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 201

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 201

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BENJAMIN SEITZ, son of John and Sarah (Schnell) Seitz, of York County, was born March 10, 1843. His father was born in Pennsylvania. Benjamin is the third of seven children, and the

A.g. Seit

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

second son. His father being a hame-maker, he had to learn that trade early in life, also working on the farm and attending the common schools, attending, also, for one term, the State Normal School, at Mil- lersville. At the age of twenty-one his father took him into partnership in manufacturing hames and merchandising in Hametown. The hame manu- facturing he has since continued, manufacturing about 15,000 pairs per annum. He was married, at Hametown, November 24, 1864, to Barbara A. Ster- mer, daughter of Joseph Stermer, of York County, and has had ten children: Clara Matilda (deceased), William W., Emma L., John H., Sarah S., L. Ame- lia. Barbara Ella, Benjamin F., Joseph E. and An- nie M. Mr. Seitz belongs to the Reformed Church and his wife to the Lutheran Church. He is the treasurer of the church, was inspector of elections, and is a director of the Shrewsbury & Railroad Station Turnpike Company.

N. Z. SEITZ was born in Shrewsbury Township near Glen Rock. York Co., Penn., January 20, 1843, andis one of a family of ten children-seven sons and three daughters. His father, Michael Seitz, and his mother, Anna Mary Zeigler, are na- tives of the same township, while the great-great- grandfathers of hoth were natives of Germany, but came to this country when quite young, and were sold as slaves to pay for their steerage. The sub- ject of this sketch lived on the farm with his father near Glen Rock, Penn., until seventeen years of age, in the meantime attending public and select schools at intervals. At the beginning of the late civil war, not yet eighteen years of age, he entered the Union army, enlisting in Company D, Eighty- seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, in which he served for three years, and was promoted to a non- commissioned officer. He subsequently re-entered the service as first lieutenant of Company B, Sixty- seventh Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was soon promoted to captain, in which capacity he held various important positions, and served until after the close of the war. On his return home he entered the profession of teaching. having charge of public and select schools up to 1871, during which time he was also special contributor to various newspapers. In January, 1971, he became one of the editors and publishers of the Glen Rock Item, shortly thereafter taking editorial control of the paper, and continuing so up to the present time. During this period he has also edited a temperance paper. a musical journal and an educational month- ly. He was three times commissioned as justice of the peace, served on the York County commission to reandit the war claims for the county; was one of the deputy marshals in taking the census of 1870; has been school director in his town, and has held other important local positions of trust. He has been active in most of the public movements in his section, having served a number of years as presi- dent of the Shrewsbury District Sunday-school In- stitute; two years as the president of the York County Sunday-school Union, and two years as the president of the York County Educational Society, which latter position he is holding at this time. He has delivered a number of lectures and addresses on educational and scientific subjects; is an active member of the Masonic fraternity, K. of P. and G. A. R., and has held important positions in these or- ganizations. He was one of the conferrees that nominated the Hon. William A. Duncan the second time for congress in the Nineteenth Congressional District.

LEWIS W. SHAFER was born in Manheim Township, December 16, 1843, is the eldest son of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Weigandt) Shafer, natives of Maryland and Germany, respectively. He lived on a farm until seventeen, attended York County Academy one term, taught school one term, then

entered the service of the Northern Central Rail- road Company at York, as clerk in motive pow- er department, remained two years and a half; attended commercial college at Poughkeepsie, N. Y .; graduated in 1864; entered the office of North- ern Central Railroad Company at Glen Rock as clerk and book-keeper, remained four years; en- gaged in business at Glen Rock two years; sold out, and returned to his clerkship in the rail- road office, and four months afterward was ap- pointed agent of the company, and at this writing (1884), is also telegraph operator, express agent, general insurance agent, and secretary of the Glen Rock Manufacturing Company, of which he was a charter member. He was married, September 27, 1868, to Addie C. Foust, of Glen Rock, and they have seven children: Ida A., Elizabeth, Addie, Charles F., Jennie, Lewis W. and an infant un- named. He and wife are members of the Lutheran Church. He is a Master Mason, and has served one term as school director, and one term as coun- cilman.

