USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 1 > Part 38
USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 1 > Part 38
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In 1831 he became the husband of Salome Schreiber, who was born in Whitehall township, this county, Sept. 6, 1805 (who is still living), a daughter of Jacob Shreiber and Eve Catharine, his wife, both of Ger- man ancestry, the father being a resident of White- hall township, and the mother a daughter of Conrad Leisenring, who is also of Whitehall and North Whitehall townships, and was an unele of Hon. John Leisenring and A. W. Leisenring, Esq., of Mauch Chunk. Their wedded life was blessed with five children, two of whom died, a son in infancy and a daughter, Margaret E., who intermarried with P. S. Pretz, a son of Ilon. Christian Pretz, the subject of a sketch elsewhere, leaving to survive her a daughter, Aline Dillinger Pretz, and a son, Jacob Christian Pretz. The living children are, viz. :
First, "Captain" John P. Dillinger, who was born in Allentown; May 3, 1833, was educated at the Allentown Academy, and in the year 1850 took charge of the office at Allentown of the Philadelphia and Wilkesbarre Telegraph Company. In 1852 entered
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HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
into partnership with his father and William R. Craig in the wholesale liquor business, under the firm-name of Dillinger & Craig. Mr. Craig retired in 1854, and the business continued under the firm- name of J. & J. P. Dillinger. When the father had been elected president of the Allentown Bank, the father's interest was sold to ex-Sheriff Nathan Weiler, and the business carried on under the firm-name of Weiler & Dillinger until 1860, when he sold out his interest to Mr. Weiler, and entered into partnership with Phaon Albright in the tube manufacturing business, and continued in the same until 1865, when he went in the mercantile business with Phaon Al- bright, doing business under the firm-name of John P. Dillinger & Co. until 1866, when Mr. Albright sold his interest to Huber Brothers, the firm-name then being changed to Huber & Dillinger, and so continued until 1868, when he sold out his interest to the Huber Brothers, and removed to Siegfried's Bridge, Northampton Co., and took charge of the station of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad Division of the Central Railroad of New Jersey as agent and telegraph operator. In 1874 he returned to Allentown, and in 1878 was elected chief engineer of the Fire Department of Allentown, which position he continues to hold. In 1862, while in the tube manu- facturing business, he entered the army as captain of Company D, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regi- ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, returning at the ex- piration of his term of enlistment, in 1863.
Thus ean be inferred that the great influence of the father was transmitted to his sons, who were and are called to positions of trust, and that the father left them the proudest legacy of a reputation of a life use- fully and profitably spent.
Judge Dillinger was one of the landmarks of the county and the city of Allentown, and always public- spirited and enterprising. The history of the growth and prosperity of the eity is a moment to his memory.
Charles W. Cooper, cashier of the Allentown Na- tional Bank since 1855, is descended from the Coopers of Coopersburg, a family of German extraction, the grandfather of Charles W. having been William Kup- per, born Aug. 24, 1722, who emigrated from the Duchy of Nassau, and settled in Bucks County, Pa. To Gertrude, his wife, were born a son, Daniel, and a daughter, Catharine. The birth of the former oc- eurred March 31, 1752, at Dillenberg, near Amster- dam, Holland, and his emigration with his father in 1775. He married Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob Geary, of Goshenhoppen, Montgomery Co., Pa., and had children,-Jacob, Catharine, Catharine (2d), John, Peter, William, Elizabeth, Charles, and Daniel. Peter, the father of Charles W., was born Sept. 26, 1790, in Upper Saucon, Lehigh Co., where his life was spent. He was the founder of the borough of Coopersburg, in which he exercised a considerable influence as a man of intelligence, of progressive ideas, and much enterprise. He enjoyed the reputa- Second, Jacob S. Dillinger, attorney-at-law, who was born iu Allentown April 20, 1841; was educated at the Allentown Academy and Fort Edward