Biographical Sketch of Henry M. STAUFFER (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. 483-4. "HENRY M. STAUFFER, an industrious and highly respected citizen of East Coventry township, who has been actively engaged as a tradesman and farmer for over half a century, is a son of Jacob and Mary (Meyers) Stauffer, and was born in West Pikeland township, near Chester Springs, Chester county, Pennsylvania, September 27, 1826. His paternal grandfather, John Stauffer, was the son of a Mr. Stauffer who came from Germany, and whose Christian name has not been preserved. John Stauffer was born in Berks county, and came to East Coventry township, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty-seven acres of land, which is now known as the old Stauffer homestead. He followed farming, was a member of the Mennonite church, and married a Miss Latshaw, by whom he had five children: John, who was a life-long resident of his native township; Catharine M., who married Rev. Jacob Harley, a minister of the German Baptist church; Elizabeth, Jacob and Mary, who died young. "Jacob Stauffer (father) was born in 1790, in Berks county, and died on the Stauffer homestead on September 22, 1862, aged seventy-two years. He was a farmer, a Mennonite, and a republican, and married Mary Meyers, who was a daughter of Martin Meyers, and died November 7, 1873, in her seventy-ninth year. Their children were: John M., a farmer, who died in 1891; Catherine, who married Abram Halteman, lived in Juniata county, and is now dead; Mary Ann, married Christian Bliem, lived in Montgomery county, and is also dead; Jacob, Jr., now deceased; Abraham, of Kenilworth; Henry M.; Sarah, wife of John Latshaw, of East Pikeland township, whose land lies partly within the borough limits of Spring City; Elizabeth, wife of Joel Ebert, of Kenilworth; Isaac, a farmer and coachmaker, who died in 1891 at Linfield, Montgomery county; William M., of Reading, British Columbia; Leah, wife of Hiram Ellis, a resident and former merchant of Pottstown, Montgomery county; Harriet, who married Henry S. Pennypacker, of East Coventry; and Lovina, wife of George C. Green, who is in the employ of the Keystone Agricultural Company, of Pottstown. "Henry M. Stauffer was reared on the farm, received his education in the common schools, and learned the trade of coachmaker, at which he worked for over twenty years in his shop on the home farm. At the end of that time he turned his attention entirely to farming, which he has continued in ever since. He owns part of the homestead farm, on which he resides, and has so improved, enriched and cultivated his land that his farm is considered as one of the best in that community. In politics Mr. Stauffer supported the Republican party until recently, when he allied himself with the prohibitionists, and now desires the success of prohibition through political action. He served for several years as school director of his township, and was a director and the secretary and treasurer of the Mad- ison Bridge Company almost from its inception up to the time of its dis- solution, after selling the bridge to Chester and Montgomery counties, and has been a member of the board of directors of Ursinus College, at Collegeville, from its origin to the present. He has been for a number of years an active member of the German Reformed church, takes an active part in Sunday school work, education, and all moral improvements, and enjoys that popularity which springs from right living and the honorable treat- ment of his fellow citizens. The fruits of his diligence, tact and up- rightness are to be seen in his fine farm, pleasant home and the high esteem in which he is held by his neighbors. "On February 24, 1852, Mr. Stauffer married Hannah Hart, who was a daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Ziebes) Hart, of Montgomery county. Mrs. Stauffer passed away on August 22, 1886, when in the sixty-fifth year of her age."