USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, a history, Volume II > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
J. Frank Boyer, son of Michael and Mary (Ziegler) Boyer, was born
Lewis Historical Pul Co
Frank Jayson
49
BIOGRAPHICAL
in Norristown, Pennsylvania, March 2, 1867. He attended the public schools of his native place until he was sixteen years of age, when he terminated his studies in order to engage in active business. Immedi- ately upon leaving school he secured a position with Frank W. Wilson, to learn the tin, stove and hardware business. On July II, 1885, with a capital of one hundred and fifty dollars, he started in business on his own account on Main street, opposite Mill street, where he remained until 1889, when he moved to Main and Green streets. Here Mr. Boyer continued to do business on an ever-increasing scale, until finally the enterprise had outgrown its accommodations and it became necessary to seek larger quarters. It was at this time that he built a three-story building at No. 118 East Main street. This structure was two hundred and forty feet long and twenty-two feet wide, and it is here that he intro- duced the idea of a showroom for displaying goods. It is interesting to note in the way of history that his was the first showroom in this part of the country, and was a room one hundred feet long, displaying in large part all the new and modern plumbing appliances. In 1902 the business was incorporated under the name of the J. Frank Boyer Plumb- ing and Heating Company, with the following personnel: J. Frank Boyer, president ; Joseph A. Curran, treasurer; and Elmer E. Beideman, secretary. In 1907 Mr. Boyer acquired the property of James Boyd, at Nos. 31 and 33 East Main street, and here erected what is known as Boyer's Arcade. This building is two hundred forty feet long, forty feet wide, and three stories high, having two stores fronting on Main street, and comprising sixty-six offices. The company has its office and show- room here, with its workshop and warehouse in the rear, facing Penn street, and carries the largest retail stock of its kind in the country. This building, or rather this arcade, had proven such a success that in 1922 Messrs. Boyer and Curran purchased the property at Nos. 51-61 East Main street, remodelling the old building and putting on an addition, giving a one hundred foot frontage with a depth of one hundred and fifty feet and a height of three stories. There are five stores facing Main street, with separate entrances to the arcade, and the structure contains thirty-seven offices and two large halls, all known as the Curran Arcade. Both arcades represented the last word in architecture and materials at the time of building and are a great asset to the borough.
Mr. Boyer's chief interest is real estate, and he has handled more large real estate deals than any other man in Montgomery county. Among many other deals, the purchase and selling of the Rambo and Mont- gomery hotels of Norristown was accomplished by him, and other enter- prises, of which Mr. Boyer was president, and in which he has been an indefatigable worker, are the Hamilton Terrace Company, the Norris- town Brick Company, the Hamilton Apartment Company, and Curran Terrace. The Hamilton Terrace Company was formed to develop the tract known as Hamilton Terrace, on which it laid out streets, graded them at an enormous expense, and erected more than two hundred and fifty homes. It comprises twenty-three acres, and is the show place
Mont-4
50
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
of the west side of Norristown. The Norristown Brick Company, suc- cessor to the Morgan Brick Company, produces a fine product, the enter- prise being the first really successful brickmaking establishment in Nor- ristown. The Hamilton Apartment Company, which was another instance of Mr. Boyer's ability for organization, planned, erected and filled the building with families who are among the best in Norristown, the arrangements to secure the occupants devolving almost entirely on Mr. Boyer. The Curran Terrace is the outgrowth of the purchase of the Curran farm in 1916, consisting of sixty-six acres, which is laid out with private boulevards and hedge fences, and has building restrictions. Two- thirds of it is situated in the borough of Norristown, the rest in Plymouth township. This tract of land has also been developed to a large extent, and already there have been eighteen houses built upon it, the section being known as the show place of the east side of Norristown. The tract is large enough for one hundred houses.
