USA > Pennsylvania > Schuylkill County > Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania; genealogy-family history-biography; containing historical sketches of old families and of representative and prominent citizens, past and present, Volume I > Part 28
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The family name of Filbert is one of the oldest in the Teutonic language, being derived from "fiel brecht," which means very bright or illustrious. This appellation was borne by many of the old Teutonic chieftains, whose descend- ants carried it into all the countries of western Europe in their early con- quests. Formerly the name was spelled "Philbert" and "Philibert." and in England it exists in both the forms "Philbert" and "Filbert," while in France and Italy it has survived as "Philibert."
St. Philibert, who founded the Abbey of Jumieges, on the north bank of the Seine, and died in 683, had been an Abbot at the Merovingian court. He was so greatly beloved by the peasantry that at his death they took his day, Aug. 22d, to gather the hazel nut which ripened in that locality about that time. and called it St. Filbert's nut. The admiral of the French fleet that made the demonstration against Morocco several years ago belonged to the French branch of the family. Philibert, Prince of Orange, was one of the generals of Charles V., and fell in the Italian campaign of 1529; several counts of the name ruled over Savoy in the twelfth century, and the descendants of Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy became kings of Sardinia, and later kings of Italy.
The American branch of the family traces its ancestry to the great-great- grandfather of Mr. Filbert, (I) John Samuel Filbert, who was born in Wur- temberg, Germany, Jan. 8, 1710, and who with his wife Susanna came to the New World on the ship "Samuel," Hugh Percy, master, sailing from Rotter- dam, and took the oath of allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain and the Vol. I-12
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Province of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia Aug. 30, 1737. He spelled the name "Filbert," but Rev. John Caspar Stover, who kept the baptismal records of the family, spelled it "Philbert." The children of John Samuel Filbert were : John Thomas, 1737-1784, married to Catherine Batteiger ; Maria Catrina, born 1739, married to John Heinrich Ache; Anna Elizabeth, born 1741, married to John Henry Webber, a captain in the Revolutionary war; John Phillip ( 1743- 1817) ; John Peter, born 1746, who was a delegate from the Ist battalion of Berks county militia to the convention held in Lancaster July 4, 1776, to elect three brigadier generals for the Pennsylvania and Delaware militia, and who was elected sheriff of Berks county in 1785; and Maria Christina, born 1749, married to Jost Ruth. As the father and three sons had the first name "John" in common they dropped it in active life, and the only places it can be found are on their baptismal records and tombstone.
Samuel Filbert and his wife Susanna settled immediately on coming to this country in Bern township, Lancaster (now Berks) county, at the present site of Bernville. Samuel Filbert and Godfried Fidler each gave an acre of ground to the North Kill Lutheran Church at Bernville, and a log church was built in 1743 on the part donated by Samuel Filbert. Tradition says that he paid half of the cost of the building, which was used as a church on the Sabbath and as a school on weekdays. In 1791 the log church was replaced by a brick building, at which time his son Phillip acted as president of the building com- mittee. In 1897 the present handsome brownstone edifice was erected on the same ground. Back of the chancel in the new building is a beautiful stained glass window dedicated to "Samuel Filbert, Founder, 1743." He died Sept. 25, 1786, and is buried in the center of the old churchyard.
(II) John Phillip Filbert, son of Samuel and Susanna, was born Dec. 7, 1743. He was commissioned as a captain of the 8th Company of the 6th Battalion of Berks county militia June 14, 1777, and was recommissioned in 1780, 1783 and 1786, so that he served as an officer of the Pennsylvania militia during the whole period of the Revolution. Capt. Phillip Filbert's battalion was mustered into the Continental service on Dec. 13, 1777, for sixty days, and was engaged under General Washington in the Schuylkill valley, between Valley Forge and Germantown. He was married to Anna Maria Meyers and had three children : Samuel, mentioned below; John, married to Anna Maria Leiss ; and Catherine, married to William Machimer, He died Aug. 20, 1817, and is buried at Bernville.
