USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 37
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Nathan Fritch, eldest son of John G. Fritch and his wife Nancy Schwarz, was born at the homestead in Longswamp township, Berks county, Penn- sylvania, September 10, 1806, and died in June, 1883. Following the example of his father and grandfather, he became a miller and for many years owned and operated the old Fritch grist mill, then retired, and in time passed the business over to his son, Tryon D. Nathan Fritch married Mary, daughter of Jonathan Dry, and they were the parents of nine children: 1. Frank D., who still operates the old Fritch mill in Longswamp township, married Sarah Wisser. 2. Jonas, married (first) Mary Bogh, second Martha Auche. 3. Tryon D., whose career is hereinafter traced. 4. David D., a graduate, M.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1876, but after two years practice in the village of Longswamp, Pennsylvania, he engaged in the milling business at Macungie, Pennsylvania, and continues in that line a successful manu- facturer of wheat and rye flour; he is also a large land owner and well known potato grower. 5. Nathan D., married Joanna Warmkessel. 6. Mary, married Dr. Peter Wertz. 7. Sarah, married John Mohr. 8. Susan, died unmarried, aged twenty-two years. 9. Emma, married Harry Bogh, lived several years in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and died at the home of her brother, Dr. David D. Fritch, in 1902. Jonathan Dry, father of Mrs. Nathan, Fritch, was born in Rockland, Berks county, Pennsylvania, May 22, 1787, and died November 23, 1872. He married Susan Romig, born January 16. 1788, died July 26, 1857, and they were the parents of nine children : George, Moses, Jonathan, Joseph, David, Mary Maric Nathan Fritch, Hannah, Eliza- beth and Judith.
Tryon Dry Fritch, son of Nathan and Mary (Dry) Fritch, was born at
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the homestead in Long's Valley, Longswamp township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, October 11, 1844, died in Bethlehem, June 7, 1914. After completing his school years he began learning the miller's trade under the direction of his father in the old Fritch grist mill in Longswamp township, there becoming an experienced and expert miller. Finally he left the old inill (which with the homestead is yet owned in the family, and operated by Frank Fritch) and located in Norristown, Pennsylvania, there continu- ing the milling business in partnership with his brother, Jonas D. They operated the Stutzinger mill, known to an earlier generation as the Hubener mill, but four years later, in 1887, Tryon D. retired from the partnership, removed to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and there, in partnership with his brother. Dr. David Fritch, operating as Dr. Fritch & Company, built up a very large and prosperous milling business. In Bethlehem he built the Diamond Roller Mills at the corner of South Main and River streets, which he conducted from 1889 until his retirement. The firm, D. D. Fritch & Company, was succeeded in 1889 by the firm Fritch & Enger, the brothers David D. and Nathan D. Fritch withdrawing, and Tryon D. continuing. In 1904 the business was reorganized and became an exclusive Fritch concern under the name T. D. Fritch & Sons.
The Diamond mills, with a daily capacity of two hundred barrels of high-grade flour, was built in 1886 and began business in 1887. In 1892 an elevator was added, and in 1908 another addition was built. The mill now is four stories in height, with a ground plan 50 by 120 feet. The firm, in addition to their large milling business, own and operate the Lehigh Coal Company of Bethlehem, theirs the largest retail coal business of the city. Tryon D. Fritch continued the active head of the business until 1908, when ill health compelled him to withdraw in favor of his able sons, who were the fifth generation to engage actively and practically in the business of flour milling. Mr. Fritch is a director of the Bethlehem Trust Company, which he aided in organizing, a director of the United Cemetery Associa- tion, and a director of the Macungie Silk Mills Company. He was a member of the Salem Lutheran Church, and for several years a member of the church council. He was a man of upright, honorable life, and was highly esteemed as a business man and citizen.
Tryon D. Fritch married, August 28, 1886, Adelaide Bortz, who sur- vives him, daughter of Jonas and Caroline (Wetzel) Bortz. They were the parents of following children: Peter Harvey, died aged twenty-four; Lillian, Agnes, and Preston, died in infancy; Ella, married Rev. Victor James Bauer, a clergyman of the Lutheran church, pastor of the church at Bethlehem; they are the parents of two children, Nathan Fritch Bauer, died aged twenty days, and Tyron Fritch Bauer; Charles, died aged twenty-nine years, leaving a daughter, Helen; Sarah, died in infancy ; Nathan, married Delia Lauer, and has a daughter, Marion Lauer; Harry J., married Winis fred M. Applegate: Walter M., married Thalia Koons. Mrs. Tryon D. Fritch continues her residence in Bethlehem, where her daughter Ella, and, son-in-law, Rev. Victor J. Bauer, make their home with her.
