History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 199

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Pennsylvania > York County > History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended > Part 199

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JOHN H. GANTZ, born in York County, March 29, 1820, is the fourth child and eldest son in a family of three sons and five daughters of John and Barbara (Hosler) Gantz. He was reared on a farm, and acquired a fair German and English education. He was married in 1841, in Shrewsbury Township, to Miss Lydia, a daughter of John Miller, and a na- tive of York County. His wife died in 1850, having had three children; one, Margaret Ann. died at the age of five years, the two living are John W. and Susanna, wife of Adam Eighner. He was next married, October 5, 1851, to Mrs. Lucinda (Ker- linger) Ziegler. They have had five children-two have died: Ellen, aged three years, and Balinda, aged thirteen years. The three living are Eliza Ann, wife of L. R. Lentz; Alice, wife of George Bollinger, and Amelia, wife of Henry Allison. Mr. Gantz served his country in the nine months' service, en- tering the army in 1862, and participated in numer- ous skirmishes. He is a member of Post No. 342, G. A. R., at Shrewsbury. He is connected with the Lutheran Church, and his wife with the Reformed Church. He is a Republican and a hard working farmer, having acquired his property by his own labor.

ELBRIDGE HOFFMAN GERRY, A. B., M. D., was born in Shrewsbury, October 18, 1836, and is the eldest son of Dr. James Gerry, of Scotch-Irish and German descent. He was brought up in his father's drug store, and educated at the public and private schools, and at the academy at Shrewsbury. In the winter of 1858 he entered Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Penn., and graduated in 1861, as A. B. Returning to Shrewsbury he taught school for two years, public school in winter and select school in summer. In the fall of 1865 he attended the Uni- versity of Maryland, at Baltimore, and graduated in the spring of 1867, as M.D. Until 1870 he practiced medicine with his father, but in that year he formed a partnership with his brother James, and they bought their father's drug store; since then he has followed his profession in connection with the drug business. In September, 1868, he was married, at Baltimore, Md., to Miss Scarborough, daughter of Ezekiel Scarborough. This lady died in February, 1871. Their only child, Sarah Salome, died also, aged twenty months. November 16, 1874, he was married, at Shrewsbury, to Miss Arabella, daughter of William McAbee, and had born to him four children, three of whom are yet living: El- bridge Beck, James John and David McA. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which also his first wife belonged. He is a very prominent member of the church and Sabbath-school-steward in the former and super- intendent in the latter. In 1880 he was lay repre- sentative at Altoona, and in 1884 at Williamsport. He is a prominent Mason and K. T. and P. M. of Blue Lodge. In the borough he has held various offices of trust; being an active Democrat, he has been sent as delegate to State and county conven- tions. In 1878 he was appointed surgeon of the Northern Central Railroad.

JAMES GERRY, M. D., a physician of Shrews- bury. York County, was born February 4, 1839, and is the second son of James and Salome (Hoffman), Gerry, natives of Maryland, and of Scotch-Irish and German descent. James Gerry, the grandfather, came from Scotland in the eighteenth century, and located in Maryland, where at one time he was a member of the Maryland General Assembly from Cecil County. He followed farming, and was also a kind of a local lawyer. The subject of this sketch was brought up in Shrewsbury, where he learned the drug business with his father. His earlier edu- cation he received at the public schools, and at the Shrewsbury Academy. Being induced by his father to study the practice of medicine, he entered Dick- enson College, at Carlisle, Penn., when twenty years old, but at the breaking out of the late war he left that college as a junior, and entered Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, graduating in the spring of 1863 as M. D. He also took a course of operative surgery under Dr. Agnew. After finish- ing his studies he came to Shrewsbury, where he at once commenced to practice medicine in connection with the drug business. In January, 1876, he was married, at Weisburg, Md., to Miss Hunter, daugh- ter of Pleasant Hunter, of Maryland; they have one child-Carroll. Dr. Gerry is a prominent Mason of the Knight Templar degree, and is also a member of Consistory S. P. R. S., Thirty-second degree, as well as a Past Master of Shrewsbury Lodge. For six years he has held the position of president of the school board. He is quite a successful physician, especially in the treatment of Bright's Disease, and is surgeon for the Northern Central Railroad Company.

