USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 46
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Mr. Wilbur maintained a beautiful summer home on Sport Island, in the Thousand Islands, adjoining Little Lehigh Island, which he also owned, and was one of the first to appreciate the desirability of this region, having built his residence in 1876. Here his death occurred in 1910, two years after he and Mrs. Wilbur had most happily celebrated their golden wedding anni- versary among a host of loyal friends. His death took from the Bethlehem community a sincere and earnest Christian gentleman, whose kindly democ- racy and friendly generosity of spirit bound men to him with strong ties. His was the type of manhood that keeps faith strong, his the companionship that lends joy to living.
Elisha P. Wilbur married, May II, 1858, Stella M. Abbott, and the follow- ing of their children survive: Warren A., a sketch of whom follows; Rollin H., Elisha P., Jr., Eldridge P., and Kenneth. Isabel E., deceased, married Judge Henry McAlpin ; Ray, and Harry.
WARREN ABBOTT WILBUR-For many years the name of Wilbur has been identified with the leading industrial and business interests of Beth- lehem and the Lehigh Valley, its present-day representative, Warren Abbott Wilbur, president of the E. P. Wilbur Trust Company, and founder and presi- dent of the Bethlehem Foundry & Machine Company, with numerous other weighty responsibilities in industrial, railroading, and financial lines. In edu- cational, philanthropic, social, and civic affairs he is prominent and active, his influence extending into every channel of the life of his city. Mr. Wilbur is a son of Elisha Packer and Stella M. (Abbott) Wilbur, grandson of Henry Wilbur, of Mystic, Connecticut, who founded his old Connecticut line in Pennsylvania.
Warren A. Wilbur was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1859. After attending a parochial school in his birthplace, he became a student at Mount Pleasant Academy and completed his education at Swarthmore Col- lege. In September, 1877, he entered the employ of the Bethlehem Iron Works Company, subsequently operating a blast furnace and engaging in coal operations. He became associated with his father in 1880 as a member of the firm of E. P. Wilbur & Company, and seven years afterward was made vice- president of the E. P. Wilbur Trust Company, succeeding to the presidency in 1910 upon the death of Elisha P. Wilbur. This company, so long the most intimate interest of his honored father, has continued under his direction in expansion and prosperity and is an important part of the financial system of this region. Mr. Wilbur was largely responsible for the permanent organiza- tion of the Bethlehem Bankers' Association, an organization that has been of the utmost value in promoting concord and stability in the financial circles of the city. He has served the Chamber of Commerce of Bethlehem as a director, and was one of the chief factors in the great "hill to hill" bridge project. He was a hearty supporter of the Government during the war, was chairman of the Bethlehem Committee of Public Safety of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and as an ex-officio member of the bankers' committee per- formed excellent service in the Liberty Loans, as well as aiding, with his means and influence, the work of the various relief and social service organ- izations.
Mr. Wilbur founded the Bethlehem Foundry & Machine Company, a concern of high industrial standing, of which he is president. He is also president and director of the Jefferson Coal Company, is interested in the First
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National Bank of Sayre, Pennsylvania, president of the Sayre Water Com- pany, the Sayre Land Company, the Wilbur Coal & Coke Company, the Val- ley Coal & Coke Company, of West Virginia, the Connellsville & State Line Railroad Company, the Jefferson Railroad Company, and the Packer Coal Company. He serves the following companies in the capacity of director : Lehigh Foundry Company, Lehigh Pulverizer Mill Company, Lehigh Valley National Bank, Western Maryland railroad, Lehigh Valley Traction Com- Fany, Lehigh Coke Company, Franklin Coal Company, and Bethlehem Fabri- cators, Inc.
Despite the exacting demands of his many business connections, Mr. Wil- bur finds time for the cultivation and enjoyment of interests far removed from industry or finance. Lehigh University knows him as an efficient and faithful chairman of the executive committee of the board of trustees, and he is also treasurer and trustee of St. Luke's Hospital, a loyal, generous friend of both institutions. He was treasurer of the borough of South Bethlehem before the consolidation of the boroughs into the city of Bethlehem, interested and active in all public matters. In politics he is a Democrat. His fraternal orders are the Masonic, in which he holds the Knights Templar degree, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and his social memberships are in the Society of Mining Engineers, the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars, Bethlehem and Northampton clubs, the Philadelphia Club, the Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Society of New York, Northampton County Country Club, Lehigh Country Club, Sigma Phi fraternity. Fishing and shooting are his chief out-of-door recreations, and he is a member of the Pohoqualine Fishing Club, Chesapeake North River Shoot- ing Club, New York Yacht Club, and the Thousand Island Yacht Club.
