Northumberland-Snyder County PA Archives Biographies.....Aucker, Reuben S. 1837 - living in 1899 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com July 1, 2005, 10:57 pm Author: Biographical Publishing Co. REUBEN S. AUCKER, who has been for thirty-four years a resident of Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pa., and is one of the county's most progressive and wealthy citizens, comes of one of the pioneer families of Snyder County, this state. He is a son of Emanuel and Hannah (Snyder) Aucker, and was born July 6, 1837, in what formerly was Union County and now is Snyder County. By hard work, energy, enterprise and thrift Mr. Aucker built up a business which is one of the best in this county, and he also has been a heavy dealer in real estate and has carefully managed all his business interests. Emanuel Aucker, father of the subject of this review, was born near Richfield, Pa., in 1805 and was reared there. He removed to Selinsgrove, Snyder County, in 1839 and resided there until his demise in 1892. His active life was spent in farming and in lumbering, he being active in the early development of the lumber industry in his native county. Politically Mr. Aucker was a Democrat and he was a firm believer in the principles of his party, but he never sought or held office. Religiously he was an adherent of the Mennonite faith, and in his character and his career were strongly marked the sturdy, uncompromising traits of the believers in that faith. He was a man of strictest moral habits, honesty and conduct, was temperate, and proudly declared that he never had tasted tobacco. The grandfather of our subject, on the maternal side, John Snyder, was born about 1787 and was a first cousin to Gov. Snyder of this state, after whom Snyder County was named. The Snyders formed one of the sturdy pioneer families whose influence and activity was felt in many ways in the early stages of the growth and progress of Pennsylvania. The maternal grandmother was also born about 1787^ and she died about fifteen years previous to her husband. Our subject's parents reared a family of thirteen children, two of whom died young. Curiously enough, for forty years following the demise of the two young children no death record was preserved in the family. Of the survivors of the children Reuben S., our subject, and his brother, Jacob S. Aucker, are the only ones who have been identified with the history and the progress of Shamokin and Northumberland County. The children were as follows: Henry, deceased; Catharine, widow of Samuel Zeigler; Peter and Barbara, deceased; our subject, Reuben S.; Leah, deceased; Annie, widow of Jacob Longaker; Susan; Emanuel, who is a farmer in Snyder County; John, also a farmer in Snyder County; Jacob, a resident of Shamokin and a carpenter by trade, also an undertaker; Malinda, who died young; and Enos, the youngest, who resides in Snyder County, and is a farmer. In his youth Reuben, our subject, did not have many advantages for securing an education and he was reared on his father's farm. He attended a subscription school for about three months and a free school for twenty-one months, at the same time working in the woods and doing dutifully his part toward supporting the large family and also managing to attend the New Berlin Academy for two months. Reuben also succeeded in learning a trade as a carpenter and a millwright, and, thus reinforced for his struggle with the world, he started out to win his way and removed to Shamokin in 1865, working for some time as a carpenter and builder. A year after reaching Shamokin he started a lumber yard, and his business finally increased so that he built fifty houses in one year. In 1872 Mr. Aucker established a furniture and undertaking business. He carried on that branch of his enterprise until 1888, when he sold it to his brother, Jacob S., and T. H. Paul, both having for some time been in his employ. In February, 1882 our subject organized the firm of Aucker, Slayman & Co., taking into partnership two of his former workmen, C. J. Slayman and Joseph W. Kessler. This firm erected many of the most substantial and handsome structures in Shamokin, including the Garfield School, the Globe building, St. John's Reformed Church, the large block in which is the dry goods store of its owner, Charles C. Leader, and a large number of private residences, among them those of George O. Martz and C. Q. McWilliams. Mr. Slayman retired from the firm in 1897 owing to poor health. Well versed in farming and the needs of the prosperous farmer, Mr. Aucker for several years made a study of fertilizers and the best methods of producing good ground, with the result that in April, 1891, he established an individual enterprise, the Shamokin Fertilizing Works, which has a large factory in JMorth Shamokin. This business is growing rapidly and already the trade of the works is very extensive. Mr. Aucker owns three large farms, two in Snyder County and one in Northumberland County, and several smaller farms, and his real estate holdings in Shamokin are very large. Our subject has given much time and work to some of the important interests of Shamokin. He was one of the organizers of the West Ward Building & Loan Association and has been its president for twenty years. He also was an organizer of the Shamokin Electric Light & Power Company, of which he is a director; an organizer of the Shamokin Electric Street Railway; a director of the Guarantee Safe Deposit & Trust Company; and is interested in several other business enterprises. Mr. Aucker served as a councilman for four years, from 1866 to 1870, and as a member of the school board for six years. Our subject is an honored member of St. John's Reformed Church, of which he has been a deacon and elder for twenty-five years, and a teacher in the Sunday School for thirty-three years. Our subject most appropriately celebrated Christmas Day, 1863, by wedding Mary Wand at Georgetown. Their children have been as follows: Ida M., wife of M. G. Reager, a merchant in Shamokin; Mary Magdalen, Carrie and Kate May, deceased; and Emma Eva and Mary Ellen, who are at the family home. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Book of Biographies of the Seventeenth Congressional District Published by Biographical Publishing Company of Chicago, Ill. and Buffalo, NY (1899) This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/pafiles/ File size: 6.6 Kb