USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 40
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ELMER JOHN KREIDLER-Mr. Kreidler has been for more than fif- teen years identified with the mercantile interests of Newburg, Pennsylvania, and is a descendant in the fourth generation of the family of which Frederick Kreidler, who came to the Pennsylvania Colony from his German home with his father in 1745, was a member. From this Frederick, who was but seven years of age at the time of the American founding of the line, his descent is through Jacob Kreidler, to John Kreidler, to John Jacob Kreidler, father of Elmer John Kreidler. Agriculture was the calling pursued in all genera- tions of the line and their operations were uniformly successful.
John Jacob Kreidler was born in Nazareth township. Northampton county. November 1, 1833, and died in February. 1895. Like his American forbears, he spent the greater part of his life in farming, and to this devoted himself exclusively, as far as his private interests were concerned, but he was elected to many important positions in his community and in the county. For twenty years, in his early life, he was a school teacher. He filled the offices of tax collector, justice of the peace, school director, county auditor, and in his incumbeney of public office created a record for faithful and capable ad- ministration. He was a popular official, his popularity based no more on his genial friendliness than on his strict integrity and incorruptible uprightness. He was a veteran of the Union Army in the Civil War. enlisting in 1863 and
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being honorably discharged from the service nine months afterward. For several years prior to his death he lived in quiet retirement on his farm. He married Malinda Gold, daughter of Christian and Elizabeth (Knecht) Gold, and they were the parents of : Elmer John, of whom further ; Edna Elizabeth, married William Henry Johnson, a farmer of Newburg, and they are the parents of one son, George, born in April, 1898, employed by the Bethlehem Steel Company.
Elmer John Kreidler, son of John Jacob and Malinda (Gold) Kreidler, was born in Nazareth township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1865. He attended the public schools of the township and as a youth of sixteen years entered the store of William G. Beck, of which he is now the proprietor, as a clerk. Although he is now the owner of this property, Mr. Kreidler's connection with the store has not been continuous, for after five years he resigned his position as clerk with Mr. Beck and became his father's assistant on the home farm. Remaining at home for five years, he felt again the desire to enter business, and for three years, from 1890 to 1893, he engaged in general mercantile dealings in Hecktown, Pennsylvania, selling his busi- ness in the latter year and moving to Bethlehem. He remained in Bethlehem for ten years, then returned to Newburg and purchased the business in which he had first been employed. The principal need of the business was the intro- duction of modern ideas and methods, for its reputation and patronage were sound, and this element Mr. Kreidler supplied, improving the property to a great extent and operating an establishment that would be a credit to any community. Like his father, Mr. Kreidler is a supporter of the Democratic party, and in 1896 and 1897 he filled the office of township assessor. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, the Sons of Veterans, the United American Mechanics, of which he was the first councillor in 1891, and the Knights of the Golden Eagle. He is a communicant of the Lutheran church and was secretary of the council of the Bethlehem church.
Mr. Kreidler married, August 4, 1887, at Newburg, Pennsylvania, Sarah Elizabeth Beck, daughter of Jacob and Susanna (Keinheimer) Beck, and a sister of Dr. Beck, of Newburg, and they are the parents of: Mark John, born September 4, 1889, and Miriam Susan, born June 9, 1896, married, June 28, 1919, Stewart L. Weidman. Mark John Kreidler is an assistant chemist in the employ of the Bethlehem Steel Company. He married Lottie Smith, daughter of Henry Smith, of Bethlehem, and they have children: Elwood John, born December 29, 1913; Ruth Isabel, born July 15, 1915; and Henry Arthur, born January 23, 1917.
