Northumberland-Schuylkill County PA Archives Biographies.....Seiler, Brothers 1847 - 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 June 29, 2005, 9:32 pm Author: Biographical Publishing Co. EMANUEL G. SEILER, a thoroughly representative citizen and the head of one of the largest wholesale houses in the state, was born in Mahanoy township, Northumberland County, June 21, 1847. He is a son of Daniel and Sarah (Geist) Seiler. The Seiler family has been prominently identified with the growth, progress and history of Northumberland County for several decades. The founder of the family in the county was John Jacob Seiler, the grandfather of the older members of the family now residing in Shamokin, who was a native of Eastern Pennsylvania and of German extraction. He was reared in the Mahanoy Valley, this county, and settled in what is now known as Lower Mahanoy township. He was born May 22, 1780, and died March 12, 1866, aged eighty-five years, nine months and twenty days. He was a farmer, a man of unusually sturdy physique, and had the reputation of being one of the hardiest and strongest men in the valley. John Jacob was twice married. His first wife was a Miss Kuntzman, and to them was born Daniel Seiler, father of our subject, on May 15, 1820, on the homestead where he was reared. Daniel Seiler was a wheelwright by trade and actively engaged in his chosen occupation until 1845 when he bought a farm in the Mahantango Valley on which he resided until his death on August 27, 1877. Our subject's father was one of the five men who first espoused the cause of the new Republican party in the township in which he resided. He always was active in politics but never sought office. He was a member of the Reformed Church in which he was prominent and served as a deacon and an elder. His wife was Sarah Geist and to them were born eight children, six sons and two daughters, as follows: Jacob, born on the old homestead where he has always resided and pursued farming; Emanuel G., our subject; Mary Magdalene, widow of the late John K. Haas of Shamokin; Daniel G., a sketch of whom appears herein; Sarah Ann, the wife of Aaron H. Haupt of Shamokin: Aaron of Shamokin, Pa.; Felix G., a sketch of whom is also included in this review; and Isaac G., who resides at Selinsgrove, Snyder County, Pa., and is the representative there of Seiler, Zimmerman, Otto & Company of Shamokin. Our subject, Emanuel G. Seiler, was reared on his father's farm where he worked until he was eighteen years old and where he attended the schools in the township. He learned the trade of carpenter which he followed for several years both at his home and in Shamokin. In 1869 Mr. Seiler, being ambitious and determined to engage in something more profitable than carpentry, removed to Shamokin. He opened a small store in which he did a meager business for some time, yet, remarkable and almost incredible as it may seem, with a capital of but $50.00 he laid the foundations on which in after years he built the extensive and prosperous business of which he is now and for some years has been the active, energetic, successful head. He continued his little store, persevering, and by frugality and strict attention to every detail of a general store prepared to branch out. It may be said that Mr. Seiler laid the cornerstone of his mercantile success in 1871 when he formed a copartnership with J. K. Haas and the firm opened a small store at Pine and Second streets, Shamokin, doing a dry goods, grocery and confectionery business. Five years later Mr. Haas retired from the firm, taking the dry goods department, and Mr. Seiler continuing the grocery and confectionery trade. Our subject prospered, and gradually enlarged the business until it was on a good footing and success was assured. In 1879 Henry S. Zimmerman joined our subject, the firm becoming E. G. Seiler & Company. The wholesale jobbing trade had by this time so grown that the new firm soon found it advantageous to drop the retail trade and to devote their energies entirely to the wholesale business, and the retail branch of the business was sold to Zimmerman, Haas & Company, Messrs. Seiler and Zimmerman taking in as junior partner, Felix G. Seiler, brother of our subject, and continuing the wholesale fancy grocery and candy business under the firm name of Seiler, Zimmerman & Co. Careful management and the untiring industry of our subject increased the trade of the firm to such proportions that enlarged quarters were an absolute necessity. Consequently in 1886 the three-story brick building was erected at Independence and Cleaver streets and was occupied by the new firm of which Felix G. Seiler had just become the junior member. The business was pushed with characteristic energy and the firm, which now occupies the handsome store erected in 1886, enjoys an inland trade as large as that of any wholesale house in Central Pennsylvania. The firm's agents traverse all parts of Northumberland, Schuylkill, Montour, Juniata, Dauphin, Union, Snyder and Columbia counties every week, and, as the house enjoys an excellent reputation for enterprise, fair dealing, and the excellent quality of its goods, which reputation has been well earned and is deserved, the sales are large and constantly increase in quantities. In addition to the large building occupied as the store the firm also utilizes two large warehouses situated on the line of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, between Market and Sixth streets, the storage capacity being an important feature of the business and enabling the firm to compete with the similar wholesale houses in the larger cities. The firm employs thirteen men, including three traveling salesmen whose routes cover territory within a radius of 300 miles of Shamokin. The business is constantly being extended into new territory and promises to become within a few years one of the largest and most successful commercial enterprises in this state. In 1896 the firm was enlarged, Mr. W. H. H. Otto taking an interest and the firm name being changed to Seiler, Zimmerman, Otto & Company. The senior member of the firm, our subject, has partly laid aside his active work as a member of the company and now acts as the consulting partner, giving the benefit of his experience and his knowledge of the trade to the business. This gives Mr Seiler opportunity to more fully look after many individual interests which he has acquired because he is and always has been, since becoming a resident of Shamokin, an active participant in