USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 35
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This brought him to the age of twenty-one and the year 1856, a year which marked the beginning of his mercantile career. In that vear he came to Easton and entered the employ of William Maxwell, a book seller whose store stood on the present site of the northeast corner of the Square. For eight years he continued with Mr. Maxwell as a clerk, and during that period decided that it was a business he should like to make his permanent lifework. In 1864 he started in the book and stationery business for him- self, the transition from clerk to proprietor being very easily effected. He soon developed a profitable business along general lines, especially in school books and supplies, continuing those lines until the era of "free textbooks." In 1884 he added a musical department, and in time his sale of pianos, organs and other instruments, with the supplies they necessitated, became a
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most important item of the store business. He dealt very successfully for about fifty years, and then full of years and honor retired to a well-earned rest.
In addition to his private business, Mr. Riegel aided in founding many of the enterprises of the city, notably the Easton Improvement Association, the Northampton Improvement Association, of which he was president; the Easton Heights Cemetery Association ; also was helpful in aiding Mr. Simon in locating his silk mill in Easton, an industry which has been a strong factor in Easton prosperity, the mill starting with two hundred employes, the payroll since having so swollen that it now contains fifteen hundred names. For his untiring efforts in securing the amount asked for to secure the mill, Mr. Riegel received a public vote of thanks.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Riegel, under the borough form of gov- ernment, served Easton as councilman for a term of three years. When the city adopted a charter he was elected to represent his ward in the first City Council, and was chairman of the highway committee. For more than fifty years he has been a member of the First Reformed Church, has been a member of the Consistory since 1869, was member of the board of deacons, and about 1900 was elected an elder. He is a member of lodge, chapter, council and commandery of the Masonic order, also is an Odd Fellow.
Martin J. Riegel married, in Easton, November 11, 1861, Anna L. Hess, daughter of Owen W. and Anna Maria (Hoover) Hess, and a granddaughter of Judge Hess of the Circuit bench. Mrs. Riegel died December 11, 1904, and is buried in Easton Cemetery. She was also a devout member of the First Reformed Church of Easton. Mr. and Mrs. Riegel were the parents of a son, Henry Martin Riegel, born in Easton, March 3, 1864, a graduate of Lafayette College, class of 1884. A classmate of his was General Peyton C. March, United States Army. Immediately after graduation he became his father's store assistant, continuing with him until March 3, 1900, when he became manager of the musical literature department of the G. Schirmer music store, New York City. He continued in that position for fifteen years, then with broken health returned home and died September 11, 1914. After graduation he kept up his studies and was master of twelve languages, his knowledge of eight of thesc qualifying him to teach them. When the New York publishing house, Henry Holt and Sons, were about to publish a trans- Iation of "Parsifal," they sent for Mr. Riegel, stating that they wished his judgment on the manuscript, in these words: "You know more about this than anyone else in the United States." He approved the translation after examination, and it went to the presses, Mr. Riegel receiving a handsome copy of the first edition by Mr. Holt, Jr. He was a studious lad, it being remembered by his father that at the age of cight he asked if he could not have a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary for his own. His request was granted and the boy rejoiced in his new acquisition. He was unmarried. About 1878 Mr. Riegel was one of the prime movers in organizing St. Mark's Lutheran Church.
GABRIEL SCOTT BROWN-One of the leaders in Northampton's in- dustrial development, Mr. Brown has become conspicuous through his inti- mate connection with that greatest of factors in modern constructive enter- prises-Portland cement, its manufacture and sale. He came to the Alpha Portland Cement Company, of Easton, in 1898, an inexperienced man, and six- teen years later he was elected president of the company, a record of honorable achievement. He is of Scotch parentage, son of Thomas Mitchell and Jane (Lorimer) Brown, born at Lochmaben, Scotland. Thomas M. Brown came to the United States in 1840, settled in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, and until his death in 1902, at the age of seventy-five, engaged in farming. Ilis widow died in 1916, aged seventy-three years.