Mr. Wilbur married (first) Sallie P. Lindermann, daughter of Dr. G. B. Lindermann, and a granddaughter of Judge Asa Packer, and they were the parents of one son, Robert E., born July 17, 1881. He married (second) Kate Ellen, daughter of Charles and Camilla (Shimer) Brodhead, of Bethlehem, and granddaughter of General Shimer, of Northampton county.
REV. ARCHIBALD HARMON BRADSHAW-Ordained a priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Mav 25, 1905, at Christ Church, Reading, Pennsylvania, Right Rev. Ethelbert Talbot, D.D., LL.D., Bishop of Bethle- hem, officiating, Rev. Archibald H. Bradshaw served other parishes for a time, but in April, 1910, was installed rector of Trinity Church, Easton, Penn- sylvania, where, under his leadership, membership has doubled, a heavy debt has been entirely extinguished, and the church edifice largely refurnished and redecorated until it is one of the most beautiful churches of the city. He is a son of John William and Clara (Harmon) Bradshaw, grandson of Archibald Bradshaw, and great-grandson of William Bradshaw, who was the son of William Bradshaw, bishop of Bristol, and dean of Christ Church, Oxford, England. Archibald Bradshaw was one of the very early settlers of Indian- apolis, Indiana, now North Meriden street, being the site of the old Bradshaw homestead farm. Mrs. Clara (Harmon) Bradshaw was a daughter of Heman and Maria (Parsons) Harmon, and a maternal great-granddaughter of Bishop Parsons, of Petersboro, England.
Archibald Harmon Bradshaw was born August 18, 1870, in Indianapolis, Indiana. After preparation in classical school in Indianapolis, he entered Franklin College, going thence to Princeton University and Theological Semi- nary, whence he was graduated, class of 1895. He was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian church the same year, and settled as assistant pastor in the Collegiate Church, New York City. During the Spanish-American War he served as chaplain of the One Hundred and Seventy-first Regiment of New York troops. He continued in the ministry of the Reformed church until September, 1903, then became convinced that he could no longer remain in
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that faith. In October, 1903, he became a student at the Philadelphia School of Divinity, and later was ordained a priest of the Protestant Episcopal church, as related. His first appointment was as curate and assistant to Rev. Neuton Stanger, DD., LL.D., rector of the Church of the Atonement, Philadelphia. In December, 1906, he was installed rector of Calvary Church, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. He continued rector of Calvary Church until April, 1910, then came to Easton as rector of Trinity Church. He has now been settled over that parish nine years, and the fruits of his stewardship are most abundant. Outside his parish his work has been very effective, par- ticularly in connection with missions, having in association with Rev. D. A. Rocco organized St. Mary's Mission, at Windgap, Pennsylvania, for the Ital- ian residents of that village. He was editor and manager of the Bethlehem Churchman for four years; a member of the diocesan board of missions; dele- gate to the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal church at St. Louis in 1916, then serving on the committee, dispatch of business. He is chairman of the Bishop's Church Extension Fund, and a member of the com- mittee on church architecture.
He has taken an active part in civic affairs since coming to Easton, no movement lacking his support which tends to city betterment. He was largely responsible for the organization of the Easton Visiting Nurses' Association, and serves as its president. He is chairman of the War Savings Stamps Com- mittee under appointment by the Federal Reserve Board for Northampton county. He is a member of Fritz Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Pom- fret Club ; Northampton County Country Club ; Princeton Club of New York City ; Benham Club of Princeton Divinity School; Nassau Club of Princeton ; and in politics is a Republican.
Mr. Bradshaw married, June 10, 1902, Mary Elizabeth Zehner, daughter of William D. and Mary Elizabeth (Broderick) Zchner, granddaughter of Thomas Broderick, a leading coal operator of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, until his death, and niecc of Mrs. Charles O. Skeer, of South Bethlehem, Penn- sylvania, who until her death was noted for the philanthropic and charitable work she carried on throughout Eastern Pennsylvania. William D. Zehner, of Lansford, Pennsylvania, was identified with large anthracite coal interests of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Bradshaw was educated in the Brown School, New York City, finishing abroad under private instructors.
