Biographies from Historical and Biographical Annals by Morton Montgomery
p. 747
Surnames: SMITH, CORRELL, SASSAMAN, PAULEY, KEMP, STERNBERGH,
SCHMIDT, LUTZ, GREENAWALT
Isaac Smith, who died at Albany, Pa., was a native of Albany
township, Berks county, born in 1806. He learned the stone-mason's
trade early in life, and that was his occupation throughout his
active life; also owning and operating a small piece of land. Mr.
Smith married Rachel Correll, a native of Albany township, Berks
county, and to this union there were born eleven children, as
follows: Christian and Charles, both deceased; Mary, to Emanuel
Sassaman; James; Jonathan; Abraham; Isaac; Julia, who resides at
Drehersville, m. to Reuben Pauley, the latter now deceased;
William, who also resides at Drehersville, Schuylkill county; Emma
E.; and a daughter Susan, who died in infancy. In religious belief
the family were Lutherans. Mr. Smith was a Democrat in his
political belief, but never cared for public office.
Emma E. Smith, daughter of Isaac, was married to
Sylvester Kemp (now deceased) and to them was born one son, W.
Wilson, who was educated in the schools of Reading, and is now
employed at the J. H. Sternbergh mills, where he has a responsible
position. Sylvester Kemp was a son of William Kemp, a native of
Kutztown, who located at what is now Kempton, after the building of
the Schuylkill & Lehigh Railroad.
John Schmidt, grandfather of Mrs. Emma E. Kemp,
was born in Albany, where he was engaged as a farmer. He was the
father of Isaac; Samuel; Sally (m. Christian Lutz); and Susanna (m.
a Greenawalt).
p. 821
Surnames: SMITH, SCHLOGG, MOYER, KERCHNER, FREEMAN, SHONOWER
Joseph Smith, a well-known and highly esteemed resident of
Fritztown, Spring township, who has been engaged in various
business enterprises, was born at Womelsdorf, Berks county, Dec.
29, 1834, son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Schlogg) Smith.
Frederick Smith, who was born in Baden, Germany,
came to America when twenty-five years old, and landed at
Baltimore, where he remained for some years. He then went West for
a short time, but subsequently located at Womelsdorf, Berks county,
where he engaged in day laboring and lime burning for the remainder
of his active period. He died at the age of ninety-two years,
eleven months, and twenty days, and is buried at Sinking Spring
cemetery. Mr. Smith married Elizabeth Schlogg, who died when
sixty-six years of age, and to them were born these children: John,
Levi, Mary, Sarah, Joseph, Elizabeth and Thomas.
Joseph Smith attended the common schools of
Berks county, after leaving which he engaged in farm work for a
short time, later going to Adams Mill, below Sinking Spring, and
still later along the Tulpehocken creek, where he also followed
milling. For a short period Mr. Smith was engaged in farming, and
he then followed the trade of stone mason for fifteen years, also
engaging in lime burning at Montello for a like period, in which he
was very successful. Since 1876 Mr. Smith has made Fritztown his
home, and here he is well and widely known and highly esteemed.
On Oct. 2, 1855, Mr. Smith married Lydia A.
Moyer, born Aug. 1, 1835, daughter of David and Kathryn (Kerchner)
Moyer, and to this union there have been born: Edwin; Ellen, wife
of Joseph Shonower, of Fritztown; Frederick; and Matilda, wife of
Solomon Freeman, of Fritztown. Mr. Smith is a member of St. John's
Reformed Church, at Sinking Spring. In politics he is a Democrat,
and for three years served Spring township as roadmaster.
p. 416
Surnames: SMITH, MCDONALD, FULTON, CARMICHAEL, VAUGHAN, BULL,
HUNTER, POTTS, MAY, RUTTER, RICHARDS, LOESER, DARLING, O'BRIEN,
BURCKER, BOWMAN, BADGER, CLYMER, WYERS, GRUBB
The Smith family from which Mr. Levi Bull Smith was descended is of
Scotch extraction, the name being originally McDonald. During the
reign of James I. of England they crossed the North Channel into
Ireland; taking up their residence in the northeastern section of
that country, where they left numerous descendants. The change of
name is accounted for by an interesting circumstance handed down in
the family tradition. Just before the battle of the Boyne, when the
King, William III., was reconnoitering that famous field, his horse
cast a shoe. There was no farrier to replace it, but McDonald, in
whose neighborhood the incident occurred, being, like many other
farmers of the region, something of a blacksmith, volunteered his
services, shod the horse, and thus enabled the King to proceed.