Gabriel Scott Brown was born at the home farm in Dreher township, N. H. BIOG .- 9
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Wayne, county, Pennsylvania, November 10, 1870, and there attended public schools until his seventeenth year. He then entered Hillman Academy, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to complete his college preparation, and en- tered Princeton University, where he received his degree, C. E., with the graduating class of 1894. The same year he entered the service of the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Company at Lebanon and Cornwall, Pennsylvania, remaining with that company in positions of increasing responsibility until 1898. In November, 1898, he came to Easton as chief clerk in the offices of the Alpha Portland Cement Company. He met the demands made upon his ability and skill so satisfactotrily to the company that the year following he was elected secretary-treasurer, and on January 18, 1906, was elected member of the board of directors. For twelve years, until 1911, he con- tinted in that dual capacity, then was chosen second vice-president in charge of production and construction work. In November, 1914, he was advanced to the highest office within the gift of the board of directors, and as the executive head of this now great company, the fourth largest cement manu- facturing company in the United States, he directs vast operations, and is an important figure in an industry which in no small way he has been instrumental in developing from one of feeble proportions and uncertain life.
Mr. Brown is largely interested in various other enterprises of import- ance. He is a director of the First National Bank of Easton ; is a director, treasurer and member of the executive committee of the Portland Cement Association of the United States and Canada, one of the most efficient of America's trade organizations; is one of the most active members of the Easton Board of Trade, and was (1918) its efficient president. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Society for Testing Materials, and the Princeton Engineering Association, having served the last-named as president. His club membership is with the Pom- fret of Easton, and member of board of governors; Princeton, of New York City ; Princeton, of Philadelphia; Nassatt, of Princeton; the Rotary, of Easton : and the Northampton County Country Club. He is a member of College Hill Presbyterian Church, and in political preference is a Repub- lican.
Mr. Brown married, October 14, 1896, Grace Little, daughter of Harlan Page and Mary (Hager) Little, of Scranton, Pennsylvania. She is active in society, church and charity, devotedly interested in the work of Easton Hospital and the Red Cross, having for many years been a member of the hospital board of trustees. Of patriotic ancestry, she is eligible to the vari- ous orders based upon early military service, and is a member of Easton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. A woman of broad mind and culture, all forms of useful service appeal to her. Another of her activities is the Woman's Club of Easton, of which she has long been a member. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are the parents of sons and daughters: Elizabeth, a junior at Smith College, class of 1920; Frances; Mary Little ; Lorimer Hager; and Thomas Mitchell (2).
While Mr. Brown's advancement in the business world has been rapid, it has been made solely upon merit. His thorough professional training and unremitting industry would have won success even under adverse con- ditions, but he happily caught the tide ready to turn, and on its flood he launched his fortunes. The great demand for Portland cement found him ready, and although the industry grew by leaps and bounds, it never found him unprepared, and he ranks todav as a leader among leaders in the indus- try with which he is connected. He stands for all that is best in civic life and belongs to that large body of citizens whose proudest title is that of American business men.
HARRY WINTER COOLEY -- On the site of the present Rader store, on Northampton street, Easton, Harry W. Cooley was born, and in that sec-
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tion of Easton his business life was spent, he being for several years a partner in the Hapgood Shoe Company, wholesale dealers in shoes and allied lines. He was a man of influence in his city and was highly esteemed by his business associates as a man of sound judgment and honorable, upright life. His years of usefulness were cut short while he was just in the prime of life, but he accomplished much and won an honorable position in the life of his native city.
The Cooleys, upon leaving England, came to America, the original American ancestor coming as a land agent for English interests. His chief patron was a nobleman. He also invested in land for his own account and became the owner of several tracts in New Jersey. He was the ancestor of Harry Winter Cooley, of Easton, to whom this review is dedicated, the line of descent being traced through Samuel Cooley of the second generation in New Jersey.
Samuel Cooley was born in New Jersey, located in Milford in that State, and there lived all his life after, serving for twenty-five years as justice of the peace. He married Abigail Britton, and they were the parents of six children. One of his daughters married a Mr. Hulsizer and located in Illinois, when it was the Far West. Later he settled on ground upon which Chicago was later built, but finally located near the preesnt site of Peoria, Illinois, becoming very wealthy through the rise in land values. The line of descent from Samuel Cooley is through his son, Samuel L. Cooley.
