HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



121 



several years. He was a member of 

 the German Reformed church. He mar- 

 ried, in 1854, Catharine Hofiford, daugh- 

 ter of Daniel and Snsanna (MaugleX 

 Hofford, and they were the parents of 

 two children, Edwin Penrose, and the 

 subject of this sketch. Edwin Penrose 

 Fretz, born March 3, 1856, on the home- 

 stead in Richland township, attended 

 the public schools there until his fif- 

 teenth year, when he learned the shoe- 

 maker trade with A. B. Walp & Co. 

 Later he entered Washington Hall Col- 

 legiate Institute at Trappe, Montgom- 

 ery county, Pennsylvania, and later Al- 

 lentown Business College, from which 

 he graduated in 1878. He was employed 

 for some time in the shoe factory of 

 A. B. Walp & Co. He is now proprietor 

 of a shoe store at Lansdale, Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



Hon. Oliver Henry Fretz, A. M.. M. 

 D., second and youngest son of William 

 and Catharine (Hofford) Fretz, was born 

 in Richland township, Bucks county, 

 April 9, 1858. There he lived till he was 

 ten years old, when he removed with 

 his parents to Quakertown, Pennsylvan- 

 ia, where he received the best school 

 advantages the borough afiforded. He 

 later attended Oak Grove Academy, a 

 school conducted under the auspices of 

 the Society of Friends. During 1878 

 and 1879, he was a student of Muhlen- 

 berg College, at Allentown, Pennsyl- 

 vania. He began the study of medicine 

 in 1879, first under that able practitioner, 

 and scientist. Dr. I. S. Moyer, and after- 

 ward in the same year he entered the 

 Jefferson Medical College,. Philadelphia, 

 Pennsylvania, and, after pursuing a three 

 years' graded course of study, gradu- 

 ated March 30, 1S82, receiving the degree 

 of Doctor of Medicine. He began the 

 practice of medicine at Salfordville, 

 Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, but, 

 owing to ill health, at the end of three 

 years he sold his practice and removed 

 to Quakertown, where he is now suc- 

 <;essfully engaged in the drug business, 

 combined with a large and lucrative 

 ofifice and consulting practice. In 1886- 

 87 he took a post-graduate course of 

 instruction at the Philadelphia Poly- 

 clinic and College for Graduates in 

 Medicine. He also pursued a course of 

 instruction at the eye, ear, nose and 

 throat department of the Philadelphia 

 Dispensary, fitting himself as a specialist 

 in diseases of the eye. ear, nose and 

 throat. In 1889 he completed a course 

 in pharmacy at the National Institute 

 of Pharmacy, Chicago, Illinois. Since 

 1886, when he was elected a school di- 

 rector of Quakertown borough, he has 

 been closely identified with the edu- 

 cational interests of his town and the 

 county. He was re-elected school di- 

 rector in 1889, and served three years 

 as president and one year as treasurer 

 of the board. 



In 1890 Dr. Fretz was nominated on 

 the first ballot for assembly by the 

 Bucks county Democratic convention, 

 and was elected by nearly three hun- 

 dred majority. He represented his coun- 

 ty in the legislature of 1891 with marked 

 ability, and to the utmost satisfaction of 

 his constituents. In the fall of 1892 he 

 was renominated by acclamation and re- 

 elected by a largely increased majority.' 

 In the session of 1893 he served on the 

 following important committees: educa- 

 tional, municipal corporations, public 

 health and sanitation, and congressional 

 apportionment. He introduced a num- 

 ber of bills in the legislature, the most 

 important of which was, an act to auth- 

 orize the state superintendent of public 

 instruction to grant permanent state 

 teachers' certificates to graduate of rec- 

 ognized literary and scientific colleges. 

 He was also elected by the house of Rep- 

 resentatives a member of the Pennsyl- 

 vania election commission for 1893-94, 

 whose duty it was to open, compute and 

 publish the vote for state treasurer. On 

 June 21, 1893, Ursinus College recog- 

 nized his ability by conferring the hon- 

 orary degree of Master of Arts (A. M.) 

 upon him. In January, 1894, Dr. Fretz 

 was appointed a clinical assistant in the 

 eye department of the Jefferson Medi- 

 cal College Hospital, Philadelphia, Penn- 

 sylvania. He received the appointment 

 of borough physician of Quakertown 

 in 1888, and has since been reappointed 

 annually. In July 1893, he was appointed 

 by the borough council; a member of 

 the borough board of health, a position 

 he still holds, he being president of 

 the board. November 2, 1898, he was 

 elected president of the Bucks county 

 Medical Society. He is also a member of 

 the State Medical Society of Pennsylvania, 

 the Lehigh Valley Medical Association, the 

 American Medical Association, the American 

 Academy of Political and Social Science 

 of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania For- 

 estry Association and the Bucks County 

 School Directors' Association, of which 

 he served as vice president. He is also 

 surgeon for the Philadelphia and Lehigh 

 Valley Traction Co.. and medical ex- 

 aminer for numerous life insurance com- 

 panies. On November 21, 1898, Dr. 

 Fretz was elected by the board of trus- 

 tees a censor of the Medico-Chirurgical 

 College of Philadelphia. He pursued a 

 course of study at the Chicago School of 

 Psychology, graduating therefrom 

 March 15, 1900, receiving the degree of 

 Doctor of Psychology (Psy. D.). On 

 March 7, 1905, he completed a course of 

 study at the South Bend College of 

 Optics, South Bend, Indiana, graduating 

 therefrom with the degree of Doctor of 

 Optics, (Opt. D.). He is a member of 

 the following organizations: Quaker- 

 town Lodge, No. 512, F. and A. M. ; Zin- 

 zendorf Chapter. No. 216. Royal Arch 

 Masons, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; 