GEORGE R. SHAFFER, farmer and dairyman, in Shrewsbury Township, was born in Codorus Township March 21, 1841. His parents, Adam and Susanna (Ruhle) Shaffer, were natives of York County, and of German descent, and had eleven children-seven boys and four girls. George R. was brought up on the farm, and educated at the com- mon schools. At twenty-one years of age he began the butcher business, and followed it four years, January 10, 1867, he was married, in Shrewsbury Township, to Rebecca Nonamaker, of York Coun- ty, and had six children, one of whom died young: Henry Clinton, Jennie Florence, Arthur Ervin and Zura Alverta are living. Mr. Shaffer moved to his present farm of 100 acres, at the time he was mar- ried, working it until 1880, when he also com- menced the dairy business. He is a member of the Reformed Church, while his wife belongs to the Lutheran Church. His father died in 1875, aged seventy-five years, and his mother in 1872, aged sixty-five years.

ANDREW SHAW was born in Hyde, Cheshire, England, July 22, 1838. His father came to Amer- ica in 1848, and his mother and the entire family followed in 1850. They located at Glen Rock. where Andrew went to work in the woolen factory of William Heathcote, and where he has since lived, with the exception of one year spent in Delaware County, and four years in the United States army. He received his education in the public schools of Glen Rock. He enlisted in Chester, Penn., May 14, 1861, in Company C, First Regiment Pennsyl- vania Reserves; served three years, and before re turning home re-enlisted in Company G, One Hun- dred and Ninetieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served to the close of the war. He participated in all the battles of the Peninsular campaign, and in front of Richmond under Mcclellan, and at the second battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Gettys- burg, Grant's campaigns, clear through to the sur- render of Lee's army, the first flag of truce on that occasion entering the Union lines through his com- pany. He was mustered out July 3, 1865, and returned at once to Glen Rock, where he has since been engaged as manager in the woolen manufac- tory of Heathcote & Co. He was married, in 1866, at Glen Rock, to Lucinda, daughter of John Mad- dux, of Loganville, and has had nine children; three died when small. The living are: Mary Ellen, Lydia Ann, John Ridgeway, Ethel Amelia, Joseph Ernest and Flora Mildred. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shaw are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He was the first presiding officer of the lodge of Red Men at Glen Rock, and has held all the offices in the lodge. He is treasurer of the lodge of K. of P., and has held the offices of councilman

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and chief burgess, and is at present a member of the school board of Glen Rock Borough. In poli- tics he is a Republican.

ISAAC SHEFFER, a miller of Shrewsbury Township, was born in Hopewell Township, April 12, 1844, and is the son of John and Hannah (Bahn) Sheffer. John Sheffer was born in Shrewsbury Township in 1800; followed milling for a business, and in 1822, married Hannah Bahn, a native of Springfield Township, born in 1804. He had born to him eight children, and departed this life about the year 1876. Isaac Sheffer was married, in 1868. to M. M. Moffett. and to this union have been born five children. The parents are members of the Lutheran Church and stand high in the estimation of the community.

E. H. SHIREY, born in Springfield Township, November 4, 1842, is the second son and third child in a family of seven children of Isaac and Sarah (Haines) Shirey. At the age of eighteen he began to learn the trade of miller, at which he continued until the age of twenty-one, when he worked about a year at cigar-making. At twenty-four he entered the employ of Jacob Winemiller, a merchant of Stewartstown, remaining one year, after which he drove a huckster wagon one year for Albert Miller, and about two years and a half for himself, and then engaged in farming two years. He next moved to Lebaron, Penn., remained there four years, then engaged in a general merchandise busi- ness at Felton two years. April 1, 1879, he came to Hametown. and embarked in the mercantile business, continuing until January 1, 1884. He is at present engaged in the manufacture of cigars. He was married, January 23, 1870, to Louisa, daugh- ter of Ambrose McGuigan, of Hopewell Township, and has five children: Bernard W., Oscar C., Annie V., Mabel A. and Helen B.

LEWIS N. SCHRIVER, liveryman, was born in Hanover, Penn., December 22, 1848. His parents, Henry C. and Maria (Felty) Sehriver, were of Ger- man descent, and reared four children, of whom Lewis N., is the youngest. Up to his fifteenth year he remained in Hanover attending the public schools. At fifteen years of age he left home with- out the consent of his parents, and enlisted at Balti- more, in Company K, First Maryland Cavalry, and served sixteen months, and at the close of the war was corporal of the company. Nearly all the time he was in the Shenandoah Valley. Returning to Hanover he began learning the cigar-making trade. He then went to Pine Grove, where he clerked in his brother's store for a year and a half. In 1868 he came to Glen Rock, and engaged in manufactur- ing cigars, but after two years engaged in the livery business, which he has followed since, also dealing in horses and mules. January 17, 1871, he married, in Glen Rock, Sarah J. Miller, daughter of E. R. Miller, of Goldsboro, Penn. They had two chil- dren, one of whom died, aged seven or eight years. The other is Bertha. Mr. Sehriver was constable for three years, is a member of the K. of P., and was an original stockholder in the Glen Rock Man- ufacturing Company.

