p. 661
Surnames: BOYER, KISSINGER, LINSENMEYER, SWOYER
Gotleib Boyer (deceased) will be remembered by the people of the city of Reading, as the leading florist of his day, his stand being in Kissinger's Market. Mr. Boyer was born in 1824, in Stuttgart, Germany, came to America when a young man, and passed away at Reading in 1899.
On first locating in this country. Mr. Boyer settled in Lancaster county, his last residence there being at Ephrata, where he remained for five years. He then located in Reading. where he soon established himself as a florist and gardener, at one time operating three greenhouses. He was considered the leading gardener and florist of his day in the city, although at the time of his death he was conducting but one place of business, the old Kissinger Market stand. Mr. Boyer was a true type of the self-made man. On coming to this country he was a poor, friendless boy, knowing little of the language and less of the business methods in use, yet at the time of his death he left a large and valuable estate to his widow and children. Mr. Boyer was a member of the Lutheran Church, and a Democrat in politics.
In 1861 Mr. Boyer married Miss Rosina Linsenmeyer, also a native of Germany, and to them were born five children, namely: George, born April 12, 1862, of Reading; Anna, m. to Ellsworth Swoyer, of Hoboken, N. J.; Charles, a farmer, of Muhlenberg township and two girls, who died young.
Surnames: BOYER, KERPER, NAGLE, SHANEMAN, O'BRIEN, STROHECKER
Henry Boyer, who was one of Reading's well known business men, was born in that city in 1766. A butcher by trade he became at one time a man of means and a prominent citizen, but through different ventures he lost much of his wealth. He lived to the ripe old age of eighty-one, dying in 1847. His wife, bore him six children, John Henry, George, Charles, Jacob and Elizabeth; The daughter married Abraham Kerper, and became the mother of two children: William, of Reading; and one who died in infancy. The members of this family were all devout communicants of the Lutheran Church, while in politics the men were invariably Democrats up to the time of Lincoln, when they joined the Republican ranks.
Jacob Boyer, youngest son of Henry, was born in Reading in 1801, and received as good an education as the primitive schools of that day afforded. He learned the butcher's trade from his father, and made it his lifelong calling. His wife was Miss Susan H. Nagle, who died in 1890, at the age of ninety, surviving her husband by nearly twenty years, as his death occurred in 1871, at the age of seventy years, one month and twenty-eight days. The children born to them, all of whom outlived their parents, were as follows: Harriet, who married John G. Shaneman, and was the mother of ex-Mayor Shaneman; Peter N., of Alabama; Mary A., Mrs. Joseph G. O'Brien; Alvin N., of Reading; Sarah L. wife of the late John C. Strohecker; Esther, of Reading; and Jacob N., now deceased. This generation remained true to their early religious teaching and were all Lutherans.
Mrs. Susan N. Boyer was the daughter of Peter Nagle, who was the first justice of the peace in Reading, and held that office for forty-four years. He was a prominent man in his day, and on one occasion when General Washington visited Reading, Mr. Nagle had the honor of entertaining him.
p. 1254
Surnames: BOYER, BAUSHER, ZIMMERMAN, BALTHASER, GRETH, SANDS, KUTZ, ADAM, KERSHNER, LESHER, SMITH, SUNDAY
Jacob S. Boyer, a highly esteemed resident of Berks county, who is engaged as a sand merchant and agriculturist at the Five Locks, south of Hamburg, Perry township, was born June 5, 1862, in Windsor township, son of George B. and Mary Ann (Bausher) Boyer.
John Jacob Boyer, great-grandfather of Jacob S., was a farmer and lived in Windsor township for some years. He had five children, as follows: John R., who died at the age of sixty, a bachelor, and who owned, tradition says, considerable land in Tennessee upon which was found coal after his death; Jacob; Samuel; Matilda m. Samuel Zimmerman; and Sarah, who is unmarried and lives near Klinesville, Pa. Jacob Boyer, of this family, was a farmer all of his life and lived in Windsor township, although several years in early life were spent in Richmond township. He married Hannah Balthaser, daughter of John and Molly (Greth) Balthaser, and they had these children: Daniel; Jacob; George B.; Susanna m. Daniel Sands, and a daughter, who married Daniel Kutz.
