl- vania. Samuel, son of Elias (2) Beidleman, was born in 1748. resided in Chestnut Hill township during the French and Indian War, and joined Sullivan's army when that command went against the Six Nations. He subsequently settled in the Chemung Valley, New York, where he resided until his decease in 1836. Abraham, son of Samuel Beidleman, and father of Mrs. Laubach, was born November 26, 1772, and while a lad in his teens returned to Pennsylvania, where he first settled in Plainfield township. Later he returned to Williams township, and there became the possessor of a large tract of land in the vicinity of Raubsville. Northampton county, where his death occurred April 11, 1857.
William Laubach, eldest son of Abraham and Lydia ( Beidleman) Lau- bach, was born in Plainfield township, February 18, 1833, and died of general debility after an illness of almost a year, at his home, Second and Bushkill streets, Easton, Pennsylvania, July 30, 1914. His health had been declining for some time, and May 18 and 19 witnessed his presence for the last time in the establishment he had built up in his very active business career. He
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had been in active business in Easton for a period of fifty-four years. On April 6, 1910, the firm celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in an appropriate manner, devoting two weeks to the observance. His success as a business man was founded on close application, absolute thoroughness, careful atten- tion to details, and personal supervision. Ile originated the one-priced sys- tem in Easton, and built up his business by thoroughness and reliability in dealing with his trade. He was an honorable man in all his transactions, was cordial in his greetings to customers and business associates, and pos- sessed a wide circle of acquaintances who all deeply and sincerely regretted his death.
In his boyhood Mr. Laubach attended the district school and worked on the farm of his father. When he was fifteen years of age he took a position in a country store at Kesslerville, where he remained until 1853. when he came to Easton and entered the store of the late Jacob Hay, then a prominent dealer in dry-goods, with whom he remained about five years, fitting himself under his employer's methodical manner of conducting busi- ness for a more extended experience later. A short time after this Mr. Laubach entered the establishment of Jacob Rader, then among the oldest and most extensive business houses of Easton, as clerk. Here he continued for about one year. On April 6, 1860, Mr. Laubach decided to engage in business for himself, and in spite of limited resources, opened a dry-goods store in a room only 12 by 40 feet in size, on a part of the site of the huge business house which he occupied in his later years. In the spring of 1861 the young merchant moved his stock to the building at Fourth and North- ampton streets, on the site of the present Northampton National Bank building. The store remained there until November, 1872, when Mr. Lau- bach erected a building on Northampton street on the present site, 28 by 170 feet, the front of which was three stories high and the rear one story. On November 21, 1872. what was then known as "Laubach's Trade Palace" was opened. Many Eastonians will recall that special opening, which was held in the evening. No goods were sold, and an orchestra furnished music, which was something altogether new and original with the shopping public of the city in those days. In 1881 an addition of fifty feet was added to the rear, giving the store a depth of two hundred twenty feet, with a uniform width of twenty-eight feet. In 1891 the property known as the Hunt build- ing, on the corner of Bank and Northampton streets, was added to meet the demands for greater space. Again in 1895 an extensive addition was made to the Laubach store. The M. J. Riegel building, on the west side, was acquired, giving a seventy-four-foot frontage on Northampton street. Even that fine, large, spacious store was soon outgrown, and 1809 found Mr. Laubach again engaged in adding a basement department for the hous- ing of stocks of china and glassware, bric-a-brac and various lines of house furnishing goods. Two years later, in November, 1901, Mr. Laubach pur- chased the Timmins and Hess properties on the west side of his store. It was not, however, until. 1905, that other improvements were made which brought the frontage of the store to a total of one hundred seven feet, as it is now. In 1910 further improvements were made to the store building by adding a large building to the rear, and also tearing down the Hunt prop- erty on the cast, and a handsome building was erected thereon to conform with the remainder of the property front on Northampton street, making a uniform building with three floors and basement throughout and a frontage of one hundred seven feet. The entire property, as the store now stands, is occupied by the firm. It has a floor space exceeding sixty thousand square feet, as compared with the original selling space of four hundred and eighty square feet. The size of the present store makes the growth seem almost marvelous.
George A. Laubach, eldest son of William Laubach, entered the business
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as an employe July 1, 1881, and was taken into the firm in 1889. The firm was then known as William Laubach & Son. The four younger sons entered the business as employes during the following years: William Horn, April, 1888; Charles Madison, July, 1897; Frederick Horn, June, 1901 ; Henry Bei- dleman, June, 1901 ; and in 1908 they were admitted to partnership. On July 24. 1908, a charter was granted to the father and five sons under the laws of Pennsylvania, to incorporate, the firm name to be William Laubach & Sons.
In 1914 the firm suffered an irreparable loss in the death of the senior member, but the five sons assumed the entire responsibility of the business and forged ahead, expanding their department store, thus creating a living memorial to the wisdom and foresight of their father, who had so success- fully founded and continued the business during the first fifty-four years of its existence. In 1915 a seven-story addition was built in the rear of the store fronting on Pine street, with a depth of seventy feet, to which was removed the duplicate stock and workrooms, giving all the main floor space of the three floors and basement for salesrooms. The office was removed to the third floor, and millinery and furniture departments were added to the list already included in the store. The second story of the building at the corner of Bank and Pine streets was also leased and to this were moved the alteration workrooms connected with the cloak and suit department. The continued increase in business made it advisable to plan for more store space, so in 1916 the Clifton property, 50 by 70 fect, fronting on Pine street, was purchased, and in 1917 a three-story addition with a basement was built, conforming in structure to the balance of the building. In the latter part of the same year the Mutchler property, Nos. 15 and 17 Bank street, which had formerly been occupied by the Easton Express Publishing Com- pany, was purchased, and the year 1918 found William Laubach & Sons using the entire block (with the exception of a space 28 by 70 feet on the first floor, corner of Bank and Pine streets), from Northampton to Pinc, with Bank street on the east and Able Opera House on the west.
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