History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 28

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1390

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Mr. Helb has probably found his greatest pleasure in travel. He has made five voyages to Europe, having visited every European country except Servia and Bulgaria, and there are only two States in the Union which Mr. Helb has not visited, those being Arkansas and South Dakota. He has visited Egypt and Pal- estine, Turkey, Asia Minor and Greece and was accompanied on one of the latter trips by his son Herbert, in company with whom he also went to Alaska, and British Columbia. On another occasion he made an extended visit to Mexico, and twice he went to California.

JULIUS C. HELB, who has carried on a bottling business at York for a number of years, has had an interesting and successful career. In his present enterprise he has de- veloped an extensive patronage by straight business methods and up-to-date service to his customers, and he is ranked among the reliable business men of the city. He was born July

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28, 1862, in Railroad borough, York county, and is one of the sons of the late Frederick Helb, a full account of whose life and work will be found elsewhere in this work.

Mr. Helb was educated in the German schools of Baltimore. When he commenced work he learned the trade of tanner, with his father, and was engaged at same during the greater part of his early manhood, though be- fore he had reached his majority he followed the sea for two years, and also put in one year at railroad work. He was only nineteen when he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Rail- way Company, being engaged as signalman and trainmaster's assistant. His experiences as a mariner were varied and interesting. He even- tually became his father's successor in the tan- nery business at Railroad borough. After remaining there two years he bought and oper- ated the Union tannery at Manchester, Md., at which place he was located for six years. He then sold the plant and turned his attention to another line, buying the wholesale bottling works of Schmidt & Wagner, of Hanover, where he did business for five years. He next located in Railroad borough, where he erected and operated the F. Helb & Sons furniture fac- tory for two years. Then he came to York and established his present bottling plant, on East Market street, where he has been continuously engaged up to the present time. He bottles im- ported and leading western beers, and is the au- thorized bottler of Helb's Brewery. His facil- ities insure the utmost satisfaction from his pa- trons, as his establishment is one of the best equipped in the entire country. Mr. Helb has left nothing undone which would add to the completeness or efficiency of his plant, and he employs up-to-date methods, being a leader in this respect. His standing as a business man is irreproachable.

Mr. Helb was united in marriage, Sept. 3, 1886, to Sophia Schenk, daughter of Jacob and Sophia Schenk, of Pfahlbach, Oehringen, Wur- temberg, Germany, and four children were born of this union, one dying in infancy. The survivors are : Theodore Edward, who is a graduate of Patrick's Business College, and George Curtis and Charles Julius, who still at- tend school.

Red Men, and is an earnest worker in the Fra- ternal Order of Eagles, Eyrie No. 183, of which he has been a member since he resided in York. Politically he supports the Republican party. In religion he inclines to the doctrines of the Lutheran Church.

JAMES ANDERSON, ex-county poor director, and an influential citizen of East Hopewell township, York county, was born in the old log house on his father's farm, June 4. 1843, son of James and Mary E. (Miller) Anderson.

James Anderson, the great-grandfather of our subject, was born in Ireland, and came to America with his wife. He took up 339 acres of land in what is now East Hopewell town- ship, the tract being known on the old patent as "Unlikely Harbour." It was patented in two tracts, the first bearing the date of Feb. 18, 1773. and the other Dec. 21. 1786.

James Anderson, son of James, was born on this farm, and followed farming through- out life. He acquired the home farm, upon which he remained until his death, which oc- curred in 1832 ; he was buried in the old Round Hill cemetery, where his wife, who had been Esther Thom, of Dauphin county, was also interred. They were Presbyterians in faith, being what was known as Blue Stocking Pres- byterians. The children born to this worthy couple were: James, the father of our sub- ject : John, who died in Hopewell township, married Susan Brown; William went to Han- cock Co., Ohio, where he married Jane and died; Esther, Mrs. Joseph Edgar, died in East Hopewell township; Sarah, Mrs. Thomas Grove, died in Chanceford township: Marga- ret, Mrs. William Wilson, died in Hopewell township; Rachel died unmarried as did Agnes; and Polly, became the wife of War- rick Anderson, who accompanied her brother to Ohio, and she died in that State.