HERBERT JOSEPH HARTZOG-Herbert Joseph Hartzog was born in Topton, Berks county, Pennsylvania, November 3, ISSI, the eldest son of Israel T. and Martha Catherine (Welker) Hartzog, both now deccased. In 1882 the family moved to Hellertown, Northampton county, and ten years later to South Bethlehem, where their son has since continuously resided and is actively engaged in the practice of law.
Hartzog is the Anglicized form of the German Herzog. The paternal great-grandfather, Adam Hartzog, settled in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, near Pottsville, towards the close of the eighteenth century, while the pater- nal great-grandmother came of the Randenbush strain, prominent in early Schuylkill county history. Israel T. Hartzog was born June 25, 1856, in the village of Belmont, Schuylkill county, two miles east of Port Carbon, being the eldest son of William and Lucy (Raudenbush) Hartzog, and died in Bethlehem, Northampton county, June 18, 1917. He was a real estate and insurance broker in South Bethlehem for many years, and had a wide acquaintance and clientele in this and adjoining counties. He died sud- denly of acute dilatation of the heart. He was a highly informed member of the Masonic order, a recognized authority on its history, and a past master of Hellertown Lodge, No. 563, Free and Accepted Masons. At the time of his death and for some time prior thereto he was affiliated with H. Stanley Goodwin Lodge, No. 648, of South Bethlehem. He is buried in the family
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plot in the beautiful churchyard of the New Goshenhoppen Church near East Greenville, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, of which he had been a mem- ber at the time of his marriage. He married Martha Catherine Welker, who was born December 2, 1856, in Upper Hanover township, now the borough of Red Hill, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, June 24, 1880. Martha Catherine Welker was the eldest daughter of Jonas and Catherine (Stycr) Welker, one of the prominent pioneer families of that section of the State. She died in Bethlehem, May 5, 1915, after a brief illness. She was a devoted wife and mother, an active member of the First Reformed Church of South Bethlehem, and is buried with her husband in the family plot in the New Goshenhoppen churchyard at East Greenville, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Israel T. Hartzog were the parents of five children, three of whom died in infancy, and two sons living, Herbert Joseph and Ira W. Hartzog.
Herbert Joseph Hartzog completed the courses in the public schools of Hellertown and South Bethlehem. He graduated from the Central High School of South Bethlehem in the class of 1900, of which he was class vale- dictorian, and by reason thereof given a full scholarship to Lehigh University in the Latin Scientific Course. Before entering Lehigh he was a special stu- dent at Bethlehem Preparatory School. He graduated from Lehigh Univer- sity with the degree of A.B. in 1904, having also won first honors in his course at graduation, having been previously elected into the honorary society of Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year at Lehigh University. In the fall of 1904 he entered the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, at Phila- delphia, prepared for the practice of law, and was graduated there with the degree of LL.B. in the class of 1907. On December 9, 1907, he was admitted to the practice of law at the bar of Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and on January 6, 1908, to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He at once began to practice law in South Bethlehem, and is now well established in the confi- dence of a large clientele. He was solicitor for the South Bethlehem School District for four years, until the consolidation of the boroughs of Bethlehem and South Bethlehem, and is now solicitor for the new consolidated school district of the city of Bethlehem. He is also solicitor for the school district of the borough of Fountain Hill, school district of the borough of Northamp- ton Heights, and borough solicitor of Freemansburg, Pennsylvania. He is the title officer of the E. P. Wilbur Trust Company, counsel for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and numbers among his clientele other corpora- tions and substantial private interests. He has been admitted to practice at the Lehigh county bar and to the Federal courts of this district. He is a member of the Northampton County Bar Association, the Pennsylvania State Bar Association. Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Delta Theta fraternities, H. Stanley Goodwin Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Caldwell Consistory, Rajah Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Bethlehem Rotary Club, Northampton Club, and numerous other organizations and societies. He is an active mem- ber of the First Reformed Church of Bethlehem, South Side, Pennsylvania. He has been the president of the Chapter House Association, of Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Lehigh University since its incorporation, which associa- tion in 1918 completed the erection of a beautiful chapter house on the college campus. Mr. Hartzog's principal recreations are motoring, swimming, and tennis. He was active in war work, serving as a "Four-Minute-Man" in all of the various Liberty Loan campaigns. He also served on the Legal Ad- visory Board of the Local Draft Board of District No. 3 of Northampton county, and was chairman of the First Ward Committee in the Victory Loan campaign.