CHRISTIAN GORE, born in Baltimore County, Md., October 23, 1818, and died at New Freedom, June 5, 1878, was the eldest of three sons of Charles and Mary (Price) Gore, of German and English de- scent, respectively. He was educated at Middle- town, Md., and up to about thirty years of age, he taught school. He was married, April 4, 1850, at Baltimore, to Hester Ann Shamberger, daughter of Jacob and Hester (Souder) Shamberger, natives of Pennsylvania and of German descent. They had eight children, Millard S. (deceased), Mary, Jane, Edwin (deceased), Upton H., Harvey (deceased), George W. and Alverta. Mr. Gore has held the positions of commissioner, treasurer and assessor of Baltimore County. In the spring of 1871, he re- moved to York County, where he located in York Borough, but after a year removed to Glen Rock Borough, where, in company with Hashour & Fal- len, he engaged in the planing-mill and lumber business, which was burned in 1876, causing a great loss. The mill was rebuilt, and Mr. Gore retired from business in 1878, and removed to New Freedom, where he died soon after. In 1850 he was engaged for six years at Hoffmans- ville, in the mercantile business and the manufac- ture of paper one year, and farmed about twelve years in Baltimore County. The family are leading members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Mr. Gore was a class leader. Since the death of Mr. G., Mrs. Gore and her two sons have successfully conducted a mercantile establishment at New Freedom.

JAMES N. GROVE, youngest son of John and Elizabeth (Moore) Grove, of York County, Penn., was born in Shrewsbury, March 26, 1837. His par- ents were of German and Irish descent respectively, and had a family of six sons and five daughters. Until his fifteenth year he remained on his father's. farm, but at that age he began learning the trade of millwright with Robert Koller, near Shrewsbury, which trade he has followed since. He built the Spring Grove Paper-mill and two for Hoffman & Sons, in Maryland. During his life he has built five

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or six paper-mills, and from fifteen to twenty saw- mills. In 1861 he enlisted at York in Company D, Eighty-seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, was ranked as corporal and was discharged in 1864 as sergeant. During his service he participated iu many a hard fought battle; at Winchester, Va., he was captured and for twenty-four days was con- fined at Libby Prison and Belle Island. He also took part in the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsyl- vania, Cold Harbor, near Winchester, and many other battles and skirmishes. After leaving the service he returned to Shrewsbury, where he en- gaged at his trade. In 1865 he was married, at New Freedom, to Anuie Singer, daughter of Charles Singer, and has six children: Luella, Charles Henry, William Emery, James F., Edward and Gertrude. Mr. Groveis a member of the Reformed Church and his wife of the Evangelical Church. He is a Mason, a prominent citizen, and holds and has held various offices of the borough. At present he is repairing a paper mill at Woodbine, Md., for Capt. Tollun, who was Confederate officer of the day at Winchester on the day Mr. G. was captured.

JOHN L. HAILER was born in Wittenberg, Germany, March 30, 1822, and came to America February 9, 1852, landing at Baltimore, Md. His parents, John and Annie Mary (Stahle) Hailer had three children, of whom John was the second, and the only one that came to America. He went at once to York, began work shoe-making, continuing for one year, and then removed to Shrewsbury, where he remained three years. Returning to York again, he remained there one year. In 1856 he re- turned to Shrewsbury, where he resided until 1865, working at shoe-making. He then purchased a farm near the Maryland line, on which he built a residence, where he has since resided, carrying on his trade. September 29, 1854, he was married, at Shrewsbury, to Elizabeth Reuter, widow of John Reuter, and has had eight children born to him: Mary Ann, John H., Catharine, Lizzie, Annie, Mary (deceased), Charles (deceased) and George (deceased). The family are members of the Evan- gelical Lutheran Church. Mr. Hailer is a Granger, was inspector of elections at New Freedom, mem- ber of the council, and, in 1882, assessor for the borough; he was also deacon and elder of the Evan- gelical Lutheran Church at New Freedom, and has several times been elected delegate to the York County convention.

WILLIAM HEATHCOTE was born in Che- shire, England, January 31, 1806, was the eighth in a family of ten children-seven sons and three daughters-of John and Alice (Neill) Heathcote; his brother John, who died in 1884, aged ninety-three years, resided in Knox County, Ohio. William is the only member of the family now living. He grew up in a cotton factory and received the rudi- ments of an education principally in the Sunday- schools; came to America in 1826, stopped in Ches- ter, Penn., about a year; removed to Brandywine, Chester County, and with his brother John operated a woolen factory six years, when his brother moved West; in 1837 he went to Ohio with a view to settle- ment; returning on horseback his road led him to the hills where he first saw the site now occupied by Glen Rock, where Simon Koller had erected a dwelling and saw-mill. Mr. Heathcote bought the whole plan and, in 1840, when the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad was opened through, laid out Heathcote Station, which, in after years, when a postoffice was established, he named Glen Rock, a name suggested to him by reading Walter Scott's works. He erected a woolen factory and operated it until 1855, then sold it to Philip Shaeffer, who converted it into a grist-mill, now known as Glen Rock Mills, and owned by G. F. Seitz since 1881; then built another factory, higher up the Codorus,