WILLIAM WHITE COTTINGHAM, A.M., LL.D .- From birth until his death, which followed eighty-nine years later, William W. Cottingham was a resident of Easton. In 1834, when the law regarding public schools went into effect in the State of Pennsylvania, he was a boy of eleven, and he became one of the first pupils of the first public schools in Easton, a school taught by Josiah Davis. That was his introduction to the public schools, and eighteen years later, in 1852, he began his long and most valuable connection with the city public schools, which only terminated with his death sixty-one years later. He first taught a school in South Easton, continuing until 1853, when he was unanimously elected superin-
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tendent of the Easton school, and ever afterward received the unanimous vote of the school board at every recurring election of the superintendent, thus presenting the unique experience of a public official holding for sixty years an office which he never sought and for which he never electioneered nor solicited a nomination, nor the vote of a director, nor the influence of a friend. When he entered upon the duties of his office in September, 1852, twenty-eight teachers constituted the city's teaching corps, and under their instruction sat twelve hundred scholars, housed chiefly in ill adapted church basements and in old, abandoned frame structures originally designed and used for military drill rooms. It is a sad commentary that although the public school law had been in operation in Easton about twenty years, not one cent of publie money had been expended in the erection of schoolhouses, nor could the school district at that time claim ownership of real estate to the value of one dollar. At the close of Dr. Cottingham's term, many teach- ers were employed in Easton public schools and many scholars were receiv- ing instruction in specially designed and constructed buildings modernly equipped with courses of study ranging from kindergarten to high school, scholars going from the latter to college without other preparation. Under him the pupils were first graded and properly placed in classes and rooms, and in 1854 he suggested a plan which still governs the management of the schools, a plan proposing the establishment of a high school, the syste- matie arrangement of the subordinate schools, and a thorough course for each. That original plan of work has been enlarged, improved and ex- tended. but the basie element still remains. It was through his efforts that four scholarships to Lafayette College were obtained and offered as prizes in the high school. He secured from the board the plan of awarding diplomas, and designed the certificate of graduation which is now given to each high school student who completes the course. An analysis of his life's work reveals a man of scholarly attainments and strong intellectuality, thoroughly consecrated to his work.
Moreover, Dr. Cottingham loved his work, and in return was held in highest respect and veneration by the thousands who have attended the public schools, and by all who had been in any way associated with school affairs in Easton. His counsel and advice were sought constantly by men charged with the guidance of the affairs of the school district, and no important step was ever taken without first consulting him.
Easton always delighted to honor her veteran educator. but perhaps the honor which he held in fondest memory was the celebration tendered him upon reaching the thirty-third anniversary of his superintendency. On April 28, 1887, the board of control, teachers, pupils, high school alumni and citizens generally united in an elaborate celebration in honor of his third of a century connection with the schools of Easton as superintendent. and in demonstration of their appreciation of his labors in elevating them to such a high standard of educational value. On October 28, the fiftieth anniversary of his election as superintendent was celebrated by a public demonstration in which the state superintendents and deputy state super- intendents of publie instruction and other prominent educators of the State, the boards of control, teachers, high school alumni and citizens of Easton, together with the faculty of Lafayette College and the entire teaching force of Northampton county united in paying honor to him as the organizer and administrator of the Easton schools. He died in the harness after sixty years of service as superintendent of schools, the oldest in the State. if not in the world, both in years of service and actual age. On the morning of his funeral his body lay in state in the Easton High School building. and was viewed by thousands of school children of the city, who marched with their teachers from the school buildings of the district.
