USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Lives of the eminent dead and biographical notices of prominent living citizens of Montgomery County, Pa. > Part 36
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In 1848, Mr. H., at the age of twenty-three, united with the Reformed Mennonites, of which his father, Rev. Abraham Hun sicker, was a Bishop and prominent leader. The son was very active with his father and others in organizing the present Trinity Church of Freeland about 1851, where he assisted in ministerial labors for some years afterwards. This church was the result of a schism which occurred in the Mennonite de- nomination growing out of the distrust of the latter body of a liberal training of the young and their opposition to secret so- cieties. In 1849, shortly after joining the church, Mr. Hun- sicker was married to Mary S. Weinberger, and there were born to them five children, Clement W., Joseph H., Abraham Lincoln, Flora G., and Howard Alvin. The first of the sons resides in Philadelphia. Abraham L. was accidentally shot, and died in 1872. The other children reside in Montgomery county. Mrs. Mary S. Hunsicker died May 7th, 1874, and on the 11th of May, 1876, Mr. Hunsicker married Annie C. Got- wals.
Mr. H. has been strongly anti-slavery and temperance in his moral and political views for a long time, acting first with the Free Soilers, and later with the Prohibitionists. In 1852 he supported Hale, Fremont in 1856, Lincoln in 1860 and 1864, and Grant in 1868. Since that time he has uniformly voted the Prohibition ticket. He never had any taste for politics, however, nor sought office, though he suffered his friends to
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run him for Congress in 1874, as previously for State Senate and the Constitutional convention.
Although he was chosen by his christian brethren a minis- tter and ordained as such, he never regarded himself a settled tor a stated clergyman, and never received any pecuniary com- pensation for such service.
After closing a round of duty for twenty years as an in- structor of youth, he spent nearly ten in mercantile pursuits, mainly in the lumber business in Philadelphia, from which he was obliged to retire by the commercial revulsion of 1873. Being of an active, industrious turn, his life has been a busy one. He made money in both of his leading pursuits, but be- ing of a kindly, generous and sympathetic nature, has ever "been willing to assist to the extent of his means in carrying forward schemes of public improvement or moral and religious reform. Accordingly his attainments in life are what he has accomplished for others rather than what he has secured for 'himself. During the life-time of his father he attended to his ·correspondence, being his constant amanuensis for several years 'before his death.
Mr. Hunsicker has been more recently employed in several "valuable agencies of a public nature, especially in assisting emi- grants from the East to secure good localities for settlement in Kansas and other Western States. He is in the prime of life, and doubtless has a future in prospect as real as his past.
JOHN W. LOCH, A. M., PH. D.
Sow seed for flowers eternal .- Apocrisis.
The career of the proprietor and Principal of Treemount 'Seminary, Norristown, is a remarkable instance of a young man by mere force of mental endowment, aspiring aims, and cor- rect moral deportment, passing upward to a first-class social and business position without the advantages that wealth or family influence give at starting, or in fact without any adventitious
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JOHN W. LOCH, A. M., PH. D.
aid whatever. In America every walk of life is open to the humblest, and nearly every man is really the artificer of his own fortune. That Mr. Loch has reached this position-be- ing the Principal and owner of one of the finest seminaries in the State or Union in less than twenty years of immediate labor -is certainly evidence of talent and high financial and business capacity.
The subject of our notice was born in Worcester township, Montgomery county, on the 12th of December, 1830, and has now just reached the meridian of life. He is the only son of George Loch, who married Hannah, daughter of Devault Wan- ner. Both his parents have been dead some years. His mo- ther was a member of the Presbyterian church, and brought up her son in his early years to "seek good and avoid evil." At an early day he exhibited an aptness at learning, for which he had the best facilities in the Norristown public schools, hav- ing been a resident of the town since his eighth year.
When, in 1844, Treemount Seminary was established by Rev. Samuel Aaron, Mr. Loch, then a well grown boy, was entered as a student, and, with a brief intermission of a few months as a store assistant, continued till he graduated. He therefore claims the institution over which he now presides as his Alma Mater.