every commercial and public movement which is calculated to advance the interests of the town. Long respected as one of the most enterprising and public spirited men of Shamokin, Emanuel G. Seiler has in every way fully justified the good opinion in which he is held by his fellow citizens. He is at present vice-president of the Guarantee Trust & Safe Deposit Company, of which he was one of the organizers and was its first treasurer; he is president of the Shamokin Street Railway Company, of which he was one of the organizers and original stockholders; he is president of the Board of Trade; was one of the organizers of the Anthracite Fire Insurance Company and has been one of its vice-presidents since its organization; is treasurer of the West Ward Building & Loan Association, one of the most successful and largest in the state; he is also treasurer of the Black Diamond Building & Loan Association of which he was an organizer; and is also a leading member of the Anthracite Association, which was organized in 1898 to promote the sale of anthracite coal and to secure reasonable and popular prices. Our subject is a member of St. John's Reformed Church of which he has been an elder for many years. In politics Mr. Seiler is an earnest and active Republican and has served as a member of the council. In 1869 Mr. Seiler was united in marriage with Caroline Bower, daughter of Michael Bower of Lower Mahanoy township, and to them have been born three children, one dying in infancy; and two surviving, as follows: Cora, who is the wife of Dr. R. H. Simmons of Shamokin, and Lula, who resides with her parents. Felix G. Seiler, brother of our subject, was born June 9, 1859, on the old homestead in Mahantango township, Schuylkill County, Pa., was reared on the farm and attended the common school there until, at the age of sixteen years, he removed to Shamokin where he worked in the store of his brother and also attended the Shamokin High School. Returning to his home subsequently he attended a subscription school and also taught a school in the township for six terms. He then attended Gratz Academy for two summers, teaching in the winters, and finally entered the State Normal School at Kutztown, Pa., from which he graduated in 1881. He then taught schools in Quakeke, Schuylkill County, and in Barry township in the same county, returning to the Keystone State Normal School at Kutztown in the spring of 1883 where for one term he was professor of mathematics. Mr. Seiler then removed to Shamokin and took a position in his brother's store and in 1886 he became the junior partner of the firm and he is now very active in the management of the large business. Mr. Seiler is also a member of the firm of D. G. Seiler & Co., commission merchants of Shamokin. In politics he is a Republican and has served on the Shamokin school board, representing the Third Ward. He is a member of St. John's Reformed Church and for ten years has been secretary of its consistory. Mr. Seiler married Fietta Herb on July 6, 1886, and to them have been born three children: Grace Viola, born April 4, 1888; Lottie Pearl, born September 11, 1889; and Lloyd Russell, born May 17, 1895. Daniel G. Seiler, also a brother of our subject, was born on the Seiler homestead in Mahantango township, Schuylkill County, Pa., September 30, 1851. He was educated in the common schools of the township and at the State Normal School in Kutztown, entering the latter institution when eighteen years of age. Subsequently he taught school in winter, working during summer at his trade as a plasterer, having learned the trade while striving to educate himself. In 1879 Mr. Seiler purchased the interest of W. K. Erdman, the junior member of the firm of Haas & Erdman, general merchants in Shamokin, and joined J. K. Haas in the business under the firm name of Haas & Seiler, which copartnership successfully continued for several years. Mr. Seiler in 1889 embarked in the produce and commission business in which he is now engaged, being at the head of one of the largest commission houses in Central Pennsylvania, conducted under the firm name, D. G. Seiler & Company. The commission house is admirably situated along the Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley railroads at Cleaver street. This produce and fruit business has increased wonderfully since it was established. The firm has consigned to it fruits and general produce from all of the Southern and Northwestern States, and also from California, Mexico, Cuba and the republics of South America. A specialty is made of tropical fruits, but local produce is handled the entire year. Five assistants are kept busy at the big, four-story produce-house and two salesmen are on the road constantly visiting dealers throughout this section of the state. The firm receives shipments of melons as early as June from Georgia, in July from South Carolina and Virginia, and in August from Maryland and New Jersey. Delicious Delaware and Maryland peaches are received in carloads in the season. Mr. Seiler devotes much attention to the buying and attends the fruit and produce auctions in New York City, Baltimore and Philadelphia, which places him on equal footing with commission men in the larger cities and enables him to give his customers the best fruits and vegetables the markets in the big cities afford. He makes a specialty of bananas, receiving the fruit direct from the steamers, thus saving much expense which would otherwise be incurred, and, consequently, the people with whom he deals reap corresponding benefit. The bananas are shipped direct to Shamokin in carlots and placed in the produce-house which is fitted with an elevator and well equipped ripening rooms, allowing the firm to provide ripe, half-ripe or green fruit, as the customer may desire. The firm always carries a complete line of butter, eggs, fruits, and country produce, making a specialty of potatoes, of which over 25,000 bushels were sold in a recent season. In politics Mr. Daniel G. Seiler is a Republican. Religiously he is a member of the Lutheran Church. On October 19, 1876, Mr. Seiler married Jemima, daughter of Rev. H. Weicksel, who organized and for some time was pastor of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Shamokin. To them have been born six children, as follows: Victor, who is a clerk for his father; Walter; Herbert; Stanley; Alma; and Mabel. A portrait of Emanuel G. Seiler is shown on another page, in proximity to this. 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: 13.4 Kb