USA > Pennsylvania > Carbon County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 10
USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of the counties of Lehigh and Carbon, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pt. 2 > Part 10
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
MARTIN HI. BOYE, M.D., A.M., Chemist and Geologist, M.A.P.S., etc.
Martin H. Boye ( Hans Martin Boye) was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Dec. 6, 1812. His father, Mark Boye, chemist, proprietor of a large pharma-
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M. H. Boye
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UPPER SAUCON TOWNSHIP.
ceutical establishment, and for many years superin- are in contact. This work was in part performned during the intense political excitement attending the gubernatorial contest between Ritner and Porter in these counties, particularly in Berks. In the subse- quent years (1839 and 1840) his duties were confined to analyzing, in conjunction with Dr. Robert E. Rogers and Professor James B. Rogers, the different limestones, coals, iron ores, etc., for the geological survey, all of which have been published in the re- ports. In the summer of 1841 he resumed field-work, examining the bituminous coal-regions along the Kis- kiminetas and Alleghany Rivers and the Beaver Creek. During this period he also found time to engage in original chemical researches, and in 1839-40, in con- junction with Professor Henry D. Rogers, discovered a new compound of chloride of platinmin with binoxide of nitrogen, and determined, by analysis, its composi- tion, which being connnunicated in a paper read before the American Philosophical Society, he was, in Jan- mary, 1840, elected a member of that body. In April following he assisted in the formation and organiza- tion in Philadelphia of the Association of American Geologists, which afterwards became the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In the summer of the same year, together with J. I. Clark HIare (now Judge Ilarc), he discovered the first of those violently explosive substances which, since the discovery of nitro-glycerine, have received such ex- - tensive and varied practical applications. This sub- . stance was perchloric ether (see vol. viii. page 1 of the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society), and Mr. Boye was so much impressed by its immense explosive force that he at once foresaw the practical uses to which such substances could be applied, and in 1842 communicated to the above-mentioned society the causes of this immense power, which in the case of perchloric ether he proved to exceed by ten times that of gunpowder (see Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. ii. page 203) ; but although dent of the Royal Porcelain Manufactory in Copen- hagen, gave to his son, Martin, a complete classical education in Borgerdydskolen, a famous Latin school, from which he was admitted to the University of Copenhagen by Examen Artium in 1831. Here he attended the general course of university lectures, and passed with distinction Examen Philologicum et Philosophieum. At that time chemistry was not taught in the university course, but while attending on a sick brother he accidentally obtained one of his brotlier's books, an elementary work on chemistry, by which he became so much infatuated with this science that he shut himself up in his room, and for days and nights did nothing but read and experiment. Soon afterwards he entered the Polytechnic School, study- ing analytical chemistry and physics under Oersted, Zeise, and Forchhammer, and graduated from that institution in 1835. In 1836 he left Copenhagen for New York, where he remained for some time, and observed with much interest the great financial crisis of 1837. The same year he went to Philadelphia, and making the acquaintance of Dr. Robert Hare, Professor of Chemistry in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, he became so much interested in his laboratory and his superior chemical apparatus for illustrating his lectures with brilliant display and on a large scale, that he attended these lectures during the winter of 1837-38, assisting him at the same time in his chemical investigations in his laboratory. During leisure hours he also, with Dr. Furman Leaming, translated into English several essays on belles-lettres and chemical subjects. In 1838 he received an appointment as assistant geolo- gist and chemist in the first geological survey of Penn- sylvania under Professor Henry D. Rogers, and to become better acquainted with the general super- structure of the strata of the Appalachian series and the adjoining Mesozoic formation, accompanied Pro- fessor Rogers on a tour from Philadelphia to and | he found a remedy against its unexpected explosion by dilution, he considered the danger attending its manufacture and manipulation too great to expect it to be used for general purposes.
