USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > History of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, Vol. II > Part 58
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SCHUYLKILL COUNTY
Hosts of friends in Port Carbon predict for him a great future in his ministerial work.
Spiese, Franklin P., a merchant of Tamaqua and prominent throughout Schuylkill county as a financier and capitalist, was born in East Coventry township, Chester county, l'a. Jan. 20, 1855. a son of Jacob and Hannah ( Moser) Spiese He comes of good German stock, and his ancestors were among the pioneers of Chester county. The paternal grandfather. George Spiese, was born in Würtemburg. Germany, but early in life immigrated to the United States and in 1-80 located in Chester county, where he entered a tract of land under the homestead law. There he spent the remainder of his days and his remains lie buried in Shenkel's cemetery near by. It was upon this tract of land that Jacob Spiese was born in 1800. When he grew to manhood he learned the trade of miller, and although he was engaged in that vocation for a number of years he turned his attention in later life to agricultural pursuits. Politically he was a stanch believer in the principles of Jeffersonian Democracy and in a religious way was intensely interested in the work of the Reformed church. His death occurred in 1868. His wife, Hannah Moser, was born at Douglassville. Berks county, Pa., in 1800, and died in Chester county in 1870. Her father was John Moser, a descendant of one of the pioneer families of Douglassville. By her marriage to Jacob Spiese she became the mother of nine children, five sons and four daughters. Franklin P. Spiese, the subject of this sketch, although born in East Coventry township, was reared in North Coventry town- ship, whither his father removed when the son was but a year old. Ilis carly surroundings were those of farm life and his educational training was acquired in the Franklin school. of North Coventry town- ship. On Jan. 4. 1872, he left the parental roof and started out to make his fortune. His first employment was under his brother as a clerk in the office of the Catawissa railroad at Tamaqua. After four months of service there ill health compelled his resignation and he entered the carpenter's trade as an apprentice, serving a full term of four years. On March 8. 1877, he embarked in the wholesale and retail shoe and leather business at Tamaqua, being associated at first with William H. Bevel, under the firm name of W. II. Bevel & Co. This partnership had continued but two weeks when Mr. Spicse pur- chased Mr. Beyel's interest in the business and for the two years fol- lowing conducted it alone. In 1879. Henry A. Spiese became asso- ciated with him, the firm name being F. P. Spiese & Co. The brothers were together until May 24, 1883, when Henry .\. retired, leaving Mr. Spiese to conduct the business without assistance until April I. ISS5. On that date William R. Jones purchased an interest in the firm, the name of which remained the same, and continued to hold it until Dec .. 1900. when he withdrew. Since that time Mr. Spiese has conducted the business alone. He has not devoted himself solely to the mercantile business, but has extended his interests in many other directions and his influence has been felt in the greater part of the growing industries of the town and county. On July 8. 1885. a
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charter was granted by the State of Pennsylvania to the Edison Elec- tric Illuminating Company, of which he had been the chief organizer and has been secretary and manager from the time of its inception. In 1887 the Tamaqua board of trade was organized, the subject of this sketch being active in bringing about its organization. In con- nection with four of his associates-Daniel Shepp, Henry A. Weldy, Dr. C. B. Dreher, and Samuel Brode-hie built the first mill building in the borough of Tamaqua, for the purpose of manufacturing hosiery and employing female labor. This building was leased to the Tamaqua knitting mills, of which Mr. Spicse became a large stockholder, but due to mismanagement on the part of the contractors the business proved to be a failure and the money invested an entire loss. But nevertheless the board of trade proved to be of considerable benefit to the business and industrial interests of the borough of Tamaqua and the surrounding community, and the mill thus established was followed by others, until at the present time there is an absolute scarcity of labor to operate the establishments of this character which are now located in this town. In1 1891 he was one of the incorporators who took out a charter for the Tamaqua & Lansford Street Railway Company, was also its first president and continued in that capacity through its rather stormy career until the road was finally built, when in 1898 he retired from the office and was succeeded by Mr. Lewis A. Riley, of The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, which had seventy-five per cent of the stock. Mr. Spiese continued, how- ever, as a director until the street railway company, the Edison Elec- tric Illuminating and The Citizens Gas Light Companies of Tamaqua ; the Edison Electric Illuminating, the Anthracite Electric Light and Power, and Union Traction Companies of Pottsville; and other light- ing companies, were merged and consolidated, through the J. G. White & Co., Inc., into the Eastern Pennsylvania Railways Company, of which he was elected one of the first directors, having been a director of each of the consolidated companies from their inception. In 1894 he purchased a controlling interest in the Citizens Gas Light Company of Tamaqua, became its secretary, treasurer and manager and continued in that office until July 1, 1906, when as above stated it was taken over by the