History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume III, Part 23

Author: Heller, William Jacob; American Historical Society, Inc
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Boston ; New York [etc.] : The American Historical Society
Number of Pages: 574


USA > Pennsylvania > Northampton County > History of Northampton County [Pennsylvania] and the grand valley of the Lehigh, Volume III > Part 23


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The surname Vautrin fared badly on American soil, the records of the Egypt Reformed Church in old Whitehall township telling the story of the corruption of a good old French name. The name appears as early as the year 1227 on the Bann Roll of Metz, in Lorraine, and again in 1245, 1262 and 128I on the same roll, in which the bearers are shown to be persons of sub- stance and position. Many of the Huguenots of Lorraine were driven into exile, among them the ancestors of the Northampton county Vautrins (Wood- rings) settling in the Sovereignty of Saarwerden probably as early as the year 1600, possibly before that date. They made their home in the village of Kirberg in Lower Alsace, which they helped to found, and where, in 1632, Jean Vautrin was Maire, a position he held for several years thereafter. This Jean Vautrin was probably the father or grandfather of Johan Peter Vautrin, an elder of the Reformed church in Saarwerden, born in 1640, who was buried at Kirberg, April 12, 1713. Johan Peter Vautrin had a son Abraham, who married Katherine Brodt, daughter of Simon Brodt, a burgomeister of Lixheim, Lorraine, to whom a son was born, Abraham, who was baptized


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July 1I, 1700, and who became the founder of the Vautrin or Woodring family in America. The Huguenots, when driven into exile, deprived in many instances of their wealth and competency, were, of necessity, compelled to work for a living in their places of refuge, among them many gentlemen and noblemen who were unaccustomed to manual labor. The Vautrins adopted milling as a vocation. For generations they owned and operated grist-mills on the borders of Alsace and Lorraine; they built mills on the little streams flowing into the River Saar and on the Saar itself. Abraham Vautrin was the miller of Finstingen on the Saar, and his son, Abraham, who immigrated to America, became the miller at Hirschland.


Of this line was Nicholas Woodring, a stone mason, living in Upper Nazareth. He was a member of the Reformed church, and is buried in Bath, Pennsylvania. He married a Miss Meixell, who bore him sons: Nicholas, Philip, William, Jacob, John and Abraham. One of his daughters married a Moyer, another a Unangst. This review deals with Abraham, father of Joseph G. Woodring.


Abraham Woodring was born in Upper Nazareth township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, January 14, 1823, and there died January 30, 1881. He was educated in the Moravian school at Bethlehem, and when quite young began teaching school. He taught in Bethlehem, Lower and Upper Nazareth townships, and continued an earnest, successful and well loved educator for forty years. A fine penman, his services were much in demand for engrossing and copying, he doing considerable work of that nature for the county at the court house in Easton.


Abraham Woodring was one of the influential Democrats of Northamp- ton county, and under the old Constitution, prior to 1874, served as county commissioner. For twenty-five years he was assessor of Upper Nazareth, his home township, and in many ways he served his community well. He and his large family were members of Dryland Reformed Church, he serving in official capacity and for a number of years acting as superintendent of the Sunday school. While his life was a comparatively short one, fifty-eight years, it was crowded with useful effort, and he left an impression upon his times which was beneficial.


He married Leweina George, daughter of John and Susanna (Rader) George, of early Northampton families, the name perpetuated in the village of Georgetown, a locality in which the Georges were numerous. Mrs. Wood- ring was born April 10, 1824, died October 8, 1911, surviving her husband thirty years. Abraham and Leweina Woodring were the parents of ten children, nine of whom reached adult years: Elmira, married Henry Koehler ; Mary E., widow of William Schultz; William H., a prominent stock farmer and lawyer, now engaged in real estate dealings in Allentown, married Mary E. Beck, their son, George B., now his father's partner ; Richard A. ; Alfred A .; Benjamin F .; Emeline, married Dr. Edward Schnabel; Joseph George, of further mention ; Leweina, deceased, married Jonas Remaly ; Cora M., married George F. Fenner.