Having graduated about 1849, when reaching his twentieth year, he took charge during the winter of 1850-51 of a public school in Lower Providence township for a period of seven months, and in September of the latter year of a similar school in Plymouth, where he remained only two months, being called to fill a vacancy as instructor in Treemount. From this time he continued as tutor or Vice Principal until 1858.
During this period, on the 5th of September, 1854, he was married to Hannah, daughter of Joseph and Mary McCrea, and niece of the late John McCrea, of Norristown. The child- ren of this union have been five daughters, Ella R., Ida F., Flora M., Linda, and Mary.
Continuing at Treemount several years, in company with Charles E. Aaron, Lewis H. Gause, Robert Hamer, Thomas Burnside, Morris Pantoleon, and other tutors, under the super-
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JOHN W. LOCH, A. M., PH. D.
vision of Samuel Aaron, Mr. Loch gained large experience and proficiency as a teacher in the preparation of great numbers of boys and young men for college or the business of life.
In September, 1858, Mr. L. having left Treemount, founded a select school for day pupils in the hall of the Humane fire engine building, on Airy street, limiting by advertisement the number to forty pupils. Mr. L.'s well made reputation as an industrious, kindly and successful instructor at Treemount brought him over the complement of pupils the first day. A year later he established the DeKalb Institute, a boarding and day school for young men and boys in the large building pre- viously used as a female seminary, and known as the Adel- phian and later as the Keswick Institute, on DeKalb street. After continuing here eighteen months, the school increased to eighty pupils. At this time the terrible revulsion of busi- ness in 1857-8-9 and consequent hard times, together with endorsements for friends by Rev. Mr. Aaron, had so involved Mr. A. and undermined the prosperity of Treemount that he re- solved to remove from Norristown, and his property passed into the hands of the late David Sower, one of the creditors. This afforded a choice opportunity for Mr. Loch, who was well known to pupils and parents, and he therefore closed DeKalb Institute in April, 1861, transferring his school to the classic shades of Treemount. He took the property on a lease of five years, with the privilege of purchase at a fixed price at the end of his term, which latter he was prepared to accept according to agreement.
As soon as the gloom and uncertainty of the war upon which we were then entering had measurably passed, Mr. L. brought up the school to its former scale of prosperity. In 1873 he greatly improved the buildings by pulling down a frame con- necting structure in the centre and erecting instead a solid one of brick, rough cast, seventy feet in length, five stories high, and surmounted with a cupola. The school buildings now consist of an ornamental centre and two wings, extending in the whole two hundred feet. The wings were erected by Mr. Aaron, one in 1844 and the other in 1854. The location of this seminary is one of the finest in Pennsylvania, being situ-
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JOHN W. LOCH, A. M., PH. D.
ated on an eminence overlooking the town and the Schuylkill, and is surrounded with shade and fruit trees. About twelve acres of land are attached to it. The grade of the seminary is only inferior in rank to our leading colleges, and the annual catalogue usually numbers over a hundred pupils from all parts of the Union, with foreign patronage from the Canadas, West Indies, and South America.
In 1868 the University of Pennsylvania conferred on Mr. Loch the honorary degree of Master of Arts, and Lafayette College in 1877 conferred that of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.). In 1866 Dr. L. became a member of the Central Presbyterian Church, and very soon thereafter was ordained a ruling elder in the same.
Dr. Loch's distinguishing characteristic is his rare gift of combined affability, gentleness and firmness, with an intuitive penetration or perception of character, joined to an invincible self-control, which eminently fit him to impress and manage young men while pursuing their studies. The marked feature of the course in his seminary is thoroughness, every effort be- ing directed to give the pupil a full training in solid and en- during instruction rather than that which is superficial and showy.
In his early scholastic days Dr. L. devoted himself largely to mathematics, but later has given more attention to belles- lettres. He is a fine public reader-a very rare accomplish- ment-and his literary tastes are in an eminent degree acute and refined.
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DAVID SOWER.
DAVID SOWER. THE SOWER FAMILY.
Yet a few days, and thee
The all-beholding sun shall see no more
In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground,
Where thy pale form was laid, with many tears;
Nor in the embrace of ocean shall exist Thy image .- Thanatopsis.