CONRAD SHUPPERT, farmer, was born in Baden, Germany, March 8, 1838, and came to this country with his parents, George and Mary (Braun) Shuppert, in 1848, and landed at Baltimore. His parents, who brought four children with them (four having cied before leaving home), remained in Mary- land until their death, the father dying in 1865, aged sixty-eight years, and the mother in 1869, aged fifty- eight years. Conrad had attended the schools in Germany, and, after arriving in this country, he attended the English schools for several months. In April, 1861, he was married at York, Penn., to Sophia Bush, also a German, and has eight children: Margaret, Mary. Rosa, Katie, Annie, Joseph, Dora

and Augusta. The family all belong to the Catholic Church, in which he had been brought up. In 1868 he removed from Baltimore County to his farm in Shrewsbury Township, containing about 140 acres, where he now resides.

CHARLES SINGER, farmer, was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, May 10, 1838, and came to America in 1851, landing in New York. He came directly to Shrewsbury Township, where he engaged at farming. His parents, Charles F. and Margaret (Stark) Singer, had a family of five childreu, when they landed here, and one was born in this country. They remained in Shrewsbury Township, where the father died in 1875, aged sixty-seven years. The mother is still living, being sixty-eight years old. Charles Singer received his early education in Ger- many, and has acquired a good English education in this county. At the age of twenty-eight years he commenced business for himself by purchasing a farm of seventy-two acres near the Maryland line, in Shrewsbury Township, from his father. Febru- ary 1, 1866, he was married, in Shrewsbury Town- ship, to Magdalena Ziegler, daughter of Michael Ziegler, distiller and miller, of Shrewsbury Town- ship. They had six children, of whom three are dead: Lillie Alice, Elizabeth M. and John P. The living are James F., Annie Jane and Eli M. The family are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, of which Mr. Singer is a deacon. He is also chaplain of the order of the P. of H. one of the organizers, and a director of the New Freedom Building Association, a director in the New Freedom Cemetery Association; was a school director and councilman for three years, and borough assessor for several terms.

HENRY SMITH, farmer, was born in Shrews- bury Township. May 9, 1836. His parents, Henry and Catharine (Hill) Smith, came from Germany to America, bringing five children with them, and hav- ing born to them four more in York County. The family consisted of four sons and five daughters, of whom Henry, Jr., was next to the youngest. At the age of fifteen years he began working for him- self, and October 13,1864, he was married,in Shrews- bury, to Leah Heindel, daughter of George Heindel, and had four children. one of whom, William Mon- roe, was born April 12, 1867, and died at the age of eight months. The living are: Leander James, born January 27, 1865; Emanuel Edwin, born March 19, 1868; and Emma May, born May 5, 1877. Mr. Smith is a deacon in the Lutheran Church, and Mrs. Smith is a member of the Reformed Church. He owns and resides on the homestead of his parents, a nice farm of eighty-five acres of well-cultivated land. In 1883, he purchased the grist-mill, known as the Shafer Mill, but rents it out. He is also engaged in

running a steam thrasher. In 1873-74, he was supervisor of his township, and was one of the or- ganizers of the New Freedom Building Association, and was twice elected to the board of managers, but refused to serve. The Smith family all follow farm- ing, one brother in Baltimore, one in Illinois and one in York County. His father died at the age of eighty years and his mother at the age of seventy- four years.