VICTOR J. ABEL-Although one of the young members of the North- ampton bar, Mr. Abel, in the short time he has been in practice in Bethlehem, has gained the generous appreciation of the public, many of whom have be- come his clients. Mr. Abel is descended from one of the county's oldest families, a grandson of Michael Abel, being of the family of Easton's earliest pioneers. He is a son of Granville Abel, born in May, 1857, now with the Brown & Borhek Lumber Company. He is a member of the Board of Edu- cation, secretary of the fire company, member of the Improved Order of Red Men and Fraternal Order of Eagles. He married Amelia Harwi, of Heller- town, daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Hess) Harwi. Mr. and Mrs. Abel are the parents of five children: 1. Florence Ella, a teacher in the public schools, who died in 1917, aged thirty-five. 2. Victor J., of further mention. 3. Anna Barbara, married I. Crilly Henderson, of the Bethlehem Steel Com- pany; they have two daughters, Barbara Abel and Virginia Amelia. 4. Martha, private secretary to B. F. McAtee, attorney, of Bethlehem, residing with her parents. 5. Stuart Granville, a graduate of the University of Penn- sylvania Dental Department, D.D.S., class of 1916, an enlisted soldier of the
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United States, on duty with the Medical Reserve Corps. Dr. Abel entered professional practice in January, 1919, at Hellertown, Pennsylvania.
Victor J. Abel, eldest son of Granville and Amelia (Harwi) Abel, was born in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1883. He completed public school study with gradnation from Hellertown High School, class of 1899, then entered Bethlehem Preparatory School, continuing there until graduated in 1905, his attendance not continuous, he filling several positions during these years which provided him with funds to continue. He then entered Ursinus College, Collegeville, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, received his A.B. from that college at graduation, class of 1909. He then began the study of law, and in 1912 entered the law department of the University of Pennsyl- vania, whence he was graduated LL.B., class of 1915. The same year he was admitted to the bar of Philadelphia county, and to the Northampton county bar, beginning his professional carcer in Philadelphia as a member of the legal staff of the Bell Telephone Company in Philadelphia. In 1916 he located in Bethlehem, and has gained a very good clientele during the less than three years in which he has been in private practice. He is a young man of energy and force of character, devoted to his profession, and has won for himself high reputation as professional man and citizen.
Mr. Abel is a Republican in politics and was a leading candidate for the State Legislature the present year (1918). He is secretary of the borough of Hellertown, member of the Knights of the Golden Eagle, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Phi Delta Theta, and is a communicant of the Re- formed church.
JAMES OLIVER MILLER-In the almost quarter century of his asso- ciation with the paint manufacturing concern of Henry Erwin & Sons, James Oliver Miller has filled all of the intermediate positions from day laborer to superintendent, the latter his present position. He came from his work on the farm to the plant of the company, an industry founded in 1880, and applied himself to his work with such diligence and perseverance that, with a thor- ough knowledge of the buiness, responsibilities naturally came to him, and these have been administered with a fidelity and efficiency that has been of incalculable value to his firm. Mr. Miller is a son of James and Lillie (King) Miller, his father a native of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, an iron moulder in calling, and a property owner of Freemansburg, Pennsylvania.
James Oliver Miller was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, December 18, 1876, and there attended the public schools. At the completion of his studies he worked for a time on a farm, in 1895 entering the employ of the firm of Henry Erwin & Sons, paint manufacturers of Bethlehem, then a concern of fifteen years' standing. He had no qualifications of training or experience for this business and in consequence started at the lowest point, as a laborer, his first wage a dollar and fifteen cents a day. There is nothing of the spectacular in his rise in the company, for it has been due simply to his tireless atten- tion to business and his capacity for ably discharging the more important duties that from time to time were entrusted to him, until he was placed in executive position and there proved his worth. As superintendent of the plant he is in full charge of the business administration of the firm's affairs, although he is in constant and intimate touch with conditions in the factory. Mr. Miller is a Democrat in political action, a communicant of the Reformed church, and fraternizes with the Loyal Order of Moose and the Modern Woodmen of the World.
James Oliver Miller married (first) in 1897, Bertha C. Miller, daughter of Henry and Emma (Halekoffer) Miller, of Bethlehem, and they are the parents of four children : Edith, born May 5, 1902; James, born in July, 1904; Helen, born in August, 1905; Stella, born in July, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have also had four children who are now deceased: Bertha, died aged four
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years ; Roy, drowned at the age of four years, while carrying his father's din- ner to him at the factory; Charlie, died of scarlet fever at the age of four years ; Arthur, died aged thirteen months. Mrs. Miller died in 1914 at the age of thirty-two years. Mr. Miller married (second) in December, 1918, Mamie Gross.