Mr. Boyer is an Independent in politics, preferring to vote for the man regardless of party choice. He served a term as councilman at the age of twenty-two years, being the youngest member ever elected to that body, and his action even at that early date on matters before the council was dictated solely by a desire to promote the public welfare, and not for mere partisan reasons. He is a director of the Norristown Trust Company, and for twenty years served as a director of the People's National Bank, resigning that position in 1918. It was through Mr. Boyer's efforts that the new bank building was built. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 714, of Norristown; is contributing member of the Hancock Fire Company of the West End; is the originator of the Norristown Club, having done the missionary work towards its organization, and in 1922 held the office of second vice-president of that body ; and holds membership in the Plym- outh Country Club, and the Norristown Driving Club. He has traveled extensively from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, being well informed as to the business conditions throughout the country, which in no small way has helped him to reach a successful goal in his various undertakings.
J. Frank Boyer married, on November 14, 1888, Annie G. Curran, daughter of Patrick and Rose (Sheridan) Curran, the former a well known and prominent citizen of Norristown. Mr. and Mrs. Boyer reside at No. 720 DeKalb street, in what is known as the Franklin Apartments. This building is another of Mr. Boyer's real estate enterprises, for after purchasing this property he remodelled the structure into eight spacious apartments, retaining one for his own use .. Both Mr. and Mrs. Boyer are great lovers of horses, and for the past twenty-five years they have owned and bred fast trotting horses. The beautiful Boyer stable on Curran Terrace at present houses five horses, and these he enters in meets throughout the States of Ohio, Pennsylvania and the East, as well as at local fairs.
SAMUEL OSBORNE HOBART-One of the business men of Mont- gomery county, Pennsylvania, who has made for himself an enviable
51
BIOGRAPHICAL
record as a successful administrator and executive, is Samuel Osborne Hobart, manager of the Eastern Steel Company's plant at Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Mr. Hobart is a member of the board of directors and manager of the Eastern Coal and Coke Company, a subsidiary of the Eastern Steel Company. In these days of labor disturbances and difficult adjustment of conflicting interests, it is a distinction, both honorable and rare, to be at the head of a concern which has never had a "strike," has never been petitioned for increase of wages, and which holds its employees through long terms of years. In this plant, increases are given before they are asked for, and a committee composed of the heads of the various departments assists in the adjustment of all matters in which the mutual interests of employes and employers are concerned. The plant is one of the oldest in the East, and there are few in the country at the present time which equal it either in amount of production or equipment.
(I) Mr. Hobart is a descendant of several old Colonial lines, includ- ing those of the Potts and Rutter families, as well as the old New Eng- land Hobart family. On the paternal side he traces descent from Edmund Hobart, who came to this country from the village of Hingham, County of Norfolk, England, in 1663, as a result of having adopted the "heretical" views of the hated "dissenters." He settled in Hingham, Massachusetts, of which town he was one of the founders, and there he became one of the most prominent citizens. He held important offices, and for a suc- cession of years was chosen to represent his district in the State Legis- lature. His children were: Edmund; Peter ; Thomas; Joshua, of further mention ; Rebecca ; and Sarah.
(II) Joshua Hobart, youngest son of Edmund Hobart, was prominent and influential in civil and military affairs. He was speaker of the House of Deputies of Massachusetts in 1674. He married and reared a family of children, among whom was John, of further mention.
(III) John Hobart, son of Joshua Hobart, was extensively engaged in the West Indian trade. He removed to Pennsylvania, and settled in Kensington, which is now a part of Philadelphia. He married the daugh- ter of a Swedish family, and among their children was Captain Enoch Hobart, of further mention.
(IV) Captain Enoch Hobart, son of John Hobart, was also engaged in the West Indian trade, and was commander of a merchant ship. He married Hannah Pratt, and they were the parents of three sons and six daughters. One of the sons was John Henry Hobart, the distinguished bishop who became the champion of the Episcopal faith in America ; and another was Robert Enoch, of further mention.
(V) Robert Enoch Hobart, son of Captain Enoch and Hannah (Pratt) Hobart, was born April 25, 1768, and for many years resided in Philadelphia. Subsequently, he removed to Pottstown. He married Sarah Mary Potts, daughter of Samuel Potts, and they were the parents of children : Nathaniel P .; Robert E .; John Henry, of further mention ; Anna P .; Sarah P .; Rebecca; Mary; and Elizabeth.