which has been operated by his sons since; in 1861 erected the building now occupied by the Centreville Rope & Cordage Company, and operated it as a mill seven or eight years; in 1881 he began the boot and shoe manufactory now managed by his sons; re- tired from active business about 1870; was a charter member and some years a director of the First National Bank of Glen Rock, and also of the Glen Rock Foundry and Machine Shops. He was mar- ried, in 1839, to Sarah Koller, a native of Glen Rock, and they had five children, only one of whom, Lewin K, is now living, two died in childhood, one daughter died after marriage, and one son died at manhood. In 1848 he was married at Lancaster, Penn., to Catharine Allison, a native of Glen Rock, and they have four children: Lewis, Granville, Alice, wife of Rev. J. C. Koller, of Hanover, and Willie T .; all members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Mr. Heathcote was brought up in the Church of England.

GEORGE W. HEINDEL, farmer and stock raiser, was born in York Township, York .County, March 1, 1834. His parents, George and Leah (Winehold) Heindel, were natives of York County, and of German descent. They had a family of ten children, of whom nine are living. George W. was brought up on the farm, in which he retained an interest, attending the common schools. At the age of twenty-two he began business as a stock dealer. He removed to Ohio, and in Mahoning County he lived nineteen years, farming, stock dealing and coal mining. In 1858 he was married, at Lima, Ohio, to Lucy Anna Warner, of Mahoning County, and had six children: William A., Erasius E. (deceased), Cornelius M., Alice, Sidney (de- ceased) and Charles H. Both he and wife are mem- bers of the German Reformed Church. In 1875 he returned to Glen Rock, and for five years owned aud ran the Cold Spring Hotel; he then turued his attention to farming and stock raising. He owns a farm of ninety-five acres, adjoining the town. Mr. Heindel was one of the organizers and is now a di- rector of the Glen Rock Manufacturing Company, and was one term in the council. His father still lives at the age of seventy-seven.

FREDERICK HELB, a native of Wittenberg. Germany, and only son of Ulrich and Mary (Keim) Helb, was born March 9, 1825, and immigrated to America in 1847, landing at Baltimore, where. for two years, he was engaged at tanning, which trade he had learned in his native country. His German education was good, and he soon mastered the En- glish language. In 1849 he came to Shrewsbury, where he established a small tannery, on a very primitive style, using hogsheads for vats, but in- creasing the capacity until he was able to handle 7,000 hides a year. In 1867 he built a beer brewery at Shrewsbury Station, with a capacity of 800 har- rels per year, and three years later started a fruit distillery, manufacturing 500 barrels of apple bran- dy in a season. He also owns an extensive flour-" mill (steam and water), the Jackson House (the only hotel in the borough), and a number of, first-class tenement houses. He also owns about 450 acres of fine farming land in York County, and about 1,300 acres of valuable timber and farming land in Mary- land, with saw and stave-mills. He is president of the Rail Road and Shrewsbury Turnpike Company, and a director in the Shrewsbury Savings Bank; was one of the incorporators of Rail Road Borough, and its first chief burgess. In 1849 he was married to Miss Rebecca Henry, of York County, who has been a true and faithful helpmate to him. They have six children: Theodore R. (brewer), Edward, J. P., Julius, Frederick, Lydia and Mary, all of them highly educated and accomplished. The family be- long to the Lutheran Church.

EDWARD HELB was born at Rail Road, Shrews-

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bury Township, April 29, 1854, and is a son of Frederick Helb. He was educated in the district schools of his neighborhood and in the Shrewsbury Academy, and graduated from Knapp's Institute, Baltimore, in June, 1871. In the fall of the same year he began learning his trade in the tannery of his father, at Rail Road, and is at present following the business there. In 1875 he united with Shrews- bury Lodge No. 423, A. F. & A. M .; has passed all the chairs in Mount Vernon Lodge No. 143, I. O. O. F., at Shrewsbury; is a member of Mount Ver- non Encampment No. 14, I. O. O. F., of York, and of Friendly Lodge No. 287. K. of P., of Glen Rock. He was married, July 8, 1879, to Jennie I., sixth daughter of Daniel and Sarah Rishel, respect- ed residents of Troutville, Clearfield Co., Penn. They are both active members of the Lutheran Church at Shrewsbury. He has been secretary of the church council since 1881, and is also secretary of the Shrewsbury District Sunday-school Institute, and has been superintendent of the Lutheran Sab- hath-school at Shrewsbury. He served as town auditor for several years; was secretary of the town council, and is at present secretary of the school board of Rail Road Borough. In the spring of 1882 he was elected justice of the peace on the Demo- crátic ticket, and has several times represented the town in the Democratic county convention.

