BIO: George Schroeder, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ ______________________________________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania. Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc. Illustrated. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm ______________________________________________________________________ PART II. HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER XXXIX. BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG. 433 BOROUGH OF MECHANICSBURG. GEORGE SCHROEDER, carriage manufacturer, firm of G. Schroeder Sons & Co., Mechanicsburg, has been identified with this county since May 1, 1833. He was born at East Berlin, Adams Co., Penn., January 22, 1816, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Bowers) Schroeder, the latter a sister of Judge Mart Harmon Bowers, and a descendant of the Harmons, one of the oldest families of Cumberland County. Henry Schroeder, a tailor by trade, was born near Berlin, Germany, and came to America and alone to Pennsylvania when eighteen years old. He located in East Berlin, Adams Co., Penn., where he married Miss Malon, who died some four years after without issue. He was married on the second occasion to Miss Elizabeth Bowers, of Adams County. He and his wife were members of the Lutheran Church. They had a family of three sons and two daughters, of whom two sons and one daughter survive. When George, the second son and child, was about twelve years old, his parents purchased a farm near Conowago Creek, four miles north of Gettysburg, and here our subject remained until he was seventeen, when he came to Mechanicsburg and worked in Henry Kimmel's blacksmith shop one year; then bought out Thomas Harris and carried on a blacksmith shop and engaged in coach-making, plating, etc. In 1845 he established his present business which he has increased from time to time until now he has the largest carriage and buggy manufactory in the valley, giving employment to from twenty-five to thirty men. He has over $45,000 invested in this business. Mr. Schroeder was married at Lititz, Lancaster Co., Penn., September 13, 1834, to Annie Buch, daughter of Henry Buch, a weaver by trade. To this union were born five children: Luzetta (wife of James Irvin, a coach-maker, member of the firm), Harry B. (also a member of the firm; married to Miss Susan Wicks, of Brockport, N. Y.), William (also a member of the firm; married to Miss Mary Gesamon, and after her demise to Miss Laura Wise, of Mechanicsburg, this county), Mary (widow of Simon Bowman; is a clerk in the Treasury Department, Washington, D. C.), Ellen (wife of Theodore Singeiser, member of Congress from Idaho Territory). Mrs. Schroeder died in March, 1865, a member of Bethel Church. In 1867 Mr. Schroeder married Mrs. Martha Leas, born in this county, daughter of Robert Galbreath a descendant of James Galbreath, Jr., the founder of the family in Pennsylvania, and who was of Scotch- Irish stock, having immigrated to Pennsylvania, settling in 1712, at Donegal, in what is now Lancaster County, where he bought large tracts of land from William Penn. He married, in 1735, Elizabeth Bertram, who, with her father, Rev. William Bertram, came from Edinburgh, Scotland - all these people were Presbyterians. James Galbreath, Jr., was elected sheriff of Lancaster County in 1742 and judge of common pleas in 1745, and for many years served as justice of the peace. He removed to Cumberland County in 1760, and in 1763 was appointed judge of Cumberland County. He took an active part in the French and Indian war of 1755-56, and during the Revolution, in 1777, was appointed a colonel in this county, being at that time seventy-three years of age. Mrs. Schroeder died in November, 1881, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church (she was the mother of two children by her first marriage, one living, Dr. Harry Leas, of Mechanicsburg). Mr. George Schroeder is not only one of the old settlers, but is an enterprising representative business man, standing high in the estimation of all who know him. He is a purely self-made, sell-educated man. Early learning to depend on his own resources, he went bravely to work, and by close application to business, honest dealing and hard work, has made life a success. He owns six houses and lots, besides his own residence and shops. Mr. Schroeder has three grandsons and two grand-daughters, children of his son, Harry B.