JOHN FRANKLIN AFFLERBACH, of Perkasie, Bucks county, is of German origin, a son of Captain John H. Afflerbach, of Bedminster, where he was born August 27, 1869, and was reared and educated in the township of Haycock. Henry, Daniel and Ludwig Afflerbach emigrated from Germany about the time of the American Revolution and settled in Bucks county - Henry in Springfield, Daniel in Haycock, and Ludwig (Lewis) at Durham The descendants of Henry later located in Haycock and spelled the name Applebach, while most of the descendants of Daniel have held to the original spelling of the name. Daniel Afflerbach purchased a farm of 140 acres in Haycock and lived thereon until his death in 1826. He left six children-one son, George; and five daughters; Elizabeth, wife of Abraham Mills, Catharine, wife of Isaac Diehl; Maria, wife of Isaac Mills; Magdalene, wife of John Welder; and Sarah, wife of Anthony Weireback.

George Afflerbach, the only son of Daniel, was born in Haycock township about 1778, and lived his whole life there. He was a farmer and a member of Kellers' church. He died in 1838, His wife was Dorothy Stonebach, daughter of Heinrich and Dorothy (Keller) Stonebach, and granddaughter of Heinrich Keller, for whom Keller's church was named, and who had emigrated from Weirbach, in Baden, Germany in 1738 and settled in Bedminster. Both he and the paternal father of Dorothy (Stonebach) Afflerbach were among the organizers and first elders of the church. George and Dorothy (Stonebach) Afflerbach were the parents of thirteen children, eleven of whom lived to maturity. John; Hannah, born August 22, 1805, wife of Peter Swartz; Mary, wife of Joseph Keller; Elizabeth, wife of P.. F B. Smith; Tobias, born August 6, 1807; Abraham, May 11, 1809; Daniel, born April 13, 1813; Josiah, born September 15, 1817; Sarah; Isaac; and Dorothy.

Abraham, seventh son of George and Dorothy, born in Haycock, May 11, 1809, was a carpenter by trade, but also followed farming. He purchased a farm in Haycock in 1854, part of a tract formerly owned and occupied by his maternal great-grandfather, Heinrich Keller, and purchased by the latter of Griffith Davis, to whom it had been patented by the Penns in 1737. Abraham Afflerbach died in January, 1874. He had married Mary Magdalene Bebighouse, who was born April 17, 1808, and died July 3, 1887. Abraham and Magdalene Afflerbach were the parents of four children: Sarah, born September 25, 1835, married Jacob Strouse; Charles Tobias, born August 12, 1838, died in 1868; John Henry, born August 12, 1840; and George Franklin, who died in service in the civil war, December 6, 1862, at Suffolk, Virginia, He married Levina King and left two sons, Milton and John.

Captain John Henry Afflerbach, son of Abraham and Magdalene, was born and reared on the Haycock farm. In early life he was a school teacher. In 1862 he and his brother George Franklin, enlisted as privates in Company C, One Hundred and Seventy-fourth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and the latter was elected sergeant, but died as previously stated. Captain Afflerbach was elected captain of the company, October 31, 1862, and served for nine months in. Virginia and North and South Carolina, and was mustered out with his company August 7, 1863. At the expiration of this term of service he returned home, and in the spring of 1864 accepted a clerical position in the general store of Charles Sheets, at Keller's church, and in 1867 went to Bedminsterville, and three years later purchased the store and conducted it for six years, the last three in partnership with Abraham Keller, his cousin, whose son Lewis now owns and conducts the store. His father dying in January, 1874, he sold out the store to the Kellers, and purchased the old homestead in Haycock, and still lives there. Captain Afflerbach married November 15, 1868, Abbie Fulmer, daughter of John and Catharine (Kramer) Fulmer, and they were the parents of four children: John Franklin, born August 27, 1869; Abraham Lewis, born December 24, 1870; Emma, born September t4, 1872, now the wife of Elmer Johnson; and Anna Mary, who died in infancy.

John Franklin Afflerbach, the subject of this sketch, was born in Bedminster, and removed with his parents to the old homestead in Haycock at the age of four years.

He received his primary education at the public schools, and later entered the normal school At Kutztown. After leaving school he taught school in Haycock and Bedminster townships for four years, and also studied telegraphy. He married October 17, 1894, Emma Atherholt, born April 15, 1873, daughter of Aaron and Emma (Strawn) Atherholt, and for five years conducted her father's farm. In 1900 he erected a handsome residence in Perkasie, where he has since resided. In 1901 he began the manufacture of brick at Perka sie, which business he has since successfully conducted. He is a member of the Reformed church, and politically is a Democrat. He has served as school director, and filled other local offices. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, of Lodge No. 671, I. O. O. F., of Perkasie; Mont Alto Lodge, No. 246, K. of P., of Perkasie; and Colonel Edmond Schall Camp, No. 92, Sons of Veterans, of Landsdale, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Afflerbach are the parents of two children-Calvin Eugene, born October 11, 1896; and Esther Lucretia, born December 25, 1899.

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Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of BucksCounty, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: the Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] volume III

Transcribed September 2002 by Judy Jackson, Mo as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html