USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 28
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Rev. Jacob K. Reiner resides in the house where he was born, in Hatfield township, and has passed his "threescore years and ten" among the same people, universally loved and esteemed. His christian humility and native modesty are such that it was with difficulty his assent could be obtained to pre- sent his name in our work. Of his preaching one of his con- stant hearers says:
"His sermons are very logical and convincing, so that they gen- erally carry conviction to the minds and hearts of his hearers. He keeps so close to the subject matter of his text as almost to exhaust it. He delivers more funeral sermons, perhaps, than any other preacher of his vicinity, thus ministering often among other de- nominations of christians, and being respected and loved by all
*Dr. M. Wanner, the father of Christiana Wanner, was of the gentry of Germany and a man of fortune. He, with three children, left his fatherland for America either from religious or civil troubles, and died on the passage. IIe gave his treasure into the hands- of the captain of the ship for his children, who, proving false to his trust, wiekedly and basely appropriated the money to his own use, and sold the children into servitude to pay for their passage, as was customary among those who were poor. The eldest of these children was Christiana, wife of Abraham Reiner, above mentioned. Catharine, another daughter of Dr. Wanner, married a man named Steitle, whose only child be- came the wife of Samuel Helffenstein, who were father and mother of the eminent men of that name: Jacob, Samuel, and Albert (all Reformed clergymen), and their brothers, Dr. Abraham, Emanuel (lawyer), Isaac, Dr. Benjamin, Jonathan, and Catharine, the latter of whom is married to a man named Miller, of Philadelphia. For this anecdote, and most of the faets of Jacob K. Reiner's history, we are indebted to Abraham II. Cas- sel, of Harleysville.
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who know him. He is indeed reverenced and respected by the ir- religious equally as by the members of other sects."*
According to the custom of this plain and pious people, who hold that preaching is a gift emanating from the Divine Spirit, their ministers usually work at some secular employment. Mr. Reiner, who had learned his father's trade, therefore took up plowmaking, and is still engaged in making a very superior kind, well known as the "Reiner Plow." He also works the small patrimonial farm where he resides.
CHARLES KUGLER, EsQ.
Mine eyes from tears by grace, My feet from falling, Lord, keep for a space, Till where none weep or fall I see thy face .- Mrs. M. J. Bittle.
One of "the best preserved" citizens of Montgomery county, now enjoying a green old age, is Charles Kugler, of Lower Merion, now in his seventy-fifth year. His eye is as bright, his countenance as animated and expressive of real life, as most men at their meridian-a remarkable illustration of the advan- tages of active, useful and sedate habits. He is the son of John and Harriet Kugler, and was born, where he now lives, Feb- ruary 5th, 1805. His grandfather was Paul Kugler, and his great-grandfather was a German emigrant who settled in east- ern Pennsylvania in the early part of the last century. There are several branches of the family descended from this great ancestor scattered over Pennsylvania and surrounding States. John Kugler, whose wife's maiden name was Miller, died in 1815, when his son Charles was but ten years old. His widow lived till 1860, and at her demise was in her eighty-fourth year. Besides Charles, the subject of this notice, John Kugler left two daughters, the eldest, Eliza, a maiden lady, who was buried in 1875, at the age of seventy-five, and Sarah, intermarried with
*"On several oceasions I noticed at stores and shops, where lively young people come together of evenings to chat and have fun, that the appearance of Mr. Reiner in the com- pany would elicit from them marks of respect, not boru of fear, but of reverence, and which would instantly check their hilarity." -. 1. H. Cassel.
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CHARLES KUGLER, ESQ.
Daniel Gunkle, a miller, of East Whiteland, Chester county. They have had eight children, one of them, Dr. William H. Gunkle, having been a surgeon in the Union army during the rebellion, and since practicing in West Whiteland till his death. in 1875 ...
In youth Charles Kugler had but the benefit of a common school education. He, however, so profited by his opportuni- ties as to acquire the rudiments as well as a fair mathematical training, sufficient to qualify him to practice surveying, and likewise all the routine of commercial transactions. He per- fected himself in surveying under Alan W. Corson.
In 1840 he was married to Eleanor, daughter of Abraham. and Catharine Levering, who died in 1845, leaving to his care three daughters. Kate H., the only one now living, is inter- married with Frederick Eckfeldt, of Washington, District of Columbia. After remaining widowed a number of years, Mr. Kugler was married to Harriet, daughter of Philip and Harriet Sheaf, of Delaware county. There have been born to them six children: Charles, who was educated at the Polytechnic Col- lege, Philadelphia; Anna Sarah, who has been well educated, and is studying medicine; Paul J., engaged in commercial pur- suits in Philadelphia; Eleanor L., who was educated in the High School, Philadelphia; Mary Florence, who also attends. school in Philadelphia; the youngest, Hattie S., attends the free school of the locality.