Insti- tute, Fort Edward, N. Y .; entered the law office of the late William S. Marx, Esq., in the year 1858, and the law department of the University of Pennsyl- vania in 1861, and was admitted to the bar of Lehigh County April 12, 1862; was cashier of the Allentown Savings Institution (a banking institution in the city of Allentown up to 1882) from 1866 until he resigned, in December, 1869, to accept the office of prothono- tary, to which he was elected that fall, and was re- elected in the fall of 1872, retiring on the first Mon- day of January, 1876, and resuming the practice of the law ; was secretary of the board of controllers of the public schools of Allentown from 1864 for seven successive years, and was a member of Select Council of Allentown, 1868-69, and the last year its president. tion of being a remarkably reliable counselor-at-law for a layman, was an accurate conveyancer, an ex- pert surveyor, and served for a period as deputy sur- veyor-general of Pennsylvania. He was an active member of the German Reformed Church. He mar- ried, on the 9th of July, 1789, Susannah, daughter of Daniel and Magdalena Buhaeker. Their children are Anna Matilda, Milton, Thomas B., and Charles W. Mr. Cooper's death ocenrred May 19, 1837, and that of Mrs. Cooper, June 13, 1846. Their son, Charles W., was born April 21, 1826, at Coopersburg, Lehigh Co. Ile at an early age became a student of the Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburg, and later pur- sued his studies in Philadelphia. Having decided npon the law as a profession, he entered the United States Law School in Philadelphia, under Professor Hoffman, and while in the office of Judge George M. Stroud, of the above city, was admitted in May, 1847, Third, Dallas Dillinger, who was born Feb. 3, 1844, in Allentown, was educated at the Allentown Acad- emy and Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y .; is a machinist by trade, but engaged in the mercantile business until the fall of 1880, when he accepted the office of recorder of deeds, etc., of Lehigh County, to which he was elected, and served three to practice in the courts of Philadelphia, and in August of the same year in the courts of Lehigh County. Ill health precluding the active pursuit of his profession, Mr. Cooper retired to his farm at Coopersburg, and continued employed in the man- agement of its varied interests until 1855, when on i the organization of the Allentown Bank he was years, and is now the deputy recorder. He served in 'elected its cashier. He was married on the 4th of his brother's-Capt. John P. Dillinger,-company " D)," One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, during the war. February, 1851, to Miss Rebecca E., eldest daughter of Hon. Jacob Erdman, of Upper Saucon. Their children are Franklin Erdman and Henry Peter.
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THE CITY OF ALLENTOWN.
Mrs. Cooper's death occurred Ang. 2, 1854, and he was again married, Sept. 1, 1864, to Miss Sarah B. Erdman, sister of his first wife, whose children are Anna Rebecea and Charles William. Mrs. Cooper died Jan. 15, 1872, and on the 14th of October, 1873, he married his present wife, Miss Ida C., daughter of Addison Erdman, of Allentown. Mr. Cooper was, in 1854, elected under the new school law the first county superintendent of schools, and resigned the position on becoming identified with the bank. His reputation as a skillful financier led to his appoint- ment as a member of the Centennial Board of Fi- nance in 1876. He is a trustee of the Union Trust Company, trustee of the Allentown Female College, and of the Muhlenberg College, and has been for many years director of the public schools of Allen- town, as also of several manufacturing interests, and president of the Board of Trade. Mr. Cooper is in his political creed a Demoerat, though not ranked among the working representatives of the party. He was, however, a delegate from the dis- triet embracing Lehigh and Bucks Counties to the National Convention held at Baltimore in 1852, and was in 1850, and again in 1855, elceted justiee of the peace. He is a member of St. John's Reformed Church of Allentown. Mr. Cooper is a man of refined and cultivated . taste, and has found leisure amid the engrossing demands of a business lite to devote to other eongenial pursuits. His aptness for public affairs, and the various matters pertaining to finance, has neither warped his taste nor modified his enjoyment of all that is attractive in literature, art, or the field of scientific research.
