USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 1 > Part 80
USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 1 > Part 80
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The original Christman came from Würtemberg, Germany, and settled near Sigmund's Furnace, close to the line of Berks County, where Phillip Christman was born. It is related that while Phillip's father was out in the field on a wagon loaded with hay, he met with an accident by which he lost his life. The horse coming to a gutter refused to cross, when, standing on the loaded wagon, he urged him with a hay-fork which he held in his hand. This caused the horse to take a sudden spring forward, and he was thrown ' from the wagon upon the fork, one of the prongs of which pierced his heart, resulting in his ahnost in- stant death. After this accident Phillip's mother was married to Francis Wesco, and moved to the house where the widow of the late JJohn Backensto now re- sides, a short distance north of the borough of Macungie.
Phillip Christman was married and had nine chil- dren, six sons and three daughters. His son, John Henry, was born Feb. 3, 1777, in the house now owned by William Shatfer, of Allentown, and occu- pied by Adam Miller, and situate upon the mountain road leading from Macungie to Alburtis, When John Henry was four weeks of age his father moved with his family upon a farm in Berks County. When John was a young man he went to Montgomery County, where he became a miller. Soon after he got married and moved to a mill in Berks County, near Sigmund's Furnace.
Later he moved upon a farm situate on the line of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, in the town- ship of Lower Macungie, midway between Macungie and Alburtis, Ilis son, Jonas, lived upon this farm until recently, when it was sold by the sheriff.
John Henry Christman reared a family of twelve children, -- seven sons and five daughters,-Jacob, Henry, Jonas, Daniel, Nathan, Samuel, Ephraim, Polly, Susan, Rebecca, Sarah, and Lydia.
Ephraim is residing at Macungie. Jonas, although I
at one time the possessor of a fine farm, has lost all, and now occupies, with his wife and son, a small traet of land in Lower Macungie.
Ephraim and his wife, as well as Jonas and his wife, are well advanced in years, and are well pre- served.
Daniel, a son of John Henry Christman, settled on the farm now owned by Nathan Gehman, where he died April, 1856, at the age of forty-five. Ilis widow, aged seventy-three, now resides with her daughter, Mrs. Edwin Haines, at Macungie. Benneville, one of her sons, is the constable of Macungie, where he is also engaged in the ice cream business. Daniel, an- other son, has a shoe-store in Macungie.
Rev. Jacob Van Buskirk, a Hollander, with his family settled upon a tract of land which he purchased from Peter Miller on the 19th day of November, 1784. This tract had been warranted on the 23d of July, the same year, and contained one hundred and fifty acres, less so much of it as had been cut up into lots upon which the village of Millerstown had been laid out. It was the same ground which is now occu- pied by that portion of the borough of Macungie lying east of Church Street. He lived in a house which stood at the corner of Main Street and the road leading to the village of Centreville, His wife's maiden name was Hollenbach, with whom he lived until his death, when he was buried at North Wales, Pa. Ilis wife was a sister to the great-grandmother of ex Governor Hartranft, and is buried at the Lehigh Church, this township.
Rev. Van Buskirk preached at the said Lehigh Church, at Germantown, and at the Trappe, visiting his congregations upon horseback. He paid a number of visits to the camp of Washington during the Rev- olutionary war. He built, and for a long time opera- ted, the tannery, situate in Macungie, which is now owned by his great-grandson, James Singmaster. He was an ardent supporter of Adams' administration, and in 1798, during the excitement of what was known as " Frie's Rebellion," his life was attempted. While sitting in his house, surrounded by his family, a bullet was sent crashing through the window, but he luckily escaped injury. His family numbered three sons and four daughters.
llis son George moved to Pottstown, where he practiced medicine. Jacob was an old bachelor, who, when a young man, went to York State, where for many years he kept a hotel and aceuumlated consid- erable property. When he died his estate was left to go to ruin, and was never settled up nor taken posses- sion of by any of his relatives. John, a third son, settled in Virginia, where he owned a large plantation and a large number of slaves. Later, however, he sold out and moved to Market Street, Philadelphia, where he kept one of the principal hotels of the city. He was married to a Miss Eckert, from Berks County, and had two sons, one a lawyer, at one time Secretary of State of Maryland, where he committed suicide.
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LOWER MACUNGIE TOWNSHIP.
John is buried upon the cemetery of Solomon's Lu- theran and Reformed Church in Macungie.