Samuel L. Cooley was born in Milford, New Jersey, in 1825. He was educated for the profession of law at the MacCartney Law School, and practiced his profession at Easton until his death, attaining eminence at the Northampton bar. He was an ardent Republican, and from the founding of the party was one of the delegates which sat in that first Republican convention in 1856, which nominated John C. Fremont for the Presidency of the United States. When the Whig party finally gave up the ghost and left the way clear for the successor, Samuel Cooley gave it his enthusiastic support and continued allegiance until his death. He married May 10, 1854, Caroline Wilking, born in Easton, October 26, 1833. She was educated in the public schools and at Moravian Seminary, Bethlehem, and grew to womanhood at the Wilking home, No. 210 Ferry street, where she was born. Mr. and Mrs. Cooley were the parents of two sons: Wilking Britton, born in Easton, May 18, 1855, a graduate of Lafayette College, assistant chief of the United States Post Office money order department at Washington, and at his death in New York City in I911 was manager of a department of the John Wanamaker store. He married Florence Stemm, of Easton, who survives him with a daughter, Helen Cooley; and Harry Winter Cooley, whose life is the inspiration of this review.
Jacob Henry Wilking, father of Mrs. Samuel L. Cooley, was a son of William Henry Wilking, of Stettin, Prussia, who came to America to escape service in the German army during the Napoleonic Wars. Ile married Annie Abel and located on Cherry street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Later he settled in Easton, where he followed his trade-tailoring-all his life. Both he and his wife died in Easton. Jacob Henry Wilking was born at the Philadelphia home on Cherry street, in 1808. He married Margaret Schlough, daughter of Samuel Schlough, a large carriage manufacturer of Easton, Pennsylvania, in the early days. Mr. Wilking, in Easton, engaged in the clothing business at No. 208 Northampton street and continued in business until his death in 1874. He was a Lutheran in religion, a Republi- can in politics, and helonged to both the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Masonic lodges. His wife died in 1865. They were the parents of three children: Henry, who was born, lived and died in Easton, a clothing . merchant, married Amy Fine; Caroline, married Samuel L .. Cooley, of previ- ous mention ; Anna, married Dr. Charles Voorhis.
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Harry Winter Cooley was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1857, died in the city of his birth, January 2, 1904. He attended the public schools of the city, but he was fonder of work than of study, consequently he was little more than a boy when he began his business career as a clerk in the office of Mr. Cummings of the Easton Gas Company. He remained with Mr. Cummings for two years, then became bookkeeper for H. A. Sage, his relations with Mr. Sage continuing without interruption for several years. He had now reached an age of sound judgment and business discretion and deemed it time that he began the founding of a business connection which would be permanent. This he found with the Hapgood Shoe Company, an Easton wholesale shoe house to which he was admitted a partner. Hc con- tinued in business with unvarying success, until his death, in the Hapgood Shoe Company, his chief business interest and one to which he gave his personal attention. He had other large interests, and was vice-president of the Seitz Brewing Company. Finally his call came and he passed to eternal rest universally esteemed and deeply regretted. He was a Republican in politics, took an active part in public affairs, being a member of City Council several terms, and president of that body ; was a director of Easton Trust Company, and active in all things for the public good. He was a member of Pomfret Club, one of the first Elks in Easton, and was vice-president of the American Wholesale Shoe Association. His business and his home filled his life to the full.
Mr. Cooley married in Easton, Pennsylvania, Alice Wind, daughter of Harry F. and Virginia (Morlin) Wind. Mrs. Cooley, Sr., is a great-grand- daughter of Jacob Abel, who built his home at the "Point," now Scott Park, the house he built there yet standing. After the battle of Trenton, Wash- ington is said to have been ferried across the Delaware and to have been entertained over night at the Abel home, which was then run as a public housc.
Mrs. Cooley, Jr., survives her husband with two children: Bessie, mar- ried Senator Clayton Hackett, and has a daughter, Ann; Donald, manager of the Hackett store, married Hellen Warner, and has a son, Harry.
EDWARD GEORGE AICHER-As a member of the firm, Aicher Brothers, wall paper merchants and decorators, of Easton, Pennsylvania, and as president and general manager of the South Easton Water Company, Mr. Aicher is well known in Northampton business circles. He is a son of Frederick Aicher, born in the Wurtemburg district of Germany in 1824, and came to Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1841, there following his trade as a shoemaker. He was a man of industry and intelligence, rcaring a large family, of whom Edward George was the youngest of thirteen children. His wife, Magdalena (Fisher) Aicher, was born in the same district as her husband, and is still living in Easton, aged eighty-six years.