William Saeger, second president of the Allentown Bank, and the first under the present (national) or- ganization, is of German extraction ; Christian Saeger, his grandfather, being the first of the family who emi- grated to America. He married, and had among his children three sons,-Nicholas, Jacob, and Daniel. Jacob was born during the year 1774, in Whitehall township, Northampton Co., Pa., where he continued to reside, and became an enterprising farmer. He was united in marriage to Margaret Mickley, of the same county, to whom were born children, -Sarah, Cather- inc, Ann, Charles, William, Abigail, Mary, and Re- breca,-of whom Rebecca ( Mrs. Henry Weinsheimer), Ann (Mrs. Solomon L. Keck), and William, the subject of this biography, survive. The last named was born Sept. 4, 1806, in Whitehall township, Northampton Co., his home until his tenth year, when the family removed to Allentown, where Jacob Saeger, in con- nection with his brother Daniel, erected a mill and embarked in mercantile enterprises. William enjoyed sueh advantages of education as the public school afforded, after which he became a clerk, and later opened in Hanover township a eanal store for the sale of wares then in demand by the canal employés. The business meanwhile extended, considerable pur- chases of real estate were made, and Mr. Saeger
beeame an extensive dealer in grain, a manufacturer of lumber and owner of timber traets, a coal merehant, and also engaged largely in fanning and milling en- terprises, the latter business absorbing mueh of his attention and capital. Hanover township continued to be his residenee until 1866, when his present home in Allentown was erected, and he abandoned aetive participation in his varions business schemes. In 1862 he became president of the Allentown National Bank, in which he had previously been a stockholder and director, and continued his official relation with that institution until 1883, when he resigned and retired from active business. Mr. Saeger was in early life a Whig, and Inter esponsed the principles of the Republiean cause, though not an active participant in the campaign work of the party, nor an aspirant for the honors within its gift. He has therefore held no office other than that of school director. His sympathy in the cause of education has assumed a practical form in the influence and financial aid given the Muhlenberg College, located at Allentown. In religion he is a Lutheran, and member of the St. John's English Lutheran Church of Allentown, of which he was formerly an elder, and is now treasurer of the church council. Mr. Saeger was in 1833 mar- ried to Miss Hannah, daughter of Daniel Gangwere, of Hanover township. Their surviving children are Alfred G., married to Miss Ella, daughter of Aaron Troxell; Jacob II., whose wife was Miss Emma, daugh- ter of John Schimpf; and Thomas W., who married Florence, daughter of Aaron Troxell. Thomas W. and Jacob II. are the successors of their father in milling enterprises, and Alfred G., who was formerly engaged in the tannery business, has now retired.
Esaias Rehrig, present president of the Allentown National Bank, is a grandson of Conrad Rehrig, who was a resident of Carbon County, formerly a part of the county of Northampton, where he was by occu- pation a farmer, and was one of the earliest settlers. He was united in marriage to a Miss Herter, and had children,-Martin, Daniel, John, George, Michael, Jonas, Jacob, Conrad, William, Christina, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, and ---.
William, the youngest, and the father of Esaias, was a native of Carbon County, was born in October, 1805, and on attaining the years of manhood acquired the trade of a carpenter, which he later abandoned for the more congenial pursuit of the farmer. He married Miss Lydia Heilman, of the same county, and had children, - Aaron, Esaias, Emeline, Moses, Lucy, Sarah, William IL., and Mary. The death of Mr. Rehrig occurred in Carbon County, the scene of his lifetime residence.
His son, Esaias, was born Nov. 24, 1831, in the above county, at the home of his father. His tastes not prompting. him to follow the life of an agriculturist, after receiving a rudimentary education at home, and becoming at a later date a pupil at the Easton Semi- nary, he became a clerk at Weissport, Carbon Co., and
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HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
remained for three years thus employed. Removing to Freemansburg he continued in business, and some years later made Catasauqua his home. Here he en- . tered the firm of E. Weiss & Co., and continued this business relation from 1852 until 1858, the date of his removal to Allentown as deputy prothonotary under James Lackey, Esq. After a service of two terms in this capacity he was elected prothonotary, and re- elected at the expiration of his first term. Before re- tiring from official life he aided in the organization of the Coplay Cement Company, and engaged in the manufacture of hydraulic cement in Allentown, having been chosen seeretary and treasurer of the company. He was also soon after made president of the Starr Slate Company. The exceptional business ability of Mr. Rehrig led, in August, 1883, to his election as president of the Allentown National Bank, which position he now holds, having prior to this date been one of its directors. As a Democrat he was formerly active in the political field, and, aside from his various official positions, held, during the winter of 1872-73, that of message clerk of the Senate at Harrisburg. His religious convictions are in harmony with the tenets of the English Lutheran Church, of which he is a member. As an active Mason he is a member of Barger Lodge, No. 333, of which he was formerly an officer, of Allen Commandery, of Allen Chapter, and Allen Couneil, of which he is presiding officer. Mr. Rehrig was married in 1855 to Miss Margaret, eldest daughter of James Lackey, of Cata- sauqua.
The First National Bank was organized in 1863, and began business in 1864. The stockholders were William II. Blumer, Jesse M. Line, William Kern, and Nathan Landenslager. Mr. Blumer was presi- dent. Tilghman II. Moyer was the first cashier, and Jacob A. Blimer succeeded him in that position. This bank was quite prosperous for a number of years, but failed in 1877.
