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 85
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88
1191
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
of four years, the size of his majority in these elections indicating the popu- larity in which he is held by his fellow citizens. He has been active in behalf of education and has served several years as a member of the school board.
Mr. Rissinger was married Aug. 31, 1895, to Mabel Saltzer, a daughter of Henry and Isabella (Adams) Saltzer, and to this union there have been born five children : William, who was educated in the public schools and is a car- penter by trade; Gwendolin, who died when nine years old; Joseph, who is a student in the public schools; Jacob, and Isabella. Mr. Rissinger is a promi- nent member of the Reformed Church, and has served as deacon for some time; Mrs. Rissinger is also a member of the Lutheran Church.
WILLIAM D. EVANS, inside foreman at the West Shenandoah colliery, is one of the well known mining men of his section, having devoted his entire career to this line of work. Mr. Evans was born in the south of Wales, Jan. 29, 1864, and is a son of David J. and Ann (Griffiths) Evans.
David J. Evans was born in south Wales and in May, 1865, came to the United States, bringing with him his wife and two children. For two years the family resided at Johnstown, Pa., whence they came to Pottsville, but after a short stay moved to Thomaston, and later to Ashland. At the latter place they remained two years, and then went to Girardville, where Mr. Evans became inside foreman at the Girard colliery, a position which he held at the time of his death. Mrs. Evans was also born in Wales. She became the mother of the following children : Sarah, William D., John T., David, Martha (who died young), Martha (2), Thomas, Daniel and Annie.
William D. Evans attended the public schools of Thomaston, and when still a lad began to pick slate at the mines. After he had worked for a time at the Tunnel colliery, at Ashland, the family moved to Girardville, and there he completed his education in the public schools. Later he secured a position at the Girard colliery, going inside and becoming a door boy. From that humble station he slowly but surely worked his way upward to be assistant inside foreman at the Girard colliery, under John Hanson and district super- intendent Elijah Gregory. Later he was transferred to the East Bear Ridge colliery, at Mahanoy Plane, where he was inside foreman, succeeding the late Thomas Giles. He remained in that capacity from September, 1894, to Feb- ruary, 1911, when he was transferred to the Shenandoah City colliery as inside foreman, and in July, 1915, was transferred to the West Shenandoah colliery, where he has since remained. Mr. Evans is a thoroughly experienced miner, is industrious, energetic and faithful, and is therefore accounted one of his company's valued men. He has a wide acquaintance in the mining dis- trict, and his many friends know him as a man to be trusted in any trans- actions.
Mr. Evans married Annie Davis, who was born in south Wales April 19, 1866, and came to America with her parents when she was a child. Her father was David Davis, who lived at Ashland, Mahanoy Plane and Gilbert- on, and followed mining throughout his active career. He is now retired and lives among his children, his wife being deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Evans there have been born the following children: Sarah J., who married David Lewis ; David, deceased ; Clements ; Harry, Mary and Daniel, deceased ; Blanche, who married David Jones; Roy; Annie, deceased ; and Blodwen.
Mr. Evans takes an active part in the work of the Baptist Church, attend- ing services at Girardville, where he is a deacon and trustee, and where he has
1192
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
been leader of the church choir since his father's death up to the present time. He has also taught a Bible class. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, belong- ing to Shenandoah Lodge and Williamsport Consistory, and also holds mem- bership in Lodge No. 737, I. O. O. F., of Girardville, and the American Druid Society of Shenandoah ; he takes a very active part in their Welsh day outings and Eisteddfods.
FRANK ADAMS, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Porter township, Schuylkill county, was born in that township Oct. 18, 1861, son of Daniel and Eva (Houtz) Adams, and a grandson of John Adams.
Daniel Adams was born in Schuylkill county, Pa., and was a farmer throughout the period of his active life, being the owner of a valuable prop- erty in Porter township at the time of his death. He married Eva Houtz, and they became the parents of the following children: Daniel, who is de- ceased; William; Kate; Elizabeth; John; George; Abraham; Susannah; Ephraim; Frank, and James.
Frank Adams secured ordinary educational advantages in the public schools of Porter township, and passed his boyhood and youth between working on his father's farm and employment at the Brookside colliery. He was subse- quently employed in the mines for twenty-seven years, but eventually returned to the vocation of his fathers, farming, in which he has continued to be engaged to the present time. He owns two good farms in Porter township, both under a high state of cultivation, with modern equipment and build- ings of a substantial and attractive character. He has a high grade of stock, and the appearance of thrift and good judgment of his property shows the owner to be a man of more than ordinary ability as a farmer and business man.