On November 19, 1912, Mr. Hartzog married Ada Frederika Worsley, daughter of Charles A. and Sallie M. (Heil) Worsley, her father being of Swedish parentage and birth, and her mother of a prominent Easton, North- ampton county, family. Mr. and Mrs. Hartzog are the parents of two daugh- ters, Jane Worsley and Margery Anne Hartzog.
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FRANK BEAHM-The name of Rev. John Philip Boehm will live in history as that of the first Reformed minister in Pennsylvania, and one of the first in America. While never a resident of Northampton county, he was one of the first land owners on Saucon creek, in what is now Lower Saucon township and Hellertown, the first tract he bought being bounded on all sides by vacant lands. He also ended his days at the home of his eldest son, Anthony William Boehm, in Hellertown, having stopped there for the night on his way home from Egypt Church, where he had administered communion the day before. There he had a land and family interest in Northampton county, now the home of many of his descendants. One of these, Frank Bealımı, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, whose carcer is hereinafter traced, is a son of Francis M. Beahm, son of Henry Beahm, son of John Boehm, son of Philip Boehm, son of Anthony William Boehm, son of Rev. John Philip Boehm, the founder of the family, and first Reformed minister in Penn- sylvania.
Rev. John Philip Bochm was a son of Rev. Bishop Lewis Bochm, a Re- formed minister at Machenbachen, near Hanan, a town of Prussia, in Hesse- Nassau, on the Kinzig river. He was born, it is believed, in the year 1683, came to Pennsylvania not later than 1720, and died in Hellertown, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, April 29, 1749. Driven from his native land by persc- cution, he came to the land of the Penns, which had been heralded all over Europe as a home where freedom of religious thought was allowed. On his arrival he located in Whitpain township, then in Philadelphia, now in Mont- gomery county, the neighborhood now marked by "Boehm's church." He was a man of education, and soon became a leader in his community, particularly marked as a man of deep piety. There were no ordained ministers to minis- ter to the spiritual needs of the Germans of that neighborhood in their own tongue, and they appealed to Bochm, the pious schoolmaster, to act as their pastor, that they might have the consolation of religion. He hesitated, for he was not an ordained minister of the Gospel, and believed it would be against church law and order. But finally he yielded, to their tearful entrea- ties, and near the close of the year 1725 he became the (unordained) pastor of Falckner's Swamp, Skippack, and White Marsh. He drew up a constitu- tion for the government of these three congregations, which was undoubtedly the earliest form of discipline adopted by the German Reformed congrega- tions in America. It was doctrinally sound and provided for all forms of service, ceremonies, and government that constituted the pure German doc- trine, according to the confession of faith of that church, and provided for the use of the Heidelberg catechism.
In September, 1727, George Michael Weiss, an ordained minister, was sent to this country by the "Upper Consistory or Classis of the Palatinate." This at once brought on a conflict between the ordained and unordained ministerial authority, and the friends of John Philip Bochm sought advice from the Classis of Amsterdam (Holland). That body, after duly consider- ing the matter, declared all the ministerial acts of John Philip Boehm to be valid, but further decreed that "he must be ordained to the ministry accord- ing to ecclesiastical authority." He at once complied with the ruling of the Amsterdam Classis, and on November 23, 1729, John Philip Bochm was ordained in New York a minister of the Reformed church. He continued in ministerial work in his own congregations and elsewhere in Pennsylvania, it being recorded that as early as 1734 he preached for the Reformed congre- gation in Philadelphia in a house rented jointly with the Lutheran congrega- tion. On August 1, 1746, Michael Schlatter arrived in Pennsylvania, having been sent by the church in the Fatherland as mission superintendent. Rev. Boehm heartily seconded this missionary effort and made many journeys with Mr. Schlatter, preaching, administering sacrament, and upbuilding con- gregations in various places.