Dr. Cottingham was second of the nine children of Robert and Sophia
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(White) Cottingham, of Easton, his mother a daughter of William and Susan (Everhart) White, her father a one-time sheriff of Northampton county and proprietor of the old White's Hotel, which was located in the northeast corner of Center Square, a hotel in which General William Harri- son (Tippecanoe) was entertained when a candidate for the Presidency. Robert Cottingham was born in Maryland in 1799, came to Easton in 1820, engaged in the dry-goods and grocery business, and died June 28, 18So.
William W. Cottingham was born in Easton, December 6, 1824, and died in his native city at his home, No. 34 South Fifth street, March 1, 1913, after a month's illness. He was educated in Easton's public schools, a private academy, Lafayette College (A.B., 1848), and Princeton Seminary. After graduation from Lafayette in 1848 he was a tutor at the college in 1848 and 1849, and after leaving Princeton he was principal of an academy at Haddonfield, New Jersey. Prior to his college term he had been his father's assistant in his dry-goods and grocery store, two years sufficing to convince both father and son that the latter's talent did not lie in that line of effort. While teaching at Haddonfield he accepted a recall from the trustees of Lafayette and returned to the college as a tutor, but he soon resigned and, during the school year 1852-53, taught school in South Easton. There he became interested in the work of teaching the boys employed on the canal, and quite decided to devote his time to that service. But in August, 1853, he was elected superintendent of the Easton public schools, an office he held until his death nearly sixty years later.
In addition to his duties as superintendent, which were exceedingly weighty, for the system had to be built up from practically nothing, Dr. Cottingham, in 1864 secured for the use of the Easton schools district the transfer of the building and library of the Easton Library Company, which had been closed and unused for several years, and maintained the same under his personal supervision as a circulating library for many years for the use of the public schools. This library later became the nucleus of the Carnegie Free Library, now owned and operated by the city. In 1869 he was instrumental in effecting for the first time in this country a union between the public schools by influencing the board of trustees of Lafayette College in granting a number of free scholarships as prizes to graduates of the Easton High School. He was continually studying to benefit the schools, to broaden the system and to make the work of education in Eastoir of more practical and far-reaching benefit. But while he was systematizing the school, the transactions of the school board were conducted utterly without method. The papers were thrown into old boxes or baskets and stored in room or cellar in a way to insure their never being found in the future, when their value would be appreciated. Dr. Cottingham suggested the use of books for the recording of all transactions of the board, and for its account and regular business. He offered to keep the accounts and records of the board complete, and thus the present set of books in use by the school board came into being. Furthermore, he took all the old records, bills, petitions and receipts, filed them with care and put them in a place of safety. For a number of years he also performed the clerical work now done by the secretary and librarian, and the manifold duties which devolved upon him in this connection often caused him to write busily in his office until midnight, after the arduous duties of the day. This extra duty he performed without compensation until 1873, when he was relieved by the appointment of a secretary. In 1892 he succeeded, after repeated and strenuous efforts, in ingrafting vocal music as an essential and permanent study in the curriculum of the Easton schools. His capacity for work was enormous, and Easton can never forget his self-sacrificing devotion to the labor of upbuilding the public school system, now the city's pride. No city ever had an abler superintendent of public instruction, and few men
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so won the love of those under him as did Dr. Cottingham. The city of Easton early recognized the value and importance of official school super- vision, and was the first locality in the State of Penns Ivania to establish the office of superintendent of schools. That appointment antedated even that of the state superintendent, as the latter at that time was simply an ex-officio attachment to the state secretaryship, having been erected a sep- arate and independent State department in 1854, a year after Dr. Cotting- ham's appointment in Easton. His career, therefore, spans that of all state superintendents of public instruction up to the date of his death. 1913. The present status of the Easton public schools reflects faithfully the life work bestowed upon them by Dr. Cottingham, and upon its thoroughly organized educational system with a high school distinguished for its efficiency as an educational agency, and upon an adequate supply of modern and thoroughly equipped school buildings his fame securely rests.
When eighty-six years of age, Dr. Cottingham was elected secretary of Dallas Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, for the forty fourth term, an office held by Dr. W. H. Kinney from the chartering of the lodge in 1867 until later in the same year. Then Dr. Cottingham, a charter member. was elected secretary and served continuously for forty-five years, when he declined another election. One of Dr. Cottingham's accomplishments was a beautiful style of penmanship, as clear-cut as copper plate. In 1901 Lafayette College conferred upon her son the honorary degree of LL.D. Ile was a companion of Easton Chapter No. 172, Royal Arch Masons; a Sir Knight of Hugh De Payens Lodge No. 19, Knights Templar; and a member of the United Order of American Mechanics. In 1891, upon the organization of the city and borough superintendents convention of Pennsylvania, he was elected its first president. In religious affiliation he was the oldest member of the First Presbyterian Church of Easton at the time of his death. as he was also the oldest member of the Masonic order in the city.