Joseph George Woodring was born in the village of Georgetown, Upper Nazareth township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, November II, 1865. youngest son of Abraham and Leweina (George) Woodring. He was edu- cated in the public school, Nazareth Grammar School, and the Westchester State Normal School, receiving from the last-named institution a teacher's license. He taught for several years in Upper and Lower Nazareth and in Saucon townships, continuing an educator until 1890. In that year he came to Easton and entered the employ of his brother, Richard A. Woodring, a merchant of Easton, dealing in hats and gentlemen's goods. He continued a clerk for his brother until 1895, when he bought out the business of Thomas Daily, a hatter of South Third street, and for ten years he conducted business at the same place. In 1905 he moved to the corner of Fourth and Northamp-


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ton streets, the present location of the Northampton National Bank building, there remaining until 1908, when he occupied his present quarters at Nos. 247-249 East Northampton street. There he conducts a very large business, his being the only exclusive hat store in Easton and one of the largest in all Eastern Pennsylvania. The Woodring hat store is the exclusive distributing agency for Stetson hats, handling also the Bosalino hats from the famed Italian hatmaker, and the Ward hats from the English hatter. Other styles and qualities bear Mr. Woodring's name, his private brands being many. He has developed a business quality amounting to genius, and has won public confidence through a policy based upon "quality first" and undeviating adher- ence to the fairest business principles.


Aside from the management of his private business, Mr. Woodring has in many ways displayed his public spirit and interest in all that pertains to civic life. He has been a member of the Board of Trade since its organization, and fills a position on the membership committee. He is a member of the Easton Rotary Club, the Paxinasa Auto Club, the Easton Motor Association, and is a contributing member of the Young Men's Christian Association. He serves the West Ward Building Association as a director, and is active in St. John's Lutheran Church. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a devotee of out-of- door life, his favored recreations being hunting and fishing.


Mr. Woodring married, October 8, 1895, Elizabeth Brunner Transue, daughter of George Lambert and Deborah H. (Brunner) Transue, of an old French Huguenot family. Mrs. Woodring was born in Easton, and educated in the public schools, being a resident of the city at the time of her marriage. Children: 1. George Transue, born March 2, 1897; educated in the Easton grade and high schools, and Lafayette College, class of 1919, but left college to enter the Officers' Training Camp at Plattsburg ; was commisisoned second lieutenant, September 16, 1918, assigned to duty as training officer at Camp Grant, Rockford, Illinois, and honorably discharged from service in December, 1918; then returned to Lafayette College, whence he was graduated with a degree of Ph.B. in June, 1919. He is now in the employ of his father in the retail hat business, and promises to become his successor at some future day. 2. Joseph George, Jr., born March 17, 1900; in 1918 entered the Student Army Training Corps at Lafayette College, completing his freshman year in June, 1919; now taking a business administration course at Pierce Busi- ness School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 3. Carleton Transue, a graduate of Easton High School, class of 1919, now a student in the forestry engineering department at Penn State College. 4. Elizabeth Transue, a student in Easton High School, class of 1922. 5. Earle Douglas, born March 25, 1910.


Mrs. Woodring traces descent from Abraham Transue, a French Hugue- not, who came to America in 1730, locating in Montgomery county, later settling in Bucks county, and afterward coming to Northampton county. The census of 1790 records as heads of families in Lower Smithfield township, Jacob, John and Melchoir Transue, the latter then married and head of a family. It was a descendant, Melchoir Transue, born in 1809, died in 1865, a carpenter and builder, who came to Easton in 1845 and opened a general store. He married Anna Lambert, a daughter of George Lambert, and they were the parents of seven children, including a son, George Lambert Transue, born April 21, 1839. He remained in Easton, acquiring his education, then in 1857 went to Philadelphia, there remaining in business until 1870, when he returned to Easton. He was engaged in the grocery business until 1883, then was appointed superintendent of Easton Cemetery, a position he held for thirty-one years, resigning in 1914, and retiring from business cares. In 1873 he organized the West Ward Building Association, the original members being a few of his personal friends. The association has now become a very important one, the annual amount of money collected from members and loaned for building purposes being in excess of three hundred and fifty thou-


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sand dollars. Mr. Transue served as secretary of the company, and for forty- three years ably guided its affairs. He married, December 29, 1863, in Phila- delphia, Pennsylvania, Deborah H. Brunner, daughter of Manassa and Debo- rah (Hall) Brunner, descendant of an ancient Quaker family. She was born December 12, 1839, died November 3, 1914. Their daughter, Elizabeth Brun- ner Transue, married Joseph George Woodring, "the hatter," of Easton.


THE McILHANEY FAMILY-The McIlhaney family is one of the oldest in Northampton county, being identified with its interests for over a century and a half. It is one of the few original Scotch-Irish families that have descendants still living in the county. Though it is not certain, the probability, however, is that the ancestor of the McIlhaneys came originally from Milford in the County of Ulster, in the northern part of Ireland. There has been some question as to the original spelling of the name, but a cursory examination show that most of the members of the family spell it as above written.