(III) Samuel Filbert (about 1770-1795), eldest son of Phillip and Anna Maria, married Sibylla, daughter of Francis Umbenhaur, a captain in the Revolutionary war. He left two sons: Joseph, who died in 1804, and Peter. (IV) Peter Filbert, son of Samuel and Sibylla, was born at Bernville, Berks county, in 1794. His father died when he was about six months old, leaving his two sons to the guardianship of their grandfathers Phillip Filbert and Francis Umbenhaur. In 1814 he enlisted with the troops called out for the defense of Baltimore against the British army, and marched under Cap- tain Smith to Springfield camp, near that city, and after the retreat of the British was honorably discharged from the service. In 1818 he married Eliz- abeth, daughter of John Stoudt, and the next year removed to Pine Grove, Schuylkill county, to take charge of the Pine Grove Forge. Peter and Eliz- abeth Filbert had the following children: Samuel P., married to Lavina Lamm; Edward T., married to Mary Clayton ; Peter A. ; Leah, married to Dr. John Kitzmiller; Rebecca, married to F. W. Conrad, D. D .; Sarah, married
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to Richard Musser; John Q. A., who married Mary Beltzhoover; and Wil- liam H., the youngest, who also served as a private from the State of Penn- sylvania under the first call, in the 10th Regiment, and later in the 96th Regi- ment, three-year troops.
Peter A. Filbert, son of Peter and Elizabeth (Stoudt) Filbert, was born Nov. 20, 1833, at Pine Grove, and there received his early education in the ยท public schools. Later he took a course in a commercial college at Baltimore, Md., returning to Pine Grove, where he was engaged in merchandising and milling throughout his business career. In 1868 he became engaged in the milling business as a member of the firm of Filbert & Bro., and in 1869 be- came interested in merchandising. For some time he was a member of the firm of Miller, Filbert & Co., and after the death of D. J. Kitzner, of that company, was associated with Mr. Miller, operating a general store until his retirement from active business. He retired in the year 1896 from active pursuits, with a record remarkable for success attained by the exercise of his ability and sound judgment. During the Civil war Mr. Filbert volunteered for the Union service under the first call, and was elected lieutenant of Com- pany D, Ioth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, serving under Colonel Meredith. He was mustered out in July. Reenlisting in August, he was mustered into the service Sept. 2d as senior captain of the 96th Pennsylvania Regiment, commanding as lieutenant colonel after the seven days' fight at Harrison's Landing, on the James river, in Virginia, and he was in command of the regiment during the advance on Fredericksburg. Upon the last call he again enlisted for the third time, and was mustered in as major under Col. James Nagle, was in command during his term, and was discharged with that rank. He is a Mason in fraternal connection.
Mr. Filbert married Theodocia Reitzel, daughter of Jacob Reitzel, of Clear Spring, Washington Co., Md., and they have two daughters, Corinne and Augusta.
PETER ORWIG, son of George Gottfried and Glora Orwig, was born at Sculp's Hill, a short distance south of the site of Orwigsburg, where his par- ents settled in 1747. Peter married in 1773, but there is no record of the maiden name of his wife, Hannah. Two children were born to them: Maria Rebecca, April 17, 1774, and Johann Heinrich, Dec. 27, 1775.
Mr. Orwig served as justice of the peace for a number of years. In 1786 he owned 504 acres of land in the immediate vicinity of the present site of the borough of Orwigsburg. On Sept. 20, 1778, he purchased from the Webb estate the present site of McKeansburg. On Feb. 20, 1795, Mr. Orwig re- ceived a patent deed for the site of Orwigsburg from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, for 309 acres, 26 perches, with allowances of six per cent for roads. The deeds of the first lots purchased in Orwigsburg are dated April 7, 1795. Seven deeds bearing that date are recorded, from Peter Orwig, of Brunswick Township, in the county of Berks, in the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania, Esq., and Hannah his wife.
REV. GEORGE MINNIG was one of the pioneer Lutheran ministers of Schuylkill. His name appears frequently also as Mennig and Muench, the last being probably the original German form of the name. He succeeded Rev. John Knoske, in 1811, coming here when the county was organized, and continued in his labors down to a time within the memory of persons now liv-
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ing. Rev. George Minnig was born in August, 1773. He studied under the Rev. Dr. Lochman, at Lebanon, and was licensed in 1811, and ordained in 1816. He resided near Friedensburg, and preached in all the Lutheran Churches in the lower end of the county, except Frieden's and West Penn. He organized Clouser's Church near Llewellyn. Later it appears he moved to Orwigsburg, and, it is said, was at the time the only Lutheran minister in the county. It seems he also preached, at least occasionally, south of the Blue mountains, as there are two different paths across the mountains, each known as "Minnich's Path," from the circumstance of his crossing there frequently on foot or on horseback. He labored in this field about twenty years. In 1833 he moved to Bernville. Berks county, where he served a number of congregations. He died of apoplexy, at Bernville, April 7, 1851, aged seventy- eight years.
