Biographies from Historical and Biographical Annals by Morton Montgomery

HESTON,
AUGUSTUS

page 815

Surnames: HESTON, TYSON, DE LONG, WEAVER, SHAFFER, HENSING, BEAVER,
MILLER, WETZEL, HESTON, HUMMEL, HEIN

Augustus Heston, who passed from this world in 1898, at Reading,
where he had resided for nearly thirty years, came of a Quaker
family long identified with Philadelphia. His parents were William
and Martha (Tyson) Heston.

Mr. Heston was born in West Philadelphia, March
14, 1832, and his education was acquired in the schools of
Philadelphia proper, and later in Jenkintown, now a suburb of the
former city. After the completion of his academic studies he began
his preparations for his work as a pharmacist. At the end of his
apprenticeship, he went to Buffalo, N. Y., where his brother
Charles was engaged in the drug business, and he remained with him
until the Civil war broke out Mr. Charles Heston enlisted, and, as
it proved, served throughout the war, while his brother Augustus
was left in charge of his affairs with directions to close out the
business. This accomplished he returned to the old home farm at
Jenkinton and lived there till 1869. In that year he located in
Reading, which became his residence for the remainder of his life.
He had no active business interests there, but was sufficiently
occupied with the charge of his affairs.

Mr. Heston’s marriage occurred the year that he
came to Reading, when Miss Caroline De Long became his wife. No
children were born to this union. Mr. and Mrs. Heston traveled
extensively, through their own country going from ocean to ocean
and visiting most of the health resorts in the Union, while in 1895
they spent five months abroad. In that time they journeyed through
Ireland, Wales, England, Holland, Belgium, Germany, France and
Italy, one point of special interest to them being their visit to
the home of Mrs. Heston’s paternal ancestors, the De Longs, who
were originally of Alsace-Lorraine. Mrs. Heston made a second trip
to Europe after her husband’s death, at the time of the Paris
Exposition in 1900. Mrs. Heston died Feb. 25, 1908, and in her will
bequeathed land for a public park in Reading. This is situated at
the junction of Mineral Spring road, Perkiomen avenue, and
Thirteenth and Chestnut streets. During her lifetime she had many
opportunities to sell this tract at practically her own figure, but
she would never consider it, evidently having in mind this gift to
her home city. The De Long family was founded in America about
1700, and Peter De Long, the emigrant ancestor, settled in Albany
county, New York.

John De Long, son of Peter. located at Bowers
Station, Berks Co., Pa., where he became one of the representative
farmers of that section.

Joseph De Long, son of John, married Miss Susan
Weaver, and had a large family as follows: Joseph (2); Elizabeth
(m. Daniel De Long); Jacob (m. Miss Sarah Shaffer); Catherine (m.
Peter Hensing); David (m. Miss Anna Beaver); Francis (m. Miss
Esther Shaffer) and Jane (m. Reuben Miller). Joseph De Long (2),
Son of Joseph. married Miss Anna Wetzel, and they had two daughters
Caroline, Mrs. Heston; and Harriet. who married Isaac Hummel, of
Lehigh county. Pa., and has two children, Alice and Grace, the
latter the wife of David Hein. As a family the DeLongs were either
Whigs or Republicans, and in religious belief belonged to the
German Reformed Church, but Mrs. Heston was a member of St. Luke’s
Episcopal mission.

HETTINGER, EDWIN L.

p. 721

Surnames: HETTINGER, MILLER, BROSSMAN, KURTZ, LAMBERT, SCHAFFER,
GRIMES, MOYER, ZWEITZIG-LORAH, HAFER, STRECKER, TARRACH, MEE

Edwin L. Hettinger is a great-grandson of Heinrich Hettinger, a
native of Reineck (later Bietigheim-the Pennsylvania Archives, Vol.
VII, Second Series, page 637, spell it Betigheim), in the Kingdom
of Wurtemberg, Germany, born in 1760-61, who came to America in
1805, from Amsterdam, landing at Philadelphia Sept. 5th. He made
the voyage on the Catharine, then aged thirty-six years, and their
five children: Heinrich, aged thirteen; Lorenz, aged twelve;
Christina Eva, aged eleven; Bernard, aged eight; and Mathias, aged
six.

