USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 45
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
Chester Howell Rice, a graduate of Lafayette College, upon attaining the age of twenty-one became manager of the Abell Opera House, at Easton, and two years later inaugurated a chain of theatres in the State of Illinois. He then became advance manager for Ilenry B. Harris, so continuing until the death of Mr. Harris. He represented as advance manager the well known stars, Rose Stahl, Helen Ware and Elsie Ferguson, and in the course of duty made several trips from coast to coast. After the death of Mr. Harris, Mr.
192
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
Rice became business manager for David Belasco, in advance of David War- field, and is now ( 1918) on the Pacific Coast, and in the fall of 1918 a student at Harvard University, in army training.
Walter Douglas Rice, a graduate of Lafayette College and the University of Pennsylvania, began preparation for the practice of medicine, but aban- doned medicine for journalism, connected with the Brooklyn Eagle in the capacity of reporter, and now, fall of 1918, is at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, in training.
Frances Rice, the youngest child, a graduate of Easton High School, is residing with her father.
HENRY A. PICKING FISCHER-Now successfully established in law practice in Easton, Pennsylvania, Mr. Fischer is fairly started upon a career in a profession which richly rewards her capable sons. Ilis father, a devoted minister of the Lutheran church, was for nineteen years pastor of St. Paul's Church, and here the son obtained his classical and professional education, and when finally admitted to the bar, chose Easton as the seat of his practice. He is a grandson of John Henry Fischer, born in Geisen, Hesse Cassel, Germany. July 28, 1810, died in August, 1871. He married Annie Elizabeth Gilbert, horn August 8, 1810, died in September, 1892, surviving her husband twenty-one years. They came to the United States in 1836, landing in Balti- more, Maryland. They were the parents of three daughters and nine sons.
The youngest of these twelve children, Rev. August H. F. Fischer, father of Henry A. P. Fischer, was born in Berlin, Somerset county Pennsylvania, and there spent his youth. He prepared for college at Gettysburg Preparatory School, going thence to Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, whence he was graduated in June, 1880. Choosing the sacred calling, he entered the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and there was graduated, class of 1883. Later his alma mater conferred upon her son the honorary degree D.D. in recognition of his usefulness as a Christian minister. After ordination as a minister of the Lutheran church, he was called to the pastorate of the church of New Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, there remaining five and one-half years. He then accepted a call from the church at Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania, and there continued for five years. His third charge was St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Easton, and there he labored with great accept- ability for nineteen years, the church prospering in temporal affairs, the congregation increasing in numbers and spiritual strength. From Easton, Dr. Fischer went to his present pastorate, the church at Phoenixville, Pennsyl- vania. Dr. Fischer married, October 30, 1884, Anne E. C. Picking, daughter of Henry A. and Charlotte (Walter) Picking, of Gettysburg.
Henry A. Picking Fischer, son of Rev. August H. F. and Annie E. C. (Picking) Fischer, was born in New Bloomfield, Perry county, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1885. He was educated at Lerch's Preparatory School, finish- ing in 1902, and at Lafayette, whence he was graduated A.B., an honor man, ranking among the first twenty, class of 1906. He passed his preliminary law examination the same year, became a law student under Henry J. Steele, passed his finals in 1909, and in February, 1910, was admitted to the North- ampton county bar. He began practice in Easton immediately after his admission, was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the State in March, 1913, and to the United States District Court the same month and year. He is building up a good practice, and ranks with the strong young men of the Northampton bar. He is a member of the County and State Bar Association, is a member of the Northampton County Society for the Preven- tion of Cruelty to Animals, and is its president : is a member of the Young Men's Christian Association ; and an active worker in the various drives for funds for the War Chest, Liberty Loans and other campaigns. He is an affiliated member of Brainerd-Union Presbyterian Church, and deeply inter-
193
BIOGRAPHICAL
ested in all forward movements. His recreations are those of the out-of-doors, swimming, boating, canoeing and tennis making a special appeal to his virile manly nature. The war garden plan found in him an ardent supporter, his interest in his garden vieing with his sports as recreation.
