USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume III > Part 16
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HARRY EDWARD McCORMICK, M.D .- Well established in a good practice in his native Easton, Dr. McCormick has, in the years which have intervened since receiving his M.D. in 1911, fairly earned distinction as one of the leading young physicians and surgeons of Northampton county. He is a son of William Henry and Josephine (Goodyear) McCormick, of Easton.
Harry E. McCormick was born in Easton, November 10, 1883, and here completed the public school courses of instruction with graduation from high school. He finished preparatory study at Easton Academy, then entered Medico-Chirurgical Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, whence he was graduated M.D., class of 1911. During his vacation periods he served as interne at Easton Hospital, and after graduation was also interne and later assistant surgeon to that institution. He maintained that connection until 1916, but from graduation in 1911 he had been engaged in private prac- tice, first opening an office in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. In 1912 he removed his office to Easton, and has there been in practice until the present, 1919, having built up a most gratifying medical and surgical clientele. In addition to his private practice, he is surgeon to the following corporations: Standard Process Steel Company, C. K. Williams & Company, Chipman Knitting Mills and Lehigh Valley Railway Company. Dr. McCormick keeps in inti- mate touch with every phase of medicine and surgery through his numerous professional societies. He is a member of the Northampton County Medical Society, Pennsylvania State Medical Society, American Medical Association, Fellow of the American Medical Association, member of Mann Orthopedic Society, the W. Frank Haehnlen Obstetrical Society; Ernest La Place Sur- gical Society, Fox Optholmological Society, George Meeker Bio-Clinic Society and Mann Orthopedic Society. He is a member of Easton Lodge No. 152,
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Free and Accepted Masons; Easton Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Association of Military Surgeons, United States Army; Delaware Street Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics a Republican. He en- listed in the United States Regular Army Medical Corps during the recent war with Germany, was commissioned first lieutenant, and served for several months on the medical staff at Camp Greenleaf. With the signing of the armistice and Germany's abject surrender of her navy and equipment, he was returned to civil life and his private practice.
Dr. McCormick married, in Easton, August 18, 1914, Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Walter W. and Emma (Brown) Leyrer.
JOHN O. BACHMAN-The records of the Bachmans trace their origin to Switzerland, early members of the family living in Luzerne. When Wil- liam Penn came to Pennsylvania, his private secretary was named Bachman, and in compensation for the work he performed two townships of land were deeded to him, known then as Upper and Lower Sagney, but later as Upper and Lower Saucon. History also records the sale by Christian Beitler to Christian Bachman, June 20, 1751, of two hundred acres along Saucon creek, land originally deeded by John, Thomas and Richard Penn, July 23, 1744, to Christian Beitler.
Christian Bachman was a miller and owned the mill property which many years later passed under control of Ehrhart & Brother. He married and reared a large family of sons: Abraham, John, George, Henry, Christian, Jacob, Joseph, Solomon and Daniel. He also had a daughter Mary, who married Christian Schuck. David Bachman, son of Christian Bachman, the miller, was the ancestor and great-grandfather of John O. Bachman, through Peter, son of David, John W., son of Peter, and John O., son of John W. Peter Bachman had three sons: John W., Charles and David. John W. Bachman was a farmer of Lower Saucon township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, but in early life learned and followed the carpenter's trade. He was a man of upright, honorable life, a member of the County Board of Supervisors and Township School Board, and interested in all town affairs. He married Lovena Overbeck, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, they both being devout members of the Reformed church, he serving in official capacity. John W. Bachman died at his farm in Lower Saucon in March, 1892, aged eighty-nine years, his wife preceding him to their last resting place in 1891. They were the parents of three sons: Peter, deceased; Titus O., of Heller- town, Pennsylvania; and John O., of further mention.
