USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > History of Schuylkill County, Pa. with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 72
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104
309a
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-C. F. KOPITZSCH-THOMAS WREN-JACOB ULMER.
is about 2,500,000 pounds annually, and they give em- ployment to fifteen hands. The factory is arranged with great convenience, and is heated by steam, rendering all parts of it comfortable in the coldest weather.
Among the several kinds of soap manfactured may be mentioned the following brands: "Ocean," "Miners' Favorite," "New Wrinkle," "White Extra Family," " Monarch," "Economical," "Powdered Borax," "Cas- tile," and " Variegated." These and other less promi- nent brands embrace all kinds of laundry, family, scrub- bing and toilet soaps. Always an energetic and active business man, Mr. Kopitzsch has spared neither pains nor expense in producing the best and most stylish of soaps. He has studied closely the wants of the miners and iron workers in perfecting soaps which will answer their purposes and yet be so cheap as to be saleable at a price that will not seem exorbitant to them, in which he has succeeded better than any other manufacturer. As a citizen he is prominent and respected. In all local im- provements he has aided with his means and influence, and his business is creditable alike to himself and the place where it is located.
THOMAS WREN.
The name of Wren has long been prominently identi- fied with the coal, iron and manufacturing history of the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania. The subject of this sketch was born in Glasgow, Scotland, June 10th, 1823. His parents were William and Jane (Macbreth) Wren. When Thomas was a mere boy the family removed to Nova Scotia, where his father died. Soon afterward his mother and her children emigrated to Pennsylvania and located at Pottsville, where Thomas entered the machine shops of Messrs. Haywood & Snyder and served an ap- prenticeship of four years and eight months to the moulder's trade. When he had mastered his trade, in partnership with his brothers John Y. and James Wren he carried on business about two years in the Eagle foundry, then on the site of the freight depot of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company. In 1850
Thomas Wren & Brothers built and opened the Wash- ington Iron Works in Pottsville, where in 1851 they con- structed the machinery for the first rolling mill in the county that manufactured T rail and bar iron, the property of Messrs. Harris, Beemish & Co., at Fish- back; and in 1855 the machinery for the Palo Alto rolling-mill of Lee, Bright Co., in the meantime having turned out various kinds of mining ma- chinery which found a market among the proprietors of collieries in all directions. After a time John Y. Wren withdrew from the firm and the business was conducted by Thomas and James Wren until the firm was dissolved in 1864, by mutual consent, and Thomas removed to Ma- hanoy City and built the Grant Iron Works, with the proprietorship and management of which he has since been identified. In 1854 Mr. Wren engaged with others in coal operations, in which he has since been most of the time extensively interested. He is now operating on Sharp mountain. Always enterprising, he has during life been an active business man; as a citizen he has ever used his means and influence for the promotion of the public good. He has been officially connected with sev- eral banking institutions in the coal regions. Except during two years passed in Mahanoy City and two in Wilkes-Barre, where he was the leading member of the firm of Thomas Wren & Co., coal operators, he has since coming to Pennsylvania lived in Pottsville. His resi- dence is at No. 600 East Norwegian street.
JACOB ULMER.
Jacob Ulmer, one of the best known and most enter- prising business men of Pottsville, was born in Wurtem- burg, Germany, November 24th, 1826. His parents were John and Agnes (Rebmann) Ulmer. At the age of thir- teen years and four months he was apprenticed for two years to learn the butchers' trade, after completing which he worked for several years at his trade in a num- ber of cities in Europe. When he had attained to the age of twenty-four he came to the United States and began business for himself as a butcher in Bridgeport, Conn., where he remained until, in 1852, he removed to Philadelphia. In the early part of 1854 he was engaged in helping to finish the first railroad into Atlantic City. In the summer he took up his residence in Pottsville, where he arrived July 2nd. He worked for a few months in the shops of John Reiger and George Gwinner, and in March, 1855, opened a market on North Center street. In the following September he located on Second street, and April Ist, 1857, removed to Center street, two doors from his present market. A year later he bought the property where his market is located. Almost from the first Mr. Ulmer has been very successful. In less than two months after he began business, in 1855, he had so increased his sales that it was necessary for him to employ two butchers to assist him. By the exertion of energy and business sagacity he has steadily extended his operations until his enterprise is probably the largest of its class in Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia. In [873 he began building his packing-house at the corner of Front and Railroad streets. During portions of the years 1874 and 1875 Mr. Ulmer had as a partner Mr. Louis Stoffregen, who, not fancying the business, with- drew from it. The annual business done by Mr. Ulmer amounts to from $250,000 to $300,000, and in his works about twenty men find constant employment. Mr. Ulmer has five children. Three of his sons are engaged in as- sisting him in the management of his immense and con- stantly increasing business. As a citizen Mr. Ulmer has always been active in promoting the best interests of the community in which he has so long lived.
