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 86
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Franklin Yoder was born in the Mahantongo valley in Schuylkill county, and died Feb. 17, 1914, at the age of sixty years. At the time of his death he was a resident of Hegins township, occupying the home where his widow, Eleanor (Gable), still resides. She was born in Hegins township, daughter of Charles Gable, who farmed and also followed the trade of mason ; he lived and died in Hegins township. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Yoder: Jane is the wife of Jerome Herb, of Mahantongo; Irvin U. is next in the family ; Harrison is also engaged in manufacturing business; Emma lives at home ; Estella is the wife of Harvey Reed. a farmer of Hegins town- ship ; Elmer is a minister of the Church of God, at present located at Suedberg, Pa. ; Earl is living at home.
Irvin U. Yoder was born at Locustdale, Schuylkill county, and received his
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education in the public schools in Hegins township. His first regular employ- ment after leaving school was in the mines, where he continued to work until 1902, in which year he purchased the business to which he has since devoted all his time. He carries on the manufacture of shirts at Hegins, and has a practical knowledge of the methods of production which combines well with his gifts as a business manager. The trade was increased steadily during his ownership, the patronage, drawn chiefly from the home territory, being now quite extensive. Mr. Yoder has applied most of his energies to the building up of the business, and the results are highly creditable. He is a member of the Evangelical Church and interested in the success of its activities. As a citizen he ranks with the men of worth in his locality.
In 1901 Mr. Yoder married Ora Heckert, of Hegins, daughter of John and Alice (Updegrave) Heckert, who still reside at that town, Mr. Heckert now living retired. At one time he was engaged in the mercantile business. Mr. and Mrs. Yoder have five children : Roy, Grace, Violet, Talmer and Ruel.
FRANCIS W. HEINE was a prosperous business man of Orwigsburg for a number of years, until he returned to the home place in West Brunswick township ten years ago and settled down to farming. He has about one hun- dred acres under cultivation, and for up-to-date methods and business-like management is rated with the most progressive agriculturists in his section of Schuylkill county. As a citizen his cooperation and influence are valued forces in the development of his locality. Mr. Heine was born Oct. 26, 1862, at his mother's home in Albany township, Berks Co., Pa., son of Solomon and Mary (Henricks) Heine.
Solomon Heine, the father, was born in the borough of Tamaqua, Schuyl- kill county, and there received his education. Before he attained his major- ity he had served an apprenticeship to the plasterer's trade, becoming a jour- neyman, and he followed that calling principally in West Brunswick town- ship. About fifteen years before his death he bought a farm in South Man- heim township, and devoted the remainder of his life to its cultivation. He was a citizen interested in local affairs, serving a number of terms as school director, and was active in the interests of the Republican party, acting as judge of elec- tion. He was a member of the Evangelical Church of Orwigsburg, of which he was a regular attendant for many years. He married Mary Henricks, daughter of Michael Henricks (whose wife was a Loy), and she survives him, being now ( 1915) seventy years old. Mr. Heine died at the age of sixty-eight years, and is buried in the Evangelical cemetery at Orwigsburg. We have the following record of their children: Francis W. is mentioned below; Charles H., an underwear manufacturer in Girardville, married Rose Miller (he has served two terms as poor director, and is candidate for the third term) ; Caro- lina died aged twenty-two years; Michael Henry is a successful business man at Orwigsburg; Amanda married Charles Potts, a plasterer, of Orwigsburg; Kate married John Deibert, a shoemaker, of Orwigsburg; James, a farmer in West Brunswick township, married Mamie Heiser.
Francis W. Heine was about six months old when his parents located in East Brunswick township, Schuylkill county, on the place now owned by John Mimm. He attended the Bolich school, in the Middle district of that township, and received his business training under the able direction of his father, for whom he worked until he reached his majority. He was thoroughly instructed in the trade of mason and plasterer, which he followed steadily for
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a period of twenty-three years. The family moved to West Brunswick town- ship in 1882, buying the place he now owns. When twenty-seven years old he married and moved to Orwigsburg, where he made his home for sixteen years, during that time being engaged as a plastering contractor. Meantime he had bought sixteen acres of ground in West Brunswick township, and in 1905 he purchased his present property from his father, settling thereon the same year. He also retains his former purchase, and cultivates about one hundred acres of his land, following general farming, though he has gone quite extensively into fruit raising, having at present fourteen hundred young trees, of many varieties. He has also become interested in bees, having a num- ber of hives, and has been very successful in this line, which he is following in the most approved modern fashion. Mr. Heine has not only looked well after his own interests, but has also taken part in the broader affairs affecting the community, and while a resident of Orwigsburg served in the borough council; he was elected school director immediately upon his removal to West Brunswick township. On political issues he is a Republican. He belongs to Protective Council, No. 1256, and to the Grange at McKeansburg, having for several years been a faithful member of the Patrons of Husbandry. He also holds membership in Washington Camp No. 86, P. O. S. of A., of Orwigsburg.