One of the most justly celebrated names of our State is Christopher Saur, of Germantown, whose whole career and that of his son Christopher is briefly narrated below. The one that heads this page, his great-grandson, who lived in our times, was nearly as celebrated. As he was born, lived, and died in our county, his name is placed above as the personal head of this whole sketch. But before entering upon the life of David Sower of our day, we insert at large the following brief memoir of the great ancestors of the family just men- tioned. It is taken principally from "Simpson's Lives of Emi- nent Philadelphians":
"Christopher Saur (Ist) ('Sower,' as he wrote it in English) was born in 1693, came to America from the town of Baasphe, in Wit- genstein, Germany, in the fall of 1724, and proceeded to German- town, now part of Philadelphia, where he remained until the fol- lowing spring. About the same time Alexander Mack, under whom a religious denomination, commonly known as 'Dunkers' or 'German Baptists,' had originated, emigrated with the main body of the church to Pennsylvania, and settled mainly in Germantown. Adopting to the full extent the peace principles of their Divine Master, the Dunkers not only declared against war and fighting, but were thorough non-resistants in every way-refusing even to prose- cute or to defend a suit in the courts, and submitting to any indig- nity without resistance. The winter of 1724-25 he (Saur) spent in obtaining a knowledge of the country, especially of the German settlements, and in fixing upon a residence and occupation. He was a man of superior education and ability, having a mind thor- oughly practical, ready and abounding in resources, as also of a de- cidedly inventive turn. During the spring following he removed to Lancaster county, where he devoted himself principally to farm- ing. He returned to Germantown in 1731, where he also occupied himself in agricultural pursuits partly and partly in the practice and dispensing of medicine, for which he was well qualified by his pre- vious liberal education. He kept up an extensive correspondence with his friends in Germany, in which he frequently dwelt upon the destitute condition of his fellow-countrymen in respect to books,
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DAVID SOWER.
and especially the Bible. Moved by these appeals numbers of Bi- bles were consigned to him to be sold at cost to those able to buy, or given to those too poor to obtain them otherwise.
"At length a printing press and some materials were obtained, and as an almanac in German seemed to be a most pressing need, he commenced the publication of one, the first of which was issued in August, 1738. It was of the usual quarto form still adopted in Penn- sylvania and other States, containing twenty-four pages, consisting of twelve of time and phases for the months, a calculation of eclipses for the coming year, a record of the provincial courts and fairs, chronology of important events, tables of high roads and distances, interest tables, and a variety of useful and interesting matter, chiefly of a physiological and hygienic character, in plain and simple lan- guage. A list of books received from Germany and their prices, and one or two advertisements, were included. The publication of the almanac was continued annually during his life, and by his son and successor (also named Christopher) until 1777, during which time it was enlarged and improved in various ways. It ob- tained a high character for its usefulness, and many thousands were circulated annually, reaching as far south as Georgia, and wherever there were German settlements in the colonies.
" Upon issuing the almanac he was immediately besieged from all quarters to commence a paper or periodical containing news and such other matter as he might think proper and useful. At first he resisted these applications upon conscientious grounds, but would publish instead an occasional sheet printed on one side only, and resembling a newspaper extra of the present day, containing import- ant intelligence and other matter. These he circulated gratuitously in the market places, churches, and other public resorts. At length, however, his views were somewhat modified, and yielding to the importunities of the people, he issued on the 20th of August, 1739, the first number of a religious and secular journal entitled 'Der Hoch-Deutsch Pennsylvanische Geschicht-Schreiber oder Sammlung wichtiger Nachrichten aus dem Natur und Kirchen-Reich,' a copy of which has reached our time. It contains a brief account of va- rious European wars then raging, followed by some serious remarks upon the subject viewed in a religious aspect. It also contains 'A Proclamation of the Royal Governor of Pennsylvania, by authority of the King of England,' and an original poetical effusion expos- ing the inconsistency of war with christianty, and so on. After a time the title of the paper was changed somewhat, but under both titles religion and morality are found to pervade every page.
