Biographies from Historical and Biographical Annals by Morton Montgomery

MUHLENBERG, CHARLES
PHILIP

p. 793

Surnames: MUHLENBERG, ELLMAKER, JONES

Charles Philip Muhlenberg was born at Lancaster, Pa., Nov. 24,
1838, fifth son of Dr. F. A. Muhlenberg. His education was begun at
home, but he also attended the common schools of his native city,
and in 1853 entered the sophomore class at Pennsylvania College,
Gettysburg, graduating from that institution in 1856. He began the
study of law with Nathaniel Ellmaker, Esq., of Lancaster, and
concluded his legal studies in the office of J. Pringle Jones,
being admitted to the Berks county Bar in 1859, from which time
until the opening of the Civil war, he practiced his profession in
Reading. In April 1861, he became a member of the Ringgold Light
Artillery. The following month he was commissioned as first
lieutenant in the 5th United States Artillery Regiment, and served
as an officer of artillery during the whole of the war. He received
the brevet of captain for services in the Peninsular campaign;
received the brevet of major for gallant conduct at the battle of
Antietam; was in the campaign of the Wilderness and of Petersburg
under General Grant, and resigned from the army at the close of
1867 to resume the practice of his profession in Reading. He died
in January 1872, at the early age of thirty-four years.

MUHLENBERG, HENRY
AUGUSTUS

p. 440

Surnames: MUHLENEBRG, HIESTER, DEININGER

Henry Augustus Muhlenberg (1), clergyman, Congressman, and first
minister to Austria, was
born at Lancaster, Pa., May 13, 1782. He was the eldest son of Rev.
Henry E., and grandson of Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the
American ancestor of the family who, in 1741, emigrated from Saxony
as a missionary of the Lutheran Church to the German population of
Pennsylvania.

According to the wishes of his father Henry A.
Muhlenberg studied theology under the Rev. Dr. Kunze, of New York,
and in 1802 he became pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church at Reading,
Berks county, and continued there for twenty-seven years. His
health becoming impaired, he resolved to withdraw from ministerial
duties and retire to a farm, but his fellow-citizens, who had long
admired his consistent support of Democratic principles, solicited
him to represent the district in Congress and he was elected. In
December, 1829, he took his seat at Washington, and gave his
support to the administration of President Jackson. His views on
the tariff question were moderate. He was opposed to the United
States Bank, and coincided in all the views hostile to that
institution which were expressed by the President, and it was he
who, on Feb. 18, 1834, after more than two months of daily appeals
on behalf of the banks, moved the previous questions. He retained
for nine years his prominence as a member of the House. In 1835 he
was a candidate of a portion of the Democratic party for the
governorship of Pennsylvania, but was defeated. In 1837, President
Van Buren tendered him a seat in the cabinet as Secretary of the
Navy, and afterward the Russian mission, but for private reasons he
declined both positions. In 1838 he was named minister to Austria,
and was unanimously confirmed, officiating at Vienna until the
close of 1840. In 1844 he was nominated by the Democratic State
Convention of Governor, and he accepted the nomination, but died
suddenly on Aug. 11, 1844, two months prior to the election.

Mr. Muhlenberg was a man of studious habits and
great learning, rather retiring in disposition, decidedly eloquent,
and strong and forcible when his feelings or conscience were once
aroused. His influence is attributable in large part to his
sterling integrity of character, for when the community found that
he was earnestly in favor of any public measure, they knew that he
believed that measure to be just and were generally willing to
adopt his estimate of it as correct. As a relief from his public
duties Mr. Muhlenberg was a great lover of nature and outdoor
sports, and spent quite a portion of his spare moments in hunting
and fishing.

Mr. Muhlenberg was married twice: First to
Elizabeth Hiester, daughter of Gov. Joseph Hiester, and they had
one daughter, Mary Elizabeth (m. E. Johnathan Deininger); and
second to Rebecca Hiester, also a daughter of Governor Hiester, by
whom he had six children, Emma Elizabeth, Heister H., Henry A.,
Emma Elizabeth, Rose Catharine and Henry A. His first wife died in
1806, and the second in 1841.

