Biographies from Historical and Biographical Annals by Morton Montgomery

KLINE,
MAHLON

p. 716

Surnames: KLINE, HOMAN, BACHELER, KIRK, LUTZ, NOBLE, JONES, SMINK,
KUNSMAN, ERMENTROUT, STEINER, MAYER, GEISSLER, KATTERMAN

Mahlon Kline, of Reading, residing in the Rolling Mill mansion on
the Kutzman road, has for many years been prominently identified
with the business and public interests of this city. Mr. Kline was
born June 10, 1836, in Reading, son of John R. and Caroline (Homan)
Kline.

John R. Kline, father of Mahlon, was born Jan.
17, 1809, in Exeter township, Berks county, and died Dec. 14, 1870.
For a number of years he was a boat builder in Reading, and the
foreman of a large number of men, but in his years carried on a
successful grocery business at Seventh and Bingaman streets. He
also engaged in the manufacture of bricks on North Ninth street and
also where Rick’s foundry is now located, and furnished the brick
for the building of the Reading Cotton Mills. Mr. Kline was a
member of the First Reformed Church, and is buried in the Charles
Evans cemetery. He was twice married, his first wife being Caroline
Homan, by whom he had two children: Mahlon and Amos, the latter of
whom died when four months old. His second marriage was to Hester
Lutz, and by this union had one son, William, a cabinet maker of
Reading, who has two sons, William and Harry, both of whom are
successful business men of Reading.

Mahlon Kline attended the public schools of his
native city, Captain Bachelor’s military school and the city night
school, afterward learning draughting under Lewis Kirk. He served
his apprenticeship under James Noble & Sons, now of Alabama.
During the fifties, James Noble & Sons removed to Rome, Ga.,
where they built the first locomotive for the State Road, south of
the Mason and Dixon line. This engine was on exhibition at the
Atlanta, Ga., Fair, where J. Glancy Jones delivered the address for
the occasion. Mr. Kline learned the general machine business from
James Noble & Sons, and was in that firm’s employ for six
years, three of which he spent in the South. During the Civil war
Mr. Kline was employed at the Scott works in Reading, working on
army and navy guns, shot and shell, this work all being done for
the Government. He was in the service of the Reading Iron Company
long before the establishment of the present company, which was
sold by the sheriff many times. Since the Centennial this company
has been under the direction of F. C. Smink, the present president,
who has kept the enterprise on a paying basis. Mr. Kline’s
principal work all of his life has been that of a machinist, and
for fifteen years he was in charge of the old forge, a part of the
Reading Iron Company. He has lived retired since 1901, and lives in
the Rolling Mill mansion of the Reading Iron Company, on the
Kutztown road, still in the city limits.

Mr. Kline has been a life-long Democrat, and on
October 11, 1870, he was elected a select councilman from the Ninth
ward, an office in which he served for six years. He has been very
influential in public matters, and has held various offices. He is
a member of the First Reformed Church of Reading, and has a
certificate stating that he was a member of the First German
Reformed Sunday- School of the borough of Reading, signed by his
Sunday-school teacher, J. Ermentraut and the Sunday- school
superintendent, C. Steiner. This was presented to him when he was
but eight years old, and he prizes it very highly. Mr. Kline was a
deacon of the church.

In 1858, Mahlon Kline married Emma Kunsman, born
Aug. 23, 1841, daughter of Jacob and Rosa (Homan) Kunsman, and to
this union were born nine children, of whom seven survive, as
follows: Carrie, m. to Frank Mayer, of Temple, Pa.; John, a skilled
machinist of Philadelphia; Martha, who is single and lives at home,
making life pleasant for her parents; Annie, m. top Samuel J.
Geissler, of Reading; Emma, m. to Ralph Katterman, a resident of
Birdsboro, Pa.; Daniel, who lives in Reading; and Howard, a
machinist, who resides at Alliance, Ohio.

KLINE, MAHLON
NUNNEMACHER

p. 776

Surnames: KLINE, KLEIN, NUNNEMACHER, LUTZ, KOCH, TOBIAS, HAAG/HAAK,
LOSZ, STETZLER, ROTH, HETTINGER, FAUST, RENNINGER, HOLLENBACH,
HOFFMAN, FRENCH, UNGER, HART, VALENTINE, JORDAN

Mahlon Nunnemacher Kline, president and general manager of the
Smith, Kline & French Company, who conduct the largest
wholesale drug establishment in Philadelphia, and one of the
largest in the United States, was born Feb. 6, 1846, near Hamburg,
in Windsor township, Berks Co., Pa., son of John and Mary
(Nunnemacher) Kline.

