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 78
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Zaccur P. Madara was born March 27, 1840, at Port Carbon, Schuylkill county. He received a public school education and learned the trade of brick
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and stone mason with his father, being first employed in that line of work. Later he went to work in the rolling mills as a roller, and remained there for about fifteen years, after which for about ten years he was engaged as section boss on the Philadelphia & Reading railroad. In 1885 he became a member of the police force of Pottsville, with which he was connected for twenty-five years, retiring from the service at the end of that period. Meantime, in 1907, he had been elected a member of the council of the borough, in which he served two terms (six years). Since 1910 Mr. Madara has conducted a grocery store at No. 329 North George street, where he also resides. His various business and official associations have brought him into contact with an unusually large number of his fellow citizens, by whom he is well and favorably known. He is a member of the Knights of the Golden Eagle and the Grand Army of the Republic, having served one year during the Civil war as a member of Company G, 202d Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Politically he is a Republican.
On Feb. 8, 1860, Mr. Madara married Harriet E. Dobbins, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Davis) Dobbins, of Minersville, this county, the former of whom died when his daughter was but five years old. Mr. and Mrs. Madara became the parents of the following children: William George is deceased ; Laura L. married Edgar Wilson, a brother of Kimbel Wilson, of Pottsville ; Ida E. married John Murray; Katie married Robert Rogers ; Walter Paul, a resident of Pottsville, married Irene Mader; Nellie is deceased ; Abbie L. mar- ried William Woodward; Annie E. is deceased ; Matilda, twin of Annie, died young ; Harriet E. married Fred Schulze ; Zaccur P. is located in Pittsburgh, Pa .; Bessie died young ; Bessie (2) married Weston Bruner (his first wife was her sister Annie E.). Mr. and Mrs. Madara are members of the Episcopal Church.
WILLIAM F. DOHERTY, of Schuylkill Haven, is a business man who has shown considerable enterprise in taking advantage of local conditions. For over a quarter of a century he has carried on the manufacture of paper boxes, and with the development of various industries in the borough has made a substantial increase in his business by catering to the manufacturers who have become established here, suiting his products to their needs so that they have not been obliged to go elsewhere. Moreover, he has been wide-awake and ingenious about learning their special wants, and has made his factory a convenient adjunct to the plants of his patrons in this section.
Mr. Doherty is of Irish descent, but the family has long been settled in America, his great-grandfather having come to this country from Ireland and settled at Columbus, Ohio, where he died. His son John, the grandfather of William F. Doherty, also lived and died at Columbus, Ohio, and John Doherty, the father of William F., was born there. He removed to Schuylkill Haven, Pa., where he became engaged as a coal operator, having two. collieries at Mine Hill Gap. His partner was Charles Montgomery Hill. This business he fol- lowed most all of his active life, died in 1866, and is buried in the Union ceme- tery at Schuylkill Haven. He married Mary Heiser, a daughter of George and Catherine (Koenig) Heiser, the former a pioneer at Schuylkill Haven. Mr. Heiser was a prominent contractor, and assisted in building the Schuylkill canal in 1816. His residence was on the site where the Bryant homestead is now located on Main street, Schuylkill Haven. His children were: Dr. Edward, Joshua, Mary, Margaret, Abigail and Elizabeth. John Doherty and his wife
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had these children: Amanda, Margaret, Ellen, Caroline, Elizabeth, George, Charles, William F. and Frank.
William F. Doherty was born at Schuylkill Haven in 1859 and attended the public schools there. In his early life he followed farming, but when a young man learned telegraphy, at which he was engaged for some time, in the employ of the Reading Company. For a while he was located at Boyer- town, Berks Co., Pa. In 1888 he engaged in his present business, which he has been successfully conducting without interruption since. The product of his factory, which is equipped with thoroughly modern machinery, is stiff paper boxes, for which there is a large local demand. From twelve to fifteen hands are steadily employed. Mr. Doherty has made a definite place for himself in the business circles of the borough by his admirable management of the factory and the establishing of a profitable trade.