James Anderson, the father of our subject, and the third of that name, was born in the old log house where three generations of the family have been born, March 6, 1799, and re- ceived the education common to the youths of his day. He followed farming all of his life, taking the home place at the death of his father. He sold IOI acres to his brother John,

Fraternally Mr. Helb belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of from whom he later repurchased it. He erect-

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

ed a stone house on another part of the farm about 1850, and there died in May, 1876. He was a member of the Round Hill Presbyterian Church in his earlier years. . Reared a Whig when the Know Nothing party came into ex- istence he joined the Democrats. James An- derson married Mary E. Miller, born in Hope- well township, daughter of John and Eliza- beth (Trout) Miller, and she survived her husband until about 1885, when she passed away. She had these children: Esther, died in infancy ; Esther, married William Zel- lers and died in Hopewell township; Eliza- beth, twin to Esther, married Benjamin An- derson, and lives in Fawn township: John, of Red Lion, married Alice Flinchbaugh; James, our subject ; Sarah Agnes, died at the age of twenty-two years; Priscilla E., died at the age of twenty-three years; Susan A. M., deceased single; and Geary F., of Hopewell township, married Annie McFatridge.

James Anderson, our subject, attended the old-fashioned schools, his first teacher being Lucretia Prall, and the last, a Mr. Ebaugh. He remained with his father until his twenty-fifth year, when he started out in life for himself. He purchased the tract which he now owns, formerly owned by his father, and erected all of the buildings on the place. Mr. Anderson has successfully followed the calling of his ancestors. His property is well located, his buildings commodious, and his home surround- ings indicative of thrift and good manage- ment. He has been an ardent Democrat all of his life, and cast his first vote for McClel- lan. Since that time he has missed voting but two elections, one being when Greeley was candidate, when Mr. Anderson would not sup- port him. He has served in many township offices. In a strong Republican township he was elected justice of the peace for one term and prior to this he served one term as school director. He was elected poor director in the fall of 1899 and served as such one term. In 1904 he served as supervisor of his township. He is a member of the Stewartstown Presby- terian Church ..

followed farming, is now deceased, while the latter is still living, aged about sixty-nine years. Mrs. Anderson is a member of the Stewartstown Presbyterian Church and of the Home Missionary Society. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson are as follows : William L., in the feed business in York; James Thom, ex-teacher, in the feed business with his brother, William; Alda E., educated in the public schools, the York County Aca- demy and the Shippensburg Normal; George E., Robert R., Mary Susan and Georgie A., all at home; and Esther J., who died in infancy.

GEORGE E. HOLTZAPPLE, M. D. Hesse-Cassel of the Fatherland contributed the name of Holtzapple to the records of American patriots who braved the dangers and privations of a pioneer life in order to obtain the precious boon of liberty. The emigrant ancestor settled in Lancaster county, the next generation moving to a point some three miles northwest of the present site of York-then a wild and unbroken wilderness. There and thereabouts succeeding generations of the family have tilled the soil and maintained an honored name to the present day. A worthy member of the last generation is Dr. George E. Holtzapple, a prominent and successful physician of York.

Erasmus Holtzapple, the original emigrant, crossed the Atlantic in 1731. Christian names then grow dim with the years until Grand- father George Holtzapple appears on the scene, a prosperous, stirring farmer of "ye old time" when the tiller of the soil stood first in the ranks of society. In his generation the father also, Israel E. Holtzapple, was á man of influence and position in the community, his farm consisting of a part of the original Holtzapple holdings. Israel E. Holtzapple married Christiana Lecrone, daughter of John Lecrone, of an old and worthy agricultural family of the county, and. they became the parents of eight children, three sons and five daughters. Of these children, Noah P. died in July, 1903: John H. is a machinist in York; Mary is the wife of Adam Stover, of York; Ella J. is the widow of J. D. Folkemer, of Baltimore; Clara A. married Charles Myers, a farmer at Hanover Junction ; Louisa A. mar- ried Edward Gladfelter, a merchant at Seven

Mr. Anderson was married, in 1877, to Miss Mary McFatridge, born in Hopewell township, daughter of George and Susan (Grove) McFatridge, the former of whom, who was a shoemaker by trade although he Valley; Annie I. is Mrs. Wiley Shepperd, of

y& Stolzapple

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Seven Valley; and Dr. George E. is mentioned in this disease reported in medical literature. below. Israel E. Holtzapple, the father, lived the Psalmist's allotted span, and died Oct. 13, 1900, but his widow is still living, being now sixty-nine years of age.