George B. Boyer was born Feb. 4, 1828, and died Sept. 14, 1890. He was a farmer and stonemason by occupation, also conducting general store business at the Five Locks, when boating was still being carried on. He and his family were connected with Zion's Union Church. He served the township in which he lived as school director for three years, and was a Democrat in his politics. Mr. Boyer was married in 1852 to Mary Ann Bausher, born Nov. 22, 1834, daughter of Daniel and Hannah (Adam) Bausher. Mrs. Boyer is now living in Hamburg. These children were born to the union: Eleanora, who was married to Bradford Sunday, and died in 1891, aged thirty-seven years; Washington F., of Hamburg, Pa.; Jacob S.; and Andrew W., a clerk of Hamburg, PA.
Jacob S. Boyer obtained his early educational training at home, in the local schools of Perry township and the Hamburg public schools. From boyhood Mr. Boyer has been active and industrious, his early years being spent as a clerk in the store of his father. He later purchased the farm on which he now resides, on which is an inexhaustible amount of high grade molding sand, which he ships to points all over Pennsylvania, averaging about 170 car loads per annum. Politically Mr. Boyer votes the Democratic ticket. He and his family are active members of Zion's Lutheran Church of Perry township.
On June 8, 1889, Mr. Boyer was married to Amanda L. Kershner, daughter of Joel and Esther (Lesher) Kershner, and granddaughter of John and Catherine (Smith) Kershner. One daughter has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Boyer, Essie A. The Boyer family is on which has always stood high in the esteem of the community.
p. 548
Surnames: BOYER, DeBEYER, KREBS, LUDWIG, McHOSE, WIMAN, GREGG, BROWN, WHISTLER, STERNBERGH, WANNER, ANCONA
JEROME LUDWIG BOYER, who has been prominently identified with the great iron interests of Reading and vicinity for many years, and has gained the reputation of being one of the most prominent directors of these immense industries, is a descendant of one of the oldest and most honorable families of Berks county, Pennsylvania. He was born at Boyertown, Berks Co., Pa., Jan. 19, 1843, son of Jacob K. Boyer, a distinguished citizen of the Keystone State.
The Boyer family is of French Huguenot extraction and was founded in America by Jacob DeBeyer, the great-grandfather of Jerome Ludwig. He settled in Berks county and there became a man of substance and standing and lived to the unusual age of 103 years. His remains lie in the cemetery at Amityville, one of the oldest graves in that scared spot.
Henry Boyer, father of Jacob K., was born in 1779, and was a pioneer settler at Boyertown, giving his name to the hamlet, in which he built the first log house and opened the first blacksmith shop. Here he followed blacksmithing for some years, and he took a prominent part in public affairs. In 1824 he was nominated by the Democratic party as their candidate for representative and was elected, being re-elected in 1827 and 1832. He died at Boyertown at the age of ninety-eight years, and was buried at that place. He married Catharine Krebs, of Montgomery country who died at the age of eighty-four years, and they became the parents of a large family.
Jacob K. Boyer, father of Jerome Ludwig, was born in 1821 in Boyertown, and in his youth followed farming and engaged in school teaching. He later engaged in the mercantile business at Boyertown, following this for a few years, when he came to Reading and made that city his home for the remainder of his life. During his residence there he was employed in the freight house of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad on Eight street. Like his esteemed father Mr. Boyer was a Democrat, and served in the House of Representatives. Mr. Boyer died in the prime of life, aged thirty-nine years, and his wife, who was Lucy K. Ludwig, died in 1867, aged fifty-eight
Jerome L. Boyer received his literary training in the common schools of his native locality, and when a boy was employed as a clerk in a store at Boyertown. He later went to District township, and after clerking a few years there, removed to Reading, where he was first employed by Kline, Eppihimer & Co., for three years as a clerk, and later was made a member of the firm. Staying there three and a half years, he left to accept the position of head bookkeeper of the First National Bank, later being made cashier of the institution, and there he remained three years. Then, with others, he organized the Reading Fire Brick Company, being elected president thereof, and this position he continues to hold. In connection with this industry, Mr. Boyer has also been identified with many other large interests, including mining and the manufacture of iron. He was at one time manager and part owner in the Temple Iron Company, had a charge of the E. & G. Brooke plant at Birdsboro, and in 1880 acted as general manager of the Chestnut Hill Iron Company, at Columbia, Lancaster country, a position he held for four years. At present this firm is gradually disposing of its plant, although Mr. Boyer still retains his interests therein. Mr. Boyer was prominently identified with the building of the Bachman Valley railroad for the carrying of ore, and was its president for some time. During the existence of the Citizens Bank of Reading, Mr. Boyer was largely interested in that institution, and was one of the board of directors.