Hans (Johannes) Klein, the
great-great-grandfather of Mahlon N., a farmer of near Centreport,
died in 1795. He was twice married, and by his first union had four
sons, John, Werner, Nicholas and Jacob; by his second wife,
Catherine, he had eight children: Philip; Conrad; Peter; Catherine,
who married Henry Lutz; Barbara, who married John Koch; Elizabeth,
who married John Tobias; Mary, who married Christian Haak or Haag,
brother of Philip’s wife; and Margaret Elizabeth, who married John
Losz. These eight children are named in the last will of the second
wife, which was probated in 1801. All twelve children are named in
Hans Klein’s will, probated in 1795.

Of the foregoing family, Philip Klein, who was
also a farmer of the vicinity of Centreport, was the
great-grandfather of Mahlon N. He died in 1837, aged sixty-five
years. By his marriage with Magdalena Haag he had five children:
John; Joseph, who married a Stetzler; Jacob, who married a Roth;
Charles; and Rebecca, who married Matthias Hettinger. The mother of
these children died in 1856, at the age of eighty-two years.

The grandfather of Mahlon N. Kline, who like his
father and grandfather was engaged in farming near Centreport, died
in 1835, aged thirty-eight years. He was married to Catherine
Faust, and by her had six children: John; William, who removed to
Milton, Pa.; Benjamin, who removed to near Pottsville, Pa.; Mary,
who married Jacob Renninger; Esther, who married John G.
Hollenbach; and Catherine, who married Simon Hoffman.

John Kline, father of Mahlon N. Kline, was a
farmer of Upper Bern (now Tilden) township, where he carried on
agricultural pursuits until his decease, in 1889, at the age of
sixty-nine years. He took an active interest in the United Brethren
Church situated several miles west of his residence. John Kline
married Mary Nunnemacher, daughter of John Nunnemacher, of the same
township, and she died in 1897, aged seventy-three years, the
mother of one son, Mahlon N.

Mahlon Nunnemacher Kline removed with his
parents, while still an infant, to Upper Bern (now Tilden)
township, near Berne Station, on the Philadelphia & Reading
railroad. He received his education in the public schools of that
vicinity and for two years attended a private school at Reading.
When fourteen years old he was sent to Philadelphia to attend
public school there for a course of higher education, but he
continued his studies there for only six months, when he returned
home, and though but fifteen years of age he made application for a
position as teacher. He passed an examination successfully, and was
given a school several miles north of Reading, now Hyde Park, where
he taught for one term. With this preparation he directed his
attention to store-keeping, and, finding a place in a country store
at Hamburg, a few miles from home, he applied himself assiduously
to that work for two years. He then went to the Eastman Business
College at Poughkeepsie, and after graduating from this institution
secured a position as bookkeeper with the wholesale drug firm of
Smith & Shoemaker, at No. 243 North Third street, Philadelphia.
This was in February, 1865, and in three years, so highly were his
integrity and devotion to business appreciated, he was admitted a
member of the firm. Mr. Shoemaker retired from the firm in 1869,
and the name was changed to Smith, Kline & Co. The business
stand was at the same place until 1887, when larger and more
convenient quarters became necessary, and it was removed to Nos.
429-431 Arch street. A year afterward the firm was incorporated. In
1891, the wholesale business of French, Richards & Co., being
closed out, Harry B. French joined the corporation, the name of
which was changed to the Smith, Kline & French Company, and as
such it has continued to the present time. The plant has been much
enlarged and the volume of business developed until it ranks third
in its line of trade in the United States. They now occupy the
premises at Nos. 429-435 Arch street, with laboratory and mill at
Canal and Popular streets. Mr. Kline has been the general manager of the
corporation since its formation and its president since 1903, which
evidences his prominence in the successful management of the
enterprise.

