USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume II > Part 61
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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR. LEVY AND THLMEN FOUSTAX ONS
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it was at its most successful height. Simply the mention of the Christ Church Choral Society and the Bethlehem Choral Society brings pleasant memories of work well accomplished and happy social fellowship. The com- bined societies have given not less than one hundred concerts, including piano recitals, organ recitals, miscellaneous concerts, cantatas and oratorios.
Professor Samuels continued his residence in South Bethlehem until 1899, then his activities having largely centered in Bethlehem, he removed to that city. After recovery from the severe illness which resulted so disas- trously for the Bethlehem Choral Society, he instituted the Bethlehem Con- servatory of Music, this one of the first and most successful institutions of its kind in the city. In 1919, Mr. Samuels purchased and rebuilt, for use of the conservatory, a beautiful and modernly equipped studio building at New and Market streets. He has accomplished a great deal toward bringing Bethlehem into prominence as a musical center, working in harmony with others to accomplish that result. As a citizen he is interested in all forward movements, and in war activities bore his share in advancing the various moves and "drives." His splendid powers as an organizer have been of service to the community, while his seemingly untiring physical powers have been utilized to aid any cause which he espouses. A man of honorable, upright life and pleasing personality, he makes friends everywhere, and is an honor to his profession. He is a member of Bethlehem's Rotary Club, Ame- thyst Council No. 846, Royal Arcanum; Keystone Lodge No. 78, and Star Encampment No. 139, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Hobah Lodge No. 267, Knights of Pythias, and a member of Christ Reformed Church of Bethlehem, of which for twenty-two years he has been organist and musical director.
Professor Samuels married, February 5, 1903, Lillian M. Neuman, daugh- ter of Julius and Marie (Lelansky) Neuman, of South Bethlehem, her father a successful merchant who retired in 1905, and died in 1908. Mrs. Samuels was educated in the Moravian schools of Bethlehem, her parents being of the Moravian faith, and following closely the teachings and tenets of that most excellent religious sect. She is interested, like her husband, in all good works, and is highly esteemed by a wide circle of friends. Professor and Mrs. Samuels are the parents of three daughters and a son: Ruth Marie, born February 2, 1904; Martha Elizabeth, October 24, 1905; Gwyneth Christine, December 9, 1909; and David Griffith (2), May 24, 1914.
GEORGE W. GEISER-George W. Geiser was born in Lehigh town- ship, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, September 21, 1852, son of Samuel and Catherine (Mack) Geiser. He began his education in the public schools. and prepared for college at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, class of 1875, and he read law with Chief Justice Henry Green. Hc was admitted to the bar February 22, 1878, was elected district attorney in 1884, serving three years; and in 1891 was made county solicitor, also serving three years as such. He is a member of the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Geiser married Henriette Sharpe Able, and has three sons: Frederick E., a graduate of Lafayette College, now a practicing lawyer, and former member of the State Legislature; George W., a graduate of Dartmouth Col- lege, member of the bar, a licutenant in the American Expeditionary Forces in the Argonne and Meuse drives; Donald A., a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, now a teacher of French and Latin in Germantown Acad- emy, and organist of Grace Reformed Church, Philadelphia.
WILLIAM TURNER-In both the Turner and Denison lines, William Turner, as the Pennsylvania representative of his family, traced to ancient and honorable New England ancestry, and completed a record of usefulness
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and integrity which is a previous heritage to his family and in accord with the best traditions of his race.
His first American ancestor in the Turner line was Humphrey Turner, born in England about 1593, who settled in Plymouth in 1628, later living in Scituate, and then on a farm east of Colman's Hills. He was a member of the first church of Scituate, represented the town for several years as a deputy to the General Court, was constable, served on numerous commis- sions, and was an active, prominent citizen. Among his descendants was Capt. William Turner, of Dorchester and Boston, one of the founders of the first Baptist church in Boston in 1665. Because of his religious convictions he was not held in honor by the Puritans of Boston, and his offer to raise a company of volunteers in King Philip's War was spurned. As the war grew more critical, he was encouraged by the government and had command of a force on the upper waters of the Connecticut river in Massachusetts, impris- oning the Indians at the place where the falls have since borne his name. On the next day, while returning to his home, he was surrounded at Greene river, and was killed with fourteen of his men.
