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 II > Part 7
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OHMarshall
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tion as bookkeeper with Horton Brothers, of Brockport, Pa., with whom he remained for one year. He next returned to Brockwayville and took charge of the books in Bond & Cooper's hardware store, remaining with them until May, 1892, whn he was offered the position of bookkeeper in the Brockway- ville Bank. He held this position until October, 1895, when, though but twenty-nine years old, he was elected cashier. In 1900 he formed a partner- ship with R. L. Buzzard and W. G. McCain and bought up all the shares of the bank.
In July, 1900, Mr. Marshall promoted the First National Bank of Brock- wayville, was one of the largest stockholders, and took the responsible position of cashier and director. His activities seemed to be but commenced, for in the year 1904 he assisted in the organization of the DuBois National Bank, of which he became assistant cashier. In 1907 he saw the opportunity and again assisted in the formation of a bank, this time at Pottsville. With a capital of $125,000 and a surplus of $25,000, the new bank was firmly estab- lished, Mr. Marshall taking the position of cashier (and also director), which he holds at the present time. The Merchants' National Bank is one of the most substantial in the State, and to the financial acumen and clear discern- ment of Charles H. Marshall a great part of its prosperity is due. Concerning the many industrial enterprises in which he is interested, it is unnecessary to go into detail. Suffice it to say he is always prepared to finance any industry of benefit to the community and takes a warm personal interest in building up his adopted town, industrially and socially.
On March 24, 1891, Mr. Marshall was married to Elizabeth Biddle, daugh- ter of Nelson Biddle, of Mifflinburg, Union Co., Pa., and they have one child, Anna Marshall. Politically Mr. Marshall is a Republican. He held several borough offices while in Brockwayville, being the youngest burgess ever elected in that borough. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Potts- ville, of the Pottsville Club, and of the Acorn Club of DuBois. He was for- merly a member of Knapp Commandery, No. 40, Knights Templar, of Ridg- way, but transferred his membership from that Commandery to Bethany Commandery, No. 83, of DuBois, of which he was a charter member. He still belongs to Elk Chapter, No. 230, and Elk Lodge, No. 379, F. & A. M., both of Ridgway, Pa., and also holds membership in ZemZem Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Erie.
WILLIAM HORN, of Sheppton, has held an honored place in that town and the adjacent part of Schuylkill county for many years, his business and official duties bringing him into contact with a large proportion of his fellow citizens. He was born March 10, 1840, at Pine Grove, Schuylkill county, and the family has been here since his grandfather's time. So far as is known, his great-grandfather came from the North of Ireland.
William Horn, the grandfather, was born in the State of New Jersey, was a shoemaker by trade, and died in 1847, at the age of sixty-five years. Com- ing to Pennsylvania, he settled near Reading, in Berks county, was married in that county, and thence removed to Pine Grove township, Schuylkill county. where he became a well known citizen, serving that township as a justice of the peace for a number of years. He was located near the Lauberry mines, and followed shoemaking all his life. His wife, Elizabeth (Bretz), died when about sixty-five years old. Their children were: Daniel; Mary; Abraham ; Joseph : John; William; Sarah, Mrs. Fisher, a widow, now residing with her Vol. II-3
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daughter at No. 2 Patch, in Bear Valley, near Shamokin, Northumberland Co., Pa .; Jerusha, who married John Elder (he is deceased) ; and Eliza. At this writing (1915) Mrs. Sarah Fisher is the only survivor of the family. Mr. and Mrs. William Horn are buried in Pine Grove township, this county. He was a Democrat in political opinion.
