History of Bucks County, Pa Volume 3 by William H. Davis
Names and Page # Index

WILLIAM BAUM

WILLIAM BAUM, deceased, one of the best known and respected citizens of Bedminster township, was born in Springfield township, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, March 30, 1841, and was a descendant of early German settlers in that township. Heinrich or Henry Baum, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one of a family of five brothers and two sisters, born in Wurtemberg, Germany, of which four of the brothers and one sister emigrated to America and settled in Bucks county, viz: Carl or Charles, Heinrich, Michael, Susanna, and Philip BAUM. Carl and Heinrich came together in the ship "Hero,' arriving in Philadelphia, October 27, 1764, and settled in Springfield township. Carl, the eldest of the family, married Barbara Youngken, and after a residence of several years in Springfield, removed with his family to Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and later removed to what was then Northumberland county and from thence, in 1798, to Northwestern Territory, now the State of Ohio, where he died. His son Samuel, born in Springfield, Bucks county, August 16, 1709, died in New Berlin, Union county, Pennsylvania, October 2, 1842. His other eight children, most of whom lived and died in Felicity, Ohio, were: Elizabeth, wife of Peter Emery; Catharine, wife of Benjamin Sells; Mary, wife of Peter DeWitt; Susanna, wife of Thomas Jones; Margaret, wife of Conrad Metzger; Barbara, wife of Leonard Metzger; Michael and Charles Baum. Michael, the third of the emigrant brothers, also settled in Bucks county and reared a family of ten children, as follows: Samuel, who settled in Montgomery county; Elizabeth, the wife of John Trumbore, of Milford; Mary, wife of John Trumbore; Ann, wife of John Gregg; Catharine, wife of Jacob Werhold, of Rockhill; Susan, wife of Jacob Willauer; Michael, of Milton, Pennsylvania; Henry, of Montgomery county; Hannah, wife of William Grafley; and Sarah, Phillip, the youngest of the emigrant brothers, married Mary Moyer, settled in New Britain township, where he died at an advanced age, on March 1, 1841, without issue. Susanna, the sister, married John Landis, of Milford township, and had two sons: Samuel and Henry. Another brother Samuel and a sister lived and died in Wurtemberg.

Heinrich Baum, the second of the emigrant brothers, as before stated, arrived in this country in 1764, and almost immediately after his arrival located in Springfield township, where he took up a tract of land on which he resided until his death in 1803. His wife's name was Elizabeth, but her maiden name is unknown by her descendants. They were the parents of eleven children, all of whom were born and reared in Springfield, viz: Abraham, Anna, who married John Landis and removed to Warren county, New Jersey; Susanna, who married Isaac Meyer, of Springfield; Elizabeth, who married Henry Ackerman; Henry, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch; Catharine, who married Samuel Bleam; Hannah, who married John Shelly; Margaret, who married Henry Bleam; Barbara, who married Michael Huddle; Philip, who died in 1814, without issue; and Mary, who married Joseph Moyer, and died in 1815.

Henry Baum, second son and fifth child of Heinrich and Elizabeth Baum, was born and reared in Springfield township, Bucks county, and spent his whole life there, dying in 1823. He married Magdalene Moyer, daughter of William Moyer, born in Springfield, June 17, 1707, died there February 12, 1848, son of the Reverend Peter Moyer, one of the early Mennonite ministers of Bucks county, who was born in Switzerland about 1723 and settled in Springfield in 1752. The mother of Magdalene (Moyer) Baum was Barbara Overholt, who was born December 27, 1767, and died September 1, 1850. The children of Henry and Magdalene (Moyer) Baum were William, Joseph, Henry, Elizabeth, wife of Henry Focht, of Lehigh county; and Mary, who married Samuel Detweiler. After the death of Henry Baum, his widow married * John Shantz and had three children: Abraham, Lydia and Sarah.

Joseph Baum, second son of Henry and Magdalene, was born in Springfield, September 26, 1810. Left and orphan at the age of thirteen years, he learned the trade of a shoemaker with Christian Moyer, of Hilltown township, and followed that trade until his marriage, when he settled in Springfield township. After a few years spent in agricultural pursuits in Springfield he removed to Bedminster township, where he resided for a few years; returned again to Springfield, but later again removed to Bedminster where he purchased the farm on which his son William lately resided and passed the remainder of his life there, dying April 28, 1892. He was an active and prominent man in the community, filling the office of school director in Springfield township, and that of supervisor for eighteen years in Springfield and ten years in Bedminster. He also served as township auditor. He was a member of the New Mennonite church. He married in 1828 Esther Moyer, born August 3, 1808, daughter of Christian and Barbara (Landis) Moyer, and they were the parents of six children: Hannah, widow of Jacob K. Overholt, of Bedminster; Sarah, who married Christian F. Meyers: Henry, who married Hannah Moyer and resides in Philadelphia; Joseph, who died in the army in 1863; William, the subject of this sketch; and Magdaleana, who died at the age seven years.

William Baum, third son and fifth child of Joseph and Ester (Moyer) Baum, born in Springfield township, March 30, 1841, received his education at the public schools. Reared to the life of a farmer he took charge of the home farm at his marriage and cultivated it for his father until 1873, when he purchased the farm; his parents continuing to reside with him until their death. He was one of the directors of Souderton National Bank at the time of his deceased, and had been for ten years a director of the Bucks County Fire Insurance Company. He was also a director of the Dublin Mutual Insurance and Protective Company from its organization in 1892 to the time of his death. He served a number of years in different local offices, filling the position of assistant assessor for nine years, and was census enumerator in 1890. He was elected to the office of director of the poor for Bucks county in 1897, and reelected in 1900, serving in all six years. He was a member of the Mennonite congregation at Deep Run, and politically was a Republican. Mr. Baum stood deservedly high in the regard and confidence of the people of Bucks county, and of the community in which he lived. He was a faithful and conscientious public servant, an earnest patriotic citizen, a devoted husband and father and an honest consistent Christian gentleman. His loss is keenly felt in the community. He died June 7, 1905, buried at Deep Run. Mr. Baum married, October 5, 1865, Maria Hunsicker, daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Moyer) Hunsicker, of Hilltown, Bucks county, granddaughter of Rev. Isaac and Anna Hunsicker, great-granddaughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Hunsicker, who came from the Skippack to Hilltown township in 1757, and a great-great-granddaughter of Valentine Hunsicker, who emigrated from Switzerland in 1717, and settled in Montgomery county. She is also a descendant through her mother, Barbara Moyer, born July 26, 1813, died August, 1890, from Heinrich Baum, the pioneer ancestor of her husband, her grandmother Susanna Bleam, wife of Samuel Moyer, of Hilltown, being a granddaughter of Heinrich and Elizabeth Baum. The children of William and Maria (Hunsicker) Baum are: Hannah, wife of Samuel H. Moyer, of Blooming Glen; Harvey H., who married Mary Shaddinger, and lives in Perkasie; Ida, wife of Edwin F. Stover, of Blooming Glen; Jacob, deceased; Joseph H., who married Lizzie Detweiler and lives on the homestead; Edwin, deceased; William Garfield married Mary Overholt; and Nora, who resides at home.

Text taken from page 234 of:

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

Transcribed November, 2000 by Donna J. Kling of Pennsylvania as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html