MUHLENBERG, HENRY A. (
2nd.)

p.780

Surnames: MUHLENBERG, HIESTER, JONES, SPARKS, WALKER, CARSON,
PACKER, BUCKALEW

Henry A. Muhlenberg 2d was born at Reading, July 21, 1823, son of
Henry Augustus and Rebecca (Hiester) Muhlenberg, the latter the
daughter of Gov. Joseph Hiester. He gained his preliminary
education under the direction of his father, and at the age of
fourteen years entered Jefferson College, at Canonsburg, Pa., where
he remained one year, after which he became a member of the
sophomore class at Dickinson College, at Carlisle, graduating from
that institution in 1840. He was a close student, especially of the
classics and history. From 1841 to 1844 he was engaged in the study
of the law with Hon. J. Pringle Jones. He entered public life
almost immediately. During his father’s candidacy for Governor, in
1844, he displayed marked ability as his private secretary, and
conducted all his father’s correspondence during the canvass. In
1846, when the Mexican war broke out, he raised a company of
volunteers in Reading, and personally tendered their services to
the Governor, but the complement of Pennsylvania having already
been filled he offer was declined. In the county convention of
1846, he and his brother Hiester, the president of that body, were
mainly instrumental in causing the adoption of a resolution
approving of the principles of the tariff of 1842, and demanding
that, as is was passed by Democratic votes, it should receive a
fair consideration form a Democratic Congress. He also delivered a
speech in the same body on the Oregon question, in which he
strongly favored the claims of the United States to all that
district of country lying south of the parallel of 54 degrees 40
minutes. In 1847 and 1848 he was occupied in writing a “Life of
General Peter Muhlenberg, ” of Revolutionary fame which was
published early in 1849, by Cary and Hart, Philadelphia, and was
well received. It was dedicated to Jared Sparks, as a slight
recognition of his services in elucidating our Revolutionary
history.

In the fall of 1849 Mr. Muhlenberg was elected
to the State Senate from Berks county, and served three years,
1850-52. He there acquired a reputation for integrity, eloquence
and business ability. Shortly after taking his seat he delivered a
speech on the supplement to the act incorporating the Philadelphia
& Reading Railroad Company, which greatly influenced the Senate
in its decision to pass the measure. During the second part of his
Senatorial career he was the democratic candidate for Speaker,
thought the youngest member of that House, his competitor on the
Whig side being Hon. John H. Walker, of Erie (the president of the
Constitutional Convention of 1872-73). The Senate then contained
sixteen Whigs, sixteen Democrats and one native American, and a
majority of all who voted was required to elect. On the eighth
ballot, and on the third day, when it was evident that no choice
could be made, unless the Whig candidate should vote for himself
the Democratic candidate along with Messrs. Packer and Guernsey,
also Democrats, out of political courtesy, abstained from voting.
Throughout the whole contest the two candidates respectively voted
form Thomas Carson and William F. Packer. As chairman of a select
committee to which was referred that portion of Governor Johnston’s
message for the 1851 treating of the care and preservation of the
State archives, Mr. Muhlenberg reported a bill which became law,
for the publication at the expense of the State of the records of
the proprietary government and all papers relating to the
Revolutionary war down to 1783. He was greatly instrumental in
securing the passage of an act making a appropriation to continue
the geological survey of the State, conducted by Professor Rogers.
He favored also the building of new railroads to develop the
resources of the Commonwealth, though he was opposed to the State
granting any direct aid to the objects. During the whole of his
Senatorial term he was, in the words of Hon. C. R. Buckalew, “The
bulwark of the treasury against the assaults of outside interested
parties.” He was outspoken in defense of a tariff of such amount
and so levied as to protect the great manufacturing interest of the
country. He also thought that as iron was an indispensable
requisite for any nation, to provide against the contingency of
war, and to render the United States independent of any other
country, a high, though not prohibitory duty, should be imposed on
that article.

