USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume III > Part 14
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Tobias B. Clauser was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, May 17, 1856. He attended the public schools in the place of his birth, and at the age of fourteen years began his business career as a clerk in a store near his home, in which employ he continued for nine years. On October 20, 1878, Mr. Clauser assumed the management of the business he now owns, which had
James L. Schooley
Fannie R. Schooley
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formerly been the old established store of his father-in-law, Jacob Markle, the building having been erected and the store opened in 1858. Mr. Clauser has altered the building, and has become the head of a thriving business, receiving a generous patronage in the town because of a firmly established reputation for absolute fairness in his dealings and for the uniform high quality of the goods he carries. His line is a general one, and his store enjoys the merited confidence of the community.
For twenty-eight years Mr. Clauser was postmaster of Seidersville, re- ceiving his first appointment from President Cleveland, and filling that office until the Seidersville community came under the service of the South Bethle- hem office. Like his father, Mr. Clauser is a Democrat in politics, although he has never entered extensively into public life. For one term he was a school director, and has served as president and secretary of the local Board of Education. He fraternizes with the Loyal Order of Moose, belonging to the South Bethlehem Lodge, and for many years he has been a deacon and elder of the Lutheran church, also filling the position of secretary of the church organization for one term.
Mr. Clauser married, October 20, 1877, Julia, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Harris) Markle, her father dying in 1878, aged sixty-one years, her mother's death occurring in September, 1900. Mrs. Clauser, the mother of four children, is an invalid. She bears her burden of physical infirmity with a patience and cheer that is the expression of a Christian character of rare strength and beauty, and gave two sons to the service with an unfalter- ing patriotism. Children of Tobias B. and Julia (Markle) Clauser : I. Amy, born November 27, 1882, married Thomas C. Siegfried, an employee of the Bethlehem Steel Company; resides at Seidersville; they are the parents of one son, Woodrow Thomas, named in honor of the president and vice-presi- dent of the nation. 2. George Grover, born May 9, 1885, named for President Grover Cleveland; an employee of the Bethlehem Steel Company; married Anna Sutton, of Hellertown, and they are the parents of three children. 3. Raymond Jacob, born April 22, 1887; a soldier in the United States Army. 4. Willis Edwin, born August 15, 1893, a soldier in the United States Army, served with the American Expeditionary Force in France.
JAMES LOMASON SCHOOLEY-The Schooleys of Warren county, New Jersey, to which James Lomason Schooley belonged, sprang from John Schooley, who came from England to New Jersey in the year 1700. Some of his immediately descendants early settled in Burlington county, others settling at Schooley's mountain, a mountain ridge along the western border of Morris county, New Jersey, constituting a part of the Blue Ridge system. Schooley's mountain, the original home of the Schooleys and which bears their name, became one of the famous mountain resorts of the country, the natural beauties, mineral springs and pure air, attracting visitors from near and far. There Jedediah Schooley, a grandson of John Schooley, lived, he the son of Joseph P. Schooley, born in the township of Greenwich, Warren county, New Jersey, April 17, 1785. Other members of the family settled in Greenwich and at Bloomsbury, and there James Lomason Schooley was born. The Lomason family, with whom the Schooleys intermarried, has long been identified with the history of Warren county, the original settler being one Lambertson, who owned land on Scotts mountain. Lawrence Lomason, one of his grandsons, born in 1770, bought a farm near Broadway, Warren county, New Jersey, in 1799, and there reared a large family, some of his descendants later settling in Phillipsburg, New Jersey.