Daniel Horn, son of William and Elizabeth (Bretz) Horn, was born March 16, 1815, near Reading, and lived to the age of ninety-three years, eleven months, twenty-three days, passing away March 7, 1909. The neigh- borhood at that time offered no educational advantages, and he began work early. He lived in Berks county until twenty-one years of age, and was there employed in chopping wood for the charcoal furnaces. Coming to Pine Grove township, Schuylkill county, he found work as a miner at the Lauberry mines . for a short time, later buying a team and hauling coal on the Mine Hill road, from Llewellyn to the canal dock at Schuylkill Haven. This was before the locomotive came into use on that road. He entered into a contract with the Hibners Coal Company to furnish mine timber, and was so occupied two years, then removing to Tamaqua, this county, where he worked a little while on the Little Schuylkill railroad. Later he took a contract to furnish cordwood for their wood-burning locomotives which he kept for five years, in 1863 moving to Mahanoy City, where he obtained the position of chute boss at the Hill & Harris colliery, remaining there for the next seventeen years. At the end of that period he retired and for a time lived at Shenandoah, moved thence to East Union township, and a short time before his death took up his resi- dence with his daughter Laura, Mrs. Charles Schreaves, in Shenandoah, at whose home he died. Mr. Horn married Susanna Feger, who was born Dec. 27, 1813, near Reading, Pa., and survived him a few months, dying June 17, 1909. They are buried in the Evangelical Church cemetery near Ringtown. He was a member of that denomination. In politics Mr. Horn was originally a Democrat, but after his son William returned from his service with the Union army he turned Republican. A large family was born to Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Horn: Sarah E. (deceased), was the wife of David Faust, of Canden, N. J., a fire insurance broker; William is mentioned below ; Henry, Clara and Franklin died young ; Daniel A. was accidentally killed at Atlanta, Ga., in 1887 (he married Mary Brannigan, and left four children) ; Maria married Daniel D. Kirby, publisher of the Salem Herald, of Salem, Ohio, and they have two children; Matilda married Alton O. Crobaugh, and they have one child (he is watchman at the Knickerbocker colliery, Shenandoah) ; Joseph died young ; Laura married Charles Schreaves, of Shenandoah, a watchman.
Jacob Feger, father of Mrs. Susanna (Feger) Horn, was a native of Berks county, Pa., where he lived until after his marriage. He owned and operated a paper mill there, and moved thence to Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill county. During one governor's term he was doorkeeper of the House of Representa- tives at Harrisburg. This was during the middle fifties. Later he was elected prothonotary of Schuylkill county, in which office he served one term. Polit- ically he was a Democrat, in religion a member of the Evangelical Church. He and his wife, Elizabeth (Yergy), both died at the age of seventy-four years, and they are buried at Spring Garden, Schuylkill Haven. They had children as follows: William; Joseph, who married a Miss Mills; Franklin, who married Sarah Johnson; Susanna, who married Daniel Horn; Matilda, who married Cornelius Hoffman; Priscilla, who married George K. Reed;
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Eliza, who married Morgan Saylor; Amanda, who married Emmanuel Pflueger ; and Abigail, who married William Spangler.
William Horn was reared at Tamaqua and Llewellyn, where he attended public school until he reached the age of twelve years. He has made his own way in the world since. His first employment was as water boy for a gang of trackmen building the Philadelphia & Reading road, the part then known as the Little Schuylkill. As he became able to assume more responsibility he was given work as a trackman, working as such until he reached his twenty- first year .. At that time came the first call for volunteers to defend the Union, and Mr. Horn was a member of the local organization known as the Scott Rifles, formed at Tamaqua, and mustered into the United States service as Company C, Ioth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Their service was for ninety days, at the end of which term he reenlisted, joining Company H, 96th Pennsylvania Infantry, after a three weeks' furlough. The company was first under the command of Capt. Henry Hipple, and after his resignation under Henry Royer. The regiment left Pottsville Nov. 8, 1861, proceeded by way of Gordon Plane and Shamokin to Washington, D. C., and thence into camp at Bladensburg, Md. It was then moved across the Long bridge into Vir- ginia, beyond Fairfax Seminary. Col. Henry L. Cake, commanding the regi- ment, named the new location Camp Northumberland, in honor of his home county. Up to this time the command had been engaged principally in picket duty. Shortly afterwards the regiment was sent by boat to Fortress Monroe, and after the evacuation of Yorktown went up the York river to West Point, where it had a slight skirmish with the Confederate rear guard. From West Point it went on to White House Landing, thence to Mechanicsville, where it was in camp for a short time, moving across the Chickahominy river to Savage Station. It participated with McClellan in the Peninsular cam- paign. On June 27, 1862, it formed the extreme right of the Federal line at Gaines' Mill, and the following day supported the batteries at White Oak Swamp. At Malvern Hill it again had the extreme right of the line, and with the rest of the army fell back when that engagement was over. After participating in the second battle of Bull Run the 6th Corps, to which the 96th had been assigned, was moved to help intercept the Confederate move- ment into Maryland. On Sept. 14th was fought the battle of South Mountain. Mr. Horn's company took part in the gallant charge up the slope, with the final result of a decisive Federal victory, going into the charge with forty- eight men, of which twenty-four were killed or wounded. He received a gunshot wound in the breast, so severe that the army surgeons did not expect him to live, and he spent three months in hospital at Burketsville and Fred- erick, Md. When discharged from the hospital he was so weakened by his injuries as to be incapacitated for further service, and he returned to Tamaqua.