John O. Bachman, son of John W. and Lovina (Overbeck) Bachman, was born at the parental farm in Lower Saucon township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, September 21, 1854, and there his youth was spent. He attended the public schools of the district and grew up a well informed young man, a carpenter by trade, but later engaging in farming and becom- ing well known as one of the substantial farmers of the section. He fol- lowed carpentry for some years after leaving home, but finally settled on a farm of his own and there lived the quiet life of the prosperous agriculturist until 1897, when he entered official county life. In 1896 he was chosen war- den of Northampton county jail, and on January 1, 1897 entered upon the duties of his office. He developed strong managerial quality, and during the seven years that he remained in office the affairs of the jail were conducted most humanely and justly, discipline was never better, and the voters of the county were fully satisfied with their choice of a warden. He surrendered the office to his successor January 1, 1904, and spent the following summer in the West, returning in 1905 to assume the duties of steward at the North- ampton county farm. Upon leaving this position he engaged in business as a contractor and builder, reverting to the business and trade in which he had engaged when a young man. Until 1914 he did a large amount of building
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in Northampton county, chiefly in Easton and South Bethlehem. Since 1914 he has largely withdrawn from building operations and given his time to other lines of activity. During the year 1914 he formed a partnership with his son-in-law, W. H. Heil, and opened a flour and feed store at No. 144 South Third street, Easton, and has developed a very successful business at that location. He is a man of energy and ability, and in the varied relations in life which he has occupied, farmer, county official, contractor, builder and merchant, has won success and reputation. In his political faith, Mr. Bach- man is a Democrat of strength and influence, his voice a potent one in county party councils. He is a member of the Lutheran church, member of the Patriotic Order, Sons of America; Hellertown Lodge No. 563, Free and Accepted Masons ; and Bethlehem Chapter, Royal Arch Masons.
Mr. Bachman married, November 7, 1878, Mary Ellen King, born in 1855, died October 20, 1916, daughter of Henry and Magdalena (Young) King. Mr. and Mrs. Bachman were parents of a daughter, Anna B., wife of W. H. Heil, assistant cashier of the Easton National Bank.
JOSEPH McGARR-The entire business career of Joseph McGarr has been passed in Bethlehem, his residence since he was brought as a boy from his English birthplace, and in this city he has labored from the age of twelve years, beginning under the pressure of necessity and winning for himself independent position and reputation in the business that is now his field, real estate and insurance. He has been favored by no preference nor influence but, utilizing every opportunity that presented, he prepared himself for responsibilities, and by his determined application forced himself upward in the business world. Still a young man, he has come to a point in his career where he is able to select his fields of endeavor, and the record of his past gives promise of a future useful to his city. Mr. McGarr is the son of Samuel and Elizabeth J. (Holmes) McGarr, who were the parents of three children : Samuel, an inspector in the employ of the United States Govern- ment, stationed at the Bethlehem Steel Company's plant at Bethlehem ; James, an officer in the United States Navy ; and Joseph.
Joseph McGarr was born in the north of England, December 16, 1884, the death of his parents occurring after the family came to the United States and when he was quite young. As a boy he attended the public schools of Bethlehem, but the necessity of contributing to the family support caused him, at the age of twelve years, to begin work as a bobbin boy in a silk mill, where his daily wage was twenty-five cents. For three years he was em- ployed in this mill, then, appreciating the advantages of a trade, he became a machinist, for ten years following that calling in the plant of the Bethlehem Steel Company. The advantages of business made their appeal to him, and he perfected himself in the knowledge necessary to successful dealing in real estate and insurance, opening an office for business in these lines on February 4, 1910. The nine years of his continuance in real estate and insurance dealings in Bethlehem have been years of profit and experience to him, and the straightforward, open methods he employs in all his transactions have won him favor among his fellows and have gained him a clientele of impressive proportions. Mr. McGarr is independent in politics, and serves as a member of the Council of Fountain Hill township. He is a member of lodge, chapter and commandery in the Masonic order, his lodge No. 648, Free and Accepted Masons, of Bethlehem, and he also fraternizes with the Knights of Pythias, Bethlehem Lodge. He is a communicant of the Episcopal church. He is a director of the People's Trust Company, a corporation he helped to organize, working diligently for its realization.
Mr. McGarr 'married, July 18, 1906, Emma, daughter of Charles W. and Araminta Finady, of Bethlehem. Mrs. McGarr is a graduate of Pennsylvania State College and the Boston Conservatory, and is a prominent vocalist.
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Mr. McGarr is also active in musical circles, and for a long time has been a member of church choirs. Mr. and Mrs. McGarr are the parents of Georgine Holmes, born May II, 1907, and Charles W. F., born August 20, 1909.
