History of Bucks
County, Pa Volume 3 by William H. Davis
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Name & Page Number (as posted on index page) MOYER, Henry O. 269 MOYER, Samuel B. 269
HENRY O. MOYERSAMUEL B. MOYER
HENRY O. Moyer. Among the well known and enterprising business men of upper Bucks is Henry O. Moyer of Perkasie. He is a native of Hilltown township, and was born November 27, 1845. He is a descendant of that sturdy, frugal, truth-loving race of German Mennonites who peopled upper Bucks and Montgomery counties in the early part of the seventeenth century, and have probably added more to the wealth and prosperity of our country than any other nationality or sect. Christian Meyer, supposed to have been a native of Switzerland, founded an asylum from religious persecution in the Netherlands prior to 1700, and some time after that date emigrated from Amsterdam to Pennsylvania and settled in Lower Salford township, Montgomery county, where he was a landowner prior to 1719. He was an ardent Mennonite, and one of the founders of the earliest Mennonite congregation in that locality. He died in June, 1757, leaving children, Christian, Jacob, Samuel, Elizabeth, Ann and Barbara. Christian Meyer, Jr., was born in the year 1705, probably in Holland, and was reared in Lower Salford. On attaining manhood he settled in Franconia township, Montgomery county, where he purchased 170 acres of land in 1729, most of which is still owned and occupied by his descendants. He was the first deacon and one of the founders in 1738 of the Mennonite meeting at Franconia, and was later a minister there. He died in May, 1787. By his wife, Magdalena he had children: Christian, Jacob, Samuel, Anna, Maria, Fronica, Esther, Barbara, all except one of whom married and raised families. Samuel Meyer, third son of Christian Jr., and Magdalena, was born in Franconia, Jun 10, 1734, and became a widely known Mennonite preacher. He settled in Hilltown township, Bucks county, early in life, and spent his remaining days there, living to a venerable and highly respected old age. He married Catharine Kolb, and reared a family of nine children, as follows: 1. Fronica, born 1757, died 1818; married Abraham Wismer, of Plumstead township, where they have numerous and worthy descendants. 2. Isaac, born 1758, married a Landis and reared a large family. 3. Elizabeth, died young. 4. Christian, born 1763, married Mary Landis and settled in Bedminster township. 5. Samuel, born 1765, died 1847, married Susanna Bleam, and lived and died in Hilltown. 6. Rev. Jacob Moyer, born 1767, married Magdalena Bechtel and removed to Canada. 7. Abraham, see forward. 8. Dilman, born December 20, 1777; married Barbara Latshaw, and emigrated to Canada in 1801. 9. Heinrich, born October 27, 1774, died October 19, 1857; was a farmer and weaver in Hilltown; married Salome Stover; was a deacon of the Mennonite meeting at Blooming Glen. Samuel Meyer, the father of the above children, was devised by his father the homestead in Franconia, but having already settled in Hilltown he never returned to his native county. The homestead he conveyed to his sons Isaac of Franconia, and Christian of Bedminster. The latter conveyed his portion to his son Rudolf in 1810, and it is now the property of Abraham F. Moyer, son of Rudolph. Abraham Moyer, seventh child of Samuel and Catharine (Kolb) Meyer, was born in Hilltown, November 19, 1770, and was reared to the life of a farmer. He married Elizabeth Bechtel and reared a family of ten children as follows: 1. Susan, married John Bergy. 2. Anna, married Samuel S. Yeakel. 3. Abraham B. married a Delp and left one son, Francis. 4. Samuel B., see forward. 5. Rev. Henry B., removed to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he was ordained a Mennonite minister, and returned to Hilltown and preached for some years at Blooming Glen. 6. Martin, died unmarried. 7. Catharine died unmarried. 8. John B., moved to Canada, married there; later moved to Michigan and had children. He died in Michigan. 9. Mary married George Swartz and removed to Illinois. 10. Elizabeth married Rev. Isaac Overholt (or Oberholtzer). Samuel B. Moyer, fourth child of Abraham and Elizabeth (Bechtel) Moyer, was born in Hilltown in February, 1815, and died there November 7, 1852, leaving a family of five small children, the youngest but a year old. He was a farmer and a consistent member of the Mennonite congregation at Blooming Glen. He married October 31, 1841, Hannah Overholt, who was born in Plumstead, January 1, 1819. Their children were: Abraham, who died young; Isaac, born December 5, 1843, died April 12, 1854; Henry O, the subject of this sketch; Samuel, born August 2, 1847; Mary Ann, born September 23, 1844, died October 12, 1877, married Peter Yoder; Enos, born 1851, died 1873. Henry O. Moyer was born and reared on his father’s farm in Hilltown. In early life he learned the blacksmith trade, which he followed for ten years in Hilltown. In 1881 he started in the creamery business and successfully operated a creamery at Bedminsterville for thirteen years. In 1894 he removed to Perkasie, where he conducted a clothing and gents’ furnishing store until 1899, when he sold out, and in the autumn of the same year entered into the real estate business with his son Theodore, of Uhlertown, Bucks county, and they still conduct that business. At the organization of the National Bank of Perkasie he was selected as one of the directors of that successful financial institution, and has served as such ever since. He is one of the active and successful business men of he thriving borough, and is interested in all that pertains to the best interest of that growing business town. He is a member of the German Reformed church, and politically is a Republican. He is a member of Bedminster Castle, Knights of the Golden Eagle, and was for many years its keeper of records. He married October 6, 1866, Sarah Jane Moyer, daughter of Henry A. and Sarah (Gearhart) Moyer, and a sister of Hon. Henry G. Moyer of Perkasie. She was born in Hilltown, October 15, 1845. Mr. and Mrs. Moyer are the parents of eight children, as follows: Theodore M., born Februrary 10, 1868, a prominent justice and business man in Nockamixon, Bucks county; married Belle Mills, and has seven children. Hannah M., born February 14, 1871; married Joseph H. Gulden, a prominent creamery man. Ida Jane, born Jul 25, 1873, wife of Charles M. Meredith, editor of the “Perkasie Central News.” Henry Clinton, born June 25, 1876. Samuel Linford, born April 19, 1879. Sarah Alice, born July 25, 1882; Florence Mabel, born March 13, 1885. Marian Viola, born April 4, 1888.
Text taken from pages 269-270 of: Davis, William W.H., A.M. History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III
Transcribed April 2008 by Thera Schwenk-Hammond; tsh@harborside.com; as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, http://pagenweb.org/~bucks/biographies/bucksindex.html
Published April 2008 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages at http://pagenweb.org/~bucks
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Page was last edited:
01/11/2009