Lydia, a daughter of Rev. Van Buskirk, was first married to Adam Singmaster, of Millerstown, and ' digging. after his death to Daniel Good, of Upper Milford.
A few months after his arrival there he died a Another of the minister's daughters was married to ; bachelor, and was buried where Sacramento City is John Shimer, living at Shimersville. Charles S. ; now situate. Charles and Reuben also lived in Mis-
Shimer, proprietor of the Keystone House, Macungie, and E. S. Shimer, the present mayor of the city of Allentown, are among her grandchildren.
Prominent among the representative families of this township are the descendants of Adam Sing- master, who, when a young man, came from Bucks Connty to Millerstown, where he obtained employ- ment in the tanvery of the Rev. Jacob Van Buskirk, whose daughter Lydia he afterwards married. On the 19th day of September, 1749, the ship " Patience," Hugh Steel, captain, brought to this country two hun- dred and seventy passengers from the Duchy of Wir- temberg. Among these was one John Adam Zang- meister, who settled in Bucks County, and is supposed to have been the father of the subject of this sketeh.
After the death of Rev. Van Buskirk, Adam Sing- master bought his farm, May 27, 1810, containing one hundred and four acres and one hundred and twenty- nine perches, for the sum of two thousand five hun- dred and ninety-five pounds. He settled thereon and reared a family of seven sons-John, Jacob, Reu- ben, Samnel, Henry, William, and Charles-and one daughter,-Sarah, who is the widow of William Miller, and resides at Allentown, at the age of eighty-three.
Adam Singmaster was one of the grand jurors of the first Court of General Quarter Sessions of the peace held at the borough of Northampton, for the . was one of the originators, and was also connected in county of Lehigh, Nov. 30, 1813. This court met at business with his father. The third son of John Sing- the house of George Savitz, and adjourned from there ; master, Edwin, is a bachelor, possessed of considerable means, is engaged in no business, and resides with his mother. The three sons reside in Maenngie, the old homestead being owned by Alexander. to meet in the upper story of the county prison, pre- pared by the commissioners for holding the courts of the county of Lehigh until the court-house was ereeted. Ile died July 28, 1820.
Jacob, a son of Adam Singmaster, became one of the pionvers of the tanning business. He started out in Juniata Connty, where he built for himself a large tammery. He was the founder of Tannersville, in Monroe County, where he built two large steam tau- neries. He also built one at Stroudsburg, where he 1 died an old bachelor in 1879, being a millionaire.
Henry at one time was in the employ of his brother Jacob, and is at present living at Stroudsburg, upon a property formerly owned by Jacob. Ile has a wife, but no children.
Samuel is living in Jowa, where he and his sons are engaged in stock-raising and importing horses from France. He owus a great deal of land, some of which he purchased directly from the Indians. lle is abont seventy-two years of age, and has a wife and five children.
William was one of the earliest settlers of Missouri, where he owned considerable land. During the gold
excitement he joined a company of his neighbors, who with their ox-teams erossed the Rocky Moun- tains into California, where they engaged in gold- souri.
John was the only one of the brothers who re- mained at home. After his father's death he moved upon the old homestead, where he engaged in farm- ing and tanning until he died, Dec. 5, 1877, at the age of eighty. Ilis widow has reached the age of eighty-two, and still resides in the old stone farmi- honse in Maenngie borongh.
John Singmaster raised a family of five children, three sons and two daughters, the latter of whom have both died. One had been married to Col. William Trexler, of Longswamp, Berks Co., the other to Thomas Breinig, residing at Breinigsville, Upper Macungie. His sons are Alexander, a well- to-do farmer, at one time a commissioner of the county. He is married and has a family of three children. James is in the tanning as well as in --- the grain, eoal, and lumber business at Macungie, also connected with the Macungie Iron Company. He is married and has two children, one a daughter, married to William M. Weaver, the superintendent of the Macungie Iron Company; the other a son, Rev. J. A. Singmaster. Two of his sons have recently died, Howard and Walter, the latter of whom was at the time of his death postmaster of Macungie, presi- dent of the Lehigh Telegraph Company, of which he
Macungie Borough .- This ancient borough, sit- nate at the foot of South Monutain, nine and a half miles south of Allentown, on the East Pen branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, was first known under the name of Millerstown, which name it received from Peter Miller, who founded it in the year 1776. The land forming its site was conveyed by Lewis Larose unto the said Peter Miller by a certain writing, dated the 13th day of November, in the year of our Lord 1776. Peter Miller, at that time, "resided in what was then known as Upper Hanover township, in the county of Montgomery, and State of Pennsylvania, By the writing above referred to, Mr. Miller became possessed of one hundred and fifty acres of land, upou a part of which he at once proceeded to lay out the village, by himself named Millerstown. Hle, thereupon, sold twenty-three lots in forty-six parts, each lot containing two acres of land, and being subject to ground rent.
