HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



479 



Ti 



knowledge was Frederick Kiser, said to 

 have been a native of Germany. He set- 

 tled in Durham township near the Nock- 

 amixon line in 1773, having first appeared 

 as a communicant of Nockamixon Lutheran 

 church in June, 1773. November 21, 1774, 

 he purchased Tract No. 19 of the Durham 

 Tract, containing 145 acres and 25 perches, 

 and lying along the Nockamixon line, and 

 lived thereon until his death, about June i, 

 1792. His wife, Anna Barbara Stem, was 

 a native of Brotzinger, a little village near 

 the Rhine, in the grand duchy of Baden, 

 and was a daughter of Johan Michel Stein, 

 who died there about the year 1784. Au- 

 gust 7, 1784, Friedrich Kyser, of Durham, 

 Bucks county, and Anna Barbara, his wife, 

 "an heir and issue of Johan Michel Stein, 

 late of Brotzinger, in Germany, under the 

 jurisdiction of Baden-Durlach, now of the 

 County of Bucks" make a power of attor- 

 ney to their "loving friend, Jacob Epp, of 

 Easton, in the county of Northampton" to 

 collect in her name and for her use her 

 -whole inheritance "which my deceased 

 father Johan Michel Stein, and mother 

 Barbara, left unto me in Brotzinger, under 

 the jurisdiction of Baden-Durlach, and in 

 the hands, care and administration of my 

 ■dear and loving friend Johan Jacob Hock- 

 smuth." 



The children of Friedrich and Anna Bar- 

 bara (Stein) Kyser, were five in number, 

 viz. : Mary, , who married a Wagner ; 

 Michel ; Conrad ; Friedrich ; and Margaret, 

 who married a Gesler, or Gresler. 



Friedrich Kiser, youngest son of Fried- 

 rich and Anna Barbara, was born Sep- 

 tember 14, 1764. He married Gertrude 

 Hoffman, born September 22, 1770. daugh- 

 ter of Conrad Hoffman and Gertrude his 

 wife, the former being one of the earliest 

 patentees of lands in Nockamixon who 

 became actual settlers there. Conrad Hoff- 

 man obtained a patent from the proprietors 

 for two hundred acres of land in Nock- 

 amixon in 1765, and died there in 1780, 

 leaving sons Conrad, Martin, and Williim. 

 and daughter "Kertout" wife of Friedrich 

 Kiser, Jr., and Catharine. The widow 

 "Kertrout" Hoffman married a German by 

 the name of Premour. In 1793 these heirs 

 •of Conrad Hoffman made partition of the 

 two hundred acres of land, and "allowance" 

 and one-half of the same, amounting to 

 III acres, was conveved to Frederick Kiser 

 and Gertrude his wife, but they soon after 

 conveyed it to Martin Hoffman. On Aoril 

 7, 1794, Frederick Kiser, Jr., purchased of 

 his brother. Conrad Kiser. a plantation of 

 135 acres in Nockamixon, near the Durham 

 line where he lived the remainder of his 

 life, adding to it thirty acres additional in 

 1802. This plantation was called "Candia," 

 and was originally patented to Thomas 

 Leightle. whose widow and son conveyed 

 it to Conrad Kiser in 1792. Frederick Kiser 

 later purchased 115 acres of land adjoining 

 his "Candia" plantation. He died on the 

 old homestead December 5, i8j6. aged over 

 •eighty-two years. His wife Gertrude pre- 



ceded him six years, dying May 25, 1840, 

 at the age of seventy years. They were the 

 parents of five sons: Conrad, John, Jacob, 

 Frederick and Samuel, of whom the eldest, 

 Conrad, born January 21, 1792, died April 

 22, 1823; and six daughters — Mary, wife 

 of John Hoffman, who settled in Monroe 

 county; Catharine, wife of William i^amp- 

 bell; Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Trough; 

 Sarah, wife of John Seiner; Susan, wife of 

 George Ott, who removed to Indiana ; and 

 Polly, who never married. 



Samuel Kiser, youngest son of Freaerick 

 and Gertrude (Hoffman) "Kiser, was the 

 grandfather of Harvey S. Kiser. He was 

 born on the old homestead in Nockamixon, 

 October 12, 1814, married Mary Ochs, who 

 was born in Lower Saucon, Northampton 

 county, November 7. 1816, and settled on 

 the farm bought in that year by his father, 

 adjoining the old homestead, which he pur- 

 chased of his father's estate in 1847. He 

 was a lifelong resident of Nockamixon, 

 dying there March 26, 1877. His widow, 

 Mary (Ochs) Kiser, .died August 10, 1880. 

 They were the parents of two sons : Wil- 

 son O. Kiser, of Nockamixon; and Edwin 

 Kiser, of Springfield. 



Edwin Kiser, father of Harvey S. Ki^er, 

 was born in Nockamixon in 1840. He was 

 engaged in the mercantile business at Bur- 

 sonville for a number of years, but for the 

 past fifteen years has been engaged in farm- 

 ing in Springfield township. He has always 

 taken an active interest in the affairs of the 

 community in which he lived, and has filled 

 a number of local offices, serving for sev- 

 eral years as school director of his district, 

 and also filling the office of supervisor of 

 the roads. In February, 1902, he was ap- 

 pointed by the court to fill the unexpired 

 term of Michael Callahan, deceased, as 

 county commissioner, and at the following 

 November election, was elected to succeed 

 himself for the term of three years, and 

 made a conscientious and efficient official. 

 He married in 1870 Emma Seiner, daughter 

 of Peter and Hannah Seiner, of Spring- 

 field, and that union has been blessed with 

 five children: Harvey S., the subject of 

 this sketch ; Frank W., now engaged in the 

 mercantile business in Germantown ; Minnie 

 A., a dressmaker in Allentown ; Ella N., 

 residing at home ; and Warren S., a book- 

 keeper in Philadelphia. 



Harvey S. Kiser was reared in Spring- 

 field township, and acquired his education 

 at the Springtown Academy and the Key- 

 stone Normal School at Kutztown. Penn- 

 sylvania, graduating from the latter in 

 1893. Prior to his graduation at Kutztown 

 he taught school in Sprmgfield for four 

 years, and after his graduation taught at 

 Richboro. Northampton township, Bucks 

 county, for two years. He then entered 

 Dickinson Law School, at Carlisle. Penn- 

 sylvania, from which he graduated in 1897. 

 He then entered the office of Hon. Webster 

 Grim, at Doylestown, as a student at law, 

 and on June 6, 1898, was admitted to prac- 

 tice at the Bucks county bar. He at once 