HARVEY F. MACK-The Eschenbach Printing Company is unique in the fact that it draws patronage from all over the world, although naturally the great volume of their trade comes from the United States. They are gen- eral job and book printers, but a specialty of the house has long been the printing of scientific books and publications, and so strongly is their reputa- tion entrenched for accuracy and neatness that a constant demand for such work is made upon the plant. The business was installed by George W. Eschenbach, and on December 30, 1901, was incorporated as the Eschenbach Printing Company, with a capital of $15,000. The incorporators were: George W. Eschenbach : Henry McKeen, now deceased ; and A. D. Chidsey, In 1902 Mr. Mack became one of the stockholders and was elected secretary and treasurer, becoming an active factor in the operation of the business. In 1907 Mr. Mack acquired control of the business and became president and treasurer. The present officers are: Harvey F. Mack, president-treasurer ; Mrs. Harvey F. Mack, secretary ; and Miss Helen W. Smith, vice-president. These comprise also the board of directors. The plant, located at No. 207-21I Church street. Easton, is modernly equipped in every detail, and gives em- ployment to about fifty people.
Harvey F. Mack, president of the company, was born in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, November 6, 1878, son of Frank W. and Luella S. (Snyder) Mack, of Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and Union county, New Jer- sey, now residing at No. 30 North Ninth street, Easton. Having been a painter all his active years until 1911, when he came to his present position, Frank W. Mack is associated with his son in the printing business. Mr. and Mrs. Frank W. Mack are the parents of five children : Harvey F., of further mention ; Robert A., an accountant at the Bethlehem Steel Works; Frank H., engaged with the Ingersoll-Rand Company of Easton; Lena M., married M. J. Fairhurst, of East Orange, New Jersey ; Olive L., married J. H. Burroughs, of Buffalo, New York.
Harvey F. Mack was educated in the grade and high schools of Easton, and after completing his school years was for two years employed at office work, and in 1900 became a part of the office force of a printing establish- ment. He soon became familiar with the mechanical department of the plant as well as the office, and in 1902 gained an interest in the Eschenbach Print- ing Company, of which he is now the controlling head. He has been very successful in his business enterprise and ranks high among the business men of the city. He is active in Young Men's Christian Association work, and is a director of the Easton branch ; is a trustee of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and is particularly active in the Sunday school, which he serves as librarian. His club is the Kiwanis. He devotes himself closely to his busi- ness, and that fact accounts largely for the success with which he has met. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Mack married, June 7, 1911, Florence S. Smith, daughter of Henry P. and Hannah R. Smith, both deceased. The family home is No. 501 Mc- Cartney street, Easton.
MILTON J. HESS-Milton J. Hess, partner with his brother, former Senator Jeremiah S. Hess, in the Hellertown Lumber & Coal Company, of Hellertown, Pennsylvania, has lived a long life in conformity with the good repute the family has earned by residence and public work within North- ampton county for more than three generations. The public record of Milton
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J. Hess includes service on the school boards of Bethlehem and Hellertown, ten years as burgess, twelve years as assessor, and forty years as elder in Hellertown Reformed Church.
Milton J. Hess was born in Hellertown, Pennsylvania, August 19, 1847, the son of Rev. Samuel and Lucetta (Klein) Hess, of that place, and descend- ant of Nicholas Hess, who in 1741 came from Zweibrucken, Germany, and settled in Pennsylvania, at Springfield, Bucks county. His son John pur- chased the property which later became known as Hess Mill, near Heller- town, Northampton county. There the branch of the Hess family to which Milton J. belongs lived, and in that old home Samuel Hess, father of Milton J., was born. The Rev. Samuel Hess died in 1875, after a service of forty years in the ministry of the Reformed church. He was an able organizer, a capable minister, and a learned divine, whose memory is revered in Heller- town, in which community most of his ministerial activity was centered. Lucetta (Klein) Hess was a native of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, and came from a prominent family of that part of the State. She lived until the year 1894, nineteen years after her husband's demise.