"On the 16th of October, 1745, he issued proposals for the pub- lication of a religious quarterly in German, usual octavo size. The first number appeared in February, 1746.
"The circulation of the weekly reached eight to ten thousand of each number. It was sent to all parts of the British colonies, and wielded an unbounded influence over the German population. The strong religious tendency of its contents harmonized with the spirit
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DAVID SOWER.
of religious investigation occupying the minds of the German set- tlers at that time, most of whom had left the fatherland on account of their dissent from the established religion and the independence with which they promulgated their own views and practiced their religious rites.
"In the year 1743, after three years of toil, Christopher Sower projected and completed a magnificent quarto edition of the Bible in the German language, which in completeness and execution has never been excelled in this country. No copy of the Bible in the English language was printed in America until nearly forty years afterward. This first edition of Sower consisted of twelve hundred copies, and was printed from the thirty-fourth edition of the Con- stine Bible Society of Halle, which is still considered as the stand- ard by which all others are corrected. Besides the text of the ' Halle Bible,' which includes the Apocrypha as usually printed, it contained the third and fourth books of Ezra and the third book of Maccabees, which were inserted in the Halle edition of 1708, but subsequently omitted. He also inserted the seventh chapter of the fourth book of Ezra, which it is believed appears in no other edition. Short summaries preceded each chapter, numerous refer- ences to parallel passages were inserted in the text, and the work was commenced with a preface of one page and concluded by an addenda of four pages, all of solid matter and written by himself. The latter contained an account of the various translations which had been made at different times and by different authors. The whole work covered twelve hundred and eighty-four pages, and the title-pages were printed in two colors, red and black. The price was eighteen shillings (about two and a half dollars), bound substan- tially in strong leather, flexible backs, with bevelled boards and clasps.
"It would be impossible within the limits of this sketch to give an idea of the difficulties encountered by Christopher Sower in the prosecution of this great undertaking. Besides those necessarily at- tending the mechanical execution of the work, selfish and sectarian motives were freely ascribed to him. And so far was this hostility carried that clergymen were found who denounced it from their pulpits even before it was completed, thus forestalling impartial judgment, and at the same time warning their congregations to have nothing to do with it, as it would be a false translation, made to suit the peculiar theological views of the publisher. To these un- just attacks he made no present defence, but simply offered to those who had subscribed and afterwards became dissatisfied the privilege of withdrawing their subscriptions and receiving back the money they had paid for them. After the work was completed, however, he triumphantly referred to it as a sufficient reply to all the calum- nies which had been heaped upon him, adding the simple but severe rebuke that 'instead of his Bible being false, it proved them to be falsifiers.' To this day his edition is so highly prized by the de- scendants of the original purchasers that those who own a copy can scarcely be induced to part with it.
39I
DAVID SOWER.
"In carrying on such extensive printing operations he found him- self obliged to make arrangements to manufacture his own paper and ink and to bind his own books. Accordingly he was soon ex- tensively engaged in all these avocations, as the number of his pub- lications rapidly increased after the completion of the Bible. But his greatest perplexity, perhaps, arose from the want of type. To overcome this he established a type foundry, having the matrices made under his own superintendence, and teaching his workmen how to cast and finish type. He made not only the type necessary for his own use, but supplied others in the business. This was the first type foundry in America, and the extensive establishment of L. Johnson & Co., of Philadelphia (the largest in the country, and, it is said, in the world), has gradually grown out of it. This alone would entitle Christopher Sower to an honorable position among the founders of our varied industry and the benefactors of the na- tion. His mind was continually active in devising improvements, and the neighborhood in which he lived is full of traditions of the ingenuity and practical utility of many of his inventions.
" He was a man of commanding appearance, wearing a long, flowing beard, and with a countenance expressive at once of intel- lect and meekness. In September, 1758, he died, aged sixty-five years, leaving an only child, a son also named Christopher, born in April, 1721, who succeeded in his extensive business, and also enlarged it to an extent which for that period would seem almost incredible. In 1763 this son completed a second edition, consist- ing of two thousand copies of the Bible, and in 1776 a third of three thousand copies. As all these editions were published before the invention of stereotyping, the type had to be reset for each succeed- ing edition. Besides the Bible, newspapers, and almanacs, the younger Christopher published about two hundred other works in either the English or German language, most of them large books. Several of them passed through from five to seven editions. He employed two or more mills in manufacturing paper, cast his own type, made his own printers' ink, engraved his own wood-cuts, and bound his own publications. He also did an extensive business in putting up and supplying medicines, having a store-room devoted to this business entirely.