Mr. Adams was married Dec. 24, 1882, to Susan Fetterhoff, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Hoops) Fetterhoff, and to this union there have been born the following children: James A., who married Florence Harder ; Frank A., who married Bertha Paul; Emma J. and Sarah Ellen, who are deceased; Jennie May; Isaac; John D .; George, Charles and Elmer, who are deceased ; Nora ; Dora ; Lester N., and Lillie C. The family are members of the Lutheran Church, of which Mr. Adams has always been a generous supporter. He is one of the progressive men of his community, and his name has always found a place on the list of promoters of public-spirited and beneficial movements.
On the maternal side Mr. Adams is a member of one of the early fam- ilies of Schuylkill county, and one which has contributed to the growth and development of this locality. His grandfather, John Houtz, the pioneer of the name in the Schuylkill valley, was a native of the western part of Berks county, Pa., and as a very early settler came to the William valley in Porter township, where he took up a great tract of land. Later this was cut up into three farms. A farmer by vocation, he was successful in his operations here. Later he moved with his two brothers and their families to Lycoming county, where he also bought a large property and engaged in agricultural pursuits. In his later years he returned to Porter township and purchased another farm, and here continued to be engaged in the tilling of the soil during the remainder of his life. He lived to the advanced age of ninety-three years and was strong and hearty almost up to the day of his death. Mr. Houtz was a man of strength of character and purpose, sturdy, self-reliant and indus-
1193
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
trious, and seemed to delight in overcoming obstacles. He is buried near Tower City, in Porter township. His wife, who before her marriage was a Miss Fisher, also lived to an advanced age, being ninety-seven years old at the time of her demise. They had the following children : Wendel ; Jacob ; Jonathan ; John ; Elizabeth, who married David Hand; Eva, who married Dan- iel Adams; Louisa, who married John Brown; and Mrs. Lucks, who died in Illinois.
Jonathan Houtz, son of John Houtz, the pioneer, was born in Berks county, Pa., and accompanied his father as a youth to Porter township, Schuylkill county, where the greater part of his subsequent life was passed in farming. He accumulated a good property of eighty acres, of which he disposed in the evening of life, and from that time until his death, at the age of eighty- two years, lived in retirement at Orwin. He lies buried there. Like his father, he was a man of substance and worth, and had the entire esteem and confidence of the people among whom his home was made. Mr. Houtz mar- ried a Miss Wolf, and they became the parents of the following children : John, who is deceased; Sophia, who lives at Orwin; Hieronymus, living in Porter township; Nathan and Charles, residents of Clark's valley ; Alice, who is the wife of Lewis Behney ; Priscilla, the wife of Andrew Hand; Massilla, who married Samuel Conrad; and Elizabeth, the wife of Charles Eberts.
REV. FRANCIS PAUL HOLTGREVE, of Shenandoah borough, rector of the German Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family, was born in West- phalia, Germany, Aug. 12, 1869. He there received his preliminary education, later attending the government college of that province, and early in life evi- denced a desire to enter the priesthood of the Catholic Church. He is the only one of his family to come to America, and also the only one to enter the priest- hood. He is a son of Francis and Elizabeth ( Bacher) Holtgreve, natives of Westphalia, and farming people.
Father Holtgreve left Germany when he was twenty-one years of age and came to the United States. Here he entered the Philadelphia Theological Seminary of St. Charles, and later prosecuted his divinity course at Over- brook and was duly ordained to the priesthood. His first appointment was as assistant to Monsignor William Heinen, at St. Joseph's Church, East Mauch Chunk, Pa., where he remained one year, and was next assigned as assistant to Father Deham, in All Saints Church, Bridesburg, Philadelphia, where he was stationed four years. Father Holtgreve's next assignment was to St. John's Church, Pottsville, as assistant to Father Longinus, for eight months, and at the end of that period he became assistant to Rev. Father George Borneman, at St. Paul's Church, Reading, and remained three and a half years. On Jan. 27, 1905, Father Holtgreve came to Shenandoah to become the rector of the Church of the Holy Family.