Mr. Doherty is a member of St. John's Reformed Church. He is unmar- ried, but he lias adopted the four children of George H. Roeder and his wife Bertha (Clemens), namely: Helen Roeder, Dora Roeder, Esther Roeder and Harry Roeder.
ADOLPH W. SCHALCK, late of Pottsville, for many years held a posi- tion among the most energetic members of the legal profession in Schuylkill county. His ability and the qualifications of leadership which became apparent early in his career brought him into influential association with the Democratic party which continued for many years, and his work as such has a distinct place in the history of the county. A man of high mental attainments, he had a broad outlook, which brought him into sympathy with all classes; and his thorough understanding of all his fellow citizens in the county made possible a degree of usefulness of which only one of his keen intellect and deep insight could be capable. Mr. Schalck was a German by birth. All his ancestors were natives of Germany, and his parents were the first members of the family to come to this country.
George Schalck, father of Adolph W. Schalck, was born at Wiesbaden in 1820. He was a son of Christian Schalck, a well-to-do millwright, whose flourmili was located near there, the business having been founded by his ancestors who, for generations before him, were men of influence and stand- ing in that part of Germany. He married Dorothea Hartz. Their son, George, acquired a thorough education in the schools of his native land and, in his early life, learned the trades of locksmith and gunsmith, during several cam- paigns serving as armorer in the German army. Coming to the United States in 1854, at the request of old friends who had preceded him here, he located at Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., Pa., where he made his permanent home. His great and versatile mechanical genius and his skill as a marksman were appre- ciated wherever he was known. His handmade rifles had a national reputa- tion, and his violins, also made entirely by hand, were well known and prized in advanced musical circles. He won many valuable medals and other rewards as a sharpshooter at target, in America and abroad, and made the cannon, with cheeks for the gun carriage, and ammunition, for the local 96th Pennsylvania Regiment, Volunteers, to take with them to the Civil war in 1861. He was also an expert engraver, wood carver and wrought iron worker-in fact, a past master in every conceivable branch of mechanical work. As a citizen and mechanical genius, he was much esteemed in the place of his adoption.
Mr. Schalck's wife, Sophia Windisch, was also born in Wiesbaden in
Ar. Schalck
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1820. She was a woman of great mental attainments, particularly well read in Biblical lore, universal history, astronomy and German literature. It was her custom to sit by the hour in her husband's workshop, reading aloud to him from the newspapers or educational literature or fiction, her fingers meanwhile busy with her knitting needles, his hands skillfully occupied with his work while listening to his wife's reading. He died in 1893. She sur- vived him eighteen years, passing away in 1911, when nearly six months over ninety years old, in full possession of all her faculties almost to the end, her wonderfully bright mind never failing her. She was a daughter of David Windisch and his wife Antoinette Thorn. The former's father was Conrad von Windisch, who, while still a university student in Austria, for political reasons renounced his rights as heir to his father's princely title and estates and, with a younger brother, came to Wiesbaden, where he secured employ- ment as an artistic china decorator in a nearby porcelain factory. He married the only child of the owner of the factory, and he and his young wife, Catrina Brüll, then opened the first china store in Wicsbaden, the latter continuing the business after the death of her husband, in 1809.
Adolph W. Schalck, only child of George and Sophia (Windisch) Schalck, was born at Wiesbaden, Jan. 16, 1845, and spent the first nine years of his life there. He began his education in the well conducted schools of his native city, learning English as well as German. In his later years he continued his German studies, using his native language fluently and acquiring a wide familiarity with German history and literature as well as American and gen- eral universal history and Biblical history and mythology, having inherited his mother's disposition and studious inclinations. When the family settled in Pottsville he attended the public schools, graduating from the high school in 1857, with honors; it was then conducted in the old Bunker Hill school- house. He then pursued his studies at the Pottsville Academy (held in what is now the Henry C. Russell homestead). His first inclination was for mechanics, the line in which his father had proved so successful; and hie worked for a year in his father's shop after leaving the academy. His father, however, feeling that the boy did not have the genius for great success in that work, advised him to change his occupation and, in 1860, he went to Philadelphia, becoming a salesman and clerk in a wholesale glass and china importing house, with which he remained about two years. Feeling that his prospects there were not all he could desire, and having determined upon a professional career, he returned to Pottsville, where he became a reporter for the Schuylkill Demokrat, at that time the German organ of the Democratic party in the county. He also learned the rudiments of printing in this con- lection.
