JOSIAH L. GABEL

JOSIAH L. GABEL, a dealer in builders’ hardware of Lehighton, is a worthy representative of the commercial interests of this city.  He was born in Boyertown, Berks County, Pa., August 29, 1845, and is a son of Abraham and Anna (Luday) Gabel, who were also natives of Berks County.  The family is of German and French descent.  The father was a prominent business-man, connected with various enterprises.  He engaged in merchandising, followed farming, and was also a miller, owning a sawmill and oil mill located at Gabelsville, where he carried on an active business for many years.  He was one of the wide-awake and progressive citizens of the community in which he made his home, and the best interests of the neighborhood ever found in him a friend.

J.L. Gabel was a lad of only eight summers at the time of his mother’s death.  He spent the days of his boyhood and youth in his father’s home, and acquired his early education in the district schools of the neighborhood, but afterward pursued his studies in Philadelphia.  He then started out in life for himself, and was first employed in the capacity of clerk in the dry-goods establishment of Kent, Santee & Co., of Philadelphia, remaining with that firm for ten years, a trusted and faithful employe[e].  In 1868 he removed to Lewisburg, Union County, Pa., where he embarked in the dry-goods business on his own account, there engaging in trade for two years.  On the expiration of that period he returned to Philadelphia, and formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Benjamin Bertolet, under the firm name of Bertolet & Gabel, manufacturers of building brick.  This enterprise was continued for three years, after which Mr. Gabel sold out and became a traveling salesman on the road for a wholesale house of Philadelphia, traveling in Pennsylvania and Ohio for a period of thirteen years.

The winter of 1878 witnessed the arrival of our subject in Lehighton, and here he established himself in the hardware business in partnership with Frank Semmel, but after nine months he became sole proprietor.  He occupies his own store building, a brick structure 62x80 feet in site and three stories in height.  It is centrally located, and is equipped with a complete stock of everything found in his line.  He now has a good trade and is enjoying a constantly increasing business.

Mrs. Gabel was in her maidenhood Amanda Heberling, a daughter of the late Judge Heberling, of Weissport, Pa.  To her union with our subject were born eight children, four of whom are now deceased.  Mr. Gabel is now serving as the efficient President of the City Council.  He made the race for Prothonotary on the Republican ticket, and greatly reduced the large Democratic majority of the county.  He is one of the Directors of the Lehigh Water Company, and is a member of Carbon Lodge No. 242, F. & A.M.  He started out in life for himself in the humble position of a clerk, but is now at the head of a large and flourishing business which yields to him a good income and makes him one of the substantial citizens of the community.