Mr. Kline has been publicly identified with the
business, political, social and religious affairs of Philadelphia
for many years. He took an active part in the establishment of the
Bourse and was elected a director in 1900. The Drug Exchange was
organized in 1861, and he became a director in 1882, vice-president
in 1883, and president in 1884. The National Wholesale Druggists’
Association was organized in 1882, and Mr. Kline cooperated with
other wholesale drug merchants in establishing it as a body to take
the place of the Western Wholesale Druggists’ Association; and
since that time he has been attending all of its annual meetings,
excepting in 1895, when he was traveling in Europe. Notwithstanding
his busy life he took time to unite with other prominent citizens
of Philadelphia in their efforts to reform local politics and
improve the municipal government, and his activities in this behalf
naturally led to his selection as a member of the executive
committee of the Lincoln party, and as treasurer of the State
committee in 1905. In the stirring campaign of 1906 he made
numerous speeches in different sections of the State, advocating
the election of the candidates on the Lincoln party ticket, and
thereby demonstrating in a public manner his earnest devotion to
the cause of political reform. Mr. Kline has been a member of the
Union League since 1896; he is also a member of the Manheim Cricket
Club and of the Philadelphia Cricket Club. Following the religious
inclinations of his parents, he has been a devoted member of the
Church of the Saviour (Protestant Episcopal, at Thirty-eighth and
Chestnut streets), and has served the Sunday-school as its
superintendent since 1896. He has also officiated as a director of
the Franklin Reformatory Home at No. 915 Locust street for upward
of ten years. For three months in 1895 he traveled extensively on
the continent of Europe, and in 1897 he visited all the important
places of England, Scotland and Ireland.

In 1874, Mr. Kline was married to Isadore E.
Unger, of Allentown, daughter of Leopold Paul and Hettie (Hart)
Unger, and by this union he has three children: Isadore C. who
married Harry S. Valentine, treasurer of the drug corporation
named; Leah Elizabeth, who married T. Carrick Jordan; and Clarence
Mahlon, who is one of the directors of the Smith, Kline &
French Company.

KLINE,
MORGAN W.

p. 1107

Surnames: KLINE, DeWALD, FERNSLER, O’NEILL, DOERFLINGER, SCHOENER

Morgan W. Kline, who was for some years engaged at the machinist’s
business, at Reading, Pa., and later at painting and wall papering,
is the son of Alexander S. Kline, a native of Berks country.
br    Alexander S. Kline was educated in the
subscription schools of the county, and when a young man was
employed on the Schuylkill Canal, later engaging in the distilling
of liquors, a business which he carried on for several years, and
then disposing of this industry, removed to Pottsville, where he
carried on a successful produce business for several years, an
occupation which he followed in Reading, to which city he later
removed. He was still carrying on this business in Reading at the
time of his death in 1888. He was a very prominent man, and was
held in high esteem in the city. Mr. Kline married Lovina DeWald, a
native of Berks county, and a member of an old established family
of this section. They had three children, namely: Henry and Lewis
(deceased), and Morgan W.

Morgan W. Kline received his education in the
common schools of Berks county, and also attended the schools of
Pottsville, and while a young man worked at the machinist’s trade,
later learning the house painting business, as well as paper
hanging, which he followed for some years. In 1869 he married
Esther Fernsler, daughter of Frederick Fernsler, and six children
were born to this union, namely: Frederick, who is employed by
Curtis, Jones & Co., shoe manufacturers, as shipping clerk;
Alexander, a barber of Reading; Sophia, at home; Wayne and Harriet,
at school; and Morris, who died at the age of one and one-half
years. In religious belief the family are members of the
Evangelical Church.

Frederick Fernsler was born in Schuylkill Co.,
Pa., and early in life learned the cabinet maker’s trade, which he
followed until 1850, in which year he engaged in the hardware
business at Pottsville. This occupation he carried on until the
close of the Civil war, when he retired, and died in 1878, aged
fifty-eight years. He married Harriet O’Neill, also a native of
Schuylkill county, and they became the parents of six children:
Hannah, m. to Augustus Doerflinger; Henry, m. to Catherine
Schoener; Esther, m. to Morgan W. Kline; Frederick, who died in
infancy; Frank, and Anna. Mrs. Fernsler died in June, 1905, at the
age of eighty-five years. The family were members of the
Evangelical Church.

KLINE,
MORRIS H.

p. 1201

Surnames: KLINE, HOFFMAN, DIETRICH, HOLLOWAY, RHOADS, SHURR, MOYER,
TURNER, MENGEL, BERTOLET, SNELL, DARRAH, DAVIDHEISER

Morris H. Kline, one of the leading citizens of Earl township,
Berks county, where he is a large property owner, was born in
Exeter township, this county, July 19, 1855, son of Cyrus H. and
Phoebe (Hoffman) Kline.

