Biographies from Historical and Biographical Annals by Morton Montgomery

HORST,
AMOS

p. 956

Surnames: HORST, WINGENROTH, SWEIGART, MILLER

Amos Horst, accountant in the service of the Philadelphia &
Reading Railway Company, at Reading, has lived in that city since
1889. He is of an old Lancaster county family, and was born at
Vogansville, that county, July 1, 1863, son of Amos and Amelia
(Wingenroth) Horst and grandson of John Horst. John Horst, the
grandfather, was a farmer near Blue Ball, Lancaster county, where
he lived and died.

Amos Horst, son of John, was born in Lancaster
county, and died on his farm there, in Ephrata township, aged
forty-seven years. He was a member of the Mennonite Church. He was
a well-known school teacher, first teaching the pay schools and
later public school, and he was also engaged for a time at the
Millersville State Normal School. He retired a few years before his
death. He married Amelia Wingenroth, and their children were:
Frank, of Philadelphia; Amos, of Reading; and Edwin H., who is in
the West.

Amos Horst, son of Amos, received his education
in the schools of his home locality, and taught school for three
years in his native county. He then clerked for a few years before
coming to Reading, in 1889. In this city he was first employed as a
clerk in a clothing store on Penn street, and on Sept. 10, 1890, he
entered the employ of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway
Company, as a clerk. He now has charge of the accounts in the
office of the Superintendent of the Reading Division.

Mr. Horst married Miss Sarah A. Sweigart,
daughter of Jared and Susanna (Miller) Sweigart, of Lancaster
county, and they have had two children, R. Walter and Grace I. The
family reside at No. 524 North Eighth street, Reading. They are
Lutherans in religious connection. Mr. Horst is a high Mason,
having originally joined the fraternity in Blue Lodge No. 62, F.
& A. M. Later he became a charter member of Isaac Hiester
Lodge, No. 660, upon its organization, in October, 1908, and served
as its first senior warden. He is a member of Reading Lodge of
Perfection, fourteenth degree, and of Philadelphia Consistory,
thirty-second degree.

HOSSLER,
FRED B.

p. 462

Surnames: HOSSLER, RICKERT, CONCKLING, MECK, FINK, SCHEIDY, SAVAGE,
HADESTY, BALTHASER

Fred B. Hossler, justice of the peace, farmer and surveyor of
Tilden township, is one of the oldest justices in Berks county,
having served continuously since the year 1867.

Mr. Hossler was born April 3, 1839, on the farm
in Tilden township where he now resides, and he is a great-grandson
of Frederick Hossler, who first settled in the Heidelberg district.
Thence he removed to what was then Bern township, settling where
the Squire now lives. He took up about 325 acres of land, and lived
and died here, and he is buried at St. Michael’s Church. He divided
the farm into three tracts, giving one to each of his three sons.

John Hossler, son of Fredrick, also died in Bern
township, and is buried at St. Michael’s Church. His wife was
Rachel Rickert, and their children were as follows: John (died
young); Henry, Benjamin (died in Schuylkill county); Elizabeth (m.
John Conckling); Sarah (m. Samuel Meck); Catharine (m. Peter Fink);
and Rebecca (married Henry Fink).

Henry Hossler, son of John, was born July 17,
1804, on the old homestead, and died there Aug. 27, 1892. He, too,
is buried at St. Michael’s Church. His property originally
comprised 187 acres, part of which he sold, the homestead at
present consisting of 130 acres. Henry Hossler engaged in general
farming throughout his active years, passing his last years in
retirement. He was a captain in the State militia, and was a
Democrat in politics. Henry Hossler married Mary Ann Scheidy, and
they had a family of six children: Four died young; John died at
Auburn, Schuylkill county; Fred B. is mentioned below.

Fred B. Hossler attended the public schools in
the locality of his home and later went to Morgantown Academy, and
he taught school for one term in Upper Bern township, now Tilden
township. He then went to Port Clinton, where he remained for six
months, in 1865 returning to the home farm, where he has ever since
been located. As previously stated, the farm contains 130 acres,
all of which is valuable land and in a profitable state of
cultivation. Squire Hossler is well known, especially in his public
capacity, having been first elected justice of the peace in 1867,
so that his period of service in that office alone covers over
forty years. He had previously served eleven years as township
auditor. In addition to farming Mr. Hossler has done considerable
surveying, and he is a substantial and much respected citizen of
his locality. He is also a homeopathic veterinary, of considerable
experience, having practised for over forty years. He is a member
of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church and of Vaux Lodge, No. 406, F.
& A. M., of Hamburg, Pennsylvania. In politics he is a
Democrat.

Mr. Hossler married Matilda Savage, daughter of
Joseph Savage, of Tilden township, and they have two children:
Alvin E., who is in the express business at Hamburg, Pa., married
Bessie Hadesty, and they have one son, Herbert. Lillie Jane married
Milton S. Balthaser, of Kutztown, who died Jan. 11, 1909, and was
buried at St. Michael’s, leaving to survive his wife, Lillie, and
three minor children – Curtis F., Miriam and Wayne.