Very early in life Mr. K. connected himself with the religi- ous body now called "St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church. of Lower Merion," and he, perhaps more than any other per- son there, has labored many years to build it up to its present state of prosperity. His quiet efforts have been so closely iden -. tified with this church that we condense from a historical ser- mon delivered in 1860 by the pastor, Rev. T. T. Titus, the fol- lowing notes of its organization and development to the pres- ent time :
"So early as 1765 German ministers occasionally preached here and baptized the children of settlers in Lower Merion, but until 1767 no communion service was held there. In that year a record is ex- tant that forty-three persons held a sacramental service. A Luthe- ran church was soon after organized and land bought by William.
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Stadelman, Frederick Grow, Stephen Goodman, Christopher Getz- man, George Baasler, and Simon Litzenberg, on which to crect a church and found a cemetery. In 1769 a small log-house of wor- ship was built, and the first communion service in the new house held May Ist, 1774. From this time the church had a lingering existence, its pulpit being supplied by ministers of different denomi- nations. In 1800, however, the people erected a new house of wor- ship of stone, which was occupied as above stated till' the English language had supplanted the German; but still it languished for want of stated preaching and regular church ordinances.
"In 1828 Rev. B. Keller had become pastor at Germantown, when Mr. Kugler, who had joined the society, interested himself to invite Mr. Keller to divide his ministrations with the church of Lower Merion, which he accordingly did. Very soon the distinct- ive interests of the congregation began to be looked after as never before. A Sunday school began to flourish, and Mr. Kugler pro- cured the building of a stone enclosure along the south line of the church lot. Shortly after Rev. Jeremiah Harpel became the stated pastor, and at the first communion thereafter but eleven persons par- ticipated, Mr. Kugler being the only male communicant. From this time, however, under the energetic labors of Mr. Harpel, who became pastor in 1831, the church began to increase, and by 1833. the people set about erecting a new house of worship, Mr. Kugler, as before, taking the lead. The edifice, built of stone, was finished and dedicated as 'St. Paul's' in November, and the congregation continued to increase in numbers and influence till 1834, when Mr. H. resigned. In 1835 Rev. Charles Barnitz assumed the pastorate, and took up his residence in the neighborhood. He ministered also about four and a half years, till 1839, and added to it about fifty persons.
"His successor was Rev. Edwin Town, who had charge two and a half years, and left in 1842. The pulpit was then vacant until the autumn of 1844, when Rev. Nathan Cornell was called, who labored about the same length of time, adding some twenty-four to the communion. In 1851 Rev. William D. Roedel was settled there, and the congregation built a parsonage. He labored four years, adding seventeen to the membership.
"The church having grown strong and prosperous, with a mem- bership of nearly seventy-five, a new edifice (the fourth since the organization of the church) was decided upon, and erected in 1873 on a new site donated by Mr. Kugler. In design and convenience it is fully up to the times. It was dedicated in December, 1875."
Mr. Kugler, at a very early day, also began to labor in the Sabbath school, having now filled that honorable and useful position over fifty years. For a long period, too, he was a trustee and a member of the church council. For thirty years, on behalf of the congregation, he has represented the Synod of eastern Pennsylvania in the General Synod of the Lutheran
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CHARLES KUGLER, ESQ.
Church, and for sixteen years also has been President of the Lutheran Publication Society of Philadelphia.
In 1834 Mr. K. was elected a school director, re-elected con- tinuously till 1870, nearly forty years, and during the incipient period of the school law he earnestly defended the enactment and its beneficent workings against the prejudices that opposed its adoption. He might, therefore, with great justice and pro- priety, be regarded as the putative father, or at least the early and continued patron, of free school education in his neighbor- hood. Charles Kugler is what might be denominated a born Democrat, and acted with that party till 1861, when he thought many of them gave aid and comfort to the rebellion. . He was accordingly nominated and elected to the Legislature by his Democratic fellow-citizens, and served during the sessions of 1842-3 and 1843-4 with great credit to himself and acceptance to his party. Being a surveyor and scrivener, accustomed to transacting legal business, he was often elected either assessor or assistant assessor, and has served his fellow-citizens in nu- merous private trusts, such as executor, guardian, and the like. During the closing years of the war he voluntarily and with- out compensation, and simply as a patriotic and charitable duty, came to Norristown, collected the bounty appropriated by the county for the support of soldiers' families in his neigh- borhood, and paid, over the money, thus saving them the ex- pense and trouble of coming for it themselves.