On the second day of February, A. D. 1782, Mr. Mil-
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HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
ler sold the balance of the one hundred and fifty acres of land, as well as the revenues arising out of the ground-rents of the said lots, to Bartholomew Hoover, who obtained a patent upon the same from the Hon- orable Superior Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania, dated the 23d day of July, 3784. In November of the same year, said Bartholomew Hoover and Mary, his wife, reconveyed this entire tract to Peter Miller.
The first hotel in Millerstown was an old block- house, standing where the " Keystone House" now stands, and was kept by Leonard Schlanch.
The first store was kept by George Goer, in an old block-house, located where the beautiful dwelling owned by James Singmaster, and occupied by his son, Rev. J. A. Singmaster, has lately been erected.
The first school was held in the building now occu- pied by Jonas Gerhard as a carriage factory. It is related that lightning struck a liberty pole, standing in front of the building, during school hours, which so frightened the teacher, Lippert by name, that he dropped his rod and book, fell down on his knees, and commenced to pray. All the inhabitants of Upper and Lower Milford, as well as those of Upper and Lower Macungie, cast their votes at the general elections at the old inn above mentioned, and the in- habitants of old Macungie township continued to do so until the division of the township, in 1832, into Upper and Lower Macungie. Large battalions were held at Millerstown for many years, when the sol- diery paraded the streets, and dancing was freely in- dulged by the country lads and lasses, The last one was held in 1856, at which time the Breinigsville and Millerstown brass bands furnished the music.
At the April term of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Lehigh County, 1857, application was made by cer- tain frecholders, inhabitants of the village of Millers- town, for a charter of incorporation, The applica- tion was submitted to the grand jury, who reported favorably thereon, but upon a remonstrance being filed an examiner was appointed by the court. After the taking of depositions the examiner reported in favor of the incorporation, and thereupon the court dismissed the exceptions, and on the 13th day of No- vember, 1857, decreed " that the said village of Mil- lerstown be incorporated into a borough in conformity with the prayer of the petitioners; that the corporate style and title thereof shall be the borough of Millers- town," giving the boundaries in detail. It was further provided that the first election should be held on Saturday the 26th of December, 1857, between the hours of eight o'clock A. M. and seven o'clock P.M., at the public-house of Charles H1. Knauss in said bor- ongh; that John Mattern should act as judge, and Aaron Erdman and John Shiffert as inspectors of said election ; and that Andrew Neumoyer, constable of Lower Macungie, should give proper notice of the holding of said election. At the time designated the following named officers were elected, viz. : Justices |
of the Peace, Harrison Miller and J. Peter Haas; Burgess, James Singmaster ; Conneil, S. R. Ritten- house, J. Peter Haas, Peter J. Weiler, Solomon Ohl, Solomon Gorr.
The following is a list of the justices of the prace since the incorporation of the borough and the dates of their commissions :
1858. Harrison Miller. 1871. James Christman.
Peler Hans. 1875. Levi Smoyer.
1860. Harrison Miller. 1877. OliverJ. Kuanss (appointed).
1863. Henry Neumeyer. 1878, Oliver 1. Knauss.
1865. llarrison Miller. 1879. J. F. M. Shiffert (appointed).
1869. James Christman.
1880. Zil. M. Brobsl.
1870. Levi Smoyer. 1×83. 0. J. Knanss.
On the 10th day of March, 1858, an act was passed by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, making the bor- ough of Millerstown a separate election district.
At a general Court of Quarter Sessions held at Al- lentown, Sept. 6, 1875, a petition was presented by one hundred and thirty inhabitants of the borough of Millerstown, setting forth among other things that a post-office was located in their borough named " Ma- cungie," that a post-office was also located at Millers- town, in the county of Perry, same State, named Millerstown ; that the railroad station at said borough was named " Millerstown," and that in consequence thereof letters and merchandise addressed " Millers- town," were often miscarried, occasioning much in- convenience and delay ; therefore praying that the name of their borough be changed to the "Borough of Macungie."
