History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 40

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell
Number of Pages: 604

USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 40

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southern extremity at a cost of $700. In December, 1861, ing 1,086 pounds and costing $403.

In 1852 Rev. Father Malone built a very handsome brick pastoral residence, 40 by 60 feet, two and a half stories high, adjoining the church, at a cost of about $4,000. Father Malone very often attended sick calls at a distance of 40 miles from the church. He died April 16th, 1877, having been pastor of this church for 28 years and 8 months. His remains lie in a vault in front of the church, on Sunbury street.

The pastors who succeeded him are: Revs. James Mc- Geveran, P. J. Egan (deceased), John Scanlan and the present pastor, Matthew P. O'Brien, appointed by Arch- bishop Wood, of Philadelphia, October 27th, 1879. He is now engaged in making improvements and additions to pews, erecting three altars (the main altar to be marble), and building a sacristy 16 by 18 feet.

The present Catholic population of the parish is about 2,200 souls.

St. Paul's Church (P. E.) was incorporated in 1845. The corporators were George Spencer, Robert, William, Andrew, Thomas and George Patten brothers), John and George Scott, Henry Ellis, Frederick Longabach, John Wightman, William Best, William N. Robbins, S. Heilner and Joseph Wightman.

The congregation worshiped in the Lutheran church building till 1867, when their present house of worship was erected. It stands on the corner of Church and The church edifice was built in 1849. It stands on Centre streets. It is of brick, 36 by 54. The building North Second street, and the site was donated by Joseph committee were G. Wagner, W. Dernbargh and G. Gable. Jeanes. It is a wooden building 40 by 50. A Sunday-school is maintained by this congregation.

By reason of inaccessibility of the records a complete list of the rectors cannot be given. The following are remembered: Revs. Marmaduke Hirst, Robert B. Peet, Harrison Byllesby, William Wright, - Pastorius, A. E. Fortat, George B. Allen, J. Thompson Carpenter, Luther Wolcott, F. W. Winslow. The present paster is John W. Koons.

German Lutheran Church .- One of the first Protestant organizations in Minersville was the " German Evangel- ical Lutheran Zion's Congregation." The date of its or- ganization is not known. The first officers mentioned were Philip Merkle, Joseph Reber, Carl Koller, Jacob Farne, S. Heilner, Heinrich Henig and Jacob F. Thumm.

The first place of worship was a school-house, but on the 21st of June, 1849, the corner stone of the present church building was laid, on the corner of Lewis and Fourth streets. This house was afterward remodeled and improved.

This new parish of St. Vincent de Paul in those days covered an area of about 240 miles; extending in a The first pastor was Rev. William G. Mennig, whose westerly direction 30 miles, and 8 miles from north to pastorate terminated about 1859. He was succeeded by south; having a Catholic population of 7,000 souls. The Daniel Sanner, and he in 1871 by Rev. G. F. W. Guensch, the present pastor. church was only partially finished under the pastoral charge of Father Fitzsimmons. August 12th, 1848, Rev. The membership is more than 300. The present church council consists of W. Baker, Engle Sanner, Jonas Lau- Michael Malone was appointed pastor of this church, who finished the interior of the building, and in August, benstein, Michael Ferg, William Neudhard, Adolph

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

Kuhns and Peter Drummeler. The Sunday-school num- bers about 160 scholars and 28 teachers. John Heilner is the superintendent.

English Lutheran Church .- This congregation was or- ganized in 1851. Daniel Hock and Isaac Straub were the first elders; Levi Dietrich and Joseph Weaver the first deacons.

The congregation first worshiped in a small Baptist church on South street; thence removed to Odd Fellows' Hall, on the southeast corner of Sunbury and Second streets, being supplied with preaching by Rev. Daniel Steck of Pottsville. During that time the present church was erected, and in the autumn of 1853 it was dedicated. It is a wooden building, 40 by 60, on the corner of Third and Church streets.

The following are the names of the pastors who have served the congregation: Revs. J. K. Kast, Jacob Steck, E. A. Auld, H. C. Shindle, Charles Fickinger, R. Wiser, J. B. Anthony, A. M. Warner, and the present pastor, I. P. Neff.

St. Mary's Church of Mount Carmel (German Catholic) was built about 1855, on Second street in the north part | volumes.

of the borough. It is a brick building, 50 by 66. From the baptismal record it appears that Rev. Mat- thew Joseph Meurer was the pastor till 1859. Then the church was a mission, attended by several priests from Pottsville, till 1866, when Rev. Anthony Schwarze, the present pastor, took charge.