310
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
A self-made man, one of the youngest business men in the county, and the leading dealer in his line in the coal regions, is John H. Williams, better known as " Williams the Hatter," at the corner of North Center and Market_ streets, Pottsville. Born in Salem, Ohio, April 15th, 1848, he is, at the age of thirty-three, as the result of his own energy, industry and enterprise, at the head of such a business as men have toiled for until old age came upon them, and toiled in vain. His father was Dr. Ben jamin Williams, a physician of large practice, who died in Rock Island City, Illinois, in 1856, at the age of thirty- seven. His mother, formerly Miss Esther Smith, is living in Sharpsburgh, Pa. The untimely death of Dr. Williams broke up the family, and John H., then only eight years old, went to live with his grandmother, where he busied himself about four years doing farm work and attending a country school. Early in his boyhood his ad- venturous spirit asserted itself. His mind was ever reaching out to the great unknown world in which he believed he had a useful career. At the age of thirteen he ran away from home and found himself in Pittsburgh, Pa., without means or friends and entirely upon his own meagre resources. He sought employment, for he had never been an idle boy, and secured a place as cash boy in the store of H. J. Lynch, where in about three months his manitest capacity for business won him a promotion to the position of salesman. In 1863 he entered the wholesale notion house of McCrum & Glyde, in the capacity of salesman, and remained there until, in 1864, his youthful daring and love of adventure prompted him
to offer his services as drummer Loy to Company A of the 45th Pennsylvania volunteers. He was accepted, and served until mustered out with such of his comrades as were living at the close of the war. Returning to Pittsburgh he found employment in the fall of 1865 in the dry goods house of White, Orr & Co., with whom he re- mained until the following spring, when he found a better position with the firm of Hughes & Hackey. Here he was employed about a year, leaving to engage for a time in other than mercantile pursuits. But his destiny was to become a merchant, and he could not long absent him- self from behind the counter. The great city of New York offered inducements to one of his progressive enter- prise, and thither he turned his steps in 1867, and ob- tained a situation as salesman with Foster Brothers, dry goods merchants on Eighth avenue. A better position being offered him in the dry goods house of Leder & Brother, 340 Bowery, he entered the service of that firm six months later. In 1869, when the coal region offered rare opportunities for enterprising men of all professions and occupations, Mr. Williams removed to Pottsville, where he was employed in the well remembered dry goods store of J. Galland & Co. until April, 1870. At the latter date he established his present business on a small scale, but with reference to those financial principles which, governing its management since, have placed it foremost among the mercantile houses of the Schuylkill coal region. The credit which attaches to any man who makes his own way in the world, from childhood to a position of responsibility and business prominence, be- longs justly to Mr. Williams, whose portrait appears in these pages. Honesty, industry, economy, extension and advancement have been his watchwords. As a business man he enjoys unbounded confidence, as a citizen he identifies himself with projects for the public benefit. As an example to the youth of the county of what a boy with the right stuff in him may accomplish he stands pre- eminent. He was married February 28th, 1872, to Miss Susie L. Wardle, daughter of William G. Wardle, of Pottsville.