The Allentown Savings Institution, one of the oldest and mnost successfully-managed savings-banks in Eastern Pennsylvania, commenced business in the year 1860. It was organized through the efforts of Hon. Wil- liam Il. Ainey, under a special charter passed by the Legislature during the winter of 1859 and 1860. Mr. Ainey became its first president, and Charles S. Bush its first cashier. The first board of trustees was com- posed of the following : William II. Ainey, Christian Pretz, George Probst, Samuel Sell, Nathan Peter, Henry B. Hottle, John D. Stiles, Paul Balliet, and Dr. B. F. Jacoby. Mr. Bush served as cashier upwards of three years, when he resigned to accept the cashiership of the Second National Bank. He was succeeded by Francis E. Samuels, who served about two years, when he resigned and became the cashier of the See- ond National Bank. Mr. Samuels was succeeded by Jacob S. Dillinger, who served about three years, when he resigned, after being elected prothonotary of Lchigh County. He was succeeded by Reuben
Stahler, who served in that capacity about eight years, when he was elected cashier of the Second National Bank to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Samuels. Mr. Stahler was succeeded by B. J. Hagenbuch, who has filled the position to the present time. Mr. Ainey continued to serve as presi- dent from the organization of the institution to its elose. The present or last board of trustees com- prised the following: William H. Ainey, C. Pretz, Martin Kemmerer, Milton Appel, Benjamin J. Hagenbuch, George Probst, Charles S. Bush, Reuben Stalıler, and C. B. Sell.
The institution was organized, as its title indicates, as a savings-bank. It received money on deposit in large and small sums, paying interest to the depositors of from three to six per cent. according to the amount and the time of deposit. The institution carly enlisted the confidence and patronage of the people of the en- tire county, and its deposits steadily increased until shortly before the panie they had reached about half a million dollars. After the failure of William H. Blumer & Co. and the First National Bank of Allen- town, in 1877, banks in this locality, and especially savings-banks, were much distrusted, and as one after another failed, this want of confidence was intensified.
At the time of the failure of Blumer & Co. there were seven savings-banks, besides theirs in Allen- town, all of which failed except the Allentown Sav- ings Institution. There were besides a savings-bank at Bethlehem, one at Slatington, two at Fogelsville, and one at Macungie, all of which in like manner failed, leaving the Allentown Savings Institution alone as the only incorporated savings-bank doing business. This institution promptly met all its obli- gations, retaining the patronage and confidence of its customers to a remarkable degree when the circum- stances before related are considered. During and subsequent to the war its investments were largely in government bonds, and from judicious purchases and sales it realized large profits. In addition to regular semi-annual dividends to the stockholders of from six to twelve per cent. per annum, it declared a one hun- dred per cent. dividend in 1869, and another in 1875 of two hundred per cent. ou the original capital. Both of these dividends were payable in cash or stock at the option of each stoekholder, but all preferred and took the stock. For reasons mainly personal to its officers and stockholders, it was decided to withdraw from business, and the aflairs of the institution are now about closing up.
The business career of this institution has been one of such remarkable success that it is deserving of especial mention here.
After providing for the deposits, most of the re- maining assets have been divided directly among the stockholders. The present market value of these, to- gether with the cash realized from sale of such assets as could not be divided, amounts to over eight thou- sand dollars to one thousand dollars originally paid in
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SECOND NATIONAL BANK BUILDING, ALLENT WN, PA.
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THE CITY OF ALLENTOWN.
as capital, so that each stockholder, who paid in one thousand dollars at the beginning, gets back eight thousand dollars, besides the regular semi-annual divi- dends. At a final meeting of the stockholders, held Feb. 5, 1883, Mr. Christian Pretz acting as chairman, and Professor T. L. Seip as secretary, the following was moved and unanimously adopted :
"WHEREAS, We, the stockholders of the Allentown Savings Institu- tion, have heard with pleasure the statement of the very satisfactory con- dition of its affairs and accounts as ascertained by the Auditing Committee appointed at the meeting of the stockholders held Jan. 29, 1883, and in- asmuch as the business affairs of the institution have been closed, and this is our final meeting as stockholders ; therefore, be it
" Resolved, That we deem it but proper and due to the president of the institution, the Hon, William I1. Ainey, to put on record our high ap- preciation of his valuable services in successfully managing its affairs from the beginning to the close of its history, covering a time when most similar institutions failed with disastrous losses to their stock- holders and the community.