From that time his neighbors, who like himself were in sympathy
with the cause of William, dubbed Mcdonald "the Smith," and the
name clung to him, and was adopted by his family as a patronymic.
Being staunch Presbyterians, the Smiths,
together with a large proportion of the Irish tenantry, at a
subsequent period resisted the rigorous proceedings of the
Established Church of England to enforce the provisions of the
"Sacramental Test" law, under which they were required not only to
pay tithes to the Church, but to conform to all its requirements
respecting marriage and civil rights, under pain of invalidation of
all religious acts performed without its pale. To enforce obedience
to this arbitrary measure, the absentee landlords raised the rents
of all their recusant tenantry, and otherwise rendered their
condition intolerable. This was among the causes which induced the
Scotch-Irish emigration in the first half of the eighteenth century
to the Colony of Pennsylvania, founded preeminently upon the
principle of absolute liberty of conscience.
Among the earliest of the emigrants were John
Smith and his wife Susanna, of County Monaghan, Ulster, who came
over in 1720, the year after the enforcement of the "Test." After a
long and stormy voyage they landed at Philadelphia, and took up
their new residence in Uwchlan township, Chester Co., Pa. With her
brother John came Mary Smith, who married William Fulton, one of
the grandchildren being Robert Fulton, born in Little Britain,
Lancaster county, whose name is indissolubly linked with the
evolution of the invention of the steamboat.
John and Susanna Smith were the parents of
fifteen children. One of these, Robert, was born on the voyage to
America. The father died in 1765, and the mother in 1767. His three
older brothers having gone out to seek their fortunes elsewhere,
the family homestead came into the possession of Robert, who became
a prosperous and respected citizen and was prominently connected in
his later years with public affairs. During the French and Indian
war he was in the Provincial service with the rank of sergeant. At
the outbreak of the Revolution he entered warmly into the Patriot
cause, and was commissioned captain of the 1st Battalion of
Associators of Chester county. In 1775-76 he assisted in the
construction of a line of chevaux-de-frise across the Delaware
below Philadelphia, designed to obstruct the progress of the enemy
by the river to the city, and in the laying out of the land
fortifications adjacent, under the direction of the Committee of
Safety. He was a member of the Convention of 1776, which devised
the first Constitution of Pennsylvania after Independence. In 1777
he was appointed lieutenant of the county of Chester, with the rank
of lieutenant-colonel, which office he held until 1786, being
charged with the arduous and responsible duty of raising, arming
and provisioning the military forces of the district. He was
sheriff of the county in 1777 and 1778; member of Assembly in
1785-86, and during the same period a trustee of the loan office.
In 1791 he as elected a justice of the peace and continued in that
office until his death in December, 1803.
Robert Smith was a staunch Presbyterian, and an
elder of the church at Brandywine Manor, of which the Rev. John
Carmichael, like himself an ardent patriot, was pastor during the
Revolutionary period. He married in 1758 Margaretta Vaughan,
daughter of John Vaughan, of Uwchlan township, who survived him
until 1822, dying at the age of eighty-six. They had eleven
children. Of their sons, Jonathan was for many years connected with
the first United States Bank and with the Bank of Pennsylvania, of
which latter he was cashier, and was one of the founders of the
Pennsylvania Insurance Company; John was an iron-master, and Joseph
an iron and shipping merchant of Philadelphia.