DANIEL PAUL CURRAN-In County Donegal, Ireland, Patrick James Curran was born and spent the first twenty years of his life, obtaining his education in the schools of the city of Dublin. In his twentieth year he came to the United States and settled in Easton on the South Side, where he is now living retired in his seventy-eighth year, having given the active years of his life to the iron and steel industry. He married Katherine Derry, born in Ireland, who died in 1917, aged seventy-three years, the mother of a family of thirteen children, Daniel P. being the fifth child.
Daniel Paul Curran was born in Easton, South Side, July 28, 1873, and there completed grammar school courses. He then attended Stevens Busi- ness College, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, after which he learned the barber's trade, and for twenty-two years he conducted his own shop in Easton. In the meantime he had made a close study of the art of embalming the dead, his instructor the very capable Joseph Kinney, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a master of the art. In 1908, Mr. Curran opened a mortuary establishment in Easton and offered his services to the public as undertaker and funeral direc- tor, and he is today, eleven years later, head of the best organized undertaking business in the county. His equipment has been completely motorized, no horse-drawn vehicles having been used since 1916. Only the best and most modern methods of caring for the dead are employed, Mr. Curran keeping in close touch with every improved method and constantly seeking to improve his service through study and attendance upon clinics devoted to mortuary surgery. He is a member of the Funeral Directors' Association of Pennsyl- vania and New Jersey, National Funeral Directors' Association, Warren County (New Jersey) Funeral Directors' Association, Northampton County Funeral Directors' Association, St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, the Jacksonian Democratic Club, and a patron of the out-of-door sports, hunting, fishing and motoring. He was an original mem- ber of Company I, of the once famous Easton Guards, and served for two years as a member of the Hospital Unit of that organization.
Mr. Curran married, October 15, 1894, Katherine Agnes O'Connor, daugh- ter of Hugh and Jane (Little) O'Connor, her father born in County Meath, Ireland, her mother born in Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Curran are the parents of two sons and three daughters: Vincent De Paul, married Helen Sheetz, and they are the parents of a son, Vincent De Paul (2) ; Raymond Daniel, his father's assistant in the undertaking business; Elizabeth Irene, Katherine Marie and Margaret Winifred.
ANDREW M. WEINGARTNER-One of the handsomest and most completely equipped buildings of its kind in the United States is the "Home" built by the Bethlehem Steel Company for its military band of one hundred men. This organization came into being about three and one-half years ago, and is under the direction of Andrew M. Weingartner, a musical director of large and varied experience. The band is composed of men employed in the offices and works of the Bethlehem Steel Company, and the movement is in the line of recreation rather than work, the band being a side issue to the men from a financial standpoint.
The new building is essentially a combined club house and practice hall, and the site chosen is a mile distant from the works and of ready access from all directions. Less than five hundred yards distant is the building in which a military band met one hundred and thirty years ago, which was perhaps the first permanent organization of its kind in America. The building was turned over to the band in February, 1914, by Charles M. Schwab, who
Eng by E & Williams & Bro MY
a. M. Ningarhier
2
L.T. Teisfing
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founded and takes a close personal interest in this organization. The organi- zation has met with great popularity on all sides. A series of concerts has been given by the band to the employees of the Bethlehem Steel Company and their families, which were very well patronized, a single concert having been attended by two thousand persons. In the summer-time these con- certs are given outdoors at various points in the community, which attract not only a large number of the company's employees, but many of the towns- people as well. In the winter-time they are held indoors. The movement has been a most popular one from the standpoint of welfare of the company's employees, and that the band has proved a source of pleasure to them is evidenced by the large attendance on every occasion.
It is with this band and with the Lehigh Symphony Orchestra that Mr. Weingartner has won much more than local fame as a leader and conductor. He has built up both band and orchestra from the initial organization and it is no exaggeration to say that both have won national reputation. The fame of one is the fame of the other, for neither organization knows no other leader who confines himself to their upbuilding.