In 1861, believing that the Democratic party, as a party, was not as earnest in defence of the Union as the opposition, he severed his connection with it, and has ever since acted with the Republican, which he has often represented in county $ conventions, and on one or more occasions has presided over those bodies with great dignity and judgment. Mr. Kugler was the President of the first Union county meeting called at Odd Fellows' Hall, Norristown, to sustain the war, just after the fall of Fort Sumter, and doubtless was selected because of his known Union sentiments as a |Democrat. Mr. K. lives in an ancient mansion (the family homestead) on the Lancaster turnpike, at Ardmore, and besides the property on which he resides, owns a small farm of seventy-five acres near by.
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THOMAS RUTTER.
Mr. Kugler is a man of widely extended information and superior judgment; hence the use his brethren, fellow-citizens and neighbors have made of his time and talents. Besides, he is of that quiet temperament, unbending integrity, and abste- mious habits, that give assurance of a life well spent.
THOMAS RUTTER.
THE RUTTER FAMILY.
Oh, all important time! through every age Though much and warm the wise have urged, the man Is yet unborn who duly weighs an hour .- Night Thoughts.
One of the most ancient, respectable and influential families in eastern Pennsylvania is that which we have placed at the head of thispage. The orthography would indicate a German ori- gin, but Thomas Rutter, a Quaker, is recorded to have come to the colony with Penn in 1682. He was, therefore, probably English. He was married, by Friends' ceremony, to Rebecca Staples, at Pennsburg, Bucks county, on the 10th of Eleventh- month, 1685. For a time they settled in Bristol township, he being a man of intelligence and energy, and a preacher among them until the schism, headed by George Keith, which took place in 1691, when he seems to have adopted Baptist views, and was baptized (immersed) by Rev. Thomas Killingworth, continuing afterwards to preach as a Baptist for some years.
In 1705 or 1706, when Pastorius resigned the office of Bur- gomaster of Germantown, Thomas Rutter, who then lived there, was chosen in his stead. Whether he entirely aban- doned the"" ministry of the word" about this time is uncer- tain; but it is recorded that in 1717 he removed to the Mana- tawny region, and commenced to mine and smelt iron orc, of which business he must have had some knowledge in the old country. The following is the record found in one of Jona- than Dickinson's letters, in the Logan manuscripts, about that time:
"This last summer one Thomas Rutter, a smith, who lived not
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THOMAS RUTTER.
far from Germantown, hath removed farther up the country, and of" his own strength has set up making iron. Such it proves to be, as is highly set by all the smiths here, who say that the best Swedes' iron doth not exceed it; and we have heard of others that are go- ing on with the iron works."
Manufactured iron was about that time sent to England from Pennsylvania as a specimen of colonial skill and enter- prise, exciting so much jealousy there that a bill was intro- duced in Parliament two years later to prevent the erection of rolling and slitting-mills in the colonies. It did not become a law, however, till 1750, when it passed, only giving us permis- sion to export pig metal to England free of duty.
The high honor, therefore, of being the first to manufacture iron from the ore in Pennsylvania, and probably in America, belongs to the Rutter family in their early head, Thomas Rut- ter. He purchased a large tract of land lying now in Mont- gomery and Berks counties, parts of which have since been. known as Colebrookdale, Amity, Douglassville, and Boyer- town. There, associated with Samuel Savage and Thomas. Potts, the infant iron business was founded. Samuel Savage had married Anna, granddaughter of old Thomas Rutter, but died in 1719, leaving four sons, Thomas, Samuel, Joseph, and John, and two daughters, Ruth and Rebecca. These latter, granddaughters of Thomas Rutter, Sr., were intermarried with John Potts and Samuel Nutt, Jr., two names also famous in the early history of the iron trade of Pennsylvania.
About 1728 a white man named John Winter, on the bor- der, murdered an Indian and two squaws, which was retaliated by the savages near Colebrookdale, and much alarm, inquiry,. and disputation ensued for some time between settlers, Gover- nor, and the Indians. After holding a council with the latter. in Philadelphia, the white man was hanged for the crime. Pend- ing the settlement the famous Delaware chief, Sassoonan, in his talk, spoke kindly of Thomas Rutter, and said he would root and cut up every bush, and make the way wide to Phila- delphia for his friend. The matter was finally healed by giv- ing presents to the Indians, and they retired satisfied.