After his arrival in this country Heinrich
Hettinger lived some years in the vicinity of Philadelphia or in
that city itself, later coming to Bernville, Berks county, where he
died and is buried. His wife Catharine Miller, born in 1769, bore
him seven children in all, the five previously mentioned having
been born in the Fatherland and the youngest two in America. We
have the following record of this family: Heinrich is mentioned
below. Christina Eva probably married John Brossman, as one of the
daughters of this family was married to him and the other to David
Kurtz. Bernhard lived in Heidelberg township, following farming;
his children were Jonathan, William, Levi, James and Mary Ann.
Mathias, who lived in Centre township, near Belleman’s Church, had
children, Reuben, Adam, Henry, Kate, Julia and Susan. Christian
lived and died in Penn township, where he owned a small farm; his
children were John and Lizzie.

Lorenz Hettinger, grandfather of Edwin L.
Hettinger, was born Nov. 22, 1792, in Bietigheim, Germany. Coming
to America with his parents he lived in and around Philadelphia
until about twenty-seven years old, following shoemaking, which he
learned in young manhood. He then came to Berks county, locating in
Bern township and later in Penn township, where he tended
Hettinger’s Locks, on the Union Canal, for many years. He died at
Mount Pleasant in July, 1869, when about seventy-five years old,
and is buried at Bern Church, of which he was a prominent Lutheran
member, serving as deacon and elder of the congregation. His wife,
Catharine Lambert, of Lower Heidelberg township, died when past
fifty years of age. Their seven children were as follows: Mary Ann
m. Samuel Schaffer; Henry lives in Reading; Augustus is a resident
of Wyomissing; Harrison is out West; John died in Virginia, where
his family still lives at Manassas; Lydia m. Benjamin Grimes of
Robesonia, Pa.; Levi L. was the father of Edwin L. Hettinger.

Levi L. Hettinger was born April 3, 1846 at
Mount Pleasant, Penn township, Berks county and was reared upon the
farm. But when fourteen years old he commenced boating upon the now
abandoned Union Canal, and he also did such work on the
Pennsylvania and Schuylkill Canals, being employed at boating for
four years. He then enlisted at Reading for service in the Union
army, joining Company K, 42nd Pa. V. I., with which he served three
months. After his return from the army he worked in a sawmill for
about three years, and then learned the carpenter’s trade from John
Moyer, of Bernville. He has followed this trade ever since, working
in western Berks county until 1882, when he settled in Reading. He
and his family have resided in their own home at No. 129 South
Tenth street for many years.

In January, 1870, Mr. Hettinger was married to
Sarah A. Hafer, daughter of Jacob and Anna (Mee) Hafer, and
granddaughter of Heinrich and Kate (Zweitzig-Lorah) Hafer, of
Muhlenberg township, and five children were born to them: Rosanna,
Charles (who died aged nineteen years, eight months, eleven days)
Lillie J. (who died aged two years, four months, seven days), Edwin
L. and Richard W. The last named was formerly a soldier in Puerto
Rico and is now a clerk at headquarters, Division of the Philippine
Islands, War Department. All of this family are members of Grace
Lutheran Church at Reading of which Mr. Hettinger has been deacon,
and he also officiated in that capacity at Bern Church.

Edwin L. Hettinger was born Jan. 27, 1879, in
Mount Pleasant (Hettrichstown), Berks County, and received his
education in the public schools of Reading. He graduated from the
high school with the class of 1898, after which he entered the
Inter-State Commercial College, at Reading. He had previously done
good work in that line in the high school, having been on the honor
roll in the commercial department in 1897. He was the high school
captain in the Sesqui-Centennial parade in 1808. Upon leaving the
Inter-State College, Mr. Hettinger became a clerk of the service of
the Pennsylvania Optical Company with whom he remained four and a
half years, when he became assistant credit man with Gately &
Britton. He continued to serve in that capacity until the
partnership was dissolved, after which he took his present position
with the G. M. Britton Company, of Reading, as manager of the
office outfitting department. Mr. Hettinger is commodore of the
Reading Canoe Club, which holds annual river carnivals. Since 1906
he has been a member of the Berks county Historical Society. On
June 7, 1900, Mr. Hettinger was married to Miss Eloise Strecker,
daughter of Dr. Herman and Evelyn (Tarrach) Strecker of Reading.
Her father was a noted sculptor and famous naturalist, and his
collection of butterflies and moths, the largest in America, was
sold seven years after his death to the Field Museum, of Chicago,
for $20,000; during his lifetime he had refused several large
offers for them. He was an authority on Lepidoptera. Dr. Strecker
had two children, a son Paul, who resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, and
Eloise, who married Mr. Hettinger. Mr. and Mrs. Hettinger have had
four children: Herman S.; Edwin S. and Eveline S. (both of who died
in infancy), and Eloise S. Mr. Hettinger is a member of Grace
Lutheran Church and has been an active worker, having served
several years as treasurer of the Sunday School. Mrs. Hettinger is
a member of Christ Episcopal Church.