"Like his father, he was a man of strong mind, an independent thinker, and a ready and fluent speaker and writer. Many of the works he published were translated by himself, and it is believed he edited his papers and periodicals unassisted. At an early age he joined the society of German Baptists, generally known as Dunkers (in English, ' Dippers'), and became a minister and bishop among them. In this calling and connection he was beloved by all who knew him, which included a large proportion of the German popu- lation throughout the colonies. He died August 26th, 1784, aged sixty-three years and four months, leaving a large family of child- ren, many of whose descendants continue to devote themselves to the useful occupation of their ancestor. His remains were interred in Methatchen burying ground, near Fairview and Norristown. Of
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DAVID SOWER.
his children, Christopher (3d), Daniel, David, Samuel, Catharine, and Esther, left descendants. David, Sr., and his son, David, Jr., are the subjects of the memorial to which this is an introduction."
We now take up the line of descent from Christopher Sower, the first and second generations, to the subject-proper of this biography.
David Sower, Sr., was the seventh of eight children of Chris -- topher Sower (2d), of Germantown, who were born as follows: Christiana in 1752, Christopher (3d) in 1754, Daniel in 1755, Peter in 1759, Catharine in 1761, Esther in 1762, David in 1764, and Samuel in 1767. David was born in Germantown,. where he resided with his parents until 1777, receiving the. elements of a good English education. He was also familiar with the German language, and as through life he continued. to be a diligent student, he became a man of considerable at -- tainments in general knowledge and literature, being especially: well informed in the German theology of that period. While still quite young he was sent to reside with his uncle Sharp- nack, brother of his mother, with whom he learned the busi- ness of making saddle-trees. The earlier years of his child- hood had been spent in the type foundry, printing office, and book bindery of his father, which had made him familiar with the details of both printing and binding, and he was an expert and practical workman at either of those trades during his act- ive life. He continued to follow the business of saddle-tree making several years after attaining his majority, having an establishment in what is now Montgomery county.
He was married in the year 1786, and three or four years thereafter sold out his business, removing to Race street above Second, Philadelphia, where he established himself in the busi- ness of a wholesale and retail grocer. In this he was quite successful until the yellow fever of 1793 broke out. He then sent his family into the country, but soon after contracted the disease himself, and was obliged to follow them. After a severe struggle for life he recovered, and upon returning to Philadel- phia found his business greatly involved, soon meeting with many heavy losses. He finally sold out his stock, paid all his debts and liabilities, including many notes on which his name appeared as endorser, and closed up the business. In 1794,.
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DAVID SOWER.
in partnership with William Jones, he commenced a book and stationery store with a bindery attached, at No. 66 North Third street, west side, above Arch, where he continued in business with moderate success until 1798 or 1799.
In the spring of 1799 he removed to Norristown, where, on the Ist of June, he commenced the publication of the paper now called the Norristown Herald. It was called the Norris- town Gazette during the first year of its publication, the name being afterwards changed to the present title. The files of the Gazette are still in existence, and as 1799 was the year in which Washington died and other important events occurred, his pa- per is full of interesting accounts of the funeral ceremonies in various parts of the country, with much other matter that even now, if space permitted, would be worth inserting entire. We copy a few of them. In the issue of December 20th, 1799, ap- pears the announcement of the death of Washington in the following simple and affecting paragraph :
"We have the painful task of announcing to our readers that the Father, the Deliverer of our country, GEORGE WASHINGTON, is no more. Panegyric and eulogy cease here to be eloquent-the inex- pressible sensations of the heart of a true American can alone do the melancholy event justice. The mournful scene took place on the 14th instant, at eleven o'clock in the evening. It was occa- sioned by an inflammatory affection of the throat, which did not last twenty-four hours."
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