consolidation. In 1894 he and several asso- ciates purchased a considerable body of land east of Tamaqua, and organized the Tamaqua Land and Improvement Company in 1897, since which time he has been secretary of the organization. This corporation was instrumental in materially aiding in the development and extension of the residence district of the borough of Tamaqua. He was also one of the original stockholders and a director of the Cumberland Valley Telephone, the American Subway and The Schuylkill Subway Companies, all of which were affiliated with the United Telephone and Telegraph Company, and he is at present one of the original subscribers to the stock of the American Union Tele- phone Company, which succeeds to the business of the above named. For many years a director of The Tamaqua Banking and Trust Com- pany, and at the next election for officers following the death of
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Daniel Shepp, he succeeded to the presidency and continued in that position until the concern was changed from a state to a national bank in texas, when he became president of the new institution thus organ- ized, and has remained its president since that time This bank enjoys the confidence of the people of the town and county in which it is located and is regarded as one of the strongest and most con- servative institutions in the state. About 1002 he became interested in the organization of a company known as The National Metallurgi- cal Company for the development of a mine and the operation of a copper smelter at Matehuala, in the Republic of Mexico, and he also has mining interests in Colorado. In woon in connection with Judge W. A. Marr. Alexander Scott, H. S. Allbright, George C. Deifen- derier. Dr. C. B. Dreher and others, he organized The Scott Lumber Company, which purchased a large timber tract in Marlborough county. S. C., and is now operating large mills at Marlborough and Bennettsville, S. C. They also acquired by purchase the Bennetts- ville and Cheraw railroad, which is in operation and they are further building an extension of fourteen miles to develop the agricultural resources and handle the lumber and other freight in that section. In the former corporation he is a director and secretary and of the latter a director. In 1000 he became interested in the development of the resources on the island of Haiti and upon the organization of the United Haiti Corporation was elected a director and vice-presi- dent of the company, the intention of this company being to build railroads and develop the mining and agricultural resources of the island. He has been for many years a member of the American in- stitute of electrical engineers, having secured his admission to that society by reason of his connection with and management of the elec- trical industry, having been in charge of the construction and devel- opment of the Tamaqua company for upwards of twenty years. In political matters Mr. Spiese for many years was a power in the Dem- ocratie party of the state, but when William J. Bryan was nominated and the free silver issue became the strong feature of the party's płatform in 1896 he resigned his membership in the state central committee and supported William Mckinley for president. Since that year he has been allied with no political party or body. and exercises his right of suffrage as his conscience and judgment dictate. He has served as a member of the school board of his town, was its treasurer for a number of years and is a life member of the school directors association of Schuylkill county. In fraternal circles he is widely known. On Oct. 28. 1873, he joined Camp No. 57. Patriotic Order Sons of America, and in 1875 he became a member of Schuyl- kill Commandery No. 1, located at Schuylkill Haven. At Milton, in 1877. he was unanimously elected state vice-president of the order, at Pittsburg in 1800 was made president, and was re-elected to the office at the annual gathering at Gettysburg. He had the distinct honor of being the first man to be re-elected to that office. His service as president entitles him to a life membership in the state camp, and a voice and vote in that body as long as he continues his membership
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in the order. In 1897 he was elected to the responsible office of treasurer of the national camp and has continued in that office tintil the present time. He is also a member of the national executive com- mittee consisting of five officers and having jurisdiction over this rapidly growing order in the entire United States. In the Masonic fraternity he has membership in Tamaqua Lodge, No. 238, Tamaqua Chapter, No. 177, Royal Arch Masons, the Williamsport Consistory of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Masons, thirty-second degree and Rajah Temple of Reading, of the Ancient Arabic Order, Nobles of
the Mystic Shrine, being a life member of the latter organization. He is a life member of Tamaqua Lodge, No. 592, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a trustee for the bondholders of the club-house recently crected. In 1895 he was elected a director of the centennial and memorial association of Valley Forge, Pa., and upon the death of Freeland G. Hobson was elected treasurer of the organization. He was one of the organizers and the first president of the Citizens' Fire Company of Tamaqua; was the first president of the Tamaqua board of health when it was organized, and has served a second term in that body. In religious affairs Mr. Spiese is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. On Aug. 28, 1880 he was united in marriage to Miss Emma Bowden, a daughter of William Bowden, who was one of the early mine operators of Tamaqua, having come to this country from England. A daughter, Edna, who died in November, 1887, was the only child to bless this union.