Mr. Fischer married, December 14, 1916, Martha Weaver De Hart, a daughter of Howard De Hart, born in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, educated in Moravian Seminary, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and his wife, Margaret M. (Wilhelm) De Hart, granddaughter of James H. Wilhelm, one of the first telegraphers in his section of Pennsylvania, long time paymaster of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and his wife, Martha M. (Weaver) Wil- helm, niece of Capt. William Herman Wilhelm, a graduate of West Point Military Academy, the classmate of Gen. Peyton March, and with General Pershing in the West, a gallant soldier who gave his life for his country, killed in action in the Philippines. The Weavers and Wilhelms come from distinguished Moravians, an ancestor, Rev. John Bechtel, with Count Zinzen- dorf and others, being editors of a church catechism which was printed by Benjamin Franklin. In 1874. John Bechtel and a few others established at Germantown, Pennsylvania, a school for girls, which was the nucleus of Moravian Seminary at Bethlehem. Another ancestor was the founder of the first newspaper in Northampton county, another was a captain of militia of Northampton county, and still another was a charter trustee of Lafayette College. Martha Weaver (De Hart) Fischer, a graduate of Moravian College for Women, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is an accomplished musician and talented soprano soloist. She is a member of the Junior Auxiliary, Easton Hospital, the Red Cross, and the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, tracing her descent from Capt. Cornelius Weygandt, Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Fischer are the parents of a son, James Henry, born in Easton. December 4, 1917.
JOSEPH MACKEY ROSEBERRY LONG-Many years ago, when Bangor, Pennsylvania, was known as New Village, Jacob E. Long came to the village and opened the first store there. That was after his return from the Civil War, and from that time he was a leading spirit in the settlement. From merchant to banker was the next step, and to him the First National Bank of Bangor owes its existence. There his son, Joseph M. R. Long, was born and early educated, and there returned to practice his profession after a period of twelve years spent in law practice in New York City. Father and son have been closely identified with the growth and development of Bangor, and the name there is an honored one. Prior to coming to New Village, Jacob E. Long resided in Upper Mount Bethel township, Northampton county, a locality in which his ancestors carly settled and were tillers of the soil.
Among the first of record in this branch is Abraham Long, a major of the War of. 1812, and a farmer of Upper Mount Bethel. The pistol he carried in that war is now the property of his great-grandson, Joseph M. R. Long, of Bangor. Major Long served in the coast artillery, and was stationed at Sandy Hook, New York. His father, John Long, was granted a large acreage in the present Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he settled after his arrival in 1740 from Scotland, whither the family, known as Laingc, emigrated from the north of Ireland, in the time of the Irish kings.
William A. Long, son of Major Abraham Long, was born in Upper Mount Bethel township, and there engaged in farming, but later in life he retired to the village of Mount Bethel, then known as Williamsburg. Hle married Eva Miller, of Stone Church, Pennsylvania, and they were the parents of three sons and three daughters: Hiram, a physician, deceased ; Jeremiah, a merchant, now residing in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Edna, deceased ; Lu- N. H. BIOG .- 13
194
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
cinda, deceased; Emma, deceased; and Jacob E., whose career is herein traced.
Jacob E. Long, youngest son of William A. and Eva (Miller) Long, was born in Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1845, and died in Bangor, Penn- sylvania, September 9, 1914. In 1862, at the age of seventeen years, he enlisted in the Union Army, a member of Company F, 129th Regiment, Pennsylvania. He was mustered into the service August 13, 1862, and mus- tered out with the company May IS, 1863, the regiment having enlisted for nine months service. Mr. Long re-enlisted and served until the close of the war. In 1865 he located in New Village, now the borough of Bangor, Penn- sylvania, and there established a mercantile business, his the first store in the village. The discovery and development of the rich slate beds gave the village wonderful prosperity, and after continuing his general store until 1889 he sold out. In 1881 he started a private banking business as the Ban- gor Bank. The following year he organized the First National Bank of Bangor, of which he was president until his death, September 9, 1914, with the exception of a term of eight years. He was postmaster of Bangor four years, 1904-08, and during his administration of the office, and solely through his efforts, free delivery within the borough and rural free routes were estab- lished. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, serving as elder of the Bangor church for more than thirty years, and representing Lehigh Pres- bytery several times as delegate to the General Assembly. He was a man of strong, but lovable character, an advocate of progress and improvement, his public spirit and enterprise being reflected in the deeds he performed. He was highly esteemed in the community for his upright life and kindly spirit, which was manifested toward all those with whom he came in contact. He always ictained his interest in his army comrades, and was a member of Albert Jones Post No. 383, Grand Army of the Republic, and at the time of his death was holding the post of adjutant.
