USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 29
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He built the first fraternity house at Lafayette College for Sigma Chi, of which he was a member, and for twenty years it was in use before out- grown. Then for sentimental reasons Mr. Nevins bought the building and converted it into a dwelling. He was the means of saving the historic Taylor house for the Daughters of the American Revolution, and was one of the founders of College Hill Presbyterian Church in 1891, and through his efforts the chapel was built which was the forerunner of the present church edifice. He was chairman of the committee in charge of the building of the present church, and is ruling elder of the congregation. He has been an active Sun- day school worker for thirty years, and has frequently been chosen delegate to church conventions and synods. He also inherits the family musical talent, the Nevin name being well known through the compositions of George Balch Nevin, brother of Mayor Nevin, and a cousin, Ethelbert Nevin, is also a composer of note.
Mr. Nevin married, June 10, 1879, Lillias G., daughter of John D. Patterson, a merchant and representative of an old Easton family. Mr. and Mrs. Nevin are the parents of three sons: 1. John Denison, now a cap- tain in the United States Marine Corps, stationed at Washington, D. C. Captain Nevin, married Florence M. McDuffce, and has three children, John Denison (2). Louis McDuffce and Alice McDuffce Nevin. 2. Lieuten- ant Samuel W. Williamson, a chemist, enlisted for Red Cross service in the present war. 3. D. Burrowes, a florist, of Easton.
Such are the high spots in the busy life of David W. Nevin, lawyer, public official, and worthy citizen. He comes of that sturdy Scotch-Irish stock which helped to lay the foundation of the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania, and has nobly carried forward the work their forefathers began. Hardly past the full prime of life, many years of usefulness remain for him.
WILLIAM H. RENTZHEIMER, M.D .- William H. Rentzheimer, M.D., highly regarded physician of Northampton county, Pennsylvania, where he has been in active practice for more than thirty-five years, is a native of the county, his home town being Hellertown, prominently con- nected with the carly history of which his ancestors have place.
Dr. William II. Rentzheimer was born in Hellertown on March 15, 1860, the son of Tobias E. and Suzanna (Roth) Rentzheimer. In the maternal as well as the paternal lines, Dr. Rentzheimer is descended from early pioneers in the State of Pennsylvania; and in the direct line, his American lincage goes back to his great-grandfather, Carl Rentzheimer, who came to
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the United States from Germany to settle in the latter half of the eighteenth century ; to be exact, in 1774. He settled in the vicinity of Hellertown, and three succeeding generations of the Rentzheimer family all had birth in that place. As, of course was customary, in fact necessary among the carly settlers, Carl Rentzheimer tilled the soil, gaining title to a sufficient acre- age only by his own hard labor. His son, Tobias E., also became a farmer, and succeeded to the paternal acres which eventually passed to his son, Tobias E., father of William H. Tobias E. Rentzheimer although now nearing nonogenarian age is still moderately active and vigorous, and of clear mind. He was born in Hellertown, August 30, 1832, and with the exception of his schooldays, and the last forty years which have been spent in retirement, Tobias E. Rentzheimer followed agricultural pursuits, but since he gave up active farming he has resided mainly in Hellertown with his only son, Dr. William H., the subject of this article.
William H. Rentzheimer passed through the usual course in the public schools of his native place, and entered Muhlenburg College. IIe left that institution as a Junior, having determined immediately to take up medical studies. With that object he proceeded to the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and in due course, in 1882, gained by his graduation the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and the right to enter as soon as he desired into active practice of that profession.