HEYDT
FAMILY

p. 1596

Surnames: HEYDT, MUTHART, REICHERT, SNYDER, WELLER, FROENE, DE
FRAIN, BOLICH, FREDERICK, HOFFMAN, QUILLMAN, GEHRIS, BECKER, HERB,
BECHTEL, RENNINGER, KOCH, MOSER, MAST, ECKERT, MOLL, RAPP, CONRAD,
STAUFFER, OBERHOLTZER

The Heydt family of Berks county is descended from one George or
Jacob Heydt, a German of high birth who emigrated to this country
in pioneer times and on coming to this section first settled in the
vicinity of what is now Bechtelsville. Later he lived in what is
now District township, Berks county, owning the farm which is now
the property of Joshua Heydt. He was an educated man, and was a
“lehrer” or schoolmaster in Berks county long before the
establishment of the public school system, following the profession
for many years, so that he was well known to the youth of the early
days. He was a true Christian man, well versed in the Scriptures,
and a strict member of the Lutheran denomination. belonging to the
Hill Church, where he and his family are buried. He married a
Muthart, and they had eight children: Jacob, a blacksmith, who
lived in District township, m. Maria Reichert, and they had
thirteen children, Betzy, Catharine, Elijah, Maria, David, Jacob,
Sally, Sophia, John, Rebecca, Joseph, Leah and Lydia. Abraham is
mentioned in the next paragraph. John was a farmer in Washington
township, where he died; his children were John, Henry, Helena,
Sally and Abby. Daniel, a stone-mason and farmer, lived and died at
Landis Store in District township; his children were John, Thomas,
Daniel, George and Lewis. George, a mechanic, lived in the vicinity
of Huff’s Church; he had three children, George (whose son Horace
is a judge of Carbon county, Pa., and who has the passport of his
emigrant ancestor Heydt), Nathan and Jonas. Mathias, who located at
Mahanoy City, Pa., had two sons. Catharine m. Henry Snyder. Peggy
m. Philip Weller.

Abraham Heydt, son of the emigrant, was the
grandfather of Henry B. and Abraham M. Heydt, cousins, residents,
respectively, of Earl township and Bechtelsville, Berks county. He
was born Dec. 19, 1786, died Sept. 1, 1853, and is buried at the
old Hill Church, of which he was a Lutheran member. He was an
intelligent man, especially familiar with the Scriptures. Though a
shoemaker by trade, he followed farming principally, living in what
is now District township, where he owned a small farm; he also
owned a farm in the Falkner Swamp. He married Maria De Frain,
(Froene) daughter of Peter and Bevvy (Bolich) De Frain, and eight
children were born to them: Benjamin is mentioned farther on;
Joshua lived in District township; William is mentioned farther on;
Benneville died young; Elizabeth m. a Frederick; Judith m. Joseph
Hoffman; Harriet m. William Quillman; Catharine m. Lafayette
Gehris.