Jacob E. Long married, November 12, 1874, Henrietta Sophia Roseberry, of Belvidere, New Jersey, born June 29, 1847, daughter of Joseph Mackey and Sarah (Depue) Roseberry. Sarah Depue was a daughter of Abraham Depue, and granddaughter of Benjamin Depue, the latter an officer of the Revolution, who on September 4, 1784, was commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Northamp- ton county, Pennsylvania, for a period of seven years. He married Catherine van Campen, daughter of Col. Abraham van Campen, who commanded the first New Jersey regiment in the French and Indian War, and was the first ' judge of Sussex county, New Jersey. Colonel van Campen was a son of Admiral Jan van Campen, of the Holland navy, and of Tietze (Decker) van Campen, daughter of Jan Decker.
The first Depue ancestor in America was Nicholas Depue (French, Depuis), a Huguenot, who came with his wife Catalina (Renard) Depue, and son Moses from Artois, France, and arrived in New Amsterdam (now New York City) in October, 1662, and bought land there, now the site of the pres- ent Produce Exchange Building. The son, Moses Depue, born 1657, settled in Ulster county, New York, where a large grant of land had been made to his father. He was the founder of Rochester, New York, and one of the charter members under the grant from Queen Anne to Rochester in 1703. He married Maria Wynkoop. Their son, Benjamin Depue, Sr., born 1695, married Elizabeth Schoonmaker, at Esopus, now Kingston, New York, Sep- tember 3, 1719. Their son, Benjamin Depue was born at Esopus, New York, June, 1729, and removed to Lower Mount Bethel township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, in 1765, and died there September 26, 1811. He is the first Benjamin Depue mentioned in this sketch, and his son, Abraham Depne, great-grandfather of Joseph M. R. Long, was born September 28, 1765, in Lower Mount Bethel township. He married Susanna Hoffman, January 5, I792.
195
BIOGRAPHICAL
John Roseberry, great-grandfather of Henrietta S. (Roseberry) Long, settled at Phillipsburg, New Jersey, about 1740, and there owned about fifteen hundred acres, including the site of Phillipsburg. He married Mar- garet Phillips, daughter of William Phillips, in whose honor Phillipsburg was named, and a descendant of Rev. George Phillips, a graduate of Cam- bridge, 1613, who came to New England in 1630 with General Winthrop's Colony, was pastor of the First Church in Watertown, Massachusetts, and is the ancestor of a large and illustrious family, including the famous Phillips Brooks, the fifth Episcopal bishop of New England. The line of descent from Rev. George Phillips is through his son, Zerrubabel Phillips, of Water- town, and Southampton, Long Island; his son, Theophilus Phillips, of New- town, Long Island, and Lawrenceville, New Jersey ; his son, William Phil- lips, who settled near now Phillipsburg, New Jersey, as early as 1735; his daughter, Margaret Phillips, married John Roseberry, who settled at Phillips- burg, in 1740. John and Margaret (Phillips) Roseberry were the parents of Michael Roseberry, who married Margaret Mackey, daughter of Capt. Joseph Mackey, Company I, First Regiment, New Jersey Militia, who was a gallant officer of the Revolution. They were the parents of Joseph Mackey Rose- berry, born at Phillipsburg, New Jersey, October 5, 1804. His wife, Sarah (Depue) Roseberry, was born at Foul Rift, located on the banks of the Dela- ware in Lower Mount Bethel township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, January 31, 1815. They were the parents of nine children, Henrietta Sophia, born June 29, 1847, being the sixth. She married Jacob E. Long, and they were the parents of three sons: Joseph M. R., of further mention; William H., of Bangor ; and Frank R., of New York City.
Joseph Mackey Roseberry Long, eldest son of Jacob E. and Henrietta Sophia (Roseberry) Long, was born in Bangor, Pennsylvania, August 19, 1875, and there completed grade and high school courses of study. He then entered Princeton University, whence he was graduated A.B., class of 1896. He pursued professional study at New York Law School, New York City, receiving his degree LL.B., in 1898, after which he engaged in law practice in New York City until 1910. He then returned to Bangor and established in practice there, so continuing without interruption until the present, 1919. Mr. Long, through his patriotic ancestry, has gained admission to the Sons of the American Revolution, the Sons of Veterans, and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States ; and he is a member of the Masonic order. In politics he is a Republican, and in religious affiliation a member of St. David's Episcopal Church of Bangor, which he serves as senior warden.