W. B. ROCKWELL, of Pottsville, has for some years been associated with the operation of two public utilities most important in the development of the city. Since 1910 he has been manager of the Eastern Pennsylvania Rail- ways Company and of the Eastern Pennsylvania Light, Heat & Power Com- pany, both of which have been powerful elements in extending the reputation and influence of the section which they serve, the former operating seventy miles of trolley road, centering at Pottsville, and reaching to Mauch Chunk. The Light, Heat & Power Company has interests in the towns of Pottsville, Palo Alto, Mount Carbon, Port Carbon, Minersville, Orwigsburg, New Phila- delphia, Cumbola, Middleport, Tamaqua, Frackville, Gilberton, Girardville and Ashland, in Schuylkill county, and Centralia borough and Conyngham township, in Columbia county. The two companies have over four hundred employes, and the gross yearly receipts are in excess of eight hundred thou- sand dollars.
Since settling in Pottsville, upon assuming the duties of his present posi- tion, Mr. Rockwell has been extremely public-spirited in furthering the in- terests of other concerns in the city having in contemplation the material advancement of the municipality, and his attitude has been thoroughly appre- ciated by its citizens.
Mr. Rockwell was born Jan. 19, 1858, in New York City, son of H. B. Rockwell, one of the pioneer citizens of Scranton, Pa., in whose upbuilding he took a conspicuously useful part. The family has been one of the most prominent in Lackawanna county, this State, for many years.
MONCURE ROBINSON, a civil engineer of national reputation, was born in Richmond, Va., in 1802, and completed his education at William and Mary College. In 1821 he was employed by Governor Pleasants, of Virginia, to locate an extension of the James River canal. About 1825 he visited England to become familiar with the construction of canals, and as the Darlington & Stockton Railroad was then in operation he spent considerable time there in acquiring a knowledge of railway business, and doubtless while there became acquainted with the great English railway engineer, George Stephenson. Having carefully studied the nature of these improvements. he returned to the United States, and was at once employed by the Canal Com- missioners of Pennsylvania. At this time he made survey of the portage road over the Allegheny mountains, and his plan was largely adopted. In
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1833 the Pennsylvania Legislature was considering whether the Philadelphia & Columbia railroad should continue the use of horse power or adopt locomo- tives. This action resulted in favor of the latter through the requested advice of Mr. Robinson, who stated "that it would take four days to transport merchandise from Philadelphia to the Susquehanna river by horse power when it could be effected in six hours by locomotive power." While under the employ of the Commissioners he made the survey for the Danville & Pottsville railroad, and later built the eastern part, with its many well planned planes. About this time he also built the Little Susquehanna railroad. The next work which Mr. Robinson was called upon to do was that of the Phila- delphia & Reading railroad, which is regarded as his great achievement. While with this company, he was sent to England with his estimates and plans, to be submitted before capitalists there. His efforts here were emi- nently successful, he having secured from one individual a loan of two mil- lions of dollars. In 1840 the Czar of Russia sent word to Mr. Robinson to take service as head engineer over the great system of railways he was devis- ing in his empire. This he declined, but gave him much valuable advice. Mr. Robinson died at his home in Philadelphia in 1892, aged ninety years.
JUDGE CYRUS L. PERSHING was born in Westmoreland county, Pa .. in 1825. When he was five years old the family residence was changed to Johnstown, Pa., where his father died in 1836. Thrown on his own re- sources, by means of money earned by teaching school and clerking in the offices of the State canal and railroad, he paid his own way at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, from which institution he graduated. After leaving college he entered as a student at law the office of Hon. Jeremiah S. Black, in Somerset, Pa., when he was admitted to the bar, shortly after which he commenced the practice of the law at his home in Cambria county, Pa. In September. 1856. Mr. Pershing was nominated as the Democratic candidate for Congress in the district of his residence. The district was Republican by a clear majority of 2,500, and in 1854 had been carried by the Republicans by over 5,000 majority. After an energetic canvass in the limited time be- tween the nomination and the election in October, Mr. Pershing was defeated by the small majority of 284. In 1858 he was again nominated and defeated. The dissensions growing out of the Kansas slavery excitement that year brought disaster to the Democratic ticket, State and Congressional.