Benjamin Heydt, son of Abraham, born in Hereford
township Oct. 19, 1813, died in Washington township in March, 1887,
in his seventy-fourth year, and is buried at the Hill Church. He
was a shoemaker, but followed that trade only a short time, and
worked out, hauling and burning wood, etc. He owned a farm of
twenty-six acres. Mr. Heydt married Margaretha Becker, daughter of
Henry Becker, born Sept. 11, 1819, died Feb. 20, 1903, aged
eighty-three years, five months, ten days. Ten children were born
to this union: Henry B.; Lavina, m. to Daniel Herb; Mary, born
April 5, 1844, m. to Israel Weller; Elizabeth, born April 5, 1846,
m. to Adam Herb (deceased); Benneville, born in 1849, who died in
1854; Fietta, born Jan. 25, 1851, m. to Esaias Heydt; Matthias,
born in 1854, who died the same year; Carl, born Nov. 6, 1857, who
lives in District township; Sarah, who died young, and Emma, born
June 5, 1861, m. to Charles Bechtel.

Henry B. Heydt, son of Benjamin, was born July
11, 1838, in District township. He attended the old pay schools,
and also had a few winters in the free school. In early youth he
began to assist his father hauling wood, which was plentiful in
those days, and which was converted into charcoal. The roads at
that time were few and bad, and it required some skill to be a good
teamster. When he was nineteen Mr. Heydt began to learn the trade
of stone and brick mason, which he followed for twenty-three years,
in 1880 settling down to farm life. That year he bought the W.
Renninger tract of fifty-six acres in School District No. 5, Earl
township, where he has since lived, and which place he and his
family continue to cultivate. It was the property of David Koch
before Mr. Renninger owned it. Mr. Heydt is a Democrat in political
opinion, and has been quite active in his party, having served as
delegate and held various local offices.

In 1861 Mr. Heydt married Lavina Moser, daughter
of Michael and Mary (Weller) Moser, of District township, and they
have three children: Fianna, who is unmarried; Jerome, a farmer in
Pike township, Berks county; and Andora, unmarried. Mr. Heydt and
his family are Lutheran members of the Hill Church.

William Heydt, son of Abraham and grandson of the emigrant, was
born in 1825 in District township, and died in 1891, at the age of
sixty-five years, at Alburtis, Lehigh county, being accidentally
killed on the railroad. He is buried at Lehigh Church. He was a
forge man, in the iron business, and owned a forge in Rockland
township, Berks county, which he carried on for twelve years,
meeting with steady success in business. He owned two farms. Mr.
Heydt married Villia Mast, daughter of Daniel Mast, of Rockland
township, and she died in November, 1879, the mother of children as
follows: Abraham M., Mary, Frank, Jefferson, William, Sarah, Katie,
Annie and Emma.

Abraham M. Heydt, son of William, was born Sept.
7, 1853, in Rockland township and there and in Longswamp township
received his education in the public schools. His teachers in
Rockland were Isaac and Jonas Eckert. Upon commencing to earn his
own living he worked in the ore mines in Longswamp township and
also in Lehigh county, continuing thus for six years, and becoming
an engineer. When twenty-five years old he learned the milling
business, at Ludwig’s, in Lehigh county, and then removed to
Saegerstown, Crawford county, where he was in the milling business
for two years. Returning to Berks county he located in Hereford
township, where he in Christman’s mill, in Spoon Valley, and later
he was employed at Treichlersville, also at milling. He was next at
the Rush mill for a year, thence coming to Oberholtzer’s mill, near
Bechtelsville, in Colebrookdale township. At that place he worked
nineteen years for J. B. Oberholtzer, and in the spring of 1904
commenced the business on his own account, at Bechtelsville, being
the proprietor of the Bechtelsville roller-mill. His establishment
is well patronized and profitably conducted, and Mr. Heydt enjoys
the reputation of being one of the substantial citizens and
business men of the borough.

In 1878 Mr. Heydt married Emeline R. Moll,
daughter of Christophel and Susanna (Rapp) Moll, of Hereford
township, and three children have been born to them: Katie S., m.
to William R. Conrad, of Bechtelsville; Clara V., m. to Harvey W.
Stauffer; and William, who died in infancy. This family are members
of the Bechtelsville Lutheran Church, in which Mr. Heydt has been a
prominent worker, having served sixteen years as a member of the
church council.

Mr. Heydt is a stanch Democrat, and since 1905
has been the member from Bechtelsville on the Democratic county
committee. He has frequently served as delegate to the county
conventions, and for eight years was committeeman of Colebrookdale
township. His activities have made him a well-known figure in
county politics, and in 1903 he was a candidate for the office of
county poor director. Mr. Heydt belongs to Camp No. 324, P. O. S.
of A., at Bechtelsville, and to Council No. 1019, Order of
Independent Americans, at Eshbach, Berks county.