The Roseberry and Schooley families were united by the marriage of James L. Schooley to Fanny Roseberry, she a daughter of Joseph and Mary Louise (Leffler) Roseberry, and a descendant of John Roseberry, who set- tled in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, about 1740. Joseph Roseberry was a de-
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scendant of John and Margaret (Phillips) Roseberry, and was the son of Joseph and Sallie (Vannatta-Climer) Roseberry, the latter a Widow Climer. Joseph Roseberry, the father, was the owner of a large farm, also owned and operated a line of canal boats. Mrs. Joseph Roseberry, widow, now of Easton, Pennsylvania, was the daughter of Christopher and Margaret (Lova) Leffler, who resided near Harmony, New Jersey. Christopher Leffler was the son of John Leffler, who with two brothers came to America from Ger- many. John Leffler settled in New Jersey, engaged in farming, became a large land owner, presenting to each of his eight sons a good farm. He also had two daughters. He lived to be over ninety years of age. John Roseberry owned fifteen hundred acres, including the site of Phillipsburg, his lands extending from Andover Furnace and Greensbridge to Marble mountain and nearly to Watertown. John Roseberry married Margaret Phillips, daughter of William Phillips, in whose honor Phillipsburg was named. William Phillips was a descendant of Rev. George Phillips, who arrived from England with Governor Winthrop, June 12, 1630, settled at Salem, and founded the Congregational church in America. Mary Louise Roseberry, mother of Fanny (Roseberry) Schooley, is yet a resident of Easton, Pennsylvania, and recently was present at a meeting in the newly completed Sunday school building of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, seated with her granddaughter, Florence May Schooley, daughter of James L. and Fanny (Roseberry) Schooley. The significance of this attendance was better understood later when the pastor, Dr. Ford, announced the gift of ten thousand dollars from Miss Schooley for the new Sunday school build- ing, also a handsome Weber grand piano. Dr. Ford spoke most feelingly of the care and Christian culture Miss Schooley had received through her grand- mother, and how they had been for years among the most loyal members of the church and Sunday school. Charles P. Ayers, president of the board, in accepting this gift, stated that the board of trustees had already taken action, and that a fine bronze tablet would be placed in a suitable position and that the building would be called the Florence May Schooley Bible School building.
James Schooley, of the Warren county, New Jersey, branch, descending from John Schooley, of Schooley's mountain, was a farmer of Greenwich township, his farm located near Bloomsbury. He married Elizabeth Witte, also of a New Jersey family, and they were the parents of James Lomason Schooley, to whose memory this review of an ancient and honorable family is dedicated.
James Lomason Schooley was born at the home farm near Bloomsbury, Warren county, New Jersey, December 2, 1858, and died in Easton, Penn- sylvania, December 13, 1898. He grew to manhood at the home farm, obtain- ing a public school education, and in due time learning the carpenter's trade. About the year 1898 he located in Easton, Pennsylvania, but later in that same year he died. He was a well known contractor of New Jersey and Easton, was concerned in a great deal of railroad construction work in the line of his business, and erected many buildings in Easton, Phillipsburg and other towns. He was a man of high principle and sound judgment, and liked by all who knew him, being one of those men of action whose deeds speak louder than their words.
Mr. Schooley married, Fanny Roseberry, born November 3, 1860, in Phil- lipsburg, New Jersev, daughter of Joseph and Mary Louise (Leffler) Rose- berry. They were the parents of an only child, Florence May Schooley, of Easton.
ADAM L. KOTZ, M.D .- Although still serving a limited office clientele, Dr. Kotz devotes himself largely to his duties as pathologist to Easton Hos- pital, Easton, a position he accepted in 1913. He came to the staff of Easton
Florence M. Schooley
Joseph Roseberry
Mary L. Roseberry
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Hospital after twenty years association with St. Luke's Hospital as patholo- gist, his professional life having been spent in Easton, he coming to the city with his newly acquired degree M.D. in 1881. He has won the honors of his profession through hard study and devoted interest, his desire to be of true service to his fellow men, and a thorough knowledge of the science to which he has devoted his life. He is a son of John H. and Sarah (Yeisley) Kotz, his father a farmer of Forks township, and of ancient Northampton county family.
Adam L. Kotz was born at Sandts City, Forks township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1856. His education, begun in country public schools, was continued at Trach's Academy, Easton, and at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, the last named conferring the degree M.D. upon her son at graduation, class of 1881. Upon receiving this high authority to practice medicine, Dr. Kotz located in Easton, April 25, 1881, began prac- tice, remaining seven years, until 1888. In that year he went abroad, and for one year pursued a course of intensive study and laboratory work in Vienna clinics under the highest instruction which those clinics afforded, specializing in pathology and bacteriology. In 1889 he returned to Easton and resumed practice. For twenty years he was pathologist to St. Luke's Hospital, and since 1913 has maintained the same relation to Easton Hospital, conducting a large private practice in connection with his hospital work, until in recent years only a restricted number of office patients are cared for. His research work has been of inestimable value to medical science, and he has contributed largely to the literature of his profession through American and foreign medi- cal journals. Dr. Kotz is a member of the Northampton County Medical Society, Pennsylvania State Medical Society, American Medical Association, Pathological Society of Philadelphia, American Microscopical Society, and American Society for the Advancement of Science. He is one of the "old school" scholarly physicians to whom the ethics of the medical profession are a sacred trust, and is honored both by profession and laity. As a patholo- gist he has attained high rank, his reputation extending far beyond local and State limits.