For a time Mr. Horn tried railroad work, but found he was in no con- dition to stand it. Then he went to Mahanoy City and took a position at hoisting, on a coal plane, remaining there seven years. In 1871 he went out to Missouri, where he expected to do farm work, but it was too much for his strength, and after fourteen months in that section he returned to Mahanoy City, where he found employment issuing supplies to miners, shipping coal, at the Mahanoy City colliery. The superintendent of this colliery later asked him to take the position of foreman at the Elmwood colliery, Mahanoy City, where he continued for five years, being afterwards sent to the Indian Ridge colliery, where he was outside foreman for five years. Meantime he had
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bought a farm of 103 acres in East Union township, and his father-in-law, Aaron Van Horn, operated the place for five years, Mr. Horn having stocked it after it came into his possession. When he resigned his position at the Indian Ridge colliery he moved to the farm, and lived there for three years, though he had nothing to do with its cultivation. He still owns eighty-five acres of the place (having given the rest to his daughter), and has fifty acres of his property cleared, the farm being now rented and operated by John Kahley.
Mr. Horn has been quite closely connected with the administration of local affairs. In 1887 he was elected justice of the peace, for East Union township, and accordingly opened an office at Sheppton, to which town he subsequently removed. By repeated reelections he continued to fill the office for a quarter of a century, closing his duties in January, 1913. He is still acting as a notary public, deputy coroner (which office he has held twelve years) and register of births and deaths, and has also been school director, supervisor and judge of election. In politics he has always been associated with the Republican party. For a number of years he has carried on business as an insurance broker and real estate dealer, collects rents, and is agent for the local sewer.
Mr. Horn has always kept in touch with social and church enterprises. He is a member of Watkin Waters Post, No. 146, G. A. R., of Shenandoah, and has been guard of that post; formerly he held membership in General Grant Lodge, No. 575, I. O. O. F., of Mahanoy City. He is a zealous member of the Evangelical denomination, now connected with the church at Shenandoah, and has served as exhorter and class leader at both Shenandoah and Mahanoy City.
In 1863 Mr. Horn was married, at Tamaqua, to Rebecca Margaret Van Horn, who was born March 8, 1842, in Salem township, Luzerne Co., Pa., and shortly afterwards they moved to Mahanoy City. They have had four children : Ella, born June 14, 1864, died Jan. 30, 1910; she was the wife of H. F. Faust, of Camden, N. J., an employe of the Victor Talking Machine Company, and the mother of one child, Roy Brenton, born in 1892, who mar- ried Sallie Kunkel and has one child, Earl; they live at Camden. William F., born April 14, 1868, is outside foreman at the Oneida colliery in East Union township, Schuylkill county; he married Sarah Alvaretta Rich, who died Jan. 31, 1908, the mother of these children: Duane, Auber, Retta, Grace, Bessie, Florence, and one that died unnamed. Bessie Van Horn, born July 25, 1873, is the wife of Benjamin F. Van Horn, a carpenter in East Union township; they have had children, Guy (deceased), Sylvester (deceased), Leslie, Margaret and Althea. Rev. Leo D., born Jan. 1, 1882, is a Reformed clergyman now stationed at McConnellstown, Huntingdon Co., Pa .; he mar- ried Pearl Kahley, and their children are Vernon M., Daisy May and Merl.
Mrs. Rebecca Margaret (Van Horn) Horn was educated at Tamaqua, to which place her parents removed in 1846. She is a member of the Evangelical Church, her last association being with the organization at Shenandoah, where she still retains' membership. Mrs. Horn is a daughter of Aaron Van Horn and a granddaughter of Nicholas Van Horn, who was born near New York City and was of Holland-Dutch stock. By trade he was a cooper. Coming to Northampton county, Pa., he followed his trade for a time, later bought a farm in Salem township, Luzerne county, and moving to that property spent the remainder of his life there, engaged in farming. At one time he owned
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considerable land now included in the site of New York City. He and his wife, whose maiden name was Shobert, are buried in Salem township, Luzerne county. He was a Democrat politically, and a Presbyterian in religious faith. His children were: George, who married Phoebe Titus; Aaron; John, who did not marry; Mary, Mrs. Isaac Titus; Anne, Mrs. William Thomas; Eliz- abeth, Mrs. George Hughes ; and Catherine, who died unmarried.