After the usual public school course, which he obtained in the place of his nativity, Hellertown, Milton J. Hess was placed, when fifteen years old, in the Allentown Seminary, after graduating from which he taught in the Hellertown public school for a time. In 1866, however, he continued his aca- demic education, becoming an undergraduate in the Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster. In 1869 he was graduated therefrom, and in the same year entered the drug store of Charles E. Shoemaker, of Bethlehem, having decided to enter the pharmaceutical profession. While still in the employ of the Bethlehem druggist he was able to follow the course of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and eventually he became a registered pharmacist, then forming business partnership with his former employer, Dr. Shoemaker, of Bethlehem. In 1872, Dr. Shoemaker withdrew altogether from interest in the drug store business, to continue which Mr. Hess then formed partner- ship with another professional man, Lewis W. Snyder. However, after the death of his father in 1875, Milton J. Hess disposed of his interest in the drug store business, and soon afterwards entered into business partnership with his brother, Jeremiah S., in the coal and lumber business established by the latter in Hellertown four or five years prior to that time. Since that year the brothers have continued in business partnership in the Hellertown Lumber & Coal Company, and their efforts brought them steady return, developing the business of the company until it came to its present prominent place in the commercial affairs of the county.
Both brothers have entered considerably into the public affairs of the community and county ; both have taken office at different times; but the affairs of the Hellertown Lumber & Coal Company seem to have, neverthe- less, gone forward successfully. Milton J. Hess was school board director at Betlilchem for some years, and at Hellertown for many years; he was assessor of the borough for twelve years; and was burgess of Hellertown for ten years; in addition to which Mr. Hess undertook many church duties. He is a devout member of the Reformed church, and has been an elder in the Hellertown Reformed Church for forty years, and even now gives himself as actively as ever to the work. He has been prominently identified with the administration of the church in Pennsylvania, having been elected to attend the General Synod on four occasions, and the Eastern Synod for four gather- ings, so it may be appreciated that Mr. Hess has given unselfishly and cxten- sively of his time and energies to further the community and church interests of his native place and county, and it is hardly necessary to state that his efforts have been appreciated, particularly those expended in church work. Throughout his life he, like his brother, has been active in Sunday school work. He is a close Bible student, which is not possible of long continuance
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unless the student be also a sincere Christian, which Milton J. Hess by his daily actions throughout a long life has proved himself to be. He is interested in the benevolent dispositions of the Masonic fraternity, and for many years has taken his share of the responsibilities of the Hellertown lodge and chapter.
In 1870, Mr. Hess was married to Mary A. Bachman, of Shimersville, Pennsylvania. There were five children born of this marriage, but two died in infancy. The children, in order of birth were: I. William Jeremiah, died in early childhood. 2. Howard Samuel, died at the age of twenty-eight years ; was a graduate of Lehigh University, read law in the offices of J. Davis Brod- head, and was admitted to the Northampton county bar; he married Lillian W. Perkenstock, who with a son, Howard Samuel (2), survives him ; he was a member of the Masons and the Reformed church and was active in the young men's departments of the church. 3. George Spencer, died in infancy. 4. Calvin Bachman, born April 6, 1878; educated in the Hellertown public schools, went to Philadelphia for a time, then to Charleston, South Carolina, later to Richmond, Virginia, where he was chief inspector for the lumber manufacturing concern, Woodward & Son, and returned to Hellertown in 1915 to become associated with his father's business; married Blanch S. Carter, of Richmond, Virginia, and they have three children : Calvin C., born April 10, 1906; Ethel L., born June 7, 1910; and Edith R., born December 20, 1912. 5. Katie Eliza, a graduate of Hellertown High School, Allentown Col- lege for Women, and Bethlehem Business College; now serving as private secretary to Dr. J. Fred Walle, of Bethlehem; she is active in work of the Reformed church, unmarried, and lives with her father. Mrs. Mary A. (Bach- man) Hess died September 21, 1915, respected and revered in Hellertown by the community generally, which missed the quiet, yet noble way Mrs. Hess had; missed the presence which for almost fifty years had been a distinct part of the community and church life of Hellertown.