JAMES H. HENDRIX was born in Shrewsbury Township, October 31, 1838. His parents were Joshua H. and Susan (Klinefelter) Hendrix, of York County. His great-grandfather Hendrix, settled in Beaver County, Penn. There were but two chil- dren in the family, one sister having died while quite young. James H. was reared in Shrewsbury Village and attended the common schools. He learned the plasterer's trade while yet young, and followed it for five years. In August, 1861, he en- listed at Shrewsbury, and was appointed duty sergeant of Company D, Eighty-seventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served three years, participating in the following battles: Cold Harbor, Wilderness and with Grant's army at Petersburg. He was with Sheridan at Winchester and Stras- burgh; for three months was in the hospital. Re- turning from the war, he engaged in railroading; first with the Northern Central Railroad one year, then clerking in McDowell's store for three years. In 1868 he went to Illinois for four months, but re- turned to Shrewsbury; in 1869, he was appointed postmaster at Shrewsbury, which position he held up to January 22, 1874; was re-appointed postmas- ter December 3, 1874, and still holds the position (June 20, 1885). In 1869 he had engaged in mercan- tile business, which he is running in conjunction with the postoffice, and to this he has devoted his entire attention. In 1860 he was married to Ange- line Sechrist, daughter of Abraham Sechrist, of Shrewsbury. They have one child-Eudora. His wife dying in 1865, he married, in 1873, in Fawn Township, Priscilla Davis, daughter of John W. Davis. Their only child died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Hendrix are members of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, of which he is trustee and recording steward; he is also an Odd Fellow, member of the Encampment, and commander of Post 342, G. A.R., at Shrewsbury.

WILLIAM HERBST was born in Hopewell Township, August 15, 1817. His parents, David and Mary (Miller) Herbst, were natives of Amsterdam, Holland, and York County, respectively. They had three sons and two daughters. William, who was the eldest, helped his father on the farm until twenty years of age, attending the county schools about six months. He then spent four years at milling in Glen Rock Valley. In 1842 he began business for himself at Glen Rock, engaged in mer- chandising, which he continued for nine years, and

then engaged in farming for ten years, Returning to Glen Rock, he again engaged in the merchandise business. In 1841 he was married to Mary Shafer, daughter of Philip Shafer. of Shrewsbury Town- ship. They have three children: Eliza, Jacob and William H. Mrs. Herbst died in 1844, and in 1850, Mr. Herbst was married (again at Glen Rock) to Alice Heathcote (daughter of Mark Heathcote), a native of England, hy whom he has three children: Mary Alice, Emma Jane, and Millie. Both parents are members of the Evangelical Church. Mr. Herbst is a director and one of the organizers of the Glen Rock Manufacturing Company, was treasurer and president of the First National Bank of Glen Rock, and for twelve years a school director.

LEVI W. HERSHEY, born in Shrewsbury Township August 31, 1845, is the eldest son of Christian and Margaret (Wehrley) Hershey, of German descent, being about the sixth generation in America. He has always lived on a farm, began teaching at the age of twenty-two, and has taught every winter except four up to 1884. Has served as inspector of elections, township clerk, assessor and judge of elections; has been secretary of the new Freedom Building and Loan Association for two years, and secretary of the Codorus and Manheim Fire Insurance Company since January 1, 1884; was Master of the P. of H. one year, and secretary five or six years, and is a member of Mt. Ver- non Lodge No. 143, I. O. O. F., of Shrewsbury. At the last election he was elected justice of the peace and school director, and is now secretary of the school board. He is also chancellor commander of Freedom Lodge No. 85, K. of P., of New Free- dom. He was married, December 3, 1868, to Mary Jane Sheffer, and they have six children: Allie Jane, Lillie Virginia, Bertie Agnes, Nettie May, Arthur Lee and Iva Grace. He belongs to the Reformed, and his wife to the Lutheran Church. He owns a farm of thirty-eight acres, and has been engaged in the dairy business since 1883.