According to an estimate from the number of baptisms it appears that the number of souls in the church at first was about 720. At present there are fifty families.

Zoar Baptist Church (Welsh) .- This church was organ- ized in 1874, with R. M. Richardson pastor and fifty constituent members. The same year the present church edifice was built, on North street a short distance from Fourth. It is a wooden house, 36 by 60. Mr. Richard- son continued in charge till 1877, since which there has been no regular pastor.

A Sunday-school was organized in 1874 with William Kendrick superintendent, and about 90 scholars. The superintendents have since been many times changed, William M. Evans holds the position at present. The number of scholars is 60. The library has about 150

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-MINERSVILLE.

CHARLES N. BRUMM

of the then prevailing violence and disorder. Largely through his efforts these laws were enacted. Shortly af- terward he sought admission to the bar of his home county, but was unexpectedly met with refusal, not on the ground of incompetency nor want of good character, but because it was alleged that in the effort to have enac- ted the before-mentioned laws he had spread reports de- rogatory to the judge of the old court. For two years and a half he was refused admission upon this pretext, but finally, on the 7th of March, 1870, he was admitted to practice at home the profession for which he was so well adapted, and to which he had already been admit- ted in Lebanon and Dauphin counties.

was born on the 9th of June, 1838, at the southeast cor- ner of Centre and Minersville streets, Pottsville, Pa., and is the son of George and Salome Brumm, both of whom were of German birth. In 1841 his family moved to Minersville, then a large and thriving town, and he has resided there ever since excepting about a year at Phila- delphia. Charles received a good common school edu- cation in the schools of his home, but, with the exception of a year spent at Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, was unable to obtain a higher education. His mother died when he was fourteen and his father when he was twenty years of age, but already at the age of seventeen he went Mr. Brumm has always taken an active part in politics, being an uncompromising anti-slavery, anti-free trade, anti-monopoly and anti-rebel advocate. As a Republican he has stumped his county and his State, powerfully de- nouncing the free trade and State rights doctrines of the Democratic party. In 1871 he was a candidate for dis- trict attorney, but was defeated by Hon. James B. Reilly, the Democratic candidate, Schuylkill county at that time ing car-brake, each of which inventions involved several being overwhelmingly Democratic. Mr. Brumm was very early attracted to the study of national finances, and long before the organization of the Greenback party he had espoused the doctrines which have since become distinctive of that party. He made numerons efforts in the Republican party of his county and State to induce them to adopt those principles, but failing in that he out into the world to struggle for himself. He learned the trade of watch making, spending two years therein, and then two years longer as a journeyman at that trade. He possessed a remarkable mechanical mind, as was shown in later life by the invention of a meat cutter, for which he has had letters patent granted, also a brick and mortar elevator, a railroad snow shovel, and a self-start- combinations of mechanical movements; and, as is be- lieved by a number of master mechanics, they are based upon the proper principles for accomplishing the intended work. However, being fond of disputation and naturally a good talker, he was led to enter his name as a student in the law office of Hon. Howell Fisher, a highly success- ful practitioner of the law, then residing in Minersville. joined hands with others having the same faith and aided With Mr. Fisher Charles studied for nearly two years, until

in the formation of the National Greenback-Labor party. the first gun was fired on Fort Sumter, and President Lin- He voted for Peter Cooper for President in 1876, and coln made his first call for volunteers for a three month's since then has been untiring in his efforts to spread the service. Mr. Brumm closed his Blackstone, shouldered faith in the financial and economical doctrines to which his musket and marched off with the first company of he is attached. In 1878 he was nominated for Congress soldiers, to leave Minersville, a few days after the Presi- dent's call. He was soon after elected lieutenant of his company, in which position he served until the expiration of his term of service, when he immediately re-enlisted for three years in Company K, 76th regiment, Pennsyl- vania volunteers. He was shortly afterward detailed assistant quartermaster and served in that capacity on the staffs of Generals Barlow and Pennypacker, tenth army corps, until the end of his term.