During the period of Father Holtgreve's ministry many changes have been made at the Church of the Holy Family. In 1914 the church was remodeled and new decorations, altars, etc., were installed. The congregation contains one hundred families, about five hundred souls. In 1906, the year following his arrival at Shenandoah borough, Father Holtgreve built a new church and convent. In 1914. when the church was redecorated, the following assisted and contributed in the work: Christian Schmidt, who gave the main altar as a memorial to his deceased wife, Catherine Bender Schmidt, and the $2,300 organ; Charles Ditchey, who gave the Blessed Virgin altar; P. J. Murphy,
1194
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
who gave the St. Joseph's altar; Jacob Noll, who gave the communion altar ; Mrs. Jacob Noll, who gave two groups of the Holy Family ; Emil Beyer, who gave the Adoring Angels on the left and right of the main altar ; J. J. O'Hearn, the contractor under whose direction the church was built, who gave the door frames leading to the altar; Charles L. Knapp, who gave the Sanctuary lamp; and various others. The walls and ceiling were painted by Berthold Imhoff, of Reading, Pa., and the ceiling represents the Adoration of the Blessed Sacra- ment, containing seventy-two figures and being a magnificent piece of art. Other pictures of saints adorn the ceiling, $1,500 having been donated by Christian Schmidt towards the payment for that work. The windows were donated by the following: Main floor-The Rosary Society, Jacob Noll, Mrs. Graber, P. J. Murphy, John Blickley, Joseph Grosskettler, Arsemius Ploppert, Nicholas Barza, Christian Schmidt, Joseph Bosch, and St. Michael's Society ; gallery-Albert Smith, Male Choir members and Henry Spor.
The Church of the Holy Family is the German Catholic Church in the borough of Shenandoah, and its spiritual and temporal affairs are in a most excellent condition. The parish was organized about the year 1870 and the church building was soon afterwards erected, on Chestnut street. At that time there were to be found in the borough of Shenandoah about thirty-five families of German birth or antecedents, and these formed a part of the German parish at Mahanoy City until 1874, when Fathers Buening and Maus supplied the two congregations until a separate charge at Shenandoah was given to Rev. Father Maurice Graetzer, who remained until February, 1878. Rev. Father Dehun was then installed as pastor and began a long and useful work in this field, continuing in pastoral charge of the parish until his removal to Philadelphia in 1888. He was succeeded by Rev. A. Fretz, under whose charge a new rectory was built. In 1891 he was changed to South Bethlehem, Pa., and was succeeded by Rev. A. Schuettelhoefer, who, in turn, was succeeded at his death, in 1905, by Rev. Francis P. Holtgreve. In 1879 the church edifice was remodeled and was enlarged to accommodate the increasing membership, and at this time the congregation of one hundred families includes some of the Icading people of Shenandoah borough.
B. FRANK GEHRIG came to Schuylkill Haven over sixty years ago, Dec. 2, 1852, and has been so thoroughly associated with the life of the borough, as business man, official and public-spirited citizen, that his record is part of its history. At present, except for his connection with the municipal government as assessor of the North ward, he is living retired. Born Oct. 25, 1832, at Milton, Northumberland Co., Pa., he belongs to a family of German origin which has long been established in Pennsylvania, having settled in Berks county at an early date.
John Gehrig, his grandfather, lived at Leesport, Berks Co., Pa., and kept hotel at that point while the turnpike was under construction in that section. He died there in 1824. His children were: John, George E., Mrs. Beard and Mrs. Sallie Baker.
George E. Gehrig, father of B. Frank Gehrig, was born at Leesport, Berks Co., Pa., Jan. 17, 1801, and spent his early life in Berks county. In 1829 he removed to Milton, Pa., where he kept the "United States Hotel" for some time and later engaged in the milling business, which he continued to follow for a number of years. His death occurred in 1854. His wife, Elizabeth (Huey),
1195
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
died in 1883. They had these children: Jacob, George, B. Frank, Nice, James, Sophia, Joseph, Isaac, Albert and Helen.
B. Frank Gehrig attended the public schools at Milton. When a young man he learned the distilling trade. He came to Schuylkill Haven in 1852 and clerked for three and a half years, after which he engaged in the clothing and notion business, continuing same with success for seven years. For a year afterwards he followed the shipping of coal, and was then employed in the shops at Schuylkill Haven for one year. Then, in company with David Dreibel- bis, he built a factory and engaged in the manufacture of soap, Mr. Gehrig selling out to his partner after conducting the business for one year. He next engaged in droving, traveling through central Pennsylvania buying and selling stock, and was so occupied for several years. For fifteen years following he carried on farming in North Manheim township, and he has since lived retired except for his duties as assessor of the North ward of Schuylkill Haven, which office he has filled for the last sixteen years. For eighteen years he was a member of the borough council, his long continuance in that position being a most substantial evidence of the estimate placed upon his services by his fellow citizens and their confidence in his trustworthiness and ability to handle the affairs of the borough. Politically he is a Republican.