On the old homestead which had witnessed the joys and sorrows of many of his ancestors, Dr. Holtzapple first opened his eyes on the scene of action, May 22; 1862. The period of childhood and adolescence was spent in the manner of children of the well-to-do farmers of that section of the county, his earlier scholastic training being that of the country school. Before taking up his professional course the Doctor attended York Collegiate Institute, several sessions of the York County Normal School, and taught four years in the public schools of York county. He then en- tered Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York, and after a thorough course there was graduated in the class of 1884. Dr. Holtz- apple has always been a deep student of his profession, and besides his private reading has taken two post-graduate courses in medicine and one in philosophy, in 1894 at the Post- graduate Medical School and Hospital in New York, and in 1899 at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore. His course in philosophy was what is known as a non-resident course, covering a period of three years, the school be- ing Lebanon Valley College.

Upon taking his degree in 1884, Dr. Holtz- apple practiced for a short period at Logan- ville. York county, and then at Seven Valley. where he established the excellent reputation which made it a comparatively easy mat- ter to secure the splendid practice which he now enjoys in York. As referred to before, the Doctor is a student, a lover of his profession, and is enthusiastic in everything that pertains to it. He has made quite a reputation as a writer on medical topics, these forming important and valuable contribu- tions to medical literature. He was one of the first to make use of oxygen-gas in the treat- ment of pneumonia, and in other acute affec- tions attended by carbonic acid-gas poisoning. He also made a most valuable contribution on that rare and unique disease known as "family periodic paralysis" and its treatment. He re- ported seventeen cases, with six deaths, a larger number than had hitherto been reported by any American observer, and the first deaths

By invitation the Doctor read an extensive paper on this subject at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, held in Portland, Oregon, in July, 1905.

Dr. Holtzapple keeps in close touch with his profession through the different organiza- tions, being a member of the county, State and national societies, and he is attending physi- cian to York hospital. He has for a number of years been the reporter of the local county so- ciety for the Pennsylvania "Medical Journal," the official journal of the State Society. As a member of the committee of Arrangements for the Fifty-third annual meeting of the State so- ciety, and chairman of the committee on Halls and Exhibits, he contributed largely to the splendid success of that meeting. The Doctor has served as president of the local society, and while at Seven Valley was surgeon to the Northern Central Railroad.

In 1902, in order to get some relief from the extensive practice he was required to serve. Dr. Holtzapple traveled extensively in Eng- land, France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Austria and the valley of the Rhine, returning to his work with increased enthusiasm. Three years later (1905) with his family he made a ten-thousand mile tour of the home land, visit- ing Yellowstone National Park and the Great West, including the exposition at Portland, Ore., where, as stated before, he attended the meeting of the American Medical Association.

On Dec. 9, 1886, Dr. George E. Holtzapple was united in marriage to Miss Mahala Glad- felter, daughter of Philip and Catherine Glad- felter, substantial farming people of the county, now both deceased. To this union has been born one child, Gertrude Sabilla, now an interesting and attractive student at York Col- legiate Institute.

Dr. Holtzapple is an active and prominent worker in Christ Lutheran Church. taking great interest in the young people and their welfare, being at the present time assist- ant superintendent of the Sunday-school. He is an active worker in the Y. M. C. A., and is also a member of the York County Historical Society. Both he and his family have made a large place in the hearts of York people since coming among them, and are the recipients of much attention in the most exclusive social circles.