In the Senate and in the county conventions, he
in connection with Judge Strong and other distinguished Democrats,
demanded a modification of the tariff of f1846, in favor of the
iron interest, in accordance with the views of Hon. Robert J.
Walker, the author of that tariff-views expressed at the time of
its passage. He was an earnest, opponent of slavery, and considered
it “a curse to that community on which it was inflicted; no one
could dislike it more than he did, nor did he ever wish to b
thought the friend and advocate of the institution.” In his
devotion, however, to the Union, and in his desire to do away with
all causes which might inflame one section of the country against
the other, looking upon the compromise measures of 1850 as a solemn
compact between the North and South, he thought those measures and
the laws resulting from them should be executed fully, honestly and
completely. His devotion to the Union was one of the cardinal
principles of his political faith. The words used by his father in
Congress, at the time of Clay’s compromise act of 1833, might be
placed in his mouth also, ” The Union is the first and greatest of
our national blessings, and to preserve it, nothing can or ought to
be too precious. I go for the Union, the whole Union and nothing
but the Union. It must be preserved, peaceably, if we can, forcibly
if we must.” No one who knew him intimately can doubt for a moment
that had he lived until the crisis he would have been foremost in
the van of those Democrats who, in the hour of greatest danger
rushed to the rescue of their government and of their Union. At
such a time he would not have been behind his brother Hiester, or
his uncle Dr. F. A. Muhlenberg, of Lancaster, in forming that party
which, in their opinion, held the true Democratic doctrine, in that
it advocated the greatest good to the masses.

In July, 1852, Mr. Muhlenburg was nominated by
acclamation the Democratic candidate for Congress in Berks county,
and was elected the following October by a large majority. He left
Reading late in November 1853, for Washington, and was present at
the opening of the XXXIVth Congress, but he appeared in that body
only one day. He was stricken down by illness, and though
everything was done for him that was possible, and it was believed
at one time that he was materially improved, a relapse occurred and
he died Jan. 9, 1854, of hemorrhage and congestion of the lungs.
His remains were laid to rest in the Charles Evans cemetery at
Reading.

He was a warm and true friend; no act of
kindness was ever forgotten by him, and nothing within the limits
of possibility was deemed too difficult when done in the cause of a
friend. His fearlessness in all departments of life was one of the
most marked traits of his character; he never shunned bearing the
responsibility of any of his actions he did what he considered his
duty, no matter what the consequences might be. Above all,
throughout all of his life he was a man of unswerving integrity and
unblemished honor; he would do nothing, however great the
inducements to the contrary, which could lower himself in his own
esteem or in that of others. His standard was a very high one and
when he believed himself to be right no power on earth could divert
him from the path which honor, good faith, good feeling and his own
judgment pointed out. He possessed an ample fortune, from which he
was ever ready to contribute to all objects, whether charitable,
religious, political or literary, which deserved his support.

As a citizen of Reading, Mr. Muhlenberg was
foremost in advancing, by pen, tongue and purse all projects which
could benefit or increase the prosperity of his native place. Had
he lived, he would have written his name on the historical records
of his county, and would have impressed his character on her
legislation; cut off untimely in the flower of his youth, and in
the very maturity of his powers, his loss was a great calamity to
the Commonwealth.

Mr. Muhlenberg married in November, 1847, his
cousin, Annie H., daughter of the late Dr. F. A. Muhlenberg, of
Lancaster, Pa. He had only one child, Henry A. Muhlenberg 3d, who
died in 1906.