Mr. Heine married Fannie Moyer, who was born March 20, 1872, at the place in West Brunswick township where Joel Degler now resides, received her education in the neighboring schools there, and remained at home until her marriage. Six children have been born to this union: Mabel, born May 24, 1890, was educated in Orwigsburg, and is now the wife of W. S. Achey (born April 18, 1879), by whom she has had three children, Ethel (born March 18, 1911), William Francis (born Dec. 4, 1912) and David Leroy (born Dec. 31, 1913) ; John Solomon, born Jan. 25, 1893, attended the primary and grammar schools in West Brunswick township and high school at Orwigs- burg, and is now assisting his father on the home farm (he is a member of Industrial Council, No. 437, Order of Independent Americans, at Orwigs- burg) ; Hannah Elizabeth was born Dec. 12, 1899; Mary Alice, March 13, 1902; George K., March 9, 1904; Carl, born April 3, 1906, died when fifteen months old. The younger children have attended school in West Brunswick township. Mrs. Heine and her daughter Mabel are members of the Evan- gelical Church of Orwigsburg; the mother attended Sunday school there for many years.
George K. Moyer, grandfather of Mrs. Heine, was born Nov. 15, 1818, near the Red Church (Zion's) in West Brunswick township, where Mrs. Celia Mengle now lives. He owned several farms, and was a prosperous farmer and huckster most of his life; when he started out for himself he followed the timber business a few years. He died at the age of seventy-eight years, two months, and is interred in the burial ground of Zion's (Red) Church, donated by the Moyer family for that purpose, with the agreement that all Moyers might be buried there free of charge. George K. Moyer belonged to the Salem Evangelical Church at Orwigsburg and was one of its active mem- bers and officials, a good Christian man in every relation of life, and, what was unusual in his day, an ardent Prohibitionist. His first wife, Susanna (Hoy), daughter of Abraham Hoy, died at the age of thirty-four years, the mother of seven children, namely: Lewis, who died young; John H. ; Samuel H., deceased, who married Carrie Shome, now a resident of Hamburg, Pa .; Amelia, widow of Charles Ege, living at Orwigsburg; Susanna, who married
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William F. Gerhard; Mary, deceased; and Mary (2), widow of Samuel P. Kindt. By his second marriage, to Lavina Faust, daughter of Dewalt Faust, Mr. Moyer had no children. She survives him, being now (1915) about seventy-six years of age, and is a resident of Orwigsburg.
John H. Moyer, son of George K. Moyer and father of Mrs. Heine, was born June 3, 1845, near Pottsville, was educated in the schools of West Bruns- wick township, and worked for his father on the home farm until twenty-one years old. Afterwards he rented the place for twenty-two years, buying it after his father's death. It contained IOI acres, about eighty of which were cleared, and he continued to operate the tract until about seventeen years ago, when he sold it and purchased fourteen acres, to whose cultivation he devoted the next ten years. Retiring, he removed to Orwigsburg, where he bought a home from his son-in-law, Mr. Heine. He is a member of the Evangelical Church and a regular attendant at its services, contributing his share towards the support of the organization and its enterprises. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Moyer married Mary Ann Lessig, who was born Feb. 7, 1847, at Pottstown, Pa., daughter of James B. and Susanna ( Baum) Lessig, and died Sept. 23, 1902. She is buried at Zion's (Red) Church in West Brunswick township. To this union were born the following children: Susanna is the wife of Allen McAllister, of Pottsville, Pa .; Walter L., who resides at Schuyl- kill Haven and is engaged in the operation of a jitney bus between that place and Pottsville, married Lizzie Moyer; George L., who is deceased, married Queenie Kircher, who lives at Pottsville; Fannie is Mrs. Francis W. Heine ; Carrie, deceased, was the wife of Albert Redford, of New Jersey ; Katie died when ten years old ; Mamie died when six months old; Robert died when one month old. Since his first wife's death Mr. Moyer has married twice, his third wife being Katie Smith. There are no children by this marriage.