Mr. Gehrig owns the old John Mackey hotel stand at Schuylkill Haven, which was well known in the days of the stagecoach. It is still a fine old build- ing, and the Gehrigs have a comfortable home there. He married Isabella Barr, a daughter of John Barr, formerly of Kutztown, Berks Co., Pa., later of Schuylkill Haven, and she died June 2, 1913. They had a family of six sons : John is deceased ; George E. is living at Schuylkill Haven; William is deceased ; Harry is at home; Robert is a resident of Schuylkill Haven; Edward is at home.
Mr. Gehrig is among the old residents of Schuylkill Haven, and his stories of the early days in this section are highly interesting. He has always taken an active part in every cause for local advancement, and is recognized as a valuable citizen. He is a member of the Lutheran Church.
PATRICK THOMAS HIGGINS, an old-time resident of the borough of Shenandoah, has been a miner from boyhood, having been employed in active work about the mines for the last fifty-two years. He is a man of high char- acter and honorable reputation, gained by his industrious habits and upright- ness in his dealings with all. Mr. Higgins was born at the city of Droghrty, County Louth, Ireland, March 17, 1850, son of Thomas and Mary (Hardiman) Higgins.
Thomas Higgins, the father, was a native of Strokestown, in County Ros- common, Ireland, and lived in that country until after his marriage. Eventu- ally he moved with his family to England, settling in Staffordshire, where he died, at Wolverhampton, when forty years old. By trade he was a stone- mason. He and his wife were strict Catholics in religious faith. Of the chil- dren born to them two lived, Patrick and Mary. Mrs. Higgins remarried in England, in 1855, becoming the wife of John Monaghan, by whom she had one child, Margaret. The family came to America in the summer of 1862. Mrs. Mary (Hardiman) Monaghan, died at the age of seventy-six years in Shenandoah, Pa. Her eldest daughter. Mary, married Michael Reilly, a miner, and they lived and died at Lannigans Patch, which is in the vicinity of Shenan- doah, Schuylkill county. They had a large family, viz .: Margaret, born at
1196
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
St. Clair, this county, married Patrick White, an engineer, of New York City, and they have two children, Harry and Marguerite. Thomas, whose home is at Gallitzin, Pa., is a traveling salesman for an insurance company ; he is married. David, also an insurance agent, residing at Hazleton, Pa., married Ellen Clancey, and they have five daughters, Mary, Helen, Anna, Margaret and Catherine. Mary A. married Dr. Marsden, of Camden, N. J .; they have no children. Catherine married Otto Rueh, who is a lithographer in Pittsburgh, Pa., and they have one child, Frank. Elizabeth was burned to death in childhood. Harry, who is employed as a bartender in New York City, married Anna Gil- roy, and they have two sons, William and Harry. Michael (deceased) was a barber by trade; he married and had one son. Agnes, who is unmarried, resides in New York City, following dressmaking. John, a lawyer, in New York City, is also unmarried. Patrick, who travels for the Prudential Life Insurance Company, is unmarried. Elizabeth is married and lives in Phila- delphia, where her husband is a plain-clothes officer; they have one daughter. Two children died in infancy.
Margaret Monaghan, the only child of the second marriage, was born in 1856 in Staffordshire, England. She has been married twice, but had no chil- dren by her first husband, James Leonard, who died in Shenandoah. On July 16, 1878, she married Edward J. Coyle, who died Oct. 5, 1900. They had a family of nine children, seven sons and two daughters, namely: Edward T., a traveling salesman, of Chicago, unmarried; Mary, wife of John Dalton, ship- ping clerk and general foreman of the Columbia Brewing Company, Shenan- doah; John, an employe of the DuPont Powder Company at Pennsgrove, Pa., unmarried; Bernard P., a miner, unmarried; Alice, wife of Joseph J. Schmicker, one of the proprietors of Schmicker Brothers' hotel, at Reading, Pa. (they have two children, Margaret E. and Wilhelmina M.); James J., living at Reading, who is married and has two children, Alice and Margaret; Joseph D., a photographer of Philadelphia, unmarried; Philip A., who is with the DuPont Powder Company at Pennsgrove, Pa .; and Arthur J., a clerk in Philadelphia, unmarried.