Jacob Kline, grandfather of Morris H., was a
native of Amity township, Berks county, and there he died on his
farm. For some years he lived in Exeter township, on a farm near
the Amity township line, the farm being now the property of Alfred
Dietrich. He then returned to Amity township, and was engaged in
the cultivation of his sixty-acre farm at the time of his death. In
1790, the first Federal census report shows him a resident of Amity
township, and the head of a family of twelve persons, as follows:
himself, wife, four sons above sixteen years of age, three sons
under sixteen and three daughters. His wife was a Holloway, and
among their children were: George, who settled in the West; Daniel,
who lived at Coplay, Lehigh Co., Pa.; Cyrus H.; Rufus, a machinist
at Pottstown; and Jacob, a cooper of Amity township, who married
Elizabeth Rhoads (daughter of Abraham), and had children -James,
Frank, Albert, Charles and Ada (m. Samuel Shurr, of Monocacy
Station).

Cyrus H. Kline was born in Amity township Jan.
22, 1822, and died at the Spring Forge Jan. 23, 1875. He was a
wheelwright and blacksmith and is said to have been one of the best
all round mechanics of his day. He owned a small tract at
Weavertown, where he lived about fifteen years before the Civil
war. He learned his trade with Peter Turner. In religious faith,
both he and his wife, Phoebe Hoffman, were Lutherans. She was born
Nov. 22, 1822, and died Feb. 15, 1905. They were the parents of
seven children: Horace 1848-1851; Sarah 1852-1861; Mary 1853-1862;
Morris H.; Cyrus, of Pottstown; Jacob who works for his brother
Morris H.; and Annie, deceased wife of Clemson Rhoads.

Morris H. Kline obtained a limited education in
the township schools in Amity and Earl townships. He learned the
wheelwright’s trade from his father when quite young, and this he
followed until his father died. In 1875 he began for himself at the
old Spring Forge in Earl township, where he now lives. He is still
engaged in this business and now employs two men. He has made many
new wagons in his time – making the entire wagon right out of the
logs. His wagons gave good service, and many of them are still in
use in the lower end of the county. Up to 1883 he had rented the
Spring Forge, from Matthias Mengel, but that year he bought it. In
1884 he suffered from a disastrous fire, but undismayed he started
out again, and by thrift and honesty has built up a larger and more
extensive business. He built a new building, and has a planer, and
all kinds of modern machinery in his planing mill. He owns and
operates Kline’s sawmill at the same place, and saws more lumber
than any one else in this section. In his property there are
fifty-four acres mostly of wood and waste land. From about 1810
this was the Shenkel Bertolet property, and after his day it became
the property of the Mengels. The Spring Forge was operated by
Shenkel Bertolet first, then by Jacob Snell and Marks Darrah. The
forge was operated up to 1865, and stood where Mr. Kline has his
wheelwright shop. The charcoal house was built in 1810 by the
Bertolets, and there Mr. Kline has his chicken house. The stone
dwelling was built before 1810. The old sawmill, built in 1835, by
Levi Smith, is still standing but no longer operated. The old house
near the sawmill was built in 1835, and was used for making the old
horse-powers and the crude threshing devices of early days. Mr.
Kline owns different tracts of hill land, a total of about 130
acres. He bought the old Cyrus Davidheiser tract of six acres, May
1, 1909, and this he is improving greatly.

Mr. Kline is one of the most substantial men of
the township, and has made extensive investments in first mortgages
and bank stock. In politics he is a Democrat, and for six years
served as auditor of Earl township, and has been delegate to
several county conventions. He is a member of the Knights of the
Golden Eagle at Athol. He and his family are Lutheran members of
Amityville Church, and he has been deacon, and is now elder, an
office he has held some years.

On Oct. 28, 1876, Mr. Kline married Mary A.
Moyer, daughter of Abraham Moyer, of Hereford, where he has kept
the tollgate at Clayton. Mr. Moyer was a Mennonite.

KLINE,
SAMUEL B.

p. 1452

Surnames: KLINE, BURKERT, ROTHERMEL, SCHAERER, MILLER, BUSH,
WEIDNER, BLOCH, ADAMS, GRUBER

Samuel B. Kline, of Maiden-creek township, who is engaged in
quarrying and lime-burning near Calcium, was born at the old Kline
homestead in Richmond township, Dec. 28, 1853, son of John K. and
Catherine (Burkert) Kline.