Dr. Cottingham married, March 20, 1855, Louisa Catherine Abel, born in Easton. August 6, 1835, died at the home of her son, No. 671 Ferry street, in February, 1915, surviving her husband two years. Mrs. Cottingham was a daughter of John and Maria E. Abel, and possessed a wide circle of devoted friends. She was a long time member of the First Presbyterian Church, and was widely known and sincerely loved. Dr. and Mrs. Cotting- ham were the parents of three daughters and a son: 1. Laura Stewart, married Joseph Morrison, of St. Albans, Vermont, where he is chief engi- neer of the New England Southern railway; Mrs. Morrison died at the home of her parents, December 31, 1912, while home on a visit. 2. Annie White, married Charles Herbert Talmadge, of New Bedford, Massachusetts. 3. Jennie Belle, married Allen L. Vories, of New Orleans. 4. William White (2), of further mention.
William White (2) Cottingham, only son of William White (1) and Louisa Catherine (Abel) Cottingham, was born in Easton. Pennsylvania, September 30, 1874. He finished graded and high school courses with graduation with the class of 1891, entered Lafayette College, class of 1895, completing three years of the engineering course. He then began practical engineering work, forming a connection with the Wabash railroad system with headquarters at Kansas City, Missouri. Later he was with the American Biscuit & Manufacturing Company of Memphis, Tennessee. going from Memphis to St. Paul, Minnesota, with the National Bisenit Company, which had absorbed the American. For a time he was the St. Paul factory superintendent, then became a traveling salesman for the com- pany, his territory lying in the South. He next became superintendent of freight and customs department of the Southern New England railway at St. Albans, Vermont, there continuing until 1900, when he returned to Easton as office manager of the Macan Company. Ile continued in that position
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until 1912, when he became assistant treasurer and a member of the board of directors, his present connection. Mr. Cottingham is a member of Dallas Lodge No. 396, Free and Accepted Masons; member of the Tall Cedars of Lebanon ; Northampton County Republican Club; and of the First Presby- terian Church.
Mr. Cottingham married, January 22, 1919, Anna May, daughter of Ferdinand R. and Alice (Baum) Bell, of Easton.
ARNOLD FREDERICK GERSTELL-The twentieth century has witnessed few greater wonders then the growth of the Portland cement in- dustry. The growth of great public works, the building of public roads, the construction of subways and railway tunnels, all produced a wonderful demand for concrete in all its forms, and with it for its prime material, Portland cement. This brought about a tremendous development in the industry and brought with it a new group of men with new ideas, broad- ened views and wider scope. To them the industry owes a debt. This group of men, numbering among their leaders T. Rogers Maxwell, formerly of the Atlas Portland Cement Company, Colonel Trexler and E. M. Young, of the Lehigh Portland Cement Company, Edward M. Hagar, of the Uni- versal Portland Cement Company, and finally Arnold F. Gerstell, of the Alpha Portland Cement Company, were the men to whose management and broad views the great modern growth of the industry is largly due. The change in the cement industry meant cost, economy and greater effi- ciency. It brought about greater competition at lower prices, and it was due to the work of the men named in these lines of great mechanical efficiency that the United States produces alone as much cement per annum as the rest of the world, and that cement here is rapidly superseding iron, steel, brick, lumber and stone in all the fields of engineering and construction.
Among the group of men named, Arnold F. Gerstell was a leader in resourcefulness, courage, energy, activity and verity. Coming into the
management of the Alpha Portland Cement Company in 1899, after a career as sales-manager for the Standard Oil Company in various cities of Mary- land, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, he brought his family to Easton, and as vice-president and general manager of the Alpha Company, soon made his influence felt. Easton was his home until death, and he won not only the highest distinction in business life as president of the Alpha Com- panv, but equal distinction as a man and citizen. His social and business qualities, that rare combination of the clear and definite, well-poised business man with the gentle, humane and sensitive nature of the Southerner, made him very dear to all with whom he was associated in a social or business way, and he will long be remembered in the industry of which he was so distinguished an ornament, and which owes so much to him as one of that group of men who have been responsible for its modern greatness.