Mr. Long married, June 16, 1903, Ella May Tuttle, of New York City, daughter of Nathaniel and Ella (Clark) Tuttle. Mr. Tuttle served on the New York Tribune for a period of forty years, retiring in 1908. He was closely identified with the development of journalism in New York City from the time of Horace Greeley, who secured Mr. Tuttle's services for the Tribune. When Whitelaw Reid, the owner, was in France as ambassador from the United States, Mr. Tuttle had full charge of the business affairs of that great newspaper.
JOHN H. WILSON, M.D .- Numbered among the octogenarians of the Bethlehem when his useful life ended, Dr. Wilson was one of the well known and highly esteemed men of the community in which he settled shortly after his return from the Civil War, in which he served professionally. For per- haps twenty years he practiced as a general physician, then and until his death specialized in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, ranking very high among specialists in those diseases. ITe was of Scotch-Irish descent, son of James and Kate (Himmelwright) Wilson, of Milford Square, Bucks county, Pennsylvania.
John H. Wilson was born at Milford Square, Pennsylvania, December 6,
196
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
1836, died in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, September 12, 1916. After complet- ing his studies in Quakertown and other schools, he began teaching, continu- ing until his entrance to the medical department of the University of Penn- sylvania, whence he was graduated M.D., class of 1860. Soon afterward he volunteered as a surgeon, and until the close of the Civil War in 1865 he was in active service as a surgeon, seeing hard service as a hospital worker, his regiment, the Seventy-third Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, being badly cut up at Gettysburg, and previously at Antietam and elsewhere had been hotly engaged. Dr. Wilson came out of the war a veteran in experience, and soon settled in Bethlehem, where he continuously practiced until a short time prior to his death, at the age of ncarly cighty. Until 1885 he was a general practitioner, then took post-graduate courses in diseases of the eye, car, nose. and throat, after which he confined his practice to such diseases. He was very skillful and won the confidence of a very large clientele. He was a mem- ber of the American Medical Association, Pennsylvania State Medical Society, Northampton County Medical Society, and the Physicians' Club of the Bethle- hems. He always retained the liveliest interest in his old army comrades, and was one of the original members of J. K. Taylor Post, Grand Army of the Republic. He was also a member of the Masonic order, belonging to lodge and chapter, and highly regarded by his brethren of the order.
Dr. Wilson married, in 1860, Lavina Dillinger, daughter of Henry and Anna Dillinger, of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, of a family founded in Penn- sylvania by Heinrich Wilhelm Dillinger, who came in 1728 from Würtem- berg, Germany, and settled near and below the present Dillingersville in Lower Saucon township, Lehigh county. There he owned one hundred and fifty acres, which he cultivated and upon which he built a house, yet stand- ing, the oldest landmark of its kind in that section of Lehigh county. He was a Lutheran in religion, a good man, and a good citizen. Five children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Wilson: William, a journalist of Wilmington, Dela- ware; Arthur, a practicing physician of Monessen, Pennsylvania; Clarence, engaged in the automobile business in Brooklyn, New York; Herbert, engaged with the A. C. Huff music house of Bethlehem; Florence N., a resident of Bethlehem, her home the old homestead. Dr. Wilson survived his wife, who died October 22, 1915, and at his own death, September 12, 1916, left eleven grandchildren and a great-grandchild. Both Dr. Wilson and his wife are buried in Niskey Hill Cemetery, Bethlehem. Both were greatly beloved by all who knew them, and they were deeply attached to one another, the good doctor not long surviving the death of Mrs. Wilson.
