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F. A. Seitz
F. A. SEITZ, a representative business man of Freeport, Pa., and formerly
postmaster for five years, was born at Pittsburgh, Pa., Oct. 27, 1849, son of
Henry and Kathryn (Wagoner) Seitz. The parents were born in Germany. In 1848 Henry Seitz with his wife and their one daughter came to
America and settled at Pittsburgh, Pa., where he went into the public house
business and for three years conducted the “Diamond Hotel” in that
city.In his early life Henry Seitz had been especially trained for the stage and
became a popular actor, filling many engagements in different parts of the
country. One of his acts was the impersonating of William Tell in the
celebrated historic act of shooting an apple off the head of his son, and when
he performed the feat on the Cincinnati stage F.A. Seitz took the part of the
child. Henry Seitz lost his life in a fire in 1854, in which the theater at
New Orleans, La., where he was playing at the time, was totally destroyed. His
widow survived the shock but three years.F.A. Seitz was thus left an orphan when young and he was placed in an
Orphans’ home at Mount Auburn, near Cincinnati, where he remained until 1859.
In that year he came by way of the canal to Freeport, Pa., where he remained
until 1866, when he went to Kittanning, and in 1867 to Philadelphia, there
learning the trade of baker. After perfecting himself in this trade he
returned to Freeport, and in June, 1871, embarked in the bakery and
confectionery business. He had but little capital, and at the end of the first
year his books showed $150 on the wrong side of the ledger. He did not permit
this, however, to discourage him, but made still greater endeavors to
establish himself, and finally, adding the wholesaling of ice cream to his
other activities, found an avenue of great profit. In the course of time every
line of the industry was prospering, and he continued it, making and disposing
of a pure product at a reasonable price, with sufficient profit to encourage
him to make still wider plans for business extension. Just about this time,
however, his many competitors found themselves in a position to undersell him,
the expense of keeping his product up to its high grade making it impossible
for him to find a profitable wholesale trade, and at the present time,though still in the business, he supplies only a limited trade. His pure,
delicious product, however, made his name well known all over western
Pennsylvania. He is now operating an extensive bakery and confectionery
establishment at Freeport, and is also, in association with his sons,
interested in the retail grocery business.Mr. Seitz is public-spirited and enterprising and has, interested himself
in many of the successful movements which have proved beneficial to his city
and county. He was one of the charter members of the Freeport telephone system
and a charter member of the Enterprise Gas Company, which was the first
concern of its kind to obtain a charter to supply natural gas in Pennsylvania,
and was one of its directors; when this company sold out to the T.W. Phillips
Gas and Oil Company, it gave him more time to attend to his other interests.
In 1883 he was one of the organizers and founders of the Freeport Water Works
and was a director, but later disposed of his interest therein, and he was
also one of the founders of the Freeport Building and Loan Association, which
began business Jan. 17, 1887, from which date until 1906 Mr. Seitz was
president. This was one of the most important enterprises ever successfully
undertaken and carried out at Freeport in the interest of the man with limited
capital. Many of the substantial citizens of Freeport at the present day
availed themselves of the opportunity offered by the organization and secured
property that, in degree, became a foundation on which they built up their
business prosperity.It has been said of Mr. Seitz that he is one of the wheelhorses of the
Democratic party in Armstrong county, and it certainly is a fact that he has a
large amount of influence which he judiciously uses for the benefit of his
friends, his party and his community. He has seldom accepted political office
for himself, but served as postmaster of the city for five years under the
administration of the late President Cleveland, proving an efficient and
satisfactory official in every way.On Jan. 1, 1871, Mr. Seitz was married at Philadelphia, Pa., to Katherine
Walsh, the ceremony being performed by the rector of St. Ann’s Church. Five
children have been born to them, two sons only surviving, Frederick Carl and
Henry A. Frederick Carl Seitz is a graduate of Duff’s business college,
Pittsburgh, and is associated with his father, as is his younger brother,
Henry A., who is also a graduate of the Pittsburgh Dental College. Like their
father the young men are wide-awake, enterprising and successful men of
business. ÂSource: Page 468-496, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and
Present, J. H. Beers & Co., 1914
Transcribed May 1999 by Michael S. Caldwell for the Armstrong County Beers
Project
Contributed for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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