L. W. WEISSINGER.
L. W. Weissinger, a prominent cattle and stock dealer of central Pennsylvania, residing at Pottsville, was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, April 29th, 1837. His parents were Casper and Catherine (Seigel) Weissinger. He came to America in the fall of 1853, and located in Reading, Pa., where he labored two weeks on the canal at eighty- one cents a day. He soon directed his steps to Schuyl- kill county, arriving on Thanksgiving day the same year in Minersville, where he was employed four months, at $5 per month, in the butchering establishment of Conrad Seltzer. His next field of labor was in the meat market of John Moser, of Pottsville, where he was employed about two years; later he worked in Lewis Stoffregen's market for three months. Up to this time he had never received more than $10 to $14 per month for his services. Leaving Stoffregen's employ, he hired out to Jacob Roth, a well remembered Schuylkill Haven butcher, for whom he worked fifteen months, ending in March, 1857. April 1st, following, in partnership with Mr. Keifer, Mr. Weissinger opened a market in Schuylkill Haven. The firm of Keifer & Weissinger was dissolved a year and seven months later. November 1st, 1859, Mr. Weis- singer established a market, of which he was the sole proprietor and which he managed successfully until 1865, when he ceased to butcher and began to deal heavily in cattle. This business he had engaged in on a small scale a few years before, and it has since assumed such pro- portions as to place it foremost among similar enterprises
I. W. WEISSINGER.
RESIDENCE of L. W. WEISSINGER, SPORTING HILL, SCHUYLKILL CO., PA.
311
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
in the State. At times Mr. Weissinger has handled as much as $10,000 to $15,000 worth of cattle per week. His stockyards in Pottsville are large and conveniently arranged and have been fitted up at considerable expense. During the period from 1859 to 1865, while engaged in butchering in Schuylkill Haven, Mr. Weissinger invested heavily in the stock of the Schuylkill Haven Direct Iron Company. In 1873, in partnership with the late Gideon Bast, he rented the works, improved them and carried on the business till 1874, when he purchased the entire property, enlarged the mill and conducted the establish- ment with J. A. Medlar as a partner in the business only for one year, at the end of which Medlar retired and Mr. Weissinger was sole owner and manager until January, 1880, when he sold a two-thirds interest to Messrs. George R. Kaercher and C. F. Rahn. In 1869 Mr. Weissinger purchased his farms, upon one of which he resides, just at the outskirts of Pottsville borough, and which are the finest in the vicinity. He was married August 26th, 1858, to Rebecca Moyer, of Schuylkill Haven, who has borne him twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, all of whom are living. He takes no active interest in politics, but is a believer in the principles of the Demo- cratic party. In the central and southern portions of the State there have been few more notable examples of what a man may accomplish unaided except by his own industry, integrity and perseverance.
! Francis Wade Hughes, attorney at law, was born August 20th, 1817, in Upper Merion township, Montgomery county, Pa. His father, John Hughes, was one of the principal men of his neighborhood, regarded in his day as a man of wealth; was a gentleman farmer, leasing the greater portion of his estate to tenants. The family had settled upon the same estate before the time of Wil- liam Penn, and in colonial and revolutionary days had held prominent positions of honor and trust. His mother, Hannah Hughes, was the eldest child of Benja-
min Bartholomew, who was of French Huguenot stock, and had served through the entire revolutionary war as captain of a cavalry company.
Mr. Hughes in his early childhood gave evidence of the remarkable ability which has rendered him so success- ful at the bar. He combined great industry with great mental activity and physical strength. With the natural fondness of a boy for outdoor sports and exercise he manifested an aptitude for study which an intelligent father observed and encouraged. Rev. David Kirkpat- rick, of Milton Academy, at that time deservedly enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best teachers in the State. To his instruction young Hughes was confided. Among his school-fellows were many who have since risen to eminence. At this Academy he acquired a good classical as well as mathematical education.
As a law student he laid broadly and substantially the foundation for future success. In the fall of 1834 he commenced the study of the law with the late George W. Farquhar, in Pottsville. The following winter he enter- ed the office of John B. Wallace of Philadelphia, and had there as fellow law students John W. and Horace B. Wallace, sons of his preceptor, together with the late William Parker Foulke, Esq. It is very seldom that four as able young men are found in one office, and it is still more seldom that as able, earnest and untiring a teacher could be enlisted. All being possessed of ambition, in- dustry and ability, under able guidance a broad practical knowledge of the law was acquired. A knowledge of pleading gained at that time Mr. Hughes has often in the trial of causes since displayed to the wonder and aston- ishment of Court and bar.