Mr. Boyer is serving as adviser of the Home for Widows and Single Women, and during the years 1891 and 1892 he served as president of the board of this institution. He is prominently connected with fraternal organizations, being a member of Chandler Lodge, F. & A. M., No 227; Reading Chapter, No. 152; Reading Commandery, No. 42; Philadelphia Consistory; and Rajah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. In religion Mr. Boyer is connected with Trinity Lutheran Church, and for a period of thirty-seven years has been an official member thereof.
On Oct. 20, 1868, Mr. Boyer married Miss Susan E. McHose, daughter of Isaac McHose, of Reading and two children have been born to this union: William McHose, chemist for the Reading Iron Company, is the father of one child; Frederick Jacob is a machinist and resides at home.
In 1892 Mr. Boyer was president of the Board of Trade of Reading, and during his incumbency the membership grew from seventy to three hundred. We here give his address, delivered at the banquet held at Neversink Mountain Hotel, Sept. 29th, of that year:
"Gentlemen: Our last banquet, held April 21st at Mineral Springs was a success. There were present at that time eighty members; to-night we have one hundred and thirty. At the April Banquet we had with us Hon. Erastus Wiman, and I trust none of us has forgotten his grand speech. Tonight we have with us Gen. Gregg, without whom the State government could not get along; so we have to the present, loaned him, as it were, to Harrisburg, but expect him back to Reading at some future time. We have also present Col. Brown, the inventor of the Segmental Wire Gun, and his very able co-laborer, Lieut. Whistler, from whom we expect to hear.
"This Board of Trade was organized April 21, 1881. Its first president J. H. Sternbergh, Esq., is with us; as are Isaac McHose, Peter D. Wanner and S. E. Ancona, the succeeding and all the presidents. During the first year of its organization the Board had 149 members. It subsequently commenced, growing backwards, and in April, 1891, its membership was seventy. Jan. 1, 1892, we had 110 members; at this date we have 216; and on Jan. 1, 1893, we will have 300.
"This Board of Trade represents a city of 70,000 people. We have reason to feel a pardonable pride in our city, its population and its Board of Trade. We have industries that we can well foster, manufactures that we sustain and in return are sustained by; and if we have any individual amongst us who would make invidious and disrespectful comparisons with other cities, may such an one's flesh be mortified and his vanity seared, for we are in such a prosperous condition, as I will endeavor to show you, that none dare to molest us or make us afraid; and I can conceive only the perfidy of man to lower the estimate of our city.
"Think of it! We manufacture stockings amounting to $550,000 per annum. A few years ago some other cities were making this hosiery, and all we had in the matter was buying and wearing them, whilst some of us went about sockless. So with boots and shoes. Our city produces $150,000 worth. The stove industry is growing fast-the present capacity is $659,000. Cotton and silk industries, $1,725,000. An industry in our city, of which many of us know nothing and hear very little about, I mean cordage, ropes and twine, goes along begging with an output of $600,000. Fire brick and terra cotta and glass, $320,000. Fur and wool hats, $3,000,000. This means a good hat for every tenth person in the United States, or say forty hats for every man, woman and child in Reading. Hardware locks, butts, etc., $1,650,000. Pig iron, plate iron, wrought-iron pipe and machinery, $8,400,000. Iron bridge work, beams and steel, $4,000,000. Bolts, nuts, rivets, etc., $1,000,000.
"The capacity of our cigar factories is simply amazing; and had I not made a special effort to get at the facts I would not believe it. One hundred and five million cigars in the present capacity, some new shops now building not being taken into this account. A number of factories turn out fine goods, $60 to $75 per thousand. Am told a fair average for Reading's output would be $30 per thousand. This smoke production then aggregates $3,150,000.
