Miscellaneous Biographies

Biographies: Schuman Family: Lynn Township, Northampton (now Lehigh) County, PA

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SCHUMAN FAMILY

From History of Lehigh County Pennsylvania Charles Rhoads Roberts, 1914

Philip SCHUMAN came to America, on the ship "Rowland", which landed at Philadelphia, Sept. 29, 1753, with 106 other passengers, among whom were Rev. Ludwig Lupp, a Reformed minister stationed at Lebanon, Pa., from 1786 to 1789, and Mathias Schitz, his brother-in-law. Pioneer Schuman sojourned to Lynn township, Northampton (now Lehigh) county. He was married to Anna Maria (Schutz) Schitz. (See Scheetz Family.) We have the record of an only son Mathias.

Mathias Schuman, son of Philip, was born in Lynn township, April 25, 1760. His sponsors were his uncle, Mathias Schitz, and his wife. He was a weaver by trade. He was married to Magdalena Hamm, a daughter of Daniel Hamm. (See Hamm Family), and they had four children, namely: Christian, Solomon, Maria, and Polly. Christian Schuman was never married, Maria was the wife of Adam Freeman, and Polly was married to John Kerschner.

Solomon Schuman, youngest son of Mathias and Magdalena (Hamm) Schuman, was born Jan. 1, 1802; was baptized on the 6th day of March, 1802, by the Rev. Daniel Lehman, and at the proper age became a confirmed member of the Reformed Church. He had learned the weaving trade from his father and followed it for many years. He died on Nov 30, 1860, and is buried at the St. Michael's church, in Tilden township.

On Dec. 17, 1830, he was married to Sarah Zweitzig, a daughter of Jonathan, and a granddaughter of Bernard Zweitzig, who emigrated from Switzerland to America in 1741. Unto Solomon and Sarah (Zweitzig) Schuman were born two children: a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Sarah.

Sarah Schuman was born Oct. 6, 1847, in Bern, Berks county. She was married to James K. Merkel (See Merkel Family), on Nov. 6, 1869. Unto them were born four children, two sons and two daughters, viz: Jonathan Franklin; Anthony Oliver; Ellen Victoria, married to Reuben Blatt, of Reading; and Sarah Matilda, married to William J. Dietrich. (See Dietrich History,) Mrs. Merkel died the 14th day of November, 1877, and is buried at the St. Michael's church.

Jonathan Z. Schuman, oldest child of Solomon and Sarah (Zweitzig) Schuman, was born in Upper Bern (now tilden) township, Berks county, Pa., Feb. 23, 1844. He was baptized by the Rev. Isaac Muse, a Reformed minister, on the 10th day of April, 1844, and was admitted into church membership, May 6, 1860. He obtained a liberal education and taught school in a most successful manner for several terms. He owned and occupied his father's homestead near Berne, Pa., until about 1897, when he retired and removed with his family to Reading, Pa.

Mr. Schuman was married, Nov. 13, 1879, to Miss Mary Emily Smith, of Springfield, Illinois. Four children bless their union, viz: Arthur Garfield, Sarah Amelia, Carrie Rebecca, and John Franklin.

Biographies: Hon. Edwin Albright. 1838-1902: Lehigh County

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Hon. Edwin Albright. 1838-1902 from - "Proceedings of Pennsylvania-German Society Volume XII, 1901

Hon. Edwin Albright, President Judge of the Lehigh County Courts, was the son of Michael H. Albright, d. June 16, 1892, aged 81 years, and Maria, nee Schaeffer, Albright, d. July 17, 1894, aged 84 years. His parents lived for many years at Dillingersville, where the father was a member of the School Board for ten years and a Justice of the Peace from 1860 to 1873, in which latter year he moved to Allentown, Pa.

His paternal grandparents were John and Elizabeth, nee Hensel, Albright. The former died in 1818, when the widow, later, married John Ruch, of Plover, Lehigh County, and died in 1858, aged 80 years. His maternal grandfather was Abraham Schaeffer, an early settler in the Milfords.

The subject of this obituary sketch was born November 8, 1838, in Upper Milford, where he spent his youth on a farm, attending the public school and fitting himself for teaching. He taught school in the Krupp's Berg, near Passer, Bucks County. Lack of means prevented him from obtaining a college education, but he acquired what was its equivalent through private instruction and academic institutions with means earned by himself.

Having determined upon a legal career he registered as a law student with the late Congressman Samuel A. Bridges, supplementing this study with a course in the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the bar April 7, 1862, speedily acquired a large practice and forged to the front as one of its foremost practitioners. He was elected District Attorney of Lehigh County in 1865. In 1870 he was elected State Senator from Lehigh and Northampton Counties, and, in 1873, he was again elected from Lehigh and Carbon Counties. While a member of the Senate a new Constitution was adopted, in 1874, and Judge Albright served as a member of the Judiciary Committee, whose duty it was to frame the various enactments necessary to carry its provisions into effect. He was also on the subcommittee to draft a civil code for the State, and, during the last year of his membership, was the Democratic nominee for President of that body.

In 1878 he was triumphantly elected Judge of the County Courts and so satisfactory was his judicial service that he was twice reelected thereafter, thus serving twenty-four of the thirty years of his threeterms. He was the first native-born Lehigh Countian to be elected to the position he occupied. He was frequently mentioned for higher honors in the judiciary of the State.

Judge Albright was married June 19, 1866, to Rebecca, daughter of John and Mary Sieger, who survives him with two children, Dr.Roderick E. Albright and Mrs. Bertha Sieger. He was a member of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church; Barger Lodge, No. 222, F. and A.M.; Allentown Lodge, No. 90, Knights of Pythias; Lehigh Saengerbund, Lehigh County Agricultural Society, and the Livingstone Club.

He was an upright judge, always safe, painstaking, industrious and conscientious, without being showy or superficial. His nature was frank and open, his temper even and judicial; his judgment clear, cool and dispassionate, and his decisions universally respected. He possessed the loftiest ideals of the sanctity of the bench, and had neither friends to reward nor enemies to punish. He was richly endowed with common sense which legal disputation could never becloud nor befog. When he came to the bench he found the calendar crowded with cases and the wheels of justice greatly clogged, but his unflagging industry, unwearying zeal and wholesome discipline soon accomplished wonders and speedily cleared the overburdened docket.

Judge Albright took great pride in his Pennsylvania-German ancestry. Plain, simple, unadorned man as he was he delighted in the sterling, homely virtues of the race from which he had sprung. He became a member of the Pennsylvania-German Society at its organization and was immediately elected, in 1891, one of its two vice-presidents.

His sudden and unexpected death, resulting from an attack of pneumonia, complicated with heart trouble, occurred at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 13, 1902. H.M.M.R. Courtesy of O.S. Henninger, Esq.