After the death of Mr. Wallace, which occurred in the latter part of 1836, he entered the law school at Carlisle, then under the direction of Hon. John Reed, the presi- dent judge of that judicial district. Here he met a num- ber of his old schoolmates at the Milton Academy, among them Andrew G. Curtin, since famous as the war gover- nor of Pennsylvania. The same avidity for learning dis- played by Mr. Hughes in the offices of George W. Far- quhar and John B. Wallace, Esqs., he manifested at the law school, and by his fellow students, who are still living, the recollection is still fresh of the extent of his learning, the facility with which it was acquired, and the brilliancy and clearness of its expression. He was admitted as an attorney in August, 1837,and immediately commenced, in Pottsville, the practice of his chosen profession. His practice, which from its commencement has been lucrative, has been extremely varied, his business important as a class, and his suits in all of the Courts, and he has tried, probably, more causes than any other man in the State of Pennsylvania. He seems familiar with and at home in all branches of the profession. He was, in 1839, ap- pointed deputy attorney-general by Hon. Ovid F. John- son, then attorney-general. He resigned this office three several times; was subsequently re-appointed and held it altogether for eleven years. His knowledge of criminal law is consequently thorough, but his practice, mainly, has been in the civil courts. He ranks among the first of the few great land lawyers of the country; is a fine equity practitioner; understands, in all its branches, pat- ent as well as commercial law. He has few equals as a nisi prius lawyer in the country. He prepares a case rap- idly but with great skill and accuracy; examines and cross-examines a witness with rare ability; argues with force, law and fact, to Court and jury, and in the general management of his cause is unequalled. Although nat- urally impulsive he holds himself under complete con- trol during the trial of a cause, rarely loses his temper- never his balance. His extended reputation has perhaps been gained in the argument of cases in the Superior Courts on appeal. As a lawyer and a gentleman he is universally respected by bench and bar. But whilst Mr. Hughes has had and is still having a wonderfully busy
311a
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES-FRANCIS WADE HUGHES-B. REILLY.
life as an active practitioner at the bar, he has always taken an active interest in politics as well as in subjects pertaining to the general public welfare. In 1843, when but twenty-six years of age, he was elected to the State Senate by the Democratic party, by the largest majority ever given in the county of Schuylkill, there being in that county only one hundred and forty-nine votes cast against him. He resigned his office as Senator in 1844 and re- turned to the practice of the law. Whilst in the Senate he formed close friendly relations with the Hon. William Bigler, who, when elected governor of Pennsylvania in the fall of 1851 appointed him Secretary of the Common- wealth. In March, 1853, he was appointed attorney- general of the State, which office he filled until the early part of the year 1855. Whilst holding that office he took great interest in the organization of an enlightened com- mon school system, which with slight and comparatively immaterial modifications is still maintained, and he was the author of the act of 1854. Whilst attorney-general he co-operated efficiently with Governor Bigler in the more effective collection of the revenues of the State, and in the refunding of the State debt at a lower rate of interest.
Although deeply interested in politics, his tastes and business cares have prevented him from holding many political offices. He was one of the Presidential electors in 1856, and has been a delegate to many county, State and national conventions, over many of which he has presided. In politics as in law he has been recognized as a power, brilliant, frequently irresistable. He is, however, a politician of the old school: believes in the power of organization and regards parties as representa- tives of principle, not as mere machines for personal ad- vancement.
In February, 1861, he was a member of the State con- vention at Harrisburg, known as the Peace Convention, and was a prominent member of the committee on reso- lutions. When the war broke out his support of the Union was prompt, energetic and valuable. He aided in fitting out one of the first five companies that reached Washington. He maintained, with voice and pen, the Iegal right of the government to put down rebellion with force of arms. He aided in the raising of regiments, and one regiment was familiarly known as his regiment. But he was a Democrat; was chairman of the Democratic State Committee in 1862, and in the unreasoning political zeal of the times was denounced by his political oppon- ents. Efforts were made by them to have him arrested, which would probably have been successful had it not been that Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, then Secretary of War, was his personal friend. Secretary Stanton tele- graphed him that there should be no order for his arrest without first granting him a hearing. As there were no charges affecting his loyalty to the government, except such as were manifestly founded in malice, no order was ever issued.