Mr. Turner's Denison ancestry began in America with William Denison, born in England about 1586, who came to America with his wife, Margaret, and three sons, in 1631, settling in Roxbury, Massachusetts, where he was a deacon of the church. His son, Daniel Denison, was a very prominent citizen of Massachusetts, major-general of militia, speaker of the House of Represen- tatives, and for twenty-nine years an assistant. The line continues through a second son, Capt. George Denison, born in England in 1618, who, after the death of his first wife, returned to England, served under Cromwell in the army of the Parliament, won distinction, was wounded at Naseby, was nursed by Ann. Borodell in the house of her father, John Borodell, married her, re- turned to Roxbury, and finally settled at Stonington, Connecticut. He has been described as the Miles Standish of the Stonington settlement, but "he was a greater and more brilliant soldier than Miles Standish," and "except, perhaps, Capt. John Mason, he had no equal in any of the colonies for con- ducting a war against the Indians." George Denison, of Westerly, Rhode Island, was the next in line, father of Joseph Denison, of Stonington, Con- necticut, who was the father of Nathan Denison (1), born February 20, 1716, of Windham, Connecticut, and Kingston, Pennsylvania. The next in line was Col. Nathan (2) Denison, who came to Pennsylvania in 1769, and commanded the left wing of the patriot forces in the battle preceding the Wyoming Massacre, July 3, 1778. Col. Nathan Denison was the father of Ann Denison, born February 22, 1783, died in Kingston, Pennsylvania, June 4, 1823, who married Daniel Turner, grandfather of William Turner, of this record.
Daniel Turner was born in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, and later lived in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, his death occurring November 5, 1863.
His son. George Denison Turner, was born December 27, 1809, and mar- ricd, April 18, 1837, Dorinda B. Hunt, born March 5, 1818, died June 5, 1879. They were the parents of: Margaret A., deceased; Edwin, deceased; The- ophilus Il., deceased ; Leonora; Daniel, deceased; George D., deceased ; Fletcher ; Mary ; and William, of further mention.
William Turner, son of George Denison and Dorinda B. (Hunt) Turner, was born at Hope, a village of Warren county, New Jersey, nine miles from Belvidere, February 9. 1859, and there attended the public schools. He fin- ished his studies at Blair Hall, Blairstown, New Jersey, and then entered mercantile life as clerk, holding positions in New York City, Richmond, and other places. In 1889 he established in business for himself at Pen Argyl, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, twenty-seven miles from Bethlehem, his line, clothing and men's furnishings. In Pen Argyl he acquired other import- ant interests, among those to which he was most devoted being the First National Bank of Pen Argyl, of which he was one of the organizers in 1890
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and which he served as director and later as president, holding that respon- sible office at the time of his death in 1910. He developed high quality as a business man and financier, possessing that clarity of mind, sound judgment, and admixture of prudence and progressiveness so valuable to a banker. He has been one of the leading business men of Pen Argyl, and although later he moved to Bethlehem and acquired business connections there of great importance, he never lost his interest in Pen Argyl. the village in which he took his first steps and progressed so far along the road to success. In Beth- lehem, Mr. Turner soon became interested in the Phoenix Portland Cement Company, of Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and in course of time rose to control of that corporation and to its presidency. When he took a controlling inter- est in the company, it was in bad financial condition through mismanagement, but its foundations were good, and under Mr. Turner's careful, able manage- ment the company resumed its former dividend paying course. In all his business activities Mr. Turner was uniformly successful, and his upward course brought hardship or suffering to none. He was upright and honorable to the last degree, and held the highest regard of his business associates. His life was devoted to worthy aims, and he was exceedingly friendly, hospitable and social. He was a highly esteemed member of the Masonic order, belong- ing to lodge and chapter in Bethlehem, council and commandery in Easton, Mystic Shrine in Reading, and in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite held all the degrees of Bloomsburg Consistory, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. In his political faith he was a Republican, and in religious affiliation a Moravian. He died in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, honored and respected, January 27, 1910, aged fifty years, eleven months and eighteen days.
William Turner married, March 6, 1895, Agnes Martin, daughter of Christian Frederick and Lucinda (Leibfried) Martin. Christian F. Martin was born in Vienna, Austria, but when a child of three years was brought to the United States. He settled at Nazareth, Pennsylvania, was a member of the Moravian congregation, and there his daughter Agnes was born. Mrs. Turner survives her husband, a resident of Bethlehem, which city is the home of her three children: George Denison, a graduate of Moravian Col- lege, trained at Camp Hancock, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Reserve Corps of the United States army, married Clara Hermany ; Frank Martin ; and Leonora.