The matter was presented to the consideration of the grand jury, who recommended that the change be made as prayed for, which recommendation was eon- firmed by the court on the 8th day of November, A.D. 1875.
The present officers of the borough are as follows, to wit :
Burgess, Charles Bieber ; Council, William Wal- bert; Secretary, John L. Reinhard; President, James F. Shaffer; Treasurer, James Neumoyer, William Haines, Al. Diehl ; Justices of the Peace, O. J. Knauss, Tilghman M. Brobst ; Assessor, John Rems; School Directors, William J. Hoxworth, Henry Neumoyer, J. D. Erdman, James Haines, Jr., John Neumoyer, William Wimmet.
The borough now contains five churches, a post- office, railroad depot (the East Penn branch of the Philadelphia and Reading), express and telegraph offices, school-honse, Odd-Fellows' ball, steam roller- mills, tannery, two grain-, lumber-, and coal-yards, two hardware-stores, two saddler-shops, three stores, two drug stores, two milliner-shops, cigar manufac- tory, organ and sewing-machine shop, tinsmith, three tailor-shops, four hotels, four restaurants, three ear- riage factories, one shoe store, two shoe-shops, two livery stables, a bank, foundry, saw-mill, two butcher- shops, brick-yard, furniture-store, barber-shop, black- smithery, six physicians, one dentist, and one lawyer,
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335
LOWER MACUNGIE TOWNSHIP.
The population of the borough by the census of 1880 was seven hundred and one.
The roller-mill of Fritch Brothers & Bogle, situate in this borough, is among the finest and most, success- ful flouring mills in the State, and in fact is hardly anywhere excelled. Starting with a small capital but a few years ago, this firm, consisting of Dr. D. D. Fritch, Nathan Fritch, and Harry Bogle, have suc- ceeded in establishing their business upon a firm and prosperous basis. They convert daily from eight hundred to nine hundred bushels of wheat into the very best quality of flour, for which they find a ready market throughout the entire State. Farmers come to this mill from a radius of fifteen and twenty miles, exchanging their grain for flour. Dr. Fritch is a born mechanie, of remarkable business tact and energy, and superintends the minutest details of the running of this mill. During 1883 he superintended the intro- duction of the roller system upon his own plans, and without the aid of a skilled machinist, and did it so successfully that the running of the mill was stopped for only two weeks. The mill is a fine three-story briek structure with a spacious grain elevator attached, and is connected by a siding with the main track of the Reading Railroad.
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The Lehigh Telegraph Company .- The Macungie and East Texas Telegraph Company, of which the Lehigh Telegraph Company is the successor, was organized at Macungie (where it has its main office) on the 13th day of September, in the year 1876. The following were elected as the first board of managers : Walter F. Singinaster, president; 1. 11. Kalb, vice- president ; J. D. Erdman, treasurer ; A. M. Butter- week, secretary ; O. Neumoyer, general manager ; and B. F. Diehl, superintendent.
Two and one-half miles was the entire length of the line then owned by the company, extending from Macungie to the village of East Texas. The follow- ing year the line was extended northward to the city of Allentown, and southward to Kraussdale. The success of the enterprise was now apparent; applica- tions for the extension of the line came ponring in from the neighboring towns and villages; hence it became necessary, in order to make the institution a permanent snecess, to procure a new charter, more extended in its privileges, as the original charter was too limited.
In the spring of 1878 a new charter was procured, changing the name to that of the Lehigh Telegraph Company, with privileges for extending lines to all parts of the commonwealth. The extension of lines was now rapidly pushed, and offices established at Reading, Norristown, Boyertown, Quakertown, Potts- town, Slatington, Mauch Chunk, Philadelphia, and intermediate points. Afterwards, by an arrangement with the " American Union," messages were sent over this line to all parts of the world.
From the very outset the company has been paying dividends regularly, averaging from five to eight per
cent. per annum. In September, 1882, its president, Walter F. Singmaster, died, and the following organ- ization was effected, to wit: President, J. D. Erd- man ; Vice-President, I. Y. Krauss; Treasurer, John Rems ; Secretary, E. M. S. Beaver ; Solicitor, E. R. Lichtenwallner, Esq.
Fries' Rebellion, or the House Tax War .- This borough is remarkable as one of the places distin- guished for its opposition to the collection of a direct tax, known as the house tax,'' by the Federal govern- ment in 1798-99,-" In den schreckens Zeiten."