Spotts, John O., division manager of the United Telephone and Telegraph Company, was born in Northumberland county, Pa., March 18, 1861, a son of Henry and Mary ( Bingaman) Spotts, also natives of Northumberland county. They spent their lives mostly in the hotel business. In 1863 they moved to New Pittsburg, Wayne county, Ohio, and remained there in hotel keeping until the spring of 1872, when they returned to Snyder county, Pa., and remained there until the early 'Sos, when they removed to Shamokin Dam. The mother died in 1876, at McKee's Half-Falls in Snyder county, and the father remarried in 1878. In 1886 he removed to Georgetown, where he is now living, retired from business. There were five children born to the father's first marriage, and four to the second. Of the former Fietta was the eldest. She is the wife of Dr. Kerschner, a physician in Georgetown; Clarence is an engineer in the same place; Leon is employed by the United Telephone and Telegraph Company ; Philip is a railroad employe at Sunbury ; and John O. of this sketch com- pletes the family circle, except that one child not included in the num- ber mentioned, died in infancy. John O. Spotts was educated in the public schools of Ohio and Pennsylvania and began his independent career as a driver of mules on the Pennsylvania canal, his route from end to end embracing more than 1,000 miles. He followed this busi- ness for fifteen years, the last ten of which he was owner and prin- cipal operator of a boat. He was employed one year in the rolling- mill at Milton, when he entered the service of the General Electric
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Light and Power Company of that place, and in December, 1900, he engaged in the construction of the Schuylkill Telephone Company's lines, operating principally in this county. On Feb. 1. 1901, he was promoted to "wire chief." and his headquarters established at Potts- ville. In May, 19044, he was promoted to the position of division man- ager, and placed in charge of all the company's lines south of Broad mountain. This division embraces 1.500 telephones, and thirty-nine employes under his jurisdiction. To him is entrusted all new con- struction work, repairs, the employing and discharging of operatives, etc. Mr. Spotts was married at Port Trevorton, Snyder county, Pa., on Sept. 11. 188t. to Miss Mary, daughter of John M. and Mary Arnold. Her father was killed in the Civil war. The parental family includes six children living and one deceased. Her brother, Edwin S. is third assistant postmaster general; John S. is a practicing physician in Washington, D. C. : Grant S. was employed in the pension department until he died, in September. 1005 : Ida Bell, wife of Pierce Bingaman, resides at Port Trevorton : Carrie married Sherman Leon- hart, a railway postal clerk, and lives at Harrisburg; Isora is un- married, and lives with her mother at Port Trevorton. Seven chil- dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Spotts, the eldest of whom, Lottie L., is chief operator at the Pottsville exchange; Edwin A. is the wire chief at Pottsville : Mildred, Anna, Sheridan and Lillian are in school; and Allen is everybody's "baby." Mr. and Mrs. Spotts and their eldest daughter are members of the Evangelical church. Mr. Spotts is a Republican in political views and a member of the Central Republican club. He is also an interested and useful member of the Schuylkill county historical society.