T. EDGAR SHIELDS-Left fatherless at the age of thirteen years, Mr. Shields, since 1890, has been a resident of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, coming with his widowed mother in that year. As a musician and instructor he has attained high rank, and as a citizen has a place with the progressive and public-spirited men of his city. He is a son of Rev. E. W. Shields, born near Kernersville, North Carolina, in 1847, died in York, Pennsylvania, January 5, 1890. Rev. E. W. Shields, a graduate of Kernersville Academy, was drafted into the Confederate army in 1865, the closing year of the Civil War, he then being but eighteen years of age. He was captured by the Federals at that fall of Petersburg, was paroled soon afterward, and saw no further service. He was a minister of the Moravian church and was stationed in various localities, being pastor of the church at Olney, Illinois, at the time of the birth of his son, T. Edgar Shields, and at the time of his death was in charge of the Moravian congregation at York; Pennsylvania. Rev. E. W. Shields married Maria H. Wunderling, daughter of Rev. John Charles Theophilus Wunderling, born in Germany, a minister of the Moravian church, stationed at Sharon, Ohio, when his daughter, Maria H., was born. Rev. E. W. and Maria H. Shields were the parents of: T. Edgar Shields, of whom further ; Theo. W., chief draughtsman with the Lehigh Portland Cement Company, of Bethlehem; Helen E., a teacher in Washington, District of Columbia; Florence C., married Charlton Lewis Murphy, violinist and manager of the
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Hahn-Zeckwer School of Philadelphia; Gertrude O., married Stanley Brown, a draughtsman with the Corning Glass Works, Corning, New York.
T. Edgar Shields was born in Olney, a city in Richland county, Illinois, July 4, 1877. Shortly after, his parents moved to York, Pennsylvania, where his father, a Moravian minister, died in 1890. Mrs. Shields, with her children, then came to Bethlehem, where the boy Edgar continued his studies in the Moravian Parochial School, finishing in 1894. He then spent two years in the office employ of the Lehigh Valley railroad, since which time he has given himself entirely to the profession of music. This was not a suddenly acquired ambition, but one cherished from the time when as a boy he began the study of music. In 1892, while a choir boy at Lehigh University Chapel, he began the study of pipe organ music under Dr. John Frederick Wolle, the great exponent of Bach, and in 1896 was selected by the music commit- tee of the vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church, Easton, Pennsylvania, as organist. He held that position for two years, then occupied the post of organist for the First Presbyterian Church of Reading, Pennsylvania, return- ing to Bethlehem in 1900 as assistant organist of the Moravian church, and in 1902 accepted the position of organist and choirmaster of the Pro-Cathedral Church of the Nativity, See of Bethlehem, a position he has filled since 1902 and yet holds.
In addition to his study under Dr. Wolle, Mr. Shields was a student under Dr. David D. Wood, the blind organist of St. Stephen's Church, Phila- delphia. Since 1905 he has also been organist to Lehigh University and has been at the organ during the many Bach festivals conducted by Dr. Wolle, in Bethlehem, an honor, indeed, as these festivals are prominent events in the musical world. He is in charge of the music department of the Moravian Seminary and College for Women, and in addition has many private pnpils. He is a leader of the Bass Cleft Club, a musical organization, is an associate of the American Guild of Organists, an honor accorded after passing suc- cessfully the required examination in 1918. He is active, progressive and pubilc-spirited, a true type of earnest, energetic, American manhood.
Mr. Shields married, at Bethlehem, September 5, 1906, Emily Shultze, daughter of Rev. Augustus Shultze, D.D., L.H.D., president of the Moravian College and Theological Seminary at Bethlehem for thirty-three years, 1885- 1918, and from that date until his death, president emeritus. Dr. Shultze began his connection with the institution fifteen years prior to his election to the presidency, having come to this country in 1870 from the Moravian College at Niesky, Silesia, Prussia. He was born in Nowawes, Brandenburg, Germany, February 3, 1840, and educated in Germany. He came to the United States in response to a call, and from 1870 until 1885 occupied the chair of theology and classic literature at Moravian College and Theological Seminary, then becoming president, and after resigning the presidency in 1918, con- tinted his connection as president emeritus, his service covering a period only two years less than half a century. He was a man of scholarly attain- ment, who has left a deep impress upon the lives of thousands who have sat under his teachings. He was one of the strong pillars of the Moravian church and the author of a great deal of its published literature. His death occurred November 12, 1918. He married (first) Julia Reck, born in 1853. died in 1874, leaving a son, William A. Reck Shultze, now a practicing lawyer of Philadelphia. He married (second) in 1876, Adelaide Peter, of Gnadenhut- ten, Ohio, born in 1849, a teacher in the seminary at Hope, Indiana, prior to Ler marriage. Children: Clara, wife of Herbert Wright, a civil engineer ; Frederick, a salesman : Emily, wife of Prof. T. Edgar Shields; Agnes, a teacher.' Lafayette College conferred upon Dr. Shultze the degree of D.D .. and from Columbian University, Washington, District of Columbia, he re- ceived L.H.D. In addition to his theological writings, Dr. Shultze wrote and published, in 1894, "A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Eskimo Language of North Western Alaska," the first work of its kind ever printed.
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