Arnold Frederick Gerstell was born at Westernport, Maryland, near Keyser, West Virginia, in 1861. He died very suddenly at his home on College Hill, Easton, Pennsylvania. October 16, 1914. He was the son of Dr. Arnold Frederick Gerstell, who was born in Germany, and Hannah (Cresap) Gerstell. his mother coming of an old Revolutionary family. He was educated at Highland Falls Academy, New York, and Hillsdale College, Michigan. He specialized in civil engineering, and for twelve years after leaving college was engaged with the engineering corps of the West Virginia railroad, and other railroads in Maryland and West Virginia. In 1889 he entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company, and until 1899 he was with that company, filling positions as manager at Cumberland, Maryland : Wheeling, West Virginia; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In 1899 he was elected president of the Alpha Portland Cement Com- pany, the plant of that company then consisting of one small mill at Alpha,
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New Jersey, producing 300,000 barrels yearly. After fifteen years of his management, the company's plant consisted of one mill at Alpha, two at Martins Creek, Pennsylvania, one at Manheim, West Virginia, one at Ce- menton, New York, with a total capacity of 7,000,000 barrels yearly. The single mill at Alpha began at once to take on new life and vigor; new methods were adopted, additions were made, and an active sales campaign instituted. Not content with the additions made to the original plant. Mr. Gerstell bought for his company the old Martins Creek Cement Company and the Higginbotham mills at Martins Creek, acquiring wonderful quarries of rock well suited to the manufacture of Portland cement. He recon- structed both plants, developed electrical installation for their operations, and gave the business of the company a decided impetus. Next he acquired the cement works of the Buckhorn Portland Cement Company at Man- heim, West Virginia, and the plant of the Catskill Cement Company on the Hudson, about one hundred miles from New York City. These plants he reconstructed and converted into successful, profitable mills. In 1909, upon the death of Mr. McKelvey, Mr. Gerstell succeeded him as president of the Alpha Portland Cement Company. It was at about this time that the forma- tion of the North American Portland Cement Company, which bought the Hurry & Seaman rotary kiln patents, was accomplished, Mr. Gerstell having a leading part in the negotiations which led to the organization of that company. Later, during the years the company controlled the patents above named, he was one of the vice-presidents and active in the manage- ment.
Combining the qualities of the civil engineering experiences gained in railroad construction with the selling abilities that marked him as the trained and successful Standard Oil sales-manager, Mr. Gerstell was particu- Jarly fitted for the high position he filled. Closely in touch with the market, always quick to respond to its requirements in specifications, transportation and price, he at the same time developed remarkable qualities as a manu- facturer, and was always prompt in availing himself of the very latest improvement in machinery. He was among the first to adopt electrical installation, also among the leaders in installing in his plants gas engines and turbines, and in all things kept the Alpha mills and quarries up to the highest standard of economical and successful production of uniform quality cement.
In addition to his duties as chief executive and director of the Alpha Portland Cement Company, Mr. Gerstell was a director of the First National Bank of Easton, Northampton Trust Company, Alpha Supply Company. member of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, and of the Ameri- can Association of Portland Cement Manufacturers (vice-president and member of the executive committee). He was an attendant of College Ililt Presbyterian Church, and most generous in the support of any worthy cause. His clubs were the Manufacturers of Philadelphia, Livingston of Allentown, Pomfret of Easton, Northampton County Country and Lehigh County Country. He was a member of the Lafayette College Athletic Association, Travelers Protective Association, Easton Board of Trade. Easton Young Men's Christian Association, Pennsylvania Society of New York, National Geographic Society, American Highway Association, Navy League of the United States, director of St. Luke's Hospital. South Beth- lehem ; member of International Peace Forum; Wheeling Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; advisory board of Easton Hospital, and at one time of the Easton School Board. He was a man of influence in all of these organizations, and in many held important office. Sound in judgment. he was often consulted by the officials and gave freely of his business ability and experience when asked.
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