Mr. Schalck's entrance into political and public affairs probably had its inception here, in his opportunity for acquaintance with public men and events. During the campaign of 1862 he had his first political experience. That year, Franklin B. Gowen, Esq., was elected district attorney of Schuyl- kill county, and Mr. Schalck, who had become acquainted with him during the campaign, became a clerk in his law office, where he soon began the study of law. After his admission to the bar, on March 16, 1866, when but twenty- one years of age, he became Mr. Gowen's principal assistant, and when the latter left Pottsville in 1868 to open an office in Philadelphia Mr. Schalck remained in charge of the Pottsville office, in association with the late George DeB. Keim, an old personal friend and law student of Mr. Gowen's, who Vol. I-34
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afterwards succeeded him as president of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company.
In 1870, having decided to branch out on his own responsibility, Mr. Schalck severed this association, with its very evident advantages, in order to give all his time to building up an independent practice. It is noteworthy that within a few years he had drawn a clientele which compared with the patronage commanded by the older and best lawyers in the county. His large and varied practice made him one of the leading members of the junior set in the legal fraternity at that time. His active association with the legal profession continued until his death, and his prestige increased from year to year with legal victories and skillful attention to the interests of his many clients. His fidelity and zeal in following up everything concerning a case intrusted to him, his industry in research and his ability to make the most of every favorable circumstance, won him the absolute confidence of all who came to him for legal advice. His opinion was sought in nearly every important case in the county, he being a thorough lawyer in every way, as a counselor, as a pleader and in argument. His knowledge of the law was most comprehensive, and he was always ready to meet successfully every legal point an opponent could present. Though ever modest and unassuming, he was always master of his subject and of himself.
A few years after entering the legal profession Mr. Schalck, as a zealous member of the Democratic party, was drawn into political activity, and from about 1871 until his death was closely associated with public affairs. His experience as a public speaker, the popularity he gained in that capacity, his reliable judgment and comprehensive grasp of the needs of the situation, made him a campaign worker of recognized ability and value; and he had an equally high reputation in his party as an organizer, though he never allowed his Democracy to become blind partisanship or to interfere with matters most deeply affecting the public good.
In 1876 he became county chairman, and from that time until his death served repeatedly as chairman or treasurer of the Democratic County com- mittee ; and, when not associated with that organization as such, carried on his activities in other relations, having also been secretary, treasurer and chairman of the executive committees-all without recompense and, it should be said, often at great personal sacrifice. When serving as chairman in 1890, at the time of Governor Pattison's second campaign, the county gave Mr. Pattison a majority of over 4,100, the largest it ever gave to any candidate. His last service as county chairman was in 1907.
The public positions filled by Mr. Schalck were all in the line of his pro- fession. From 1875 to 1878 he was solicitor for the directors of the poor of the county. In 1877 he was elected district attorney, his term from 1878 to 1881 covering the latter part of the period of the Molly Maguire troubles. From 1881 to 1884 he was attorney to the county commissioners, later on serving as attorney to various other county officers and lastly as county solicitor, from 1906 to 1908. In all of these positions he showed himself to be thoroughly public-spirited, a fearless opponent of corruption and graft in the administration of all public offices, and at various times quite promi- nent in the investigations and exposures of faithless officials, his most promi- nent case in this line being, as counsel for the county auditors, in uncovering the big graft in the erection of the new courthouse at Pottsville, when he recovered $65,000 for the county treasury, refusing offers of large sums from interested parties who desired him to withdraw from the case.
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During the Civil war he enlisted twice, in 1862 and in 1863, serving in the 6th and 27th Pennsylvania Regiments, emergency troops, raised to pro- tect the State and drive the Confederates back across the Potomac. He attempted to enlist at the beginning of the war, but was rejected on account of his youth and because he lacked a robust constitution. In his later years he was an active worker in the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to Gowen Post, No. 23, which he served as quartermaster (treasurer) for twenty- seven years, up to the time of his death. His chief other social connection was with the German Order of Harugari, which he served as State president, the local branch of which disbanded some years ago because death had reduced the membership to a very few. He was president of the Schuylkill Branch of the German-American Alliance at the time of his death.