HOUCK, THOMAS J. R. (HON.)

p. 1687

Surnames: HOUCK, HAUCK, HAWK, HOAK, RITTER, MINNINGER, WELLER,
GABEL, FRAUNHEISER, LEH, WESNER, HENRY, ENGEL, MOSER, FRANCIS,
SCHETZLINE

Hon. Thomas J. R. Houck, former member of the Pennsylvania State
Legislature and one of Berks county’s most prominent citizens, is a
resident of Colebrookdale township, where he was born Nov. 18,
1870. His parents were Urias G. and Mary (Ritter) Houck.

The Houcks are one of the old and substantial
families of Lower Berks county. John Hauck (as the
great-great-grandfather) of Thomas J. R. Houck wrote his name) was
a taxable resident of Earl township, Berks county, as early as
1782. His numerous posterity is now widely scattered, many,
however, remaining in Berks county, and in 1908 forty-three were
registered in the city of Reading. The name is variously spelled
Hauck, Hawk and Hoak, but its representatives here are of common
origin.

Jacob Houck, son of John and great-grandfather
of Hon. Thomas J. R., owned a small farm in Earl township, which he
bought in 1845. He died there about 1860 and is buried at the Hill
Church. He married Maricha Minninger and to them were born the
following children: Samuel lived in Oley township; Amos is
mentioned below; David lived in Amity township; Abraham lived in
Oley; Benjamin lived in Rockland; William lived in the northern
part of Montgomery county; Betsey, Mary and Sally all married men
by the name of Weller, who, however, were not brothers.

Amos Houck, grandfather of Hon. Thomas J. R.,
was born in Earl township March 10, 1810, and did at Gabelsville,
in Colebrookdale township, in June, 1894, aged eighty-four years.
Early in life he conducted the old Gabel mill, which stood a short
distance above the present one, but later became a farmer. He is
buried at Boyertown. On May 29, 1839, he married Hannah Gabel,
daughter of Jacob Gabel, of Colebroodkale township, and they had
the following children: Edwin G.; Urias G.; Emeline, deceased, wife
of Jefferson Fraunheiser; Mary, wife of Ephraim Leh; Aaron,
residing on the homestead; Ammon, residing in Colebrookdale; and
Jacob, residing in Philadelphia. The eldest son, Edwin G., was born
June 27, 1844. He taught six terms of school in Colebrookdale
township, later engaged for twenty-three years in farming his
father-in-law’s property, and in 1902 retired to his own farm of
twenty-one acres, at New Berlinville. He married Mary Wesner, and
they had three children: Edgar, Lizzie and Barbara, the last named
dying in infancy.

Urias G. Houck, father of Hon. Thomas J. R., was
born Oct. 3, 1846, in Colebrookdale township, where he died Nov.
14, 1901, aged fifty-five years, one month, eleven days; he was
laid to rest in the family plot at Fairview cemetery, Boyertown. In
early manhood he taught three terms of school, one term in
Shanesville and two at Houck’s school, after which he engaged in
farming and also was proprietor of what is now Leaver’s coal-yard,
at Boyertown. He then came to New Berlinville, where he secured the
first license to operate a hotel and conducted a public house for
four years. He then turned his attention to farming and cattle
dealing. He lived on a ninety-acre farm, which he had bought from
the William Henry heirs, and he owned a second farm, near New
Berlinville, containing twenty-five acres, which was known as the
Rev. William Engel farm. In politics he was a Democrat, and at one
time he was a candidate for the office of director of the county
poor. For a number of terms he served as school director, and at
the time of his death was serving in the office of assessor of
Colebrookdale township, which he had filled for nine years. He was
a substantial, reliable citizen, led a useful life, and his memory
is honored. In the work of church and Sunday school, he was ever
active, being a leading member of the Hill Lutheran Church and
superintendent of several Sunday-Schools.

He married Mary Ritter, born July 9, 1852,
daughter of Isaac and Anna (Moser) Ritter, and they became the
parents of four children, namely: Rosa (died in infancy), Thomas J.
R., Allen, and Laura (m. Randolph A. Henry, business partner of Mr.
Houck). The mother makes her home with her daughter.

Thomas J. R. Houck is a representative of the
younger element in public life from which is recruited so largely
the enterprise and energy that have brought about the supremacy of
America as a nation. His educational advantages were those enjoyed
in the common schools and at the Keystone State Normal School, at
Kutztown, and after his graduation in 1893, he began to teach
school in his native township. He was recognized as a capable
instructor, and as the calling was a congenial one he continued in
this line, teaching one term in Colebrookdale township, one in
Amity township, two in the borough of Bechtelsville, one at
Perkiomen Seminary (this being in 1897), and was then elected
principal of the Pennsburg schools in Montgomery county, where he
taught one term. Following this he accepted the office of principal
of the Womelsdorf high school, where he taught one term, and was
then elected by the Boyertown school board as a grammar school
instructor for one year and as principal the second year.

