Biographies

Joseph Ritner Joseph Ritner, governor of Pennsylvania, b. in Berks county, Pa., 25 March. 1780: d. in Carlisle, Pa., 16 Oct., 1869. His father came to this country from Alsace. The son attended school during only six months, but while working on a farm he had access to a good library of German books, by … Read more

L.A. Mackey L.A. Mackey, LL.D., Lawyer, President of the Lock Haven National Bank, was born in White Deer township, Union county, Pennsylvania, November 25th, 1819. His parents were Thomas S. Mackey and Catherine (Augstatt) Mackey, both from Berks county, Pennsylvania. His preliminary education was received under the able guidance of the late Rev. David Kirkpatrick, … Read more

L.R. Lentz L.R. Lentz, M.D., of Fleetwood, Pa., member of the Homeopathic Medical Society of Berks and Schuylkill counties, was born in South Whitehall township, Lehigh county, Pa., December 23d, 1836. At the age of seventeen he was thrown upon his own resources, and a year afterward apprenticed himself to learn the trade of carriage … Read more

Langell Family Leonard Langell Leonard Langell was born in Berks county, Pa., in 1799, his father Casper Langell emigrating to Ohio in 1802, and thence to East Union township, settling where Edinburg now is in 1814-15. He purchased lands from John Rider and gave the west quarter to Leonard, who at the age of eighteen … Read more

Lee W. Albright Lee W. Albright, Chief Train Dispatcher of the Illinois Central Railroad at Freeport, was born in Canton, Ill., March 4, 1864. His father, J.В.Е. Albright, a physician, was born in Berks Co., Pa., Aug. 7, 1820, and came to Illinois in 1849 settling in Canton, where he died Sept. 13, 1886. The … Read more

Levi B. Kaler Levi B. Kaler, Merchant, was born in Robeson township, Berks county, Pennsylvania, January 26th, 1828. He is the son of John and Elizabeth Kaler of the same place. His grandfather, Matthias, was a native of Germany and settled in Berks county. He was a Justice of the Peace, and performed the marriage … Read more

Judge Nevin M. Wanner In Berks, Montgomery, York and other counties of Eastern Pennsylvania, where the different branches of the family are found, “Wanner” has long been a prominent and an honored name. Rev. Aaron Wanner, D.D., spent the greater part of his half century’s ministry in the Reformed church at York, Pennsylvania, in the … Read more

Judge Richard Henry Koch Judge Koch, who since January 1, 1912, has sat upon the Schuylkill county bench, came to the bar of that county in 1881, and although politically a member of the minority party, he so impressed his personality upon the citizens of the county that he won the popular verdict at the … Read more

Judge William Kerper Stevens In 1849 Dr. Sadosa S. Stevens, father of Judge William K. Stevens, opened a drug store in Reading, Pennsylvania, and for half a century, continued a successful business. In 1884 his son, William K. Stevens, was admitted to the bar of Berks county, and in Reading, the city of his birth, … Read more

Lieutenant Colonel John E. Arthur Lieutenant Colonel John Elliott Arthur, of Reading, came to the 93rd Regiment as Captain of Company B, and was commissioned October 12, 1861, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, September 1st, 1862, and was discharged on Surgeon’s certificate November 14, 1862. At the breaking out of the Mexican War he enlisted in … Read more