WILLIAM H. KELLER-The success which attended Mr. Keller as a business man is remarkable, and doubly so from the fact that he had no inherited aptitude for mercantile life, but from youth fought his way upward; and as head of the business known as Keller's Temple of Music has won for himself a prominent place among the able, progressive, and enterprising busi- ness men of his native city, Easton. The business established in 1875 is now conducted under the firm name, William H. Keller & Son, and is, without exaggeration, one of the largest and most modernly equipped music houses in the country, not excepting those of the large cities. November 27, 1875, he opened a book and stationery store, later added musical instruments, and still later purchased the music business of C. B. Zulick, of Easton. A few ycars later, he opened a branch music house in South Bethlehem, which he ran for a number of years. He afterwards sold the book store to Seitz & Vogle, continuing the music store until the present. When, in 1915. Mr. Keller celebrated the fortieth anniversary of his entrance into business in Easton, he received congratulatory letters from leading music dealers all over the United States, a fact which indicates how widespread is the reputation which attaches to "The Temple of Music."
William H. is a son of Edmund and Rosanna T. (Troxel) Keller, his father now deccased, a native of Northampton county, a contractor of Easton, a man of energy, public-spirited and progressive. He was a member of the Reformed church, and in sympathy with all that was for the benefit of his fellowmen. Edmund and Rosanna T. Keller were the parents of two daugh- ters and two sons: I. Emily, now the widow of Frank Seitz, of Easton. 2. Mary, widow of Benjamin W .Hopper, of Newark, New Jersey. 3. Rev. George T., a graduate of Lafayette College, and an instructor there until beginning the study of divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary. He
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became an ordained minister of the Presbyterian church, was first appointed at Tunkhannock where he was for several years, when he was appointed pastor of the church at South Bend, Indiana, and there died after eight years of faithful and well appreciated years of service. 4. William H., of further mention.
William H. Keller was born in the family home, corner of Second and Ferry streets, Easton, Pennsylvania, March 10, 1851. He attended the public schools of the city until well along in his 'teens, then began a long and suc- cessful business career, and now, half a century later, he is one of the crown- ing glories of Easton's business achievements. He began as a clerk in Maxwell's book store, but he was not slow in realizing that his mental equip- ment was insufficient to carry through the ambitious plans which he had formed. By private instruction, self study, and business college courses, he fully fitted himself for business life, and when in due course of time his plans for the future matured, he saw full fruition of his fondest hopes.
Just why the young man came to choose musical instruments and musical accessories as his line is not clear, for he had no especial training in music; but he quickly realized that he must himself possess musical skill, and he perfected himself in the technical use of more than one instrument. He began business November 27, 1875, at Nos. 219-221 Northampton street, the building a three-story brick, which Mr. Keller acquired in 1875. Two years later the business had grown to such proportions that more room was necessary, and this was provided by the erection of a one-story addition, 27 by 75 fect. In 1891 more room was required, and a four-story brick building was erected on the lot adjoining the first store. In 1910 another four-story brick building was erected, this latter building facing on Church street, at No. 208-210. This last addition is used as a factory for the manu- facture of the William H. Keller piano and the Browning piano, both instru- ments having a recognized place in the musical world as instruments of standard merit and worth. The plant today consists of eleven floors in the four buildings mentioned, extending from Northampton to Church street, they all comprising Keller's Temple of Music, whence a very large trade in music and musical instruments is transacted in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In addition to this business, William H. Keller & Son have an interest in a piano factory in New York, and in their trading handle the finest of musical instruments of every kind. Salient features of the Temple of Music are fair and courteous treatment of every caller, whether purchaser or shopper, strictly upright methods of dealing with every customer, large or small, and a policy, progressive and modern, for patrons of the temple are always sure they have the best and latest contributions to musical library, instrument or other fad.
Success disarms criticism, and even the most carping critic is silent in viewing the business career of William H. Keller. Yet he is most modest and approachable, ever remembering his small beginning and the rough, rugged road he traveled before he entered the street named "Easy." In his private office can be seen, appropriately framed, the first checks he drew in payment of some of the obligations incurred in stocking his store and making ready to open for business at 3 P. M., November 27, 1875, as testified from a leaf from his cash book which is also preserved as a memento. The sales for each day of the first year are also to be seen, one item under date of November 30, being this statement: "Very cold day, dropped to $6.80."
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