After the war he was engaged in the drug business two years, but in the winter of 1866 and 1867 he resumed the study of the law in the office of Judge Edward Owen Parry. In the meantime much disorder existed in Schuylkill county and he was sent to Harrisburg by a number of leading citizens to obtain if possible the pas- sage of a law creating a special police force; a new crim- inal court, having special jurisdiction in Schuylkill fluence and believes that the immense power wielded by county, and the present jury commissioner law, it being believed by them that this would lead to the suppression

by his party in Schuylkill county, and ran against his old preceptor, Hon. Howell Fisher, the Republican nominee, and Hon. John W. Ryon, the Democratic candidate, the latter being elected by a plurality of 192 votes. In 1880 he was again nominated for Congress by his party, and being endorsed by the Republicans he was elected over Mr. Ryon by an overwhelming majority. Mr. Brumm had always been an eloquent advocate of the rights of the oppressed, whether oppressed by the slaveholder, by the monopolist or the social aristocrat. He has believed in the equal rights of all men to work out their own per- sonal and social prosperity without special restriction from law, custom, caste or prejudice, although as posi- tively opposed to the demoralizing and destroying ten- dencies of so-called Communism. He strongly urges the necessity of governmental control of great corporate in- the corporations of our country must be restrained by the all-powerful hand of the nation.

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

DR. WILLIAM T. BEACH.

This gentleman, the leading medical practitioner in Minersville, was born in Monmouthshire, Wales, Decem- ber 2nd, 1839. His parents were George and Mary (Thomas) Beach, and with them he came to America in 1840 and located at Haverstraw, N. Y., soon removing to Phoenixville, Pa., where his father opened a boot and shoe shop. In 1848 they removed to Pottsville, where for two years Mr. Beach was book-keeper in what has since come to be known as Atkins furnace; then the family removed to Minersville, where Mr. Beach went back to his trade of boot and shoemaker, doing a success- ful business till 1873, when with his wife he removed to Hyde Park, a portion of the city of Scranton, Pa., where he died February 19th, 1879, and where his widow still lives. Dr. Beach was educated in the common schools, and began to study medicine with Dr. Brown, of Port Carbon, in September, 1858. He attended his first course of lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in the winter of 1860-61; was a medical cadet in the United States service for a year, at Hampton Hospital, Va., and on board the side-wheel steamer Daniel Webster, plying between Annapolis and City Point, and graduated in the spring of 1863 and began practice in the fall of that same year at Shenandoah city, Schuylkill county. In April, 1865, he removed to Minersville, where he has since been engaged successfully in the practice of his profession. Dr. Beach was two years secretary of the Schuylkill County Medical Society. He is a member of Anthracite Lodge, No. 136, I. O. O. F., Minersville Lodge, No. 222,

A. Y. M., Schuylkill Chapter, No. 159, R. A. M., and Constantine Commandery, No. 41. Though not an active politician he is a staunch Republican from principle. He was married in 1872 to Sophia Matthews, of Miners- ville.

JACOB S. LAWRENCE.

The subject of this sketch was born in Milton, North- umberland county, Pa., July 13th, 1826. His parents were George and Esther Lawrence. Andrew Straub, his mother's father, was the proprietor of a very large tract of land embracing Milton, which town he laid out.

At the age of fourteen Mr. Lawrence removed to Min- ersville with his father's family. His father was a promi- nent early business man in Minersville, where he built a steam flouring mill. About 1846 he sold his property there and returned to Northumberland county, where he located on a farm about five miles from Milton.

Mr. Lawrence remained in Minersville and learned the moulder's trade in the foundry of De Haven & Brother. Later he entered the drug and hardware store of James B. Falls and familiarized himself with the details of those branches of trade. April 1st, 1850, he opened a drug and hardware store in the building now occupied by his brother, Franklin C. Lawrence, as a dry goods store. January 1st, 1857, he removed to the store now occupied by Lawrence & Brown. From 1854 to the spring of 1861 his brother George was his partner. His nephew, George L. Brown, became a member of the firm of Lawrence & Brown in 1865.

January Ist, 1848, Mr. Lawrence was married to Mary Ellis, of Minersville, who died August 31st, 1880. They had eight children, of whom three daughters are living. Mr. Lawrence has always been prominent in all measures tending to advance the interests of the place. He was president of the Minersville Coal and Iron Company about two years, has for many years been president of the First National Bank of Minersville, and is presi- dent of the Minersville Mutual Fire Insurance Company. Since the organization of the Republican party he has always been an active worker in its ranks, but has never sought nor accepted office. During the Rebellion he was thirteen days in the service of his country, command- ing a hastily formed company of his neighbors, in 1862, with the 17th Pennsylvania militia, in Maryland.