through the anthracite coal regions. On this trip the peuty was joined by the noted Canadian refugee, Dr. Pappenheim. At Manch Chunk they were conducted to the "suunnit mines" by Mr. David Thomas, who had not long before arrived from Wales to start and super- intend the smelting of iron by anthracite coal. The excursion was made on the gravity railroad, the sec- ond oldest railroad in this country (now known as the Switchback), on which, at that time, the loaded coal-cars descended by their own weight, the last car of the train being occupied by the innles, which were to draw the empty cars back to the mine. Mr. Boye had subsequently assigned to him the exploration of the South Mountain or Lehigh Hills, which, as a con- tinnation of the New Jersey highlands, extend from Easton to Reading, through the counties of North- ampton, Lehigh, and Berks, and the mapping down of the boundary lines of the different geological for- mations of which they consist and with which they
In 1842-44 he attended the regular course of med- ical lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, and besides the ordinary hospital attendance he also-in the summer of 1843-attended the private clinic of Dr. William Pepper at the Pennsylvania Hospital, occupying himself with the chemical examination of some of the secretions of his, patients, and, among other things, proved the existence and determined the quantity of urea in the blood and serum of one of his patients, who died of a kidney affection after lying for some time in a comatose state. Ou the occa- sion of the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the American Philosophical Society he read a paper "On the Conversion of Benzoic into Hippuric Acid," by James C. Booth and M. H. Boye. On his gradua- tion as Doctor of Medicine he at the same time had
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HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
conferred on him by the collegiate department of the university the honorary degree of Master of Arts. Owing, however, to his constant scientifie engage- ments he never pursued the practice of medicine.
In 1842 he had entered into a partnership with Pro- fessor James C. Booth to conduct a laboratory for analyses and instruction in practical and analytical chemistry, which was continued by himself after the dissolution of the partnership. During that the he wrote for Booth's "Chemical Encyclopedia," among other articles, that on " Analysis," and performed a number of seientifie analyses, among them the first ever made of the Schuylkill water; of the Bittern of a saline on the Kiskiminetas, near Freeport, Pa., con- taining iodine; of a magnetic iron pyrites containing nickel, from Gap Mine, Lancaster Co., Pa.
. In 1845 he was elected professor of Natural Philos- ophy and Chemistry in the Central High School of Philadelphia, which position he held till February, 1859. While there he wrote a treatise on " Pneu- matics, or the Physies of Gases" (published in 1856), and also a small introductory treatise on " Chemistry, or the Physics of Atoms," and delivered public lee- tures on the electro-magnetie telegraph and on natural philosophy and chemistry in general.
Great interest having been manifested in the pro- duction and use of the oil contained in cotton-seed, a friend, Mr. George T. Lewis, of the well-known firm of John T. Lewis & Brother, presented him, in 18-15, with some specimens of it. In its crude state it was of a dark-red (almost black) color, and of a thick consistency, but by experimenting he soon-by. a chemical process-produced a colorless and exceed- ingly bland and agreeable oil of superior quality for salad-dressing and for general cooking purposes. The toilet soap made from it equalel if not surpassed the best Castile. In 1847-48, with Mr. George T. Lewis and the Messrs. Rodman and Joseph Wharton, he began on a large scale the manufacture of the oil from the seed and its refinement by his process. In 1850, Dr. Boye made a trip to Charleston, S. C., with 1 a view of interesting the capitalists of that place in the enterprise,- a most unpropitious time, however, for, although John C. Calhoun had just died, the Charlestonians, anticipating already at that carly period the accomplishment of their independence from the North and the making of Charleston the great emporium of the South, would have nothing to do with such an undertaking unless located in their midst. Mainly for this reason the projeet was aban- doned. Subsequently, on the occasion of the Cen- tennial Exposition of 1876 at Philadelphia, Mr. Lewis and himself, taking a great interest in bringing this subject of a home product before the public, again manufactured and refined by the same process a quantity of the oil and had it on exhibition, together with specimens preserved from the manufacture of 1848; and a full account of the chemical process of refining being at the same time submitted to the com-
mittee, consisting of Dr. Genth. Professor Chandler, and other distinguished ebemists, a first premium was awarded.
In 1859 impaired health induced him to abandon his profession and seek relief in rural occupation. He therefore removed to Lehigh County, and soon after located on a farm at Coopersburg, eight miles south of Bethlehem, on the North Penn Railroad. This farm was in a very neglected condition, adjoin- ing a trap-dike, and therefore full of stones and a rank growth of trees and shrubs, so much so that when first started, in 1792, by Michel Landes, a Men- nonite preacher, it was humorously said to be " nix wie Stae und Himmel" ("nothing but stones and heavens"). By persistent and systematic labor the buildings have all been rebuilt or renewed and the grounds cleared, and " Keewaydin" is now a comfort- able country residenee, with pure springs, lawns, meadows, fields, woods, and a fine orchard, planted with a view of having an uninterrupted succession of choice fruit.