MUHLENBERG, HENRY A.

p.
783

Surnames: MUHLENBERG, BAER, NICOLLS

Henry A. Muhlenberg 3rd was born in Reading, Oct. 27, 1848. 
He was educated privately, and subsequently spent a year at
Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, which he left to enter Harvard
University in1868.  At Harvard he was both popular hand
successful, and graduated with honors in history in the class of
1872.  After a short European trip he began to study law in
the office of GeorgeF. Baer, Esq., being admitted to the bar of
Berks County in 1875. He then devoted himself to the practice of
his profession, thoughhe engaged more in office affairs and in the
business side of law than in the active duties of court work. 
He was a director in the Framers’ National Bank, the Reading Trust
Company, the Mount Penn Gravity Railroad, and the Reading City
Passenger Railway Company,being for many years secretary and
treasurer of the latter organization and one of its original
members.  His connection with these concerns brought him in
touch with the important business interests of the community and
naturally influenced him to allow law to yield to business. 
He was also a trustee of the Charles Evans Cemetery Company, a
vestryman of Trinity Lutheran Church, and a member of the Valley
Forge Park Commission, to which position he was appointed by two
Governors of the State.  He was always a strong Republican,
and spoke for and contributed to the party whenever such services
were necessary.  In 1892 he was nominated for Congress on the
Republican ticket, but, as the party was in a hopeless minority in
the county, he failed of election.  He was an omnivorous and
indefatigable reader, being interested in everything from the
lightest fiction to the longest history, and possessed a fine
library which he used to its full extent.  He was
extremelygenerous, charitable both in action and in judgment, the
soul of honor, and a Christian gentleman in the true sense of the
word.  He never married, but almost all his life lived with
his mother, Annie H. Nicolls, to whom he was devotedly attached and
whose death he survived only for four months.  On May 14,
1906, he was found dead in his library, sitting in his chair with
an open book in his lap.

MUHLENBERG, HIESTER H.

p. 780

Surnames: HIESTER, GRIER, HARRIS, HANOLD, HUNTER

Hiester H. Muhlenberg, M. D., was born at Reading, Jan. 15, 1812,
son of the distinguished Rev. Henry Augustus Muhlenberg, pastor of
the Trinity Lutheran Church of Reading, afterward member of
Congress and Ambassador to Austria, and at the time of his death
the candidate of the Democratic party for Governor of Pennsylvania.
His mother was Rebecca Hiester, daughter of Gov. Joseph Hiester.

Mr. Muhlenberg gained his preliminary education
under the instruction of Rev. John F. Grier, in the Reading
Academy. In 1826 he entered the sophomore class of Dickinson
College, Carlisle, from which institution he was graduated with the
class of 1829. Having chosen medicine as his profession, he began
study in the office of Dr. Thomas Harris, a physician of excellent
reputation in Philadelphia. He attended the medical lectures at the
University of Pennsylvania during the winter of 1831 and 1832, and
was graduated from that institution with the class of 1832. Dr.
Muhlenberg began practice in his native city and continued it for
eight years. During this period and for some years following he
took an active interest in politics, and until the breaking out of
the Civil war he remained a firm and consistent Democrat. During
the Civil war he twice enlisted in the Pennsylvania State
Volunteers – once before the battle at Antietam, and again after
the battle of Gettysburg.

During the panic of 1837 the affairs of the
Farmers Bank of Reading became very much involved, and the complete
ruin of the bank seemed close at hand. The integrity, capacity and
financial ability of Dr. Muhlenberg were so well known that he was
placed temporarily in charge of the bank in order to restore its
affairs to sound and healthy condition. His management of its
affairs was so successful that he was induced to give up his
intention of resuming his practice of medicine and urged to accept
the position of cashier of the Farmers Bank in March, 1842. From
that time until his death he was annually re-elected, serving
continuously in that position for a period of forty-four years. The
high standing and character of the cashier preserved the bank from
embarrassment during the panic of 1857, the financial troubles
incident to the Civil war and the financial crisis of 1873. During
all these periods of financial depression the Farmers Bank of
Reading always maintained the highest reputation for great
financial strength and for the soundest business management. The
success and reputation of the bank in all these years was mainly
due to the ability and high character of its cashier.