Dr. Kotz married, May 27, 1885, Susan C. Hay. They have no children:
CHARLES FREDERICK AICHER-A native son of Easton, and senior member of the firm, Aicher Brothers, of that city, Charles F. Aicher is a representative of the energetic, progressive men who have constantly labored not more for personal gain than for the general welfare of their city. He is a son of Frederick and Magdalena (Fisher) Aicher, both born in Baden, Germany, Frederick Aicher coming to the United States when young, his wife leaving Germany when a child of ten years. Frederick Aicher learned the shoemaker's trade, and until his death followed that trade in Easton. His father died during the passage from Europe, leaving his widow with four sons and two daughters, Frederick being the youngest and the last survivor, of the family. He married in Easton and there led a quiet, industrious life, his only interest outside his work and his family being the church, he being a very active member, serving on the committee in charge of the building of St. Joseph's Church. He died, aged eighty-six years. Frederick and Mag- dalena (Fisher) Aicher were the parents of eleven children: Francis ; Joseph ; William, died in infancy ; Andrew Albert, whose sketch follows; Mary, mar- ried Albert Lerch ; Annie, married Albert Schaefer ; Joseph ; Charles ; Jennie, married John Paramour ; Charles Frederick, of further mention ; and Edward.
Charles Frederick Aicher was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, January I, 1868. He was educated in the schools of the city, parochial and public, and completed high school courses with the graduating class of 1887, then became a carpenter's apprentice, following that trade for three years. In 1000 he first engaged in the business he has conducted so successfully, Aicher Broth-
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ers being the largest firm of wholesale and retail wall-paper dealers and interior decorators in the county, and one of the largest in Eastern Pennsyl- vania. Their trade extends far beyond the city limits, and is built entirely upon the excellence of their work, quality of their merchandise and the fair, upright methods of transacting their business. Charles Frederick Aicher, senior member of the firm, is a member of the Easton Board of Trade, and one of the substantial, solid men of the city. He is a member of the Patriotic Order Sons of America, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of St. John's Lutheran Church. Travel is his chief recreation, but business claims his almost exclusive attention, as its continual prosperity demands the same expert management that has made it one of Easton's most success- ful enterprises. In politics he is a Republican.
Charles F. Aicher married, in May, 1886, Emily L. Hilborn, daughter of Charles and Mary (Trittenbach) Hilborn, of Easton, formerly of Slatington, Pennsylvania, where Mrs. Aicher was born. They are the parents of seven sons: Ralph Frederick, associated with his father in business; Carl J., also engaged in the family business ; Allen Chase, connected with the Aicher Broth- ers' business; Frank, an accountant, enlisted in the United States Army, in the medical depot stationed at Washington, District of Columbia; Lee, died in 1916; William B., an inspector in the service of the Government; Walter D., in the medical depot of the United States Army, stationed at Washington, District of Columbia.
ANDREW ALBERT AICHER-The business interests of the city of Easton have long felt the influence of the Aicher name, the particular line in which members of that family have engaged being wall-paper and interior decoration.
Andrew Albert Aicher, son of Frederick and Magdalena (Fisher) Aicher, was born at the family home in Easton, No. 206 South Fourth street, and there he has ever since made his home. He attended public school until thirteen years of age, then began his lifelong connection with the wall-paper business, beginning as a paper-hanger apprentice. He served his time under Charles Crozet, and later worked as a journeyman with William H. Hazzard for several years. He made his first business venture in 1889, opening a wall-paper store at No. 102 South Third street, Easton, and from that year he has continued in the same business without a partner. For fifteen years, 1889-1904. he continued business at his original location, then removed to No. 154 Northampton street, there remaining until 1909, when he sold out to Mast & Newmeyer, and he resumed business at his present location, No. 3 Lane's court. On April 1, 1920, Mr. Aicher will have been connected with the wall-paper business as apprentice, journeyman and dealer for a full half- century, having begun a boy of thirteen in 1870. During that time he has fitted up and conducted three of the leading wall-paper stores of Easton, and is always alluded to in trade gatherings as the "father" of the wall-paper business in Easton. He is a man of energy and integrity, his reputation thoroughly established for fair dealing.