Mr. Schalck took a sincere interest in the history of his county and col- laborated with the late Capt. D. C. Henning, a former prominent member of the same bar, in editing and compiling the History of Schuylkill County published by the State Historical Association in 1907, also being one of the organizers of and active members in the local Historical Society. Mr. Schalck was actively associated with all important local movements, among others having been an officer in the local Soldiers' Monument Association, Civic Society, the old Board of Trade, Old Home Week Association, and anti-new county movement. His last active participation in public affairs was in July, 1911, when he was one of the Fourth of July orators and a member of the committee of arrangements for the local Schuylkill County Centennial cele- bration.
Brought up in the Lutheran faith, he was a prominent member of Trinity Lutheran Church of Pottsville and one of the carnest workers of that con- gregation all his adult life, serving many years as trustee, for over forty years as member of the council, and many years as superintendent of the Sunday school, in which he continued to teach after resigning that position. He was kind-hearted and charitable, no worthy person ever appealing to him in vain for help. His public as well as private life always commanded the implicit confidence and respect of all who knew him. His death, which occurred Oct. 26, 1911, deprived the community of one of its best beloved citizens. He is buried in the Charles Baber cemetery at Pottsville, Pennsyl- vania.
In 1870 Mr. Schalck married Emma R. Haeseler, daughter of Dr. Charles Haeseler ; and of the two children born to their union, Sophie died in infancy. Louise G. was her father's efficient assistant until her marriage to Dr. W. F. Doyle, of Pottsville, Pa. They have one son, Francis Schalck Doyle. Mrs. Schalck continues to occupy the homestead at No. 320 West Market street, Pottsville.
DR. CHARLES HAESELER, father of Mrs. Schalck, was the eldest son of Henry Frederick Haeseler and his wife Amalia (Schumacher), and was born in 1810 at Nordheim, in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany. He was a graduate of the University of Goettingen, Germany, completing his course of medical study there. In 1834 he came to America and became one of the pioneers in the medical profession in this section of Pennsylvania. He and Drs. Constantin Herring and B. Becker were the first to practice homœopathy here. He was an active church worker, a man of literary ability and highly gifted as a writer of poetry, many of his compositions having been published
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in various church publications, especially in the "Evangelischer Botschafter," from 1838 to 1850.
From his mother, Amalia Schumacher, Dr. Haeseler inherited, as her eldest son, the family Bible of her ancestors which had descended to her because her parents had no male issue. Up to that time it had been handed down from father to son. This Bible is the oldest known in Pennsylvania, having been printed in Wittenberg, Germany, in 1555, with copious illustra- tions, and having been handed down as a family heirloom from generation to generation, from the time of its purchase by a member of the family soon after it was published, being treasured by them and often saved from destruc- tion by fire and flood.
Dr. Charles Haeseler died in 1870, after a long and successful professional career. His wife, Louisa H. Rühe, also descended from an old Nordheim family, had died in 1865. Two of their sons followed in their father's foot- steps professionally: Dr. Henry, a graduate of Hahnemann College, Phila- delphia, who located in Iowa, on account of poor health, and practiced there until his death in 1855; and
DR. CHARLES HERMAN HAESELER, their eldest son, who was born in 1830 at Nordheim and was three years old when brought by his parents to this country. After brief periods of residence in various other parts of Pennsyl- vania the family settled at Pottsville, and there young Charles obtained his early education. He began his medical course at Hahnemann College, Phila- delphia, and then took a further course of study at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. Soon after graduating he practiced his profession for two years in New York City, returning to Pottsville in 1857 to assist his father professionally, his knowledge and skill soon gaining him a large practice and a high reputation.
