Biographical Sketch of Rev. William W. HARTMAN (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp. 356-8. "REV. WILLIAM W. HARTMAN, a prominent citizen of Chester county, residing near Coventryville, is a man of great activity and energy, and is somewhat noted for his success in crushing the trap rock of geology for use in con- structing macadamized roadbeds. He is the third son of Jacob D. and Eliz- abeth (Saybold) Hartman, and was born in Juniata county, Pennsylvania, July 21, 1842. He was reared partly in that and partly in Montgomery county, and received a good English education in the public schools. After leaving school he learned the trade of plasterer and followed that occupation for a quarter of a century. He has also been engaged in farm- ing to some extent, owning and cultivating a farm of thirty acres in South Coventry township, near Coventryville, where he has a beautiful home. "On January 1, 1892, Mr. Hartman embarked in the business of crushing stone for macadamizing roadways, and has been successful in building up a large trade in that article. He uses the best and most approved machin- ery, employing six men and a number of teams, and has a capacity of from fifty to one hundred and fifty tons per day. The popularity of his pro- duct and his remarkable success in this unique business is largely due to the fact that he uses only the celebrated trap rock of his region, common- ly known as iron stone, which is the most durable material in existence for roadbeds. It is said to be almost identical with the stone used in constructing the Appian Way and other ancient roads in Italy and Rome, some of which were made hundreds of years before the dawn of the Christian era, and were among the best, longest-lived and most famous thoroughfares ever devised by man. It is only recently that this rock has been found in this section, and Mr. Hartman claims to have the only quarry of genuine trap rock now worked in Chester county. "On Christmas day, 1864, Mr. Hartman was united in marriage with Sydney Liece, a daughter of Harry Liece, of Lieceport, Berks county, this State. In politics he is now a stanch prohibitionist, but was formerly identi- fied with the Republican party. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has filled all the offices except steward, and has been a local preacher for twenty years, frequently supplying the pulpits of his denomination in this part of the county when the regular pastors were compelled to be absent. He is a leading member of the Sons of Temp- erance, and is also prominently identified with the Knights of Temperance. "The family of Hartmans are of original French extraction, and trace their ancestry back to three brothers of the name who left France and settled in Northern Germany, but becoming dissatisfied with that country, made their way to America in 1768, and located in Pennsylvania, one settling in Mont- gomery county, another in Chester county, and the third at some point in the western part of the State. Frederick Hartman, paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a son of that Hartman who settled in Mont- gomery county, and was born near Trappe in that county, where he resided until about 1815, when he removed to Chester county. He remained in this county only a few years, however, and then returned to Montgomery, where he died in 1851, in his eighty- fourth year. He was a contractor and buil- der, and built the first dam across the Schuylkill river for the Schuyl- kill Navigation Company. In later years he was engaged in farming and became very successful and prosperous. In politics he was a Jacksonian democrat, and for many years an active and liberal member of the Evangel- ical Lutheran church. He married Sarah Wise, and was the father of eight children, four sons and four daughters, all of whom are now deceased: Jacob D., Frederick, George, Kate, who married a Mr. Posey; Sophia, wedded a Mr. Smith; Sarah, wife of Richard R. Smith; Rebecca, married to a Mr. Bidding; and Daniel. "The eldest son, Jacob D. Hartman (father), was born in Pottsgrove town- ship, Montgomery county, this State, August 23, 1798. At the age of twelve years he came to Chester county with his father's family, and after living here ten years removed to Juniata county, where he also resided during a decade, and then returned to his native county of Montgomery, where he died at Pottstown in 1884, at almost the exact age reached by his father - not quite eighty-four years. He was a tailor by trade and fol- lowed that business a number of years, but later became a farmer. In politics he was a democrat during his earlier years, but attached himself to the Republican party in later life, and was a strict member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was always a zealous worker, and for a long period trustee and class leader. In 1826 he married Elizabeth Saybold, a daughter of John Saybold, of Montgomery county. To their union was born a family of six children who lived to reach maturity: Zephaniah, who married Susan March, and now lives at Snowdonville, Chester county; Sarah A., married A. Boyer, a prosperous farmer of Pottsgrove township, this county; Jacob, deceased; Mary A., married Daniel Johnson, and is now dead; William W., the subject of this sketch; and James E., who has been twice married, first to Esther Byers, and after her death to Lisey Trace, and is now engaged in the livery business at Pottstown, Montgomery county."