THOMAS D. DAVIS, postmaster at Girardville, Schuylkill county, was born June 18, 1873, son of Thomas D. and Gwenney (James) Davis, the family being of Welsh descent.
David Davis, the grandfather of Thomas D. Davis, was a native of Aber- dare, Wales. He came to America in 1863 and settled in Schuylkill county, Pa., near Minersville, where he engaged in mining the rest of his life, being killed in an accident in the mines soon after he came to this section. His wife died at Scranton, where she had gone to visit her daughter. Both were buried at Minersville, Schuylkill county. David Davis was married to Mary Cromage, a native of the same town in Wales as her husband.
Thomas D. Davis, father of Thomas D. Davis, was born in Aberdare, Wales, and was a miner by occupation. He grew up in that county and was married there to Gwenney, daughter of Thomas and Jeannette James, both natives of Wales. To this union were born thirteen children: (I) Mary Ann, deceased, was born in Wales. (2) Elizabeth, wife of William Davis, was the first child of the family born in this country. She resides in Phila- delphia. (3) David is a resident of Girardville, Pa. (4) Jeannette, now de- ceased, was the wife of Harvey Williams, of Girardville. (5) John is deceased. (6) Thomas, also deceased, passed away in youth, as did his brother John, their deaths occurring but three weeks apart. (7) Thomas David is mentioned below. (8) One child died in infancy. (9) Margaret is the wife of Harvey C. Bleam, of Philadelphia. (10) Gwenney is the wife
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of Alfred C. Bennie, of Washington, D. C. (II) Lewis resides in Girard- ville. (12) William is a resident of Philadelphia. (13) George lives at Shamokin, Pa. Mr. Davis was engaged in mining until he partially lost his eyesight. In 1868 he removed to Girardville and engaged in the hotel business, conducting it until his death in 1892, from pneumonia.
Thomas D. Davis attended the public schools of Girardville, and at the age of sixteen began work in the mines. He followed this occupation until his twenty-first year, when he took charge of the hotel so long conducted by his father, managing it for his mother fifteen years very successfully. On May 14, 1908, Mr. Davis was appointed postmaster of Girardville by President Roosevelt, and on April 5, 1912, was reappointed to the position by President Taft, being still in office in 1914. On April 27, 1904, Mr. Davis was united in marriage to Bessie Mae Gallagher, and they have two children, George and Helen. Mrs. Davis is a daughter of Robert and Sarah (Neiffert) Galla- gher, of Tamaqua, old settlers in this county, Mr. Gallagher having been many years an engineer on the Reading railroad; and he is now a stationary engineer at Tamaqua. Mrs. Gallagher died Sept. I. 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher had children as follows: Emma is the wife of David Stahler, of Tamaqua; John resides in Tamaqua; Carrie is the wife of Jacob Henry, of Tamaqua; Bessie Mae is Mrs. Davis; Ella is the wife of William Horan, of Tamaqua; Etta is unmarried and resides in Philadelphia; Annabelle is the wife of Edgar Roberts, of Detroit, Michigan.
Mr. Davis is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Ashland, of Girard Hose Company, No. I, of Girardville, and of the Foresters of America, of which latter organization he has for some years been treasurer. He belongs to the Baptist Church, and in politics is a Re- publican. Like many of the Welsh he is a thorough musician, and he is noted for his ability in that line throughout the county. He enlisted during the Spanish-American war as a musician, and served throughout that brief struggle.
REV. CLEMENT D. KRESSLEY, A. M., of Hegins, Schuylkill county, is pastor of the Reformed Church in the Deep Creek charge, where his devo- tion to his individual responsibilities and encouragement of all good movements have won him the loyal support of his parishioners and the esteem of every citizen of the community.
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Mr. Kressley belongs to an old Pennsylvania family supposedly of Swiss origin. It is thought that they moved from Switzerland to Germany, whence the ancestors of the branch here under consideration came to America. The family was settled in Lehigh county, Pa., at an early day, where lived Jonathan Kressley (grandfather of Rev. Mr. Kressley), who later moved to Carbon county, this State, where he died. By occupation he was a farmer and carpet weaver.