Springer, Daniel E., an enterprising plumber of Tamaqua, was born in that city on May 29. 1870, a son of William and Mary (Reichelderfer) Springer. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Springer, born on March 5. 1800, owned and operated one of the first sawmills in Schuylkill county. It was located on the Little Schuyl- kill river six miles south of Tamaqua, and proved a source of wealth until 1850, when a flood destroyed practically all of the plant. What remains of the wrecked machinery may be seen at what is known as "Springer's curve" on the Philadelphia & Reading railroad. He died in 1884. Both he and his wife (nec Martha Jennings) were devout Methodists and when they died the whole community felt keenly the loss of two kindly, upright Christian characters. William Springer, the father, was one of the earliest engineers on the Phila- delphia & Reading road. having been the man at the throttle of the old "Witcha" when that locomotive pulled the trains over wooden rails. He died when he was sixty-three and his widow passed away when she was a year older. Of the fourteen children born to them nine are still living, and eight of them are married. Daniel E. Springer received his educational advantages in the Tamaqua schools and when his father died he left school to do his part in helping to support the family. He served an apprenticeship in the plumbing trade and twelve years later started in business for himself. That
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he has been successful is easily evidenced by the fact that he has recently been enabled to build a fine, modern residence, yet when he was married in 1892 hie liad but forty dollars, five of which went to the minister. With real estate and personal property he is worth about $12,000. His wife was formerly Miss Elizabeth Storch, of Tamaqua, and by her marriage to Mr. Springer she is the mother of four chil- dren-George Lester, Raymond, Helen and an unnamed baby. Both parents are members of the St. John's Reformed church and Mr. Springer is identified with the Improved Order of Red Men, of which he is a past officer, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, being a trustec of that organization at the present time, the American Hose Company, the Tamaqua club, and the Rod and Gun club. He is known through- out the city as a skilled workman, and a man of unsullied character.
Springer, Joseph B., a locomotive engineer on the Reading divi- sion of the Philadelphia & Reading railroad, was born on a farm near Tamaqua on May 2, 1856. Something of his family history may be learned from the sketch of his brother, Daniel M. Springer, elsewhere in this volume. After completing the courses offered in the schools of Tamaqua and Port Clinton, Joseph B. Springer entered the employ of the Philadelphia & Reading railroad as a brakeman on his seventeenth birthday. After four months of that work he obtained a position as fireman on his father's locomotive and held it until Jan. 15, 1878. On that date he was given an engine of his own and he has since been employed in the capacity of locomotive engineer. His present run from Tamaqua to Phila- delphia and return he has held for eighteen successive years. He has never had an accident of any consequence, due to careful operation. On June 21, 1876, Mr. Springer was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Sigenfuse, a native of Tamaqua and a daughter of John and Rebecca Sigenfuse. The father was killed at Delano more than thirty years ago and the mother died in 1888. They were both members of the Lutheran church. To Mr. and Mrs. Springer have been born six children-Joseph D., a plumber ; Minnie, Irene, Clarence, Edith and Mabel. The family are at- tendants of the Methodist Episcopal church, and Mr. Springer is a prominent member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi- neers. He is considered a man of keen business sagacity, high principles and altogether a most valuable member of the com- munity.
Stabler, Isadore, a retired farmer of wealth and influence, resi- ding at Fountain Springs, was born in County Solothurn, Switzer- land, July 27, 1842, and is one of two children born to Jacob and Catherine (Haner) Stabler, the other being Francis X. The mother died in 1844 and the father married again and in 1855 brought his wife and family to the United States, locating in Pottsville. Then he found employment about the collieries and breakers for several years before he removed to Ashland, and subsequently he made his home in Union township, where he passed the remainder of his days. His remains are buried in the
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Catholic cemetery at Ashland. By his second wife he was the father of three children, Leon, Mary, now Mrs. Jacob Dietz, and Christian. The subject of this memoir, Isadore Stabler, had little opportunity to acquire an education. Shortly after the arrival of his father's family in Pottsville he was "hired out" to Mrs. Fox and dur- ing the two years he was there attended school when the weather or some other cause did not permit him to labor. The following year he was employed by Edward o'connor, a former commis- sioner of this county, and at the end of that time returned to his father's home, which at the time was in Ashland. For two seasons Mr. Stabler found a means of livelihood in picking slate and then became an assistant in the engine house at the Bancroft mine. Ile remained in that capacity some two years and the season im- mediately following was engaged in locating coal. Then he