Mr. Aicher married, in Easton, April 7, 1877, Jennie J. Frederick, of Bethlehem, born July 2, 1856, died February 20, 1911, daughter of Jacob and Eliza Frederick. They were the parents of a son who died in infancy. An adopted child, Daisy Jennie, died aged fourteen years. She was born Octo- ber 10, 1884, died February 20, 1898.
RICHARD M. JOHNSON-Richard M. Johnson, a poor director of Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and a resident of Nazareth, was born in Lower Nazareth township, September 13, 1846, son of Simon and Sarah (Seiple) Johnson. Simon Johnson was born in Palmer township, Pennsyl- vania, at Lower Nazareth, April 18, 1812, and his father, Martin Johnson,
Richard m Johnson
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came when a young man from Baden, Germany, and died here in 1846. Martin and his brother owned a farm of four hundred acres in Palmer, and later this tract was divided into four farms, Martin's farm, lying south of Nazareth, becoming the homestead of this branch of the family. Martin Johnson married a Miss Knecht, of Bushkill township, who survived her husband thirty years. They were the parents of five children: Simon, of further mention ; Susanna, married John Wagner; Livina, married Solomon Hummel; Sibina, married Samuel Fair; and John, who died in Lower Naza- reth in 1890.
Simon Johnson inherited the farm at South Nazareth, and in 1838 settled there with his wife Sarah, a daughter of Henry Seiple, of Lower Nazareth. She died in 1885, aged sixty-eight years, and he in 1902, at ninety years of age. Their thirty years of happy wedded life were spent at the homestead in South Nazareth. The tract of one hundred and two acres that Simon Johnson owned so long became, under his management, one of the most fertile in the township, and after his death Richard M. Johnson, acting as exccutor of his father's estate, sold it to William L. Shimer. Simon Johnson served on the School Board for ten years, and was one of the staunch Demo- crats of his town. He was a member of the Dry Land Reformed Church, and both he and his wife are buried in the cemetery of the church lot. They were the parents of nine children, one dying young: Susan M., married James Jacoby, both deceased; Sarah N., married Daniel Herman, both de- ccased; Marietta, married George Rhodes, both deceased; Angelina, now widow of Samuel Seigel, a resident of Bethlehem; Richard M., of further mention ; William H. J., now an undertaker and funeral director of Easton; Savannah, widow of Stephen Beck, and a resident of Bethlehem; Cyrus S., a teacher for years, and an insurance broker, now deceased.
Richard M. Johnson grew to manhood at the home farm in South Naza- reth, and early became its manager, and for twelve years after his marriage continued its operation. He then bought the hotel at the Fair Grounds, which became known as "Johnson's Hotel." This he turned into a popular cattle market, having commodious stables and sheds. He continued largely interested in stock raising, buying, selling and shipping to all points for thirty years. His purchases were largely from the nearby farmers, but he was widely known and he never declined business even if it came from distant parts. Mr. Johnson gave up the hotel in 1894 and moved to a house within the borough. In 19II he was elected a member of the County Board of Poor Directors, and was treasurer of the board for eight years, and at present he is president of it. The poor farm consists of three hundred and twenty-five acres, is in the western part of Nazareth township, is well equipped and a modern institution, and it has all the latest improvements, which was largely due to Mr. Johnson's management. A herd of Holstein cattle, mostly selected by him, roam the farm pasture, and is considered one of the finest herds of Holsteins in Northampton county. Mr. Johnson is a member of the County Fair Association, and is interested in various enterprises. He is a shareholder in the Nazareth National Bank. He was a member of the Town Council of Nazareth. At his hotel property he once maintained a shooting range well equipped for the sport, and the Johnson House "Shoots" was one of the well known gun clubs of its time and holds records in the community. On one occasion a party county convention was held at the Johnson House which was a well known political centre. He was a member of the North- ampton County Trap Club, a member of the Knights of Pythias, and attends St. John's Reformed Church.
Richard M. Johnson married, in 1873, Emma Beck, born in Nazareth in 1850, daughter of George and Esther (Kocher) Beck. George Beck was born in Lower Nazareth, where he died aged eighty-one years, and his wife died N. H. BIOG .- 25
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here aged seventy-five years. Mrs. Emma (Beck) Johnson's paternal grand- father and mother were George and Elisabeth (March) Beck, old residents of this section.