Edward George Aicher was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, November 17, 1875, and was there educated in the public schools. He became a painter's apprentice carly in life, becoming an expert interior decorator, a branch of the trade in which he specialized. He became a member of the firm, Aicher Brothers, when a young man, and continued in intimate con- nection with that successful firm of wall paper merchants and decorators until 1913, when his interests became divided. He then became financially concerned in the welfare of the South Easton Water Company, and was chosen its first president. Later, when the company reorganized, he was again elected president and general manager of the company, a position he most ably fills. He is a member of the Easton Board of Trade, serving on the legislative committee, and has been very active in past committee work of the board.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Aicher has been much in the public eye
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIP. TRY
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as member of the school board and select council, serving on the former during the years 1909-1910, and in the latter body, 1911-1912. In 1916 he was the candidate of his party for the State Legislature. In Masonry he is affiliated with lodge, chapter, council and commandery of the York Rite, with Bloomsburg Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and with Rajah Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Reading, Pennsylvania. He is a charter member of Easton Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, member of the Pomfret Club, and the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion. His favored recreation is motoring.
Edward G. Aicher married, February 22, 1903, Elizabeth Sheppard, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Dilts) Sheppard, of Easton. Her father was one of the owners of the old Glendon Iron Works, and a prominent business man. Mr. and Mrs. Aicher are the parents of a son, Edward Franklin Aicher, born October 30, 1912.
THOMAS RICHARD POMP-The family was brought to Pennsyl- vania in 1760 by Rev. Nicholas Pomp, to Easton, in 1796, by his son, Rev. Thomas Pomp, and was worthily born by the latter's son, Thomas Richard Pomp, who, departing from the holy calling of his fathers, engaged in secu- lar pursuits. All have gone to their eternal home, but the name is an honored one to which Eastonians are glad to render homage.
Rev. Nicholas Pomp was born January 20, 1734. He pursued regular courses of scientific and theological training at the University of Halle, founded in 1694, at Halle, a city of Prussian Saxony, after which he was sent to America under the auspices of the Fathers in Holland. He came in 1760 and began his ministerial work at Faulkner Swamp Church and its several affiliated congregations in different localities. He continued his work very successfully in Pennsylvania until 1783, then accepted a call to Balti- more, Maryland, where he found a disorganized congregation. He labored there most satisfactorily, faithfully, and acceptably, reuniting discordant element and restoring harmony and peace. In 1789 he retired from the min- istry, the infirmities of age being upon him, and came to Easton to spend the evening of his life with his son, Rev. Thomas Pomp. He died in Easton, September 1, 1819, and was buried by the side of his wife in the German Reformed Cemetery. Later the monument and bodies were removed to the Easton Cemetery, where a monument marks the spot, thus described :
In Memory of Rev. Nicholas Pomp Who was born Jan. 20, A. D., 1734. And Departed This Life Sept. 1, A. D., 1819; Aged 85 years, 7 months and 27 Days.
Rev. Nicholas Pomp married Elizabeth Antes, a widow, who bore hin a son, Thomas, the beloved Rev. Thomas Pomp, of Easton. There are many stories yet told of Father Pomp, as he was lovingly called, one of them which is here preserved :
One Sabbath day while riding to fill a pulpit engagement he saw two young men of his congregation out with their guns after wild pigeons. The young men saw their pastor approaching, and, fearing rebuke, laid their guns behind a log but not before they had been seen. They were walking sedately away as their pastor rode up. At that moment a large flock of pigeons alighted in a nearby tree, and, Father Pomp observing them, said. "Boys, hand me one of those guns." The blushing lads handed him a gun and the old pastor, riding up within range, fired, and brought down a goodly number of pigeons. Returning the gun to the lad with a smile he said : "Boys, you must kill pigeons when they are here, you can't kill them when they are not here. Take them home to your mother and tell her to cook them for my dinner."
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Rev. Thomas Pomp was born in Skeppack township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, February 4, 1773, died in Easton, Pennsylvania, April 22, 1852. His father was then pastor of several congregations in the county and there the lad passed the first ten years of his life. Baltimore was next the family home, and there under a broader, intellectual and moral outlook he grew to manhood, pursuing under most favorable conditions higher liter - ary and theological studies. His education, both classical and theological, was acquired under the immediate care and supervision of his honored, devoted and well educated father, and in the year 1793 he entered the holy ministry to the great joy of his pious parents, who had looked forward with deep concern for the future of their son, hoping and praying that he would choose his father's calling.