John Smith, iron-master, father of the subject
of this sketch, was born at the old homestead in Chester county
April 8, 1762. In early life he was manager of the Warwick Furnace
in Chester county, then owned by Col. Thomas Bull, a distinguished
Revolutionary patriot, long associated with the iron industry in
eastern Pennsylvania in connection with the well known families of
Rutter and Potts. Having married in 1790 Elizabeth, daughter of
Colonel Bull and his wife Ann Hunter, John Smith removed in that
year to Dale Furnace, in Hereford township, Berks county, of which
he had become co-owner with Thomas and Joseph Potts, Jr., and six
years later went to Joanna Furnace, on Hay creek, Robeson township,
having become partner in that establishment with his father-in-law,
Colonel Bull, and Thomas May. Joanna Furnace was built in 1792 by
Samuel Potts and Thomas Rutter, being named in honor of the wife of
the former. The substantial stone mansion house, still standing,
though modernized, was erected in 1793. Attached to the estate were
numerous tracts of woodland, aggregating several thousand acres,
from which the works were supplied with charcoal. Having eventually
acquired the entire ownership Mr. Smith resided at Joanna until his
death, which occurred April 2, 1815, when he was aged fifty-three.
His wife survived him twenty years, dying in 1835. They left ten
children, three sons and seven daughters. The former were: Thomas
B., Levi B. and John Vaughan. Of the daughters, Ann Hunter married
James Richards; Sarah Bull, Jacob Loeser; Margaretta Vaughan,
William Darling; Elizabeth Bull, Joseph O'Brien; Susan Grier, Rev.
George Burcker, and Jane Correy, Goodloe H. Bowman. Mary Cobean
died unmarried.
Levi Bull Smith was born at Joanna Furnace Feb.
8, 1806. He received a liberal education, 
graduating at Princeton College in 1824. He
subsequently studied law at the law school at Litchfield, Conn.,
and was admitted to the Bar of Berks county, Pa., Jan. 20, 1827. He
married April 10th, of the same year, Emily H. Badger, a native of
Bucksport, Maine (born Jan. 1, 1807), and a descendant upon the
paternal side of the Buck family, of Puritan stock, who emigrated
to New England in 1635. From 1829 to 1831 he was engaged in farming
at the old Reading Furnace, in Chester county, and from 1831 to
1833 was in the mercantile business at Mount Airy, in Union
township, Berks county. In the latter year he removed to Joanna,
and became the partner in that works of his brother-in-law, William
Darling, under the firm name of Darling & Smith. In connection
with the manufacture of iron the casting of wood-burning stoves
became the principal business. Mr. Darling, a prominent member of
the county Bar, was an associate judge, and the active management
devolved on Mr. Smith, who acquired eventually the interest of his
partner, and admitted his sons into partnership under the firm name
of Levi B. Smith & Sons. The manufacture of pig-iron
exclusively was carried on with profit for many years before,
during and subsequent to the Civil war, the estate passing into the
sole ownership of one of the sons, Col. L. Heber Smith, in 1877,
and the works discontinuing operations in 1905.
Upon his retirement from the active management
of the iron business he removed in 1863 to Reading, where the
remainder of his life was passed. He was one of the founders of the
First National Bank of Reading in that year, and was its president
from its incorporation until his death. These institutions, being
government depositories, and under the management of men of
patriotic principles, not only built up an efficient financial
system but materially aided in sustaining the credit of the
government at the most critical period of its history, and
promoting the public faith in the ultimate restoration of its
authority. In those troublous times Mr. Smith's most ardent
sympathies and active efforts were devoted to the triumph of his
country's cause. He gave freely of his means for the raising and
equipping of troops for the field, and his vigilant attention to
the thwarting of the opposition schemes of the enemies in the rear.
An Abolitionist in principal and an old-time
Whig in his political faith, he became from the foundation of the
Republican party one of its most zealous supporters. Whilst never
seeking public office he was named as the Republican candidate for
Congress in the Berks district in 1860, and his popularity was
shown in the result at the election, when he ran considerably ahead
of the State ticket. In the townships of the southern section of
the county adjacent to his home his vote was especially strong.
Having been placed the same year upon the Lincoln electoral ticket,
he withdrew on the ground of the incompatibility of that position
with his Congressional candidacy. At an earlier period he was upon
several occasions a delegate to county and State conventions of the
Whig and Republican parties. His judgment upon questions of finance
was eminently conservative and sound, and the same shrewdness and
forecast which he evinced in the management of his own large estate
well qualified him for the successful discharge of the various
business relations which he assumed toward others during his
residence in Reading in the latter part of his life. Among these
were his membership of the board of managers of the Reading Gas
Company and of the Reading Fire Insurance Company, of the latter of
which he was one of the organizers. Every associated effort for the
literary culture and social betterment of the community received
his co-operation and support.