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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

FREDERICK W. WEBER. It has be- where he was engaged in the manufacture of come a truism that the man with a specialty, twine and cordage, when the business was all done by hand. He was a very successful man in that line and an expert workman. In 1854 Mr. Rutchow came to America with the inten- tion of locating a plant in Cincinnati, Ohio, but finding conditions at the time not favorable decided not to do so and went instead to Eliza- bethport, N. J. So Mr. Weber has inherited to a great extent that quality which he possesses, and which must be possessed to make any busi- ness a success. His father, Anton Weber, who came to America in 1856 from Prussia, Ger- many, is also a prominent man in the cordage business, in 1860 engaging in the manufac- ture of (hard fibre) cordage, and having worked in many of the leading manufactories in the United States, to-day having charge of the preparation and spinning for the Whitlock Cordage Company, at Jersey City, New Jersey. one who thoroughly understands a business from the ground up, is he who is the most likely to succeed in life. In these days, when industries and enterprises of all kinds are be- ing developed, it is the practical man who is wanted. There is an abundance of capital in the land ever ready to be enlisted in undertak- ings that promise success. And at junctures like that the man of the hour is he who can con- duct the various departments of the enterprise through the intricacies of actual operation. Frederick W. Weber is a practical man. He knows how to do things in the special line of work to which he has devoted himself. He is the treasurer of the Hanover Cordage Com- pany, one of the active industries of that city, and it is a field of industry in which he is most thoroughly at home. The present works were established Jan. 29, 1900, by Mr. 'John Green- away, Frederick W. Weber and George H. Bonte, who were known as the Bonte Cordage Company, Limited. This company successfully operated until April, 1903, when Mr. Bonte sold his interests to H. N. Gitt and C. J. De- lone, of Hanover, and the Hanover Cordage Company was then incorporated by the follow- ing gentlemen: President, H. N. Gitt; vice- president and superintendent, John Green- away ; secretary, C. J. Delone ; treasurer, Fred- erick W. Weber. They took the entire inter- ests of the Bonte Cordage Company, Limited. New machinery was added and the equipment of the plant, once improved and increased, has since been preserved and operated in excellent condition. The business of the company has rapidly increased since the new management has thus come into possession. The capital stock is $100,000, and 150 men and boys are employed. The products of the company are sold through the United States. Mr. Weber has had many years' experience in this branch of manufacture and understands all the details of the cordage business, having started in when a boy fifteen years of age, entering the em- ploy of the Elizabethport Steam Cordage Works of Elizabeth, N. J., in 1878. He has worked in all the branches, such as preparing the various fibres, spinning, etc., and even sell- ing the finished product in many of the States of the Union. It may be mentioned that his maternal grandfather, Frederick Rutchow, came from Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany,

Mr. Frederick W. Weber is a native of Elizabeth, N. J., born Jan. 29, 1864. His par- ents, Anton and Freda Weber, were both born in Germany, and in 1856 settled in New Jer- sey, and in that State the youth of Frederick W. was passed. In 1890 he came to Hanover and took charge of the Hanover Cordage Com- pany, Limited, in the capacity of superintendent. He remained with the company until and after the sale of the works to the National Cordage Company of New York, and in 1898 accepted a position with the Lawrence Cordage Company of Brooklyn, N. Y. Returning to Hanover Mr. Weber, in 1900, interested a number of business men in the plant with which he is now connected, since which time he has filled the position of treasurer for the company, as well as having general charge of the buying and selling of its products.

Mr. Weber was married, in October, 1890, to Gussie E. Grube, of Rahway, N. J., daugh- ter of Charles and Caroline Grube. To this union two children have been born: Freda C. and Charles A. Mr. and Mrs. Weber are prominent members of St. Mark's Lutheran Church, of which he has served for a number of years as deacon. In politics he is a Republi- can. He is prominent in the fraternal orders, belonging to Patmos Lodge, No. 348. F. & A. M .; Good Samaritan Chapter, No. 266, Royal Arch Masons; and Gettysburg Commandery, No. 79, K. T. He is also a member of Han- over Lodge, No. 763, B. P. O. Elks.

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J. WESLEY MYERS was born in Carroll younger years to active business enterprises, county, Md., March 19, 1850, the son of Philip H. and Elizabeth (Baughman) Myers, and the grandson of Jacob and Anna (Lawyer ) Myers, the latter living to the age of eighty-six years. Philip H. Myers, the father of J. Wesley, is a man of more than ordinary force of character. He

was born in Carroll county, Md., in 1822, and in his early manhood married Elizabeth Baughman, who was born in Maryland in 1825, the daughter of Frederick Baughman, a native of Maryland, an enterprising business man, and the owner of mills and large landed estates, who was widely known for his many estimable qualities. For a number of years Philip H. Myers was en- gaged in mercantile pursuits, and later turned his attention largely to agriculture. He was for thirteen years the president of the Dug Hill Fire Insurance Company of Carroll coun- ty. His wife died in 1894. He is still living, now in his eighty-fourth year. Three children were born to Philip H. and Elizabeth Myers, namely : J. Wesley; Maranda, wife of Samuel Wine, of Hanover; and Elizabeth, who died in infancy.