Aaron Van Horn, Mrs. Horn's father, was born in April, 1820, at Pocono Mountain, Northampton Co., Pa., and died in June, 1893, on a farm in East Union township, Schuylkill county. He learned coopering with his father, and later followed the carpenter's trade. Moving to Salem township, Luzerne county, he operated his father's farm, the property coming to him at the latter's death, and thence moved to Tamaqua. For a time he was engaged as a carpenter by the Little Schuylkill Railway Company. Then he went out to Missouri, where he rented a farm seven miles from Chillicothe, remain- ing there nine years, and on his return to Schuylkill county he was a car- penter at the Mahanoy City collieries for a while. But he was anxious to get on a farm again, so his son-in-law, William Horn, bought the place in East Union township previously mentioned, and Mr. Van Horn moved thereon, operating the tract for five years. It was there he died. He married Eliz- abeth Titus, who was born in January, 1826, in Nescopeck township, Luzerne county, and died March 12, 1854, the mother of six children: Rebecca Mar- garet, Mrs. William Horn; Phoebe Ann, who died young; Daniel, unmar- ried, who lives in East Union township; George W., who died in infancy ; Nicholas James, who died in infancy; and Mary C., Mrs. Morris Marsh, living in Connecticut. Mrs. Van Horn was buried in the Methodist cemetery at Tamaqua, and Mr. Van Horn in the Union graveyard at Brandonville, in East Union township. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, and a Republican in his political views.
Samuel Titus, father of Mrs. Elizabeth (Titus) Van Horn, was born in Nescopeck township, Luzerne county, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. He was engaged as a fisherman on the Susquehanna in the days when salmon were plentiful there, and was drowned in that river. He is buried in Nescopeck township. Mr. Titus belonged to the Presbyterian Church. His children were: Isaac, Daniel, George and Albert (who went out west when young), Elizabeth (Mrs. Van Horn), Phoebe (who married George Van Horn) and Mary (Mrs. Hiram Murray).
LEVI MILLER, deceased, who was for many years identified with the business and financial interests of Schuylkill county, was born at Pine Grove, this county, in January, 1853, son of Levi and Mary (Ruth) Miller.
Levi Miller, the father, was for a long period engaged in business opera- tions in Schuylkill county and was a prominent, wealthy and influential citizen. He died in August, 1887, his wife about two years before. Their children were: Daniel R., who died in 1902; George, who died in 1877; Catherine, also deceased; and Levi.
After attending the local schools of Pine Grove Levi Miller entered Mer- cersburg College and was duly graduated therefrom, and subsequently with his father and brother Daniel R. was engaged in coal mining, in the operation of the Lincoln and New Lincoln collieries. Their offices were in the brick mansion opposite the "Filbert House," now owned by Justice Gregory Achen- bach, where the Miller Estate continued to maintain offices for some time. The
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firm operating under the name of Miller, Filbert & Company also conducted a large business, and was located in the building afterwards occupied by the concern of Christ & Rehrer. Mr. Miller was identified with and a director of the Pennsylvania Trust Company, of Reading, and the Pennsylvania National Bank, of Pottsville, for many years, but had resigned from the latter the year before his death. Politically he was a Republican, and fraternally was connected with Lodge No. 49, F. & A. M., being also a thirty-second-degree Mason ; he was a member of Camp No. 49, Patriotic Order Sons of America. He served on the school board and assisted the community in every possible way, and was prominently connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he and the other members of his family have always been liberal supporters.
Mr. Miller had a large relationship, his family connections reaching to distant points in this and other States, and his sudden death, July 31, '1910, was a shock not only to his immediate relations and to the community, but to a wide circle of friends. Mr. Miller was laid to rest in the New Lutheran Cemetery.
In 1874 Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Emma Eaton, of Landis- burg, Pa., who survives him. Two children were born to this union: Ralph E. ; and Mary Ruth, who died in March, 1906.
Dr. Ralph E. Miller began his education in the public schools of Pine Grove, and after graduation from the medical department of the University of Penn- sylvania served as an interne at the Wilkes-Barre hospital. In July. 1905, he took up his residence at Bloomsburg, Pa., where he has since been in the enjoy- ment of a large and representative professional business. Dr. Miller married Janette Nigton, of Pine Grove, and they are the parents of two children : Ralph E., Jr., and Mary Ruth.
ALVIN KISTLER, owner of a large tract of land in West Penn town- ship, and one of the progressive young farmers of that section, has many of the characteristics which have come to be associated with the name he bears. The Kistlers in this part of Schuylkill county are a branch of an old Berks county family founded in this country by Johannes or John George Kistler, and are people of high character and the sterling qualities pertaining to good citizenship and helpful lives.