Dr. Rentzheimer lost no time; he entered into general practice in Fried- ensville, Pennsylvania, but a year or so later came to his home town, Ileller- town, and opened office. That was in 1883, since which year his professional practice has been almost wholly devoted to a wide practice centering in IIellertown. Throughout the county, Dr. Rentzheimer is well known and esteemed, both in his professional catagory, and as a gentleman who is ever ready to extend help, whether professional or otherwise, to any needy person. As a physician, Dr. Rentzheimer is held in much respect in professional circles, and he holds membership in many professional societies, including : The American Medical Association ; Lehigh Valley Medical Association ; the Northampton County Medical Association, and the Medical Association of the State of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Rentzheimer is a Democrat in politics, but has not been able to devote any time to active participation in national work; but in community affairs and local politics, Dr. Rentzheimer has been prominent. Had he the inclination and the time, he might have had almost any of the local offices, but the demands of his extensive professional practice compelled him to limit his outside undertakings. Still, for twenty-one years he undertook the onorous duties of secretary of the school board, and for five years was treasurer of the borough. Fraternally, Dr. Rentzheimer is connected with many organizations. He is past master, Hellertown Lodge, No. 563; past high priest, Zingendorf Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; past high priest, Ezra Chapter, South Bethlehem ; past illustrious master, Bethlehem Council; past commander, Allentown Commandery, No. 20, Allentown; is now past com- mander, Bethlehem Commandery, No. 70, Knights of Pythias; has been through the chairs of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and belongs also to the Improved Order of Red Men, and the Knights of the Golden Eagle. His college fraternity is Chi Phi. Throughout his life Dr. Rentz- heimer has manifested good Christianlike characteristics ; he is a member of the Lutheran church, and has unselfishly devoted himself to the affairs of the local church, of which he has been an elder for ten years.
Dr. Rentzheimer was married, in August, 1880, to Ellen E. Beidleman, daughter of Abraham Beidleman, of Bethlehem township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania. Two children have been born to the marriage: May Irene, who is a graduate of the Allentown College for Women ; and Stille Agnew, who is a graduate of Muhlenburg College. Both children live at
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home. Neither ever married. Dr. Rentzheimer was chairman and medical member of the local draft board, No. 3, State of Pennsylvania, Northampton county, with headquarters at South Bethlehem from the beginning of the war till its close and quite a time after. This is the sixth largest board in the United States.
REV. FRANKLIN K. FRETZ, Ph.D .- As pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church, Dr. Fretz has become well and favorably known in Easton, as an able, eloquent preacher, a man of great force of character, and a deep thinker. He is a descendant of John Fretz, who with his brother, Christian, came to Pennsylvania from Manheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, about 1710, and settled first in Upper Salford township, Montgomery county, where he married Barbara Meyer. In 1738 he bought two hundred and thirty acres of partly improved land in Bedminster township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- vania, and there resided until his death in February, 1772. Barbara Meyer Fretz died in 1740, leaving four sons: John, Jacob, Christian, Abraham, and also a daughter, Elizabeth.
Jacob Fretz, second son of John and Barbara (Meyer) Fretz, married in 1755, Catharine Nash, daughter of William Nash, and after living elsewhere in Pennsylvania, returned to Bedminster township, in Bucks county. They were the parents of ten children, among whom was a son, Abraham, who was the second child in order of birth.
Abraham Fretz was born January 1, 1758, died February 14, 1839. When he was seventeen years of age, a team and wagon belonging to his father was impressed by the government to carry powder and stores for the American Army from Trenton, New Jersey, to Boston, and he was taken along in charge of the team as driver. While away he witnessed the battle of Bunker Hill, and remained with the army for three months. After his return home he became a farmer, and after his marriage settled in Hilltown township, Bucks county, near Leidy town. and there spent his life farming and weav- ing. He married, March 14, 1786, Elizabeth Harmon, who survived him four years until 1843.
John Fretz, second son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Harmon) Fretz, was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1795, died Novem- ber 18, 1874. He was a prosperous farmer of Bucks county, a man of good character and reputation. He married in 1827, Elizabeth Kerns, born Janu- ary 19, 1805, died January 7, 1843. He married (second), Mary Landis, who died January 18, 1889. They were members of the Mennonite church. John and Mary (Landis) Fretz were the parents of three sons: Henry L., John L., and William L.
Henry L. Fretz, eldest of these three sons, was born in Hilltown town- ship, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, November 14, 1846. He was educated in the district schools, spent his youth on the farm, and in carly manhood was a stock buyer and shipper. Later he became sole owner of the Clear Springs House, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, and also was a merchant. He married, December 10, 1873, Wilhelmina Kline, born January 7, 1855. They are the parents of following children : Franklin K., of further mention ; Joseph HI. ; Mary Irene; Ida; Arthur Alonzo; John Paul; Frances Grace, a teacher ; Flora; Fidella; Lydia Viola, and Elsie Naomi. Two of these daughters are with the Red Cross forces in France, and one of the sons in the U. S. Army.