In his denominational affiliations Mr. Smith was
a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He was a member of the
vestry of St. Thomas Church, Morgantown, and a delegate for more
than thirty years from that parish to the diocesan convention. In
1858 he was a delegate to the general convention which met in New
York City. Upon his removal to Reading he became a vestryman of
Christ Church, remaining such until his death.
Personally Mr. Smith was of a genial and
companionable disposition, possessing a marked and never-failing
trait of humor, which made his presence at all times enlivening and
agreeable. To be just to all men and faithful to his own was the
ruling principle of his character and life. After a brief illness
the end came to him at his home Aug. 8, 1876, when a few months
advanced in the seventy-first year of his age. His estimable wife
died Dec. 16, 1882. They had ten children: (1) Nancy Valeria, born
March 14, 1828; married June 12, 1855, William Hiester Clymer, whom
she survived, dying Aug. 17, 1901, leaving six children. (2)
Elizabeth Frances, born March 19, 1830, married June 15, 1869, the
Rev. Elias J. Richards, D. D., a talented and eminent clergyman of
the Presbyterian denomination, for upward of twenty-five years
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Reading, whom, together
with their only child, Jane Ellis (born April 8, 1870), she
survives. (3) Bentley Howard. (4) William Darling. (5 and 6) Levi
Heber and Emily Annetta. (7) Mary Badger, born March 19, 1840, died
May 22, 1864. (8) Horace Vaughan, born Aug. 20, 1842, died July 23,
1878. (9) Thomas Stanley. (10) Edward Hunter, born April 17, 1847,
died Sept. 7, 1856.
The eldest son, Bentley H. Smith, born Dec. 6,
1832, at Mt. Airy, Berks county, attended the academy of William F.
Wyers, at New London, Chester county, and entered Amherst College
at the age of fourteen, graduating in 1851. He was a bright
scholar, especially versed in the classics, and three years after
his graduation received from the college the degree of A. M. He was
engaged the greater part of his active life in the iron
manufacturing business, principally at Joanna, in partnership with
his father and brothers, and subsequently as member of a firm
owning and operating the Temple Iron Works, in Muhlenberg township.
At the outbreak of the Rebellion he enlisted in the first three
months' service, becoming a corporal in Company A, 14th Regiment,
Pennsylvania Volunteers, mustered April 27, 1861, and before the
expiration of his term was promoted to the second lieutenancy of
Company K. In the latter pat of June, 1863, at the time of the
Confederate invasion of the State, he raised a company which was
attached to the 42d Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia,
enlisted for ninety days, and upon the regimental organization was
appointed major. Retired from business for many years, he devoted
himself to general literature, his reading embracing the works of
all the great writers of the age in science, philosophy and
theology. Of ecclesiastical lore he had an accumulation which would
have qualified him for a professorship of Bible exegesis in the
faculty of a university. In addition to habits of close and careful
reading he was a profound thinker and clear reasoner, ever
searching for truth, and rejecting the illogical and unscientific.
His was a mind alike gifted and discriminating. His native
geniality of disposition made him a most agreeable and entertaining
companion. One of his most marked traits was his benevolence of
heart, evidenced by his open-handed and unostentatious charities
toward all classes and conditions of unfortunates. The possession
of such qualities distinguished him as one of nature's noblemen,
and won for him a wide circle of devoted friends. He died Jan. 19,
1909, when a little upward of seventy-six years of age.
L. Heber Smith, born Oct. 18, 1837, at Joanna
Furnace, attended Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass., and, with
his father and brothers, engaged in the iron manufacturing
business. He was captain of Company A., 128th Regiment, P. V.,
mustered August, 1862, for nine months' service, and was promoted
Feb. 1, 1863, to lieutenant-colonel; was taken prisoner at the
battle of Chancellorsville and confined for a time in Libby prison,
being subsequently exchanged. After the death of his father he
acquired the sole ownership of the Joanna estate, and carried on
the works until within a few years of his death, which occurred
Aug. 5, 1898. He married June 17, 1868, E. Jennie Grubb, of
Lancaster, Pa., who, with six children, survives him.