While still a medical student, he enlisted in the army of our country and served in the Mexican war. During the Civil war he served with the militia under two enlistments and entered the service a third time after the battle of Gettysburg, being with the 20th Pennsylvania Cavalry, a six months' regi- ment, as assistant surgeon. At the expiration of this term, he was presented a sword in special recognition of his successful control and suppression of an epidemic of diphtheria which had broken out in the regiment. He spent most of the year 1867 in Europe, visiting the hospitals and medical institutions of many of the great cities, including London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Heidelberg, Rome, etc. Upon his return to America, he published an account of his travels abroad in the book "Across the Atlantic," issued by the Petersons of Philadelphia.
In 1871, having been elected to the chair of Pathology and Practice of Medicine by the faculty of Hahnemann College, Philadelphia, he removed to that city to enter upon the duties of his new position. There, as in Potts- ville, he was soon overwhelmed with the professional work of his private prac- tice, which attained such proportions that he could not carry on both that and his professorship. He therefore resigned the latter to give all his atten- tion to general practice.
In 1877, his health having become impaired, he removed fromn Philadelphia to Pottsville, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1903. He was deservedly honored as one of the most distinguished physicians of the county. Despite the pressure of his medical work, he found time. as opportunity offered, to indulge his taste for literary work, and he contributed largely to
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the medical and literary periodicals of the country. He and his father have been two of the most prominent physicians to carry on their work in Schuyl- kill county, Mrs. Schalck's son-in-law, Dr. William Francis Doyle, worthily representing the third generation of homeopathic physicians in the family.
JAMES J. BELL, of Shenandoah, is an attorney of the Schuylkill county bar whose record in the legal profession has added to its prestige. Though he has not yet reached his prime he has a long list of successes to his credit, and throughout a busy career has carried the responsibilities of a constantly in- creasing practice with undiminished vigor and enthusiasm.
Mr. Bell is a native of Shenandoah, born March 18, 1876, of Irish ancestry, a son of James Bell and grandson of John Bell. The grandfather was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and in his early years learned the trade of car- penter, which he followed all his life. He married in Ireland, and lived at Upperhills until he set out for America with his family, May 1, 1841. For a short time they lived in Canada, near Niagara Falls, thence moving to Car- bondale, Pa., and from there to Greenberry, in the Heckscherville valley in Schuylkill county, Pa. His death was caused by pneumonia, on Jan. 23, 1888, at the age of eighty-two years. His wife, Catherine (Jackson), a native of County Kilkenny, died May 19, 1883, aged eighty-two years, and is buried with Mr. Bell in the St. Vincent de Paul cemetery at Minersville, this county. Mr. and Mrs. John Bell had nine sons and two daughters, of whom Samuel met an accidental death (he was unmarried) ; James was the father of James J. Bell; Joseph, now deceased, married Ellen Brennan ; William, who served in the Civil war, was killed in the mines; Richard married Mary Nolan and lives in Philadelphia, Pa .; Edward is a resident of Heckscherville; Catherine and the other daughter died young.
James Bell, father of James J. Bell, was born Sept. 29, 1838, in Kilkenny, Ireland, and was two and a half years old when the family came to America. His education was acquired at Heckscherville, where he lived until his removal to Shenandoah in 1873. At the former place he began work as a slate picker, and for a few years he was engaged in driving gangways at the William Penn colliery. When he gave up mining he went into business, and from this time he was intimately connected with various important activities in the borough, filling a large place in its life. He was the first president of the Citizens' National Bank, continuing to hold that office until his death; for over twenty years he was president of the Citizens' Building and Loan Association; and he was treasurer of the Citizens' Mutual Fire Insurance Association up to the time of his death. He was a member of the Shenandoah board of school direc- tors, and served as tax collector and treasurer of West Mahanoy township. For two years he was superintendent of the borough water works. For a time he was secretary of the Miners' Union in Shenandoah, and a number of other local organizations had his encouragement and loyal support. He was a very active member of the T. A. B. Society, which he served as treasurer, and he was president and treasurer of the temperance board of the C. T. A. U., connected with the T. A. B. Society. He became a member of St. Patrick's Society in its early history. Mr. Bell is buried in the cemetery of the Church of the Annunciation. When a boy he was thrown from a pole swing and received injuries which were probably the cause of his death, though he reached a good age, passing away May 17, 19II.
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