Andrew M. Weingartner was born at Fünfkirchen (Five Churches) (also Pecs), a town of Hungary, capital of the county of Baranya, one hundred and five miles from Budapest, October 15, 1872. This city existed in the time of the Romans, and at the close of the Middle Ages was the seat of a university. There he was educated in the common branches, but later he took courses in music and was graduated from Budapest and Arad Conservatory. . He became a skilled performer and leader, and when performing his years of military duty was assistant director of the Fifty-second Regiment of Infantry, stationed at Budapest. In 1896 he came to the United States, and at once located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His first position in Bethlehem was as a teacher at the head of the violin department at the Moravian Seminary and College for Women. He remained with that institution for eighteen years. During that period he also devoted himself to the practice of his profession and became interested in every department of the city's musical life. As a teacher of the violin he had few equals in the valley, but of late years he has had little time for private pupils. In 1907 he organized the Lehigh Valley Sym- phony Orchestra, later the Bethlehem Symphony Orchestra, an organization of sixty pieces, all local musicians, splendidly trained and still conducted by Professor Weingartner. The orchestra is enthusiastically supported by Charles M. Schwab and has won a secure place in the heart of music lovers. In 1910 he organized the Bethlehem Steel Band, which has grown to a well trained band of one hundred pieces, the performers all recruited from the plant of the Bethlehem Steel Company, and the especial pride of that company.
While these two organizations now take practically all his time, Professor Weingartner for four seasons was in charge of the music department of the Pennsylvania State Chautauqua Society at Mount Gretna. He has also been actively helpful in the many musical festivals of the Moravian church and identified with a great deal of the musical life of his city. He married, in October, 1898, at Bethlehem, Gertrude E. Ungerer, daughter of Jacob and Gertrude (Shoenen) Ungerer, of Bethlehem, her parents both deceased. They are the parents of a daughter, Hermine, married Howard H. McHose, a gradu- ate of Cornell University, 1916, now a mechanical engineer in the employ of the Bethlehem Steel Company. They are the parents of a son, Lucius H. McHose, born May 1, 1918. Mr. and Mrs. Weingartner are also the parents of a son, Andre R. Weingartner, now a student at the Moravian Preparatory School.
LEVIN FRANCIS LEIBFRIED-Manufacturing operations, finance and real estate dealings were the forms of business that claimed the greater part of Mr. Leibfried's time and attention throughout his long life of seventy-
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six years, thirty-seven of which were spent in Bethlehem. He is remembered in this city as a man of affairs, of keen judgment and strong ability, and as a citizen ready and willing to assume the responsibilities of citizenship. He was an active churchman, as is his wife, and all departments of the work of the Moravian church in this district-spiritual, educational and material- benefited through his devoted interest and loyal support.
Mr. Leibfried was a son of John Christian and Harriet (Beitel) Leibfried, his father a native of Germany, who came to the United States in young manhood. He was master of the carriage builder's trade, and soon after settling in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, began the manufacture of fine carriages, which for many years were noted for their excellence throughout eastern Pennsylvania. He continued the operation of his factory until the close of the Civil War, when the business was taken over by his sons, Henry and Levin F. John C. Leibfried was one of the solid, substantial members of the Nazareth community and a constant member of the Moravian church. Harriet (Beitel) Leibfried was a member of an old Northampton county family. She bore him five children, of whom Levin Francis was the fourth.
Levin Francis Leibfried was born in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, April 23, 1841, and died in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1917. He was a student in famous old Nazareth Hall, and learned the carriage builder's trade under his father's expert instruction, subsequently, with his brother Henry, suc- ceeding to the management of the factory. In 1880 he came to Bethlehem and became vice-president of the First National Bank of this city, an office he resigned in 1883. For many years he maintained a warehouse and show- room for the sale of the product of the Nazareth factory, and transacted a large business in this line. Early in his Bethlehem residence he was im- pressed with the opportunities in real estate in the city and vicinity, and until his death he was numbered among the important and influential operators of the district. Under the title, first of L. F. Leibfried and then as L. F. Leibfried & Son, with John Edward Leibfried, his son, as junior member of the firm, he was prominent in the upbuilding of some of the most popular residential districts in the western and northeastern sections of the city. He was a member of the Bethlehem Real Estate Board, and by his associates in real estate dealings and by the investing public he was regarded with esteem and confidence, reputation based upon a long career of adherence to the strictest principles of fair treatment.