ADAM H. SMITH, D. D. S., was born in Hope- well Township, York County, August 14, 1842. His parents, Frederick and Martha (James) Smith, natives of York County, and of German and En- glish extraction, had thirteen children; three died in childhood, and one, Daniel L., a teacher, was killed by the cars at or near Coatesville, Penn., in 1879. Adam H. was the third son and child in a family of four sons and six daughters that grew to manhood and womanhood. He was brought up on a farm and educated at Stewartstown Academy, and at the age of twenty-one, taught in the public schools. In 1865 he began the study of dentistry

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with Dr. Burke, at Stewartstown, and remained with him about eighteen months. He then took a course at the Baltimore School of Dental Surgery, after which he located permanently at Glen Rock, and has now (1884) been in the practice of his pro- fession about eighteen years. He enlisted in Au- gust, 1864, at Harrisburg, in Company C, Two Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served in the Army of the Potomac to the close of the war, participating in the battles of Hatcher's Run, etc., and was promoted to be commissary sergeant of his regiment. He was married, in 1867, at Glen Rock, to Elmira W. Lamison, a native of York County, and has four children: Ernest Mont- ville, Alta Cynthia, Howard Roy and Martha Maud. He is one of the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Glen Rock, of which he and his wife are members. He has served one term as borough councilman (1868) and is auditor of Glen Rock Borough at this writing.

W. A. SPATE, a son of Joseph Spate, and a resident of Loganville, York County, was born in Springfield Township, near Glen Rock, York County, June 19, 1851. He is on his mother's side of English and Scotch ancestry, and of German on his father's. His father's parents immigrated to this country about sixty or seventy ago from Wittemburg, Ger- many. They were very unfortunate on the first vessel, having lost all their money through the captain of the vessel, who, instead of landing them on the coast of the United States, landed them somewhere on the coast of Europe. They took pas- sage for America on another vessel bound for the United States. At that time the practice prevailed of selling the service of such passengers who could not pay their passage-money, to such persons in this country who would pay their expenses for them. The grandparents of Mr. Spate were among this number, and their services were secured by a Mr. Patterson, of Hopewell Township, for whom they worked for some time. Afterward they began farming for themselves. Their son Joseph received but a limited education, and made a livelihood by day laboring and carpentering. He served in the army about a year during the late civil war and died at home after the close of the war, in the win- ter of 1867, when his son was nearly sixteen years of age. W. A. Spate was then obliged to not only support himself, but had also a widowed mother and an invalid sister depending upon him. In the fall of 1867 he began teaching. After the close of the term he worked in the Feigley Ore Banks, where he was engaged as a cart driver for nearly three years, and then taught school again. After the close of the second term he again began work in the ore banks and was soon promoted to the position of clerk and weighmaster, which position he occupied until the fall of 1873, when the panic began. He again entered the schoolroom and taught success- fully each year until the fall of 1884, when he entered the newspaper office of The Item, in Glen Rock, Penn., and in December of the same year he became a partner with Capt. N. Z. Seitz, in the publication of The Item and The Monitor, the first a weekly newspaper, and the second a literary and educational monthly, of which Mr. Spate is assist- ant editor. Mr. Spate had few educational advan- tages, being obliged to leave the common school soon after the death of his father, and before he was sixteen. He studied and read during his spare time, and often worked out problems in arithmetic while driving cart in the ore banks. After some years of study he secured a professional certificate and afterward a permanent certificate. December 25, 1879, he married Miss Sarah C. Fry. daughter of David Fry, of Loganville.

ELI STORMS, artist and teacher, is a native of Shrewsbury, where he was born June 16, 1855. He

is a son of GeorgeW. and Margaret (Orwig) Storms; the former born in Baltimore County, Md., Febru- ary 28, 1824, the latter a native of Hopewell Town- ship. They were united in marriage September 8, 1850, and were parents of three children, two now living and one deceased. The subject of this sketch was educated in the Shrewsbury English and Class- ical Academy, and early in years gave evidence of artistic ability, which was greatly developed through persistent effort and constant practice. Previous to 1875 his sketches had been confined mostly to water colors and pencil etchings, but his later efforts have been in the field of portrait and landscape painting. Mr. Storms is also an excellent draughtsman, and in 1881 was selected to furnish draughts for the several government departments which were highly com- mended for accuracy, neatness and merit. He is a successful teacher, and since 1877 has taught seven terms in the public schools of the county. In the spring of 1880 he was appointed an instructor in drawing and penmanship at Cedar Hill Seminary, Mt. Joy, Penn. Mr. Storms is an active politician and has held various political offices in the borough of Shrewsbury since 1877, and is the present secre- tary of various organizations. He has been a mem- ber of the council several terms and clerk of that body for the past five years. In 1879 he became a member of Mt. Vernon Lodge, I. O. O. F., Shrews- bury; Shrewsbury Lodge 423, F. & A. M., in 1880, and Mt. Vernon Encampment of York, in 1880.