Thomas Rutter, the founder of the family, died in 1729 or 1730, leaving his lands, mines, forges and furnaces to his two
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THOMAS RUTTER.
sons, Thomas and John, and to his sons-in-law, Thomas and Samuel Savage, who had married his two granddaughters, Anna and Rebecca. The paternal ancestry of the Rutters then descended to the third generation in the original chris- "tian name of Thomas, all of them more or less concerned in the iron business. Thomas Rutter, of the third generation, was married to Martha Potts, and had the following children: John, born in 1760, and died in 1794. Mary Catharine, born in 1762, and married John C. Stocker in 1782, who died in 1792, leaving a number of children; she died in 1813. The third child was David, born in 1766, who ran Pine Forge, and died in 1817. The fourth was Ruth Anna, born in 1768, and intermarried with Jacob Lindley; she embraced Quaker views, and was a noted preacher among them. The fifth was Clem- ent, born in 1770, and died in 1771. John Rutter, above men- tioned, owned and ran Pine Forge, as did also his son David, of the fifth generation.
David Rutter, of the fifth generation, married Mary A. Potts. They had born to them the following children: Margaretta, intermarried with Dr. Samuel Hiester, of Chester county. She died in 1820, leaving one son and one daughter, John R. and Mary A., the latter intermarried with Devault Weber, of Nor- ristown. David Rutter's second child was Ruth Anna, mar- ried to Samuel Potts. The third, Thomas, married Catharine Boyer, and afterwards Catharine Ovenshine. The next child "was John P., who married Emily Potts, and also ran Pine Forge; he died in 1870, and his widow in 1867. The next child was Clement S., born in 1800, married Letitia Brown, and afterwards Sarah McCollom. David was the next; he studied medicine, married Isabella Crawford, located in Chi- cago, and died in 1866. The next child was Mary Catharine, born in 1802, intermarried with Joseph Potts, and died in 1858. Martha was the next child, born in 1804, married Major W. Brook, and died in 1878. The next, Lindley C., born in 1807, was ordained a Presbyterian minister, first married Miss Mont- gomery, afterwards Matilda P. Anderson, and then Louisa M. Potts. The next child was Charles, born in 1810, who married
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THOMAS RUTTER.
Mary A. Ives. The youngest child was Samuel, born in 1813, and who married Jane K. Baxter.
The offspring of the foregoing children of David and Mary A. Potts Rutter are partially enumerated below, as follows: Samuel and Ruth Anna Rutter Potts had one daughter, inter- married with Dr. Eagleton, of Philadelphia. John P. Rutter, the eldest son, had six children born to him, William, Henry P., John, Clement, Sarah, and Emily, the former daughter being the wife of John Taylor, of Philadelphia. Clement had four children; two deceased. The next child, Dr. David, who in- termarried with Isabella Crawford, and located in Chicago, left a number of children in influential positions in life. Joseph and Mary Catharine Rutter Potts had one son and one daugh- ter, Clement and Mary A. Major W. Brooke and Martha his wife left one son, Brigadier General John R. Brook, elsewhere commemorated, and two daughters, Caroline and Catharine. The next child, Rev. Lindley C. Rutter, and his wives, have had several children, one of the daughters being the wife of Lyman Beecher, of Pottstown. Charles and Mary A. Ives Rutter have six children: William, intermarried with Sarah May Hobart; Elizabeth W., the wife of William M. Hobart, son of General John H. Hobart; Samuel H., intermarried with Miss Hopkins, and who is now (1879) paymaster on the Jer- sey Central and Lehigh Valley railroads; the three younger children are Mariell, John O., and Mary. The father, Charles Rutter, has been for many years holding a very important po- sition in the employ of the Reading railroad at Pottstown.
[NOTE .- For most of the foregoing facts we are indebted to "The Potts' Memorial."]
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ALAN W. CORSON.
ALAN W. CORSON.
Let the mind be great and glorious, and all other things are despicable in compari- son .- Seneca.