In early life Dr. Boye took no active part in poli- ties, having warm friends in both parties. When, however, the slavery question in the Territories be- eame prominent, and Mr. Van Buren advanced his opinion that Congress had a constitutional right not only to keep slavery out of the Territories, but even to abolish it, if expedient, in the District of Columbia, and thus became, in 1844, the Free-Soil candidate for the Presidency, he gave that gentleman his vote. Afterwards, when the Republican party, which mainly originated from the Free-Soil party, nominated John C. Fremont as its Presidential candidate, not having sufficient confidence in his abilities under the existing eonjuneture of political affairs, he voted for the can- didate from his own State. For this vote he always expressed the greatest regret, so entirely did he dis- approve of Mr. Buchanan's subsequent course as President. He was a great admirer of Lincoln and a strong supporter of Garfield. Though of rather a conservative disposition, he is always found on the side of progress, and is a stanch supporter of law and order. In the famous riots of 1844 in Philadelphia he joined a number of gentlemen of standing, who formed themselves into a military company, under Horace Binney, Jr., as eaptain, to sustain the author- ities in restoring and preserving order. Dr. Boye has also traveled considerably, having, in 1853, revisited Europe and lately made a trip to the Pacific, through Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Ile is married to a Philadelphia lady, and has two daugh- ters, but had the misfortune of losing by accident his only son, a promising boy of fourteen years.
CHRISTIAN NICHOLAS.
The grandparents of Mr. Nicholas were Christian and Susan Nicholas, who resided in Hancock town- ship, Bucks Co., Pa. Among their children was John,
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Christian Nicholas
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WEISSENBERG TOWNSHIP.
who married Mary Long, daughter of Peter and Cath- erine Long, of Durham township, in the same county, where they resided upon a farm. John Nicholas died in 1826, leaving seven children, -Peter, Samuel, Chris- tian, John, Elias, Lewis, and a danghter, Lydia. The widow and her family were left without means, and Christian, when a mere lad, supported himself by labor. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed by his mother to learn the trade of a tailor, and remained four years with his employer, after which he followed his trade until 1840. He married, the same year, Mrs. Eliza Adams, daughter of John and Susan Riegel Bitts, of Springfield township, Bucks Co., who, by a previous marriage, had four children. Mr. Nicholas at once turned his attention to the cultivation of a farm in Durham township, and in 1853, having met with some success, purchased a farm in Upper Saucon township, Lehigh Co., to which he removed the following year.
In 1856 he began operations in iron ore in Lehigh County, which business was continued for twenty years, when he, in 1870, retired and removed to Bethlehem, Pa. Mrs. Nicholas died in 1877, when Mr. Nicholas returned to Upper Saneon township, and, in 1879, married Miss Sarah A., daughter of Sol- omon and Mary Grismere Grim, of Bethlehem. Mrs. Nicholas, his present wife, was born in Weissen- berg township, Lehigh Co., Aug. 9, 1843, and resided for many years with her parents, her father, whose birth oceurred in 1804, having been formerly a ear- penter and later a farmer. Her grandparents were Henry Grim and his wife, -- Snyder, who resided in Upper Macungie, on the farm of her great-grand- father. Mr. Nicholas is in politics a stanch Repub- liean. He has been, since 1837, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
CHAPTER XXXII.
WEISSENBERG TOWNSHIP.1
Topography and Present Condition .- Weis-en- berg township is situated in the western part of Lehigh County. It lies about northwest from the eity of Allentown, the eastern corner being about twelve miles distant from that place, and is bounded on the northeast by Lowhill, on the southeast by Upper Macungie, on the southwest by Berks County, and on the northwest by Lynn. It is six and a half miles long and five and a half miles broad, and con- tains an area of twenty-one thousand one hundred and twenty acres. The surface is hilly and broken. A ridge or water-shed extends in a curve through the township, dividing the waters of the Lehigh from those of the Schuylkill basin, about three-fourths of
the township being in the former and one-fourth in the latter.
The principal waters are the following, viz. : Schaeffer's Run and Spring Creek in the south; the two forks of Haas' Creek in the cast; Lion Creek, with its branches, Willow Creek, Weiss' Run, and | Holben's Creek, in the centre and northeast; the tributaries of Sweitzer's Creek, named after the set- tlers on the head-waters, who came from Switzerland, in the north and northwest; all of which belong to the Lehigh basin; and the Silver Creek, with its branches, forming the head-waters of Saueon Creek, in the west and southwest, in the Schuylkill basin. The township is thus well watered, a spring of run- ning water being found on nearly every farm.