"Our streets and electric railways carried 3, 607,920 passengers in 1891. Gross income $225,000. For 1892 I could not get, but am told the business on all our lines aggregates and increase of ten per cent yearly.
"Our Trust companies show a constant and healthy growth, and enjoy the well deserved confidence of our good people. They show loans, $688,000; deposits, $480,000; Trust funds, $1,248,300.
"Our eight banks will bear comparison with any other eight banks of a city of our size. Any business man in Reading can get all the money he wants if he presents good papers. There is not one bank in our city but which is first class in every particular. The capital aggregates $1,425,000. The deposits aggregate $4,760,000. The loans aggregate $5,150,000.
"I have given only about twenty industries, which for lack of time to collect does not cover one-third of all, such as wagon works, red brick, cast iron pipe, and many others, which would require weeks to get at. Yet it shows an aggregate of over $30,000,000.
"This certainly requires a strong constitution and a clear conscience to believe at one sitting. But, gentlemen, this is not a theory, but a condition. I trust I have given enough to stimulate our Committee on Statistics, who will, no doubt, give us a full and accurate report early in 1893.
"Gentlemen, we have a grand city - a fire department which I doubt has its equal in the world. Our business opportunities are vast. Let every stranger who comes within our boundaries be made welcome. Let us deal honorably with one another. Let us hang our banners on the outer walls and proclaim our strength from the mountain top."
p. 1332
Surnames: BOYER, ZIEGLER, FUREY, BEARD, JACOBY
Jesse I. Boyer, superintendent of the Scott Foundry of the Reading Iron Company, of Reading, Pa., one of the leading industries of Berks county, was born in 1850, in Norristown, Montgomery Co., Pa., son of Michael C. and Mary A. (Ziegler) Boyer.
Michael C. Boyer, who was proprietor of the Norristown Iron works, and one of the best known iron manufacturers of the State in his day, died in April 1885, aged seventy-six years, having been retired for several years. He married Mary A. Ziegler, who bore her husband ten children as follows: Jesse I.; Catherine m. Daniel Jacoby; Wallace, a pattern maker, deceased; Horace, a clerk; Wilson, a stone mason; Allen, deceased; Harry, a plumber; Mary, deceased; Frank of Norristown; and Charles died in infancy. In religious belief the family were Lutherans. Mr. Boyer was a Republican in politics.
Jesse I. Boyer was educated in the common schools of his native locality, and entered his father's employ when a young man, remaining with him until the business was discontinued in 1870. He had learned the trade of machinist, and in 1876 came to Reading and accepted a position with Miller & Stern, which firm was later absorbed by the old Reading Iron Co. He was later made foreman of the machine shops in 1876, continuing as such until 1879. He then went to S. R. Seyfert & Co., at Seyfert Station, built their rolling mills, and remained with the firm for eight years, when he returned to the Scott works as a draftsman. In 1890 he was made assistant superintendent of the plant, and in 1902 was made superintendent, a position which he has ably filled to the present time, having under his employ from 275 to 399 people. Under Mr. Boyer's supervision this foundry turned out a casting of 78,100 pounds, the largest turned out of any foundry in this section if not in the State. The foundry and machine shop also turned out, under the supervision of Mr. Boyer, the Brown Segmental Wire Wound Gun, which was tested by the United States Government at Sandy Hook.
Mr. Boyer married Mary Ann Furey, a native of Norristown, Pa., and to this union there have been born four children: Alice, m. William Beard; Jesse, a molder; Samuel, deceased; and Nellie. In religious belief the family are Presbyterians. Mr. Boyer is a Republican in his political belief.
Surnames: BOYER, BAER, JACOBY, SEIDEL, ADAM, SMITH, MOGEL, HAUSEKNECHT, GARDNER
John A. Boyer, who for a number of year was engaged in agricultural pursuits in Windsor township, was born June 24, 1850, son of John Jacob and Magdalena (Baer) Boyer.
John Jacob Boyer and his wife Magdalena (Baer) had four children, viz.: John A; Franklin m Victoria Jacoby, deceased; Ellen has been twice married, her first husband having been Harry Seidel; Emma, unmarried lives at home.
John A. Boyer was educated in the public schools of his native township, and was reared to farm work. When twenty-six years of age he married Mary S. Adam, daughter of Jacob and Lovina (Smith) Adam, and six children were born to this union: Laura m. George Smith; Mamie m. John B. Mogel; Mary L. m Irvin Baer; Herbert A.; Matthias J.; and Cora Agnes.