52
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
(VI) John Henry Hobart, son of Robert Enoch and Sarah Mary (Potts) Hobart, was born in Philadelphia, March 15, 1810. When a child he removed to Pottstown with his parents, and there, in the village school, he received his early school training. Later, in Reading, Penn- sylvania, he continued his studies under the direction of Rev. John Grier, and then entered a military school near Germantown. Two years later he was enrolled among the cadets at West Point, in which institution he remained until he was twenty-one years of age. He then resigned and removed to Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he began the study of law in the office of Daniel H. Mulvany. Two years later, at the May term of 1836, he was admitted to the bar and immediately after passing his examinations he engaged in practice in Norristown. There he remained for a period of twenty years, from 1836 to 1856, at the end of which time Pottstown became his place of residence and of professional practice. In 1877 he retired from the active duties of his profession and returned to Norristown, where he continued to reside to the time of his death.
Politically Mr. Hobart gave his support to the Democratic party, and his first vote was cast for Andrew Jackson. In 1847 he was appointed deputy attorney-general of the county of Montgomery, and in 1853 he was elected district attorney. Throughout the long period of his pro- fessional career, his abilities found an attractive field of labor in the Orphans' Court. He took an active part in local public affairs, and in Norristown served as burgess, member of the Town Council, and member of the school board. He was a member of Strickler Lodge, No. 254, Free and Accepted Masons, of Pottstown, in which he attained the rank of past master ; and his religious affiliation was with Christ Protestant Episcopal Church of Pottstown. He married, in 1837, Mary J. Mintzer, and they were the parents of six children: Robert Enoch, deceased ; William Mintzer, of further mention; David Potts; John Henry, deceased ; and two who died in infancy.
(VII) William Mintzer Hobart, son of John Henry and Mary J. (Mintzer) Hobart, was born in February, 1841. He was in active service throughout the period of the Civil War, and was captain and aide to Major General Hancock. He is now (1923) living at Norristown, Penn- sylvania, and is eighty-two years of age. He married Mary Elizabeth Wills Rutter, daughter of Charles and Mary (Ives) Rutter, and grand- daughter of David Rutter, of Berks county, Pennsylvania, both of whom were descendants of the Potts family. William Mintzer and Mary Elizabeth Wills (Rutter) Hobart were the parents of children: Anna Potts, married Joseph Hartshorne ; Mary Ives, deceased ; Elizabeth Rut- ter, who married John L. W. Mifflin; and Samuel Osborne, of further mention.
(VIII) Samuel Osborne Hobart, son of William Mintzer and Mary Elizabeth Wills (Rutter) Hobart, was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, July 3, 1879, and received his early education in the public schools of his native city. After graduating from the Pottstown High School, he became a student in the Pottstown Business College, and then received
53
BIOGRAPHICAL
a technical education in Drexel Institute. Upon the completion of his technical course, he secured his first employment with the Baldwin Loco- motive Works in Philadelphia, which connection he maintained for a period of two years. At the end of that time he became identified with the mechanical department of the Pottstown Iron Works, where he remained for two years more, and then began his long connection with the Eastern Steel Company, lasting to the present time. During the twenty- two years of his association with that firm he has served in every depart- ment and worked on every job in the plant and doubtless that fact is the key to the condition of well-nigh perfect cooperation between man- agement and employees which exists throughout the plant at the present time. Mr. Hobart is not only a member of the board of directors of the Eastern Coal and Coke Company, but for the past ten years or more he has been the wonderfully efficient and "understanding" manager of that concern. The plant was originally the Warwick Furnaces, and was first operated under the management of Major Jones. For many years it was only moderately successful, but in 1900, the plant was reorganized by Edgar S. Cox, who was then superintendent. At that time, though the concern is one of the oldest in the country, the capacity of the plant was only one hundred-fifty tons. Its capacity is now (1923) one thousand tons, and in production as well as in equipment it has only a few equals in the country. In 1912 the plant was taken over by the Eastern Steel Company, under a lease, and at that time Mr. Hobart was made manager. The history of the plant is not only the history of the iron and steel industry, and the story of the development of the industry, but of certain important phases of the labor question as well. There has never been a strike in the plant of the Eastern Steel Company, never even a peti- tion for increase of wages, and the explanation is simple. The manage- ment has kept closely in touch with the work and with the workers, and the needs as well as the "just earnings" have usually been anticipated. Increases in pay have been given without waiting for requests, petitions, and strikes ; men are encouraged and assisted in buying homes; and in the general management of affairs which concern both employers and employees, the men have a voice through a committee composed of the heads of the various departments. Mr. Hobart's thorough knowledge of the work of all the departments of the plant and his experience as a workman in each are important factors in securing and maintaining the splendid cooperation which prevails throughout the concern. The fact that nearly all employees remain for a long time reduces the losses of labor "turn over" to a minimum and raises the efficiency of the human element in the plant to a maximum. The happiness and content which is the result of a square deal also increases the productive power of the men, and Mr. Hobart has long ago demonstrated the fact that the golden rule "works" in the iron and steel industry.