Frauklin K. Fretz, eldest son of Henry L. and Wilhelmina (Kline) Fretz, was born in Doylestown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1876. After public school study in Doylestown, he entered North Wales Academy, and there spent six years as a student. He then entered Muhlenburg Col- lege, whence he was graduated A.B., class of 1897. He then pursued studies in divinity at Philadelphia Theological Seminary, was ordained a minister of the Lutheran church in 1900, and for five years thereafter was pastor of
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St. John's Lutheran Church at Quakertown. From 1905-12 he was pastor of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1906-07 he was engaged as a social worker in Philadelphia. In 1900 he organized a psychological clinic in Temple University, Philadelphia, and from 1909 to the present he has held the chair of sociology in that institution. In 1909 he received from the University of Pennsylvania the degree Ph.D).
In 1912 Dr. Fretz accepted a call from St. John's Lutheran Church of Easton, and is the honored pastor of that congregation at this date (Novem- ber, 1919). St. John's has a membership of twelve hundred souls, the largest in Easton, maintains a school, and is very progressive. The pastor is popular and is accomplishing great good. He is chairman of the ministerial com- mittee of the Kiwanis Club. At Muhlenburg he took part in athletics, and made the football team, but was particularly prominent in the literary work of the college, editing the year book, and Muhlenburg, the college periodical. In politics he is a Republican.
Dr. Fretz married, November 6, 1900. Cora V. Werkel, daughter of Henry and Amanda (Hartman) Werkel. Mrs. Fretz is a graduate of Temple University, and of Samaritan Hospital; she is active in Red Cross, church and charitable work, is president of the Home Missionary Society of the church, and treasurer of the Northern Conference Home, a branch of the home missionary work. Dr. and Mrs. Fretz are the parents of a daughter, Barbara Catherine.
CHARLES HERBERT KNIGHT-The coming of one man into an established community seems a trifling matter, and often is, but the coming of Charles H. Knight to Easton, was an event, for upon his advent in 1900 he at once became identified with C. K. Williams, and in the eighteen years which have since intervened he has aided wonderfully in the development of many corporations that have added to the wealth of the country and freed a great industry from dependency upon foreign supply of raw material. His own success in life is explained by his constant effort to make an inten- sive study of his customers' needs, and by his close application to the technical study necessary to equip him for service in the industries he has done so much to develop. Outside his private business interests few men have given more time and thought to the "little things" that in the aggregate help to make the world a better place to live in. He loves boys and young men, and for many years he has been deeply interested in aiding to mould their characters and guide them into useful paths of life. This interest led him into the "White Cross" movement, and for many years he was actively interested in that society devoted to boy welfare.
Charles Herbert Knight was born at Newton, le Willows, Lancastershire, England, June 20, 1876, son of John and Annie (Winstanley) Knight, eighth in their family of sixteen sons and daughters. He spent the first eleven years of his life in England, attended the private schools until the family came to Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1887. There he attended also the public school and pursued special courses in chemistry, a branch of study in which he became quite proficient. He began business life as a clerk in the dry-goods store of Forbes & Wallace, of Springfield, and there remained several years. His father, John Knight, established at Springfield a ball and china clay importing business, with which Charles H. later became iden- tified. In the year 1900 he came to Easton, Pennsylvania, and has become a leader among the business men of the city and in civic affairs.
The Paper Makers Chemical Company, now one of the important indus- trial corporations of the United States, began business very modestly in the "old Butz Mill" on Bushnell creek, Easton, and from the first enjoyed a good patronage, and in 1907 Charles Herbert Knight and his associates of the Paper Makers Chemical Company took over the English clay importing
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business, founded by John Knight, and continued under the title, The Paper Makers Importing Company. That company has wonderfully expanded, and is now the largest American importer of ball and china clays, bringing that needed raw material into this country by full shiploads. In addition to these, the same interests have plants at Kalamazoo, Michigan ; Holyoke, Massachusetts ; Watertown, New York ; and Easton, the last-named under the ownership of the Eastern Paper Makers Chemical Company. Four plants are located in paper manufacturing centers, for the basic idea of such loca- tion is prompt service, and a minimum of difficulty and delay in shipping. Mr. Knight is secretary of the Paper Makers Chemical Company, president of the Eastern Paper Makers Chemical Company, secretary of the Paper Makers Importing Company, president of the Western Paper Makers Chemi- cal Company, secretary of the Florida China Clay Company, and secretary of the Immaculate Kaoline Company.