Mrs. Boyer is a descendent of the well known and long established Adam family in Berks county. Anthony Adam, the first ancestor of the family in America, was a French Huguenot, and came to this country on the ship "Snow Molly", landing in Philadelphia Oct. 26, 1741. He was born in 1716. Anthony Adam was a taxable resident in Albany township in 1752. The name of his wife is unknown, but he had four sons: Abraham, Anthony, Bernhard and Peter.
Peter Adam, the great-grandfather of Mrs. Boyer, became a resident of Windsor township. He was born Oct. 1, 1765, and died July 1, 1849, aged eighty-three years and nine months. On March 11, 1788, he married Catharine Hauseknecht, and they were the parents of ten children, namely: Jacob; Anthony; Peter; Abraham; John; William; George; Betzy; Hannah; and Polly.
Jacob Adam, grandfather of Mrs. Boyer, was born in Windsor township, Oct. 18, 1789, and died Dec. 22, 1866. His wife was Polly Gardner, born July 16, 1793, and died Aug. 7, 1874. To them were born: Hannah; William; Heinrich; Jacob; Peter; Benjamin; Isaac; Betzy; Polly; Lazarus; Simon; Catharine and Lydia.
Jacob Adam, father of Mrs. Boyer, was born in Windsor township Jan 21, 1816, and died Aug. 10, 1894. He obtained a good education in the pay schools of his day, and when a young man learned the trade of carpenter, which he followed the greater part of his life. In 1852 he moved into Perry township, where he lived upon his farm of 137 acres, which he conducted with his children also working in his trade. He was a school director, church official of Zion's Union Church, of Perry township, and was an esteemed man. Jacob Adam married Lovina Smith, a daughter of Michael Smith, born Sept. 29, 1822, and she died Dec. 27, 1905. They had five children as follows: Alfred S., a successful farmer at Perryville, and whose land joins that of his brother Jacob S.; Jacob S., an extended mention of whom will be found elsewhere in this publication; Samuel, who died single aged twenty-seven years, and is buried in Zion's Church cemetery; Michael, who died Jan. 24, 1905, aged fifty-five years, four months and nine days; and Mary S., who was married to John Boyer, deceased.
p. 635
Surnames: BOYER/BEYER, HOLLOWAY, KIRCHNER, KOCH, SCHRACK, , HARBOLD, DARRAH, GABEL, MARQUETT, YOKUM, ROMIG, KOHLER, LUPPOLD
John A. Boyer, a substantial farmer and highly esteemed citizen of Amity township, Berks county, and a veteran of the Civil war, was born Dec. 2, 1842 in Exeter township, Berks county, son of Abraham S. and Lucetta Holloway Boyer, and a member of an old and representative family of the lower end of Berks county.
The emigrant ancestor of the Boyer family was John Philip Beyer, who came from the Palatinate to Philadelphia in 1731, with a number of children. He settled in Frederick township, Montgomery county, but later lived in Amity township, Berks county, where he died in the spring of 1753, at a ripe old age. He belonged to the Swamp Lutheran Church, and was buried by the pastor, Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, who reports the matter fully in the "Halleschen Nachrichten." His will is on record at the Philadelphia courthouse, and in it some of his children are names. Among his sons were: Jacob, the ancestor of the Boyertown branch of the family; and Johann Heinrich.
Johann Heinrich Boyer was born in 1714, in the Pfalz, Germany, and died May 2, 1814, in the one-hundredth year of his age. In 1743 he was married to Magdalena Kirchner, and among his children-six sons and one daughter-were Philip and Heinrich.
Philip Boyer, born Dec. 14, 1754, died July 31, 1832. His wife, Christiana, who was born in 1754, also died in 1832, and both were buried in the old graveyard at Amityville. Philip Boyer made a will the year before his death, while a resident of Amity township, and in it be mentions the following children; Michael; Jacob, who had a son Philip; John; Peter; Mary, m. to George Koch; and Daniel, born in 1792 who died in 1825.