The soil is mostly gravel, varying from light and poor on some of the hills to a heavy and fertife sandy loam in many of the valleys. Nearly every creek and rivulet is bordered by meadows.
This is almost entirely an agrienltural township. The farms, varying in size from a few acres to several hundred, are generally well cultivated. A kind of mixed husbandry is practiced, and a judicious rota- tion of crops is observed. The farmers are careful to save all the manure they can, and a great amount of lime, together with some phosphate, is applied. The prineipal productions are rye, corn, potatoes, oats, and wheat. Some parts of the township are especially adapted to potato-growing. Horses, eattle, and hogs are raised in numbers, together with some sheep and poultry. Bee-keeping is also engaged in. Nearly all kinds of fruits common to the temperate latitude flourish here, such as apples, cherries, pears, plums, grapes, and peaches, together with berries of many sorts. Grapes and cherries seem to be indigenous to the soil, and could be raised in great quantities. Apples are not now raised as abundantly as formerly, but quite a number of orchards have been set ont lately.
In early times the greater part of this township was covered with forests, and at present perhaps eight per cent. of the entire are is covered with woods. The woods that remain are mostly situated on the tops and sides of hills, and consist mainly of chestnut timber, with here and there tracts of hickory, chest- nut, oak, and white oak, interspersed with pine, maple, ash, walnut, birch, and wild cherry.
No minerals are found in the township, but build- ing-stone, such as sandstone and a kind of slate, are found on most of the farms. Quartz is also found in many places, but is of no value,
The houses, nearly all of which are two stories high, are mostly built of wood or stone ; very few of bricks. Of the wooden houses, those of the more recently built are frame, the older ones being log. The barns are mostly frame, with stone basements, and are gen- erally quite capacious.
There are in the township at present five grist-mills, three saw-mills, one tannery, four distilleries, six
1 By Solomon F. Rupp (the history of the schools excepted, which was written by his brother, Hemy F. Rupp).
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HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
hotels, six stores, four post-offices, two carriage-fac- tories, five villages, four churches, and cleven school- houses.
The inhabitants are the descendants of German settlers, who still speak the Pennsylvania German language. They are, as a rule, industrious, frugal, and intelligent, there being very few that cannot read and write. They mostly belong to Reformed and Luth- erau Churches, but a few are members of the United Brethren organization.
Organization-Immigration .- Weissenberg town- ship was formed out of the " Baekparts of Macunjy" and part of Allemängel, the greater portion being of the latter, and was erected as a township in 1753. Weissenberg is derived from Weiss, meaning " white," and burgh, a "eastle" or "fortress," and was named after Weisseuburg, a fortress and town in Alsace, from the vicinity of which most of the settlers had come. Weissenberg was settled by Palatinates and Swiss. The first settlements look place in 1734, on and around the highlands in the vicinity of the present Ziegel Church. The first settlers came from German- town, through Oley, and later over Goshenhoppen, through Rittenhause Gap, over in our valley. Oley was mostly settled by Huguenots, as early as 1719. The Palatinates hence moved to Long Swamp; but Long Swamp being a level plain, deficient in water and heavy wood, and overgrown with ground-oak, did not suit them. So they went directly over the plain toward the Blue Mountains, and founded the settlement of " Allemängel," their road being along the Indian trail on the high ridge iu Weissenberg, which forms the water-shed between the Lehigh and Schuylkill Rivers. In " Allemängel" and Long Swamp, in what was then called the "Backparts of Macunjy," settled those who followed, and formed what is now Weissenberg.
The Palatinates .- During the wars of Louis XIV., of France, in the year 1674, Marshal Turenne dis- graced his name by barbarously ravaging the l'ala- tinate, which was abandoned to the ferocious license of his troops, and became a scene of indescribable desolation. In loss, Louis XIV., of France, revoked the Edict of Nantes, annulled the privileges granted to the Huguenots, prohibited the exercise of their religion, and ordered their temples to be leveled with the ground. Multitudes of the Reformed now went to England, Holland, Germany, and Switzerland.
