HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



269 



HENRY O. MOYER. Among the 

 well known and enterprising business 

 men of upper Bucks is Henry O. Moyer, 

 of Perkasie. He is a native of Hilltown 

 township, and was born November 27, 

 1845. He is a descendant of that sturdy, 

 frugal, truth-loving race of German 

 Mennonites who peopled upper Bucks 

 and Montgomery counties in the early 

 part of the seventeenth century, and 

 have probably added more to the wealth 

 and prosperity of our country than any 

 other nationality or sect. 



Christian Meyer, supposed to have 

 been a native of Switzerland, founded an 

 as3'lum from religious persecution in the 

 Netherlands prior to i/oo, and some 

 time after that date emigrated from Am- 

 sterdam to Pennsylvania and settled in 

 Lower Salford township, Montgomery 

 county, where he was a landowner prior 

 to 1719. He was an ardent Mennonite, 

 and one of the founders of the earliest 

 Mennonite congregation in that locality. 

 He died in June, 1757, leaving children. 

 Christian, Jacob, Samuel, Elizabeth, 

 Ann and Barbara. 



Christian Meyer, Jr., was born in the 

 year, 1705. probably in Holland, and 

 was reared in Lower Salford. On at- 

 taining manhood he settled in Franconia 

 township, Montgomery county, where he 

 purchased 170 acres of land in 1729, 

 most of which is still owned and occu- 

 pied by his descendants. He was the 

 first deacon and one of the founders in 

 173S of the Mennonite meeting at Fran- 

 conia, and was later a minister there. 

 He died in May, 1787. By his wife, 

 Magdalena he had children: Christian, 

 Jacob, Samuel. Anna, Maria, Fronica, 

 Esther, Barbara, all except one of whom 

 married and raised families. 



Samuel Mej-er, third son of Christian 

 Jr., and Magdalena, was born in Fran- 

 conia, June 10, 1734, and became a widely 

 known Mennonite preacher. He settled 

 in Hilltown township, Bucks countj^ 

 early in life, and spent his remaining 

 days there, living to a venerable and 

 highly respected old age. He married 

 Catharine Kolb, and reared a family of 

 nine children, as follows: I. Fronica, 

 born 1757, died 1818; married Abraham 

 Wismer, of Plumstead township, where 

 they have numerous and worthy descen- 

 dants. 2. Isaac, born 1758, married a 

 Landis and reared a large family. 3. 

 Elizabeth, died young. 4. Christian, 

 born 1763, married Marj^ Landis and 

 settled in Bedminster township. 5. Sam- 

 uel, born 1765, died 1847, married Sus- 

 anna Bleam, and lived and died in Hill- 

 town. 6. Rev. Jacob Moyer, born 1767, 

 married Magdalena Bechtel and re- 

 moved to Canada. 7. Abraham, see for- 

 ward. 8. Dilman, born December 20, 

 1772; married Barbara Latshaw, and 

 emigrated to Canada in 1801. 9. Hein- 

 rich, born October 27. 1774, died Oc- 

 tober 19, 1857; was a farmer and weaver 



in Hilltown; married Salome Stover; 

 was a deacon of the Mennonite meeting 

 at Blooming Glen. Samuel Moyer, the 

 father of the above children, was de- 

 vised by his father the homestead in 

 Franconia, but having already settled in 

 Hilltown he never returned to his na- 

 tive county. The homestead he con- 

 veyed to his sons Isaac of Franconia, 

 and Christian of Bedminster. The lat- 

 ter conveyed his portion to his son Ru- 

 dolf in 1810, and it is now the property 

 of Abraham F. Aloyer, son of Rudolph. 



Abraham Moyer, seventh child of 

 Samuel and Catharine (Kolb) Meyer, 

 was born in Hilltown, November 19, 

 1770, and was reared to the life of a 

 farmer. He married Elizabeth Bechtel, 

 and reared a family of ten children as 

 follows: I. Susan, married John Bergy. 

 2. Anna, married Samuel S. Yeakel. 3. 

 Abraham B. married a Delp and left one 

 son, Francis. 4. Samuel B., see forward. 

 5. Rev. Henry B., removed to Westmore- 

 land county, Pennsylvania, where he was 

 ordained a Mennonite minister, and returned 

 to Hilltown and preached for some years at 

 Blooming Glen. 6. Martin, died unmarried. 

 7. Catharine died unmarried. 8. John B., 

 moved to Canada, married there ; later 

 moved to Michigan and had children. He 

 died in Michigan. 9. Mary married 

 George Swartz, and removed to Illinois. 

 10. Elizabeth, married Rev. Isaac Over- 

 holt (or Oberholtzer). 



Samuel B. Moyer, fourth child of 

 Abraham and Elizabeth (Bechtel) 

 Moyer, was born in Hilltown in Feb- 

 ruary, 1815, and died there November 7, 

 1852, leaving a family of five small chil- 

 dren, the youngest but a j^ear old. He 

 was a farmer and a consistent member 

 of the Mennonite congregation at 

 Blooming Glen. He married October 

 31, 1841, Hannah Overholt, who was 

 born in Plumstead, January i, 1819. 

 Their children were: Abraham, who died 

 j^oung; Isaac, born December 5, 1843, 

 died April 12, 1854; Henry O., the sub- 

 ject of this sketch; Samuel, born August 

 2, 1847; Mary Ann, born September 23, 

 1844, died October 12, 1877, married 

 Peter Yoder; Enos, born 1851, died 1873. 



Henry O. Moyer was born and reared 

 on his father's farm in Hilltown. In 

 early life he learned the blacksmith 

 trade, which he followed for ten years 

 in Hilltown. In 1881 he started in the 

 creamery business and successfully 

 operated a creamery at Bedminsterville 

 for thirteen years. In 1894 he removed 

 to Perkasie, where he conducted a cloth- 

 ing and gents' furnishing store until 

 1899, when he sold out, and in the au- 

 tumn of the same j^ear entered into the 

 real estate business with his son Theo- 

 dore, of Uhlertown, Bucks county, and 

 they still conduct that business. At the 

 organization of the National Bank of 

 Perkasie he was selected as one of the 

 directors of that successful financial in- 