Heinrich Boyer was a son of Johann Heinrich. His wife's name was Hannah. They had children: Jeremiah, born April 26, 1810, died March 3, 1848, and his wife Nellie, born Dec. 30, 1807, died Dec. 12, 1883 aged seventy-five years, eleven months, thirteen days; Anna Maria, born 1812, died 1832; and Isaac, born 1817, died 1839. All of these Boyers are buried in the graveyard at Amityville.
Philip Boyer (also spelled Beyer), grandfather of John H. Boyer, was a grandson of the emigrant John Philip Beyer. He was a farmer in Exeter township. Many years ago he owned and conducted what is now the "Stonersvile Hotel." He was born March 16, 1775, and died Aug. 21, 1836, aged sixty-one years, five months, five days, and was buried in the Amityville graveyard. He married Elizabeth Schrack, born Jan. 18, 1780, died June 3, 1833, aged fifty-three years, four months, fifteen days. They had ten children, as follows: Mary, John, Samuel, Jacob, William, Hannah, Isaac, Abraham S., and two died in infancy unnamed.
Abraham S. Boyer, father of John H., was born in Exeter township, June 19, 1821, and died May 2, 1905, in Amity township, aged eighty-three years, ten months, thirteen days. In his early years he worked as a farm laborer, but later was engaged in farming in Oley, Lower Heidelberg, Colebrookdale and then Amity townships, dying in Amity, as stated above. His remains rest in the Amityville cemetery. In religious faith he was a Lutheran and he served in the offices of deacon and elder in the Amityville Church. In his political views he was a Democrat, and he served both as school director and as township supervisor. He married (first) Lucetta Holloway, born Dec. 17, 1820, died May 13, 1857, aged thirty-six years, four months, twenty-six days. They had seven children, namely: John H.; Charles F., deceased in infancy; Sarah E.; Morris L. H., residing at Reading; George M. deceased in infancy; Emma E, and Mary C. He m. (second) Harriet Harbold, daughter of Jacob Harbold. She was born in 1819 and died in 1886. They had two children; William, born in 1867 died in 1868 and Ann Laura, wife of Thomas C. Darrah, a prominent man of Berks county.
John H. Boyer was reared on his father's farm which he left for the first time when he enlisted in September, 1862, for service in the Civil War, entering Company I, 20th Regiment, Vol. Militia, for State defense, Capt. Frederick S. Boas, commanding. Subsequently Oct. 23, 1862, he re-enlisted in Company K, 179th Pa. V. I., and served nine months, and was mustered out with the regiment at Harrisburg, July 27, 1863
After the war, Mr. Boyer became a hired man on the William Yocum farm in Amity township, where he remained for three years and was then in his father's employ, on the same farm for three more years. In the spring of 1870 he began farming on his father-in-law's farm in Colebrookdale township, where he was engaged for three years, after which he returned to the William Yocum's farm on which he has resided for the past thirty-five years. He lays special stress on dairying, operating this industry with thirty head of fine cows. Since 1875 he has shipped his milk to Philadelphia.
On Nov. 3, 1866, Mr. Boyer was married to Elizabeth G. Gabel, daughter of David and Mary (Gabel) Gabel, of Colebrookdale township and they had three children: Catherine, Sarah Ellen and Charles G. Catherine is the widow of Webster Marquett, born in 1862, died in 1898. They had the following children: Edna M., Mayme R., Jennie E., John J., C. Earl and Mary M., the latter of whom died Jan. 31, 1908, aged eleven years, eight months, nine days. Sarah Ellen married William E. Romig and they reside at Reading and have one daughter, Lena B. Charles G., ticket agent at the South Street Ferry, Philadelphia, resides at Camden, N. J., and has had two children, John (deceased) and Anna E.
In politics, Mr. John H. Boyer is identified with the Republican party. He and family are members of the Lutheran Church at Amityville. Mr. Boyer is a member of McLean Post No. 16, G. A. R. Reading, Pa., and Washington Camp No. 213, P. O. S. of A., of Amityville.