Again, in 1688, the king of France gave orders for the wholesale devastation of the Palatinate, and so successfully was it carried out that this once rich and smiling land was converted into a desolate wilderness. The houseless peasants, to the number of a hundred thousand, wandered about in abject misery impre- cating the vengeance of heaven upon the cruel tyrant who had caused their ruin. And again, from 1702 to 1713, during the war of the Spanish Suceession, the Palatinate was the scene of ruin and devastation. Thus their homes were destroyed and their lands
laid waste three times within a period of thirty years. It is no wonder that the Palatinates concluded to find a home in the wilds of America. By these successive visitations the people had been reduced to abject poverty, and many found themselves without means to get away. Some by selling their all were enabled to pay for the passage of transportation. And again others when brought to Philadelphia were sold by the ship captains for their passage. These settled mostly in Goshenhoppen. By the time those came that settled Weissenberg the Palatinate had partially recovered from its ruinous devastations, and their financial condition was much better than that of those who came before. Some of the first settlers of Weissenberg came to Pennsylvania as early as 1725 to 1730. They first went to Goshenhoppen and Oley, where they stayed for several years before they came here. Eguthius Grinnn, one of the pioneer settlers of Weissenberg, passed over Rotterdam to Deal, and then to Pennsylvania in 1728, but did not come to Weissenberg till 1734.
In Goshenhoppen and Oley the land had mostly been taken up about the year 1730, so those that came at that time stayed for several years there, and then went over Long Swamp and settled Weissenberg. Some of those that settled in the vicinity of the present Ziegel's Church, among them Adam Braus, Peter and Eguthius Grimm, were there in the summer or fall of 1733 to look out places for settlement, and the follow- ing spring moved there with their families. During 1734 only a few families, among them that of Eguthins Grimm, settled within the present limits of Weissen- berg, but the following year more came, among them Ludwig Reichard and Conrad Neff; and from that time the township rapidly filled up. By 1750 all the most suitable places for homes were already pos- sessed. The settlers usually put up temporary huts, or stayed with a family that had come before, and then went to find a suitable place for location. They always chose places by the side of a spring of pure water, and usually at the entrance of a valley or where several valleys met. After they found a place for loca- tion they builta log hnt or house upon it, with the bare earth for a floor, and covered it with leaves. Some had bark and boards for roofs. After they had built their houses, they marked off a tract of land by mark- ing the trees along the lines around it. Some marked off' large tracts in this way, sometimes from four hun - dred to six hundred acres. But they soon received notice from the proprietors to pay for the land, which they at first refused, alleging that the proprietors' agents had offered to give the land gratis if they would only come and settle on it. Some refused for a long time to pay for the land, but others made application for warrants as early as 1741. The greater part of the land was taken up by applications for from fifty to one hundred acres, one man often making three or four such applications, usually at intervals of several years. After the township had been considerably settled
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WEISSENBERG TOWNSHIP.
many applications were for smaller tracts. From 1760 to 1780 there were some speculators, such as Daniel Knouse and Michael Bobst and Jacob Greenewald, who took up vacant tracts and held them, and after- wards selling them at large profits became rich men ..
Weissenberg was already thickly settled during the French and Indian war, and while the Indians drove many of the inhabitants of the surrounding townships from their homes, Weissenberg was very little mo- lested. The early settlers coming over Long Swamp to Lelrigh County passed into Weissenberg, and thus naturally it became at once more thickly inhabited than the townships more north and west. And while the Indians drove the people away in Lynn and Heidelberg, they found them too numerous in Weis- senberg to commit serious outrages among them, although on several occasions the people were greatly alarıned.
Clothing of the Pioneers-Domestic Employ- ments .- When the clothes that the settlers brought along with them were worn ont they made them out of sail-cloth, a kind of coarse stuff which they bought at Philadelphia. But these were not warm enough for the winter weather, and they often had to put on three to four pair of pantaloons, and also as many coats. Next they turned their attention to the cultivation of flax and the raising of sheep. Then people commenced to wear linen clothes during the summer and woolen in winter. But they were all home-made, the women doing the spinning and the men the weaving. Mu- sical was the sound of the spinning-wheel from early morn till late at night, and many are the anecdotes that could be related of it. All the women then were able to spin, and often three or four spinning-wheels were used by the women of one family. Looms were also to be seen in a good many houses, at least a third of the men being weavers. The people for a long time wore home-made clothes, both during week-days and as Sunday clothes, in summer linen, and in winter the men linsey-woolsey and the women flannel. After calico became cheaper, women commenced to wear it, and many a lass felt proud if she could boast of a calico dress. Nearly all the people were clothes of home-made stud till abont 1810 to 1850, but since that time it has become rarer every year, until it is now the exception and not the rule.
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