A member of the Moravian church from his youthful years, he was always an earnest worker in his congregation and in the larger work of the denomi- nation. He served for many years as a member of the finance and advisory boards of the church, was on various occasions a delegate to the synods, was a trustee of the Moravian Seminary, and was responsibly connected with the construction of the Moravian Theological Seminary. Civic as well as business and religious affairs shared in his interest. His position on the con- solidation of the boroughs and his support of the hill-to-hill bridge project were typical of his progressive, public-spirited attitude, and he was a depend- able factor in campaigns for municipal improvement. He was a member of the Bethlehem Club.
Levin Francis Leibfried married, March 15, 1877, Martha Jane, daughter of John Edward and Ann Matilda (Greider) Luckenbach, of the pioneer Luckenbach family of Bethlehem. They were the parents of one son, John Edward (q.v.).
Mrs. Leibfried is an active member of the Moravian church, vice-presi- dent of the Moravian Ladies' Sewing Society, famed for the rag dolls they make, sold for the benefit of home missions, and a member of the Moravian Union of King's Daughters. She is identified with all of the charitable work of the denomination, and untiring in her church work.
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JOHN EDWARD LEIBFRIED-Mr. Leibfried, since 19II identified with real estate dealings in Bethlehem and until the death of his father the partner of the elder Leibfried, succeeds in worthy manner his honored father, whose career was productive of so much of benefit to the business interests of the locality and to the Moravian church, of which he was a member and a zealous worker in behalf of its different organizations. Mr. Leibfried is a grandson of John C. Leibfried, and his wife, Harriet (Beitel) Leibfried, both natives of Würtemberg, Germany, whence they came to Northampton county, Pennsylvania. There, in Nazareth township, was born Levin F., father of John Edward Leibfried, March 23, 1841, and his death occurred July 5, 1917. He became the head of a large real estate and insurance business in Bethle- hem, and was prominent in numerous enterprises which have become sub- stantial industries and businesses of the locality. For many years he was a director and vice-president of the First National Bank of Bethlehem, and until the time of his death retained his interest in all of the affairs of the city. He was a devoted member of the Moravian church and gave freely of his time and means in its service. He was a member of the several executive boards and for many years was a trustee of the Young Ladies' Seminary, of the church. Levin F. Leibfried married Martha J., daughter of John Edward Luckenbach, of Bethlehem, who survives him.
John Edward Leibfried was born in Nazareth, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, February 21, 1879, and after attendance at the Moravian Pre- paratory School of Bethlehem, he entered Lehigh University, majoring in chemistry and graduating in the class of 1900. For a time he was employed as a chemist with the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company, afterward serving in the same capacity with the Phoenix Cement Company of Nazareth for three years, then accepting a civil service appointment in the United States Reclamation Service at Denver, Colorado, filling the office for a period of five years. Returning East in the summer of 1911, he became his father's partner in real estate and insurance operations, a connection that continued until Mr. L. F. Leibfried's death in 1917. Mr. Leibfried is secretary and treasurer of the United Realty Company, secretary of the West Bethlehem Building & Loan Association, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and is a notary public. He has continued the business founded by his father, broadening its scope as the city has increased in importance as an industrial center, and holds important place in his line in Bethlehem. He is a Republi- can in political preference, an active worker in the Moravian church, and fraternizes with the Masonic order.
Mr. Leibfried married, June 7, 1911, Louise, daughter of John Menefee, of Sedalia, Missouri, and they are the parents of: Mildred Louise, born August 1, 1913; and Jane Marshall, born November 24, 1915.
HENRY E. RICKSECKER-Two generations of this family have at- tained prominent position as musicians and merchants, Emanuel C. Rick- secker and his son, Henry E. Ricksecker, both thorough musicians and able business men. Emanuel C. Ricksecker was born in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, in 1837, and died in Bethlehem in 1906. In 1844 the family moved to Boston, and there he obtained his schooling and his musical training as a pupil of Zuch, the violinist, who was himself a pupil under the famous Davids. The young man became a violinist of note, and for some time was a member of Gilmore's Boston Symphony Orchestra. After returning to Pennsylvania he engaged in business in Bethlehem as a dealer in musical instruments, special- izing in the best known makes of pianos. He was instrumental in founding Bethlehem's musical societies, was a member of the ever-famous Moravian choir, and was one of the main factors in the musical life of Bethlehem. He held a high certificate of excellence as a piano tuner issued him by Chickering & Son, and he was in the employ of that and other Boston musical instrument
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