" Resolved, That we also recognize the efficient services of the efficers of the institution, who aided the president from time to time in the transaction of its affairs."
The Second National Bank of Allentown was organized in 1863, and began business in 1864, with a paid-in capital of $100,000, which was increased the following year to $200,000, and a few years later to $300,000. The first officers were William H. Ainey, president, and Charles S. Bush, cashier, and the first directors, William H. Ainey, George Probst, Benjamin J. Hagenbuch, Samuel Sell, Aaron Bal- liet, Edward Kohler, Charles A. Ruhe, and James II. Bush. After serving two years, Charles H. Bush resigned the cashiership in 1865 on account of ill health, and was succeeded by Franeis E. Samuels, who continued as eashier until his death, in 1875. Reuben Stahler, the present cashier, succeeded Mr. Samuels. Mr. Ainey, the first president of the bank, is still its official head, having continuously served as president from its organization until the present time. The affairs of the bank have been so satisfactorily managed that not a single opposition vote was ever offered at any of the annual elections for officers and directors.
In 1877, believing that the business of the bank could be more satisfactorily and profitably conducted : side and of Scotch-Irish on the mother's.
with $200,000 than with $300,000 capital, $100,000 . was withdrawn. The Second National is now the ohlest national bank in Lehigh County. Its char- tered privileges under the National Currency Act terminated in March, 1883, at which time its corpo- rate privileges were renewed and extended for another twenty years. Since the organization of the bank the directors have met regularly on Monday of each week for passing upon the notes offered for discount by the customers of the bank. Regular semi-annual dividends have been made on the first Monday of May and November of each year since 1863. The present rate of dividend is eight per cent. per annum.
It is something remarkable and worthy of mention here that the entire losses of the bank for the twenty years ending March, 1883 (the close of its first period of corporate life), amounted to less than one-half | career.
of the smallest six months' earnings during that period.
In 1881 a large and beautiful new bank building was ereeted on the southeast corner of Centre Square, which, for light, convenience of arrangement, and eleganee of finish, is surpassed by few, if any, of the bank buildings outside of the large eities. It has a massive chilled-iron vault, with four heavy chilled- iron doors, having combination and time loeks, all of which must be opened before reaching the money and securities of the bank. The chilled iron forming the inside lining is of uniform thickness at the ends, sides, bottom, and top of the vault, being about three and one-half inches of solid iron, cast and chilled, on wrought-iron bars, and weighing, with the doors, over twenty tons. This would seem to present all the re- sistance necessary to prevent the possibility of suc- eessful attack between the hour of closing the bank in the evening and opening again the next morning. The vault is beautifully and artistically decorated with ornamental iron-work finished in bronze and gilt.
William H. Ainey, lawyer, bank president, and ironmaster, was born in Susquehanna County, A.D. 1834. His paternal grandfather, William Ainey, was of Freneli descent, his ancestors being Huguenots, who came to this country and settled in the Mohawk Valley, in Montgomery Co., N. Y. His great-grand- mother, Elizabeth Van Deusen, was of German de- seent. His maternal grandfather, John Morrison Kinnan, was of Irish descent; his great-grandfather, the Rev. Jolin Kinnan, being from the North of Ire- land, settled in Orange County, N. Y., about the year 1767. William Ainey, his grandfather, before men- tioned, married Hannah Crawford, of Connecticut, and settled a few miles south of Goshen, N. Y. Here his father, Jacob Ainey, was born A.D. 1802, and in the year 1824 married Catharine Kinnan, of Goshen, Orange Co., N. Y. He subsequently removed to Sus- quehanna Co., Pa. From the foregoing it will be seen that the family is thoroughly American, being of French, German, and English origin on the father's
Mr. Ainey received his early education in the pub- lie schools, supplemented by a preparatory course in the Woodruff' Academy of his native village. At the age of sixteen he entered Harford University, then an institution of learning of high standing in North- ern Pennsylvania. Here he soon took high rank in forensic and other literary achievements, and the second year was chosen to the highest office of his literary society, then numbering over one hundred active members. He completed his eourse in 1853, and at once entered upon the study of the law under the direction of the late Hon. E. B. Chase, at Mon- trose, Pa., teaching a portion of the time in his okl school, the Woodruff' Academy, thus carly manifest- ing that energetie, self-sustaining, and self-relying independence which has characterized his subsequent
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