Thomas Stanley Smith, M. D., was born at Joanna
Furnace, Jan. 25, 1845, graduated at Amherst College in 1865, and
at the Jefferson Medical School in 1868. He subsequently spent a
year at the University of Leipsic, Germany, pursuing studies in
chemistry, a branch in which he specially excelled. Upon his return
he filled the position of lecturer on physical diagnosis in the
summer course at the Jefferson College. He practised his profession
in Reading for a period of ten years, devoting his attention
particularly to ophthalmology, in which he acquired notable skill.
Dr. Smith's scientific attainments were of a high order, and had
his ambition been for eminence in his profession, he possessed the
genius to attain it. His health failing, his career was cut short
by death, Nov. 25, 1887, in the forty-third year of his age.
p. 1141
Surnames: SMITH, HOLTZINGER, OBERT, SOTTERS, BEYERLE, BARTO, GOLL
Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Smith, one of the best known and most highly
esteemed ladies of Lower Alsace township, Berks county, who is now
making her home with her children at "Pleasant View Hotel," near
Carsonia Park, is the widow of the late Albert Smith, and daughter
of John George and Wilhelmina (Holtzinger) Smith.
John George Smith was born Feb. 22, 1820, at
Flahingen amt Bretten, Grofherzogthum Baden, Germany, emigrated to
America from his native land with his brother, Conrad, nearly sixty
years ago and settled first at Philadelphia, whence he removed to
Reading, and there became foreman for F. J. Obert, with whom he was
employed at the time of his death, Dec. 7, 1897. He was married to
Wilhelmina Holtzinger, who was born April 2, 1822, at Altlofzheim,
Baden, and died Aug. 25, 1883. To this union were born the
following children: John George, a master boiler maker of Roxboro,
Manayunk, Pa.; Frederick, deceased, who was also a boiler maker;
Wilhelmina, m. to Henry Sotters, a boiler manufacturer of
Pottstown; Catherine, m. to George Beyerle, a hotel proprietor of
Reading; Emma, m. to Albert Barto, a retired hotel keeper of
Reading; and Mary Elizabeth.
Mary Elizabeth Smith was reared under the
parental roof, and educated in the public schools of Reading. She
was married to Mr. Albert Smith, also of Reading, and this union
was blessed with these children: Mary Elizabeth, m. to John George
Goll, a carriage builder of near Stony Creek, Alsace township; John
George, who died young; Wilhelmina and Albert, who also died young;
Charles Frederick, who conducts his father's business and resides
with his mother; and Misses Anna E., and Cora Mabel, at home.
The death of Mr. Albert Smith occurred at
"Pleasant View Hotel," the present home of the family, Feb. 23,
1903.
p. 1110
Surnames: SMITH, SEIDEL, SCHMIDT, DREIBELBIS, REESER, WAGNER,
BALTHASER, SUNDAY
Milton W. Smith, junior member of the mercantile firm of Seidel
& Smith, of Virginville, Pa., is an enterprising business man
of Berks county. He was born April 5, 1876, in Windsor township,
son of S. Paul Smith.
Andrew Schmidt, a native of Germany, was the
emigrant ancestor of this family in America, and his son, Michael,
had eleven sons and two daughters. One of them was Joseph, a
prominent farmer of Windsor township, who owned several farms near
Windsor Castle. He was the father of George, John, Jacob, Maria,
Daniel, Joseph, S. Paul, William and David.
S. Paul Smith, who has lived retired in
Virginville for the past few years, was for a long time an
agriculturist, his fertile farm of 116 acres being located near
Windsor Castle. He married Ella L. Seidel, daughter of William and
Susanna (Dreibelbis) Seidel, and had children-Mary, Sally, Milton
W., George, Joseph and Annie.