On the records of the Jerusalem Church in Albany township, Berks county, known in the eighteenth century as the Allemangel Church, there are recorded the baptisms of hundreds of the Kistler children, while in the cemetery under the shadow of the church are many graves marked with the same name. Near the center of the oldest part of the cemetery lies a slate stone (which is now being replaced by the descendants with a marble slab) bearing the inscription "I. G. K. 1767." This is supposed to be the stone that marked the burial place of the progenitor of the American Kistlers, who was legally known as Johannes, but was called Joerg or George by Pastor Schumacher in his record and Hanjoerg or John George by his neighbors.
Johannes Kistler was a native of the Palatinate, in Germany. On Oct. 5, 1737, he came in the ship "Townshead" from Amsterdam to. Philadelphia, and soon after to Falkner Swamp, or Goshenhoppen, in what is now Mont- gomery county, Pa. It is supposed he was accompanied by his wife, Anna Dorothea, and his oldest children. In 1747 he took out a warrant for land and moved to Albany township, Berks county, then wild and barren, where he
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made his permanent home .. The vicinity was named "Allemangel" or "All Wants." Johannes Kistler was taxed in 1756 in Albany township, and was naturalized in 1761, on Sept. 10th of which year he and his neighbor, Michael Brobst, appeared before the Supreme court at Philadelphia, and there received the papers which made them citizens of Pennsylvania. He was a Lutheran, and served for a number of years as elder of the Allemangel Church, where his children were baptized and confirmed. His children were: (1) Jacob left seven children, Philip, Jacob, Michael, Solomon, Daniel, Catharine and Magda- lene. Samuel Kistler Brobst, a teacher of James A. Garfield, was a grand- son of Philip; and so was Michael Kistler, the tanner, whose son Stephen was at one time the most extensive tanner in eastern Pennsylvania. (2) John remained on the homestead after his father's death. The name John runs through at least five generations and the trade of blacksmith follows it. John's children were: John William, born May 29, 1757; and Abraham, born Dec. 20, 1761, who is the ancestor of the Perry county Kistlers, for whom Kistler post office was named. A descendant, Rev. Dr. John Kistler, has for many years been professor at the oldest Lutheran Theological Seminary in America, located at Hartwick, N. J. (3) George remained in Berks county. In 1779 he was the owner of 248 acres of land and a gristmill. In 1778 he was elected elder of the Allemangel Church, and as he was referred to as George Kistler, Sr., he doubtless had a son George. The archives of Pennsylvania show that a George Kistler served in the Continental army during the war of the Revolution. (4) Philip, born Oct. 19, 1745, is next in the line we are tracing. (5) Michael moved to Ohio, and is the ancestor of the large Kistler settlements in Indiana. His family consisted of John, Michael, Joseph, Nathan, Monroe, Salome and Judith. (6) Samuel, the youngest son of his father, married Elizabeth Ladich and Catharine Brobst, and had three children by his first marriage and twelve by the second. (7) Barbara married (first) a Brobst and (second) Michael Mosser, of Lowhill. (8) Dorothea married Michael Reinhart. (9) Elizabeth married a Mr. Keller, near Hamburg, Pennsylvania. Philip Kistler, son of George, above, was born Oct. 19, 1745, and died Aug. 28, 1809. He had nine children: Jacob, John, Ferdinand, Philip, Jonathan, Barbara, Maria, Catherine and Elizabeth. Of these, Jacob was a lieutenant in the war of 1812.
Jonathan Kistler, son of Philip, was born Nov. 10, 1799, in Berks county, and was raised on the place where his grandson Charles S. Kistler now lives. He was reared by Jacob Wehr, worked among farmers while young, and after he married started out for himself. In 1829 he built the gristmill which still stands and is known as the Kistler mill. He also became the owner of about two hundred acres of land, a great deal of which he cleared and culti- vated. following milling and farming on this place until his death, which occurred when he was about seventy-nine years of age. His wife, Sarah (Shellhammer), born Aug. 4, 1800, daughter of Simon and Catherine (Long) Shellhammer, died aged eighty-one years. They were the parents of children as follows: Polly married Michael Houser; Rebecca married Jacob Wert- man; Hannah married Joseph Shaeffer; Daniel married Rebecca Sechler ; David, who resides in West Penn township, married Mary Hagenbuch, now deceased; John is mentioned below; William, who was a school teacher, never married; Nathan never married; Jonathan K. married Lydia Shellhammer; Elizabeth married Timothy Zehner. The father retired some years before his death. He took an active part in politics as a member of the Democratic
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