Northumberland-Union-Philadelphia County PA Archives Biographies.....Kremer, Charles L. 1857 - 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 3, 2005, 3:50 pm Author: Biographical Publishing Co. CHARLES L. KREMER. In the whole of Northumberland County there is no more popular or more efficient public officer than the gentleman whose name appears above, who is now holding the county office of prothonotary. Six years' service as deputy sheriff and three years' faithful work as deputy county treasurer served to develop and perfect all his administrative abilities and to render him a power in the politics of the Seventeenth Congressional District. Although a veteran in political experience his career has been singularly free from embitterments and rankling enmities, for he considers friendship to be a thing that should not count too much in politics, and tries to exclude the element in his own struggles for political supremacy. We mean by this that Mr. Kremer does not choose his friends only from his own party, for ofttimes his bitterest political antagonist may be his warm personal friend. Our subject has a splendid record behind him and, judging from the good-will extended toward him and the good-will in which he is held everywhere throughout the county, he is destined to serve the best interests of his fellow-citizens for many years to come. Mr. Kremer was born in Allenwood, Union County, Pa., January 4, 1857, and is a son of Jacob L. and Julia (Allen) Kremer. The family originally was of German stock, but it is now thoroughly Americanized by many years' residence in the United States. Our subject's grandfather, who was a native of Oley township, Berks County, Pa., was a weaver by trade. In 1829 he located at Milton, Northumberland County, to pursue his trade, but soon decided to engage in farming also, and was a tenant successively of the Sitzel farm near McEwensville and the De Armond farm near the Warrior Run Church. On each place he remained two years, following the weaver's trade for the most part, but also doing some farming. In 1834 he engaged in farming in White Deer Valley, Union County, after which he kept hotel one year in White Deer township. Later he removed to Allenwood, Union County, and kept a hotel the remainder of his life, dying in 1845, aged forty-five years. He married Sarah Levan, and their family consisted of three sons and three daughters. Jacob Kremer, the father of the subject of these lines, was born in Albany township, Berks County, Pa., April 30, 1837. He went with the family into Northumberland County, and then into Union. The common schools of the localities where his boyhood days were passed furnished him with the rudimental principles of an education that was never fully completed in the schools, but was gradually built up by experience in varied walks of life. Upon attaining his majority Jacob engaged in dealing in live stock at Allenwood, continuing to be thus employed until 1867, when he removed to Armstrong township, Lycoming County, Pa. Williamsport became his place of residence in 1869 and there he continued on an extensive scale his dealings in stock, and also engaged in raising thoroughbred horses. In the month of April, 1875, our subject's father located at Dewart, Northumberland County, as proprietor of a hotel. Four years later he became the proprietor of the Mansion House at Watsontown, which he successfully conducted during the remainder of his life, his death occurring in that borough in 1892. While the War of the Rebellion was in progress Mr. Kremer dealt very extensively in horses, furnishing animals for all branches of the army service. For many years Jacob Kremer was a leader in the Republican party of Northumberland County and the present ascendancy of the Republican organization in the county came in great part from his own indefatigable exertions. When he was first nominated for the office of sheriff in 1881 by the Republican party he was defeated by a large Democratic majority, but nothing daunted, he allowed his name to be used again in 1884 and threw himself with force and vim into the canvass, with the result that he became the first Republican sheriff the county had had for many years by the comfortable margin of 274 votes. He gave the best of satisfaction throughout his term of three years, which expired in 1887. In that year, before the expiration of his term, he received his party's nomination for the office of county treasurer, and was elected to that position by a majority of 764 votes, the largest gains having been made in his own district, where he was better known, but still the gains were not confined to the one district, being spread over most of the county. In 1890 he was again nominated for sheriff, but he was defeated along with the whole Republican ticket. It was one of those reverses that come like a late frost in the spring. On January 6, 1854, he married Julia A. Allen, eldest daughter of Isaac and Jane (Piatt) Allen of Allenwood, Union County, Pa. Isaac Allen was of Scotch-Irish descent; the village where he lived and of which he was the most prominent resident was named Allenwood in honor of him. In the parental family were born nine children, five of whom survive at this date, and these last are as follows: Sarah A., wife of Charles G. Pursell of Jersey City, N. J.; Allen I., one of the proprietors of the Mansion House at Watsontown, the successor of his father; Daniel A., who is interested with Allen I., in conducting the Mansion House; Charles L., the subject of this historical notice; and Jennie Lee, who resides in Watsontown. Charles L. Kremer, in whom the interest of this sketch centers, was educated in the Williamsport public schools. Leaving school in 1872 he entered a country store in Allenwood as a clerk and remained there in faithful, diligent service twelve years, until 1884. In 1885 he removed to Sunbury as deputy sheriff under his father and served three years, until 1888, when he was made deputy county treasurer under his father. In January, 1891, without the loss of a day's time, he became deputy sheriff under Robert Montgomery, stepping from one office directly to another. Mr. Montgomery was the man who defeated our subject's father in the last political contest in which Jacob Kremer engaged before his death; it is a decidedly singular occurrence that a successful candidate for office should choose as his assistant the son of his political antagonist, but this graceful act only goes to show the good feeling that prevailed all through the campaign and made defeat all the easier to bear, and victory the better to enjoy. In the fall campaign of 1893 Charles L. Kremer was elected prothonotary, taking possession of his office in 1894; he was re-elected in 1896 and will continue to serve until the expiration of his term in 1900. The marriage ceremony that united the lives of our subject and his wife, then Mrs. Kate Van Horn, nee Finney, daughter of Hamilton Finney of Kansas City, Mo., was performed February 25, 1897. Mr. Kremer is a gentleman of noble instincts, congenial and friendly, and always aims to please those with whom he is thrown in contact. His firmness, however, is a trait that should not be overlooked. He has made an excellent official for Northumberland County and is regarded as a very influential citizen. 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: 7.8 Kb