The first of the family to settle in Northampton county was William McIlhaney, who came with the Ulster-Scot immigrants and settled, about 1730, in the township of Lower Mount Bethel, known as Martins Creek settle- ment. We find by the records that in 1768 he possessed three hundred and seventy-three acres of land in two tracts, one of which, containing three hun- dred and forty-eight and one-half acres, was his homestead. He died intestate in 1773, leaving a wife, three daughters, and a son, James McIlhaney, the heir-at-law. As the partition of the two tracts could not be made without prejudice, the court ordered a jury to make a just and true partition of the same value and appraise the real estate. The property was appraised at £615 9s., whereupon James McIlhaney appeared in court and declared himself ready to accept the same, giving good securities. In the assessment list of taxables of Northampton county for 1780 he is assessed at £1,469, and the records show deeds for five hundred and three acres of land taken out by him between 1768 and 1805. This big tract of land was situated in Lower Mount Bethel township, just across the Delaware river from Belvidere, New Jersey. It included an island in the river just north of the Belvidere Bridge, known up to 1840 as McIlhaney's Island.


James McIlhaney had a son William, who came in possession of a part of the original tract. The latter's son William was born in the old home- stead, September 9, 1799. Besides being engaged in agricultural pursuits, he followed the trade of tailor, and lived at what was known as the "Three Churches," near the Lower Mount Bethel Presbyterian Church. He served as postmaster at Martins Creek, under the administrations of Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison and Polk, after which he was elected Clerk of the Orphans' Court of Northampton county. He married Catherine Shultz, who was born May 5, 1805, and died March 14, 1864. William McIlhaney died January 24, 1881. The children of William and Catherine (Shultz) McIlhaney were: I. Thomas M., born May 13, 1823, died December 15, 1885; for many years he was a prominent citizen and attorney of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, serving for eighteen years as prothonotary of Monroe county ; at the time of his death he was president of the Stroudsburg National Bank. 2. Peter, born Decem- ber 12, 1824, was engaged in farming, and lived for many years in Lower Mount Bethel township. 3. James, born August 22, 1826, died January 25, 1883; was engaged in teaching in Easton, Pennsylvania. 4. Hiram, born August 14, 1828, died May 19, 1886. 5. Mary, born December 8, 1830, married Henry Rasley, died December 17, 1880. 6. Jane, born January 5, 1833, died May 24, 1890. The two sisters lived during the greater part of their life on their father's homestead at the "Three Churches." 7. John M., of whom further. 8. William H., born in 1840, and died in 1918, at Cornwall, New York.


John M. McIlhaney, son of William and Catherine (Shultz) McIlhaney,


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was born April 25, 1836. In 1860 he became a resident of Bath, Pennsylvania, served as justice of the peace, notary, and was postmaster during Cleveland's second administration. He died May 30, 1911, in Bath. He married Mary Kinney, a native of Belvidere, New Jersey, January 10, 1863. To this union six children were born : Jesse D., died in infancy ; Asa K., of further mention ; Harry E., Ella M., Anna C., and Frank T., who died young.


Asa K. McIlhaney, son of John M. and Mary (Kinney) McIlhaney, was born March 12, 1867, in Upper Nazareth township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and for thirty years was a teacher. In religious affiliation he is a Presbyterian. He married, at Bath, Pennsylvania, February 8, 1888, Maggie H., daughter of Samuel E. and Harriet (Stout) Cole, and were the parents of three children: Samuel J., who died young; Ruth B., deceased, who married A. N. Gish ; and Marion F.


CLARENCE A. WOLLE-One of the interesting and aggressive men in Bethlehem, Clarence A. Wolle, is of old Moravian stock, which has been identified for a long period with the growth and development of that region of Pennsylvania.


Clarence A: Wolle was born October 14, 1849, at Bethlehem, Pennsyl- vania, the son of Augustus Wolle. His father was born at Nazareth, Penn- sylvania, September 8, 1821, but shortly, with his parents, removed to and thereafter resided in Bethlehem, where he died August 1I, 1878. His father was John Frederick Wolle, who was born at St. Croix, Danish West Indies (now the Virgin Islands), and was sent to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, by his Moravian missionary parents when he was but four years old. When Augus- tus Wolle was twenty-four years of age (in 1845) he bought out the Moravian church store of which his father, John Frederick Wolle, for twenty-four years had been manager, the last of the Moravian storekeepers. Augustus Wolle was actively and successfully engaged in general store business until 1870, and his career was a notable one, particularly in connection with the early history of organization of the Bethlehem Iron Company (1857-67) ; the introduction of machine made paper bags and the establishment of that industry (1852-72) ; in the roofing slate business, establishing The Chap- man Slate Company, and in large slate development in Pen Argyl, North- ampton county, Pennsylvania (1865-73).