Morris L. H. Boyer, son of Abraham S., was born in Oley township, July 27, 1848, and was reared upon the farm. He taught school from 1868 to 1880 in Earl and Amity townships. He came to Reading in 1896 where he has since lived. He is an active Democrat, and was county auditor from 1885 to 1888; a clerk in the county commissioners' office from 1888 to 1891; a clerk in the Register's office from 1891 to 1894; and during 1894 was in the Recorder's office. He was tax collector in Reading from 1901 to 1907. During the Civil War he enlisted at Reading, March 10, 1865, in Company H, 50th Pa. V. V. I., when only sixteen years old, and was mustered out with the regiment July 30, 1865, at the end of the war. He m. Sept. 2, 1869 Rebecca Kohler, of Greenwich township, and they have one daughter, Cora, m. to William H. Luppold, city assessor of Reading.
p. 1172
Surnames: BOYER,
Morris R. Boyer, proprietor of one of the finest livery stables in Reading, of which he took charge March 1, 1901, is also serving in the position of president of the Liverymen's Protective Association.
Mr. Boyer agitated for several years the movement towards the founding of a protective association for liverymen, but until 1906 he met with many rebuffs. In the year mentioned, however, such an association was formed, Mr. Boyer being elected president. The leading livery men of the city made up the combine which was calculated to protect against cut rates and misuse of credit, and this has proved to be of more benefit than was at first anticipated. Mr. Boyer was the first man in Reading to equip his stables with rubber-tired vehicles, and he has recently added a number of new vehicles, including some of the best makes in the county. He is up to date in every respect being considered the leader in his line in this section, and makes a specialty of weddings, theater parties, receptions, funerals, etc., a ring on either old or new telephone bringing prompt and courteous attention. It has always been Mr. Boyer's aim and desire to furnish his patrons with the best to be obtained at prices reasonable with the service. He has had charge of these stables since March 1, 1901.
p. 531
Surnames: BOYER, DICKINSON, CARL, REIGEL, LEVAN, SNYDER
Thomas A. Boyer, a well-known citizen and enterprising business man of Reading, Pa., is a native of that city, born May 1, 1853, son of Isaac and Mary (Dickinson) Boyer, and grandson of Thomas Boyer, for many years a prosperous farmer of Dauphin county.
Isaac Boyer came from Dauphin county to Reading when a young man, and was employed by a corporation as a teamster, an occupation which he followed all of his life. In religious belief he was a Quaker. He and his wife were the parents of these children: Thomas A., William, Harrison, Annie (m. Jacob Carl), Alice (m. James Reigel), Jemima (m Joseph Levan and two children died in infancy. Isaac Boyer died in 1896, aged seventy-two years, and his wife in 1894, when sixty-nine years of age.
Thomas A. Boyer received his literary training in the public schools of the city of his nativity, and when a young man was employed by the Reading Pipe Mill, with which concern he remained for a period of ten years. In 1883 he commenced the manufacture of rag carpets, in which he has continued to the present time, with much success. He has a large and profitable business, his factory being located at the corner of Pearl and Bingaman streets, and in addition to carpets he handles rugs, linoleums, oil cloth and art squares.
Mr. Boyer was married in 1879 to Hannah E. Snyder, and both are valued members of the M. E. Church in which Mr. Boyer has held various offices, while Mrs. Boyer is very active in church work, and much interested in advancing the cause of charity, devoting herself especially to the finding of homes for homeless and friendless women who have passed the age of self-support.
p. 706
Surnames: BOYER, EAVENSON
William McH. Boyer, a substantial citizen of Reading, Pa., who is acting in the capacity of chemist for the Reading Iron Company, of that city, was born in Reading, in 1869, son of Jerome L. Boyer.
Mr. Boyer secured his education in the schools of his native city, and attended the high school at Birdsboro, after graduating from which he returned to Reading, later attending a school at Columbus, Pa. He then entered a preparatory school in order to fit himself to enter Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., from which he graduated in chemistry in 1891, and in August of that year he accepted the position of chemist with the Reading Iron Company. Mr. Boyer's laboratory is situated at the Keystone Furnace, where he employs on an average of four men. Fraternally Mr. Boyer is connected with the Mason, being a member of Lodge No. 549, f. & A. M. He is a Lutheran in religious belief, and attends Trinity Church of that denomination.
In 1898 Mr. Boyer married Emily Eavenson, daughter of Alban Eavenson, who is well known in manufacturing circles of Philadelphia as a soap manufacturer, and to this union there have been born two sons, Jerome Ludwig Boyer, 2d, and Howard Eavenson Boyer.