Milton W. Smith was reared on his father's farm,
receiving his education in the schools of his native township, and
later attending the Keystone State Normal at Kutztown. He was still
in his teens when he started to teach school in Greenwich township,
and afterward taught two terms in his native township. In 1896 he
began clerking in the general store of Daniel Reeser, at Hamburg,
Pa., with whom he was employed until John Wagner purchased the
store. He continued with Mr. Wagner until 1901, when he formed a
partnership with William F. Seidel, and he has since carried on
business with Mr. Seidel. Being a thorough business man, Mr. Smith
ahs appreciated the needs of the people of this section and has
accordingly carried a large and complete stock. The success of the
firm is largely due to his ability, straightforward dealings and
uniform courtesy to all patrons.
In 1895 Mr. Smith was united in marriage with
Miss Catharine Ida Balthaser, daughter of Joel and Esther (Sunday)
Balthaser, and the children born to this union are: Paul Luther,
Grace Emily and May Esther. Mr. Smith and family are connected with
the Zion's Church in Perry township, of which they are Reformed
members. Mr. Smith is identified with the Masonic fraternity; he is
a member of Vaux Lodge, No. 406, Hamburg; Reading Lodge of
Perfection; and Philadelphia Consistory.
p.
1058
Surnames: SMITH, MENGEL, REBER, ADAM, KERSCHNER, TREXLER, MENGEL,
DREIBELBIS, LEVAN, BORTZ, MONROE, LANDIS, BAER, HEINLY, BOYER,
HOFFMAN, DUNKLEBERGER, ENGEL
Thomas Joseph Smith, an enterprising young farmer and poultry
raiser of Windsor township, Berks county, was born on his father's
farm in this township, Sept. 13, 1871, son of John R. and Sarah
(Mengel) Smith.
Andraes Smith, a native of Germany, who was the
immigrant ancestor of this family in America, settled in Berks
county prior to 1750, and was the progenitor of a numerous
offspring.
Michael Smith, son of Andraes, born Jan. 25,
1796, who died July 12, 1859, was twice married. His first wife,
Elizabeth Reber, daughter of John Reber, became the mother of four
daughters. His second wife, whom he married Jan. 24, 1829, was also
named Elizabeth Reber (she was the daughter of Jacob Reber). They
had a family of twelve children, eight of whom grew to maturity,
namely: Jeremiah, Thomas, David, Michael, Joseph, Jacob, Mary (m.
Jacob Adam) and Catherine (m. John Kerschner).
Joseph Smith, grandfather of Thomas J., born
Nov. 15, 1809, was a well-known farmer and extensive land owner of
Windsor township, owning several good properties near Windsor
Castle. He held many public offices and was very prominent in his
day. His children were; John R., Jacob, Maria, Daniel, Joseph L.,
S. Paul, William and David.
John R. Smith, who since the spring of 1896 has
lived retired in Virginville, was born and reared upon a farm in
Windsor township, and followed agricultural pursuits all of his
life until his retirement. He owned two large properties, selling
one to his son Thomas J. for $7,000 a few years ago, and the other
to his son-in-law. Mr. Smith married (first) a Miss Trexler, and
they had one daughter, Mary (m. Logan Dreibelbis). Mr. Smith m.
(second) Sarah Mengel, daughter of Joseph Mengel, and their
children were: Emma m. Benjamin Levan;Alice m. John Bortz; Maurice
m. Annie Monroe; Agnes died aged twenty-six years; m. John Landis;
Thomas J. Samuel m. Sabia A Baer; James m. Ella Heinly; David m.
Susan Dreibelbis; Hettie (twin to David) died aged eleven years;
Ella m. Daniel Boyer; John died in childhood; and Sallie m. Allen
Hoffman.
Thomas J. Smith received his education in the
township public schools, and has lived upon the same farm all of
his life. In 1896 he began farming for himself on his father's
farm, and after nine years of tenant farming purchased the
property, which consists of 160 acres of good, fertile land, eight
acres being timber land. Mr. Smith is a successful farmer. He uses
the latest improved machinery, and in addition has two wind pumps,
which pump his water supply to the house and barn. Mr. Smith has
made a specialty of poultry raising, and in this he has been
immensely successful, in 1903 raising 124 turkeys and 500 chickens.
He has a fine chicken yard, and here matters are arranged very
conveniently. He averages about fifteen head of cattle the year
around. He has a home cream separator, and his fine quality of
creamery butter finds a ready market. Honest and industrious,
energetic and enterprising. Mr. Smith has made his farm one of the
fine ones of his community, and the success which he has gained has
been well deserved. He is popular in the vicinity of his home,
where he has a number of friends, drawn to him by his many sterling
qualities of character.