Dr. Muhlenberg was for ten years a member of
councils of the borough of Reading, and a member of the first
councils after the city incorporation in 1850. Prior to the Civil
war he took great interest and active part in the volunteer
military organizations of his own county . He entered a noted
company, called the Washington Grays, as a private, and afterward
became lieutenant. During the Catholic riots of 1844, in
Philadelphia, as lieutenant of the Washington Grays he formed part
of the force sent to that city to assist in quelling the riot.

Dr. Muhlenberg was one of the original trustees
of the Charles Evans Cemetery Company, and for many years was the
president of that corporation. He was a director and president of
the Reading Water Company. He was always a public spirited and
enterprising citizen, and his generosity was well-known. He favored
and assisted the development of his native city by every proper
means within his power.

Dr. Muhlenberg was twice married, first to
Amelia Hanold, and second to Catherine S. Hunter, both of Reading,
Pa. By the second marriage he had seven children. He became a
member of the Lutheran Church in 1830, and was a member of the
vestry of Trinity for many years. He died May 5, 1886, survived by
seven children, six of whom are still living.

MUHLENBERG, WILLIAM F.

p. 354

Surnames: MUHLENBERG, HUNTER

Dr. William F. Muhlenberg, physician at Reading since 1872,and a
lineal descendant of Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, recognized as
the founder of the Lutheran Church in America, was born in
Gettysburg, Pa., Nov. 18, 1852, while his father was filling the
position of Professor of Greek in the Pennsylvania College at that
place.

His preliminary education was obtained at that
institution, and he was graduated from Muhlenberg College at
Allentown, Pa., in 1868, of which his father had he- come the
president. Then he entered the Medical Department of the University
of Pennsylvania. and graduated in 1872. Selecting Reading as a
promising field for practising his chosen profession, he located in
that city, won the confidence of the people, and soon secured a
lucrative practice, which he has held until the present time. In
1884 he was appointed surgeon for the Pennsylvania Schuylkill
Valley Railroad Company, for cases arising at and in the vicinity
of Reading, and he has since served this position in a most
satisfactory manner. During this long period he has also served as
a surgeon at the Reading Hospital.

Dr. Muhlenberg has been an active member of the
Berks County Medical Society, and also of the Reading Medical
Society, for many years, having officiated as president of these
bodies, and he is recognized by them as a most skillful surgeon, as
well as a general practitioner. For social diversion, he has
identified himself with the Wyomissing Club, and the Berkshire Club
at Reading; also with the University Club and the Country Club at
Philadelphia; in all of which he has shown great interest.

Dr, Muhlenberg was married, in 1884, to Augusta
Muhlenberg; daughter of Hiester H. and Katherine (Hunter)
Muhlenberg, of Reading, and by her he has three children; Hiester
(who graduated from the Pennsylvania University in 1903); Frederick
Augustus (who graduated from the Reading high school in 1904,and
Pennsylvania College in 1908); and Augusta. His wife died in 1890.
He and his children are members of Trinity Lutheran Church. His
wife’s father was prominently identified with the financial
interest and enterprises of Reading for many years, having filled
the office of cashier of the Farmers Bank from 1842 until his
decease in 1866.

Rev. Dr. Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, father
of the Doctor, was born at Lancaster in 1818 and died in Reading in
1901. He was very prominently connected with higher education in
several colleges of Pennsylvania for sixty years, the last
important position being that of professor of Greek at the
University of Pennsylvania. His wife Catharine Muhlenberg, was
daughter of Major Peter Muhlenberg, of Reading. She died in 1894
aged sixty-seven years. They had four sons; Ernest A., Henry M.,
Francis B., and William F.

Rev. Dr. Henry Ernest Muhlenberg, his
great-grandfather, was also of Lancaster, and his maternal
great-grandfather was the distinguished Revolutionary hero, Gen.
Peter Muhlenberg.