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HON. HENRY G. MOYER

   HON. HENRY G. MOYER, of Perkasie, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, for many years prominent in the business and official circles of Bucks county, was born in Hilltown, Bucks county, August 28, 1848, and is a son of the late Henry A. and Sarah (GERHART) MOYER, of Hilltown, and is descended from early German settlers on the Skippack, nearly two centuries ago.  The name of Moyer, Meyers, Myers, now almost as common in Bucks county as Smith, was originally spelled Meyer, and the present bearers of the name are descended from several German emigrants of that name who settled in what is now Montgomery county, in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, from whence their descendants migrated into Bucks county in the second and third generation.

   I. Christian Meyer, the paternal ancestor of this sketch, was a landowner in Lower Salford township, Montgomery county, as early as 1719, and possibly some years earlier, and was one of the founders of the earliest congregations of Mennonites in that locality.  All the earlier generations of the family belonged to that sect, though many of their descendants now belong to other denominations.  Christian Meyer died in June, 1757, leaving three sons, Christian, Jacob and Samuel, the last of whom settled in Hilltown; and daughters Elizabeth, who married Nicholas OBLINGER; Anna, who married Henry FUNCK, and Barbara, who married Abraham REIFF.  The descendants of the two latter are now quite numerous in Bucks county.

   II. Christian Meyer, Jr., son of the above, born in 1705, died 1787, was a farmer in Franconia, Montgomery county, and left sons, Christian, Jacob and Samuel, and daughters, Esther, wife of Christian GEHMAN; Anna, wife of John KRATZ; Maria, wife of Martin DETWEILER; and Barbara, wife of Abraham KRATZ.

   III. Rev. Jacob MEYER, second son of Christian and Magdalena, of Franconia, born January 28, 1730, married (second) Barbara DERSTEIN, of Rockhill, and settled in Hilltown township, where he owned over three hundred acres of land.  He was for many years a preacher of the Mennonite faith in Hilltown, and died there in 1782, leaving a family of nine children.

   IV. Joseph MOYER (as the name then came to be spelled), second son of the Rev. Jacob and Barbara (DURSTEIN) MEYER, was born in Hilltown, June 19, 1774, and died there June 21, 1815.  He was a farmer and lived near Yost's. now Schwenk's mill, north of the present village of Blooming Glen.  Joseph MOYER was quite a noted penman and more or less of an artist, several specimens of his artistic work with the pen being still extant.  He married, April 7, 1795, Barbara ANGENY, who was born in Bucks county, April 8, 1770, and died about the year 1857, and they were the parents of eight children, of whom seven lived to maturity, viz.: Jacob, who migrated to Canada; Samuel, who lived and died on the homestead; Joseph, who died in 1842; William A., who died in 1885; Henry A., see forward; Elizabeth who married Abraham GERHART; and Mary, who married Abraham HUNSBERGER.

   V. Henry A. MOYER, youngest son of Joseph and Barbara (ANGENY) MOYER, was born in Hilltown, October 26, 1807, and died there August 4, 1875.  He received a good education, and during his younger days taught school for a number of years, but on his marriage, December 8, 1833, to Sarah GERHART, abandoned the life of a pedagogue and settled down as a farmer in Hilltown.   He took a prominent part in local affairs, and filled a number of township offices, among others holding the office of assessor for many years.  His wife, Sarah GERHART, was born August 20, 1814, and died February 20, 1800.  Their children were: Lydia, wife of Samuel M. GERHART; Abraham G., deceased; Joseph G., a prominent business man of Perkasie; Barbara, wife of Samuel G. KRAMER; Sarah Jane, wife of Henry O. MOYER, of Perkasie; Jacob G. of Perkasie; Isaiah G., deceased; and Henry G., the subject of this sketch.

   VI. Henry G. MOYER, born and reared on his father's farm in Hilltown, attended the public schools, and later other institutions of learning, and closed his education with a course at Quaker City Business College, Philadelphia, from which he graduated with high honors in 1868, at the age of twenty.  In 1879 he was elected justice of the peace, and since that time has done a large amount of public business, officiating as executor, administrator and agent in the settlement of estates, attending to the survey and transfer of real estate and other business of a public character.  In 1882 he purchased a one-half interest in "The Central News," a paper published at Perkasie, with Mahlon SELLERS, and conducted it under the firm name of Mahlon Sellers & Co., becoming one of its editors.  Mr. SELLERS' dying soon after, his interest in the paper was purchased by Samuel R. KRAMER, and the firm name became Moyer & Kramer, and that firm conducted the paper and a job printing office in connection therewith until 1904.  Under their management "The Central News" became a successful weekly paper, and enjoys a circulation equal to that of any weekly paper published in upper Bucks.  Mr. MOYER is an ardent Republican in politics, and has been for many years prominently identified with the local organization of the party in Bucks county, serving as delegate to a number of state and other conventions.  In 1882 he was the party nominee for representative in the assembly, but was defeated though receiving much more than his party vote in his own locality, the county being then Democratic.  In 1894 he was elected to the state senate by a majority of 1577 votes, and in the sessions of 1895 and 1897 served upon many of the important committees of the upper house.  Mr. MOYER still does a large amount of public business.  On the organization of Perkasie National Bank, he was elected president and still fills that position, giving much of his time to the affairs of the bank.  On January 31, 1905, he was appointed postmaster at Perkasie, Pennsylvania, by President Roosevelt, which office he fills with satisfaction, and has established four rural free delivery routes from said office.  He is a member of the United Evangelical Church, and has been for many years superintendent of the Sabbath School and class leader of the local church at Perkasie, rendering eminent and efficient services in that capacity.  He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and affiliated with the Odd Fellows and O. U. A. M.  He married Emeline SEIPLE, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and they have been the parents of seven children, of whom but two survive Mabel Rebecca, born October 10, 1882, and Henry Clayton, born March 5, 1888.

Text taken from pages 169 and 170 of:

Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III

Transcribed FEBRUARY 2001 by GRACE T. BURTON of PA as part of the Bucks Co., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html

Published February 2001 on the Bucks county, Pa., USGenWeb pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/