JOHN ASBURY TAYLOR, M. D., born in York County, April 30, 1838, is a son of John and Rachel (Gilbert) Taylor, of German, English and Irish ex- traction. The Taylor family came from Maryland to York County, about the year 1814. John Tay- lor (the father of John A.), served through the war of 1812, in a Maryland regiment, and died in 1861,

at the age of seventy-one years. His wife, Rachel, died in 1873, aged seventy-nine years. They had four sons and five daughters, who are all living in York County, except one son and one daughter who are buried in Hancock County, Ohio. The subject of our sketch is the youngest of the family and received an academic education in Hopewell and Shrewsbury Academies; taught in the public schools six years; read medicine in the office of Dr. J. R. Bardwell, in Stewartstown, two years, then at the age of twenty-six entered Maryland University, at Baltimore, and while attending lec- tures, read in the office of Dr. John Starr; graduated March 3, 1866, with the degree of M. D .; returned to York County, and began the practice of medi- cine, where he has since lived, on his farm of 132 acres about one mile and a half south by east of Shrewsbury, where he devotes his whole time to his profession and to farming. He has served as clerk, as school director and as auditor of Shrewsbury Township; was a delegate to the State Democratic Convention in 1883, and to county convention at different times. He was married, in Fawn Town- ship in 1876, to Augustina R. Barton, daughter of Thomas Barton, of English descent. She died March 8, 1883, a member of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. Taylor was brought up in the Methodist Epis- copal Church, but is now of the Lutheran faith, though not a member.

JAMES S. VENUS, cigar manufacturer, was born in Shrewsbury Township, near Mount Zion, May 30, 1851, and was the third son of the six chil- dren of Henry and Ann (Sykes) Venus, of York County and England, respectively. Until fifteen years of age he remained in Shrewsbury Township, then went with his parents to Carroll County, Md. He received a good English education in both dis- tricts, and in 1870 he removed again to York County. In 1873 he began to learn photography at Shrewsbury, and followed it six years. In 1878 he learned cigar-making, and in 1879 began manufact-

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uring, and at present makes about 200,000 a year. September 17, 1876, he was married to Sallie E. Eaton, daughter of John Eaton, of York County. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episco- pal Church. Mr. Venus is a prominent Odd Fel- low, and has held all the chairs in Mount Vernon Lodge No. 143.

AUGUST WEIHMILLER, cigar manufacturer, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, January 28, 1858, and is the second son of the three children of M. and Margaret (Kimmel) Weihmiller. He came to America when twenty-three years of age. In Germany he received a first-class education. On his arrival here he learned the cigar-making busi- ness. in Seven Valleys with his brother, remaining two years following his trade until January, 1884, when he removed to Shrewsbury, and engaged in manufacturing cigars for himself. Mr. Weihmiller is a member of the F.& A. M., of Shrewsbury Lodge, and of Zion's Lodge K. of P., of Seven Valleys, York County. He employs seven hands and manu- factures about 300.000 high priced cigars yearly.

GEORGE E. WERTZ was born in Manheim Township, September 18, 1829. His parents, Daniel and Margaret (Miller) Wertz, were born in York County, and were of German and Swiss descent. He lived on a farm until eighteen years of age; learned the trade of bricklayer, which he followed in connection with teaching, and the management of a small farm in Codorus Township; taught twenty-four terms in the public schools of York County up to 1879; was inspector of elections in Codorus Township, 1853; school director, 1872-75; auditor, 1876-79; took the enumeration of the United States census of 1880, of Codorus Township and Jefferson Borough; was appointed steward of the York County Alms House, and removed to York in 1883; removed to Glen Rock in 1884, where, at this writing. he is keeping a hotel. He was mar- ried, October 9, 1851, to Frances Ann Weaver, born in Maryland, and moved to Pennsylvania at an early age. They have had ten children: William, Jacob, Franklin (teaching in Kansas, was educated for the ministry); Eliza Jane, died at the age of ten years; James, died at the age of two years; Annie, wife of Joseph Small; Ammon, Agnes, Alice and Francis. Mr. and Mrs. Wertz are members of the Reformed Church, and he is a member of Friendly Lodge No. 287. K. of P., of Glen Rock.

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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 201

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