went to the Lost Creek No. 2 colliery and for five years was engaged in the various departments of the work there, leaving to go to Brush Valley, Columbia county, to conduct a small truck farm which he rented from the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company. While living there he also attended to the boilers of the Robinson Coal Company and when the mines became idle he became possession agent for three years of most of the coal lands of the Lehigh Coal Company at Aristes. In 1874 be purchased a tract of 87 acres of timber land near Fountain Springs. This he cleared and improved and made his home upon it until 1901, in which year he retired from active life and turned over the management of the farm to his sons. In 1002 he erected the pleasant, modern dwelling at Fountain Springs which is now his home and where he has since resided. On Oct. 15. 1866, was celebrated Mr. Stabler's marriage to Miss Regina Dietz, a daughter of David and Regina Dietz, both natives of Würtemberg, Germany. To Mr. and Mrs. Stabler have been born seven children-Frank, Kate, now Mrs. Nicholas Ringnary. Teresa, Mathias. Peter. John and George. The family are all communicants of the Roman Catholic church. Mr. Stabler is a public-spirited citizen and one who is intensely interested in the educational advantages of his township. He has been a member of the school board of his township for a number of years. during which time two new school houses have been built, all the others have been materially repaired and renovated and the debt has been reduced from $28,000 to $11.000. He is also actively interested in politics, being a stanch exponent of the principles of the Demo- cratic party. As the successful candidate of that party he has served a term as township treasurer. In 1900 Mr. Stabler visited the Paris exposition. also his birthplace in Switzerland. the Alps, and returned home via Germany, arriving home on Sept. 15 of that year after an absence of eleven weeks.
Starr, Frank D., junior member of the hardware firm of Beddall & Starr of Schuylkill Haven, was born in Llewellyn on Feb. 24. 1874. a son of John and Susan ( Firling ) Starr. His educational advantages were those afforded by the common schools and at the age of four- teen years he became a clerk in a grocery store. From this work he
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drifted into New Jersey, where he became employed at Camden on the Atlantic City railroad. On returning to Schuylkill county he found work as a breaker boy and remained in the mines for a period of two years. At the end of that time he entered the employ of A. H. Swalm of Shenandoah, and there learned the hardware business. Of the fourteen years he was in Mr. Swalm's employ six were spent as delivery man and eight as salesman. In 1905 he came to Schuyl- kill Haven, where he formed a partnership with G. W. Beddall in the hardware industry and since that time has most successfully been conducting the business. The store is finely stocked and equipped and is one of the most modern in the county. In religious matters he is identified with the Reformed church, being at the present time a communicant of the Trinity church in Schuylkill Haven. While a resident of Shenandoah he was for eight years a deacon of the church there and for six years of the time was its Sunday school superin- tendent. He was also for four years the treasurer of the county Sabbath School association. In August, 1895, was solemnized Mr. Starr's marriage to Miss Helen K. Portz, a daughter of John Portz of Shenandoah. This union has been blessed with three children- John F., Leroy A. and Margaret S., all living. Although the Starr family have lived in Schuylkill Haven but a comparatively short time they are a valued addition to the social and religious life of the com- munity, and the father has won for himself a high place in the com- mercial circles of the city.
Stein, Newton H., M. D., a prominent physician of Middleport, was born in Walker township, this county, June 8, 1877. and is a son of Nathan and Messina J. (Ringer) Stein, natives of Schuyl- kill county. The paternal grandparents, Daniel and Lucinda (Greenwalt) Stein, removed to Walker township from Berks county, and the maternal grandparents, Stephen and ( Baer) Ringer, came to Schuylkill county from Northampton. Nathan Stein was born in West Pennsylvania township, but spent the better part of his life in Walker township. He was a musician of note and was engaged in teaching music for more than thirty years. During that time he was also carrying on a piano business in Tamaqua. He died in Tamaqua on Aug. 7, 1905. at the age of fifty-three, leav- ing a family of four children, of whom the doctor is the eldest. The others are Anna M., Laura J., now the wife of Howard F. Reed, and Minnie. The subject of this sketch received his prelim- inary education in the grade and high schools of his native county and in 1898 was graduated at the Keystone state normal school of Kutztown. For the following two years he was engaged in ped- agogic work, and at the end of that period received a state certifi- cate. In the fall of 1900 he matriculated at the Medico-Chirur- gical college of Philadelphia and in June, 1904. was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In September of that year he located in Middleport, where he has since become recognized as a physician of intelligence and skill and has built up a practice far beyond his expectations. In politics the doctor is a Republican. but
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