William Kline, grandfather of Samuel B., was a
farmer of Richmond township, where he died at an advanced age. He
and his wife Elizabeth had these children: Peter, Henry, John K.,
David, William, and Eliza, who went out West. John K. Kline was
born on the old homestead in Richmond township, and was a farmer
practically all of his life. He served during the Civil War as a
soldier in the Union army, and during the latter years of his life
drew a pension for his services. John K. Kline was married to
Catherine Burkert, widow of Samuel Burkert, and to this union there
were born the following children: James m. Catherine Rothermel, who
is now deceased; Adam m. Annie Schaerer; Catherine m. the late
Willoughby Miller; Isaac m. Emma Bush; Samuel B.; Sarah m. Cosmus
Weidner; Hannah m. John Weidner; Mary m. Aaron Bloch; and two died
in infancy.

Samuel B. Kline was reared and educated in his
native locality, and for a time worked on the home farm. He
subsequently, however, engaged in the quarrying and lime-burning
business, which he is now following with much success, his plant
being located in Maiden-creek township, near Calcium.

On March 1, 1884 Mr. Kline was married to Amanda
Louisa Adams, daughter of Benneville and Lovina (Gruber) Adams, and
one child was born to this union: Bessie Geneva, who is deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Kline attend Blandon Union Church, being of the
Lutheran faith.

KLINE,
SIMON

p. 1673

Surnames: KLINE, SCHMEHL, KALTENBACH, NOLL, YEAGER, SLEGEL, FULTON,
DE LONG, LUTZ

Simon Kline, a progressive brick manufacturer, is one of the old
active citizens of Reading, to whose enterprise is due a full share
of that city’s high reputation. For nearly fifty years he has
devoted himself to his work, and he has met with the success that
comes of perseverance and industry wisely joined to integrity. Mr.
Kline was born in Alsace township, Berks county, May 14, 1830, son
of Henry and Magdalena (Schmehl) Kline.

Henry Kline was also a native of Alsace
township, where he passed his entire life. In his youth he learned
the trade of weaver, which was his occupation throughout his active
years. He attained the advanced age of eighty-one years, and passed
away respected by all who had known him. To him and his wife, whose
maiden name was Magdalena Schmehl, the following children were
born: John; Catherine; Henry; Abraham; Sarah; Daniel; Elizabeth;
Mary; Sophia; and Simon. Of these all are deceased, except Simon
and Sophia.

Simon Kline received but few advantages in his
youth, attending the district school of his native township for a
two-months’ term each year for four years. As a boy he learned the
cooper’s trade, which engaged his attention but a short time, and
in 1855 he came to Reading, shortly afterward beginning to make
brick on Ninth and Elm streets, with Daniel Kline (deceased). Two
years later – about 1860 – he moved to Fleetwood, Pa., where he was
the first to engage in the manufacture of bricks. During that year
the East Pennsylvania Railroad was built, and bricks were sold at
five dollars a thousand, while labor averaged seventy-five cents
per day. Five years later Mr. Kline returned to Reading, and opened
a yard at Ninth and Green streets, subsequently moving to where
Front street is now located, on the site of the old Ernst grocery
store, and remaining there several years. His next location was on
Second and Elm streets, where he used up all the clay in that
vicinity, and then moved to Sixth street, near the car shops, and
still later to what is known as the East Pennsylvania crossing. He
possessed one of the largest plants in the city with an output of
about 4,000,000 a year. After three years the plant was moved
(1882) to Chester, Pa. Mr. Kline remained in that city but six
months, when he returned to Reading, and opened a yard for the
manufacture of brick by machinery, at Douglass & McKnight
streets. This was the first machine-made brick in Reading, and in
spite of all prophesies of failure, success ultimately crowned the
venture. Since 1898 the plant has been located in West Reading,
where Mr. Kline purchased the Conrad Kaltenbach factory and brick
plant. He owns twenty-one acres of clay and stone, which has been
found peculiarly adapted to the making of brick. The average output
is about 3,000,000, and thirty-two men are employed the year round.
Some of the best buildings in Reading are constructed of this
brick, which has stood the severest tests known to brick makers. In
addition to this industry Mr. Kline is the owner of considerable
real estate.

Mr. Kline was united in marriage with Catherine
Noll, daughter of Henry Noll, of Ruscombmanor township, this
county. Six children have been born to this union, namely: Ezra,
employed in his father’s brick making plant, married Martha Yeager,
now deceased; Mary married Edmund Slegel, of Cumru township; Kate
married William N. Fulton, of Reading; Simon S., a brick
manufacturer of Perry township, married Ella De Long; George O.,
employed by his father, married Rosa Lutz; D. Milton is engaged in
contracting and building in Reading.