In 1868 Jacob S. and Franklin C. Lawrence, Michael Merkel and Philip Mongold, under the firm name of Lawrence, Merkel & Co., secured a lease of some valu- able coal lands at Frackville, or Mahanoy Plane, and opened the Lawrence colliery. In two or three years Matthew Beddow succeeded Mr. Mongold, the style of the firm remaining as before. The Lawrence colliery is one of the first-class collieries of Schuylkill county.

₡

Frank I steal

Frank G. Kear is a son of William Kear, now retired, and for many years engaged in mining. The latter and his wife, Elizabeth (Gregg) Kear, were both natives of South Wales and came to America about 1828. Richard Kear, brother of William and uncle of Frank G., was born in Wales, also, and was for a long time a prominent and successful coal operator, residing at Minersville, where he died. Frank G. Kear was born in Minersville March 10th, 1854. He attended the high school at Minersville, and in 1869 entered Dickinson Seminary at Williams- port, Pa., where he remained three years, afterward, for a time, studying architecture and civil engineering at the Polytechnic Institute, at the corner of 8th and Chestnut streets, Philadelphia. In 1879 the firm of F. G. Kear & Co., proprietors of the American Brewery, 2t the corner of 3d and Laurel streets, Minersville, was organized and a brewing business established, which was conducted about a year. October 24th, 1878, Mr. Kear married Miss Kate Henich, of Miners- ville, whose father, Henry Henich, was a well known mason, and whose grandfather served as an officer in the American army during the Mexican war.

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

MICHAEL MERKEL.

Michael Merkel, now about fifty-eight years old, was born at Cressona, Schuylkill county, Pa. His father was Philip Merkel, a native of Berks county, Pa., who remov- ed to the site of Cressona at an early date and owned a large tract of land which embraced the present borough. Between 1835 and 1839 he removed to Minersville, where he lived until his death. He had several sons and sev- eral daughters.

Early in life Michael Merkel was a driver on the old horse railway to Schuylkill Haven and was afterward a stationary engineer in the employ of Richard Kear, at the Wolf Creek mines, a number of years. For two or three years during the war Mr. Merkel, Adam Cunfire, Daniel Hoch, Thomas Jones and Frederick Vunderheider operated the mines upon the lands of the Forest Im- provement Company.

the well known Lawrence colliery, a prominent enter- prize in the Schuylkill coal region. Two or three years later the interest of Mr. Mongold became vested in Matthew Beddow.

Thus it will be seen that Mr. Merkel has been from his youth familiar with coal. operations. By energy, industry and integrity he has made his way in the world in a manner that stamps him as one of the notable self-made men of Schuylkill county. As a citizen of Minersville Mr. Merkel has ever been identified with all movements looking to the advancement of the best interests of the borough, and he is regarded as a good neighbor and a useful man in the community. His connection with the Lawrence colliery, aside from his interest as a member of the firm, is important, as he holds the responsible posi- tion of general outside manager.

In 1868, under the firm name of Lawrence, Merkel & Mr. Merkel married a Miss Bender, now deceased. His present wife was Miss Margaret Heilner. His home Co., Jacob S. and Franklin C. Lawrence, Michael Mer- kel and Philip Mongold, leased some lands rich in coal is one of the pleasantest and most attractive in Miners- deposits, at Mahanoy Plane, or Frackville, and opened ville.

In. merkel

BUTLER TOWNSHIP.

UTLER was formerly part of Barry and was generally designated in local parlance among the older settlements of the county as "above the mountain."

The coal developments of the lower Schuyl- kill region soon, however, drew attention to this, and lands that had been entered under Revolutionary warrants were thrown on the market as coal land. The principal tracts lying between the Mahanoy and Little Mahanoy creeks, which now con- tain the boroughs of Ashland and Girardville, and the township of Butler, were patented to the Probsts, Pres- tons, Kunckles, and William Parker; and the earliest business enterprise conducted was lumbering.

Crossing the territory from southeast to northwest ran the old "Centre turnpike," and along it, as early as 1810, stood an occasional hostelry, where " accommoda- tion for man and beast " was cheerfully and cheaply proffered, even if of a primitive character. At that date the sole representative of that class of inns was the " Seitzinger Tavern " at Fountain Spring, so called from an excellent spring gushing from one of its hills.

This hotel was built by George Seitzinger, in 1810. The next of its class, also of logs, was built by Jacob Rodenburger, at what is now Ashland, in 1820.

The earliest settlers were the Seitzingers, Fausts and Rodenburgers; and their connection with the locality dates back to about 1801, although Nicholas Seitzinger is believed to have made a clearing at Fountain Springs as early as 1795.