ELLSWORTH LINCOLN SIMMERS-Daniel Simmers, a Chester county, Pennsylvania, farmer, married Julia Guest, and they were the parents of twelve children, Ellsworth Lincoln being the eleventh child. Two of the sons of Daniel Simmers served in the Civil War, Thomas and Robert. The father died in 1883, aged eighty-two years.
Ellsworth Lincoln Simmers was born in Warwick township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, June 21, 1861, and there lived the first fifteen years of his life, attending the district school and aiding in farm labor. In 1876 he became clerk in a Phoenixville (Pennsylvania) general store owned by Frank Kramer, with whom he remained eighteen months. His next employ- ment was with the Philadelphia & Reading Express, continuing in that position eighteen months, receiving his pay in scrip part of the time, the panicky times of 1877 being on. He then went West, stopping for a time in Chicago and Omaha, finally settling in St. Joseph, Missouri, there being a passenger brakeman on the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs railroad running between Council Bluffs and Kansas City. After six months' rail- roading he resigned and entered the employ of Towers & Gudgel, stockmen and cattle raisers, with ranches near the Colorado State line on the Cimmeron river. Towers & Gudgel were at that time the largest cattle ranchers, owning sixty thousand head of cattle and five thousand horses. They shipped five thousand fat beeves to market each year, and were widely known in the cattle market. Mr. Simmers remained with this outfit for five years, going to Galveston, Texas, the second year in the interest of the firm, having the previous year been outside representative, looking up stray cattle. During the winter of 1882 he drove stages between Troehea and Tascosa on the Dodge City (Kansas) and Las Vegas (New Mexico) stage line. In 1883 he was with the drive of thirty-three hundred steers which were brought seven hundred miles north from Texas on the hoof and turned out to graze on the plateau between the Canadian and Cimmeron rivers. In the spring of 1884 he was appointed by the company to gather all one and two-year-old steers, and on June 21 started north from the Cimmeron river to his destination on the Big Beaver river in Montana, a distance of eleven hundred miles. Because of Texas fever among cattle that year the well beaten trails were not fol- lowed. On July 4 they crossed the Arkansas river, then went up the Big Sandy to Kit Carson, then a due northwesterly course across a country in' which they did not meet a white person for eighteen days. The Burlington & Missouri railroad had just been completed to Denver, and the occasional smoke of a locomotive was a welcome sight. The drive ended safely on the Big Beaver in Montana, October 4, one hundred and ten days having been consumed on the way. The next winter, 1884, he returned to the old home in Chester county, Pennsylvania, but after a visit he returned West. Having become an expert cowboy and liking the work, he continued a foreman for the Triangle J. P. Company. In the spring of 1885, in the Little Missouri country, he was made captain of the "round up," covering one hundred and fifty miles of territory from the head of the river to Fort Buford, where the . Little Missouri empties into the Yellowstone. There he met Colonel Roose- velt for the first time, the colonel having two small ranches in that section, the Elkhorn and Chimney Butte. This was in the section known as the Bad Lands, the area of those lands being entirely in North Dakota and Montana. Colonel Roosevelt was then absorbing his Western ranch training, and anxious to learn everything connected with ranching. Mr. Simmers was an expert with the lariat, having a record of roping sixty calves in an hour, this meaning that he "cut them out," roped, and threw them, and then applied
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the heated brand. Colonel Roosevelt took many long rides with Mr. Simmers, and they became warm friends.
Mr. Simmers remained with the Triangle Company until the cattle were shipped, then drove seven hundred head to Mandan, North Dakota, there entering the employ of the Marquis de Mores Ranch Company, the marquis being the well known French nobleman who was later killed in North Africa, it is supposed by Arabs. He had established an abattoir at Medora, North Dakota, and was in direct competition with the big packers of Omaha and Chicago. Through the influence of Colonel Roosevelt and Marquis de Mores a school was started in Medora, the only available room being over a saloon, Mr. Simmers being prevailed upon to become the teacher. Dakota had not been divided into the States, North and South Dakota, and the same influ- ence which established the school organized a new county, of which Mr. Simmers was elected probate judge. The next fall Judge Simmers removed to Chicago, there opening a saloon on Halstead street, but in November, 1886, there was a strike period and he was soon put out of business.
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