Mr. Pershing represented Cambria county in the State Legislature in 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865, serving on important committees during the whole period. At the session of 1863 he was chairman of the committee on Federal Relations, and in 1864 was the nominee of the Democrats for speaker of the House. In 1866 Mr. Pershing represented his district in the Union Na- tional convention, which met in Philadelphia in August of that year. In 1868 he was placed on the Democratic electoral ticket in the presidential contest of that year. In 1869 Mr. Pershing was nominated as the Demo- cratic candidate for judge of the Supreme court, but was defeated by a small majority. In 1872 he was nominated for president judge of the judicial dis- trict composed of Schuylkill county by the conventions of the Labor Reform- ers and Republicans : his election necessitated his removal from Johnstown to Pottsville. In 1875 Judge Pershing was nominated for governor by the Democratic State convention. Governor Hartranft was elected by the large
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majority which his party commanded in the city of Philadelphia, but the State, outside of that city, gave Judge Pershing a handsome majority.
Judge Pershing was reelected president judge of the Schuylkill district in 1882, and again in 1892. In the years 1876 and 1877 he presided over the trials of the Mollie Maguire conspirators, which excited great interest through- out the country.
Owing to ill health Judge Pershing resigned in 1898, and lived in retire- ment until his death, which occurred June 30, 1903.
MARTIN M. BURKE, of Shenandoah, a lawyer of foremost place at the Schuylkill county bar, owes his standing to many elements in his character besides his professional ability. His concern for the common interests of the borough and its people has kept him in close touch with his fellow citizens, and his freely expressed sympathies with the most significant progress of the town have caused him to be regarded as a reliable friend of all good works, a dependable factor in their achievement and a champion of beneficial move- ments in whatever form they appear.
Mr. Burke is of Irish origin, as his name would indicate, though it is really a corruption of (De) Burgo and was so written in the early days when it carried its original significance, i. e., from the fort, earth, hill, or city. The family went into England from Normandy with the Conqueror, and after- wards into Ireland with Strongbow.
John Burke, grandfather of Martin M. Burke, was born in County Mayo, Ireland, where he lived until 1866, in which year he came to America, joining his son Edward, who preceded him to this country by about a year and a half. Soon afterwards he located at Ashland, Schuylkill Co., Pa., thence removing to Lost Creek, this county, a village in West Mahanoy township, where the remainder of his life was spent. In the old country he followed farming, but during his residence in the United States he was a mine worker.
Edward J. Burke, son of John Burke, was born in Ireland about 1840, and there passed his youth and early manhood. He did farm work, and was also engaged as a lighthouse-keeper. Coming to this country in the sixties, about a year and a half before his father, he lived with the latter at Ashland and removed with him to Lost Creek, where he has continued to reside ever since. He took up mine work upon settling here, and was not only successful on his own account, but has done much to improve the conditions in the mines and among miners by his intelligent and unselfish labors in their behalf. He has done responsible work in connection with the opening of new mines in the county, and his skill was given substantial recognition in his appointment as one of the first board of examiners of miners in the Fifth Anthracite district. All efforts for the betterment of the classes whose welfare has been so close to his heart, no matter whence they emanate, have had his indorsement and generous support, and he has won a deserved place in the affectionate esteem of all who know him. For seven years Mr. Burke was a member of the school board of West Mahanoy township, in that position also giving his best energies to pro- mote the general good. He is a Democrat in politics and a Catholic in religion. Mr. Burke married Margaret L'Velle, daughter of Martin L'Velle, the latter a native of County Mayo, Ireland, and a prosperous farmer. Nine children have been born to this union, five sons and four daughters, viz .: Martin M .; Mary E., wife of Patrick J. Coyle, who is an assistant mine foreman at Shenan-
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doah; Catherine, wife of William J. Walsh, superintendent of the Prudential Insurance Company's office at Mahanoy City, Pa. ; Bridget L., wife of Matthew F. Giblon, justice of the peace, of Shenandoah, Pa .; Rev. John F., priest of the Catholic Church at Frankford, Philadelphia; Patrick H., attorney ; Margaret V., at home; Edward J., merchant, of Shenandoah ; and Michael L., who was killed at Philadelphia in 1910 while playing football (he was a third year student at the Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia, at the time of his death ).