The first death in the township was that of a young man named Seitzinger, who was drowned in a mill pond; and his grave was the first in the "Seitzinger burying ground."

The first saw-mill was built on the Mahanoy, at what was then called Mount Hope, in 1830.

The first school-house was built at Fountain Springs, where the Miners' hospital now stands, about 1830.

The pioneer preachers were Jacob Miller and an the villages in which they are located. Englishman, named Buoy.

In 1848 the township of Butler was erected. Its first town election was held at Fountain Springs and resulted

plentiful supply of venison was to capture and tame a young doe, and when fresh meat was wanted send her out to decoy others within rifle range. Beasts of prey also abounded, and the settlers soon became accustomed to the howling of the gray wolf, often beneath their cabin windows.

The population of the township in 1850 was 400; in 1860, 1,467; in 1870, 5,905, and in 1880, 4,678, Girard- ville having been taken from it.

The village of Ashland became a borough in 1857, and that of Girardville in 1872. The township now contains the pretty villages of Gordon, Locust Dale, Big Mine Run, Holmesville, Rappahannock, Connors, Fountain Springs, and Rocktown; of which Locust Dale, Big Mine Run, Holmesville, Rappahannock, Connors, and Rock- town are mining villages, and all but Fountain Springs and Rocktown are railway stations. Gordon is an im- portant railway village at the foot of the Gordon planes, on the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad.

EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.

The public schools of Butler numbered in 1880 twenty- five, kept in fifteen buildings. Several of these schools were graded. The number of teachers employed was twenty-seven, of whom fifteen were males, earning an average monthly salary of $59.17, and twelve females, with an average salary of $24.91 per month. The num- ber of children in attendance was 1,836. The officers for 1880 and their places of residence were: B. F. Triebly, president, South Butler; Owen Cownry, treasurer, North Butler; D. D. Phillips, secretary, South Butler; Charles G. Shoemaker, South Butler; John Duffey, North Butler; Richard Flynn, North Butler.

Since 1870 nine schools have been established. The bonded debt of the district is $6,600. The valuation of property in the township in 1880 was $1, 185,673.

The condition of the buildings is in general good; and the graded school buildings at Locust Dale and Gordon are handsome structures, creditable to the district and

GORDON.

A time-worn chart exists, indorsed "Draft of three in the choice of R. Carr Wilson school director, J. L. tracts of land, the property of David and James Mc- Cleaver justice and Elisha Pedrick town clerk. The Knight." The earliest warranty date is March 24th, township is now divided into five voting districts, known as East, Northeast, West, North and South Butler. 1788, the land being patented August 19th, 1795, to John Kunckle; and the adjoining tract westward bears a war-

In the early days of Butler game was abundant, and rant date of 1792, April 16th, and was patented to the the only trouble taken by the Seitzingers to secure a same party August 19th, 1795. Of the seventeen tracts

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HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

shown on the " draft " seven are patented to members of the Kunckle family, and it was the remnant of these lands that came into the possession of the McKnights of Read- ing, whose descendants founded the village of Gordon, named by them after Judge Gordon of Reading, to whom they gave a lot, which was conveyed by him to Mrs. J. F. Lewis, by the first deed ever recorded covering a real estate sale in that place. The lot is on the corner of Main and McKnight streets, and is occupied by the store and dwelling of John F. Lewis.

The building of the Mine Hill and Schuylkill Haven Railroad and the staking out of the planes was the first influence that attracted immigration to Gordon. In 1846 William Stevenson built a steam saw-mill at a point be- low the site of the village, known on the old maps as Mount Hope, and also built a new road now forming the principal street of the village. Andrew Wilson put up a hotel to board the workmen at the mills, and soon after- ward Jonathan Faust started a store, which was supple- mented by one kept by a man named Johnson, about a year later.

The erection of the planes was a slow job, interrupted for some time by the financial embarrassments of the company; but in 1855 they were completed, and from that date until the present time Gordon has grown stead- ily in population and influence. It contained, in 1880, the repair shops and round-house of the railway company, two hotels, a good school building, two general stores, one church edifice, several groceries, and about 870 in- habitants. The Gordon planes, the mechanical wonder of the vicinity, lift from 1,500 to 2,000 cars of coal daily over the mountain; and form an outlet for an extensive field which, without this mechanical assistance to the ordi- nary railroad, would be unable to mine coal with any profit.

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History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 40

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell Number of Pages: 604

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell
Number of Pages: 604