The Immaculate Kaoline Company operates at Langley, South Carolina, mines which have been developed and equipped with the most modern machinery adapted to such mining, and their clay is produced equal to the best imported quality, and this clay, with the product of the Florida China Clay Manufacturing Company, is to a large extent rapidly supplanting the foreign clay. In all these enterprises Mr. Knight has been a leading spirit, and to him their rapid development is largely due. They constitute practi- cally a new American industry, for the materials furnished to papermakers and potterymakers not only uncover a new source of national wealth but have also divorced the American paper-making industry from its dependence upon a foreign source of supply of raw material. He is a man of national reputation, recognized as a leader, and among the men who may claim the proud title, "self-made," he has earned a leading rank. He claims his success is due largely to his ability to select and surround himself with men of ability, and to all he is sympathetic and genial.
Mr. Knight is a firm believer in inspiration and faith in himself and mankind, and cheerfulness is one of the cardinal virtues of his life. He is a man of the type who can "never say die," and he possesses to a large degree those fine qualities of optimism and application. He is a member of the Easton Board of Trade; Dallas Lodge No. 123, Free and Accepted Masons, Easton; the Rotary Club of Easton; and the Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church.
He married, January 14, 1903, Ethel Gibbons, daughter of Francis Joseph and Alice (Hamby) Gibbons, of Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They are the parents of six children : Marjorie Constance, John Gibbons, Barbara Mary, Josephine, Frederick Charles, and Gwendolyn.
ROBERT A. STOTZ-Among the leaders of a younger generation of lawyers practicing at the Northampton bar, Mr. Stotz has been awarded a generous share of the litigation contested before the courts in which he practices. He has won his way to the honorable position which he occupies through his own indomitable will and ambition. being from youth dependent upon his own resources, in securing his classical and professional education. This crucial period of his life was successfully passed, and the trials but developed a stronger, more self-reliant man. He is of the old Moravian family long seated in Northampton county, a son of Reuben J. Stotz, and a grandson of Timothy Stotz, a descendant of Ludwig Stotz of Saxony, who came to America from Saxony in 1755. His wife was Henrietta Weisfodt. Reuben J. Stotz was born at Windgap, Northampton county, in 1836, and there died in 1879. He was a merchant of Windgap after the Civil War, in which he served, ranking as second lieutenant of Company I, 153d Regi- ment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. He fought in two of the bloody battles of the war, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and came through both unscathed.
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He was an influential Democrat and leader of his party in his district. He married Mary A. Heimer, who died in 1897, aged seventy-eight, daughter of Adam Heimer.
Robert A. Stotz was born at Windgap, Pennsylvania, March 29, 1872, and began his education in the public schools of the district. He was also a student at Fairview Academy and Keystone State Normal School at Kutz- town, receiving a teacher's license upon graduation from the last-named institution. He taught for five years in order to finance a college course, and in 1897 was graduated from Lafayette College, Ph.B., and in 1900 re- ceived the degree M.S. from the same institution. He studied under the eminent lawyer, General Frank Reeder, and in 1900 was admitted to the Northampton county bar. He began practice in Easton the same year, and in turn was admitted to all State and Federal courts of the district and to the United States Supreme Court, having appeared before that body, his admission to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dating from January 5, 1903. His practice is general in character, but he has a large corporation clientele, being counsel for the Easton Transit Company, the First National Bank of Easton, the Northampton Trust Company of Easton, and is Easton's legal representative of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He is a member of the county, State and national bar associations, and is held in high regard by his brethren of the profession.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Stotz has served as a member of the board of education in 1905-06-07, was district attorney for Northampton county, and in 1903-04 United States commissioner for the Eastern district of Pennsylvania. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention held in Chicago in 1916, which nominated Charles E. Hughes for the Presi- dency, and he has long been active in the county organizations of his party. Fishing is his favored recreation, and hunting is another of the sports he engages in while spending vacation periods at his Canadian club. the Yana- nuck Fishing Club of Georgian bay. He is also a member of the Easton Anglers' Association, the Northampton Country, the Pomfret, and the Kiwanis clubs of Easton.
Mr. Stotz married, October 29, 1902, Caroline M. Louder, daughter of George P. and Margaret (Mumma) Louder, of Easton, Pennsylvania, but formerly of Altoona, Pennsylvania. George P. Louder was an engineer and a veteran of the Fifteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Cavalry, and was engaged at Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Chicka- mauga, and was with Sherman in his march to the sea. Mrs. Stotz is an active member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, the Women's Club, and she is interested in all the war activities of Easton's Red Cross chapter. They are the parents of a daughter, Caroline L. Stotz.