The mother of Clarence A. Wolle was Cornelia E. (Leinbach) Wolle, born February 3, 1827, at Salem, North Carolina, also an old Moravian town. Her American immigrant ancestor, John Leinbach, came in 1720 from Alsace-Lorraine, and settled in Oley, near Reading, Pennsylvania, a Mora- vian settlement. The father of Cornelia E. Leinbach, Traugott Leinbach, was born and resided in Salem, North Carolina. He had married, Septem- ber 30, 1799, Maria Theresa Lange, of Bethlehem. The children of Augus- tus and Cornelia E. Wolle were as follows: Emily (1846), married William S. Seiger, of Bethlehem, died in April, 1873; Francis (1848), a merchant in Bethlehem, now deceased; Clarence A. (1849), of whom the present bio- graphical sketch is written; Edward S. (1852), for forty years in the service of the Moravian church, and now pastor of the Fifth Moravian Church in the Bronx, New York City; Alice C. (1854), married the Rev. John H. Clewell, principal of the College for Women, Moravian Seminary, Bethle- hem; Eugenia (1857), married Rev. F. P. Wilde, for thirty-seven years in the Moravian Mission service at Bethabara, Jamaica, West Indies; Edith (1860), married Edward J. Wessels, of New York; Grace (1864), unmar- ried, now residing with her brother, Edward S., in New York, and prior to leaving Bethlehem she had been active in public, charitable work and had established, and for years, through her own energy in securing charitable co-operation, supported the Free Library of the Bethlehems; George H. (1867), an electrical engineer, now residing in New York, married Mrs. Evelyn Williamson, and has two sons, Aubrey and Wood, both in the United


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States Navy; Elizabeth (1870), married R. Morris Darrach, of Philadel- phia, where he died in 1916, leaving one daughter, Elizabeth.


Clarence A. Wolle was educated at the Moravian Parochial schools at Bethlehem, at Nazareth Hall, and at Lehigh University, specializing in chem- istry. He was a member of the first class, graduating therefrom in 1869, is now (1919) the last living representative of his class, and is a good type of the scholar of the past generation. After leaving college he entered his father's office, and for some years was active with him in the handling of numerous interests, together with those in the slate industry at Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. In 1878 and years following he was active with his uncle, Felix W. Leinbach, in the invention of the self-opening square paper bag and a paper bag machine, in which enterprise they were most successful, permanently establishing this tucked square bag, which has become the most popular bag on the market. Up to the present time Mr. Wolle has devoted much energy, time and money in the development of a typographic machine which, by pressure, cuts type into solid type metal slugs, and by keyboard attachment prepares and sets the type into words in line length ready for stenographer, electrotyping or the printer, the characters being perfect and a high speed product.


Mr. Wolle has always taken much active interest in local real estate, his father having also been extensively interested in the same line. In 1857 his father bought a tract of one hundred acres of south side farm land, and was considered very speculative to make such an investment. This land is now in the very heart of the city of South Bethlehem, and has risen enormously in value. In 1883, when central station electric lighting plants were first being established, Mr. Wolle, whose business insight was of pro- gressive quality, took leading part with a few friends in the organization of the Bethlehem Electric Light Company, which is still in successful opera- tion. It is now leased to the Allentown Electric Light Company. It has always been a prosperous corporation, and had a notable career for twenty- three years under the management of Mr. Wolle and his brother George. In 1889 M. Wolle purchased an option on the original charter for an elec- tric street railway-the Allentown-Bethlehem Street Railway-and also on the horse car line in Allentown, and secured the capital which organized and undertook the construction of the line forming the original basis for the organization of the Lehigh Valley Traction Company. In 1898-99 Mr. Wolle, assisted by his brother George, organized and financed the con- struction of the street railway between Bethlehem and Nazareth. This road was built, and in 1899-1900 was followed by the construction, under the same interests, of the Slate Belt Electric Street Railway, north from Nazareth to Wind Gap, Pen Argyl and Bangor, opening by easy communi- cation the cement and slate regions north. In the eighties Mr. Wolle was a member of Bethlehem Town Council ; was also a member and one of the organizers of the Christian Science church in this city.