ELISHA PACKER WILBUR-Though a decade has passed since Elisha Packer Wilbur was called from the scene of the rich and fruitful labor of his long life of seventy-seven years, his influence has survived strong and enduring, and the institutions in whose founding he played such important part attest, in their permanence and prosperity, upon what sure foundations they were reared. The well-known trust company that bears his name is but one of the memorials he left. He was a large contributor in his busy life- time to the growth, development, and stability of the Lehigh Valley railroad, with which he was associated in capacities ranging from rodman on the corps of engineers who made the first survey for the line to the presidency of the road. Lehigh University and St. Luke's Hospital benefited by his devoted service as trustee and official, while from 1878 to February 1, 1910, the year of his death, he filled the office of treasurer of South Bethlehem. He was one of the strong men of Eastern Pennsylvania, a man who wrought and accom- plished in vast affairs, and who found opportunity in the pressure of business to turn aside for companionship with his fellowmen, for the service of worthy institutions, and for the aid and comfort of those who faltered in life's battle. His death occurred June 14, 1910, at his summer home on Sport Island, in
-
PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R L
197
BIOGRAPHICAL
the Thousand Islands, St. Lawrence river, and he bore with him to his long resting placc the admiration, love, and esteem of his community and his asso- ciates.
Elisha Packer Wilbur, son of Henry and Eveline (Packer) Wilbur, was born in Mystic, Connecticut, January 31, 1833, descendant of old New Eng- land families, his father a sca captain until 1838, when he made his home in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania. Here Elisha P. Wilbur attended the public schools, beginning his business life in the store of Asa Packer, his uncle, at Nesquehoning, where he remained for five years. At the end of this time he became a rodman with the engineers who made the first survey for the Lehigh Valley railroad, soon afterward taking charge of the accounts of Judge Packer, contractor for the Lehigh Valley. Until the fall of 1855 he worked under the direction of Asa Packer, whose great mind and genius were primarily respon- sible for the development of the Lehigh Valley, and with the completion of the road continued his confidential secretary and assistant until Judge Packer's death in 1879. A better school of business experience could not have been found, and under the instruction of that able, vigorous business general he received a training broad and thorough.
Mr. Wilbur was one of the five trustees of the large estate of Judge Packer, and one of the executors of his will. He was appointed acting trustee by his associates, and being practically in sole charge of the vast Packer interests, he administered the weighty trust with conscientious fidelity and conspicuous ability, to the general satisfaction of everyone intimately con- cerned. Hc was second only to Judge Packer in his grasp of the details of the Lehigh Valley railroad affairs, and after Judge Packer's death until 1884, in the office of director, he was virtual manager of the line, in the latter year being elevated to the presidency. His election met with wide favor among directors, stockholders, and employees, and his long administration, ended by his resignation to devote himself to private enterprises, was a period of expansion and advancement planned and executed by his keen and vigorous mind.
His interests in coal and iron properties and operations were extensive and important. He was for many years a director and chairman of the ad- visory and finance committee of the Bethlehem Iron Company, now the Beth- lehem Steel Company, rated as one of its largest stockholders. From the time of its organization he was president of the Copley Iron Company, director of the Northampton Iron Company, and a large owner of the Lucey Furnace. He was president of the Jefferson Coal Company, the Packer Coal Company, the Wilbur Coal & Coke Company, operating in West Virginia, and a director of the Valley Coal & Coke Company, of West Virginia.
In 1870 he organized the banking house of E. P. Wilbur & Company, which received a trust company charter in 1877 as the E. P. Wilbur Trust Company, under which title it is now operated, with his son, Warren A. Wilbur, as president. To this enterprise, distinctively his own creation and bearing his name, he applied himself earnestly and constantly, and until the time of his death, when it ranked among the strongest institutions of its kind in the region, its prosperity and great usefulness was to him a source of deep satisfaction. Among his other interests were the First National Bank of Sayre, Pennsylvania, the Sayre Land Company, the Sayre Water Company, the South Bethlehem Gas & Water Company, of all of which he was presi- dent.
There was little time during his long life when he was not in some posi- tion of public trust, although he never entered political life beyond the con- fines of his community. He was a member of the first Town Council of South Bethlehem, served as chief burgess from 1869 to 1874, and was borough treas- urer from 1878 to February 1, 1910, a record of long usefulness and service. Many movements of civic improvements had their origin in his progressive
198
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY
public-spirit, and he was ever strong in his support of worthy enterprises, religious, educational, or charitable. He was a member of the board of trus- tecs of Lehigh University, an institution to which his uncle. Asa Packer, having arranged for its founding, gave much of his time and millions in money. He was also a trustec and treasurer of St. Luke's Hospital, and to both of these institutions gave generously of his means and labor.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.