J. Wesley Myers received his education in a private school in his native State. He early applied himself to the vocation of a farmer, but when he attained the age of twenty-three years he began to deal in cattle on his own account, on the farm in Carroll county, Md., conducting the same successfully for a number of years. The cattle were purchased by Mr. Myers at Chicago for feeding for the Eastern markets, and he continued the business successfully for a number of years. In 1893 he removed from his farm to the borough of Hanover, where he has since resided. Since then he has purchased a number of large properties at Hanover, which he has improved and repaired, besides remodel- ing buildings already erected.

In every populous and thriving region that owes its wealth and superior advantages to the development of material resources, there are necessarily men who lead in this forward march, men whose perceptions are keen, whose sess the courage to put into execution the plans, which to the dimmer-visaged may seem un- certain of success. Mr. Myers is comparatively young in years, but he was devoted in his

and he has acquired a competence to which he constantly adds by the trained business facul- ties he has developed. He is sometimes called by his friends a capitalist, a term which in this instance is one of unblemished honor, typify- ing as it does the achievement of a well-spent life, and crowned with the means and willing- ness to further various business enterprises which exhibit to the experienced financier the promise of permanent growth and public bene- fit. Among other business relations he is a director of the Hanover Savings Fund Society. He is also a director of the Hanover Shoe Manufacturing Company, one of the city's lead- ing industries, the output of whose factory is sold through twenty-three stores, which are located in different States, most of them in Pennsylvania and Virginia. The factory makes a specialty of a superior shoe, which is uniformly sold at all these retail stores for $2.50 per pair. It is a new departure in the shoe business, and one which has proved pop- ular and very successful. Mr. Myers is the owner of a valuable farm in Carroll county, Md. He is also the owner of business property on Baltimore street, Hanover, the three-story structure on which-28x100 feet-is occupied by the dry-goods firm of Wentz & Bro. Mr. Myers is not only a business man of superior merits, but he possesses that affability of man- ner and courtesy of deportment in his relation- ship with his fellowmen that has won him a wide popularity.

In 1871 Mr. Myers married Mary Agnes Schaeffer, daughter of Noah and Elizabeth (Kessler) Schaeffer, of Carroll county, Md. Three children have been born to them : Milton P., an active business man of Baughman's Valley, Md .; Clinton N., secretary and treas- urer of the Hanover Shoe Company, of Han- over; and Bessie E., who died Sept. 1, 1900, aged twenty-two years and six months. Mr. and Mrs. Myers are prominent members of Emanuel Reformed Church.

JAMES C. MAY, M. D., was born in faith in themselves is undaunted and who pos- Washington township, York county, Jan. 14, 1858. His parents were John B. and Caro- line (Leathery) May, of York county, and of German descent. They reared a family of four sons and three daughters, of whom James C.

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is the second. He remained on the farm until luis fifteenth year, and attended the common schools and the York County Academy. At the age of seventeen he began teaching in the public schools. After teaching four terms he entered the office of Dr. Kain, at Manchester, and at the end of two years went to Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, where he graduated in March, 1881. Returning to Man- chester he formed a partnership with his pre- ceptor, and began practicing at once. In the spring of 1884 he bought the interest of his partner, and has since been practicing for him- self. All his time is devoted to his profession.

In October, 1881, Dr. May was married in Columbia, Pa., to Ellen M. Yinger, a native of Manchester. They have two children, a son and a daughter. The son, Charles H. May, is a student in the medical department of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. The daughter, Mary, is at home. Dr. May is an ex-president of the York County Medi- cal Society, a member of the Pennsylvania State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. He has also served as school director for Manchester borough a number of terms.

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History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume II, Part 28

Author: Prowell, George R. Publication date: 1907 Publisher: J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1390

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1390