In November 1902, Mr. Houck was elected a member
of the State Legislature and served very creditably for two terms,
1903-04 and 1905-06, having been re-elected in 1904 with an
increased majority. In the interim he served as principal of the
West Reading grammar school. In 1905 he returned to Bechtelsville
and taught there until the special session of the Legislature, in
1905, recalled him to Harrisburg. He is a stanch Democrat. In the
spring of 1908 he was his party’s candidate for the State Senate
and received the third highest vote of five aggressive candidates,
proving his popularity in his native county. At present he is one
of the auditors of the borough of Boyertown, where he resides. He
is a stanch Democrat in political faith. Since taking an active
part in politics, he has been frequently called upon to take the
stump and defend the principles of the party. This opportunity he
has never refused, and has always proved himself useful in the
interest of his party. Mr. Houck is popular as a public speaker in
Berks and Montgomery counties on such occasions as Memorial Day,
public school commencements, etc.

In March 1901, Mr. Houck formed a business
partnership with Randolph A. Henry, under the firm name of Houck
& Henry, wholesale and retail dealers in agricultural
machinery, buggies and gasoline engines, which are a progressive
and prosperous enterprise, conducted at New Berlinville, Berks Co.,
Pa. Their stock includes farm wagons, buggies, gasoline engines, a
full line of agricultural implements, hardware, harness, pumps,
fertilizers, Page fence, and field and garden seeds.

On Oct. 11, 1904, Mr. Houck married Miss Amy E.
Francis, a daughter of Dr. L. K. and Anna (Schetzline) Francis, of
Boyertown. Mrs. Francis perished on Jan. 13, 1908, in the Boyertown
conflagration. Mr. and Mrs. Houck have two sons, Thomas F. and
Robert L. Mr. and Mrs. Houck are members of St. John’s Lutheran
Church at Boyertown, and since 1896 Mr. Houck has been
superintendent of the Sunday school, which has 650 pupils on its
roll. He is an active member of Camp No. 104, Patriotic Order Sons
of America, of Boyertown, and a member of Lodge No. 159, I. O. O.
F., Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania.

HOWDEN,
EDWARD

p. 1032

Surnames: HOWDEN, KLINE, DEISHER, BUCKLEY, QUINN

Edward Howden (deceased), who for many years was a well known
figure in railroad construction work, and who was employed by the
Reading Railway Company, from the time of grading the road until
his retirement in 1889, was born in 1814, in County Cavan, Ireland.

Mr. Howden came to America in 1834, and at once
engaged in railroad and construction work and when the work on the
Reading Railway was commenced he was made section boss. His ability
to handle large bodies of men made his services very valuable to
that company, and he was often called upon to carry out large
contracts. Mr. Howden continued in this firm’s employ until his
retirement in 1889, and he died May 31, 1890.

In 1839 Mr. Howden married Lavina Kline, who
survives him and to his union were born twelve children: Catherine
A., unmarried; John K., deceased; Jane, unmarried; Edward and Mary,
deceased; Elizabeth m. to William Deisher; Rebecca m. to Michael
Buckley; George, who is with the Pennsylvania Railway, at Auburn,
Pa.; D. James, deceased; William, in the employ of the Philadelphia
& Reading Railway Co.; Agnes C., deceased; and Rose T., m. to
Patrick Quinn. The family are connected with St. Joseph’s Catholic
Church, in which faith Mr. Howden died. In politics he was a
Democrat.

HOWERTER, SAMUEL K.

p.
1375

Surnames: HOWERTER, KRAUSE

Samuel K. Howerter of Reading, extensively engaged in the cement
business, was born in Kutztown, Jan. 8, 1869, son of Samuel
Howerter, who for a number of years was engaged in agricultural
pursuits in Long Swamp, and later in the manufacture of woolen
goods, and is now living retired in Lehigh county. He had these
children; James; Nathan; Alice; Lizzie; Samuel K.; Edwin, a dentist
of Reading; William, a physician of Monroe county; Katie; George;
Cora; and Emanuel, who was a physician and died aged forty years.

Samuel K. Howerter attended the public schools
of his native locality, and subsequently entered Stoner’s Business
College, after leaving which he taught school for three years in
Long Swamp and Maxatawny townships. Mr. Howerter then took a
business course, after which he went to Philadelphia, being there
employed as a clerk for three years. After being employed in
different shops for one year, and then with the Acme Bicycle works
for a period of six years. In 1900, with Adam Hartman, whose sketch
appears elsewhere in this volume, Mr. Howerter engaged in his
present business, the firm being known as the Reading Cement &
Paving Co. The partners have been very successful, their work being
of the highest grade, and their contracts always properly filled.

Mr. Howerter was married in 1892 to Miss Cora
Krause, daughter of Jacob Krause, a prominent farmer of Albany
township, Berks county, and to this union have been born: Arthur
and Sherman. Mr. and Mrs. Howerter live in their fine residence at
No. 917 Locust street, and are members of Alsace Lutheran Church.
He is very popular fraternally, and is connected with the Eagles,
the Red Men, and the Maennerchor.