Those opposed to this tax were wont to meet in the upper chamber of a certain house sitnate in this town, prominent among whom was one John Fries, of Lower Milford, who was afterwards tried at Easton, Pa., for treason, convicted, and sentenced to be hung; but was subsequently pardoned by John Adams. To quell this insurrection, troops, in obedience to Adams' in- struction, were raised in Lancaster County.
Several companies marched from Lancaster April 1, 1799, one of which, coming by way of Reading, arrived at Millerstown, as it was then called, and en- camped in Shaffer's woods adjoining the town. A number of citizens, spotted by those in sympathy with the government, were here taken prisoners and re- moved to Bethlehem. After an attempt had there been made by Henry Jarrett, captain of the Light Horse brigade, to release them, they were removed to the city of Philadelphia. On the breaking out of the yellow fever they were again removed to Norristown, where they were imprisoned until a change in the control of the government was effected, when they were all set free. David Shaffer, a resident of this town, died in prison at Norristown, leaving a wife and two children. Michael Schmoyer, Sr., died at the same time while prisoner at Norristown. His son, Michael, now resides a short distance south of Macungie.
The Borough Schools .- No regular school-house was built in this borough until the year 1840. Pre- vious to that time schools were bekl in private houses and shops. An old log house standing where Aaron Erdman's store now stands, a one-story frame house, situate on Peter Weiler's lot, the old stone hotte now occupied by Mrs. Schulze, and Jonas Gerhard's car- riage-factory were all used at various times for this purpose. The teachers during this time were paid directly by the patrons, and such as were unable to do so were aided by the township anthorities, who paid their children's tuition.
In 1840 the first regular school-house was built .. what is now called School Alley. The building was of stone, and still stands, having been recently con- verted into a dwelling by J. F. M. Shiffert.
The desks ran parallel through the entire length of the room, raised one above the other, with an aisle along the walls. Several years after the erection of this building the common-school law was accepted by the district, and it then became a free school, under the supervision of Lower Macungie township.
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336
HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Some of the teachers of this school were the fol- Witman, R. J. Delong, Hoyt Wightman, of the grannar school ; and Annie R. Reis, Oliver Neu- moyer, Hannah Thomas, Alice Newhard, Emma Shoemaker, Lizzie Edmunds, Miss Ida Baughman, lowing: Howl, Crout, Gibbous, Nash, Harrison, Mil- ler, Samuel Lorash, Miss Ruther, Wagoner, Shade, Hoxworth, Fair, Joseph Nicholson (who was the first English-speaking teacher in the district), Charles ' and John Rems, of the secondary and primary schools. Shoemaker, James Christman, Annie R. Rems, Emily Hoyt, and Henry Neumeyer. The terms were from four to five months' duration.
Macungie Institute .- In the year 1856 a number of the citizens of the town and the immediate vicin- ity, realizing the insufficiency of the then existing schools, and desiring to provide for their children a more liberal education, determined upon the estab- lishment of what was afterwards known as the Ma- eungie Institute. A company was organized with a capital of thirteen hundred dollars. The same year a half-acre lot of ground, situate at the extreme east- ern end of Main Street, in said town, was purchased from Joseph Weseo for the sum of fifty dollars, and a substantial, well-built, two-story brick building erected thereon, at a cost of eighteen hundred dollars. After being well supplied with charts, maps, globes, and other material, the school was opened on the 17th day of November, 1856, with sixteen scholars in at- tendanee. In less than three months this number was increased to thirty-five, while in 1857 the attend- ance swelled to eighty-five. O. S. Fell was the prin- cipal, with Miss Mary A. McGee as his assistant, and. Dr. S. R. Rittenhouse leeturer on hygiene.
The course of instruction embraced the common branches of an English education. Physical geogra- phy, natural philosophy, algebra, and mensuration were among the branches taught, while a literary society was formed for mutual improvement. In 1860, however, it was found that the income of the school was not sufficient to meet the current expenses, and having already contracted a debt of seven hundred dollars, the building was rented to the public school board of Maeungie for three months, and in the year 1862 the entire property was sold to the said school board at a figure barely covering the above-stated in- debtedness. Some of the most prominent professional and business men of this borough were among its pupils. The school directors at that time were the following : James Singmaster, Joseph Bortz, Edwin Haines, A. W. Jacoby, Wayne Bitting, and J. Peter Haas.
In 1871 the number of scholars became so large that an addition was built to the school-house, and another school was formed, making a total of three schools or departments,-" grammar," "secondary," and " primary."
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