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When John Philip Boehm first began preaching, his own house in Whit- pain township was the meeting place. In 1740 he aided in erecting a small stone church which stood where the present Boehm's church now stands. There he preached, also in Philadelphia and Germantown, until 1747, when, at his own request, owing to the growing infirmities of old age, he was relieved by Rev. Michael Schlatter, whom he solemnly installed as his successor. Henceforth his labors were confined to a narrow circle. He served as stated clerk of the first German Reformed Synod, held in Philadelphia in Septem- ber, 1747, and continued zealous and fervid for the two years following, when death overtook him at the home of his son, Anthony William, in Ilellertown, Pennsylvania. He was buried within the precincts of the church in Whitpain township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania ; which he had helped to rear with his own hands. It is not known who preached the funeral sermon, Rev. Michael Schlatter being absent on a missionary tour, but upon his return he preached a memorial sermon in which his dead friend and contemporary was warmly eulogized. This little Boehm's church which he founded now has a membership of three hundred, and supports its own pastor. He acquired some two hundred acres of farm land in Montgomery county, and about three hundred acres in Lehigh county, blessings both spiritual and material having attended his life and work. The three hundred acres in Lehigh were con- veyed in 1747 by Rev. John Philip and Anna Maria Bochm to their eldest son, Anthony William Boehm, "for and in consideration of the natural love and affection which they have and do bear for and toward their son."
Rev. John Philip Boehm married, in Germany, Anna Maria Sherrer, and they were the parents of six children : Anthony William, of further mention ; Anna Maria, married Adam Moser; Sebina, married Ludwig Bitting; Eliza- beth, married George Shamboh; Maria Phippina, married Cornelius Dewces; and John Philip, married, August 2, 1753, Anna Maria Yost.
(II) Anthony William Boehm, son of Rev. John P. and Anna Maria. (Sherrer) Boehm, was born in Worms, Germany, April 27, 1714, and died at his farm in Upper Saucon township, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1766. He received the farm in Upper Saucon township from his father, and that with all else he acquired in the way of real estate passed to his only son Philip. He married Hannah Philis -, who survived him with her only child, Philip. Anthony W. Bochm was buried in a private cemetery on his own farm.
(III) Philip Bochm, only son of Anthony William and Hannah Philis Boehm, was born at the homestead in Upper Saucon township, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, December 14, 1747, and died January 10, 1816. He was the first to dispose of any of the land first owned by Rev. John Philip Boehm, consequently did not leave the family so well endowed with land as his pre -. decessors, but did leave a large family, and from him sprang a numerous family. He married Anna Barbara Schreiber, born November 2, 1747, who survived him sixteen years, dying October 10, 1832. By stipulation with the buyers she continued her residence in the old home, a stone house now stand- ing on what is known as the Geissenger farm. Philip and Anna Barbara (Schreiber) Boehm were both buried at Lower Saucon Reformed church- yard. They were the parents of eight children: Anthony, married Cath- erine Geissenger ; Philip, married Elizabeth Wasser; John, through whom descent is traced ; David; Catherine, married Jacob Kramm; Susanna, mar- ried Jacob Ochs ; Mary, married Jacob Haas; Elizabeth, married Jacob Miller. (IV) John Boehm, third son of Philip and Anna Barbara (Schreiber) Boehm, was born at the homestead about 1772. He married Rebecca Fravel, and they were the parents of nine children: Charles, married Martha A. Dornblosser ; Henry, through whom. descent is traced; Levi, married Mary Wagner ; Israel, married Mahala Dodson ; Jones, married and had issue; Mary, married a Mr. Seifert; Hannah, married Marshall Wheeler; Henrietta, mar- ried Jacob Werst; Rebecca, married Henry Hammeck.
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(V) Henry Beahm, second son of John and Rebecca (Fravel) Boehm, was born in Hellertown, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, June 3, 1821. He married Margaret Smith, who was born in Whitehall, November 23, 1820. The connection with the Bochm family began with Anthony William Boehm, son of Rev. John Philip Boehm, he having left his farm and built a house, which in 1877 was described as the "oldest house still standing in Heller-
town." It was then the property of John A. Geissenger. Henry Boehm altered the spelling of his name from Bochm to Beahm, that spelling still pre- vailing in this branch. Henry and Margaret (Smith) Beahm were the parents of the followng children: John F., married Annie Sedame; Milton A., mar- ried Mary Cogan; Annie I., married Charles O. Bozard, of Paris, France; Sylvanie E., married Ezra Mease; Susanna, married George Stevens, of Lon- don, England; Henry W., unmarried ; Francis M., of further mention ; Mary C., married George Beck; Laura V., married John Mills; George B. McClel- lan ; Horace B.
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