Patrick Thomas Higgins came to the United States in the summer of 1862 with his mother and stepfather and sister, the family sailing from Liverpool on the steamship "Columbia," which landed them at New York City. Thence they continued to Pottsville, Schuylkill Co., Pa., and soon afterwards located at Lannigans Patch, now known as Ellangowan, one mile from Shenandoah, this county, which latter town was then a very small place, with little to fore- cast its present condition and appearance. It was not long before Patrick T. Higgins began work there as a slate picker at Ellangowan, later being em- ployed as driver, laborer and miner. In the year 1867 the family removed to Youngstown, Ohio, and he accompanied them to that place, where he remained two years, employed as puddler's helper at the rolling mills and blast furnaces. Returning alone to Lannigans Patch, he resumed mine work, driving gang- ways, sinking shafts, etc. In 1874 the family settled at Shenandoah, but meantime, in 1873, he had gone to Shamokin, Northumberland Co., Pa., where he worked for a few years at the Enterprise colliery, robbing pillars. After his marriage, which took place at Shamokin, Oct. 16, 1876, he came to Shenan- doah, where he has since maintained his home. For twenty-four years he was engaged at the Shenandoah City colliery under Fred Carl, was subsequently at Indian Ridge, mining and repairing, and at the Plank Ridge, St. Nicholas, Suffolk, Bear Run, Knickerbocker, Kohinoor and West Shenandoah collieries,
1197
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
at the latter doing timbering, or construction work. In every connection he has been considered a dependable man, and one of the steadiest character.
On Oct. 16, 1876, Mr. Higgins married Mary Ann Dowd, the ceremony being performed in St. Edward's Catholic Church at Shamokin, by Rev. Father Joseph Koch. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins live at No. 231 East Coal street, Shenan- doah. The following children have been born to them: Thomas, born May 27, 1878, died unmarried May 19, 1908; he was a freight conductor on the Pennsylvania railroad, and was killed drilling cars on the railroad. John, born Sept. 19, 1879, died Friday Aug. 13, 1880. William, born May 15, 1881, attended school in Shenandoah, has worked in nearly all the local collieries in the various capacities from slate picker up, and is now a miner at No. 3 colliery of the Lehigh Company ; he is a member of the T. A. B. Society of the Church of the Annunciation, of Division No. 2, A. O. H., Shenandoah Court, No. 244, Foresters of America, and of Local No. 1,509, United Mine Workers, Shenandoah. Mary, born April 26, 1883, died Aug. 3, 1884. Kather- ine, born Feb. 18, 1886, died in March, 1889. Margaretta, born March 19, 1890, married John Gibbons, of Schenectady, N. Y., and they have one daugh- ter, Mary Patricia ; Mr. Gibbons is a bricklayer by occupation. Henry, born March 25, 1892, died April 3, 1897. James, born March 9, 1894, died May 30, 1895. All of this family were baptized by the popular Father O'Reilly except Thomas, who was baptized by Father Koch in Shamokin. Mr. and Mrs. Hig- gins were members of the old Church of the Annunciation at Shenandoah, of which he was a charter member, and he helped to build the church. He and his family belong to the Church of the Annunciation, and for thirty-two years Mr. Higgins has held membership in the T. A. B. Society. He is a member of the local lodge of the United Mine Workers, No. 1,509, in which he has held various offices, and for twenty-nine years has been a member of the Phoenix Fire Company of Shenandoah. On political questions he is a Democrat.
Mrs. Mary Ann (Dowd) Higgins was born July 4, 1856, at five o'clock in the morning, in Wadesville, near St. Clair, this county, daughter of John and Catherine (Gallagher) Dowd, who were both from County Sligo, Ireland. They did not become acquainted, however, until after they came to America. John Dowd came to this country when young with his uncle, Thomas Dowd, whom he accompanied to Pottsville, Pa., about 1845. His parents, Patrick and Nora Dowd, were farming people. Patrick Dowd, father of John, came to America a widower, settled at Cincinnati, Ohio, remarried, and had two daughters by the second union. He owned a large farm there. Mrs. Catherine (Gallagher) Dowd is still living, now (1916) in her seventy-sixth year, making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Patrick T. Higgins, at Shenandoah. She was one of a family of ten children, seven sons and three daughters, her brothers being: Owen, William, Thomas, James, Patrick, John (who was killed in the mines at Pottsville) and Anthony ( who was killed while serving as a soldier in the Civil war).
AMBROSE BONER, late of Gilberton, this county, passed away when comparatively a young man, but he had been active in the affairs of the borough and was very well known there, his services as postmaster having brought him into contact with a large proportion of his fellow citizens. His widow suc- ceeded him in that position, which she is still filling, to the entire satisfaction of all the patrons of the Gilberton office.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.