134 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



name was then spelled") came from 

 Switzerland with other Mennonites in 

 1717, and located on one hundred acres 

 now included in the borough of Potts- 

 town, Montgomery county, purchased 

 September 15, 1718, with his wife Eliza- 

 beth and several children. He was a 

 farmer by occupation, and later pur- 

 chased additional land in that locality. 

 He died in 1753. and is supposed to be 

 interred in the Mennonite burying 

 ground at 1^2ast Coventry, Chester 

 county. John Wanger, son of Henry and 

 Elizabeth, was born on his father's farm 

 at what is now Pottstown, December 10, 

 1726, and in 1754 purchased part of the 

 plantation, on which he resided until 

 1762, when he removed to Union town- 

 ship, Berks county, where he had pur- 

 chased 293 acres of land on which he 

 lived until his death, January 5, 1803. He 

 was court martial officer of Captain 

 Thomas Parry's company. Fifth Bat- 

 talion Berks County Militia, commis- 

 sioned May 17, 1777, under Colonel 

 Jacob Weaver. 



Abraham Wanger, son of John, was 

 born at Pottstown, December 15, 1761, 

 and died in Berks county, March 18, 

 1793. His wife was Susanna, daughter 

 of Jacob and Magdalena Shantz, and 

 their son, Abraham, born December 11, 

 1787, was the grandfather of Congress- 

 man Wanger. He was born on the old 

 Berks county homestead, which was ac- 

 quired by his fa,ther in 1788, and re- 

 mained in that county until late in life, 

 when he removed to Chester county, 

 where he died April 23, 1861. He mar- 

 ried Mary Berge. daughter of Abraham 

 and Susanna (Shantz) Berge, and they 

 were the parents of ten children, five of 

 whom grew to manhood and woman- 

 hood. 



George Wanger was born in Berks 

 county in 1820, and was reared to mauc 

 hood in that county, and then removed 

 with his parents to Chester county, 

 where he followed the occupation of a 

 farmer during life. He was a soldier in 

 * the civil war, enlisting first in the Key- 

 stone Guards, organized for state de- 

 fense, in Company E. Nineteenth Regi- 

 ment, and was in service a short time. 

 Later he served for two months in Com- 

 pany D, Forty-second Regiment Penn- 

 sylvania Volunteer Militia, which went 

 to Chambersburg. George Wanger, 

 though a Mennonite by birth, became a 

 member of the official board of St. 

 James' Methodist Episcopal Church at 

 Cedarville, Chester county, the site of 

 which church he presented to the con- 

 gregation. He died in North Coventry 

 township, December 30, 1876. He was 

 known as a man of great force of char- 

 acter and high standing in the commun- 

 ity; a strong advocate of the public 

 school system, he served for a number 

 of years on the local school board. Or- 

 iginally a Whig, he cast his first presi- 



dential vote for Henry Clay. He was a 

 strong advocate of the restriction and 

 abolition of slavery, and his home was 

 one of the stations of the "Underground 

 Railroad" through which many runaway- 

 slaves were assisted to freedom. He 

 was active in the formation of the Re- 

 publican party, and foremost in the tem- 

 perance movement in his locality. He 

 married Rebecca, daughter of Rev. John 

 and Mary (Reinhart) Price, whose direct 

 ancestors for five generations had been 

 preachers in the denomination known as 

 German Baptist Brethren; the first, Rev. 

 Jacob Price (or Priesz), was a native of 

 Witzenstein, Prussia, and united with, 

 the sect soon after its establishment at 

 Schwarzenau in 1708, and early became: 

 a preacher and missionary. Driven by 

 religious persecution to Serverstin,. 

 Friesland, he came to Pennsylvania with 

 the first party of German Baptists irb 

 1719, and settled on Indian Creek,. 

 Montgomery county. His son, Rev. 

 John Price, was born in Prussia and ac- 

 companied his father to America in his 

 seventeenth year. He was a poet and 

 preacher, and a personal friend of Chris- 

 topher Saur, the noted German printer 

 who in 1753 published a collection of 

 Mr. Price's poetry. He was one of the 

 founders of the mother church at Ger- 

 mantown in 1723. He had two sons, 

 John and Daniel, both of whom became 

 preachers, the former settling in In- 

 diana county, Pennsylvania, where he 

 has left many descendants. Rev. Daniel 

 Price was born in Montgomery county, 

 December ii, 1723, and died there Feb- 

 ruary II, 1804. He married in 1746 Han- 

 nah Weickard, and left a large family. 

 He owned two hundred acres of the land 

 taken up by his grandfather, and was 

 active in local matters, serving as town- 

 ship auditor and supervisor. Rev. 

 George Price, son of Daniel, was also a 

 preacher among the German Baptists. 

 He was born in Montgomery county, No- 

 vember I, 1753, but removed to East 

 Nantmeal, Chester county, in 1774, and 

 to Coventry in 1794. His wife was Sarah 

 Harley, and they were the parents of 

 several children. 



Rev. John Price, son of George and 

 Sarah, was the father of Mrs. George 

 Wanger, and the grandfather of the sub- 

 ject of this sketch; he was a farmer and 

 preacher, and was born in Chester 

 county. August 6. 1782, and died April 

 12, 1850. His wife was Mary, daughter 

 of John and Hannah (Price) Rinehart, 

 born May 17, 1783, died April 23, l863r 

 and they were the parents of twelve chil- 

 dren, three of whom and the husband of 

 a fourth became preachers. 



George and Rebecca (Price) Wanger 

 were the parents of six children, five 

 sons and one daughter, of whom four 

 survive — Irving P., Newton, George F. 

 P., assistant postmaster of Pottstown, 

 and Joseph P. Wanger. 