PAUL DE SCHWEINITZ, D.D .- Since 1770 this family has had a distinguished representative in this county, four generations of which have been ministers of the Moravian church, high in ecclesiastical position, uni- versally respected throughout the church, and held in highest esteem by all classes in their communities. In Europe the family traces in unbroken line to the year 1350, is of noble rank, and eminent in church and state. The founder of the family in the United States is Hans Christian Alexander von Schweinitz, born at the ancestral estate of Nieder-Leuba, in Silesia. Germany, October 17, 1740, a descendant of the ancient and noble family of that name. He was a senior civilis in the U'nitas Fratrum, or Moravian church, and administrator of its estates in the American colonies. He came to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1770, and became one of the most distinguished men of the Moravian church. His wife, Dorothea Elizabeth von Schweinitz. was by birth a Baroness von Watteville and a granddaughter of Nicolas Louis, Count Zinzendorf, a Saxon nobleman under whose influence the
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Bohemian-Moravian Brethren's Church ( Unitas Fratrum) was revived and re- stored to usefulness. The line to Paul de Schweinitz of Bethlehem, the twentieth century representative of the family in the United States, is through the founder's son, the first of the line of American birth.
Lewis David von Schweinitz was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, February 13, 1780, and there died February S, 1834. He was, like his honored father, a senior civilis, Unitas Fratrum, member of the governing board of the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian church in America, administrator and nominal proprietor of its estates, and senior pastor of the church of Bethlehem. At the time of his death he was the most eminent clergyman of his church, and one of the most distinguished cryptogamic botanists of the nineteenth century. At the age of seven he began attending the Moravian school at Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and during the following eleven years he developed an intense interest in botany, cataloguing the flora of Nazareth and vicinity. In 1798 his father was recalled to Germany, and until 1812 the family resided in the Province of Lusatia, Silesia. The young Lewis David completed his theo- logical studies in the college at Niesky, and after finishing his course there became a teacher. He wrote much on the doctrine and form of government of his church, but continued his botanical studies so thoroughly that in 1805 he, in connection with a member of the faculty, published a work in Latin on the fungi of Lusatia. In 1807 he was appointed superintendent of the unmarried men, or "Single Brethren," of the Moravian congregation at Gnadenberg, near Niesky, and in 1808 was called to preach at Gnadau in Saxony. In 1812 he was appointed general agent of the Moravian church in southern United States, and before leaving for his post of duty was married, in Niesky, to Louisa Amelia Le Doux, of Stettin, of French Huguenot par- entage. Before leaving, the University of Kiel conferred on him the degree Ph.D. as a tribute to his learning. Dr. von Schweinitz located in Salem, North Carolina, where he attended to his church duties, preached occasionally, and carried on botanical research. He published a work on North Carolina fungi in 1818, and remained in that State until IS21, when he removed to Bethlehem, his birthplace, to take charge of the Moravian Seminary for Young Ladies, and to become senior pastor of the Bethlehem Moravian congre- gation. The next year he was appointed administrator and nominal pro- prietor of the church's estates in the North, and from that time until his death, February 8, 1834, he devoted himself to two things: the general agency for the brethren, and the completion of a synopsis of North American fungi, which was published in 1832 by the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. This contains descriptions of three thousand ninety-eight species belonging to two hundred forty-six genera, and of this number, one thousand two hundred three species and seven genera had been discovered by the author. By research and by purchase he acquired the most extensive private herbarium in the United States, comprising twenty-three thousand species of phanerogamia, and many thousand cryptogamia from all parts of the world. This collection was bequeathed to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. A North American plant (sweet wine sap), Schweinitzis odorata, was named in his honor by Stephen Elliott, the naturalist, and in North Carolina a beautiful waterfall, discovered by him, bears his name. His "Memoir," by W. R. Johnston, appeared in London in 1835 and 1836, and a sketch of his life and scientific work appeared in the Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society of the University of North Carolina. He was senior pastor of the church at Bethlehem, member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, member of the American Philosophical Society, corresponding member of the Linnean Society of Paris, and of the Society of Natural Sciences of Leipsig. He was one of the most famous clergymen and cryptogamic botanists of his day, and left an enduring fame. The next in line of this distinguished family is Robert de Schweinitz, son of Lewis David and Louisa Amelia (Le Doux) von Schweinitz.
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