In December, 1890, Mr. Wolle was married to Clara M. King Evans, of Logan, Iowa; her father was a well known Master Mason, and was prominent socially, politically and charitably. Mrs. Wolle was a normal class student at Boston in 1887 of Mrs. Eddy, and has continued an active Christian Science teacher and practitioner. She is a popular, noteworthy woman, of fine and strong character. They have one child, Dorothy J. B., born January 3, 1896, who was educated in the schools at Bethlehem, graduated with the degree of B.A. from the Moravian College for Women in 1915, and then for three years attended the Leland Power's School of Expression in Boston, and was graduated from that institution in 1918. On June 7. 1919, she was married at her home in Bethlehem to James Allyn Pentz, of Philadelphia, who is now engaged in the cotton textile industry. Soon after his return from naval service overseas in the World War (1919), he was awarded a gold medal for heroism.


LOUIS A. SCHNEEBELI HON. G. A. SCHNEEBELI


ELLIS SCHNEEBELI Member of the 59th Congress of the U. S. A.


THREE GENERATIONS OF THE SCHNEEBELI FAMILY IN NORTHAMPTON COUNTY


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GUSTAV ADOLPH SCHNEEBELI-A half a century ago Adolph and Amelia (Engler) Schneebeli, natives of Switzerland, came to the United States from Germany, where they had been living for a few years, bringing their son, G. A. Schneebeli, now one of Northampton's prosperous and emi- nent sons. The coming of Adolph and family was in 1864. He lived one year in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and then went to Nazareth. His wife died in 1898, leaving the following children: Gustav A., of further mention; Lizzie ; Bertha ; Max William ; Robert Eugene; and Alexander Levin. Some years later the father retired from business. The family were members of the Moravian church, and on the paternal side, of Swiss ancestors. Adolph, the father, died in 1906.


Gustav A. Schneebeli was born May 23, 1853, in Switzerland, and there began his education. He was still a boy when his parents came to the United States, and at a Moravian school in Nazareth, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, he completed his studies. He began his wage-earning life in the coal region in the employ of Charles M. Dodson & Company, remaining with that company for nine years. For five years subsequently he was a traveling salesman for Louis Kraemer & Company, Stony Creek Mills, Read- ing, Pa. With this experience he began business for himself in 1886, organizing with Louis F. Kraemer the Nazareth Waist Company, with headquarters at Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The business was begun in a small way, but the excellence of their product quickly attracted the attention of buyers, and enlargement soon became necessary. Quality was a cardinal principle of the firm and was strictly adhered to during the many years which Messrs. Kraemer and Schneebeli conducted the business. The plant grew from year to year, until finally three brick buildings were in use; the original twelve employees had grown to three hundred, and twelve hundred dozen garments were produced daily. Mr. Schneebeli was general manager of the company from its organization until 1906, and the growth and prosperous condition of the business speaks volumes in behalf of his ability in management. In 1906, G. A. and M. W. Schneebeli became owners of the business, which they incorporated under its former name, the Nazareth Waist Company. In 1914, G. A. Schneebeli sold his interest and retired. In 1903 he incorporated the G. A. Schneebeli Company for the manufacture of lace edgings. That com- pany, of which he later became sole owner, employs one hundred hands, and manufactures five hundred thousand yards of lace edgings daily.


The founding and development of the Nazareth Waist Company but fairly introduced Mr. Schneebeli to the business world of his section, and in many other enterprises his business judgment and executive ability have been made manifest. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Nazareth, was its vice-president, and is yet a director. In 1899 he, with eleven others, was instrumental in the building of the Bethlehem & Nazareth Electric railroad, was early connected with its management and long was its vice- president. In 1900 the same twelve men were again conspicuous in the building of the Slate Belt railroad, an electric line eighteen miles in length, extending from Nazareth to Bangor. He was the first president of that company, a post he ably filled until he was obliged to lessen his official respon- sibilities. He was also one of the organizers of the Nazareth Water Company, and of the Dexter Cement Company, being yet a director of the latter, and served the Nazareth Building & Loan Association as president. He was for years secretary of the board of trustees of Nazareth Hall, a school for boys founded in 1743, and is now chairman of the board. In all things he is the public-spirited, progressive citizen, anxious to be of service to his fellow men, and a true son of the country which adopted him in his youth.




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