Without doubt the best known and most justly celebrated scholar and scientist of Montgomery county is Alan W. Cor- son,* of Whitemarsh township, now in his ninetieth year. We have others whose general scholastic attainments extend over a wider range of studies and more classical, but in mathematics, botany, entomology, and some other natural sciences, he has long been distinguished among the educated men of our county Before giving a sketch of his very eminent career as a teacher, surveyor, farmer, and naturalist, we turn aside to notice the origin and peculiarities of the family so well and favorably known in our locality. The founder of the sept (as the Irish term it) in our county was Joseph Corson, a merchant and farmer, who in 1786 came from Bucks county and located near Plymouth Meeting. The family trace their descent from the Huguenots, who fled from France in 1675 on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, which drove nearly all Protestants from that kingdom. The historical fact is that two French ships sailed with families for Charleston, South Carolina, one of them landing its exiles at the place of destination, and the other being either cast away on the shore of Staten Island, or mak- ing a harbor in distress and discharging its passengers there. On this vessel, as history or tradition informs us, came the Cor- sons, Kreusons, Lefferts, Larzaleres, Du Bois, and other French families, who about 1726 pressed their way westward and set- tled in Northampton township, Bucks county, where, to the present day, their descendants are quite numerous. There is documentary proof that Benjamin Corson, of Staten Island, on the 19th of May, 1726, bought two hundred and fifty acres of land half a mile below the present Addisville, Bucks county, for $350. This was the original home of the family in Bucks county, and remained in its hands till 1823. This Benjamin Corson was the great-grandfather of Joseph Corson, who moved
*This sketch is written and published without consultation with the subject, or his assent being obtained. It is a tribute justly due a venerable and distinguished man, whose modesty and religious scruples could hardly be overcome for the purpose.
#
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ALAN W. CORSON.
into our county, as before stated, in 1786. The latter married Hannah, daughter of Joseph Dickinson, whose ancestor, Wal- ter Dickinson, of the Church of England, received a patent for four hundred and twenty acres of land on the Patapsco river, in Maryland, in 1658.
From this ancestor descended William Dickinson, who be- came a Friend, moved to Pennsylvania, and settled at Ply- mouth Meeting shortly after Penn founded his colony in 1683. He was the great-grandfather of Hannah .Dickinson, intermar- ried with Joseph Corson, and the mother of the large family of children described below. The mother of Joseph Corson was a Dungan, a lineal descendant of Rev. Thomas Dungan, a Bap- tist preacher, who came from Rhode Island, and settled at Cold Spring, near Bristol, Bucks county, in 1684. This minister was the founder of the first Baptist church in Pennsylvania. He had left England to escape the persecutions against his sect, but finding New England no better came to Pennsylvania to share the religious liberty of the Quakers. In the grave-yard of this church lie buried the remains of Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Revolutionary fame.
The zeal of the Corson family for liberty of conscience, there- fore, is derived from Huguenot, Baptist, and Quaker sources, certainly forming a strong pedigree in that direction.
We return to the descendants of Joseph and Hannah Cor- son .* The eldest, who is now approaching a centenarian, is Alan W., the subject of this notice. He was born in White- marsh township on the 21st of February, 1788. When a small boy he assisted his father on the farm, and afterwards, when he kept a store at Hickorytown, he was store-boy. This afforded him opportunities to observe men and things, and some leisure moments for reading, which he improved. Up to the age of twelve years he had the benefit of day schooling, as other boys. But he possessed such decided mathematical capacity that he was able to master those studies nearly unaided by teachers, relying upon printed assistance alone. By the time he was
*While perusing an old file of newspapers, printed between 1803 and 1812, we ob- serve the name often spelled "Coursen." "Whether it is a corruption by those who wrote or printed by the pronunciation, or a slight change of orthography adopted by the fam- ily, we do not know. In old records discovered at Staten Island, however, the name was spelled "Corsen," though the family in that locality now use the same orthography prevailing here.
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ALAN W. CORSON.
grown, therefore, he was capable of teaching all the common mathematical branches, as well as the other studies usual in high schools. He was thus early a self-taught scholar, and teacher also, a profession to which he devoted himself. For several years he taught a day school belonging to Friends at Plymouth Meeting, and afterwards, for many years, a boarding and day school in his own house, in Whitemarsh, his reputa- tion as a teacher being so high that he drew many students from Norristown and other places. About middle life, how- ever, he abandoned teaching as a profession, and having a large farm and nursery of trees and shrubs, he divided his time be- tween these and land surveying, an art in which he was regarded as the most accomplished in the county. His reputation in this department was so eminent that he was often called to distant places, and employed wherever there were difficult lines to run that required extra skill and accuracy to determine true boundaries. In this calling he was not relieved from service till infirmities and advanced age compelled him to decline. He was also for very many years, because of accuracy in accounts, excellence of judgment, and high character for integrity, em- ployed by neighbors and acquaintances to write wills, deeds, and draw agreements for them. He was frequently appointed executor by testators or chosen administrator of those dying intestate.
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