Eminent as Mr. Hughes has been as lawyer and poli- tician his operations as a business man have been exten- sive. He has originated and aided in many enterprises; in the purchase and improvement of lands; in the open- ing and working of coal and iron mines; in the establish- ment of iron works and other factories. He is essentially a man of enterprise, and his county and his State have been enriched through his efforts. He embarked in a scheme for the reclamation of marsh lands about Long Island and Staten Island. In this he lost many thous- ands of dollars. Whether he will re-embark in that en- terprise is only known to himself.
What Mr. Hughes has been in the past he still is. As an elderly man he is still handsome in face and form, with a fine presence. Eminent as a lawyer, disinterested and earnest as a politician, and he has all the energy and earnestness of youth in matters of business. He has been blessed with a good constitution, and it is to be hoped that years of usefulness are still before him.
B Mily
B. REILLY, a prominent contractor and at one time an associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Schuyl- kill county, was born in Cavan, Ireland, February 14th, 1814. His father, with his family, emigrated to Canada in 1822, and in 1823 removed to Lebanon county, Pa. In 1841 Mr. Reilly came to Schuylkill county, as a con- tractor in building the main line of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, and since that time has been a resident of the county. Taking an interest in the old militia he was an officer of a military company in Pottsville, in 1844, and, in 1846, was appointed an aid to Governor Shunk, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1851 he was elected a representative in the State Legislature, and in 1856 associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas, a position which he filled until 1861, when he was elected to represent his district in the State Senate, serv- ing during that eventful period, 1861-64. The governor appointed him a mustering officer in 1863, and in 1864 he was commissioned to receive the soldiers' votes. In 1872 he was the Democratic candidate for Congress in the district composed of Schuylkill and Lebanon coun- ties, but was defeated by the coalition of Republican and " U. B. A." tickets. Judge Reilly is one of the old- est railroad contractors in the country and the only living one of those who built the main line of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. He contracted for portions of the old Lehigh railroad to Wilkes-Barre, the Catawissa railroad, the Pennsylvania railroad, the Sunbury and Erie Railway, the Schuylkill Valley railroad, the Northern Central railroad, and the Lebanon Valley railroad, and has been identified with most prominent public improve- ments during the past forty years. Though now retired from the active management of such enterprises, which has long been confided to the more youthful energy of his son, Thomas A. Reilly, Judge Reilly is still finan- cially interested in and aids them by the advice which only one of his long and varied experience could give. When he shall have passed away he will be remembered as one prominent in the advancement of the leading busi-
312
HISTORY OF SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.
ness interests of the country at large, and the most im- portant railways of the State will always be monuments commemorating his enterprise and executive ability. Politically he has been a life-long democrat, always ac- tive, always honest. In private life he is greatly respec- ted. His career has been a successful one, and such re- wards as he has won are but the legitimate fruits of well directed effort.
J. Frank Herner
J. Frank Werner, a man perhaps as well known in all portions of Schuylkill county as any other resident, is a son of John T. Werner, and was born in Pottsville, June 7th, 1844, and received his education in the public schools of his native borough.
In April, 1861, when he was not yet seventeen years
old, Mr. Werner enlisted in Captain Tower's company of volunteers, then formed in Pottsville, but was rejected at Harrisburg on account of his not having yet attained to the military age. On the 16th of the following Sep- tember, still considerably younger than the prescribed age, he joined Company D of the 48th Pennsylvania vol- unteers, which at the organization of the ninth army corps was made a portion of it, and served until mustered out of service with the company July 17th, 1865; partici- pating in the campaigns in North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee with such credit as to be pro- moted to the second lieutenancy of his company, Septem- ber 5th, 1864, and to the captaincy on the 16th of the following November.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.