On Nov. 26, 1892, Thomas J. Smith married Miss
Hettie L. Dunkleberger, daughter of Samuel and Fianna (Engel)
Dunkleberger, and to them have been born three children, as
follows: Florence M., born June 13, 1894; Nevin B., born March 28,
1897; and Irwin A., born Nov. 20, 1900. In political matters Mr.
Smith is a Democrat, and is a tower of strength in the ranks of his
party in this section. He has been chosen by his fellow citizens to
represent them in various county conventions as a delegate, and his
service as a member of the school board of the township for six
years was eminently satisfactory to all concerned. Mr. Smith for
some of this time was secretary of the board. He and his family are
members of Zion's Union Church, belonging to the Reformed
denomination, and he was a deacon of the church for three years.
p. 646
Surnames: SMITH, HARTUNG
William A. Smith, ex-member of the common council of Reading, has
spent his whole life in that city, where he was born in 1864, son
of Nicholas and Catherine (Hartung) Smith. William A. Smith was
sent first to the parochial schools in Reading, and then to the
public schools. After finishing his education he went into the
shops of the Philadelphia & Reading railroad company, to become
a machinist, but after about five years in that occupation he went
into business as a manufacturer of optical supplies and as a
practical optician. His place of business is at Nos. 202-208 Cedar
street, and he has been very successful. Mr. Smith has always taken
an active interest in the welfare of the city and in politics is
quite well
known. He resides at No. 839 Washington street,
his parents' home, in the Eighth ward, and for three terms has
represented that constituency in the common council, elected on the
Democratic ticket. He has served on all the important committees,
and was a member of the board of appeals for a number of years. He
is a progressive practical man, and was strongly supported by his
fellow citizens in the ward, He has also for a long time been
prominently connected with the Harmonie Maennerchor, and for the
past four years has been its president. Besides being a member of
the Sons of Veterans, Mr. Smith stands very high in the Masonic
fraternity, in which his name is on the rolls of Teutonia Lodge,
No. 367; Excelsior Chapter, No. 237; and Reading Commandery. No.
42, in all of which he is past officer. He also belongs to Rajah
Temple.
p. 975
Surnames: SMITH, SCHMIDT, BAER, BUCK, OLD, SCHARM, SCHLENKER,
SCHAEFFER, SCHMITT, SHIREY, PALMER, HARWICK, ROEMER
William B. Smith (Schmidt), a well known and highly respected
citizen of Kutztown, who has retired from active labor and is
passing the sunset of his life in peace and quiet, in the enjoyment
of a well-earned competency, making his home at Greenwich and
Walnut streets, was born March 23, 1841, near "Old Smithville," in
Greenwich township, Berks Co., Pa., son of Samuel and Susanna
(Baer) Schmidt.
Heinrich Schmidt, grandfather of William B., was
a native of Greenwich township, owning and operating the farm now
the property of George Buck, and here he died in 1853, aged
seventy-seven years, being buried at Grimville. He had these
children: Jonathan; Benjamin; Samuel; Mrs. Scharm; Judith m. Reuben
Old, and Sally m. Daniel Schlenker. In 1800, Heinrich, John and
Jacob Smith were taxables in Greenwich township. Either John or
Jacob was the father of Reuben, another brother who settled in
Michigan, and Solomon. The latter died of small-pox at Fogelsville,
Pa. He had a son, Benneville, the founder of New Smithville, and
the latter had an only daughter Clara, who is the wife of Dr.
Charles D. Schaeffer, the former mayor of Allentown, Pa.
Michael Schmidt (Schmitt, Smith, etc.) was one
of the pioneers of Greenwich, in Albany township, and in 1755 and
1756 and later the names of Henry and Adam Smith appear on the tax
list in Greenwich township. It is traditional and probable that
Michael, Daniel, Henry and Adam Smith were brothers, or that
Michael was the father of the other three. In 1773 Peter Smith and
Stophel Schmit were among the taxables in Greewich township.
