402 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



Academy, and in 1867 entered the Newton 

 Collegiate Institute at Newton, New Jer- 

 sey, to prepare himself for the ministry. In 

 l8<58 he taught school in Sussex county, 

 and in September, 1870, entered Wads- 

 worth College, Ohio, and in 1876 took a 

 course in the Wyoming Seminary, Kings- 

 ton, Pennsylvania. He had been licensed 

 as an exhorter in the ^^Icthodist Episco- 

 pal church at Newton, October 18, 1869, 

 and as a local preacher, ]March 7, 1870. 

 In 1872 he w^as appointed pastor of the 

 Middle Smithficld cliarge in Monroe and 

 Pike counties, Pennsylvania, and was in- 

 strumental in adding many new members 

 to the church. He has since filled the fol- 

 lowing pastorates : Stockholm, New Jer- 

 sey, Unionville and Westown, New York, 

 Hamburg, Ogdensburg, Hurdtown and 

 Hopatcong, New Jersey. In 1880 he locat- 

 ed permanently at Milton, New Jersey, 

 building a house and engaging in farming 

 in addition to serving as pastor at Long- 

 wood, Berkshire, Dodge Mine and West 

 Milford, New Jersey. He was ordained 

 a deacon in 1882 and elder in 1888. He held 

 the office of town clerk from 1890 to 190:1. 

 and was elected to the office of justice of 

 the peace in 1902, and has since filled th^t 

 office. Mr. Fretz has taken a great in- 

 terest in the local history and genealogy of 

 the early German settlement, and has pub- 

 lished numerous family histories, among 

 them being the history of the families of 

 Fretz, Kratz, Wismer, Funk, Moyer, Stover, 

 Rosenberger, Oberholtzer, Nash, Beidler, 

 and Headley. He married, November 14, 

 1B77, Elizabeth C. Headley, born in Mor- 

 ris county, New Jersey, in 1853, daughter 

 of Joseph W. and Almeda (Chamberlain) 

 Headley, and a descendant of Leonard 

 Headley, who died at Elizabethtown, New 

 Jersey, in 1683. Mr. and Mrs. Fretz have 

 been the parents of three children : Mary 

 Headley, born 1878; Joseph and Ervin, 

 who are deceased. 



JOHN H. STEVER, of Hilltown, was 

 born in Bedminster township. Bucks coun- 

 ty, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1866, and is a 

 son of Reuben B. and Mary (Stover) Stev- 

 er. Philip Stever, the pioneer ancestor of 

 the family, was born in Germany and came 

 to Pennsylvania when a youth and settled 

 in Haycock township, Bucks county, where 

 he married, October 8, 1756, Maria Eliza- 

 beth Keller, born at Weierback, Baden, 

 Germany, November 9, 1737, came to Amer- 

 ica with her parents, Heinrich and Juliana 

 (Kleindinst) Keller, when less than a year 

 old. Philip Stever w'as a captain in the 

 revolutionary war under his brother-in- 

 law. Colonel John Keller. At the close of 

 the war he purchased 200 acres of land on 

 the Tohickon, in Haycock, opposite Kel- 

 ler's church, and adjoining his father-in- 

 law, Heinrich Keller, where he spent his 

 remaining days. He died in 1808. leavinp^ 

 eleven children: George; Barbara, wife of 

 George Shaffer, of Haycock ; Adam, who 



removed to Maryland; Alichael, settled in 

 Montgomery township, Montgomery coun- 

 ty; Elizabeth; Abraham; Peter; Balzer; 

 Joseph; Sarah, married John Ahlum; and 

 Mary. 



Abraham Stever, son of George, who 

 was the eldest son of Captain Philip and 

 ISlaria Elizabeth (Keller) Stever, was born 

 on the old homestead in Haycock in the 

 year 1782. In 1807 he purchased of his 

 grandfather, Philip Stever, forty-three acres 

 of the old homestead, and lived thereon all 

 his life. He was a carpenter and cabinet 

 maker, and followed that vocation in con- 

 nection -with farming. He died in October, 

 1842. Like his father and grandfather he 

 was a member of Keller's church, of which 

 his great-grandfather. Heinrich Keller was 

 one of the founders in 1742. He married 

 Mary Silvius, who was born in Rockhill 

 township, and they were the parents of 

 six children: Abraham; Samuel; John; 

 Reuben, for many years proprietor of the 

 hotel at Dublin, died in Lehigh county in 

 1899; Caroline, married Fluck; Han- 

 nah, who married Jesse Housekeeper; and 

 Mary, who married John Keller. 



John Stever, son of Abraham and Mary 

 (Silvius) Stever, was born on the old home- 

 stead in Haycock, November 10, 1812. Early 

 in life he learned the trade of a carpenter 

 and cabinet maker, and followed that voca- 

 tion until old age, was an expert cabinet 

 maker, and much of his work is still found 

 in the homes in that district. From 1840 

 to 1844 he had a shop at Bedminsterville. 

 In the latter year the homestead farm was 

 adjudged to him, but he sold it and re- 

 mained in Bedminster, purchasing a farm 

 near Bedminsterville in that year, and 

 later purchasing considerable other land 

 in that township, and combined agricultural 

 pursuits with his vocation of a cabmei 

 maker. He died June 7, 1880. He was a 

 member of Keller's Lutheran church, of 

 which he w-as a trustee for fifteen years. 

 He married, in 1838, Mary Magdalene Bar- 

 tholomew, born September 23, 1816, daugh- 

 ter of Benjamin Bartholomew, of Haycock, 

 and they were the parents of four chil- 

 dren : Joseph and Sarah, who died young ; 

 Reuben B., and John B., the latter still a 

 resident of Bedminster. 



Reuben B. Stever was born August 25, 

 1839, and was the eldest son of John and 

 Mary Magdalene (Bartholomew) Stever. 

 He learned the trade of a cabinet maker 

 with his father, and worked with him at 

 that trade for a number of years. In 1872 

 he purchased of his father fifty-six acres 

 of the home farm, and lived thereon dur- 

 ing life, later purchasing other land adjoin- 

 ing. He was a member of Keller's church, 

 and an active man in the community, serv- 

 ing as a member of the local school board, 

 and filling other local positions. In 1891 

 he was elected on the Democratic ticket 

 as a member of the courty board of direc- 

 tors of the poor, and served a term of three 

 years. He died November 21. 1899. He 

 married, October 11, 1864. Mary S. Stover, 

 daughter of John and Hannah Stover, who 