JEREMIAH S. HETRICK, M. D., son of Samuel and Louisa (Smith Hetrick, of York County, was born in Codorus Township, December 28, 1849, and was the second of a family of five children- two sons and three daughters. The parents were of German and English descent, and first settled in Codorus Township. The Doctor was brought up in a woolen factory, and educated at the common schools, and a course at the State Normal School at Millersville. In 1869 he taught school one year, and in 1971 he began reading medicine in the office of Dr. E. W. Free at New Freedom, aud in 1872 he entered Washington University, now College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, and gradu- ated in 1873 as M. D. He then spent one year as assistant resident physician in Washington Univer- sity Hospital, and in the spring of 1874 he removed to New Freedom, where he became associated with his old preceptor until 1877, when he began the practice alone. His father was killed by a railroad train at Glen Rock in 1879, at the age of sixty-five years, and his mother still lives at New Freedom. May 13, 1875, the Doctor was married to Charlotte Wilson, of Maryland, and has four children: Ger- trude F., Walter H., Fannie and Lorilla. He is a member of the Evangelical Association; was chief burgess in 1880-81-82, and a member of the council three years; is also a school director, president of the Cemetery Association, and one of the organizers of it; also one of the organizers of the New Free- dom Literary Association; is a stockholder in the Stewartstown Railroad; was class-leader in his church a number of years, and a very prominent, influential citizen and popular physician.

BARTHABAS E. HINES, born in Hano- ver, October 20, 1842, is the only son of John and Sarah (Bart) Hines, natives of Maryland and Penn-

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sylvania, and of French and German descent. He attended the public schools of Hanover, and at the age of sixteen began cigar-making, which he has since followed, with the exception of about one year as clerk in a store in Cincinnati, and one year at Westminster, Md .; went to Glen Rock in 1867; was married in May, 1868, to Agnes A. Decker, of Shrewsbury Township, and of German descent; has been deputy postmaster at Glen Rock since 1869; was borough councilman three terms, and chief burgess one term; was one of the original stockholders of the Glen Rock Manufacturing Com- pany, and since 1877 has been engaged in the manu- facture and sale, at wholesale and retail, of cigars; enlisted at Hanover in Company I, Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Militia, for the emergency during Lee's invasion, his regiment really opening the bat- tle of Gettysburg (see Batcheldor's History).

JOSIAH V. HOSHOUR, a prominent manufact- urer, was born in Heidelberg Township, August 21, 1814. His parents, John and Elizabeth (Klinepeter) Hoshour, were natives of York County, and of Ger- man descent. When only three years old his father died, leaving six children, and his mother died in 1854, aged seventy-five years. His early days were spent on a farm, and when sixteen years old, he went to Gettysburg school for three years, and then taught school in the neighborhood for seven years. In 1842 he became engaged in the forwarding busi- ness at Glen Rock, and followed it until 1854. From that time until 1878 he was engaged in farming. In 1882 he took charge of the Glen Rock Works, manufacturing machinery, etc., as superintendent, and has held that position since. In 1883 the name was changed to "Glen Rock Manufacturing Com- pany." June 18, 1838, he was married at Shrews- bury to Magdalena Koller, daughter of Jacob Kol- ler, and had eight children, four of whom are liv- ing : Samuel K., Elnora, wife of N. Z. Seitz, Esq .; Maggie and John H. The family belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Mr. Hoshour was once chief burgess of Glen Rock; school director for fifteen years, and justice of the peace from 1849 to 1864. He was also one of the organizers of the "Frey Herbst & Co. Works."

DANIEL R. KLINEFELTER, son of Abraham and Eliza (Ruhl) Klinefelter, of York County, and of German descent, was born in Shrewsbury Town- ship, April 10, 1852, and was next to the youngest of ten children. He was brought up on a farm and received a common school education. At the age of nineteen years, he began the plastering trade, which he followed two years. In 1873 he com- menced the manufacture of ice-cream, as an appren- tice, and in 1874 he went into partnership with his employer, at Shrewsbury Station, but at the end of one year the firm dissolved, and with another partner, J. H. Hendrix, he carried on the business for two years. Later he bought out his partner, and has since been alone in the business. In 1883 he tried steam power, but it proved a failure, and returned to hand power. He manufactures about 5,000 gallons per year, and supplies the Baltimore and Washington markets. In 1883 he, in connec- tion with J. B. Davis, of Maryland, engaged also in the buggy and carriage business. He was mar- ried, August 15, 1873, at Shrewsbury, to Lucretia Heathcote, daughter of John Heathcote, of York, and has had four children, one of whom died in in- fancy; Olin R., Gilbert A. and Irma R. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while his wife belongs to the Evangelical Association. He is also a prominent Odd Fellow, Mount Vernon Lodge, No. 143, a member of the Encampment, and was assessor of Newbury Borough in 1881 and 1882.

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History of York County, Pennsylvania : from the earliest period to the present time, divided into general, special, township and borough histories, with a biographical department appended, Part 199

Author: Gibson, John, Editor Publication date: 1886 Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Gibson, John, Editor
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: F.A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago
Number of Pages: 1104