Seldom, indeed, and only at long and uncertain intervals, does the church produce a character whose private and public life presented so beautiful and faultless a picture as that of Rev. Thomas Pomp, whose memory is yet green in Easton, the city he served for more than half a century. He entered the ministry at the age of twenty, in 1793, served German Reformed congrega- tion in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, for three years, then accepted a call from the Easton church, entering upon his duties as pastor there in July, 1796. The charge then consisted of four congregations, Easton, Plainfield, Dryland, and Upper Mount Bethel. But after coming to Easton he supplied several pulpits in the neighborhood until a fall from his horse occasioned injuries which prevented him from either horseback or carriage riding. Yet so anxious were the people to have the Word preached to them that on more than one occasion strong men came to Easton with a litter and carried him a distance of twelve miles on their shoulders to the church in which he was to preach. For fifty-six years he continued pastor of that charge, although several changes were made in his field towards the close of his ministry. In 1833 he gave up the congregation in Lower Saucon township, which had been added twenty-five years earlier, and an assistant was granted him at the close of forty years' service. In 1848 or 1849 the Plainfield congrega- tion was resigned, and two years later the Dryland or Hecktown congrega- tion was also dropped. It was with extreme reluctance that he finally con- sented to give up preaching "the Gospel of the Grace of God" to the dear people he had so long and faithfully served, and also with such universal acceptance, and to whom he was bound by the strongest and tenderest ties of Christian love and affection. On April 22, 1852, he died in Easton, aged seventy-nine years, two months and eighteen days. During his fiftv-six years in the ministry he baptized 7,870 persons, confirmed 3,616, married 2,059 couples, and officiated at 1,670 funerals. These figures taken in con- nection with the thousands of miles traveled in sunshine and in storm, the exposure and all circumstances attending country travel in that day gave some idea of the nature and great extent of his official labor. He was lov- ingly known as Father Pomp, and numbered his friends among all classes and creeds. He was buried in Easton Cemetery, where a beautiful marble monument, erected by the German Reformed Church, marks the spot. On the west side of the monument is this inscription :
In Memory of Rev. Thomas Pomp. He was born in Montgomery county, Pa., Feb. 4. 1773, died April 22, 1852. In the 80th year of his age and the 59th year of his ministry.
And on the north side was this inscription :
The only son of one of the founders of the German Reformed church in America. He early consecrated himself to the services of the church of his father. He was ordained to the ministry of the Gospel in 1793. In July, 1796, he became pastor
Rec. Thomas Pomp
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of the German Reformed church of Easton, Pennsylvania, in which capacity he served the congregation until enfeebled by age and called to an Eternal reward. llis long and arduous ministerial labors and personal worth will ever be held in affectionate remem brance by a grateful people.
Rev. Thomas Pomp married Mary Catharine Jansen, born May 26, 1776, who survived him until September 1, 1865, and was then buried by his side. They were the parents of ten children: Nicholas Peter, born in 1798, died in Easton, August 18, 1836; Elizabeth, born April IS, 1799, married Samuel Kinsey, and died at her home, Hokendauqua, April 28, 1876; Rebecca, bonn in ISO1, died June 8, 1803; Sophia, born May 4, 1803, married Rev. Joseph B. Gross, and died June 7, 1874; Susanna Wilhelmina, born March 20, 1800, died in Easton, 1898; Mary Catherine, born in April, 1808, died in Easton in 1892; Frederick William Henry, born January 4, ISII, married Mary A. Young, and died July 26, 1878; Amelia, born May 12, 1813, married, and died aged fifty-nine years; Eleanora, born October 16, 1815, married Joseph F. Berg, and died July 19, 1883; and Thomas Richard. to whose memory this review of an honored Easton family is dedicated. Such were the hon- ored sires of Thomas Richard Pomp, who inherited many of his father's traits, although he chose a business life and ministered to men's bodies, being in the drug business. But he was of the same plain, practical type of man, devoted to his business but doing his full duty by his fellow-men and contributing to the upbuilding of the city of his birth.
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