In addition to his activities and responsibilities as manager and a member of the board of directors of the Eastern Coal and Coke Company, Mr. Hobart is a member of the Iron and Steel Association ; of the Ameri-
54
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
can Mining Engineers, and of several clubs. He is a lover of out-of-door life, and owns a farm in Chester county, which receives much of his attention. As a member of the advisory board of Hobart College, which was founded at Geneva, New York, by Bishop Hobart, Mr. Hobart renders valuable service, and he is now an active member of the com- mittee engaged in raising one million dollars as an endowment and building fund for that institution of learning.
On May 4, 1909, Samuel O. Hobart married Sarah Ritter Fitzgerald, daughter of Harrington Fitzgerald, a publisher of Philadelphia, and granddaughter of Colonel Fitzgerald, the original owner and editor of the "Item," and a close friend of Matthew Stanley Quay. Ritter Fitz- gerald, paternal uncle of Mrs. Hobart, was an officer in the Civil War, and was prominent in public life. He was attached to several European embassies, and was United States Ambassador to Russia. Mr. and Mrs. Hobart are the parents of five children : Samuel O. (2), Mary Elizabeth, Sarah Ritter, Anne Stockton, and John Henry.
BARTON KATHCART THOMAS, M. D .- Among the successful members of the medical profession in Montgomery county is Dr. Barton Kathcart Thomas, who, after serving for a year as instructor in Jefferson Medical College, in Philadelphia, began practice in Pottstown. Inter- rupted by the World War, he returned to Pottstown after his discharge from the navy, and from 1920 to the present time has been successfully engaged in general medical and surgical practice.
Born in Pine, Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1887, son of Levi Griffith, superintendent of the Pine Iron Works and later of the Potts- town Iron Works, and Anna (Wells) Thomas, Dr. Thomas received his early education in the public schools of Pottstown, graduating from the Pottstown High School in 1908, and preparing for his medical course by a year of post-graduate work in the same high school. He then entered Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1913. After serving an interneship in the institution hos- pital from which he had just graduated, he was appointed instructor of laboratory clinical medicine there, which position he held for one year. At the end of that time, having considerably widened his knowledge and gained valuable experience, he began practice in Pottstown. With the advent of war and the participation of the United States in the world struggle, however, came an interruption of his professional career in Pottstown. Young, strong, and just having completed a careful and extended preparation for the medical and surgical profession, he was one of the first to respond to his country's need, and enrolling in the navy in May, 1917, he served throughout the remainder of the period of the war. He was enrolled as junior lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve, was made a senior lieutenant in 1918, and assigned to duty at Gray's Ferry Road, later being transferred to the Naval Medical College, at Washington, D. C., and to Rockefeller Institute, New York City. He was then sent on a tour of inspection to Norfolk, Virginia, and still later
PB. Dr. house, M. D.
Charles D. OCHboy
55
BIOGRAPHICAL
was made chief of the laboratory and consultant on surgical and medical service at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital, in Brooklyn, New York. In 1920 he resumed practice in Pottstown, and since that time has been successfully engaged in medical and surgical practice there. Already he is known and trusted as a careful, skillful, and faithful physician and surgeon, and he is building up a steadily increasing clientele.