HEYDT, ISAAC
F.

p. 1407

Surnames: HEYDT, FRY, GRASSLEY, HOFFNER, CONRATH, WELLER, DERR

Isaac F. Heydt, who is engaged in the cultivation of a small tract
of land in Pike township. Berks county was born in Greenwich
township, Oct. 12, 1848, son David and Betzy (Fry) Heydt.

Mr. Heydt attended the old pay schools until he
was about twenty years old. The teacher received two cents a day
per head, and the school term was one and two months per year. Mr.
Heydt spent his youth under the parental roof, and for three years
he lived out among farmers. He learned the shoemaker’s trade, an
this he followed twenty years, in Washington township Perks county,
two years in Macungie township, Lehigh county, and in 1876 he came
to Pike township, Berks county, where he has lived ever since. He
has thirty acres of land, which he has brought to a high state
cultivation. Since 1876 he has lived here continuously with the
exception of six years when he lived on his farm of 100 acres in
District township. He owns a tract of nineteen acres of pasture
land near Hill Church besides another small tract of six acres on
which are good buildings. This latter tract belonged to our
subject’s father, and there his son Horace now lives. Mr. Heydt is
one of the heaviest tax payers of the township. Politically Mr.
Heydt is a Democrat. He and his family are Lutherans, and belong to
Hill Church. He is regular in his church worship, and is very
liberal in his contributions to all worthy causes.

On June 1, 1878, Mr. Heydt was married to Mary
Grassley, born Sept. 2, 1860, daughter of Lenius and Mary (Hoffner)
Grassley, of Rockland township. She died April 18, 1909, and was
buried at Hill Church, where a monument marks the Heydt family lot.
Four sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Heydt: Horace, living in
Washington township, m. Emma Conrath, and has children-Mary and
Lydia; William, of Reading. m. Alice Weller, and has had
children-Clyde, Hettie, Olivia, Pearl (deceased), and two others
died small; Harvey was born May 12, 1895; Henry was born March 13.
1898.

David Heydt, father of Isaac F., was born Oct.
8, 1820, in Washington township, Berks county, and died June 1,
1906, in District township near Landis Store. He was a forge man
earlier in life, beginning when fifteen years old, and following
that occupation twenty-three years in Lower Berks, in Richmond
township and at Spring Forge, in Earl township. He was a member of
Hill Church, where he is buried. His wife was Betzy Fry, daughter
of John and Sally (Derr) Fry, who died in District township. Mrs.
Heydt died April 25, 1888, aged sixty-six years, seven months.
David and Betzy (Fry) Heydt had seventeen children: John, Sarah,
Jacob, David, Percivil, Isaac, Priscilla, Hiram, Joseph, Elizabeth.
Henry, Peter, Helena, Oliver, Maria and two died small.

Jacob Heydt was the father of David and
grandfather of Isaac F.

HICKMAN,
GLYNDEUR (D.D.S.)

p. 534

Surnames: HICKMAN, McCLELLAN, LAMBORN, McFARLAND, THOMPSON

Glyndeur Hickman, D. D. S., a prominent dentist of Reading, was
born in Chester county, Pa., Sept. 6, 1863, son of John W. and
Elizabeth (Lamborn) Hickman, and a grandson of Benjamin and Julia
A. (McFarland) Hickman. Benjamin Hickman located at Brag Hill,
Chester county, and there cultivated a farm all of his life.

Dr. Glyndeur Hickman was educated in the schools
of Chester county, and then entered the office of Dr. R. L.
McClellan, where he studied dentistry for five years. In 1885, he
entered the Philadelphia Dental College, and graduated therefrom in
1886. Two years later he located in Reading, and here he has
resided ever since, engaged in the practice of his chosen
profession. His well appointed offices are located at No. 35 South
Fifth street. Dr. Hickman is a member of the I. O. R. M. and the
Royal Arcanum.

In 1887 Dr. Hickman married Mary E. Thompson,
and two children have been born to this union, namely: J. Earl and
Roy L. The Doctor is a member of the Baptist Church. In his
political affiliations he is connected with the Republican party.