Samuel Schmidt, father of William B., was born
in Greenwich township in 1813, and died in 1899, after a long life
spent at farming and the wheelwright's trade, his farm lying near
Eagle Point, along the mill creek in Greenwich township. He is
buried at Grimville. His wife was Susanna Baer, daughter of
Johannes Baer, and they had these children: Mary m. Henry Shirey;
William B.; Susanna m. William Palmer; Henry is of Hynemansville,
Pa.; Daniel is of Kuhnsville, Pa.; Jonathan is of Eagle Point;
Florenda m. Edward Harwick; and Wilson is of Maxatawny township.
William B. Smith was reared upon the home farm,
upon which he continued to live until twenty-three years of age,
and learned the wheelwright's trade from his father. He followed
this trade for many years, and on reaching his sixty-second year
retired. He has lived in Kutztown since 1868, and owns property
with a 70-foot frontage and 180 feet deep at Greenwich and Walnut
streets. Mr. Smith is a consistent member of the Lutheran Church.
In 1867 Mr. Smith married Catherine Roemer, born
Feb. 22, 1835, daughter of John Roemer, and she died Dec. 6, 1902,
the mother of seven children.
p. 424
Surnames: SMITH, POTTS, WALLACE, TUTTON, HARTRANFT
William D. Smith, son of Levi B. and Emily H. Smith, was born at
Joanna Furnace March 12, 1835. 
He attended the
New London Academy, in Chester county, Pa., and the Williston
Seminary, Easthampton, Mass. He was engaged from his youth in the
iron manufacturing business with his father and brothers at Joanna,
and from 1865 to 1881 at Isabella Furnace, in West Nantmeal
township, Chester county, the greater part of that period in
association with his brother Horace V. In the latter year the
establishment was sold to Col. Joseph D. Potts. From 1861 to 1865
he served as an adjuster in the office of Dr. Edward Wallace, naval
officer in the United States Custom House at Philadelphia, and from
1876 to 1888 was deputy collector and auditor during the terms of
Alexander P. Tutton and his successor, Gen. John F. Hartranft, as
collectors of the port, a position involving much labor and
responsibility. In June, 1863, he raised and commanded Company D,
42d Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Militia, a part of the force
called out to repel the invasion of the State. The regiment was in
service about six weeks, and during the latter part of that period
his company did provost duty at Hagerstown, Md. In the summer of
1887 he made a tour of Europe, and upon his return became a
permanent resident of Reading.
In addition to the care of the private business
interests of himself and members of his family, he has engaged for
upward of twenty years in a career of active usefulness on
philanthropic lines, being prominently connected with the
administration of various humane and charitable public
institutions, to all of which he has given liberally of his means,
his time and his personal services.
Of the board of trustees of the Reading
Hospital, erected in 1886, he has served as president from 1889 to
the present. The Home for Friendless Children was founded in 1886
by a number of charitably disposed citizens of Reading, and in 1888
its main building on Centre avenue, north of Spring street, was
erected. As chairman of the building committee Mr. Smith supervised
its construction, and he has since erected at his own expense the
two wings, which have more than doubled its original capacity. By
its charter the administration of the institution is committed to a
female board of managers, with a male board of trustees. To this
charity Mr. Smith devotes his unremitting attention, in looking
after the comfort of its little inmates. Since 1890 he has been a
member of the board of trustees of the Charles Evans Cemetery.
Among other public charities with which Mr. Smith is connected,
either as member or officer, are the Reading Benevolent Society,
the Hope Rescue Mission, the Humane Society, the Associated
Charities, and the Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. He
is a member of the County Historical Society, a vestryman of Christ
Protestant Episcopal Church of Reading, and one of the founders and
leading benefactor of the recently organized St. Mary's Church of
that denomination in the northwestern section of the city. For many
years he has been a trustee of the Young Men's Christian
Association. He is a director of the Reading & Temple Railway
Company, the Reading Trust Company and the Reading Gas Company. He
has been a member of the Republican party since its organization,
but has not been connected with its local management. He is the
advocate of a high standard of municipal government, and a warm
supporter of every movement for civil, social and moral reform. He
has no superior in his own community in the zeal and energy which
he devotees to the promotion of organized charity and practical
benevolence.