Politically Dr. Thomas gives his allegiance to the principles and can- didates of the Republican party, but his professional responsibilities do not permit active participation in the affairs of his party. He keeps in touch with his college associations through membership in the Nu Sigma Nu medical fraternity, and professionally enlarges his outlook and keeps abreast of the medical and surgical developments of the time through affiliation with the Philadelphia County Medical Society, the American Congress of Internal Medicine, of which he is a fellow; and with the Keen Surgical Society. His one recreational association is with the Brookside Country Club, and his religious affiliation is with the First Presbyterian Church of Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
On May 10, 1917, Dr. Thomas married, at Rahn's Hill, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, Florence H. Nichols, daughter of Harry Garnell and Ella (Houghtaling) Nichols, and they are the parents of two children: T. Edmund W., born November 6, 1918; and Helen N., born August II, 1920.
CHARLES D. MCAVOY-Among the leading attorneys of Norris- town, Pennsylvania, is Charles D. McAvoy, who since 1902 has been successfully established in the legal profession in this community. Besides his office here he has one in Philadelphia, which latter he estab- lished in 1921, his clientele being extensive in both places. He is the son of Dennis and Mary Nolan McAvoy, both deceased.
Mr. McAvoy was born in Danboro, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1878. His early education was obtained in the Whitpain public schools, after graduating from which he matriculated at Villa Nova College, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1898. He then entered the law office of Louis M. Childs, Esq., of Norristown, and three years later, on June 2, 1902, was admitted to the Pennsylvania State bar to practice law, subsequently establishing himself in the practice of his chosen profession at No. 3 East Airy street. Here he remained for two years, removing thence to No. 415 Swede street, where he stayed until February, 1920, when he opened his present office in the McAvoy building, at No. 13 East Airy street.
During the World War he was appointed United States district attor- ney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by President Wilson and resigned August 1, 1921. It was while he was acting as Federal attorney that he prosecuted and convicted the Bergdolls, which case won for him country-wide recognition. He was first assistant district attorney of Montgomery from 1907 to 1911. In politics Mr. McAvoy has always been a Democrat, ever taking an active part in the affairs of the organ-
56
HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
ization. In 1904 he was an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis, Missouri ; was Democratic National delegate to the National convention at Denver, Colorado, in 1908; and delegate-at- large from Pennsylvania to the Democratic National Convention at St. Louis in 1916.
Mr. McAvoy is a director in Montgomery Trust Company of Norris- town, the Norristown Club, and member of the board of governors of the Plymouth Country Club. He holds membership in many of the legal organizations ; the Whitemarsh Country Club ; Seaview Golf Club of Atlantic City; and the Manufacturers' Club of Philadelphia. In religion Mr. McAvoy is a Roman Catholic and attends St. Patrick's Church of that denomination in Norristown.
On November 16, 1907, Charles D. McAvoy was united in marriage with Mrs. Alice M. Kane, nee McDermott. To them have been born four children : Charles D., Jr., August 8, 1908; Mary Katherine, born Sep- tember 23, 1909; John Daniel, born January 12, 1913; Alice, born April 10, 1915, deceased. The family home is at No. 522 West Main street, Norristown, and is among the finest homes in the town.
Mr. McAvoy is a devotee of all out-of-door sports, especially golf, fishing, baseball and football, he having played the last two named at college. As he has grown in years and wisdom, so too, has he grown in public esteem, for his public spirit and interest in all that concerns the community good, as well as the high quality of his professional attain- ment, have won for him the commendation of a very wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
HENRY J. KOGELSCHATZ-Among the funeral directors none is better known than Mr. Kogelschatz, who has been engaged in this work since 1886 in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where he now resides. He is a son of Adolph F. and Anna (Grimm) Kogelschatz, the father an under- taker at Baltimore, Maryland, and Martinsburg, West Virginia, who worked his passage from Germany to this country and served in the recruiting office at Baltimore, Maryland, during the Civil War.
Henry J. Kogelschatz was born at Baltimore, Maryland, July 31, 1863, and received his education in the public schools of Martinsburg, West Virginia, and at the Roanoke Seminary for three years. When he had completed his schooling, he became associated with his father in the undertaking business until 1886, when he moved to Norristown to work with D. W. Mowday in his establishment. On the Ist of April, 1900 he began on a modest scale to manage his own concern and after changing his location from time to time, finally built where he is now located at 718-720 Swede street, in 1909. His is the only funeral establishment in this locality having a chapel as part of the equipment, and in addition he owns three hearses and two other cars.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.