Daniel Kressley, father of Clement D. Kressley, was born in the town of Lynnport, in Lehigh county, Pa. He received an excellent education, and taught school for many years in Carbon county, where he is now living retired from business, though active physically. A good farmer in early life, he is still interested in agriculture, owning a good farm. His experience as an educator has been useful to his fellow citizens of his home township, where he has been called upon for service as school director and secretary of the local board. He is also active in religious work as a member of the Lutheran
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Church, of which he is at present an elder and one of the board of trustees. During the Civil war Mr. Kressley served the Union cause under two enlist- ments. He was but eighteen years old when he first volunteered, from Carbon county, as a member of the 132d Pennsylvania Volunteers, with which he took part in the battle of Gettysburg, as well as other engagements. He was a corporal at the time of his discharge. On Aug. 25, 1864, he joined Com- pany A, 202d Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, as corporal, and served with that command until honorably discharged, Aug. 3, 1865.
Mr. Kressley married Mary Ann Dilcher, who was born in the Mahoning valley, in Carbon county, daughter of Gabriel Dilcher, a native of Northampton county, Pa., whence he removed to Carbon county at an early day. He acquired extensive and valuable farming interests in the Mahoning valley there. Mr. and Mrs. Kressley are the parents of twelve children: Emma L., the eldest, is the wife of John Erwin, of Summit Hill, Carbon county; Clement D. is next in the family ; one son died in infancy; Thomas Marcus is a minister of the German Reformed Church, located at Coopersburg, Lehigh county, Pa .; Cora Elizabeth is deceased; Mary Adella is deceased; a son died in infancy; Bessie Clara is the wife of Charles D. Gerber, of New Mahoning, Carbon county, who is in business as a saddler and officiates as justice of the peace; Ella Bertha is the wife of William H. Miller, a painter, of New Mahoning, at present serving as a school director and as an elder in the Reformed Church ; Caroline Rebecca, formerly a school teacher, is the wife of Walter McClean, a farmer and butcher in the New Mahoning valley, in the locality known as Beck's Church (so called from the leading church in the "valley, the old historic organization known as St. John's Reformed Church, whose house of worship stands on land presented for its site by the great- grandfather of Clement D. Kressley) ; Esther Susanna is the wife of Frank Steigerwalt, a farmer of Andreas, Schuylkill county; Florence Chriscilla is the wife of Edgar Reed, and they are located on the old Kressley family homestead.
Clement D. Kressley was born Aug. 29, 1869, in what was then known as the Mahoning Valley near New Mahoning post office in Carbon county, and obtained his early education in the public schools there. Later he attended a select school at Normal, Carbon county, and subsequently taught for two years, at Beaver Run and Strauses Valley. Meantime he also did farmi work. He pursued his classical studies at the Palatinate College, at Myers- town, Pa. (now known as Albright College and under the Evangelical Church), and at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., both under the super- vision of the Reformed Church, graduating from the latter institution June 5, 1894, with the degree of A. B. The same year he entered the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church of the United States at Lancaster, from which he was graduated May 13, 1897. On June 20th he accepted a call from the Line Mountain charge, in Northumberland county, Pa., and took up the labors of his first charge without delay. The association proved most agreeable and was continued over a period of more than ten years, until Dec. 31, 1907. Meantime he had made arrangements for his removal to Hegins as pastor of the Deep Creek charge, which he has been serving since Jan. I, 1908. The pastorate includes six churches : Frieden's at Hegins ; St. Paul's, at Sacramento ; St. Matthew's, at Scheibs; Zion's, at Klingers (now Erdman) ; Christ congregation at Fountain; and St. John's, at Taylorsville, besides a preaching point. Valley View. Though Mr. Kressley's duties are numerous
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and the claims upon his time are constant, as may be judged, he has by indefatigable attention to his responsibilities not only kept abreast of his work but in advance of its demands, anticipating the growth of the various interests intrusted to him. He has been the leader, personally, in many of the most important changes which have taken place during his administration, and in much of the development which has made the history of the parish in that period. Mr. Kressley received the degree of A. M. in course for special work done from Franklin and Marshall College in 1904. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. lodge at Hegins and of the council of the Royal Arcanum at Tre- mont, this county.