Martin M. Burke was born June 16, 1865, at Ashland, Schuylkill Co., Pa., where he spent his boyhood, acquiring a good education in the common schools. Like many young men ambitious to enter professional life, he taught school in his young manhood, following this vocation for a period of ten years, from September, 1880. His first school was in West Mahanoy township. In the fall of 1890, having given up teaching, he became a law student in the office of his uncle, M. M. L'Velle, Esq., of Ashland, and on Sept. 6, 1892, was admitted to the Schuylkill county bar, where he has been practicing ever since. He is a resident of Shenandoah, but has maintained offices in both that borough and in Pottsville, his patrons coming from a wide area. He now has a partner, being senior member of the firm of Burke & Burke, who have established offices in Shenandoah at the corner of Main and Centre streets. Mr. Burke's solid qualities have gained him the confidence of the best people in all his associa- tions, but they have been particularly valuable, of course, in holding clients, who have had no cause for hesitation about intrusting their interests to his care, and he has retained their respect through long years of close association. As to public affairs, educational progress has always had his special encour- agement. In religion he is a Catholic. He and his wife and son are members of the Church of the Annunciation, and he holds membership in the Ameri- can Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia. Fraternally he belongs to the local lodge of the Ancient Order of Hibernians; to the Phoenix Fire Com- pany ; to the Pennsylvania Society of New York, and to the Elks lodge at Shenandoah, of which he is a charter member. For several years he has been city attorney, a position he still holds.
On Sept. 12, 1893, Mr. Burke was married, by Rev. H. F. O'Reilly, in the old Annunciation Church at Shenandoah, to Mary Ella Foley, second daughter of James and Margaret ( Tobin) Foley. Her father, a retired miner, was during the latter years of his active life assistant mine foreman at the Indian Ridge mine of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company. Mr. and Mrs. Foley were natives of Queen's County, Ireland, and came to America when very young, with their parents, settling at Heckscherville, Schuylkill Co., Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Burke have one son, Clarence L'Velle, who was born Dec. 2, 1894 ; he is now a student in the Jesuit Fathers' University at Fordham, New York.
PATRICK H. BURKE, junior member of the law firm of Burke & Burke, was born near Shenandoah. After receiving ordinary educational advantages in the local township school he started work at the mines, beginning, like most boys, as a slate picker. Having given evidence of intelligence and ability he was later assigned to duty as colliery clerk with the Lehigh Coal Company of Shenandoah, being so employed until he gave up the position in 1899, after which for three years he held a clerkship in the office of the county controller at Pottsville. Meantime he had taken up the study of law, having registered
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as a law student in 1899, and in 1903 he began to apply himself closely to pre- paring for the profession. He was admitted to the bar in 1906, and imme- diately joined his brother in the practice at Shenandoah, where they both reside, though their interests are by no means limited to that borough.
Mr. Burke was married at Shenandoah Oct. 30, 1906, to Anna C. Watson, daughter of the late Hon. M. C. Watson, State senator and a prominent mer- chant of Shenandoah. Her mother's maiden name was Anna Monaghan. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Burke: John F., Joseph W., Edmund and Mary Eileen. The family belong to the Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation at Shenandoah.
EDWARD J. BURKE, youngest surviving son of Edward J. and Margaret (L'Velle) Burke, was born March 28, 1883, in West Mahanoy township, Schuylkill county, and there received a public school education. He has had an active career, and by his success in business has shown that he possesses substantial qualities quite as strong as the traits which have made him so popular personally. The firm of E. J. Burke Company, of which he is senior member and manager, has one of the best patronized establishments of the kind in this part of Schuylkill county. The store at Nos. 113-115 North Main street, Shenandoah, is well stocked with house furnishings of all kinds selected with the view of giving the local trade an adequate choice of modern goods, and customers appreciate the unusual facilities afforded for supplying their wants as well as the obliging service rendered to every patron of the store. Mr. Burke has proved himself worthy of the esteem in which he is held, and he never misses an opportunity to show his interest in the town. He is a member of the Phoenix Fire Company of Shenandoah, an honorary member of the Shenandoah Fire Department, was the organizer of the Polish-American Fire Company of the borough, and is a member of the International Association of Fire Engineers; he also belongs to the Shenandoah lodge of the Knights of Columbus (No. 618) and B. P. O. Elks (No. 945). As a business man he holds membership in the National Efficiency Society of New York City and in the National Carpet Club, New York City. Like all the rest of his family, his religious connection is with the Church of the Annunciation in Shenandoah.
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