On Dec. 25, 1889, Mr. Kressley was married to Elmira Nothstein, of the New Mahoning valley, Carbon county, daughter of Jacob and Matilda (Arner) Nothstein, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Nothstein was a Union veteran of the Civil war, taking part in the battle of Antietam and other engagements. He was a farmer and boatman all his life. Mr. and Mrs. Nothstein had a family of nine children: Franklin Monroe, the eldest, was drowned some years ago in the Lehigh canal; Martha is deceased; Nelson Thomas, who died in July, 1913, lived on the old homestead; Milton William is engaged in general farming and dairying in the New Mahoning valley; Emma Sura is the wife of S. C. Sterner, of Mauch Chunk, Pa. (his father was a soldier in the Civil war) ; Elmira is Mrs. Kressley ; Edwin is deceased ; George Washington is a resident of Newark, N. J .; William Jacob died in California.
Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kressley: Clarmont A., who taught school three years, is a graduate of Mercersburg Academy and at present a student at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa., a member of the Junior class (he has taught school in Northumberland and Schuylkill counties) ; Clement D. J. is a graduate of the Hegins high school and at present in Franklin and Marshall Academy, Lancaster, Pa .; Ruth M. is a graduate of the Hegins high school and at present pursuing post-graduate work there; Naomi B. is at this time attending school and expects soon to graduate from the high school at Hegins. All members of the family are accomplished in music, all being good singers, the boys being in the glee clubs in the institutions where they attend school, and all play the piano and string instruments.
ISAAC C. BITTLE holds a leading place among the progressive farmers of Wayne township, having one of the finest farms in his section of Schuyl- kill county. Practically all the improvements on this property have been planned and executed by him, and its present condition is as much an illus- tration of his enterprise and intelligence as it is of the value of modern methods. Mr. Bittle spent ten years of his life in mechanical pursuits, and the experience he acquired during that period has helped him greatly since he returned to agriculture, in which line he has found many occasions for the application of the ideas gained in shop work.
Mr. Bittle was born in North Manheim township, this county, Dec. 18. 1853, son of John K. and Sophia (Zerbey) Bittle, and belongs to an old Pennsylvania family established in the Commonwealth in the middle of the eighteenth century by his ancestor Christopher Bittle, who arrived in America Sept. 24, 1753, landing at Philadelphia. His name on the ship's list is spelled Christopher Büttel. At that time he was only a boy. He first located at
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Quakertown, near Philadelphia, and for a time he was employed upon a farm. Later he married a Miss Neiman, and settled at Pottstown, Pa., where he purchased a farm upon which he lived for a while. Selling out, he came to what is now Schuylkill county, locating on Summer mountain, about a half mile east of Schuylkill Haven, where he bought the farm later owned by the Henney and Reber families, situated in South Manheim township. He sold that property and removed to North Manheim township, where he settled on a tract lying along the road leading from Schuylkill Haven to Cressona, later known as the old Bartolette farm. When he sold this he bought a farm property near Minersville (in the same locality as the old Thomas Shollen- berger tract), and it was there his death occurred. The place afterwards became known as the James farm. Besides farming, Christopher Bittle was engaged to a considerable extent in cutting timber, owning and operating an old-time sawmill, cutting his timber and floating it down the Schuylkill river. He had the following children: John; Jacob, who was a farmer in Long Run valley, near Schuylkill Haven, and died there; Henry, who was the owner of the well known Weissinger farm in North Manheim township, Schuylkill county ; Jonathan, who lived and died in Panther valley, Schuylkill county ; Maria, Mrs. John Strauch; Molly, Mrs. John Pott; Kate, Mrs. Weaver; Elizabeth, Mrs. Weaver; Rebecca, who married Squire Jacob Reed; Sarah, Mrs. Thomas Jennings ; and Eva, Mrs. Werner (she and her husband went by wagon to Ohio and were among the early settlers at Circleville, where they left descendants).
Jacob Bittle, son of Christopher, was the grandfather of Isaac C. Bittle. Born in North Manheim township, he accompanied his father on the latter's various removals, and for a time followed farming on the tract near Miners- ville. Later he bought a farm in Long Run valley, North Manheim township, cleared off the timber, and spent the remainder of his life in its cultivation, dying there when eighty-eight years old. His wife, who was a member of the well known Clouser family of Llewellyn, Schuylkill county, did not attain so advanced an age. They are buried in the old cemetery at Schuylkill Haven. The following children were born to them: William; Jacob, who died in Schuylkill county ; John K., who died on the homestead; Andrew, who died at Schuylkill Haven; Maria, who first married a Zerbe, later a Berger; Katie, wife of Isaac Berger; Tina, wife of Gabriel Groan; and Sallie, wife of Isaac Ely.
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